The name "Ala-Mahozim" is never, as far as
I know, found in any ancient uninspired author, and in the
Scripture itself it is found only in a prophecy. Considering that
the design of prophecy is always to leave a certain obscurity
before the event, though giving enough of light for the practical
guidance of the upright, it is not to be wondered at that an
unusual word should be employed to describe the divinity in
question. But, though this precise name be not found, we have a
synonym that can be traced home to Nimrod. In SANCHUNIATHON, pp.
24, 25, "Astarte, travelling about the habitable
world," is said to have found "a star falling
through the air, which she took up and consecrated in the holy
island Tyre." Now what is this story of the falling
star but just another version of the fall of Mulciber from heaven
(see ante, p. 233), or of Nimrod from his high estate? for as we
have already seen, Macrobius shows (Saturn., lib. i. cap. 21, p.
70) that the story of Adonis--the lamented one--so favourite a
theme in Phenicia, originally came from Assyria. The name of the
great god in the holy island of Tyre, as is well known, was
Melkart (KITTO'S Illus. Comment., vol. ii. p. 300), but this
name, as brought from Tyre to Carthage, and from thence to Malta
(which was colonised from Carthage), where it is found on a
monument at this day, casts no little light on the subject. The
name Melkart is thought by some to have been derived from
Melek-eretz, or "king of the earth"
(WILKINSON, vol. v. p. 18); but the way in which it is sculptured
in Malta shows that it was really Melek-kart, "king of
the walled city."--(See WILKINSON'S Errata prefixed to
vol. v.) Kir, the same as the Welsh Caer, found in Caer-narvon,
etc., signifies "an encompassing wall," or a "city
completely walled round;" and Kart was the feminine
form of the same word, as may be seen in the different forms of
the name of Carthage, which is sometimes Car-chedon, and
sometimes Cart-hada or Cart-hago. In the Book of Proverbs we find
a slight variety of the feminine form of Kart, which seems
evidently used in the sense of a bulwark or a fortification. Thus
(Prov. x. 15) we read: "A rich man's wealth is his
strong city" (Karit), that is, his strong bulwark or
defence. Melk-kart, then, "king of the walled
city," conveys the very same idea as Ala-Mahozim. In
GRUTER's Inscriptions, as quoted by Bryant, we find a title also
given to Mars, the Roman war-god, exactly coincident in meaning
with that of Melkart. We have elsewhere seen abundant reason to
conclude that the original of Mars was Nimrod (p. 44. Note). The
title to which I refer confirms this conclusion, and is contained
in the following Roman inscription on an ancient temple in
Spain:-
"Malace Hispanie
MARTI CIRADINO
Templum communi voto
Erectum."
(See BRYANT, vol. ii. p. 454.) This title shows that the
temple was dedicated to "Mars Kir-aden," the
lord of "The Kir," or "walled
city." The Roman C, as is well known, is hard, like K;
and Adon, "Lord," is also Aden. Now, with this
clue to guide us, we can unravel at once what has hitherto
greatly puzzled mythologists in regard to the name of Mars
Quirinus as distinguished from Mars Gradivus. The K in Kir is
what in Hebrew or Chaldee is called Koph, a different letter from Kape, and is frequently pronounced as a Q.
Quir-inus, therefore,
signifies "belonging to the walled city," and
refers to the security which was given to cities by encompassing
walls. Gradivus, on the other hand, comes from "Grah,"
"conflict," and "divus,"
"god"--a different form of Deus, which has been
already shown to be a Chaldee term; and therefore signifies "God
of battle." Both these titles exactly answer to the two
characters of Nimrod as the great city builder and the great
warrior, and that both these distinctive characters were set
forth by the two names referred to, we have distinct evidence in
FUSS's Antiquities, chap. vi. p. 348. "The Romans,"
says he, "worshipped two idols of the kind [that
is, gods under the name of Mars], the one called Quirinus, the
guardian of the city and its peace; the other called Gradivus,
greedy of war and slaughter, whose temple stood beyond the city's
boundaries."
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