2 Frazer, Aftermath (supplement to The Golden Bough) (1936), p. 312.
Two Greek cities, Bura and Helice, were destroyed by earthquake and tidal wave and swallowed by the earth and sea in the year —373, when a comet shone in the sky.
3 According to Mohammed, stones that fell on the sinful tribes were inscribed with the names of those whom they were destined to kill.
* G. A. Wainwright, "The Coming of Iron," Antiquity, X (1936), 6.
8 Wainwright Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XIX (1933), 49-52.
« Olivier, Meteors, p. 3. 1 Cf. Bancroft, The Native Races, III, 302.
8 R. Cumberland, Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History (1720), p. 36. Lucian says that Astarte was the fallen star of Sanchoniathon. Ibid., p. 321. See also F. Movers, Die Phonizier, I, 639.
290 WORLDS IN COLLISION
larly timed to coincide with the appearance of Venus as the Morning or Evening Star." 9
The stone on which the Temple of Solomon was built—Eben Shetiya, or fire stone—is a bolide that fell in the beginning of the tenth century, in the time of David, when a comet, which bore the appearance of a man with a sword, was seen in the sky.10 The sacred shield of Numa at Rome, the ancile of Roman Mars, was a bolide; it fell from the sky n in the beginning of the seventh century and its origin was connected with Mars.
In the years when the planet Mars had long been pacified, its position was still watched when meteorites fell. Thus the Chinese wrote in —211: "The planet Mars being in the neighborhood of Antares, a star fell at Toung-Kiun, and arriving to the ground, it changed to a stone."12 The people of the place cut a prophecy of evil for the emperor on the stone, and the emperor had it destroyed. Carving messages to peoples or kings on fallen stones was known before and has been practiced since.
One of the stones that fell from the sky is still worshiped today—it is the black stone of Kaaba in Mecca. Now its surface is black from being touched and kissed innumerable times, but under its cover of dirt it retains its original reddish color. It is the holiest thing in Mecca, built into the wall of Kaaba, and pilgrims travel thousands of miles to kiss it.
Kaaba is older than Mohammedanism. Mohammed, in the early part of his career, worshiped Venus (al-Uzza) and other planetary gods, which even today enjoy great veneration among the Moslems as the "daughters of the god." 13
The black stone of Kaaba, according to Moslem tradition, fell from
• Frazer, The Golden Bough, V, 258 ff. Cf. the Section "Worship of the Morning Star," note 18.
W» I Chronicles 21; II Samuel 24. See Tractate Yoma 5, 2; cf. Tractate Sota 48b; also Ginzberg, Legends, V, 15.
11 Olivier, Meteors, p. 3.
12 Abel-Remusat. Catalogue des bolides et des a4roliihes observes a la Chine, p. 7.
13 Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums, p. 34.
WORLDS IN COLLISION 291
the planet Venus;14 but another legend says that it was brought down by the Archangel Gabriel.15 Granted that this legend may conceal some information about the origin of the stone, we ought to ask ourselves: Who is the Archangel Gabriel?
The Archangels
In the Scriptures the destruction of the army of Sennacherib is said to have been caused by a
"blast," and a few verses later it is said to have been the act of an angel of God.1 The Talmudic robin-bobin
and Midrashic sources, which relate that the army of Sennacherib was destroyed by a blast and scourge accompanied by a terrible din on the night following the day when the shadow of the sun returned ten degrees, are more specific: the scourge was inflicted by the Archangel Gabriel "in the guise of a column of fire."2 In the present research it has been established that it was the work of Mars.
Are archangels planets? "An old tradition, dating back to Gaonic times, had it that there are seven archangels, each of whom is associated with a planet." 3 "The seven archangels were believed to play an important part in the universal order through their association with the planets and the constellations. There is some variation, in the different versions, in the angels assigned to the planets." * In some medieval writings Gabriel is associated with the moon, but in one or two with Mars.5 The following, however, makes the identification of Gabriel possible: Gabriel is connected with the foundation of Rome. The Jewish legend says that when Solomon took the daughter of Pharaoh to wife, "the Archangel Gabriel descended from heaven and inserted a reed in the sea. About this reed more and more earth was gradually deposited, and, on the day on which Jeroboam erected the golden calves, a little hut was built on the island. This was the first
14 F. Lenormant, Lettres assyriologiques (1871-1872), II, 140. ™ Ibid.
1II Kings 19 : 7 and 35; Isaiah 37 : 7; 37 : 36.
2 Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 95b; Tosefta Targum Isaiah 10 : 32; Aggadat Shir 5, 39 and 8, 45; Jerome on Isaiah 30 : 2.
3 J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition (1939), p. 98. * Ibid., p. 250. 5 ibid., p.
251.
292 WORLDS IN COLLISION
dwelling-place of Rome." e Here Gabriel is cast in the role the Romans ascribed to Mars, that of the founder of Rome.7 Our assumption that it was the planet Mars which caused the destruction of the army of Sennacherib in the spring of —687 is implied also by rabbinical sources: Since the Archangel Gabriel is another name for the planet Mars, the ancient Jews knew the origin of the "blast" and the identity of "the angel of the Lord" who destroyed the Assyrian army.
Gabriel is the angel appointed over fire; he is also, according to Origen,8 the angel of war. Thus we again recognize in him Mars-Nergal. The rabbinical tradition says that the Assyrians of the host of Sennacherib, before they died, were permitted by Gabriel to hear "the song of the celestials," which can be interpreted as the sound caused by a close approach of the planet. The words of Isaiah (33 : 3), "at the noise of the tumult [hamon] the people fled," should, according to the Jewish tradition as related by Jerome, refer to Gabriel, Hamon being another of his names.9
The planet Mars is red, and Maadim (the red or the one who reddens) is the name for Mars in the Hebrew astronomical texts. One text says: "The Holy One created Mars—Maadim—that he should throw them [the nations] down into hell."10
A few rabbinical sources attribute the destruction of Sennacherib's army to the action of the Archangel Michael; some ascribe it to both archangels.11 Who, then, is the Archangel Michael?
The entire story of Exodus is connected with the Archangel Michael. In Exodus 14 : 19 the pillar of fire and of cloud is called
8 Ginzberg, Legends, VI, 128 and 280, based on Tractate Shabbat 56b and other sources; also M.
Griinbaum, Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Sprach- und Sagenkunde (1901), pp. 169 ff.
7 Livy, History of Rome, i. Preface; Macrobius Saturnalia xii.
8 Origen De principiis i. 8. "A particular office is assigned to a particular angel ... to Gabriel the conduct of wars." Cf. Tractate Shabbat 24.
9 Jerome on Isaiah 10 : 3; Aggadat Shir 5, 39; Ginzberg, Legends, VI, 363. Cf. V. Vikentiev, "Le Dieu 'Hemen,'" Recueil de Travaux (1930), Faculte des Lettres. Universite Egyptienne, Cairo.
io Pesikta Raba 20, 38b.
"Midrash Shemot Raba (ed. Vilna, 1887) 18:5; Tosefta Targum II Kings
19 : 35.
robin-bobin
WORLDS IN COLLISION 293
Angel of God. According to the Midrash,12 it was the Archangel Michael who made himself "a wall of fire" between the Israelites and the Egyptians. Michael is said to be made of fire. The Haggadah states: "Michael was appointed High Priest of the celestial sanctuary at the same time that Aaron was made high priest of Israel," that is, in the time of the Exodus. Michael was also the angel who appeared to Joshua, son of Nun.