THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
eremitarum Ilieronymi, Venice, 1692; A. M. Bonucci, Istoria delta vita e miracoli del . . Pietro Gambacorti, Rome, 1716; Helyot, ut sup., iv. 1-17; Heimbucher, ut sup., ii. 237-239; KL, v. 2016-17. 4. Helyot, iv. 18-25; Heimbucher, ut sup., ii. 239-240; KL, v. 2017.
HIERONYMUS. See Jerome.
HIGH CHURCH. See England, Church of, IL, § 5.
HIGH PLACES.
Sacred Mountains in Ethnic Religions (§1).
West-Semitic Worship on Mountains (§ 2).
Hebrew High Places (§ 3).
Their Number and Location (§ 4).
High Places in Codes and History (§ 5).
Opposing Interests and Ideas (§ 6).
In all primitive cults the jurisdiction of a deity is regarded as restricted within limits comparatively confined. Each spot may have its resident spirit who is for that spot the god or, as the Semites say, the baal, " lord." Early anthropomorphism conceived such a baal as having a fixed residence in that place, which was therefore a sanctuary from
which he seldom or never wandered.
i. Sacred It was in this way that Yahweh was
Mountains conceived to have taken up his abode
in Ethnic in the Temple of Solomon (I Kings
Religions, viii. 13; Ps. xxiv. 7-10). It was a
long step in advance of this stage in religious thought when, e.g., the Assyrians could think of Asshur going forth with his hosts to foreign conquests, or the Hebrews of Yahweh as coming from " Seir " to do battle for his people (Judges v. 4-5). The earlier condition is illustrated frequently in the Old Testament, where baal is the first (or second) element of a compound place-name. This Semitic principle is illustrated further by the fact that " Melcarth is Baal of Tyre, Astarte the Baalath of Byblus; there was a Baal of Lebanon, of Mt. Hermon, of Mt. Peor, and so forth " (Smith, Rel. of Sem., 1st ed., p. 93). Among the spots which deity inhabits are the crests of hill and mountain. This is abundantly exemplified in both primitive and advanced cults. In early Cretan worship a notable place was the sanctuary of the Cretan mountain mother (A. Evans, in Annual of the British School at Athens, vii. 29, 1900-01, cited in J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to . Greek Religion, p. 498, Cambridge, 1903). In the developed Greek religion the cult of Zeus shows many sanctuaries on the mountain-tops, such as Mt. Laphystos in Beotia, Mt. Pelion, Olympus in Thessaly (Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, i. 50-52, Oxford, 1896). The Acropolis at Athens was the site of the most famous temples of the region. The Persians had their Alburz, the people of India their Meru. The Javanese placed their paradise, the home of spirits and gods, on the crests of their highest mountain (E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, p. 60, Boston, 1874). In the Semitic sphere the baalim were generally connected with fertility, and consequently their sanctuaries were probably early located at the springs and watery bottoms whence fertility seemed to have its source. But according to Semitic notions there were two great reservoirs whence fertilizing waters issued; one below the earth, from which springs and rivers sprang; and
one above the firmament or sky, whence came the rains (Gen. i. 6-7; in Gen. vii. 1 both sources are represented as contributing to the flood). Frequently the clouds gathered about a mountain-top and thence spread to deposit their moisture- hence the summits whence the rain seemed to come were regarded as homes of baals and their appropriate sanctuaries. A second cause of the selection of hilltops as places of worship was the conception of heaven-gods who were most appropriately worshiped on the hills (Smith, ut sup., pp. 470-471). The notion of mountain deities and of consequent worship on the hills is especially dominant in the Semitic realm. Arameans attributed Israelitic victory to the supposed fact that Yahweh was a god of the mountain (I Kings xx. 23, 28). Assyrian deities were wont to gather on the heights (Isa. xiv. 13). Mt. Sinai was a sacred spot before the Hebrews left Egypt, took its name from the Babylonian-Himyaric moon-god Sin (see Babylonia, VII., 2, § 5); Horeb-Sinai was during Hebrew history the sacred mountain (Deut. xxxiii. 2; Hab. iii. 1), with which Yahweh is connected in Judges (v. 4-5), whither Elijah returned for communion with him (I Kings xix.), while it was the goal of pilgrimages during the early Christian centuries. Reminiscences of earlier worship on the hills are seen in the ziggurats of Babylonia, elevated sometimes to seven or eight stories.
That the branch of Semites to which the Hebrews belonged used heights as places of worship is abundantly attested in Scripture. The Moabites had altars on Mt. Pisgah (Num. xxiii. 14), Mt. Peor (xxiii. 28-30), other unnamed places (xxii. 41xxiii. 1), and other Moabitic high 2. West- places were Bajith, Dibon, and Nebo Semitic (Isa. xv. 2; cf. Jer. xlviii. 35), and Worship possibly Bamoth-baal and Beth-baalon meon (Josh. xiii. 17), while one of their
Mountains, deities was Baal-peor. A high place has been discovered at Petra (cf. Biblical World, xvii. 2, xxi. 170, xxvii. 386; Benzinger, Archdologie, p. 320, ed. of 1907). Further illustrations of this are the frequent notice in the Old Testament of high places used by the Canaanites (Num. xxxiii. 52; Deut. xii. 2). Zeus oreios, " Zeus of the mountain," is named on a post-Christian inscription found near Saida, and Jacob of Sarug knew of idolatrous high places in the early sixth century. Among the ancestors and leaders of the Hebrews it is recorded of Abraham that the site of the intended sacrifice of Isaac was on a mountain (Gen. xxii. 2); of Jacob that he " offered sacrifice upon the mount " (Gen. xxxi. 54), in this case possibly an artificial mound; Hoses built an altar on the hill from which he had viewed the battle between Amalek and Israel (Ex. xvii. 15); Joshua built an altar on Mt. Ebal (Josh. viii. 30; cf. Deut. xxvii. 4-5, in which Moses commands the erection of an altar there). The case is strengthened by the fact that for events having sacred or solemn significance heights were frequently chosen. The death of Aaron took place on Mt. Hor (Num. xx. 22-29), and of Moses on Nebo (Deut, xxxiv. 1-5). Moabites (Isa. xv. 2) and Hebrews alike went to the hills to mourn (cf . the mourning for the