for its purpose, see Geffcken, _Aus der
Werdezeit des Christentums_, p. 7, p. 111.

18. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 294. Cf. _supra_, pp. 175 f. {284}

19. Ambrosiaster, _Comm. in Epist. Pauli_, p. 58 B: "Dicentes per istos
posse ire ad Deum sicut per comites pervenire ad regem" (cf. _Rev. his.
lit. rel._, VIII, 1903, p. 427).--The same idea was set forth by Maximus of
Turin (_Adv. pag._, col. 791) and by Lactantius (_Inst. div._, II, 16, Sec. 5
ff., p. 168 Brandt); on the celestial court, see also Arnobius, II, 36;
Tertullian, _Apol._, 24.--Zeus bore the name of king, but the Hellenic
Olympus was in reality a turbulent republic. The conception of a supreme
god, the sovereign of a hierarchical court, seems to have been of Persian
origin, and to have been propagated by the magi and the mysteries of
Mithra. The inscription of the Nemroud Dagh speaks of [Greek: Dios
Oromasdou thronous] (_supra_, ch. VI, n. 26), and, in fact, a bas-relief
shows Zeus-Oramasdes sitting on a throne, scepter in hand. The Mithra
bas-reliefs likewise represent Jupiter Ormuzd on a throne, with the other
gods standing around him (_Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 129; II, p. 188, fig.
11); and Hostanes pictured the angels sitting around the throne of God
(_supra_, ch. VI, n. 38; see Rev. iv). Moreover, the celestial god was
frequently compared, not to a king in general, but to the Great King, and
people spoke of his satraps; cf. Pseudo-Arist., [Greek: Peri kosmou], c. 6,
p. 398 _a_, 10 ff. = Apul., _De mundo_, c. 26; Philo, _De opif. mundi_, c.
23, 27 (p. 24, 17; 32, 24, Cohn); Maximus of Turin, X, 9; and Capelle, _Die
Schrift von der Welt_ (_Neue Jahrb. fuer das klass. Altert._, VIII), 1905,
p. 556, n. 6. Particularly important is a passage of Celsus (Origen,
_Contra Cels._, VIII, 35) where the relation of this doctrine to the
Persian demonology is shown. But the Mazdean conception must have combined,
at an early date, with the old Semitic idea that Baal was the lord and
master of his votaries (_supra_, p. 94 ff.). In his _Neutestamentliche
Zeitgeschichte_, (2d. ed., 1906, p. 364 ff.), Holtzmann insists on the fact
that the people derived their conception of the kingdom of God from the
pattern of the Persian monarchy. See also _supra_, p. 111.

A comparison similar to this one, which is also found among the pagans of
the fourth century, is the comparison of heaven with a city (Nectarius in
St. Aug., _Epist._, 103 [Migne, _P. L._, XXXIII, col. 386]): "Civ