RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mutilations and Harks Myconius
rodotus (ii. 40) speaks of Egyptians beating themselves at the celebration in honor of Isis; in ii. 60 he relates that Carian residents of Egypt cut themselves with knives at the same celebration; according to iv. 71 the Scythian mourner cuts bits from his ear, shaves his head, cuts his arm, his forehead, and his nose, and thrusts an arrow through his left hand. Xenophon (Cyropwdia, III., i. 13) reports practically the same customs among the Armenians. The Arabs had the custom of scratching the face and shaving the head during the period of mourning (Wellhausen, Heidentum, pp. 123-124, 182, 198-199). The legislation of Solon and the Twelve Tables forbade the women of Athens to bring blood by self-flagellation (for the legislation of Solon consult G. Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. iii., new ed., London, 1872; for that of the Twelve Tables, M. Voigt, Die XII. Tafeln. Geschichte und System des Civilund Criminal-Rechtes, wie Processes der XII. Tafeln, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1883-84). The sacrifice of the hair and of blood in honor of the manes of the departed is well attested for the Greeks (cf. Iliad, xxiii. 141- 151, 135-136); while among primitive peoples it is still believed that the ghost receives strength and new vigor from the blood shed by mourners. The indications of an ancestor cult among the Hebrews are being studied anew, and it is a possibility that the mourning customs indicated or forbidden in the passages cited from the Old Testament are connected by derivation from this (cf. C. Griineisen, Der Ahnenkultus und die Urreligion Israel, Halle, 1900; JE, i. 569-571).
The second class of cases noted in the Bible are
those in which the mutilations serve to indicate the
connection of the worshiper with a deity. Light
on this is thrown by ethnic usages.
As Signs Herodotus (ii. 13) relates of a temple of Worship, near the Canopic mouth of the Nile that slaves might find sanctuary there by devoting themselves to the god and receiving upon their bodies sacred stigmata as signs of service; and in iii. 8 he notes that the Arabs used the tonsure in ring shape, leaving the hair on the crown of the head, in, honor of their god Orotal. The many varieties of tonsure— a practise which ranges from India to Central America — all connected with religion, will at once occur to the reader. Lucian (De dea Syria) shows that Syrian priests were tattooed on neck and wrist, while at Byblus the people shaved their heads at the annual mourning for Adonis, while women had the alternative of sacred prostitution. Philo (De monarchia, i.) remarks that idol worshipers were branded. In III Mace. ii. 29 it is stated that Ptolemy IV. Philopator branded Jews with the ivy leaf, the symbol of Dionysus. In Asia Minor the worshipers of Cybele and other deities received a mark in their flesh. For the significance of circumcision see that article. Among the races which are most addicted to tattooing — as Maoris and East Polynesians — the ceremony is often connected with" the initiation at puberty into the mysteries, or with marriage, both being related to religion. The same is true of the totem mark, which is produced by scarification, tattooing, or painting. It is incorrect to assume, however, that all tattooing is religious. Much is purely
decorative, and other purposes are also served, such as to indicate membership with societies not religious in character. Geo. W. Gilmoee.
Bibijography: The commentaries on the passages cited are often illuminative, especially those which take into account the ethnic customs. Consult further: T. Waitz; Anthropologic der Naturvolker, passim, 6 parts, Leipsic, 1859-72; A. Lacassagne, Les Tatouages, Paris, 1881; Goldziher, in Revue de I'hist. des religions, xiv (1886), 49- 51; G. A. Wilken, Revue coloniale internationale, iii (1886), 225-279, iv (1887), 345-426; W. Joest, Tatowieren, Narbenzeichen und Korperbemalen, Berlin, 1887; R. Pietschmann, Geschichte der Phonizier, i. 389-390, Berlin, 1889; J. Batchelor, Ainu, pp. 131-132, London, 1892; F. Schwally, Das Leben nach dem Tode, pp. 16-18, Giessen, 1892; Stade, in ZATW. xiv (1S94), 250-251; H. G. Robley, Moko; Maori Tattooing, London, 1896; Von Luschau, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, xxviii. 1896; J. Frey, Tod, Seclenglaube undr Seelenkult im alten Israel, pp. 127-173, Leipsic, 1898; E. Sergent, Les Tatouages dans les pays chauds, Montpellier, 1901; E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, London, 1903 (especially valuable for citations of ethnic practises); W. R. Smith, Kinship, pp. 212 sqq.; idem, Rel. of Sent., chap, ix.; Nowack, Archiiologie, i. 194-195, Benzinger, Archiiologie, p. 219; DB, i. 537-539, ii. 283- 285; EB, i. 971-975.
MYCONIUS, mi-k5'ni-us (MECUM), FRIED- RICH: German Reformer; b. at Lichtenfels in Upper Franconia (20 m. n.n.e. of Bamberg) Dec. 26, 1490; d. at Gotha Apr. 7, 1546. After graduating from the school of his native city, he was sent in 1504 to the Latin school in Annaberg, where he met Tetzel (1510) who was traveling over Germany as commissary of indulgences. As he was greatly troubled by his spiritual condition he was persuaded in 1510 to enter the Franciscan monastery. From Annaberg he went to the monastery in Leipsic and in 1512 to that in Weimar. He there studied diligently Peter Lombard, Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura, Gabriel Biel, and especially Augustine, whose works made a deep impression upon him. In 1516 he was ordained priest in Weimar and soon received a position as preacher there. With great satisfaction he listened to Luther when he began his fight against indulgences, and Myconius was among the first who followed the new paths. But as the authorities of Weimar maintained a reserved attitude toward the Reformation, it became more and more difficult for him to hold his office. His intercourse and correspondence were closely watched, and he was threatened with life-long confinement in a monastery, being sent to the monasteries of Leipsic and Annaberg. But in 1524 he succeeded in escaping, and received at Zwickau a position as preacher in a hospital. At the instance of Wenzeslaus Link and Gabriel Didymus he was called to the congregation in the small town of Buchholz. In the same year (1524) Duke John called him to Gotha, at the request of the council and the congregation. Though the ground there had been cleared for the Reformation, ecclesiastical affairs as well as secular were still in a hopeless condition. The higher and lower clergy had degenerated and a dead ecclesiastical mechanicalism was all that showed. School affairs were in the hands of ignorant and indolent monks, and in the government of the city and among the members of the council avarice and disorder reigned. Myconius mastered the situation by his wisdom and energy. About 1525 Luther entered into cor-
Myconius Myrtle