[541] There is no Greek etymology for _baitulos_, and if it
came from without, a Semitic origin is the most probable.

[542] Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelica_, i, 10, 18.

[543] _Hist. Nat._, bk. xxxvii, chap. 51.

[544] Cf. F. Lenormant, in _Revue de l'histoire des
religions_, iii, 31 ff.; Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_,
p. 775 f.

[545] For Phoenician customs see Pietschmann, _Phoenisier_,
p. 204 ff.

[546] Cf. Deut. x, 2; Ex. xxv, 16; 2 Chr. v, 10, where the
stone in the ark seems to have become two stone tables on
which the decalogue was written by the finger of Yahweh--an
example, if the view mentioned above be correct, of the
transformation of a thing originally divine in itself into
an accessory of a god.

[547] Cf. Hughes, _Dictionary of Islam_, s.v. _Kaaba_;
Wellhausen, _Reste arabischen Heidentumes_, pp. 99, 171.

[548] On the relation between the stone heaps and the Hermes
pillars cf. Welcker, _Griechische Goetterlehre_, ii, 455, and
Roscher, _Lexikon_, i, 2, col. 2382. With Hermes as guide of
travelers cf. the Egyptian Khem (Min), of Coptos, as
protector of wanderers in the desert, and perhaps Eshmun in
the Sardinian trilingual inscription (see Roscher,
_Lexikon_, article "Esmun"; _Orientalische Studien Noeldeke
gewidmet_).

[549] See below, Sec. 1080.

[550] W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 2d ed., pp.
202, 341; cf. Jevons, _Introduction to the History of
Religion_, chap. xi; article "Altar" in Hastings,
_Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[551] Lev. xvi, 19.

[552] For some methods of such introduction see W. Crooke,
in _Folklore_, viii.

[553] Herodotus, ii, 44; he identifies Melkart with
Herakles.

[554] 1 Kings, vii, 15-22; Ezek. xl, 49.

[555] Perrot and Chipiez, _Histoire de l'art_, vol. iii; cf.
Pletschmann, _Phoenizier_, p. 203 ff.; Rawlinson,
_Phoenicia_, p. 338.

[556] Cf. below, Sec. 399 ff.

[557] W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 2d ed., p. 487
ff.

[558] Strabo, iii, 5, 5.

[559] Those of Solomon's temple are described as being 27
feet in height, and without stairways. Cf. the structures
connected with the Hierapolis temple (Lucian, _De Syria
Dea_, 28).

[560] Desire for height appears also in the Egyptian pyramid
and the Babylonian ziggurat, but both these had means of
ascent to the higher levels. Cf. below, Sec. 1085.

[561] Maspero, _Egyp