Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/81

 RELIGION. 61 Semitic group Beth-el, which means, "the house of God." This was a generic term used to denote all sacred stones, that is to say, all stones credited with the possession of any special and peculiar virtue. The form of these stones and the degree of respect in which they were held varied greatly. As a rule they were either conical or ovoid, but sometimes they were pyramidal, and, in a few sanctuaries, they were squared shafts with smooth faces. We are told that some were aerolites, a circumstance which greatly enhanced their credit. The diffusion of Greek arts and ideas did not cause the worship of these stones to fall into disuse. Under the Roman emperors FIG. 19. Coin of Byblos ; enlarged. From Donaldson's Architectura Numismatica. it was more popular than ever. In the time of Tacitus, Astarte, then called Aphrodite, was figured on a cone in the chief temple at Paphos, 2 and so, at Byblos, was the great goddess of that place. This we may see from the reverse of a coin of Byblos, struck under Macrinus. The sacred stone rises in the middle of a court surrounded by a portico (Fig. 19). Another instance was 1 This etymology has been contested by M. HALEVY (Revue de t Histoire des Religions, vol. iv. pp. 392-3), but his alternative proposal has not met with general acceptance. See also a dissertation by M. FR. LENORMANT, entitled, Les Betyles {Revue de t Histoire des Religions, vol. iii. pp. 31-53), as well as M. HEUZEY'S paper: La Pierre sacree d'Aniipolis (Me moires de la Soriete des Antiquaires de France, 1874). 2 TACITUS, History, ii. 3.