a primitive
custom, both among other races and in the circle of nations from
which in the earliest times Israel sprang." [149] And the Bishop of
Derry remarks: "To a religious Hebrew it was rather the moon than
the sun which marked the seasons, as the calendar of the Church
was regulated by it." [150] We have sought to place this Hebrew
luniolatry beyond dispute, because so many Christians have
supposed that "the chosen people" lived in unclouded light, and "the
uncovenanted heathen" in outer and utter darkness.

Passing on we find that "in Pontus and Phrygia were temples to
_Meen_, and Homer says _Meen_ presides over the months, whilst
in the Sanskrit _Mina_, we see her connected with the Fish and
Virgin. It is not improbable that the great Akaimenian race, as
worshipping and upholding sun and moon faiths, were called after
_Meni_, the moon." [151] Among the Arabians the moon was the
great divinity, as may be learned from Pocock's _Specimen
Historiae Arabum_; Prideaux's _Connection_; Gibbon's _Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire_; and Sale's _Preliminary Discourse_
to his translation of the _Koran_. Tiele says: "The ancient religion
of the Arabs rises little higher than animistic polydaemonism. The
names Itah and Shamsh, the sun god, occur among all the Semitic
peoples; Allat, or Alilat, and Al-Uzza, as well as the triad of moon
goddesses to which these last belong, are common to several, and
the deities which bear them are reckoned among the chief." [152]
The Saracens called the moon _Cabar_, the great; and its crescent is
the religious symbol of the Turks to this day. Tradition says that
"Philip, the father of Alexander, meeting with great difficulties in
the siege of Byzantium, set the workmen to undermine the walls,
but a crescent moon discovered the design, which miscarried;
consequently the Byzantines erected a statue to Diana, and the
crescent became the symbol of the state." Dr. Brewer, who cites this
story, adds: "Another legend is that Othman, the sultan, saw in a
vision a crescent moon, which kept increasing till its horns extended
from east to west, and he adopted the crescent of his dream for his
standard, adding the motto, _Donec repleat orbem_." [153] Schlegel
mentions the story that Mahomet "wished to pass with his disciples
as a person transfigured in a supernatural light, and that the
credulity of his followers saw the moon, or the moon's light,
descend upon him, pierce his garments, and replenish