r VERHANDELINGEN DER KONINKLIJKE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN AFDEELINO- LETTERKUNDE 1 NIEUWE REEKS DEEL XVII AMSTERDAM — JOHANNES MÜLEER } 1917. Gedrukt bij Joh. Enschedé en Zonen. — Haarlem. INHOUD. 1. A. J. Wensinck. The ideas of the western Semites concerning the navel of the earth. 2. E. C. Boee. Studiën over de Metriek van het Alliteratievers. 3. W. Caland. Een onbekend Indisch tooneelstuk (gopglakelicandrika). Tekst met inleiding. 4. D. C. Hesseling. Le roman de Phlorios et Platzia Phlore. Avec une introduction, des observations et un index. f THE IDEAS OF THE WESTERN SEM1TES COEERING THE NAVEL OF THE EARTH BY A. J. WENSINCK Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam AFDEELIXG LETTERKUNDE NIEUWE REEKS DEEL XVII. N°. 1 AMSTERDAM JOHANNES MULLER 1916 PREFACE I have to thauk Mrs. Kuenen—Wicksteed for her thorough revision of my English manuscript. I am indebted to Professors Houtsma and Snoück Hürgronje for several suggestions and emendatiohs. I have to thank Professors Uhlenbeck,-.Vogel and Vürtheim for parallels in non-semitic literatures. Leiden, July 1916. A. J. WENSINCK u CONTENTS Page Preface m Contents v , List of Abbreviations vu Introduction x Chapter L The Navel and Mountains 1 Chapter II. The Navel and the Sanctuary 11 Chapter III. The Navel and the Universe A. The Navel and the Earth 37 B. The Navel and Heaven 43 C. The Navel of Heaven 45 D. The Navel and the Universe 50 E. The Navel and the Throne 54 F. The Navel and the Nether World 58 G. The Navel and the Serpent 59 LIST OF ABBREVJATIONS L'abrégé des merveilles = L'abrégë des merveilles traduit , • de 1'Arabe par Carra de Vaux (Paris 1898). Abü Zaid = Aoü Zaid Ahmed ben Sahl al-Balkhï, Kitab al-Bad' wa'l-Ta'rïkh, trad. et éd. par C. Huart (Publications de 1'école des langues orientales vivantes, Série IV, t. XVI—XVIII, XXI; Paris 1899—1904). *. Adamsbuch = Der Kampf Adam's oder das christliche Adamsbuch des Morgenlandes, ed. Trumpp (Abh. der bayr. Akad. der Wissenscb., I. Classe, XV.'Band; Miinchen 1881). Agapius = La chronique cL'Agapius ed. Cheikho (Corpus Soriptt. Christ. Oriënt. N°. 65, Scriptt. Arabici, Textus, Series III, T. V; 1912). Azrakï = Wüstenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, vol. I (Leipzig 1858). Batanünï = al-Batanünï, al-Rihla al-Hidja- zïya, 2nd ed. (Kairo 1329). Ber. Rabba = ed. of Amsterdam (1641—42). Bibl. Geogr. Arab. = Bibliotheca GeographorumAra- bicorum ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden 1870—1906). Book of the Bee = Solomon of Basra's Ketaba de Debborita ed. Budge (Anecdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series, vol. I, part 2). Brandt, Mandaer = W. Brandt, Die Mandaer, ihre Religion und ihre Geschichte (Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. Amsterdam, Nieuwe Reeks, Deel XVI, n°. 3). Burton = R. F. Burton, Personal Narra- tive of a Pilgrimage to el-Medinah and Meccah, 2nd ed. (London 1857). Dalman = G. Dalman, Petra und seine Felsheiligtümer (Leipzig 1908). Ephraim Opp. = Si. Ephraim Syri opera edd. Benedictus et Assemani, syriace et latine (Rome 1732—46). vtn LIST OP ABBREVIATIONS "Feuchtwang = D. Feuchtwang, Das Wasser- opfer und die damit verbundenen Zeremonien (Monatsschrift f. Gesch. und Wiss. des Judentums, Neue Folge, Jahrg. XVIII, p. 535—552, 713—729 and Jahrg. XIX, pp. 43—63). Hadrawï = Muhamrned al-Hadrawï, al-'Ikd al-Thamïn (Mekka 1314). Halabï = Halabï's Sïra (Kairo 1292), 3 vols. Hexahemeron = Das Hexaëmeron des Pseudo- Epiphanius ed. Trumpp (Abh. der bayr. Ak. ■ der Wissensch. I. Classe, XVI. Band; München 1880). Ibn al-Athïr = Ibn al-Athïr's chronicon ed.. Tornberg (Leiden 1867—76). Ibn al-Wardï = Fragmentum libri Margarita mirabilium ed. Tornberg (Upsala 1S35—1839), 2 vols. Ibn Djubair = The Travels of Ibn Jubayr (Wright's Text) ed. de Goeje (Leiden and London 1907). Ins = Mudjïr al-Dïn al-Hanbalï, Kitab al-Ins al-Djalïl (Kairo 1283), 2 vols. Jellinek = Bet ha-Midrasch ed. A. Jellinek (Leipzig 1853—73), 5 vols. Jensen = P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (Strassburg 1890). Jeremias = A. Jeremias, Handbuch der altorientalischen Geisteskultur (Leipzig 1913). Kazwïnï I = Kazwïnï's Kitab 'Adja'ib al- Makhlükat ed. Wüstenfeld (Göttingen 1849). Kazwïnï II = Kazwïuï's Kitab Athar al-Bilad ed. Wüstenfeld (Göttingen 1848). Khamïs = Dyarbekrï's Ta'rïkh al-Khamïs (Kairo 1283) 2 vols. Kisa'ï == Kisa'ï's 'Adja'ib al-Malaküt, Leiden Ms. Warner 538. Kutb al-Dïn = Wüstenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, vol. III (Leipzig 1857). Lagarde = Materialien zur Kritik und Geschichte dès Pentateuchs ed. P. de Lagarde, vol. II (Leipzig 1867). Mas'üdï = Les prairies d'or éd. et trad. par Barbier- de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille (Paris 1861—77) 9 vols. Midrash Kohelet = ed. of Lemberg (1861) 5 vols. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IX Midnrsh Shoher Tob = ed. of Warsaw 1875. Nuwairï = Nuwairï's Nihayat al-Arab, Leiden Ms. Oriënt. 273, vol. I. Odes of Solomon = The Odes and Psalms of Solo- mon ed. and transl. J. Rendel Harris, 2nd ed., Cambridge 1911). Rhodokanakis = N. Rhodokanakis, Omphalos und Eben Shetija (Wörter und Sachen V, p. 198 sqq.). Romance of Alexander = The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great being a series of Ethiopië texts ed. Budge (London 1896) 2 vols. Roscher, Neue Studiën = W. H. Roscher, Neue Ompha- losstudien (Abh. d. phil.-hist. Klasse d. Sachs. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. XXXI, 1). Roscher, Omphalos = W. H. Roscher, Omphalos (Abh. d. phil.-hist. Klasse d. Sachs. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. XXIX, 9). Schatzhöhle = Die Schatzhöhle ed. Bezold (Leipzig 1883—88) 2 vols. Tabarï = Annales...... at-Tabari cum aliis ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden 1879—1901). Tabarï Tafsïr = Tabarï's Commentary on the Kor'an (Kairo 1901—03). Targum Ester = Hagiographa chaldaice ed. P. de Lagarde (Leipzig 1873). Tha'labï = Tha'labï's Kisas al-Anbiya' (Kairo 1290). Tirmidhï — Tirmidhï's Sahïh (Kairo 1292) 2 vols. Wellhausen, Reste = Reste Arabischen Heidentums, 2nd ed. (Berlin 1897). Zamakhsharï == Zamakhsharï's Commentary on the Kor'an, ed. Nassau Lees, Khadim Hosain and Abd al Hayi (Calcutta 1856—59) 2 vols. INTRODUCTIOIN As far as I know it was Roscher who for the first time drew the attention of Semitic scholars to the navel of the earth.in his well known monograph called Omphalos, in which several pages are given to the ideas of the Semitic peoples on this subject. In a remarkable article entitled Das Wasseropfer und die damit verbundenen Zeremonien, Feuchtwang produced incidentally a great , deal of very valuable material referring to the Holy Rock in Jerusalem as a navel stone. This article lead Professor Rhodokanakis to a discussion of the philological side of the question in „Wörter und Sachen". In 1914 Dr. O. Klameth published a book on Palestinean traditions (Die neutestaraentlichen Lokaltraditionen Palastina's). On pp. 88 sqq. several Jewish and Christian traditions concerning Jerusalem as the navel are given. In a new treatise entitled Neue Omphalosstudien Roscher completed his previous study; this treatise contains also many data on the Semitic conception, partly based on Feuchtwang's article. But a systematic investigation of the extension of the subject among the Semites and its significance has, as,far as I know, never appeared. The present treatise is not an endeavour to fill up the whole of this lacuna, as the literature of the Babylonians has not | been consulted. This would have been a difficult task for me and one not promising many results; for Jeremias who has tried to find the name and the characteristics of the navel of the earth among the Eastern Semites, has only found a few examples which seem to show signs of similar ideas having been current in Babylonia. Possibly the present investigations may stimulate a renewed research in this domain of literatufe. Nor in regard of the literature of the Hebrews, the Syrians and the Arabic writing Muslims do my investigations aim at completeness. I am convinced that continued research will produce a great many more examples. But it would take a whole lifetime to consult all the Oriental books which might ■ INTRODÜCTION XI contain material- for our subject and even then completeness would be very problematic. The reason why T feel justified in publishing my material lies in the fact that it seems to be of a nature capable of being worked into a systematic synopsis. Readers will perhaps be surprised to find that the copious data gathered by Roscher have only very seldom been quoted in this treatise. It is therefore necessary to explain why I thought it bet ter not to do so. To use foreign material for an investigation of the significance of the navel of the earth for the Western Semites, is only safe for him who is able to estimate it at the value it has in its own domain and this would be a task above my powers. On the other hand the present material is qualified to show what the thoughts of a limited group of peoples on the subject were without any foreign elements having been mixed with the investigation. The characteristics of the navel which may be expected and, as we. shall see, really occur in the literature of the Western Semites, are the following. 1. That of being exalted above the territories surrounding it. This characteristic appears in the form of the navel as it is commonly represented among the Greeks. 2. That of being the origin of the earth, as the navel is the origin of the embryo. This characteristic of the navel was so prominent in the Semitic notion of the navel, that Arabic lexicographers mention it as a common metaphorical significance of the word for navel. Rhodokanakis has already observed this. 3. That of being the centre of the earth. This is also a common characteristic of the navel of the earth in the conceptions of the Greeks. 4. That of being the place of communication with the nether and upper world. This characteristic is founded on simple observations of the navel and the function of the navelcord. It is to be noted that the primeval Semitic word for navel, Hebrew Syriac has in Arabic the meaning of navelcord. The navel itself is called in Arabic Zy». That this characteristic of the navel was alsq knowri to the Greeks is proved by the fact that the Omphalos is often represented as a grave, the type of the nether world and that it was lócaüsed in a sanctuary, the place of communication with the nether and upper world. 5. That of being the medium by which food is distributed over the earth. Feuchtwang has already touched upon this characteristic. XII INTK0DÜCT10N It is in harmony with a well known function of the navel of the embryo. In the present treatise two other facts will appear, which are of importance as signs of the relation between Jewish and Muslim lore. In the first place we shall see that traditions concerning the character of Jerusalem as the navel of the earth, and cosmógonictraditions in general, have been transferred by the MusUms to Mekka. This treatise may thus also be considered as a contribution to the problem of the origin of Muslim tradition. The other fact to be noted is this: the main part of the traditions on our subject will appear to have been handed down by a class of traditionalists well known to students of Islam. It is that class of persons who, before Goldziher and Snouck Hurgronje had made a clear insight in the genesis of Muslim tradition possible, were styled impostors by such orientalists as Sprengen Ibn 'Abbas, Wahb ibn Munabbih, Ka'b al-Ahbar. That these persons are mentioned as the transmittors of this special class of traditions, proves that they have been accessible to foreign, especially North-Semitic, influence and so have become the chief intermediaries betweeu the North-Semitic and the Islamic world for cosmogonic and cosmologic lore. For this reason Ka'b has always been suspect. Tabarï tells a curious story on this subject (I, 62, 14 sqq.): ,,'Ikrima said: one day a man came to Ibn 'Abbas and said to him: I have heard a wonderful story from Ka'b about the sun and the moon. Hearing this, Ibn 'Abbas who bad been reclining, sat upright and said: what is it? The man answered: he maintains that on the day of Resurrection the sun and the moon will be dragged as if they were two bulls whose sinews have been cut through and so they will be thrown into Heil. When Ibn 'Abbas heard this, his lips were parted through anger and he said: Ka'b has lied, Ka'b has lied, Ka'b has lied, three times. This is a Jewish story which he is trying to introducé into Islam." What makes this little anecdote still more curious is the scarcely concealed jalousie de métier of Ibn 'Abbas agaihst his rival. Lastly I have to remark that vvherever in this treatise the navel is spoken of, the navel of the earth is meant; and that the system of tran§cription is that which is used in the Eucyclopaedia of Islam. CHAPTER I THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS The earliest place in the literature of the Semitic peoples where the navel of the earth occurs, is perhaps Jndges IX, 37. What the expression denotes here is made clear by the parallel verse 36, in which Ga'al, the usurper of Shekem, catches sight of the men of Abimelek, his rival, descending from the tops of the mountains, DHUn ^tSWlü- The same fact is expressed in vs. 37 by the words l'INH TQü D^Q „from the navel of the land". The navel of the land accordingly denotes in the móuths of the inhabitants of Shekem, no further commentary being needed, a high place in their country. We will begin our investigation by asking the question: are there other examples in West-Semitic literatures of mountains being called „the navel of the land?" or „the navel of the earth?" Or do the mountains possess one or more of the characlreristics of the navel, as we have enumerated them in the lntroduction ? We shall try to answer this question by inquiring into the place the mountains occupy in the Old Testament and in Jewish ^ literature. At the outset we can state, that the first two chapters of Genesis do not mention the mountains at all. It is however well known, especially since the appearance of Gunkel's Schöpfung und Chaos,: that Gen. I and II were far from being the only cosmogonic stories current among the early Israelites. The first. has however at least one feature in common . with nearly all .Semitic stories of the creation: the pre-existence of Tehom, primeval Ocean. In Proverbs Vlll a description of Wisdom is given as a divine Hypostasis, which existed even bef ore Tehom. This fact gives the author the opportunity of. enumerating, one after another, the different stages of the creation. Vs. 24 sqq.: „When there were no Oceans, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abouuding with water. Before the mountains had been immerged Verband, der Kon! Akad. v. Wctensch. Afd. Letterk. Nieuwe Reeks 'Dl. XVII N°. 1. 1 2 THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS (in the Ocean), before the hills, T was brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth aud her- ways" 1). The sequence of the different acts of the creation is consequently this: the Ocean, the mountains being immerged in it, the earth and her ways. So the first solid spots in the Ocean are the mountains; after them the earth is created. The mountains consequently posse'ss the characteristic, belonging to the navel, of being the parts of the earth which have been created before the rest. This conception is expressed in several ways in Hebrew literature. In Bereshit Rabba, VI ro., a, 11 sq. Rabbi Tanhum b. Yeremiah says: „On it (viz. the first day) were created four things: the mountains, heaven, earth and light" 2). This tradition adds one remarkable feature to the picture °of Proverbs VIII, viz. the creation of the mountains preceding the creation of heaven. It will not be till later that we shall have occasion to discuss the peculiar place of this tradition in the cosmogony and its value for our research. The mountains are placed in Tehom. This connection betweèn the mountains and Tehom appears in several later traditions. In Ber. Rabba, fol. XXXV vo., h, 12 sq. we find: „thy (viz. God's) justice reaches down to thy judgments, like God's mountains reach down to the great Tehom"3). And fol. XXXV vo. b, 14 sq. they are compared with fortresses: „Just as these mountains dominate Tehom, lest it should rise-and inimdate the earth, so" etc.4) This same thought is expressed in the-Old Testament, Proverbs VIII, 29: „When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his oommandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth"5) etc. It will be clear that the foundations of the earth are the mountains which were let down into the prime val flood before the creation of the earth. The expression „foundations of the earth" occurs several times in the Old Testament; this proves how popular the above mentioned conception of the mountains was. The phrase compares the earth with a building; like the foundations of the building are laid first, so the foundations of the earth, in this case the mountains, are made first. ») thaa D'o (read *aoa) itoa mrya ptc vfobn nionn 2) mfa pMi dw onn önan nymx ntfiaa w 3) ron mnn iy ba mti fasira "iy *\nprrt 4) ui -i3 Dbiyn na epn rby &v DinnV o^aaa ïV?n tm na £) pN hdio (read iptna) ipina vs roy vh d»öï ipn vb ïaiEO THE NATEL. AND MOUNTAINS 3 The cómparison betweeii the earth and a building, set npon foundations, has given rise to a conventionalised conception viz. of the earth resting on pillara-(pKH pNH.'pVÖ Ps. LXXV, 4; Job IX, 0; 1 Sarn. II, 8). . These cosmogonic representations" are however not the only ones which mention the mountains in a peculiar way. Ps. CIV, 5—7: „He has founded the earth on its pedestals, so that it will never totter. Tehom covertd it like a cloth; the waters- stood above (or I against) the mountains At thy rebuke they flee; at the voice of thy thunder they haste away" 1). Here; we. have not really a story of the creation, but a story of how the earth was made into dry land. Here the mountains are again the first dry spots which emerge from Tehom. Syriac literature does not furnish us with any valuable parallel descriptions of the mountains being let down into Tehom before the creation of the earth. It contains descriptions of the cosmógóifv which are parallel to that in Ps. CIV. In Ephraim, Öpp. I, 116 F, Jacob of Edessa gives the following description of Tehom and the earth before the cosmogony: „Scripture says: „The earth was invisible" because of Tehom which was stagnant and surrounded it on six sides like the embryo which is surrounded by the membranes in its mother's womb" 2). • Then Jacob explains how the immerged globe got its present form: „Now God. rent: this, Tehom. Then he ordered the earth. to give up its character of a smooth globe; and he made protuberance» and holes, heights and dept lis on its surface so that the waters were gathered and taken ; from its surface and the earth could appear" 3). It is again the mountains which emerge from the fiood before the rest of the world. . We have further to cónsider the question, whether the mountains as the origin of the earth, or as the origin of the cosmos also ') m*D3 mbz mnn njn dVijt . ÜWi bi rotia by pN iy fUWT *py~\ bipD poir ynpo d{o nor enn by (read nnso) 2) In o? ooi X-x^d? UooaiZ ^-^o Zooi cn_.iA.il »__>1 1A_j_i*>A_£> 1 \n lAv\»o iS>» oen q_\ Za__> ,__> ]Av i °> A_» _.__> a__ i_v*>o . looi 3) MvV ÖT___. r f> °> ^-irjCTI. 1 CO-b-] —O fSO l-DOCTl Z LüOl Ll CTl___ CTLO ^OOOIJO ÓiZc_jj__^»>0 rnln-, >°>m]< Ivn^iro] nn ^ .ƒ< |rn V] ^qj-loAj» 1 aiso^^s j ,-.__> 1 »V) 4 THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS occur in Arabic literature. At the outset we may state that if so, it will be in defiance of the Kor'an which does not favour such a view. Süra XVI, 15 (cf. XXI, 32; XXXI,. 9) Muharnmed says: „He (viz. Allah) hath placed upon the earth (mountains) firmly rooted, lest it should move you, and also rivers and paths" *). This passage supposes the earth to have been created before the mountains; this was also Jacob of Edessa's view, as we have seen. But Muharnmed apparently knows nothing about the mountains as the first parts of the earth emerging from Tehom. The commentators do not appear to be acquainted with such ideas either. They genefally commentate on the places mentioped in this way: When Allah had created the earth, it began to totter; then he created the mountains and placed them upon it; then it stood firmly (Tabarï and Baidawï ad Süra XVI, 15; ïha'labï, p. 5, 8 sqq.; Nuwairï, p. 54, 8 sqq.). There are however some cosmogonic views in Arabic literature known which are cognate to Jacob of Edessa's view. Kazwïnï I, 159, 7 infra: „But for the mountains the surface of the earth would be round and smooth and the water of the seas would cover it on all sides and surround it as the globe of air surrounds the water"2). (Cf. Baidawï ad Süra XVI, 15). But generally tradition mentions the second or the third day of the Hexahemeron as that on which the mountains were created (Tabarï Tafsïr XII, 3, 27; Tabari I, 20, 16; 42, II; 52, 5; 19, 18; 44, 18). But the first occurs also: Tab. I, 52, 9. Further there are, as far as I know, only very few features in Arabic literature which contain reminiscences of the North:Semitic theory of the mountains. In Abü Zaid II, 2, 5; Ins I, 11, 7 sqq.; Kisa'ï, fol. 6 vo. 4 infra they are regarded as coagulated billows of Tehom. Consequently they, and with them the earth, are considered as a prey wrested from Tehom. Here is a reminiscence of the old mythological strife between the gods and Tehom. Reviéwing the facts we have mentioned, we may state that in Hebrew literature the conception of the mountains as being the first bom parts of the earth is living, in the Old Testament as well as in Jewish literature. That among the Syrians, as far as we are able to discern, this view is only known in a mödified form, thus, that the mountains are those parts of the earth which first THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS 5 have emerged from Tehom ; that Araibic literature is turned in quite a different direction by the Kor'an, and that reminiscences only of the North-Semitic views occur. We have further to ask: do the mountains possess another characteristic of the navel, viz. that of forming the place of communication with the upper and the nether world? In the above mentioned traditions this question has been already partially answered in so far as, according to a Hebrew cosmologic System they are considered as reaching down to Tehom and as being placed in it. And in some Arabic traditions they are called coagulatéd billows of Tehom. The denomination ^Ji) ó^c „pillare of the earth" occurs also in Arabic traditions (Ins I, 11, 7; Kisa'ï fol. 16, ro., 16), It looks like a foreign expression, borrowed from the Northern neighbours. The conné-tion of the mountains with the upper world has not yet been mentioned. As is only natural we find it too. In Job XXVI, 11 there occurs incidentally the expression D*D_? **110y „the pillars of heaven" which are made to totter by Yahwe's voice. It is scarcely possible to take this expression in any other sense than as denoting the mountains which seem to support the sky. This explanation is corroborated by two other facts: 1. by the term plNi"! Hlöy which we have found as an appellation of the mountains; 2. by the fact that according to the Oriental conception the sky is a stratum Jffi5L Moreover we shall find the same conception in Arabic literature. The fiftieth Süra of the Kor'an bears one of the enigmatic initials which open some Süra's viz. the letter (j. Of course this letter has no other significance than the other initials have; but the Muslim commentators take it as the name, Kaf, of the circle of mountains which surrounds the earth. As Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studiën, p. 73, has already observed, Kaf is the name which the Zoroastrians gave one of their mythical mountains; this fact explains the Arabic name. In several Muslim traditions the appearance of this circle of mountains is described. According to Tha'labï for instance (p. 5, 10 sqq.) God made the earth immoveable by the creation of mountains: „and Allah created a large mountain of green emerald, from which the green colour of the sky is derived; it is called mount Kaf and it surrounds the whole of the earth" *) (c£ Abü Zaid II, 6, 7; Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 7, 6, sqq.). 6 THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS Now this circle of mountains is the only-real range of mountains on the earth, for all other mountains are only spurs derived from it: „i. ï_,Aju Löa!) , )lx5_ „the mountains of the world branch off from it" (Nuwairï, 54, 21); or: God causes the mountains to ■germinate from it, like trees from.their roots (Abü Zaid II, 49, 6, sq.; Ibn al-Wardï I proemium 37, 5 infra). Tha'labï (l.c.1. 13) calls them the veins of üjebel Kaf. We find the same features of the. mountain Kaf in that part: Qf the Aethiopic version of the Remance of Alexander, which goes back to an Arabic original. But here as well a's in Ibn al-Wardï I, 7, 5, infra another feature is added: its foundations, and therefore also the foundations of all mountains, lie in the seveuth earth. Here we have, once more, the mountains as the foundations of the earth x), The idea of.Djebel Kaf surrounding the earth has probably corrie from the Zoroastrians; according to Windischmann (o, c. p. 1, 72) they call it Harburc, and this mountain Harburc is cönnected with the sky (of. Justi, Beitrage zur alten Geographie Persiens, erste Abteilung, p. 4 sqq., as quoted by Jensen p. .210). In Arabic and Aethiopic literature the same is said of ïnount Kaf; Nuwairï, 54, 22: „Some people say that the sky is a cover resting upon it" 2). According to others between this mountain and the sky there is only the distance of a man's height (Abü Zaid II, 46, 9; Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 34, 1). These examples are sufficiënt to show that the mountains really have been couceived as being cönnected with thé upper and- with the nether world; so tbey are the rivets which join thé three stages of the world. This idea is also well known to the Eastern Semites. Jeremias, p. 54 quotes a description of the „Mountain of lands"; „Grosser Berg dés Inlil, Imharsag, dessen Gipfel den Himmel erreicht, dessen Fundament im Ocean gegründet ist". And we may compare the Homeric verses (Odyssea u 52 sqq.): "AxXavTOi 5vyxivjp ohoófpovoi, o? re &k< A^l) ^) ^jüj. Ro'mance of Alexander, p. 145, 19 sq.: hh00 t Chtb s £flfluïi : 2>(l : THE NAVEL AND MOUNTAINS 7 And Hesiod, Theogony, vs. 779 r.'ifufi <& x/otnv apyvptoKTi fl-pb; aófavoi' gcrT>}p(>'.T- „the mountain of Mekka". Remembèring the fact that the author of the Ins was intimately acquainted with the Jewish views concerning Jerusalem, we can scarcely doubt that the expression is due to the feeling, that the sanctuary ought to be a mountain and that Mekka should be called the mountain of Mekka like Jerusalem is called mount Sion. WTe have seen above that according tb the common Muslim opinion the mountains have been created after the heavens and the earth, on the second or the third day of creation. There is however a widely spread tradition maintaining Abü Kubais to have been the first mountain Allah set upon the earth, when it was still tottering' (Azrakï, p. 478, 5; Kutb al-Dïn, p. 443, 9; Nuwairï, p! 72, 12; Hadrawï, p. 4, 16). Halabï gives it the title of „the father of mountains" (I, 195). And it is said of al-Hira'that its foundations are situated in 'the seventh' earth (Hadrawï p. 14, G). There are however some traditions which go so far as to contradict the opinion that all mountains have been created on the second or the third day of the Hexahemeron and to maintain that the creation of Mekka coincides with that of its two mountains. Azrakï, p. 42, 5 infra, relates how a document was found in the foundations of the Ka'ba, oh which these words were written i „I am Allah the lord of Bakka; 1 made it a sanctuary on the day when I created heaven and earth, sun and moon; on the day when I made these two mountains" *) (cf. p. 353, 8; Nuwairï, p. 75, 11). Here THE .NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY' 13 an intimate connection is assumed between the holy city and its two mountains. It naturally occurs to us to find an analogy here with ideas and facts occurring in other parts of the Semitic world. The holy place Shekem lies also between two sacred mountains; and Assyriologists have laid emphasis on the fact that the mountain of the earth, which is represented by the sanctuary of the Eastern Semites, is provided with two tops (cf.. Jeremias p. 54-sqq.). It must also be remembered that the mountain of parad i se is a doublé one (Adamsbuch, p. 117, 3 sq.). Halabï who also mentions the last quoted tradition about Mekka in a slightly different form, adds the words: „its two steep mountains will never give way" *) (I, 191; 3 sqq,). These words remind us of what is said of Sion (Ps. CXXV, 1): „It will never give way, it will stay on its place for ever" 2). These materials show sufficiently, that not only 'Arafat and Muzdalifa owe a great deal of their significance to their holy mountains, but that also Mekka as a sanctuary is considered in some traditions as being intrinsically cönnected with its mountains. It is also probable that this view rests on the one hand on an old-semitic conception of the nature of the sanctuary, and on the other hand has been renéwed and corroborated by post-islamic influxes from the Northern parts of the Semitic world. In the foliowing pages we shall see that the sanctuary, being conceived as a mountain of a special significance, does not only possess' the characteristics of the navel, but is really considered as the navel of the earth. After our investigations of the mountains in gerieral we can best begin this new subject by showing that the sanctuary has been considered as the highest mountain or the highest teriïtory of the earth; or, in other words,: that it possesses the first characteristic of the navel in an absolute form. As to mount Sion, this theory is, in its general form, not yet applied to it in the Old Testament; but is here limited to eschatological times; Isaiah II, 1: „And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of Yahwe's House shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills" 3). It is clear why. itf is said here that this state of things will begin in the coming era: for at that time the earth and especially 14 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUAEY * Jerusalem and the holy land will be transformed into a landscape bearing the features of Paradise. Paradise really consists. of a mountain higher. than any mountain on earth (Book of the Bee, p. 23, 4 1). It is for the first time that we meet with a characteristic common to the navel and to Paradise; it will not be the last time; we shaH see that the explanation of this is to be found in the fact, that Paradise-is also considered as a navel. In later literature the fact of Jerusalem being the highest place on earth is not limited to eschatplogical times, as we learn from Kiddüshin 69 a infra: „The sanctuary is higher than the rest of the land of Israël and the land of Israël is higher than all other countries" 2). Syriac authors share, generally speaking, the Jewish theories about the peculiar character of Jerusalem and the idea that Jerusalem is the centre of the earth pccurs several times in Syriac literature as we shall see below. I find however only once the opinion that Jerusalem is the highest place oh earth, viz. in Agapius p. 23, 4 who says in a general way that the centre of the earth is situated higher. than the four quarters 3). The Jewish theory however often appears in Muslim literature. Halabï I, 195, 5 infra has a tradition which is carried back to 'Alï the Caliph, according to which „the highest of all countries and the nearest to heaven is Jerusalem" 4). Halabï adds a tradition on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas and Mu'adh ibn Djebel „that it is situated twelve mïl nearer to heaven (than the rest of the earth)" 5). Halabï and Nuwairï give in other traditions eighteen mïl instead of twelve (Halabï I 200, 7 infra; Nuwairï, p. 89, 4 infra). As in other cases Muslim theory has transferred to Mekka what was originally a characteristic of Jerusalem. In Azrakï, p. 382, 15 sq. 'A'isha declares: „In no place I ever saw heaven nearer to earth THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUAEY 15 thaü 'I saw it in Mekka"1). Kisa'ï, fol. 15 a, 7 infra, gives a tradition which we sliall have to consider again: „Tradition says: the polestar proves that the Ka'ba is the highest situated territory; for it lies over against the centre of heaven" 2). : This theory has been applied in a peculiar case which affords a strikiiig parallel to the position of the navel at the time of the cosmogony. According to Bereshit Rabba fol. XXXVII ro. a, 1. 20 sq. „the land of Israël was not submerged by the Deluge" 3). It is not astonishing to find that the Samaritans have claimed for their sanctuary the same honours as the Jews did for theirs. But, remembering that already in Judges IX, 37 one of the mounr tains near Shekem is called „the navel of the land", it is natural to suppose"that Gerizim. was. of old the object of navel-theories as we find them in later literature. In Ber. Rabba fol. XXXV ro. b, uit. sqq., it is told how Rabbi Jónatan on a journey was invited by a Samaritan to perform his prayers on Gerizim. When he asked: „why"? he was answèred: „becausè it was not submerged by the Deluge" 4). The Muslims, in their turn, have frèed the Ka'ba from Deluge: „Ibn Hisham relates that the waters of the Deluge did not reach' the Ka'ba, but that they surrounded it. The Ka'ba itself however remained free in the air (reachlng) to heaven. And when the ark made the Tawaf round the noble house, Noah. said"5) etc. (Khamïs I, 92, 21). Why the sanctuary is not attained by the waters of the Deluge. is clear: Deluge is the reign of Tehom, .of old a demoniac power, familiar from the creation stories. The sanctuary is the type and repi;esentation of Kosmos and of Paradise and as such a power diametrically opposed to Chaos ; when the Semites maintain that the Sanctuary was not reaehed by the Deluge, this is not only due to the opinion that the, Sanctuary is the highest place in the world, 18 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY but also to the conviction that Chaos cannot gain a complete victory over Cosmos; for behind the latter is the creative power of the suprème being. That this reconstruetion is right, is proved by Ephraim, Opp. III, 563 Bi „The head of the Deluge could reach the heels of Paradise only: it kissed its feet and prostrated itself; then it turned away in order to elimb and to trample on the tops of mountains and hills" etc. x). The traditions quoted above, representing the waters as surrounding the Sanctuary, the only dry spot in the Universe, afford a striking parallel to the state of things before the creation of the world as we shall see below, and so are a corroboration of the opinion that there is the closest relation between the Deluge and the Chaos before the creation (cf. W. B. Kristensen „De plaats van het zondvloedverbaal in het Gilgames epos" in Verslagen en Mededeelingen Kon. Akad. v. Wetenschappen, Letterkunde, 5e Reeks. Deel II). This parallelism leads us to the consideration of another characteristic of the navel inherent to the Sanctuary, viz. its having been created before the rest of the world. This conception has its roots in the Old Testament. The translation of the corrected text of Isaiah XXVIII, 16 runs: „Therefore thus saith the Lord Yahwe: Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation a tried stone, a precious cornerstone" 2). Jewish literature gives full information on this point. Yoma 54 b: „The world has been created beginning from Sion" 3). In the same place the D'OBTI HVTVin and the ptf n nnbin are discussed; then follows: „the schohtrs say: the one and the other have been created beginning from Sion" 4). Ta'anit 10a the followiug is said about the holy Land: „our masters have taught: the land of Israël was created first, and the whole of the rest of the world afterwards" 5). In Bereshit Rabba fol. V, vo., a supra, it is said that the light was created before the world. In Midrash Shöher Tob p. 151, 1. 14 it is asked: „Wherefrom did the Holy one bring forth Light?" THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 17 Rabbi Berekyah said on the authority of Rabbi Isaac: „He took it from the Sanctuary" 1). A similar tradition is to be found in Bereshit Rabba fol. V, vo, b., 11, infra. In other traditions. there are more preëxistent things enümerated. Pesahim 54a: „Seven things were created before the world: the Tora, conversion, the Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the divine ïhrone, the Sanctuary, the name of the Messiah" 2). By and by we shall see that a similar idea was taken up by the Muslims. Here it is sufficiënt to state that not only the Sanctuary but also Paradise and Heil are preëxistent. Paradise, the nucleus of the upper world, Heil, the nucleus of the nether world, the navel-sanctuary, the nucleus of the earth, this is an analogy of the great est importance for determining the nature of the navel, as we shall see later on. In Syriac literature the significance of Jerusalem in the creation of the world, is expressed'in a peculiar manner: „There (viz. in Jerusalem) the four parts of the world have been united one with the other. When God had made the earth, his power went before, and the earth followed from four sides swift as the winds; and there (in Jerusalem) his power stood and rested" 8). (Schatzhöhle p. 112, 10 sqq.; cf. 113, 8 sqq.; 254, 14 sqq.). In genuine Syriac literature the preexistence of the sanctuary does not further occur, as far as I know. But in thé Odes of Solomon IV, 1—4 there occurs a passage which is parallel to the Jewish theory: „No one, O, my God, changes thy holy place; and it is not (possible) that he should change it and put it in another place, becausehe hath no power over it; for thy sanctuary thou ha'st designed before thou didst make (other) places; that which is the elder shall not be altered by those that are younger than it" 4). 18 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY The poet is evidently combating a inovement to cut off the ties with the Jerusalem temple: he seeks to frustrate these endeavours by reminding of the well known theory. This theory has been taken over from the Jews by the Muslims. Zaïnakhsharï, p. 67, 13 (ad Süra II, 37) and Dyarbekrï (Khamïs, I 31, 1) have a tradition which opens with the words : „The earth was created by Allah on the . place of Jerusalem" 1), a sentence taken almost literally from Yoma 54 b. as quoted above. But the Muslim theological conscience could not allow this prerogative of Jerusalem. Consequently we find the Jewish traditional lore about the beginnings of creation taken over in Muslim tradition and transferred to Mekka. According to a tradition told by Azrakï, p. 301, 3 infra, Abü Dharr asked the Prophet: „Which of thé mosques on the face of the earth has been founded first?" He answered: „The sacred mosque". I said: „Which next?" He answered: „The farthest mosque". I said: „How great a space of time lies between them?" He said: „Forty years" 2). (Cf. Azrakï, p. 302, 1 sqq. and Zamakhsharï, p. 219, 16 ad Süra III, 90). In other traditions the preexistence of the Mekkan sanctuary is taught in plain words: „Forty years before Allah created the heavens and earth the Ka'ba was a dry spot floating on the water and from it the world has been spread out" 3). (Azrakï, p. 1, 6 infra; cf. Kuth al-Dïn, p. 25, 5 infra). It should be noted that this tradition is given on the authority of Ka'b al-Ahbar. The opinion that the Ka'ba was created two thousand years before the rest of the world has however had a much'wider circulation. Tabarï I, 47, 6: ,,'Abd Allah ibn 'Omar said: „The House was created two thousand years before the earth and from it the earth was spread forth" 4). Tabarï, Tafsïr I, 409, 9 infra: „Mudjahid said: „Allah created the spot of this House two thou- the navel and the sanctuary 19 sand years before he created an atom of the earth" 1). This tradition occurs in various forms, e. g. in Tabarï's Tafsïr IV, 6, 23 sqq.; Tabarï I, 124, 17; Kutb al-Dïn p. 25, 5 infra; p. 26, 3, 9; Ibn al-Athïr I, 14 19 sqq. The origin of the number two thousand is still to be- discovered in Jewish tradition where one of the preëxistent entities, the Tora, is said to have been created two thousand years before the creation of the earth (Bereshit Rabba, fol. IX vo., b. uit.). All these traditions show sufficiently that the qualitv of having been the beginning of creation is inherent to the sanctuary in Semitic tradition. That this quality is really taken in connection with the sanctuary as the navel is proved by a tradition like this: „The Holy one created the world like an embryo. Like the embryo proceeds from the navel onwards, so God began to create the world proceeding from its navel onwards and from there. it was spread out in 'different directions" (Jellinek V, 63, 1 sqq.) 2). Now it is highly instructive to observe how this view is parallelled by another set of traditions where the same thought is expressed in a different form. On p. 6 we have found a tradition, preserved in Bereshit Rabba fol. VI ro, a. 11 sq., in* which Rabbi Tanhum says: „on it (viz. the first day) have been created four things: the mountains, heaven, earth, and light". Here a difference is made between the creation of the mountains and that of the earth. Now the mountains are generally considered as the substantial part of the earth, and the Sanctuary is a mountain of a peculiar nature, considered as having been created before the earth; from this we can draw a natural conclusion as to the nature of the navel viz. its representing the substance or its being an image of the earth. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that the nucleus of the earth is represented in Semitic literature as. being pre-existent. The Syriac cosmogouy has been led into this direction by the ambiguity of Gen. I, 1 in the Syriac Bible: 1—-»»1 A_»o 1 An» A_» )cn___l A-. NoW A_i can take the place of the Hebrew HN but it means also „essence" and so Ephraim in his commentary explains T»V?» A_io by L--»>1? cn_£>cu_Do U_qj>? (rcsocu-o probably in the sense of heaven itself and earth itself, for in the following passages he 20 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY opposes the view of those who take these expressions allegorically. But the word hooi o is nearly as ambiguous as A_», it means „self" and „essence". It is not clear therefore, whether Ephraim is in favour of the view that the nucleus of' the earth has been created before its mass. Jacob of Edessa (Ephr. Opp. I 116 D) evidently opposes it: he shows some heat in affirming that A__ is nothing but the Hebrew DN and like this a sign of the accusative. This zeal on the part of Jacob shows that there were people who interpreted A_» in a different way, probably as having the meaning of substance. Arabic literature contains more on this subject. Zamakhsharï ad Süra II, 27, p. 67, 12 of his commentary, says: „the creation of the substance of the earth is anterior to the creation of heaven; but the spreading out of the earth is posterior to it" l). Here the very remarkable' sequence of things is this: 1. the substance of the earth. 2. heaven. 3. the mass of the earth. Apparently this is a different form of the traditions quoted about the pre-existence of the Sanctuary and'of the mountains, for, as we shall see, the term y>d is always used for the spreading out of the earth around or under the navel. Zamakhsharï's tradition is given by al-Dyarbekrï in a slightly different way: „When God began to create things, he created the hj before heaven; when he had created the heavens and divided them into seven stages, he spread out the earth" (Khamïs I, 92; 15 sq.) 2). The meaning of hji is explained in Lisan I, 221, 4 sqq.: People say. A land of a good hj; this means the substance of its ground" 3). Another tradition, perhaps the most popular on this subject in Arabic literature, relates that Allah created a Ijkfc} a substance; thereupon he contemplated it with a majestic gaze, so that it melted; then a vapour rose from it, which gave origin to the sky; thereupon the earth was created from the remainder of the (e. g. Kazwïnï I, 9, ILsqq.). THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 21 These examples may be sufficiënt to illustrate the parallel between the sanctuary and the nucleus, of the earth as pre-existent entities. Now this theory is completed in a remarkable way by the theories concerning the nature of Adam and his being created on the spot of the later sanctuary. It is well known, that DIK has the collective meaning of „mankind". This is not a discovery of modern philologists, but it has al ways been vivid in the mind of the Semitic peoples. I will only remind the reader of the fact that to indicate an individual, the Israelites say ÜlH D; that Jacob of Edessa, a Syrian, is well acquainted with the collective meaning of DIK (Ephraim Opp. I 131 A) and that according to the Muslim legends God takes from the spine of Adam the nucleus of all mankind and makes his covenant with them. Now according to Jewish ideas Adam, the substance of mankind, was created on the substance of the earth, the sanctuary, more particularly the altar. Ber. Rabba XVII vo. a, 1. 6 infra: „out of the place where reconciliation is made for him, man has been created" x). This idea has, further been intrinsically woven into the scheme of the Syriac Cave of Treasures, according to which man has been created in the centre of the earth wherëto he returns at his death (Schatzhöhle, p. 14, 2 sqq.). In the Book of the Bee (p. 10, 5 infra) it is said that the „idea" Adam is coneeived even before the creation of the world, consequently a pre-existent Adam, an idea which has its counterpart in the pre-existent Christ, who is called the second Adam. Muslim theory has transferred some of these features from Jerusalem to Mekka and also from Adam to Muharnmed. Adam has been created in the vicinity of Mekka (Khamïs 1, 46 paen.) from all elements of the earth (Tha'labï, p. 23 sq.). The origin of Muhammed's substance (tïna) is in the navel of the earth, in Mekka. Khamïs I, 37, 7 sqq.; Halabï I, 197, 2: „the origin of the clay of the apostle of Allah is from the navel of the earth in Mekka" 2). And finally Adam and Muharnmed have also become pre-existent entities in Muslim tradition (Halabï, I 197, 16; 198, 3 sqq.). . The' traditions which relate that the earth was spread out from the nucleus or from the sanctuary lead us to the third quality of 22 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY the navel inherent to th» sanctuary viz. that of being the centre of the earth. This idea is already expressed in the well known passage in Ezekiel, V, 5: „So speaketh the Lord Yahwe: this is Jerusalem, I have set it in the midst of the nations, and round about it are countries" J). It is also found in Pseudepigraphic literature. In the Book of Jubilees VIII, 19 Mount Sion is called the centre of the navel of the earth. It is not clear whether this expression is genuine or not; „the centre of" looks like a gloss on „navel''. If however the words are genuine, their meaning must be that the holy land is the navel of the earth and that Jerusalem lies in its centre. According to the same chapter vs. 12 the territory of Sera, apparently Palestine, is called the centre of the earth. In the Apocalypse of Henoch XC, 26 the Temple and Gehenna are placed in the centre of the earth. It is only natural that this idea should occur also in Jewish literature; according to Rabbi Eliezer „the world has been created from its centre" 2). The immediately preceding words are: „the world has been created from Sion". (Yoma 54 b). A new proof of the influence of Jewish tradition on Christians and Muslims lies in the fact that this idea is also well known in Syriac and Arabic literature. In the „Cave of Treasures" Adam is created in the centre of the earth, on the place where the cross of Christ shall be erected in later times (p. 14, 2 sq.); the whole book is dominated by this idea. Jerusalem as the centre of the earth is also mentioned in the Book of the Bee, p. 21, 3 sq. In Muslim literature we find regarding this subject the same phenomenon as we have found above: the Jewish views have first been taken over and afterwards transferred to Mekka. Halabï I, 195, 5 infra, quotes a tradition on the authority of 'Alï which opens thus: „the centre of the world is Jerusalem" 3). In the Ins I, 7, 15 (cf. I, 202, 14) this idea is used as an explanation of the well known epithet „the farthest": „According to a tradition Jerusalem is called „the farthest", because it is exactly the centre of the world"4). In Kisa'ï, fol. 15a 4 infra, the term is explained THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUABY 23 in this way: „the centre of the earth is Jerusalem because it is the gathering place" 1). It is a common idea among the Muslims, taken over from the Jews that the gathering of mankind before the last Judgment will take place at Jerusalem. This idea is the counterpart of the history of the creation and its complement: as mankind has sprung from the hands of the Creator at Jerusalem and has spread from it, so it will be gathered there to reappear before him, and the spot where he once stood will then be the spot of his judgment seat. It is not only in this connection that we meet the navel as the seat of the judge (cf. the chapter on the. navel and the throne). Notwithstanding these widely spread ideas, Muslim tradition has found no difficulty in declaring Mekka the centre of the earth. The transition was in this case very easy because in the Kor an there, are sayings which can be interpreted in favour of such a view.. Süra XLII, 5 (= VI, 92): „Thus we have revealed unto thee an Arabic Kor'an that thou mayest wam the mother of places and those who are round about it" 2). According to Tabarï Tafsïr VII, 1G5, 18 „those who are round about it" means the whole of the earth; this explanation involves the conception that „the mother of places" (and this is nothing but Mekka in Muslim terminology) is the centre of the earth. Of course this verse from the Kor'an is only of secondary importance for the later spread of the conception among the Muslims who use „the centre of the earth" as a common epithet for Mekka (Kutb al-Dïn, p. 18, 7 infra; cf. Bibl. Geogr. Arab. I, 3, 20 and Mas'üdï I, 77 where Arabia is the centre of the eai-th). The sanctuary is not only the centre of the earth, it possesses also an other characteristic of the navel, viz. that of being the place of communication with the upper and with the nether world,or, on the one hand with heaven in general and with Paradise and the divine throne in particular — on the other hand with Tehom in general and with the realm of the dead and Heil in particular; in other words: in the sanctuary the three parts of the Universe, earth, upper and nether world, meet. The communication between the sanctuary and heaven is a fact so well known that it will not be necessary to give a large collection 24 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY of literary evidence. In the first place we remember the sanctuary being a peculiar mountain and as such possessing the quality of reaching to heaven. And further it is in the sanctuary that the smell of burnt offerings and incense daily ascends and reaches the godhead whose presence is at the same time here and in heaven. Of the sanctuary of Bethel it is said in Genesis XXVIII, 17 that it is D'ÖtJTI „the gate of, the entrance to heaven". Mount Sinai at the visit of the Israelites, is burning D^OKTl _J*? (Deuteronomy IV, 11) „unto the heart of heaven". The rabbi's maintain that the ladder in Genesis XXVIII, 12 represents Mount Sinai- which lies on the earth and reaches to heaven (Ber. Rabba fol. LXX-VII ro. b, 11 sqq.). Jerusalenf is pften described with heavenly colours and considered as the earthly image of Jerusalem in heaven. Further it should be noted that Muslim tradition has accepted the idea of Jerusalem being the place of communication with heaven. It is remarkable that Muhammed's ascension to heaven does not take place at Mekka but at Jeyusalem; nay even Allah himself when he created heaven and earth or, to express it more exactly, the navel, heaven and earth, ascended from Jerusalem to heaven. The common Muslim view is, that originally the divine throne rested on the water, as the Kor'an (Süra II, 9) already has it: „and his tbrone rested upon the water" *). Later traditions add a good many details, which can partly be traced back to Jewish sources. Before the creation Allah's original restingplace is identified in some Muslim traditions with Jerusalem: „Ka'b al-Ahbar said: Allah says to Jerusalem: Thou art my throne, from which I ascended to heaven" 2) (Nuwairï p. 90, 29). In an other place (Nuwairï p. 90, 15) Ka'b asserts having read this in the Tora. At any rate the Jewish origin of this tradition is clear and it is not al all to be considered as a common Muslim view. ./ The Jewish and Christian views of the communication between Jerusalem and heaven or Paradise have left many traces in Muslim traditions; some of them will be quoted later on; here I will give only this one (Ins, I, 211, 7 sqq.): „Ka'b said: Every morning in heaven one of the gates of paradise is opcned; from it light THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 25 and mercy stream down upon Jerusalem and this will last till the Hour (of Resurrection)" *). It is only natural to find analogous sayings about Mekka v The tradition of 'A'isha .asserting that at Mekka heaven is nearest to the earth is not only a testimony for Mekka as the highest place on earth, but also of its connection with heaven (above p. 15). More remarkable is the story which is told about the people of 'Ad by Kutb al-Dïn p. 442, 6 infra. When they were in need of rain they sent messengere to Mekka in order to pray there for rain, of course because their prayer would be heard better there than at any other place of Arabia, because of its connection with heaven. When they arrived at Mekka, they were advised to climb Abü Kubais, because never a repentant sinner had climbed it without being heard 2). We have now to turn to the nether world in its connection with the sanctuary. As I have already observed, we must — at any rate in Jewish theology — distinguish three terms designating the nether world: Tehom, Sheol, Gehenna. The idea connecting these three, is that they form the nether stage of the world and its ungodly, demoniac part. The connection of the sanctuary with Gehenna is given by the situation of the latter close to Jerusalem. So we find as early as in the Book of Henoch, Chapter XXVI, a vision of the centre of the earth, consisting of a holy mountain and other mountains to the East and the South, evidently Sion, the Mount of Olives and the present Djebel Abü Tor. Between the latter two is a ravine, evidently Gehinnom. The angel accompanying Henoch declares it to be destined for those that ars to be damned for ever. In the Talinud, 'Erubin 19 a, is found a remarkable utterance about Gehenna, important not so much for the conception of Gehenna, as for its co-ordination with Tehom and with the Desert. It runs: „Three gates has Gehinnom • one in the Desert, one in 26 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY the Sea, one in Jerusalem" i). Further it is said that the entrance to Gehinnom is possibly on the spot of two palmtrees between which vapour ascends from the earth. In Arabic literature too the conce'ption of Jerusalem as the entrance to Heil, is found. Nuwairï p. 90, 14 has a tradition in which the following words occur: „this (viz. Jerusalem) is the place of my Fire, on its left side" 2). Another tradition speaks more explicitly (Nuwairï p. 89, 3 infra) which is given as an explanation of Süra LVII, 13. Here Muharnmed says: „Then (viz. on doomsday) a wall shall be set between them (viz. Believers and Sceptics), wherein shall be a gate, within which shall be mercy; and without it, at its side the torment"3). 'Abd Allah ibn 'Omar commentates on this place in the following way: „this wall is the wall of Jerusalem, on its East side; behind it is a valley, called Wadï Djahannam and before it is a gate, called Gate of Mercy" 4). The idea of the sanctuary being the place connecting Paradise and Heil is expressly added in Ins I 202, 17 sq.: „and this is a wall between «Paradise and Heil"0). The connection between Jerusalem and Tehom is in the first place expressed in a number of traditions which represent'the holy Rock as the stone which is cönnected with Tehom (cf. Feuchtwang, p. 544 sqq.). Other traditions, of which Feuchtwang has given also a good many, link the altar with Tehom by means of the channels which conducted the blood of sacrifices and the water to a subterranean cave. Sukka 49 a Rabbi Jose says of these channels: „ A way was made for these channels which descended unto Tehom" 6). In Sukka 53 a Rabbi Yohanan says: „When David dug the channels, Tehom rose and threatened to submerge the world" 7). Another remarkable connection between Jerusalem and Tehom is THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 27 given in the headings of the Targum to the rnVyon nn? (Ps. cxx— CXXXIV) viz.: „a song recited on the steps of Tehom" *). A well • known tradition maintains that the fifteen Ma'alot psalms had a certain analogy with the fifteen steps in the Jerusalem temple which lay between the enclosure of the women and that of the men. The headings of the Targum contain an allusion to this tradition and call the steps „the steps of Tehom i. e. the steps which conduct from Tehom to the Temple". Here is a remarkable corroboration of the view of Wmckler and his adherents; Benzinger writes in his Hebraische Archaologie 2, p. 330: „der Vorhof (entspricht) dem Himmelsozean". At any rate the expression in the Targum is a new proof of the relation between the sanctuary and the nether world. Conceptions of a different nature also testify to this relation, viz. those which represent the sanctuary as a sepulchre. Of course I do not mean to say, that. the presence of graves in Jerusalem establishes a relation of the nature mentioned. But both Jerusalem and Mekka possess the qualities of a typical sepulchre. As concerns Jerusalem I do not know of this idea in Jewish literature; but it appears in the Syriac legends about Adam, who is here and in Muslim legends as we have seen, a type of mankind, mankind in substance. Now Adam is created in the centre of the earth and after the Deluge his corpse is brought back to this place and buried in what is called l—cn_»»Z „the gate of the earth". We remember here the sanctuary as „the gate of heaven". In the text itself the nature of the place is called back to rnemory by the addition of the words 1__>»]> cn_\_»~_o „the centre of the earth". Consequently the sanctuary as the navel is a typical sepulchre. Muslim tradition also mentions Jerusalem as Adam's grave (Tha'labï, p. 43, 15 sqq.; Tabarï I, 163, 2; Azrakï» p- 39, 5); we have already seen that the creation of Adam is sometimes placed in the Muslim centre of the world. His grave is often localised in Abü Kubais. That Syriac influence has been at work in the traditions concerning Adam is proved by the fact that his burying-place is called: ,1c a translation of Zi___o „the cave of treasures" (Tabarï I, 162, 18; Ibn al-Athïr I, 38, 5 infra where the reading of the text is to be corrected; Mas'üdï I, 69; Hadrawï, p. 12, 19 infra; Kutb al-Dïn, p. 442, 4 infra; 443, 1 sqq.). As in many other cases, NorthSemitic traditions have been islamised here; and as the legend of Adam's creation has been transferred to Muharnmed so has Adam's 28 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY grave in connection with his creation given rise to a remarkable theory of Muharnmed's grave. The stuff out of which man was made, his iuk (1ÖJ*) returns after his death to its primeval place. • Muharnmed, the image and substance of mankind, was buried in Medina; so his substance originally belongs to Medina (Khamis 1, 37, 9 sqq.; Hadrawï, p. 6, 11 sqq.). This theory proceeds from the fact that Muhammed's grave is in Medina: consequently Medina must also have the privilege of being the birthplace of Muharnmed. This conception therefore is in total disharmony with the Muslim view that either Jerusalem or Mekka is the centre of the earth. Therefore it is not astonishing to observe that other people go in the opposite direction. They start from the idea that Muhammed's substance {hj) belongs to Mekka and their conclusion is that his grave oug ht also to be in Mekka (Halabï f, 197, 13). We observe here the power of theory, in this case the theory of theVlose connection between the navel and the grave or the nether world. This theory does not only affect Adam or Muharnmed as the heads of mankind, but also the subsequent leaders, the prophets. Noah, Hüd, Salih, Shu'aib, Ismael have been buried in the sanctuary, in the Hidjr or between Zamzam and the house of al-Arkam (Hadrawï, p. 4, 9 infra; Azrakï, p. 34 paen.; 363, 10 sqq.). According to Azrakï, p. 39, 5 between Zamzam and the Rukn 70 prophets are buried; in other places larger numbers, even 300 ^graves of prophets are mentioned (Azrakï, p. 363, 14; Halabï I, 206, 9 infra) as situated around the Ka'ba. Azrakï formulates the theory in this form: „Every prophet, aftef his people had perished, would establish himself at Mekka; there he and his followers with him used to perform worship till he died" (p. 363, 9 sqq.; cf. Halabï I, 206, 8 infra) *). We have been able to observe the North-Semitic origin of this theory and its development on Muslim territory. It is only natural to find that in some Muslim traditions Jerusalem is also considered as the burying-place of prophets. According-to Azrakï, p. 39, 5 not only Adam but also Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are buried in Jerusalem and the author of the Ins who is inrluenced by localJerusalem tradition, maintains that a thousand of prophets have been buried in that place (Ins I, 208, paen.). There is still an other tradition relating to the sanctuary as a THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 29 burying-place. Azrakï, p. 305 sqq. says that on the North side of the Ka'ba theré was a tumulus where the Ismaelite virgins were buried „and as often as people have made it level with the (rest of the) mosque id did not tarry to retake the shape of a tumulus as long as it exists" l). In the first place it is to be noted that the form of the grave, a tumulus, is emphasised in the above tradition. In the second place it is perhaps allowable to assume a general thought in this quaint utterance, viz. this, that virginity belongs to the nether world. We remember Kore whose relations with the nether world are well known and Minerva whose attribute, the owl, is the proof of a similar relation; Now our next question is this : are there other relations between the- sanctuary of Mekka and the nether world, analogous to those of Jerusalem; in other words: is there any relation between Mekka and Heil or Tehom? The answer seems to be partly evident, partly doubtful. For of a relation between Mekka and Heil nothing is known. But Tehom? In the first place we must remark that Muslim tradition does not contain much concerning Tehom and the nether world. Still in the form of the sanctuary there are characteristics which point in this direction. The Arab sanctuaries in pagan times usually consisted of a stone which was besmeared with the blood of the victims and a pit, into which the rest of the blood flowed down. A similar state of things existed in Jerusalem. Blood and water were conducted by the channels fTVE* towards a cave in the interior of the holy mountain. Now we have seen that, according to the Jewish conception, these channels led to Tehom; consequently the cave is a representation of Tehom. As Wellhausen has already remarked, this has in its turn a strong likeness to what is found at Hierapolis. Here is also a j^ic^a which is considered as the opening through which the waters of the Deluge have retreated, and which consequently has a close relation with Tehom, for the water of the Deluge is the water of Tehom (Lucian, Paris, 1615, p. 1060). Now the sanctuary at Mekka had also a deep pit or well, here called i__^v=-, or Jm, situated within the Ka'ba (Azrakï p. 41, 14 sqq.; 49, 1; 30 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 106, 14 sqq.; 111, 11; 169 uit.; 171, 4 infra). At its side stood the statue of the god Hobal. It is not probable that this statue was ever used as an altar stone. But the fact that Mekka possessed a pit within its sanctuary bears too close a resemblance to the presence of the pit in the other Semitic sanctuaries, to be overlooked, and analogy seems to favour the conclusion that the Mekkan had also its connection with the nether world, a conclusion which has already been drawn by Wellhausen in his famous book Reste Arabischen Heidentums (p. 103)> and which is favoured by the tradition that this pit served for presents to be thrown into. If these presents had simply been gifts in honour of the sanctuary they would certainly have had an other place than the pit; but the fact that they were thrown into it proves that this really was their destined place. And so these gifts were probably intended to propitiate the god of the nether world. The sanctuary, as the place of communication with the upper and with the nether world, is also the place which participates in the highest degree of the gifts of Heaven and Tehom. This is the next characteristic of the navel belonging to the sanctuary. We have already seen that this is also a characteristic of the mountains; now we shall see that what is said of the mountains as the distri butors of food, is taught in a more precise way of the sanctuary, which not only supplies the earth with water but is watered itself in a particular degree. This idea has in the case of the sanctuary a natural basis as well as in the case of the mountains. Springs generally rise on the mountains; and a spring, with or without a mountain, is, generally speaking, a necessary requisite in a sanctuary. It has even been supposed that Mekka owes its origin as a sanctuary to Zemzem (Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka, p. 5). But we will first turn to Jerusalem and consider what the Old Testament says about its being blessed copiously with water. Psalm CXXXIII compares the gathering of the Diaspora at Jerusalem on the Feast (probably the Feast of Tabernacles) with the sweetness of the oil which drips from the head of the highpriest along his beard upon his clothes and with the „dew "of Hermon that descendeth upon the mountains of Sion. For here Yahwe commanded the blessing for evermore" x). THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 31 Yahwe's blessing, according to the poet, chiefly consists in rain (cf. Maleachi III, 10) for dew and rain are nearly synonymous in Hebrew, and this blessing will for ever be bestowed upon Jerusalem, as it is bestowed upon mount Hermon. Now mount Hennon was, as its name testifies, of old a sacred mountain. Commentators on Ps. CXXXIII to this day, zealously endeavour to extort confirmation from travellers of the copious dew to be met with in the vicinity of Hermon; and the travellers in their turn have feit obliged to testify to an extraordinary quantity of dew around Hermon, in order to explain Ps. CXXXIII. It seems to me, that the expression of the text acquires quite a different aspect, if we are able to show that the presence of dew and rain is a feature belonging to the theory of the sanctuary. Ps. CXXXIII speaks at any rate in clear terms of Jerusalem. The feast of Tabernacles and its rites also provide us with matcrials which may be used for our purpose. In the first place it should be remarked that from of old this feast was closely cönnected with the rain expected in the subsequent autumn and winter. This idea is explicitly expressed by Zechariah XIV, 16: „and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king Yahwe Sebaot and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that who will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king Yahwe Sebaot, even upon them shall be no rain" 1). If these words stood by themselves they would not be of great importance for our object. For the Feast of Tabernacles is the occasion appointed for praying for rain and all Feasts are to be celebrated at Jerusalem; so it would not be surprising to find a connection here between Jerusalem and the prayer for rain. But what is remarkable and gives the words a wider significance, is the fact that not only on the Feast of Tabernacles, but in general Jerusalem has a special importance for the prayer for rain. I must further remark, that there is an other circumstance which seems to lessen the importance of te traditions which will be given later on, viz. the fact that Jerusalem in its capacity of a sanctuary is the place for prayer in general, consequently also for prayers for 32 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY rain. An objection of this sort could be met with by the question: How is it to be explained that prayer for rain especially is always brought into connection with Jerusalem? This fact must be based upon the conception of Jerusalem's eminent significance for the coming down and spreading of rain and water in general. But it is better to take the evidence of literature. In the Talmud, Ta'anit 10 a, the pre-eminence of Palestine to the rest of the world, in this respect, is taught: „The land of Israël is watered by the Holy One Himself and the rest of the world by the means of a messenger. The land of Israël drinks the mass of the rain, and the rest of the world what is left. The land of Israël drinks first, thereafter the rest of the world" !). In a tradition in the Ins I, 202, 3 sq. Jerusalem is a place of dew and rain. Ibn 'Abbas said: „Jerusalem is provided with dew and rain, ever since Allah created years and days" 2). In another tradition of the Ins, I, 111, 6, an explanation is evidently given of the fact that the prayers for rain usually take place at Jerusalem: Solomon has asked from Allah the favour, that everyone praying for rain at Jerusalem should obtain it3). This tradition perhaps goes back to 2 Chron. VI, 26 sq. where a cognate passage occurs which however does not only speak of rain, but also of other favours. Important is a tradition in the Ins, I, 214, 2: when the Israelites were in need of rain they made an image of Jerusalem, directed their prayers towards it and then rain would not cease to fall 4). The intrinsic connection between Jerusalem and the supply of rain is shown here. There are however traditions which contain a more definite theory of the significance of Jerusalem for the supply of rain. The Jewish ideas on this point have been discussed by Feuchtwang. So I may refer here to his long quotation, p. 72, 3 sq. Perhaps this idea was already known in Old Testament times. The last verse of Ps. LXXXVII runs: -p 'i^D te D^lrO Dnt?ï The text as it is, can however scarcely be translated and the ancient THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 33 translations do not help us here. Tf the words of the Hebrew text are to be retained, the simplest way to translate them is to consider the last three words as what is said by the singers and dancers. Now the meaning of *p *_*#D 7_3 is quite clear: „all my fountains are in thee". As the whole psalm is a glorification of Jerusalem, these words are certainly to be referred to it; consequently this chorus would be a remarkable illustration of'the characteristic we are dealing with. But Muslim tradition does not leave any doubt concerning the significance of Jerusalem for the distribution of Water over the earth. A tradition on the authority of Ubaiy b. Ka'b runs: ,,God calls Palestine blessed, only because there is no sweet water of which the source does not originate under the Holy Rock at Jerusalem" (Khamïs I, 86, 18 sq.) *). Nuwairï, p. 90, 16 gives more particulars: „all water flowing from the tops of the mountains has its origin under thee"2) (cf. p. 90, 1.3). In Ins I, 202, 6 sq. the same idea is found: all sweet water comes from under the Holy Rock „thereafter it spreads over the earth" 3). It is again to be noted that this feature of the sanctuary as a navel is closely cönnected with the sanctuary as an image of Paradise (see above p. 15). Therefore it is only natural to find that many traditions maintain that the Holy Rock belongs to Paradise (for instance Ins I, 209, 2 sqq.). At the conclusion of this section some expressions in Ber. Rabba should be noted which ajthough they are not particularly relevant to our subject, yet appèar in a new light after our foregoing research. Fol. LXX1V, vo., a, uit. the words „from the deW of heaven" are explained by „this is Sion"; and the well in Gen. XXIX 2, from which all flocks were drinking, means Sion according to fol. LXXIX ro., a, 27. The idea of Jerusalem being the origin of all sweet water on the earth, is extended in some traditions in a remarkable way. Nuwairï, p. 90, 3: „Abü Huraira said on the authority of the prophet: all rivers and clouds and vapours and winds come from 34 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUAEY under the holy rock in Jerusalem" 1). Tns I 205, 4 infra has a similar tradition in which the winds are called „the fertilising winds" (^ïiyjl -Xijï) after Süra XV, 22. According to these traditions rain, dew, winds, consequently vegetation, the whole aspect of the earth and the order of nature are regulated at Jerusalem. We shall see later on that this view is cönnected with the navel as an image of the divine throne, properly the place where the order of nature is regulated (cf. the chapter on the navel and the throne). That such utterances do not stand by themselves is proved by the fact that in the Rgveda, in innumerable places, rtasya yónih, „the womb of cosmic order", is used as a synonymous expression to the „place of sacrifice" and the place of sacrifice is often called „the navel of the earth". The idea of the sanctuary being the place which provides the earth with water, has probably given rise to the ceremony of the libation of water which took place on the feast of tabernacles. For it was a general practice to induce nature to do what was wanted by setting it an example to imitate. When people watered the navel of the earth, it meant that nature had to do the same. Professor Houtsma, some years ago pointed out, that the famous „watering-day" (hjjl) *J) in the days of the Hadjdj was the day of the libation of water in order to get copious rain. This explanation is corroborated by the indubitable fact that Mekka, like Jerusalem, is considered as the navel of the earth. But there are some other traditions which seem to regard Mekka as cönnected with the supply of water. Perhaps it is justifiable to mention here the traditions which declare Mekka to have been a fertile valley in previous times. „Tbn 'Abbas said: There was at Mekka a tribe called Amalekites; this tribe lived there, mighty and numerous and prosperous. They possessed a great many horses and camels and beasts which used to pasture at Mekka and its environs such as Marr and Na'man and the country around them; autumn was rich in shadow in those times, spring rich in rain, the wadïs flowing with water, the trees densely planted, the soil rich in produce, so they led an easy life" 2). THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUARY 35 (Azrakï, p. 50, paen. sqq.; cf. p. 47, 8; Kiitb al-Dïn, p. 33, 12; 43, 6; Tabarï I, 278, 16 sq.; Ibn Hisham, p. 71 uit. sq.). Sucb utterances are remarkable because they certainly are not founded upon historical reminiscences, consequently must be the outflow of theory. Further we remember the messengere of'Ad who were sent to Mekka by their people in order to pray there for rain. This tradition is not a historical fact either; for the tribe of 'Ad is probably only a product of Muhammed's imagination; but it points most likely to a well known custom, parallel to what we found to take place at Jerusalem. Lastly we should mention what Kazwïnï tells of the significance of rainfall at Mekka for the rest of the world. „When rain beats one of the sides of the Ka'ba, fertility will be during the year on that side; when it beats all sides, fertility will reign on all sides" (II,. 77, 12 sqq.) *). The material gathered in this chapter seems to show sufficiently that Jerusalem and Mecca possess all the characteristics we have enumerated in the Introduction as characteristics of the navel. It is therefore only natural to find the term conferred on these sanctuaries. Hesekiel mentions the navel of the earth, probably thinking of Jerusalem or of Palestine in general (38, 12). We have already seen that in the Book of Jubilees the navel of the earth either means Jerusalem or Palestine. Josephus is the first to give indubitable evidence. „In the very middle of it (viz. of Judea) is situated Jerusalem; therefore some people call it, not without reason, „the navel of the country" 2) (Bell. Jud. III, 3, 5). This is apparently the only thing the highly cultivated Josephus knew of Jerusalem as the navel. From later literature I will only quote, following Feuchtwang, Jellinek, V, 63, 4: „and where is its (viz. the world's) navel? It is Jerusalem" 3). In Muslim literature on Jerusalem we find the term also. Nuwairï 36 THE NAVEL AND THE SANCTUAKY p. 89 uit. „On the authority of Anas b. Malik it is said: Paradifie is longing after Jerusalem and Jerusalem after Paradise. And Jerusalem is the navel of the earth" 1). The sayings about Mekka are not less clear. I will quote as many of them as I have found in Arabic literature, because they have never been introduced into scientific works. Professor Snouck Hurgronje asserts that he has heard the expression: „the navel of the earth" several times at Mekka. Khamïs lp. 37: „the origin of the clay of the Prophet is from the navel of the earth, in Mekka, viz. the Ka'ba"2). The same tradition is also found in Halabï I, 197, 2 and 4 infra and in Hadrawï p. 6, 11. Halabï I, 195, 6 infra speaking about the creation of the spot of the Ka'ba adds: „so it is the origin of the earth and its navel" 3). Kazwïnï, TI p. 75, 10 and Abü Zaid IV, 81 infra: „so it (the Ka'ba) is the navel of the earth" 4). Kisa'ï fol. 14 b, 15 a: „know that the centre of the earth, according to a tradition on the authority of the Prophet, is the Ka'ba; it has the significance of the navel of the earth, because of its rising above the level of the earth" 5). After all what has been said about Mekka as the navel in this chapter it will not be necessary to emphasise the fact that the very few traditions whiéh consider a different region of the Muslim world as the navel, must be taken as local traditions. Rhodokanakis has already drawn attention to Burton's statement (II, 297) about Eve's grave at Djidda. Here is a cupola and a stone which are called „el-Surrah". That the old Babylonia is also called ^i) y» in Muslim authors (Mas'üdï III, 127; Biblioth. Geogr. Arab. V, 209, 14) is certainly a reminiscence of old Babylonian traditions about the navel which have, however, not come down to us. CHAPTER III THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE A. The Navel and the Earth. In the second chapter we have not only tried to prove that Jerusalem and Mekka possess the characteristics of the navel, but we had also the opportunity of learning in a preliminary way something about the character of the navel itself viz. its being considered as the nucleus of the earth, as its prototype and image. In this chapter we shall test our preliminary results by discussing the different forms of the navel and by comparing them with the forms of the universe and its parts. In the first place we have to remark that the general form of the Semitic sanctuary may be considered as the general form of the navel too, for we have seen that the sanctuary is considered as representing the navel. Now we have also seen that the general form of the sanctuary is that of a mountain; so it is to be expected that we sall find 1. the navel represented as a mountain and 2. the earth represented in the same form. As regards the last point many readers will remember that the conception of the earth as a mountain is familiar to the Semitic world, especially in its Eastern part as Assyriology has brought to light. It will therefore be sufficiënt to refer to Jensen, third plate, and to Jeremias, Register under Erde. As the passages in Jeremias show, it is not the appellation of mountain that is always used, but other names and cognate images also occur. The same is found in the literatures of the West-Semitic peoples. In the Old Testament there is no evidence of the earth being considered as a mountain. Yahwe has drawn a circle on Tehom viz. the horizon (.Job XXVI, 10); as the earth seems to reach its end there it is at the same time r*lNn JTI „the circle of the earth" (Is. XL, 22). 38 THE NATEL AND THE UNIVERSE We have quoted Jacob of Edessa above (p. 3) who maintains that the earth was originally a smooth globe surrounded on all sides by Tehom; when God had reut the latter and created mountains and basins it acquired its present form. It is probable, but not certain, that this conception goes back to Babylonian origins; it is also probable that like Babylonian cosmology it supposes the earth to emerge from Tehom (cf. Schatzhöhle, p. 6, 14) in the form of a.hemisphere or a mountain, but this is also uncertain; for Syriac authors like Jacob of Edessa are under Greek influences, especially under the influence of Greek philosophers. The earth as a.hemisphere is well known in Arabic literature. Ibn al-Wardï says: „Some scholars maintain that the earth bears the shape of a semi-globe" (I, proemium 25, 8) *). And Kazwïnï I, 14 3, 14 sqq.: „People maintain that the form of the earth is convex, like that of a globe or a cauldron rising from the water" 2). Perhaps we have to interpret in this sense the numerous traditions which relate how Allah eipanded the earth under the sanctuary which is the highest point of the earth: „Allah expanded the earth beneath the Ka'ba" 3). (Kazwïnï II, 75, 9; cf. Khamïs I, 31, 3). Kutb al-Dïn explains Mekka's epithet „mother of places" thus: „because the earth has been expanded under it" 4) (p. 26, 6; 18, 2; cf. Tabarï Tafsïr IV, 6, 22 sqq.; I, 409, 7). In other places the earth is represented as having the form of a shield (^jü) 2tl^, Abü Zaid II, 40, 1). All these traditions are more or less in harmony with the Babylonian view reproduced by Jensen in his diagram. That our conclusions are right is proved by the traditions concerning the primeval form of the Mekkan sanctuary. Azrakï, p. 20, 5 infra-and Nuwairï, p. 74, 13 have a tradition which describes the place of the later Ka'ba after the Deluge as „a hill of red clay, not being submerged by the floods" 5). Azrakï p. 26, 7 describes it in the times of Abraham as „a hill elevated above its THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 39 surroundings, covered with gravel" *) (cf. Khamïs, I, 99, 10). Kutb al-Dïn, p. 22, 2; 23, 6 infra; 33, 12; 38, 5; Tabarï I, 278, uit. call it „a hill" (?!'). These materials seem to show sufficiently that both the earth and the navel are represented as a mountain. In other traditions however the earth is represented differently viz. as a cupóla; it is a new proof of our thesis concerning the correspondence between the earth and the navel that the latter is also found represented in the form of a cupola. The evidence is as follows. „Ibn 'Abbas said: when before the creation of heaven and earth the divine throne was on the water, Allah sent a soft wind which drove away the water so that on the spot of the House of God there appeared a protuberating dry spot in the form of a cupola" 2) (also in Nuwairï p. 72, 10). And Tabarï in his Tafsïr I, 409, 5, 12 has a tradition relating how in the tunes of Abraham the sanctuary was a „red hill in the form of a cupola" 3). As to the form of the earth Abü Zaid II, 40 mentions the opinion that it has the „form of a cupola" and the same words occur in Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 25. These passages need no further explanation: in exactly the same words the navel and the earth are compared with a cupola: the navel is the image of the earth. Further it inay be observed that the form of a cupola does not differ much from that of the hemisphere. which we found before. They are both the conventionalised representation of the earth as a mountain. Side by side with the conception of the earth as a mountain, a hemisphere or a cupola, there exists in the Semitic world a different one, which represents the earth as a quadrangle. The four winds are cönnected with this conception. The Talmud still speaks of the „world as a quadrangle" öSty */OT ('Erubin, 55 a, 56 a). We have already quoted Agapius, who maintains that the world's centre is situated higher than its corners. The Cave of Treasures 40 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE relates how the four. sides of the earth were fitted together at the place of Jerusalem. In Muslim literature this conception is still found: „some people say that the earth is a plain smooth plate with four sides; East, West, South and North" (Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 25, 4 sqq.)1). The quadrangular form of the earth is probably imitated in the form of the limits of the sanctuary. At Petra for example some holy places are rectangular arcas hewn out in the hills corresponding to the four winds. The area of the Jerusalem Temple was also a rectangle whose long sides were opposite East and West; this area encloses several other rectangular areas, of which the smallest and most holy are the apsis and the focus of the great altar. Some Babylonian sanctuaries are also representated as rectangles; the reconstruction of the great Zikkurat at Babel itself shows seven { rectangles one above the other. It is to be expected that just as we found representations of the navel corresponding with the mouutainous or hemispherical form of the earth, we shall find representations of the navel corresponding with the rectangular form of the earth. This expectation is not disappointed: we do actually find quadrangular forms of the navel in the West-Semitic world. In the first place identifications of the navel and the altar may be taken in this sense, supposing the correctness of the view that the altar has been considered as a symbolic representation of the earth. Roscher in his Neue Studiën p. 19 gives a striking corroboration of this view, by quoting the following words from Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata 5, 6, p. 665: „the incense altar is a symbol of the earth lying in the centre of this universe" 2). Further I refer to Professor Kristensen's article on the sacred horns at Crete in the Verslagen en Mededeelingen of the Royal Academy of Amsterdam (Letterkunde, IVe Reeks, XIIde Deel, p. 93). \C/ And lastly, the Indian identification of nayjtl and Altar should be remembered. Rv. 2, 3, 7 it is said that the priests perform their Sacrifices on the navel of the earth, viz. on the place of Sacrifices. Cf. Rv. 9, 72, 7 a; 9, 82, 3 a; 9, 86, 8d etc. The identification of navel and altar is plainly expressed in THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 41 Jellinek V, 63 place which we have already quoted. The author of this Midrash compares the creation of the world to the development of the embryo; as the latter is growing from the navel onward, so the earth is growing from its navel onward: „Where is its navel? In Jerusalem. But the navel itself is the altar" x). A new proof of the identification of navelstone and altar is the following. Jewish, and following its footsteps Muslim, tradition have a tendency to transfer Jacob's dream, which induces him to declare Bethel „the gate of haven", from its original place to Jerusalem. Feuchtwang, p. 725, quotes an instance from the Yalkut, identifying the stone of Bethel with the Eben Shetïya at Jerusalem: According to Abü Zaid IV, 87 2 sqq. and Ins I, 8, 6 infra Jacob dreamed his dream at Jerusalem on the spot where in later times the Temple was to be built. But, what is of greater importance for our present purpose, in Bereshit Rabba, fol. LXXVII ro., b. 7 sq. we find these words (in explanation of Gen. XXVIII, 12): „Behold a ladder". This is the inclined plane (which gives access to the altar in Jerusalem). „Placed on the earth". This is the altar itself „Its top reached to heaven". These are the offerings whose odour ascends towards heaven. „And behold the angels of God". „These are the high priests" 2). Christian theory is also acquainted with the idea that navel and altar may coincide. According to The Cave of Treasures the place where Adam is buried, the centre of the earth, is at the same time the altar of Melchisedec (Schatzhöhle, p. 146, 3 infra)3). Where a natural stone is used as an altar, the quadrangular form is of course not always recognizable. The Holy Rock at Jerusalem is often identified with the navel as Feuchtwang (p. 724 sqq.) has shown. It has only an approximately quadrangular form. On Arab territory several instances of the quadrangular navel are found. In the first place the sanctuary at Djidda should be mentioned. It is not dnly the cupola which is called Surra (navel), but^aïsV the stone itself which is called a square stone by Burton (II 297). But, what is more important, we find also representations of the 42 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE Mekkan navel in the form of a quadrangular stone. Numerous Muslim authors give descriptions of the foundations (sc)y) of Allah's House. This term already tends towards the idea of a quadrangular navel. But some traditions give definite particulars. Tabarï in his Tafsir I, 409, 7 sq. says that the foundations of the sanctuary had four sides l) and according to Azrakï, p. 12, 5 infra the foundations having been constructed by the angels were crowned by Adam with a hollow hyacinthstone from Paradise „which had four sides" 2). But not only in the times of Adam, even before the creation of the world, the four-sided navel wa3 the centre of Tehom. Tabarï I, 47, 2 sqq.; Tafsïr, I, 409, 14 sq.: „Ibn 'Abbas said: Allah placed the holy House on the water, upon four pillars, two thousand years before the creation of the world" 3). This tradition does not afford a quite clear image of the navel, in the first place because of the ambiguity of the word j£., whioh may denote a side, a wall of the Ka'ba for instance, but which also can have the meaning of pillar; in the second place because of our uncertaiuty concerning the form of the House. Further the most famons stone in the Mekkan sanctuary after the black stone, the Makaïn Ibrahïm, is according to the few eyewitnesses, a quadrangular stone covered with two golden bands 4). As we have seen, Wellhausen has already compared the cave c_^*ac under the sanctuaries of the pagan Arabs with the cave under the altar at Jerusalem and with the %ucr{jtci at Hierapolis which were considered as basins cönnected with Tehom and as the last receptacle of the water of the Deluge. The Holy Rock at Jerusalem was imagined to be the huge stone which shuts off these waters for ever. It is only natural to regard the altar stones of the Arab THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 43 sanctuaries from the same point of view, viz. as navel-stones. Wellhausen's description of the sanctuary of Allat (p. 29 sq.) harmonizes wonderfully with Burton's description of the navel at Djidda. Allat was a quadrangular stone, covered with a Kiswa, under it was a cave and over it was built a temple. Here is not only a close parallelism with the navel of Djidda but also with that of Mekka. Consequently the Ka'ba, though being of a rather recent date, is only to be considered as a primus inter pares. Dusares at Petra^was a quadrangular stone, perhaps also called Ka'ba (Wellhausen, p. 49 sq.). The Lisan itself emphasizes the non-exceptional character of the Ka'ba (II, 213): „Every square building is called by the Arabs Ka'ba; and Rabï'a had a building called al-Ka'abat around which they used to perforra the Tawaf" *). The Tawaf was also performed around al-'Uzza (Azrakï, p. 80, 8). B. The Navel and Heaven. The navel as a cupola, hS, appeared to be an image of the earth as a cupola. It is however not only the earth but also heaven which has the form of a cupola. Süra II, 20 relates how Allah made heaven a ;Uj, a building, over the earth. The commentators upon this place give more particulars. Tabarï Tafsïr I, 125, 7: „the building of heaven over the earth has the form of a cupola; this cupola is the roof of the earth"2). In the same way Tabarï says in an other place (Tafsïr XIII, 55, 4): „Heaven is built over the earth like a cupola"3). Baidawï's and Zamakhsharï's commentaries give the same explanation of Süra II, 20 as Tabarï does. Abü Zaid II, 6, 1 has a tradition on the authority of Ibn-al-Kalbï to the same purport: „The heavens are over the earth as a cupola whose borders are attached to it" 4). Consequently the navel is not only an image of the earth but also of heaven, just as heaven and earth are similar in form one to the other. This is said expressly by Tha'labï whose book opens 44 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE with these words: „Traditionists have handed down with different words but with the same meaning, that Allah when he had conceived the idea of creating the heavens and earth, created a green substance resembling the layers of heaven and earth" x). The term hS which I have translated by cupola has also a different though cognate meaning viz. that of a tent. This meaning appears in many cosmologic and cosmogonic traditions of the Muslims. Zamakhsharï in his commentary on Süra II, 20 says: „Then Allah created heaven which resembles a hü built upon this solid land, or a tent erected over it" 2). The ambiguity of the word hS already proves that there is the closest resemblance between the two conceptions. The only difference of form consists herein that the cupola has a more or less convex mantle, whïle the mantle of the tent goes down in a straight line. But cupola as well as tent are only varieties of the same conception. Now heaven represented as a tent is well known in Semitic literatures. In the Old Testament Yahwe is often said to extend the curtains of the tent of heaven. Ps. CIV, 2: „Who covereth himself with light as with a garment, who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain" 3). Is. XL, 22: „that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dweil in"4). Heaven is Yahwe's tent; it is natural to suppose that Yahwe's tent on earth is only a copy of that in heaven. We shall indeed have occasion to discuss this conclusion in a more general form (cf. p. 48 sq., 52), The idea of heaven as a tent is also found in the Kor'an, cönnected with a peculiar representation of the function of the mountains. Sura LXXVII1, 6 sq.: „Have we not made the earth a plain territory and the mountains pegs ?" 5). This place has become the authoritative starting point for cosmologic ideas which represent heaven as a tent. Some of them have already been mentioned above. According to Tabarï's Tafsïr I, 409, 13 Abü Kubais was the first mountain Allah used for fixing the tent of heaven. We have already THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 45 seen that in Muslim literature the earth is often conceived as surrounded by the mountain of Kaf. In connection with the conception of heaven as a tent, it is said that on mount Kaf are placed the rtwo shoulders (litf) of heaven, like a tent with dropped curtains (Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 8, 5 sqq.) *). Popular imagination has been much occupied with the curtains of the heavenly tent. In Jewish literature the lowest heaven is called = velum (Hagiga, 12 b). and in Muslim literature the curtains which screen Allah from the sight of men are often spoken of. Kisa'ï fol. 6 sqq. has many traditions on these of Allah. Like in Psalm CIV, 2, the expression „God's mantle" is used in some other places, e. g. Tabarï Tafsïr XXVI, 105, 4 infra. It is not our purpose to pursue this subject; it is sufficiënt for us to have noticed, that heaven is represented in these traditions either as a'cupola or as a tent. We have seen, that the navel and earth are also represented as cupola's. It is interesting to observe that heaven as a tent has also its correlation upon earth. There is a well known tradition in the legendary history of the Ka'ba, according to which Adam was caused by Allah to dweil in a tent {i^xiS) from Paradise on the spot of the House of Allah, i. e. on the" navel2) (cf. Azrakï, p. 27 uit., 357 uit.). Here there is not only the correspondence between the navel and heaven, but just as Allah dwells in his heavenly tent, so Adam, Allah's substitute and image, is dwelling in his; heaven and earth are one another's counterpart. We may carry this idea one step further: earth, itself a cupola, being situated under the corresponding cupola of the lowest heaven, finds its centre in the navel; and as the earth has a navel, so heaven has its corresponding one.' C. The Navel oe Heaven. The navel of heaven is not mentioned in Semitic literatures as often as the navel of the earth. Yet we are able to observe that it has some of the characteristics of its earthly counterpart, as is to be expected considéring the general similarity between heaven and earth. 46 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE Perhaps the navel of heaven was already known to the author of Deut. IV, 11, where mount Sinai is represented as burning „unto the heart of heaven" (0*Ü2TI 37 1]}), for heart is soinetimes used as a synonym for navel. Jerusalem is called the heart of the earth (in the Zohar as quoted by Feuchtwang p. 728). Mekka is also called the heart of the world (JLJ) v__Jji) by al-Batanünl, p. 27, 4 infra; the author's note to this expression does not leave any doubt as to its meaning. But the idea of the navel of heaven is certainly known in Jewish literature. Ber. Rabba, fol. VI ro. b. 10 sq. has this passage: „At the moment that the Holy One said: there shall be a firmament, he coagulated the drop in the middle and so was made the nether heaven and the upper heaven" *). This is evidently the story of the creation of all heavens; as the firmament was created from the centre onwards, so were the rest of the heavens. The strict analogy should be noted here between the navel of the earth as the centre of creation, and the navel of heaven, having the same function. In Muslim literature more particulars are given. Tabarï I 63 sqq quotes a long tradition in which Ibn 'Abbas is describing the revolution in nature in the last days, on the authority of the Prophet. As in other eschatologies sun and moon will be changed; like a coupled pair of oxen they will begin a race, one endeavouring to leave the other behind him, „till when they have reached the navel of heaven, and this is its centre, Gabriel will go and take them by their horns and force them back to the West"2) (p. 71, paen.). Aethiopic literature has also preserved a reuüniscence of the same conception, combined with that of heaven as a sort of tent. The firmament is represented as a net „and God attached it in the navel of heaven, above which is the water" (Hexaemeron, 192, 4 sq. 3). The net is apparently parallel to the curtains of the tent we discussed above. And the navel of heaven must be the end of the pole of the tent. The Semitic peoples are not the only ones who were acquainted with the idea of a navel of heaven. In the Rgveda the altar itself THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 47 is called the navel of heaven. Rv. 3, 4, 4c: divó va nabha ny asadi hóta i. e. „on the navel of heaven the priest of the sacrifice has set himself" (properly: „has been set down"). And Rv. 9, 12, 4 a: divó nabha i. e. „on the navel of heaven" in the sense of „on the place of sacrifice". Identity of the navel of heaven and the navel of the earth as it is expressed in these places will scarcely be found in the literature of the Semites, which only considers the two as parallel in situation and in fuuction. Yet it should be noted that according to the Mandaeans the mountain of light in the North, where the King of light has his throne, a mountain which has many of the characteristics of the navel, is at the same time the place which is watered by heavenly rivers, consequently a place which belongs to the earth as well as to heaven (Brandt, p. 30 and 34). Further it should be remembered that in the descriptions we have quoted above, the navel and Paradise (which is also the navel of heaven) are represented in the same way. Now we have to ask: what is this navel of heaven ? Several answeis are given to this question in Semitic literature. In the first place we have an astronomical answer. Kisa'ï, fol. 15 a, 7 infra: „In Tradition it is said: the Polestar proves the Ka'ba to be the highest situated territory on earth, for it (viz. the Ka'ba) is opposite the centre of heaven" 1). The explanation of this tradition is apparently this: the highest point and the centre of heaven is the Polestar (heaven is here again represented as a cupola). Now the Ka'ba lies exactly opposite this centre; so the Ka'ba is the highest spot on the earth. Why ? Because heaven and earth are similar one to the other, two cupola's placed one above the other. This view has also a close connection with the significance of the 'direction of prayer, the kibla, which is twofold i on the earth it is the Ka'ba, in heaven it is the corresponding place, the Polestar. This is said by the same Kisa'ï in a somewhat clumsy way, fol. 15 a, 1. 12: „In the centre of this moving part of heaven (viz. the Great Bear) is a fixed star which does not move, and this is the Polestar, around which the Bear and the rest of the stars turn. People are agreed on this point that he who places himself opposite the Polestar has at the same time the direction of the kibla, because this star is above the Ka'ba, without ever moving. The Bear may 48 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE move some what, but the Polestar never does. If now the Polestar, which is the centre of heaven, around which the other stars turn, is above the Ka'ba, this fact proves that what corresponds with the centre of heaven is most likely to be the centre of the earth; consequently the Ka'ba is the centre of the earth" 1). In Greek literature there is a remarkable parallel to this idea. Nikander (Alexipharmaka, vs. 6 sq.) says to his friend Protagoras: \ vap èv[ tri) [Aèv ay%t Trohvarrpo'tfioto Sra\u an image of the World and that the apsis represents heaven (p. 15, paen. 2). Tabarï Tafsïr XXVII, 10, 11 infra maintains that between heaven and earth the same relation exists as between the roof of the Ka'ba and the Ka'ba itself: „By the roof in this place he means heaven; and the latter is called a roof because it is the heaven to earth, just as the heaven of the Holy House which is the roof of it" 3). In cod. Sachau 221, fol. 80 a, the „earth" and the „heaven" of the altar of a Syrian church are mentioned. The correspondence between heaven and earth does not only ëxist in material, but also in spiritual things. Adam is créated on the earth as God's substitute. According to Muslim theory every earth has its Adam and its Abraham (Ibn al-Wardï I, proemium 27, 5 sqq.) 4). THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 53 We have seen above that the navel of the earth, earth itself and heaven have the form of cüpola's. It is only in accordance with the similarity between the several parts of the Universe to find that this form is also given for the rest of the heavens. Thaiabï, p. 11, 3 sqq.: „God has created the heavens in the form of several cupola's; now the borders of the lowest heaven are fastened to those of the second; those of the- second to those of the third and so on till the seventh; and those of the last are fastened to the throne" *). There are however also traditions propounding the theory that all heavens and all earths are flat strata, a distance of a five hundred years' journey lying between any two of them. This opinion is to be found in Jewish as well as in Muslim sources (Ber. Kabba fol. VIII vo. a, 12 sqq.; Tabarï Tafsïr XXV, 5, 6 infra sqq.; XXVIII, 89, 20; Tha'labï, 5 uit.; Nuwairï, p. 5, 7 infra sqq.). Such a theory is diflicult to harmonize with that of the earth being founded upon mountains situated in Tehom.' According to the latter, the sanctuary, as the mountain par excellence and as the navel, has been placed directly above Tehom. It is probably due to endeavours to harmonize tradition whèn it is asserted that the foundations of the mountain al-Hira' are situated on the seventh earth (Hadrawï, p. 14, 6). The same is said of the foundations of the Ka'ba. Kutb al-Dïn, p. 27, 8 infra: „When Allah had caused Adam to descend from Paradise, he said: O Adam, build for me a House opposite my heavenly one. Yourself and your posterity shall worship in it, as my angels worship around my throne. Then the angels descended to him and he dug till he reached the seventh earth. Then the angels threw large stones into it (viz. the. pit) till it rose above the surface of the earth'12). (cf. Azrakï, p. 4, 6 sqq.; 7, 10). The foundations of the holy mountain or those of the Ka'ba are here a regular axis running through half of the Universe. 54 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE E. The Navel and the Throne. In the foregoirig section traditions were quoted which not only draw a parallel between the navel and the centre of the heavens but also betweeji the navel and the throne of God. According to Jewish and Muslim cosmology the divine throne is exactly above the seventh heaven, consequently it is the pole of the Universe (cf. Hagiga 12 b; Tabarï I, 61, 15; Tabarï Tafsïr VII, 174, 5 infra; Azrakï, p. 18, uit.; Abü.ZaidH, 9, 6 infra; 10, 1 sqq.; Hexahemeron, p. 172, 1 sqq.). Cosmologically speaking the navel and the throne are related to one another, as the centre and one of the poles of a globe are. With this statement the relations between the navel and the throne are however not exhausted. It will be worth while to investigate them. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth Allah's throne was upon the waters; from there he ascended to heaven and created the earth on the previous spot of the throne. At the last of the days he will return to the earth and make the Holv Rock again his throne; it will even be expanded so that mankind can stand upon it, and then Judgment will begin. On p. 23 we have quoted a tradition to this effect in a different connection. Here we may add some other sayings. Nuwairï, p. 90,15: Ka'b al Ahbar said: „In the Tora it is'said, that God says to the Holy Rock in Jerusalem: „Thou art my lower throne, from thee I have ascended towards heaven, towards thee will be the gathering of mankind and from thee their spread" *). And 90, 13 sq. Allah says of the Holy Rock: „This is my place and the spot of my throne on the day of Judgment; it will gather my servants" 2). In the Old Testament the Holy RocTc is not mentioned; but Jerusalem as the place of the Divine Throne occurs I Chron. 29, 23: „And Solomon set himself upon the throne of Yahwe as a king, instead of David, his father". Here the royal throne is called the throne of Yahwe. Of course this expression springs from the idea that the king is the Khalïfa of God; how closely God and the king are connected, appears in the idea, that the royal throne is also the divine throne or an image of it. As God in his heavenly sanctuary sits upon his throne, so the king sits in the earthly THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVEHSE 55 sanctuary upon his throne. The centre of the earth and the pole of heaven, both are intimately connected with the throne. We find this thought already in the legends about Adam, In the centre of the earth Adam is inaugurated by God as a king and a priest and set upon a throne. All this is meant typically of course; here the analogy is proclaimed between heaven and earth, godhead and kingship, navel and throne (Schatzhöhle, p. 14, 3—7 x). In Muslim legends about Adam some of these features are retained. Adam, the Khalïfa, brought the later „black stone", then a white hyacinth, from paradise to the spot op the Ka'ba „and it served Adam as a throne to sit Upon"2), (Azrakï, p. 8, 7; Khamïs I, 91, 12). » This idea shows again, that it is not only the sanctuary as a whole, but various separate parts of it which are conceived as the real spot of the navel; here it is the throne. In the Jerusalem temple this throne was outside the temple itself, but within a common area. In the temple of Shilo it stood at the entrance of the building (I Sam. 1, 9). In early Christian churches it servedas the seat of the bishop, and in early Muslim times it was the seat of the Khalïfa. Later on it has taken the character of a pulpit. The names still show that the pulpit has developed from the throne. It is called _odq_io>Z in Syriac churches and yX* in mosques3). It is well known that the latter word has been borrowed from the AethiopianS; here «'"'XIG: means. a seat ora throne; but, what is more remarkable, it also means, according to Dillmann s. v. who quotes Ludolf, „locus sacratior in adyto seu sanctuario, quem Graeci Spovov vocant". And, finally, it means the foundation of a thing. It is clear that this meaning is connected with a familiar characteristic of the navel. g That the throne in the sanctuary is considered as the. image of the divine throne and that both possess characteristics of the navel, is proved by detailed descriptions. In cod.. Sachau 221 of the 56 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE royal library of Berlin a description of the church of the monastcry of Daira d'Umra is given, in which the following pasage occurs (fol. 80): „The workmen built in the Eastern part of the church three cella's: the middle one was the holy of holies. And the throne which was in it consisted of a block of white marble, six span and a half long. It had four sides and four images were made on it: a lion, a buil, an eagle and a man. On the throne was spread a wonderful, royal cloth of gold brocade. Round about the throne was a silver wreath, in which three hundred images were made, which represented the dealings of Christ. Over the throne was a brazen Cherub (or: circle) and above all this a brazen cupola, supported by four pillars of emery stone" x).' In -the first place we have to remark that the form of the thronos in general features corresponds to the mixed type of the navel we have met with above: a cupola with a square base, a form of the navel which is common in the Greek world, as may be seen in Roscher's treatises in several plates. The form of the navel itself is remarkable which consists of a cupola on four pillars, exactly like the centre of paradise (cf. p. 50). In the second place we must turn to the descriptions of the divine throne in order to be able to compare the descriptions of the navel and of the throne in the sanctuary with them. The divine throne, being situated exactly above the „visited House" and heavenly Paradise, is also supported by bearers; sometiines they are represented by lion, buil, eagle and man (Abü Zaid I, 167, 7 infra, 168, 2; Kisa'ï, fol. 4 vo. 1. 12 sqq.; Kazwïnï I, p. 56 supra), sometimes by pillars {y\Sj\, ^ïy; Kisa'ï, fol. 4 vo., 5 infra; fol. 11, ro., 1. 9). Sometimes it is said that the bearers of the throne are horned and that the throne is above the horns (Kisa'ï, fol. 5 vo., 3 infra). The last mentioned conception is parallel to a rather frequent description of the earth as being THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVEESE 57 bom by a buil whose horns appear above the horizon J). Further all creatures are represented in the divine throne (cf. the descriptions in Targum Ester, p. 227 sq. and in Tha'Iabï, p. 13, 17) and four rivers flow from it (Kisa'ï, fol. 6, ro., paen.). These features are as many parallels to familiar characteristics of the navel and its representation in the throne of the sanctuary. Lion, eagle, buil and man (M ^ u'ibg rou uvSpÓMrou) are common to the heavenly and the earthly throne; the seat in the Syriac church contains tfiree hundred images and the divine throne contains the images of all creatures. This idea belongs also to the characteristics of the navel: as the image of the earth it may also contain thè images of what is living on the earth and as such it is the origin of the rivers. There are other features which are common to the navel and the throne. The worship of the angels around the throne is the prototype of the worship of man around the navel, as is said expressly by Muslim authors. Azrakï, p. 30, 3: „a House (viz. the Ka'ba) around which the tawaf is performed as it is performed around my (viz. God's) throne" 2) (cf. also Tabarï I, 123, 11 sqq.; Tabarï Tafsïr IV, 6 paen.; Azrakï, p. 5, 10; 7, 5 sq; Nuwairïi p. 72; Kisa'ï, fol. 5 ro., 13). There are still a few words to be said about the throne in its relation to the universe. We have already seen that the throne is the pole of the universe, the highest situated of the several navels. And just as the navel of the earth is the image of the earth, so the throne is the image of the universe. According to Wahb b. Munabbih heaven and earth, the world, the world to be, wind and fire are ^^«J) <~J^^J „in the womb of the throne" (Abü Zaid I, 158, 4 infra; Kisa'ï, 4 vo. 1. 5 infra; cf. Tabarï Tafsïr III, 7, 8—18). This theory is also given in such a form, that the throne surrounds the whole of the universe. According to a tradition on the authority of Wahb in Tabarï I, 37, 18 sqq. heaven and earth are surrounded by the Ocean, the latter by Jj^!f and this in its turn by the 58 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE throne, ^flï. That Jj^ï which is of course the Hebrew „temple", has anything to do with the Universe rs a sanctuary, is only vaguely understood by Wahb, who compares it with the ropes of a tent 1). Here we meet the Universe as a tent and here is proved anew the resemblance betwéen the parts and the whole, for we have also found heaven as a tent. Often Muslim authors distinguish between ^£ and jz^, the former being represented as a part of tffe latter. According to Abü Dharr as quoted in Kisa'ï, fol.'4vó., 5 ro. the seven heavens are as compared to the kursï as a ring in a desert; the kursï in its turn is as compared to the 'arsh as a ring in a desert (cf. also Tabarï Tafsïr III, 7, 17; Abü Zaid I, 166 infra, 167). And according to Baidawï ad Süra II, 256 al-kursï is perhaps an appellation of „the sphere knowu as the sphere of the zodiacal signs" 2). In the Midrash Ester the six steps of Solomon's throne correspond to the six heavens (D^p"l PRW). It seems that all these ideas are influenced by conceptions like that of Is. LXVT, 1: „thus saith Yahwe: the heaven is my throne and the earth is my foot-stool". F. The Navel and the Netheh World. We have stated above that the navel is~ the place of communication with the nether world, that it is even considered as a typióal sepulchre. This characteristic appears also in the fact that the navel is represented as a hill or a cupola. Over the grave a tumulus is often made; this is a primitive form of a tomb, also among the Semitic peoples. As we have seen Azrakï mentions a tumulus as the grave of the Ismaelite virgins (cf. p. £7 sq.). Making a grave is called ^jl-J which properly means „giving a thing a convex form". In a tradition preserved by Bukharï, Djana'iz, bab 96, 3rf tradition, THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 59 it is said that the tomb of Muhammed was (JL< J). Kutb al-Dïn p. 444, uit. maintains having experienced the efficaeity of prayers performed at the tumulus (hj) of al-Nakshbandï. Modern Muslim tombs of some importance are provided with a cupola, also called £}. It is possible that this cupola is a tumulus modelled after the Byzantine cupola. ïhere also occur tombs covered with a square stoneblock and even such as are provided with a cupola on four pillars (cf. Laue, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, p. 528 sq.). According to Goldziher (Revue de 1'Histoire des Religions X, 356) the chapel on the tomb has developed from the tent, which till the present day, is dressed on Eastern grave* (cf. W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, I, 148; Wetzstein in Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie, V, p. 294 sqq.). At any rate it will not be an accident that the navel, as the type of the tomb, has also the same forms as the grave. This conclusion is corroborated by the relation between the navel and an other representation of the nether world, viz. the realm of the dead or Heil. As to the former it is to be observed that according to a widely spread Semitic conception, which we met with above, the nether world, earth and the heavens, are similar cupola's, one placed above the other. Jensen's third plate represents the Babylonian conception some features of which we have found even in Arabic literature. Here we observe also the navel of the nether world „the Temple of the Orcus" (ikal irsit la tarat). In Arabic literature many parallels are found to the Babylonian conception of the nether world (cf. Ins I, 14, 7 infra sqq.; Kisa'ï, fol. 8 ro.). In Tirmidhï II, 95, 18 a mountain of fire in Heil is mentioned. In European Middle Ages Heil is also represented as a mountain. These materials, few as they are, contain a new proof of the navel being the image of different similar parts of the Universe. G. The Navel and the Serpent, At the conclusion of our research we have still to draw attention to testimonies literary and monumental of a connection between the navel and the serpent. In the first place Dalman's discoveries at Petra are to be remem- 60 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE bered. In his book on Petra he prints a photographic reproduction of a monument of which he gives a detailed description in the text (I, p. 218—220). The monument consists of a conic navel, 2 metres in height and diameter, surrounded by a serpent in four circles, with an enormous head. This navel which may be compared with several plates in Roscher's treatises, is placed upon a gigantic quadrangular stone block which serves as its pedestal. Under the rock that supports this monument is a large room with niches for the reception of the dead. In the first place we have to observe here that a monumental combination of a grave and a navel-stone above it, cannot be accidental. Such an enormous monument is not placed upon a grave if it does not express a living thought. A grave is the symbol of the nether/world; the navel is the symbol of the earth; this is the reason/why these elements are combined here, one above the other. Bui the serpent? Is it really only the genius loei, or the guardian tof the grave ? It would be preposterous to base our answer to this question upon the Petra monument only. But we are not going to/o far, if we remark that, navel and grave having a cosmic significadce, the serpent is likely to have a similar character. In order to be able to answer this question, we shall first have to ask another, viz. this: Are the Western Semites acquainted with the combination of navel and serpent? Traditions of the Meccan • sanctuary give a plain answer to this question. These traditions cöhsist of two series: one describing how Abraham began to build me sacred house upon the foundation which had already been made 'by Adam or the angels; the other describing an analogous fact, viz. the restoration of the sacred house shortly before the rise of Islam. Further it is to be observed that the analogy of the two occasions corresponds to two different traditions of which one is analogous to the other. Azrakï, p. 30, relates how Abraham and Ismael laid bare the foundation (,pL,ï) of the sanctuary and built the sacred house upon it: „then the Sakïna (the divine presence) wound itself upon the original foundation as if it were a serpent, saying: Build upon me, o Abraham" x). That in this tradition the serpent should only be the usual guardian, is of course excluded by its mythological character; this prevents it also from being taken as the usual genius loei. THE NAVEL AND THE UNINERSE 61 The mythological character of the monster is emphasised in other, ancient and modern traditions. Tabarï I, 275, 8 sqq. describes it as „a stormy wind with two heads. One of them followed the other till it reached Mekka; there it wound itself like a serpent on the spot of the sacred house" *). Some manuscripts read „a shield" instead of „a serpent". This expression occurs also in Ibn al Athïr I, 76, 2; Tabarï Tafsïr I, 44, 20 sqq.; Tha'labï, p. 77, 11; Lisan s. v\ ujso-. This reading makes also a good sense; the navel in the form of a shield is again similar in form to the earth in the form of a shield, one of the representations of the earth (see above p. 38). In other places (Tabarï % 276, 16 sq.; Tafsïr I, 410, 21 sq.) the monster is described as: • „a wind called the wind Al-Khadjüdj which had two wings and a head like a serpent's" 2). Khamïs I, 98, paen. it is described as possessing two serpents' heads, one behind the other. To these descriptions should be added, that in Halabï I, 207, 11 infra sqq. the monster has a human or a cat's face, and that it is accompanied by a bird called ^j,. The mythological character of this serpent is sufficiently shown by these traditions. And the solution of the question what the serpent around or upon the navel means, does not seem to be very difficult. ff the navel represents the earth, that which surrounds it can scarcely be anything else but the Ocean. This conclusion is raised to a high degree of cèrtainty by the fact that the Ocean, in Babylonian as well as in Hebrew mythology, is conceived as a serpent: Tiamat is a marine serpent and TehomLeviathan is in Isa. XXVII, 1 expressly called ETU „serpent". The. likeness between the Mekkan serpent and Leviathan is made complete by two other common features: The Mekkan Serpent is called _j»s*JÏ. In some places this word is taken as an adjective. The Lisan s. v. in fact gives the explanation „stormy" (Ij) xjjjui). In other places (cf. also Zamakhsharï, p. 904, 5 sq.) the matter has quite a different aspect. Here it is a being, which bears the name of Al-Khadjüdj. Now this name is either a foreign mythological term denoting the serpent, or there is a misunderstanding 62 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE in the common Arabic translation „stormy"; for „stormy" is not the epithet to be expected for the mythological serpent. The Lisan has however preserved the real meaning of the root ^i». The first synonym the author gives is ^yl! „to wind oneself". The root ^ is also the basis of the word Leviathan, which even by the Ancients was taken in the sense of fïnbj^ (Isaiah XXVII, 1). The process consequently seems to have been this: the Jewish theories concerning'the Leviathan have come down to the Muslims and the name, being explained as „the serpent which winds itself", has been translated by al-Khadjüdj and so some traditions appear to be still acquainted with the fact that al-Khadjüdj is a nomen proprium just as Leviathan. - -V Now Khadjüdj has also the meaning of „stormy";- in this manner it can be explained that the serpent was changed into a wind and consequently a being came into existence composed of such heterogeneous elements as a wind and the head of a serpent. An other remarkable feature in some descriptions of the Mekkan serpent is its having two heads. Here again is a peculiarity of Leviathan. Ps. LXXIV, 14: „Thou (Yahwe) hast crushed the heads of Leviathan" x). In the Odes of Solomon the dragon (l—>-»j£) has seven heads (XXII, 5). Further the Mekkan traditions maintain that the sanctuary was built upon the serpent. Here a Jewish tradition may be compared : „The Ocean surrounds thé world as a vault surrounds a large pillar. And the world is placed in its circular form on the fins of Leviathan" 2). (Jellinek I, 63, 17 sq.). This explanation of the serpent and the navel as being cosinic symbols is set in a remarkable light by a renewed comparison of the navel and the divine throne. From this comparison it appears that even the serpent is common to them. Tha'labï, p. 13 uit. sqq. and Ins I, 10 paen. describe the divine throne as being s'urrounded by a serpent of mythological appearance. This is Tha'labï's description: „Then Allah surrounded it by a serpent this serpent wound itself around the throne and the latter reaches to half the height of the serpent which is winding itself around it" 3). THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 63 One is reminded here of the frequent Greek images of a serpent wound around and ascending above the omphalos (Roscher Omphalos, plate IX, N°. 6; Roscher, Neue Studiën, plate II, n08. 3, 4, 14)' Kisa'ï completes his description in this way (fol. 6 vo., .14 sqq.): „when this serpent utters the vvords: Glory to God, its voice overbears the voice of the angels. And when it opens its mouth it encompasses the heavens like a flash of lightning. And if this serpent haft not been inspired to moderate its glorification, all creatures would be thunder stricken at its voice" *); This serpent is also found in connection • with the throne of Solomon. Targum Ester II, p. 228, 27: „and a silver dragon was on the machinery (of the throne)"2). And Jellinek II, 85, 1 sqq.-: „a silver serpent bore the wheel of the throne" 3). In order to complete the description of the Mekkan serpent we have now to review the traditions which inention it on the occasion of the restoration of the sanctuary shortly before the rise of Islam. Azrakï relates how in the times of the Djurhum the treasures of the Ka'ba were stolen (p. 49, 8 sqq.). Thereupon Allah sent „a serpent which had a black back and a white belly and a head like the head of a he-goat; this serpent guarded the sacred House during five hundred years" 4). On p. 105, 4 sqq. the author tells. us that this serpent reappeared and terrified the Kuraishites when they were beginning to restore the sacred House. At their prayer Allah sent a bird with a black back, a white belly and yellow paws which snatched up the serpent and bore it to the mountain Adjyad. Of the numerous parallel passages in Azrakï (p. 106, 14; 108, 4; 114, 14; 170, 10) and Kutb al-Dïn (p.' 50, 14) it. is only that in Azrakï p. 170, 10 which adds a noteworthy feature. The serpent is called here ^U^* „a large serpent" and it has its dwelling-place in the pit of the Ka'ba, where it guards the treasures. But Halabï I, 189, 3 sqq. gives a more complete description of the serpent: „Allah sent a white serpent with a black head and 64 THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE a black tail and its head was like the head of a he-goat. It had to dweil in this pit in order to guard the objects there. It used to leave its dwellingplace and to appear glittering, viz. it exposed itself to the sun upon the wall of the Ka'ba while its colour assunied a glittering appearance; and often it wound itself on the wall so that its tail approached its head" x). On p. 192, 2 sqq. the -description is continued thus: „while one day the ^serpent was on the top of the wall of the Ka'ba, as was its wont, Allah sent a bird larger than an eagle; this bird snatched up the serpent and cast it on al-Hadjan where it was swallowed by the earth. Some people say that this is the creature which will speak to mankind on the day of Resurrection. It is also said that the monster will come fourth from the ravine of the mountain Adjyad" 2). The different features of all these traditions may justify the following remarks concerning the character of the serpent. As the Ocean, it assumed the form of a circle. In the Snorra Edda, chapter 47, the serpent Midgardsormr is represented as surrounding the earth and touching its head with its tail. As the Ocean-, the Mekkan serpent is glittering in the sun and as the Ocean it is black and white. As Tehom it is connected with the nether world; for we have seen above that the pit which is its dwelling-place is a symbol of the nether world. It has however not only the natural features of Tehom but also its mythological ones. Just as Tehom in the form of Leviathan, so the Mekkan .serpent, will reappear at the Resurrection. There is another, constantly returning characteristic of the serpent, viz. its having the head of a he-goat; of course this also a mythological feature. This quaint representation induces us to ask: are there other descriptions or images of a serpent with the head of he-goat existent in Semitic mytbology? The question can be THE NAVEL AND THE UNIVERSE 65 answered in the affirmative at once. Jensen, p. 80, concludes his reiuarks on the constellation Caper with these words: „ Der Stemboek eröffnet die Ia-Apsu-Region des Himmels. Dem Steinbock éntspricht bei den Babyloniern ein Fisch, dessen Kopf durch eine Ziege gebildet wird. Unter solchen Umstanden kann es kaum dem Zweifel unterliegen, dass der Ziegenfisch-Steinbock mit Fischschwanz auf Ia hindeutet. Beachte hierzu auch dass der Wendekreis des Steinbocks, der im Altertume die Ekliptik im Steinbock berühre, „Weg in Bezug auf Ia"hiess"! On the so-called kudurru's Ea's beast is indeed a fish with a goat's head (cf. Jeremias, Abb. 80 and 81). And in the text of one of the kudurru's as communicated by Steinnietzer in the SachauFestschrift, p. 62 sqq., the fish with the goat's head is expressly called „the sanctuary of Ea". Now Ea is the god of Apsu, Tehom; and Leviathan is a fish as well as a serpent. It is evident that the Mekkan serpent is cogMte with familiar types of North- and East-Semitic mythology. Finally it is to be noted that the Mekkan serpent in the main part of the traditions is either the Shekïna, the divine Presence, or a being sent by Allah, not a demoniac but a divine being. If our conclusions as to its significance in connection with the navel, as being cosmic symbols, are right, some familiar facts concerning Jerusalem appear in a new light. Kittel (Der Schlangenstein) has shown it to be probable that the Stone of the Sérpent nbnrn pN (i Kings i, 9) was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Source .of the Dragon pm ]y (Neh. II, 13) and he has suggested a connection between these data and the worship of the serpent mentioned in 2 Kings XVIII, 4. That the stöne and the spring had a peculiar religious importance appears from their names and. from the fact that Adoniyah slays victims and presides at a Teligious meal in the immediate vicinity of the stone and that these ceremonies in this place are considered as the ceremonies which invest him with royal power. After our foregoing research not much imagination is needed in order to combine these elements; the dragon in the spring, the stone of the serpent and the place where the king is inaugurated, seem again to represent: the nether world, the earth, and its government. The navel is the seat of natural and civil order, a symbol of the divine throne, the place where the order of the Universe is regulated.