Stone Cults and Venerated Stones in the Graeco-Turkish Area

F. W. Hasluck

doi:10.1017/S006824540000962X

Stone Cults and Venerated Stones in the Graeco-Turkish Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2013

F. W. Hasluck

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The veneration of stones seems to have been world-wide at an early stage in religious development, and has left traces everywhere in the magical and ‘folklore’ practices of civilized peoples. Over the Semitic area stone worship, as such, survived later and more generally than among peoples more prone to anthropomorphism; and Islam, so far from being able to displace it, tacitly sanctioned it by allowing the reverence paid already by pagan Arabs to the Black Stone of the Kaaba to be perpetuated on the rather far-fetched hypothesis that the angel Gabriel had brought it to, Mecca.

Christianity, somewhat in the same way, has permitted or encouraged the paying of reverence to stones associated by tradition with saintly personages, the Stone of Unction at Jerusalem being a typical example. In both the great religions of the Near East the arbitrary association of certain stones with sacred persons and events has been allowed to replace or mask the more primitive idea of worshipping stones as fetishes with independent power.

Type: Research Article
Information: Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 21 , November 1916 , pp. 62 - 83

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S006824540000962X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1916

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References

^{page 62 note 1} Burckhardt, , Arabia, i. 297Google Scholar; cf. Burton, , Pilgrimage, iii. 158, n. 176 n.Google Scholar, and Ray's, Collection of Voyages, ii. 163.Google Scholar

^{page 63 note 1} The extraordinary ease with which any peculiarity of a stone may be so construed as to bring it into relation with a local saint is exemplified by the case of a stone seen by Wheler at the door of the church of S. Andrew at Patras, which ‘being struck by another stone’ sent out ‘a stinking Bituminous Savour.’ This was attributed to its having been the seat of the judge who condemned the saint. (Journey into Greece, 294.)

^{page 63 note 2} It would be interesting to know whether the ‘stone from Mecca’ built into the mosque at Hassan-dede in Cappadocia received similar reverence (Crowfoot in J. R. Anthr. Inst. xxx. 308).

^{page 63 note 3} Goldziher, in Archiv für Religionsw. xiv. 308.Google Scholar

^{page 63 note 4} Ed. Penzel, 85.

^{page 63 note 5} Tournefort, Voyage, Letter XXI.; Lucas, , Voyage dans la Grèce, Amsterdam, 1714, i. 111Google Scholar; Pococke, , Descr. of the East, ii.₂89Google Scholar; Walker, M., Old Tracks and New Landmarks, 71Google Scholar, cf. 65.

^{page 64 note 1} The ‘Yanar Tash’ near Caesarea and the thin, semitransparent marble of the bishop's tomb at Nicaea are ‘miracles’ of the same unexciting kind, apparently not exploited as cures. Another ‘burning stone’ was shewn in the Parthenon at Athens, both before and after the Turkish occupation, with an appropriately varied legend (Martoni, , in Ath. Mitth. xxii. 429Google Scholar; Galland, , Journal, i. 38Google Scholar; Guilletière, , Athènes, 197).Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 2} Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Folklore de Constantinople, 99 f.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 3} Evliya, , Travels, tr. von Hammer, , ii. 83Google Scholar: it must be touched by the patient three times on a Saturday.

^{page 64 note 4} The connection between the yellow colour and the yellow disease is obvious (cf. de Bunsen, V., Soul of a Turk, 156 f.Google Scholar) Similarly in Polites, , Παραδόσεις 155Google Scholar, yellow is symbolic of (malarial) fever, red of chickenpox (κὸκκινοι)

^{page 64 note 5} Also blue objects, on account of the relation between the words for blue (γαλὰζιος) and milk (γάλα).

^{page 64 note 6} Ridgeway Essays, 167.

^{page 64 note 7} Hasluck, , Cyzicus, 27Google Scholar; cf. below, p. 69.

^{page 64 note 8} Valavanis, I., Μικρασιατικά 102 f.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 1} Our Ride through Asia Minor, 206. Is this a (giants') millstone (μυλὸπετρα) promoted to a ‘Stone of Speech’ (ὁμιλῶ = speak)? Sillier things have happened.

^{page 65 note 2} Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Trad. Pop. de l'Asie Mineure, 338.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 3} From Mr. Cole of the Lake Copais Company.

^{page 65 note 4} Constantinides, , Καλλίπολις 76.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 5} Byzantios, , Δοκίμιον τῆς Ἄρτης, 367Google Scholar: ὲν ;αν᾿τῆ φὲροντες διαβιβὰζουσιν χὰριν ὶὰσεως τοὺς The nature of the aperture (natural or artificial) in this stone, is not stated. The stone itself is 2·00 m. high, and 1·00 m. broad.

^{page 65 note 6} Hobhouse, , Travels, i. 325Google Scholar; Dupré, , Voyage à Athènes, 36Google Scholar; Kambouroglous, , Ἱστορί Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ Τουρκοκρατίας, 224.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 7} Wiss. Mitth. aus Bosnien, iv. 434 f.

^{page 66 note 1} Burckhardt, , Arabia, i. 267.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 2} Jardin des Mosquées in Hammer-Hellert, , Hist. Emp. Ott. xviii. 57.Google Scholar It was deposited in the Mosque of Eyoub by Sultan Mahmoud I. (1730–54).

^{page 66 note 3} Le Strange, , Palestine, 136.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 4} Pococke, , Descr. of the East, i. 146.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 5} Goldziher, , Arch. f. Religionsw. xiv. 308.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 6} Degrand, , Haute Albanie, 240Google Scholar; Ippen, , Skutari, 77.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 7} Mordtmann, , Σύλλογος ΚΠ., Παραρτ. τοῦ θ.' τόμου, xv.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 8} Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Trad. Pop. de l'Asie Mineure, 212.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 9} Kanitz, , Bulgarie, 536.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 10} Anderson, , Studia Pontica, i. 10.Google Scholar Similar ‘hoof-prints’ are shewn as those, of the horse of the saint Ali Baba at Tomoritza in Albania (Baldacci, , Bull. R. Soc. Geogr. 1915, 978Google Scholar).

^{page 66 note 11} Elworthy, , Evil Eye, 251.Google Scholar

^{page 66 note 12} Q. D. Palestinavereins, xvii. 303. This column has also a Christian legend connecting it with S. Gregory (Lethaby, , S. Sophia, 102Google Scholar).

^{page 67 note 1} Diaconus, Petrus, in Geyer, , Itin. Hieros. 107Google Scholar: ‘Super saxum posuit dominus Iesus pedem suum quando eum Symeon accepit in ulnis, et ita remansit pes sculptus, ac si in cera positus esset.’ Another footprint of Christ was shewn on the Mount of Olives (Didron, , Christian Iconography, ii. 217Google Scholar).

^{page 67 note 2} Polites, Παραδόσεις No. 192.

^{page 67 note 3} Ibid. No. 199.

^{page 67 note 4} Ibid. No. 120.

^{page 67 note 5} A pre-Crusading Moslem account (1047) of the Rock says that the footprint was then said to be that of Abraham (Strange, Le, Palestine, 128Google Scholar).

^{page 67 note 6} Palgrave, , Ulvsses, 74.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 1} Pashley, , Crete (1837), i. 194Google Scholar: ‘In this city the devout Mohammedan women burn incense every Friday, and some of them suspend bits of rag, and similar votive offerings, to honour an ancient statue … The tradition current among them is that the saint was an Arab, to whose dress the ancient robe of the statue bears some resemblance, and that he greatly distinguished himself during the famous siege of the Kástron [i.e. Candia].’ The statue is figured on p. 186 of Pashley's work. Cf. also Spratt, , Crete (1865), i. 44Google Scholar: ‘The bust]!] of a Roman statue, at a fountain within the town … is … decorated and paid reverence to by some of the Turkish devotees every Friday, … besides having a lamp with oil or incense set before it also … I was informed that it [i.e., this worship] is due to a belief amongst the superstitious, that it is the petrified remnant of a sainted Ethiopian Musulman who was killed in the war, and whose head and lower members were cut off by the Christians, but who is destined to rise to life when the Ghiaour are to be exterminated from the island.’ The statue is still (1915) as Pashley saw it, except that the flesh parts and lower draperies have been painted black, evidently to shew that the saint was an ‘Arab’: the cult is discontinued, though the lighting of lamps and candles at the place by negro women is still remembered. Polites, , Παραδόσεις ii. 765Google Scholar, cites also Chourmouzes, , Κρητικά, 57Google Scholar in this connection.

^{page 68 note 2} Cantemir, , Emp. Ott. tr. Joncquières, , i. 184.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 3} D'Arvieux, , Mémoires, i. 45Google Scholar: ‘Ils prétendent que les statuës des hommes et des femmes sont en droit de contraindre les ouvriers qui les ont faites de leur donner une âme, & que cela ne se pouvant pas faire, … les diables se nichent & se servent de ces corps pour molester les hommes, mais que pour les empêcher, il n'ya qu'à les mutiler & les défigurer, & que les diables les voyam en cet état, les méprisent, les ont en horreur & vont chercher à se loger autre part.’

^{page 68 note 4} Le Bruyn, , Voyage, i. 82.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 5} For instances see Le Strange, , Palestine, 500Google Scholar; Garstang, , Land of the Hittites, 95Google Scholar, n. 3.

^{page 68 note 6} Dumont, , Mélanges, 219Google Scholar; Mertzides, , Αἱ χῶραι τοῦ παρελθόντος, 41.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 1} Patsch, , Das Sandschak Berat, i. 154Google Scholar; cf. above p. 64.

^{page 69 note 2} Ross, L., Wanderungen durch Griechenland, ii. 242.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 3} Clarke, E. D., Travels, II. vi. 601 f.Google Scholar; Polites, Παραδόσεις, No. 139, and note.

^{page 69 note 4} Michaelis, , Ancient Marbles, 242.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 5} Glycae, M., Annales, 304 PGoogle Scholar: τών θεμελίων καταβαλομένων,βούς,Φασίν,εὑρεθη̑ναι μαρμαρινου̑ κεφαλήν· ἡν εὑρόντες καὶ συντριψάντες εἰς τὸν του̑ τιτάνο κάμινον βὰλλουσιν. ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ μέχρι τω̑ν τῇδε χρόνων οὐκ ἐπαύσατο πανταχου̑ τη̑ς γη̑ς ὁπόσην ἡ τη̑ς ηη̑ς ὁπόσην ἡ τω̑ν ῾Pωμαίων περιέχει δυναστεία,τὰ τω̑ν βυω̑ν διαφθείρεσθαι γένη.

^{page 70 note 1} Hogarth, , Devia Cypria, 46 ff.Google Scholar cf. 41.

^{page 70 note 2} This is interesting as an example of popular canonization by Christians exactly on Turkish lines. The Turks frequently anthropomorphise haunted places and objects they venerate in the same way and Ἁγία Τρυπημήνη is exactly paralleled by Delikli Baba. The sex in the present case is due to the gender of πέτρα.

^{page 70 note 3} Cesnola, , Cyprus, 189.Google Scholar

^{page 70 note 4} Some light is shed on the method of working these by Macalister's, discovery at Gezer, (Q.S.P.E.F. 1909, Pl. 2).Google Scholar

^{page 70 note 5} Devia Cypria, 52. The stones at Paphos are figured by Ohnefalsch-Richter, M. (Gr. Sitten und Gebräuche aus Cypern, Pl. 17)Google Scholar, who adheres to the old theory of their ancient religious use (p. 40).

^{page 71 note 1} Travels, tr. von Hammer, , i. 16 ff.Google Scholar; Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Folklore de Constantinople, 1 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 71 note 2} See Ducange, , C. P. Christiana, 76 PGoogle Scholar, and the same author's notes to Anna Comnena, 382–3 P. A prophylactic service at the column, in which the Emperor and Patriarch took part, was performed ‘according to ancient custom’ in 1327 (Niceph. Greg. viii. 15).

^{page 71 note 3} Ducas, 289–90 B; Chalcondyles, 397 B.

^{page 71 note 4} Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων, ii. 183 (cited by Hamilton, M., Greek Saints, 71Google Scholar), from a contemporary note of 1792.

^{page 71 note 5} Polites, , Παραδόσεις, 510Google Scholar: ᾿ς τὸν τὸπον ἐκεῖνον γιατὶ εῖναι κακὸς ε̆βαλαν μὶα κολὸννα μὲ ἓνα σταυρὸ ὰπὰνου

^{page 71 note 6} Νέος Ἑλληνομνήμων, vii. 176 (201), 1563: Μηνὶ Νοεμβρίῳ ς ᾿ τον̑ αφξγ᾿ ἔτους, ἐν Κωνσταντι νουπόλει,ἐπί τινος χήρας Εὐρας Εὐλη̑ γυναικός, ὀρύσσοντές τινες πρὸς τὸ αὐξη̑σαι τὸν οἶκον αὐτη̑ς,ἐκει̑ εὗρον κίονα πορφυρου̑ν,τὸ μὲν μη̑κος ἔχοντα ποδω̑νμε,τὸ δὲ πλάτος σπιθαμω̑νις.Ἐγκεκόλαπτο δὲ παρὰ τῇ κεφαλῇ ταυτὶ τὰ στοιχει̑α ΕPΓΝΕC. Εὐθέως μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς προστάξας ἐν τοι̑ς βαδιλείοις του̑τον ἐκόμισαν· ὃν ἰδὼν λίαν ἐθαύμασε· ὡς μέγα δὲ καὶ πολύτιμον χρη̑μα,τοι̑ς βασιλικοι̑ς αὗτου θησαυροι̑ς ἐναπέθετο.

^{page 71 note 7} Hogarth, , Devia Cypria, 8.Google Scholar

^{page 71 note 8} Seventeenth century writers speak of this column as dedicated to S. John, evidently before the building of a church.

^{page 72 note 1} Polites, Παραδόσεις, No. 155; Hamilton, M., Greek Saints. 65 ff.Google Scholar; Rodd, , Customs of Modern Greece, 167Google Scholar; Kambouroglous, , Ἱστορία Ἀθηναίων, i. 221Google Scholar, is the source of all.

^{page 72 note 2} This part of the ritual seems to have escaped the notice of former writers. The idea is of some antiquity (see Weyh, , Μέτρον λαμβάνειν, in Byz. Zeitschr. xxxii. 164 ff.Google Scholar), and has parallels elsewhere in modern Greece.

^{page 72 note 3} Polites, , Παραδόσεις, ii. 764Google Scholar, citing Πανδωρα, xxii. 336.

^{page 72 note 4} Travels, i. 187. A similar story, with a less religious colouring, is told of the ‘Maiden's Stone’ (Column of Marcian) at Constantinople (Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Folklore de Constantinople, 107 f.Google Scholar).

^{page 72 note 5} See Evans, in J.H.S. xxi. 200 ff.Google Scholar, who says that one version of the stone's history was that it was brought by a holy man from Bosnia, without details.

^{page 72 note 6} F. W. H. This story is a broken-down version of that told of the Bosnian saint, Hazreti Ali, whose head was cut off by his father for an alleged intrigue (after the model of Joseph and Zuleika) with his father's young wife. The saint, who was of course innocent, walked with his head in his hand till, a woman exclaiming at the sight, his head fell and his father was turned into stone—but was afterwards resuscitated by the virtue of the saint (Wiss. Mitth. aus Bosnier, i. 462).

^{page 73 note 1} Texier, , Asie Mineure, ii. 111.Google Scholar ‘Le malade vient le matin, accompagné d'un iman qui récite quelques prières; après quoi le malade déchire une petite partie de son vêtement, et la cloue dans un des joints de la pierre; cela s'appelle clouer la fièvre. Les oints de la colonne sont criblés de clous plantés dans le même but.’

^{page 73 note 2} F. W. H.

^{page 73 note 3} On this see Hastings' Dict, of Religion, art. Charms (Muhammadan).

^{page 73 note 4} Hadji Khalfa, tr. Armain, 703.

^{page 73 note 5} Hammer-Hellert, , Hist. Emp. Ott. i. 40.Google Scholar

^{page 73 note 6} C.I.G. 2895. Cf. also the prophylactic inscription on the land-walls of Constantinople (Millingen, , Walls of Constantinople, 100Google Scholar), and for the general use of prophylactic charms on Syrian buildings of the early Christian period, Prentice, in American Exped. to Syria, iii. 17 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 1} Newton, , Halicarnassus, ii. 637.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 2} Covel, , Diaries, ed. Bent, , 217.Google Scholar Covel probably refers to the two gates (S. Romanus and S. Barbara) now known as Top Kapoussi: this has generally been translated ‘Cannon Gate,’ but the primary meaning of top is not ‘cannon,’ but ‘ball.’ Gates, as entries, are specially in need of protection, just as all entries and the beginnings of new enterprises are regarded as potentially dangerous. The inscribed cannon-ball is, of course, a ‘reinforced’ amulet: for globular objects used as a protection against the evil eye in the east, see Hildeburg, , Man, 1913, 1 ff.Google Scholar (Egypt), and cf. Rycaut, , Present State of the Turkish Empire, 40Google Scholar (a golden ball suspended over the entrance to the Imperial divan).

^{page 74 note 3} Falkener, , Ephesus, 158Google Scholar; von Hammer, , Constantinopolis, ii. 60Google Scholar; Prokesch, , Denkwürdigkeiten, i. 395.Google Scholar The Seven Sleepers patronise especially the shipping of the Black Sea (White, C., Constantinople, i. 187Google Scholar).

^{page 74 note 4} C.I.G. 8749.

^{page 74 note 5} Arundell, , Asia Minor, ii. 395.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 6} Evans, in Atchacologia, xlix. 86.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 1} Heuzey, et Daumet, , Macédoine, i. 45.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 2} F. W. H. A sinking on the top of this stone is said to be the hoof-print (ἀχνάρι) of Bucephalus.

^{page 75 note 3} According to de Bunsen, V. (Soul of a Turk, 175)Google Scholar, fever is one of the few diseases which cannot be cured by prayer. Its intermittent character encourages the idea that it is the work of a capricious djinn.

^{page 75 note 4} Tsoukalàs, , Περιγραφὴ Φιλιπποπόλεως (Vienna, 1851), 65Google Scholar; Dumont, in Mélanges Dumont, 201, 322.Google Scholar The Christian slave may be introduced into the legend, since the letters of the supposed magic inscription are Greek.

^{page 75 note 5} Anderson, in J.H.S. xix. 88.Google Scholar The inscription in the arms of the cross, read by the editor ΕΠ|ΜΟ|ΝΟΥ|ΗС, may have been intended for ΕΜΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ : for this word as a charm, see Prentice, , Amer. Exped. to Syria, iii. 21.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 6} Lechevalier, , Troy, 17Google Scholar; Walpole, , Memoirs, 97.Google Scholar

^{page 76 note 1} So also the irregular character of the lettering gave a magic reputation to an inscription seen by Lucas, at Stenimachos, in Bulgaria, (Voyage de la Grèce, i. 192, cf. 198).Google Scholar

^{page 76 note 2} Chirol, V., 'Twixt Greek and Turk, 67Google Scholar (no political significance need be attached to the priest's words!).

^{page 76 note 3} For (statues and) inscriptions regarded as marking places where treasure is buried, see Polites' note on his Παραδόσεις, No. 408.

^{page 76 note 4} For an instance, see Arch. Epig. Mitth. 1886, 95.

^{page 77 note 1} A very similar mediaeval Greek story of an enchanted stone, which was dug up by accident and brought ill-luck, is given by Polites, , Παραδόσεις, ii. 1139 f.Google Scholar, though here the stone does not appear to have had an inscription. The aid of the church was called in to conjure the spirits back into the stone, after which it was again buried.

^{page 77 note 2} vi. (The Permanence of Religion, etc.), 156 ff.

^{page 77 note 3} Wolfe Expedition (P. Amer. School, iii.), p. 218 (Altü Kapü). The text runs: ὸ δεῖνα Διο]μὴδου[ς ῾Ερμῆν ὰνὲθηκεν

^{page 78 note 1} White, C., Constantinople, i. 319Google Scholar, iii. 367; Walsh, , Constantinople, ii. 423.Google Scholar According to Skene, (Wayfaring Sketches, 218)Google Scholar, the hollows are looked upon as affording the dead a means of practising the virtue of charity to the animal world: in Syria they are said to be ‘for souls to drink out of’ (Q. S. Pal. Expl. F. 1893, 217). There may be a reminiscence of the basins placed to feed the pigeons of the Kaaba at Mecca (Burckhardt, , Travels in Arabia, i. 277Google Scholar); pigeons are a feature of Turkish cemeteries and sacred birds, since a pigeon is supposed, according to one account, to have inspired Mahommed (Varthema, in Burton's, Meccah, ii. 352Google Scholar). For the sacredness of pigeons in Turkey, see Carnoy, and Nicolaïdes, , Traditions de Constantinople, 7.Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 2} Onzième Congrès d'Orientalistes (Paris, 1897), sect. vii. 264. Cf. the analogous medicinal use of water from a cup which has been buritd for three years on a dead body (Blunt, , People of Turkey, ii. 145Google Scholar). In Bosnia the rain-water which collects in a hollow of a stone—apparently natural—selected for veneration for reasons unknown to us, is drunk by sick peasants for cure. The broad principle underlying all such uses is that the absorption by swallowing not only of parts of a sacred object, but of things which have been in contact with it, is beneficial.

^{page 78 note 3} Archaeologia, xlix. 104.

^{page 79 note 1} From MrWace, A. J. B.; cf. his Nomads of the Balkans, 133.Google Scholar

^{page 79 note 2} D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orientale, S.VV. Giourtasch and Turk and Supplement, p. 140. A rough boulder on the summit of the Cyprian Olympus, which seems to have been vaguely connected with the ark of Noah, was formerly used as a rain-charm by the local Greeks. In times of drought it was lifted on poles, to the accompaniment of singing, by the peasants of the surrounding villages (Hackett, , Church in Cyprus, 463Google Scholar, quoting Lusignan). Here the position of the stone seems to have had more to do with its selection than the stone itself. Any mountain-top is an appropriate place for watching the weather, and particularly for rain-making, since mountain-tops attract rain-clouds.

^{page 80 note 1} For bleeding trees in general, see Frazer, , Golden Bough (1900), i. 173.Google Scholar For a tree in Mytilene which bled when cut, see Walker, Mary, Old Tracks, 194Google Scholar; and for haunted trees in Greece, Polites, Παραδόσεις, Nos. 323 ff.; Λαογραφία , i. 658. I am told by Mr. Archie Charnaud that a tree which obstructs one of the newly planned streets at Brusa was allowed, after solemn deliberation on the part of the authorities, to retain its position because it ‘bled’ at the first attempt to cut it down.

^{page 80 note 2} Polites, op. cit. 325.

^{page 80 note 3} Byzantios, S., Δοκίμιον τῆς Ἄρτης καὶ τῆς Πρεβέξης (Athens, 1884), 258 f.Google Scholar: Εὶς θὲσιν καλουμὲνην Ανω Λοὺτσαν ὲκειτο ὰρχαῖὸς τις ὶερὸς Ναὸς ὲπ᾿ ὸνὸματι τῶν ὰγὶων ᾿Αποητὸλων ῾Λιθὰρἰ ἐπικαλούμενος ἔνεκα τοῦ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἔξω τοῦ Ναοῦ πρὸς τὸ ίερὸν Βῆμα δεξιόθεν ὐπάρχοντος ἐντὸς τῆς γῆς γωνιώδους τινος λιθου ὄν ἀπεκαλύψαμεν τῷ 1867 ἔτει καὶ περιεφράξαμεν διὰ Κουβου κλίου δἰ ὄν λογοποιοῦνται πολλά καὶ δἰ ἐνεργου-νται τῇ Θεοῦ χάριτι διὰ πρεσβειῶν τῶν πανευφήμων Αποστόλων διαφορα ιαμάτων χαρισματα οὐ μόνον πρὸς τούς ἠμετέρους ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐτεροθρή σκους προσίοντας καὶ ἐπικαλουμένους τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λίθου αωματικήν θεράπειαν εὐλαβῶς καὶ προσφέροντας κηρούς τε καὶ ἀλλὰ ἀφιερώματα. Επειδὴ δὲ ὀ θαυματουργὸς οὖτος λιθος ὠν ἀφανής δι ᾿ Αρχιερατικῆς ἐποπτειας ἀνεκαλύφθη κατὰ Ιούλιον τοῦ εἰρημένου ἐτου καὶ περιφράχθη ὠς εἴρηται ἐδέσεν ἴνα διορθωθῇ καὶ ὀ μικρὸς καὶ πεπαλαιωμένος Ναός ὄπερ καὶ ἐγένετο ἀλλὰ τούτου ἐκ περιστάσεώς τινος εἶτα πυρποληθέτος ἀνεκαινίσθη ἐνδοξότερος καὶ λαμπρο.τερος . . . ἐν ἔτει 1871.

^{page 81 note 1} Theodosius, , De Situ Terrae Sanctae, ed. Geyer, , Itin. Hieros, 149.Google Scholar

^{page 81 note 2} In Egypt and Syria ancient stones, figured and written, seem generally so treated (see Garstang, , Land of the Hittites, 95Google Scholar, n. 3, and 97).

^{page 82 note 1} Cf. Arundell, , Travels in Asia Minor, i. 62 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 82 note 2} Rawlinson, , in J.R.G.S. ix. 69Google Scholar: for the history of the stone as given above, see further Walpole, , Travels, 423Google Scholar (with Monteith's drawing of the stone); Ouseley, , Travels, i. 421 f.Google Scholar: de Bode, , Luristan, ii. 91Google Scholar; Loftus, , Travels in Chaldaea, 416Google Scholar; and Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. v. (1856) 446.

^{page 82 note 3} There seems to be a column credited with similar powers at Mediret-el-Fayoum. I know of it only from Sir Gilbert Parker's story, The Eye of the Needle, in Donovan Pasha.

^{page 82 note 4} Paton, , Hist. of the Egyptian Revolution (1877), ii. 276 f.Google Scholar This story is particularly interesting in view of the desperate efforts which have been made to find a classical past for the Athenian column of S. John.

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