James Strahan. ELYMAS.— See Bar-Jesus.
EMERALD (a-fidpaydos). — The emeraldis a mineral of the same species as the beryl. It owes its value as a gem to its extremely beautiful velvetj'^ green colour, which is ascribed to the chromium it con- tains. The primary form of its crystal is a hexa- gonal prism variously modified. It is electric by friction, and frequently transparent, but sometimes only translucent. Flinders Petrie (HDB iv. 620) suggests that the a-/ji.dpay5o? with which the rainbow (Ipis) round about the throne is compared (Rev 4') was rock-crystal, as only a colourless stone could throw prismatic colours. But the nimbus or halo may have been emerald in colour and only like a rainbow in form. The fourth foundation of the wall of the New Jerusalem is emerald (Rev 21'**).
James Strahan.
EMPEROR.— See Augustus.
EMPEROR-WORSHIP. — One of the most in- teresting and important facts in the inner history of the Roman Empire prior to the adoption of Christianity as the State-religion was the rise of Emperor-worship. Only in recent years have the facts regarding it been adequately investigated, and their importance for the early history of Chris- tianity recognized and appreciated.
1. Origin and development. — Emperor-worship, like many other strange phenomena, was first of all a product of the contact and fusion of Oriental- ism and Hellenism, which for all practical purposes may be dated from the conquests of Alexander the Great. In each of these modes of thought it had a root ; and, before the advent of Roman power, the reigning monarch had been regarded as divine in those regions where Greek and Oriental thought had blended. In Oriental societies generally — e.g. Egypt, Babylon, Persia, China — it was the custom from early times to speak of the ruler as ' son of God,' and in other ways to pay him divine honour — a custom which may easily be derived from the general tendency there to cringing adulation and extravagant flattery on the part of the subject (in Ac 12^^ we have a good example), and from a natural desire on the part of the monarch to confirm so \iseful a sanction of his authority. In the Hellenic Avorld an approach to this is found in the custom of raising to divine rank after death those who in their lifetime had been pre-eminent for bravery or other qualities of great service to the community. To such men sacred rites and festivals were decreed, and in one formula used in inscriptions they are spoken of as ' gods and heroes ' (E. Kolide, Psyche'^, Tiibingen, 1903, ii. 353). As noted above, in the kingdoms formed out of the Empire of Alexander in which Orientalism was hellenized, the deification of the monarch was definitely carried out. An in- scription of Halicarnassus, c. 306 B.C., describes Ptolemy I. as Swttj/) Kai Ge^j, ' Saviour and God ' (Dittenberger, Orient. Gr. Inscr. Selectm, 1903-05, xvi. 2, 3). Tlie Syrian kings named Antiochus are
termed 0e(5s (God), the infapious Antiochus IV. being designated on his OAvn coins as Geos'ETrt^ai'Tjs (' the God who has appeared among men ').
It was in hellenized Asia that the deification of the Roman power began. In 195 B.C. Smyrna in- stituted the worship of the power of Rome, and from 95 B.C. ouAvards we find in Asia the worship of various beneficent Roman officials, e.g. Scsevola, Q. Cicero (cf. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, p. 117). Julius Cpesar was honoured in his lifetime in an Ephesian inscription as ' the God descended from Mars and Venus, who has appeared in human form, and the universal Saviour of the life of men ' (Dittenberger, Sylloge Gr. Inscript.^, Leipzig, 1898, 347, 1. 6 [vol. i. p. 552]). Upon his successor, the great Augustus, the East showered divine honours in pi'of usion. A temple was dedicated at Pergamum to Rome and Augustus with a gild of choristers 'for the God Augustus and the Goddess Rome.' A similar temple rose at Ancyra in Galatia, and the recognition of the deity of Caesar became wide- spread in the Orient.
It is to be noted that it was no mere flattery that was expressed in this deification. It was a sincere sentiment of gratitude that led the East to confer on CiBsar the highest honour conceivable. The pax Bomana which he gave them and preserved for them was an inestimable boon. He did for them what their gods seemed unable to do : he put an end to their constant dread and frequent experi- ence of warfare, tyranny, injustice. He gave them security of life and goods, kept safe the highways, fostered their commerce, and developed their re- sources. And all those benefits were safeguarded to them by a might which seemed invincible and irresistible. Viewed through a medium of Eastern poetic emotion, Caesar easily appeared invested with essential qualities of godhead — limitless power wielded for the good of the subject. Many inscrip- tions might be quoted which show that the Eastern pagan world found its Messiah in Caesar, the language in some cases bearing a resemblance to Jewish Messianic psalms and prophecies. The following will serve as illustration. It is an in- scription of date 9-4 B.C. (Ramsay) in honour of the birthday of Augustus, and is a decree of the com- mune of Asia, instituting the Augustan era, and ordered to be put up in all the leading cities (Ramsay, op. cit. 436). We give only an extract :