posed to it, and the idea expressed in Psa. cxxi, 6 (" The moon shall not smite thee by night") may have refer- ence to the general or the particidar evil effect: blind- ness is still attributed to the influence of the moon's rays on those who sleep under the open heaven, both by the Arabs (Carne's Letters, i, 8«) and by Europeans. If this extreme (comparative) cold is considered in con- nection with the Oriental custom of sleeping .^ub diro, out of doors, a la belle etoile, on the flat roofs of houses, or even on the ground, without in all cases sufficient precautionary measures for protecting the body, we see no difficulty in understanding whence arose the evil influence ascribed to the moon. In the East Indies similar effects result from similar exposure. The con- nection between the moon's phases and certain forms of disease, whether madness or epilepsy, is expressed in the Greek ai\7iviaZ,Kj^ai (Matt, iv, 24; xvii, 15), in the Latin derivative " lunatic," and in our " moon-struck." The various influences anciently attributed to the moon in her different phases (Pliny, ii, 102), not only in changes of the weather (Yarro, R. Ii. i, 37 ; Virgil, Georg. i, 275, 427; comp. Hos. v, 7; Isa. xlvii, 13), but also in physical effects upon the human system (Macrob. Sat. vii, 16; comp. Psa. cxxi, 6), is a superstition (Horat. Ars Poet, v, 454; Virgil, yEn. iv, 512) still verj- preva- lent in the East (Rosenmiiller, Moryenl. iv, 108), and has not even ceased among modern Occidentals (comp. Hone, Every-day Boole, i, 1.509; Shakespeare, Mids. X, I), ii, 2 ; Oikello, v, 2), although science has shown that this planet has no specific influence either upon meteor- ology or health. See Hayn, IJe J'lanetar. in Corp. hum. InHuxu (Frckf. 1805) ; Kretschmar, De Astror. in Corp. hum. Iwperio (Jena, 1820) ; Kaschig, Be lunce imperio in valetvd. corp. hum. nullo (Vit. 1787) ; Krazenstein, Ein- fluss des Mondes in d. m. Kiiip. (Halle, 1747) ; Keil, A r- chiv.f. Physiol, i, 133 sq. See Linatic.
3. The clearness of the Oriental atmosphere early led to the worship of the heavenly bodies (Herod, ii, 47; Strabo, xii, p. 557; Pliny, viii, 1, etc.), among which the moon received special honors (Job xxxi, 26; comp. Julian, Oi-at. in Salem, p. 90), as the most conspicuous object of the nocturnal firmament (comp. Deut. iv, 19; xvii, 3; 2 Kings xxiii, 5; Jer. viii, 2; see Selden, Lii Syr. i, 239 .sq.). If the sim " rules the day," the mooa has the throne of night, which, if less gorgeous than that of the sun, is more attractive, because of a less op- pressively brilliant light, while her retinue of surround- ing stars seems to give a sort of truth to her regal state, and certainly adds not inconsiderably to her beauty. There is to the same effect a remarkable passage in Ju- lian (Orat. in Salem, p. 90): "From my childhood I was filled with a wonderful love for the rays of that goddess; and when, in my boyhood, I directed my eyes to her ethereal light, I was quite beside myself. By night especially, when I found myself under a wide, pure, cloudless sky, I forgot everything else under her influence, and was absorbed in the beauties of heaven, so that I did not hear if addressed, nor was aware of what I did. I appeared solely to be engaged with this divinity, so that even when a beardle.-s boy I might have been taken for a star-gazer." Accordingly the worship of the moon was extensively practiced by the nations of the East, and under a variety of aspects. In Egypt it was honored under the form of Isis, and was one of the only two deities which commanded the rev- erence of all the Egyptians (Iferod. ii, 42, 47). In Syria it was represented by that one of the Ashtaroth (i. e. of the varieties which the goddess Astarte, or Ashtoreth, undenvcnt) surnamed " Karnaim," from the horns of the crescent moon by which she was distin- guished. See AsuTOitETii. In Babylonia it formed one of a triad in conjunction v.ith yEthcr and the sun, and, under the name of Sin, received the honored titles of " Lord of the month," " King of the gods," etc. (Kaw- linson's Herodotus, i, 614\ There are indications of a very early introduction into the countries adjacent to Palestmc of a species of worship distiuct from any that
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we have hitherto noticed, viz. of the direct homage of the heavenly bodies — sun, moon, and stars — which is the characteristic oiSabianism (q. v.). The first notice which we have of this is in Job (xxxi, 26, 27), and it is ob- servable that the warning of Moses (Deut. iv, 19) is di- rected against this nature-worship, rather than against the form of moon-worship which the Israelites must have witnessed in Egypt. At a later period, however, the worship of the moon in its grosser form of idol-wor- ship was introduced from Syria : we have no evidence indeed that the Ashtoreth of the Zidonians, whom Solo- mon introduced (1 Kings xi, 5), was identified in the minds of the Jews with the moon, but there can be no doubt that the moon was worshipped under the form of an image in Manasseh's reign, although Movers {Pku- nie. i, G6, 164) has taken up the opposite view; for we are distinctly told that the king " made an asherah (A. V. 'grove'), i. e. an image of Ashtoreth, and worshipped all the host of heaven" (2 Kings xxi, 3), which asherah was destroyed by Josiah, and the priests that burned incense to the moon were put down (xxiii, 4, 5). At a somewhat later period the worship of the "queen of heaven" was practiced in Palestine (Jer. vii, 18 ; xliv, 17). The title has generally been supposed to belong to the moon (comp. Horace, Carm. Sac. 35 ; Apuleius, Metam. ii, p. 254), but some think it more probable that the Oriental Venus is intended, for the following rea- sons: (1) the title of Urania "of heaven" was peculiar- ly appropriate to Venus, whose worship was borrowed by the Persians from the Arabians and Assyrians {He- rod. i, 131, 199) ; (2) the votaries of this goddess, whose chief function was to preside over births, were wom- en; and we find that in Palestine the married women are specially noticed as taking a prominent part; (3) the peculiarity of the title, which occurs onl3'- in the pas- sages quoted, looks as if the worship were a novel one; and this is corroborated by the term Icavvdn ("^3) ap- plied to the " cakes," which is again so peculiar that the Sept. has retained it {xaviitv), deeming it to be, as it not improbably was, a foreign word. Whether the Jews derived their knowledge of the " queen of heaven" from the Philistines, who possessed a very ancient tem- ple of Venus Urania at Ascalon {Ilerod. i, 105), or from the Egyptians, whose god Athor was of tlie same char- acter, is uncertain. See Queen of Heaven.