Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/156

 1 40 Reviews.

use of the alphabet in divination Dieterich seems to have over- looked the inscriptions of Adada and Limyra.-

Die Weisen aus detn Morgenlande is another paper of great interest, not merely to students of early Christianity and its struggles with Mithraism, but also to those who are concerned with the genesis of saga. Dieterich has shown that the story of the Three Wise Men reflects an historical event which had impressed the popular imagination of the contemporary world, — the visit of homage paid by Tiridates and his attendant magi to the Emperor Nero in 66 a.d.

Sofnmertag contains examples of seasonal songs ancient and modern, but nothing very new except the attempt to apply them to two Roman wall paintings. As to the general character of the scenes depicted, the explanation seems plausible, but in detail we are not taken very far.

The address t/ber JVesen unci Ziele der Volkshoide is an eloquent appeal for the scientific recognition of the subject. The analogy between the comparative study of culture and comparative philology supplies the main argument. And the warning that is drawn from the comparison is important. " Ich bin der Uberzeugung, dass sie wissenschaftlich nur der treiben kann, der in irgend <?/«<? Philologie, d.h. in dem Studium einer gesamten Volkskultur, so zusagen, mit beiden Fussen steht."

The paper on the origin of Greek tragedy is clear, sound, and suggestive. Two points in particular deserve attention. The suggestion that the ritual of the Eleusinian mysteries influenced the development of Aeschylean tragedy, and the recognition that here the comparative method serves chiefly to emphasise the unique character of Greek drama. The parallels show the uni- versal connection of drama with cult, but throw no light on the unaided development of cult drama into tragedy. True the modern drama is born of the religious play, but Seneca was its father. " Es gibt nur einen Gott Dionysos und es gibt nur einen Kunstler Aischylos."

Of the two previously unpublished works, the first, Der Ritus der verhiillten Hdnde, collects the examples of the ritual covering of the hands in court ceremonial or religious practice. Instances -C.I.G. 4310, 43790.