distinct functions.[508] There are many Greek and Roman titles that
connect gods with trees,[509] but these may be explained in the way
suggested above: Zeus Endendros is a god dwelling in a tree, but the
tree is only an abode, not a god, and the god Zeus does not come from
the tree--rather two distinct sacred things have been brought together
and fused into a unity, or the tree is a rude, incipient image. The
Dionysos Hermes-figures may be explained in the same way.[510]

+281+. It appears to be the aloofness of trees that prevents their
becoming gods; they are revered and worshiped, but without becoming
personalities. Babylonian seal engravings and wall pictures often
represent a tree before which men or higher beings stand in adoration;
according to Maspero[511] there was actual worship of trees in Egypt,
and similar cults are found among the wild tribes of India.[512]
Adoration, however, does not necessarily imply a god; the Buddhist's
worship under the bo-tree is not directed to any being; it is only the
recognition of something that he thinks worthy of reverence.[513]

+282+. The cult of the corn-spirit is referred to above,[514] and doubt
is there expressed as to whether such a spirit has grown into a true
god. The question is confessedly a difficult one on account of the
absence of full data for the period involved. The chief ground for the
doubt as to the development in question lies in what we know of early
gods. The term 'Adon,' as is remarked above, is the Phoenician title
of the local deity. The origin of such deities is involved in the
obscurity of the remote past, but they are, each in his community,
universal powers; their functions embrace all that their communities
desire, and they represent each the total life of a people. It is the
general rule that any popular custom may be introduced into the cult of
the local god; of such sort of procedure there are many examples. In the
case under consideration the god may have become the hero of a ceremony
with which he had originally nothing to do, as the Hebrews when they
entered Canaan connected Canaanite festivals with their national god,
Yahweh, and later a cult of the wilderness deity Azazel[515] was adopted
and modified by the Yahwist leaders. Various cults attached themselves
to the worship of Zeus, Apollo, Dionysos, and other Greek deities.[516]

+283+. A similar explanation may be given of the ceremonies of death and
resurrection connected with Attis