MYRTLE (077 Adidas, hence 7719 Hdidassah, the Jewish name of Esther).—The Arabic has three words for the myrtle, rihdn, *4s, and hadas, the last of which is identical with the Hebrew. Πάσας occurs six times in the OT. In three of these (Neh 8", Is 4119. 6513) the LXX has μυρσίνη, in the rest ὀρέων τε" οὗ the hills’ (Zee 18-1", where the translators must have had the reading 077 instead of oo1n7). The myrtle, Myrtus communis, L., is an evergreen shrub, usually from 3 to 4 ft. high. Occasionally, in moist soil, it attains a height of 8 ft. It flourishes from the sea-level to an alti- tude of 4000 ft. The southernmost range of Lebanon is called Jebel Rihdn, from the abund- ance of this shrub on its flanks. It grows on bare hillsides and by watercourses in beautiful green clumps.
Being so low a shrub, it is quite improper to speak of it as forming groves. A variety is cultivated, especially in Damascus, which often reaches a height of 10 or 12 ft., but never attains the proportions of a tree. The translation ‘myrtle trees’ (Zec 1% 11) is unwarrantable, as the original has not the word trees ‘yy, (const.), but simply 0929 =‘myrtles.’ The flowers are white, about an inch broad, and of a delicate, pretty structure. The berries are first white, and then turn to a bluish- black. They are sweetish-astringent in taste, and are much liked by the natives, who call them hanblds, a corruption of hab el-ds (‘the be of the myrtle’). he leaves are lanpeclata’ ask green, and fragrant, especially when pressed and rubbed between the thumb and fingers. The natives use them as follows :—(a) The dried leaves are pounded in a mortar, sifted, and the powder
mixed with oil is used to anoint the bodies of young infants, or the dry powder is dusted over the surface to toughen the skin, and prevent excoriations from the friction of the clothing. ‘b) The beds of infants are sometimes stuffed with the dried leaves, from a belief in their medicinal virtue.
Both the berries and the leaves are sold VOL. 111, —30
in the markets, but the writer has never seen the flowers sold, nor has he heard of fragrant water being distilled from them, as alleged by some.
G. E. Post.
MYSIA (Mucia) was the name customarily used for the north-western part of Asia Minor, border- ing on the Hellespont and the Propontis, and bounded east and south by Bithynia, Phrygia, and Lydia. The Troad is sometimes included in it, and sometimes distinguished from it. Under the late Roman empire the name fell into disuse, and Hellespontus was substituted for it as the title of a province in the fourth and following cen- turies. e boundaries were vague and undeter- minable ; and the uncertainty led to the proverb χωρὶς τὰ Μυσῶν καὶ Φρυγῶν, applied to what cannot be defined. Of places mentioned in the Bible, Assos and TROAS were in Mysia, ADRAMYTTIUM on the border between it and Lydia. It formed part of the Roman province Asia.
Mysia is mentioned only in Ac 167-8. St. Paul, with Silas and Timothy, being prevented by the Spirit from preaching in Asia, turned northward with the intention of entering Bithynia, with its great, populous, and civilized cities, hardly inferior even to Ephesus; but when they came so far north as to be opposite Mysia (κατὰ τὴν Μυσίαν : for this use of κατά compare Herodotus i. 76, Thucy- dides vi. 65 and 104, Ac 277; but see Blass on Ac 1675), they were ordered not to enter Bithynia; and they then turned towards the west, !passing through but not preaching in Mysia, till they reached the coast at Troas.
A tradition existed that, on this journey through Mysia, Paul and Silas had founded a church ata
lace named Poketos, between the Rhyndacus and Jyzicus, as is mentioned in the Acta S. Phileteri (Acta Sanctorum, May 19). This is hardly con- sistent with Ac 16’, but is not absolutely contra- dictory, as, though not regularly evangelizing in Mysia, it is clearly possible that Paul and Silas might convert individuals on the way either at Poketos or at Troas. But the tradition is late, for the Acta Phileteri profess to be only of the 4th cent., and may be later. An ancient Mysian tradition existed, assigning to a certain One- siphorus the evangelization of part at least of Mysia: Onesiphorus was martyred at Parium under the proconsulate of Adrian, and this date is a BRO proof of trustworthiness, for Adrian was actually proconsul of Asia about A.D. 109-114. It is unlikely that the recollection of so obscure an officer could have been correctly preserved except in a true old tradition: see Expos. Times, 1898, Ρ. 495. . M. Ramsay.
MYSTERY.—The term ‘mystery’ opens up a wide and interesting, though somewhat obscure, field of inquiry to the Christian theologian. Much of it is, however, extra-biblical, and must therefore rather be indicated than discussed in this place. We shall consider, first, the NT use of the word μυστήριον ; second, the chief features of the Greek mysteries ; and, third, the question how far the latter influenced the language of the NT.
i. NT USE OF THE TERM Mvor)jpiov.—The mean- ing of this word in classical Greek was anything hidden or secret, especially in the plural τὰ μυστήρια, the sacred rites above referred to, from which all who had not passed through a ceremony of initia- tion were excluded. The root verb μύω is formed by that act of closing the lips which it primarily signifies (though it is applied also to the closing of the eyes), and appears alike in the Latin mutus, and our own (oclloquial) ‘mam.’ ‘Mummery’ is a curiously parallel formation to the Greek ‘mystery.’ hey find their point of contact, doubtless, in the mystery-plays of the Middle