s is in Genesis (xvii.)
placed in the age of Abraham, and at all events it must have been very
ancient, for flint stones were used in the operation (Exodus iv. 25;
Joshua v. 2). The narrative in Joshua implies that the custom was
introduced by him, not that it had merely been in abeyance in the
Wilderness. At Gilgal he "rolled away the reproach of the Egyptians" by
circumcising the people. This obviously means that whereas the Egyptians
practised circumcision the Jews in the land of the Pharaohs did not, and
hence were regarded with contempt. It was an old theory (Herodotus ii.
36) that circumcision originated in Egypt; at all events it was
practised in that country in ancient times (Ebers, _Egypten und die
Buecher Mosis_, i. 278-284), and the same is true at the present day. But
it is not generally thought probable that the Hebrews derived the rite
directly from the Egyptians. As Driver puts it (_Genesis_, p. 190): "It
is possible that, as Dillmann and Nowack suppose, the peoples of N.
Africa and Asia who practised the rite adopted it from the Egyptians,
but it appears in so many parts of the world that it must at any rate in
these cases have originated independently." In another biblical
narrative (Exodus iv. 25) Moses is subject to the divine anger because
he had not made himself "a bridegroom of blood," that is, had not been
circumcised before his marriage.

The rite of circumcision was practised by all the inhabitants of
Palestine with the exception of the Philistines. It was an ancient
custom among the Arabs, being presupposed in the Koran. The only
important Semitic peoples who most probably did not follow the rite were
the Babylonians and Assyrians (Sayce, _Babyl. and Assyrians_, p. 47).
Modern investigations have brought to light many instances of the
prevalence of circumcision in various parts of the world. These facts
are collected by Andree and Ploss, and go to prove that the rite is not
only spread through the Mahommedan world (Turks, Persians, Arabs, &c.),
but also is practised by the Christian Abyssinians and the Copts, as
well as in central Australia and in America. In central Australia
(Spencer and Gillen, pp. 212-386) circumcision with a stone knife must
be undergone by every youth before he is reckoned a full member of the
tribe or is permitted to enter on the married state. In other parts, too
(e.g. Loango), no uncircumcised man may marry. Circumcision was known to
the Aztecs (Bancroft, _Native Races