of the shrine of Zeus "Before -the-City," at Lystra, are mentioned--whereas the accepted text mentions only a

single priest. Professor Blass in his note rejects the Bezan reading on the ground that there was only one

priest for each temple; but his argument is founded on purely Greek custom and is not correct for Anatolian

temples, like the one at Lystra, where there was always a body or college of priests. In the relief which we are

now studying the mutilation of the inscription makes the number of the priests uncertain; but either seven or

eight were mentioned. At the Milyadic hieron of the same god, Zeus Sabazios, the college numbered six: at

Pessinus the college attached to the hieron of the Great Mother contained at least ten.

On the left side of the altar stand seven figures looking towards the altar and the priest. These represent the

crown of worshippers.

In the upper zone the central action corresponds exactly to the scene in the lower zone: the god stands on a

raised platform on the right hand side of an altar, on which he performs the same act of ritual which his priest

is performing straight below him on the lower plane, probably pouring out a libation over offerings which lie

on the altar. In numerous reliefs and coins of Asia Minor a god or goddess is represented performing the

same act over an altar. That one act stands symbolically for the whole series of ritual acts, just as in

Revelation 2:13 Antipas stands for the entire body of the martyrs who had suffered in Asia. The deity has

revealed to men the ritual whereby they can approach him in purity, and present their gifts and prayers with

assurance that these will be favourably received: thus the god is his own first priest, and later priests were

regarded by the devout as representatives of the god on earth, wearing his dress, acting for him and

performing before his worshippers on earth the life and actions of the god on his loftier plane of existence.

In this relief the intention is obvious: as a sign and guarantee that he accepts the sacred rite, the god is

doing in heaven exactly the same act that his priest is performing on earth.

On the right of the raised platform stand three figures, with the right hand raised in adoration. These

represent the college of priests, headed by the chief priest; and all must be understood to make the same

gesture, though the right hands of the second and third are hidden. The action of the priests who stand in

the lower zone behind the chief priest must be interpreted in the same way. The gesture of adoration is

illustrated by figure 23 in chapter 21 and figure 27 in chapter 23.

On the left of the platform another scene in the ritual and life of the god is represented. He drives forth in his

car to make his annual progress through his own land to receive the homage of his people. He is marked as

Zeus by the eagle wh ich sits on the reins or the trappings of the horses, and as Sabazios by the serpent on

the ground beneath their feet. Beside the horses walks his companion god, regarded as his son in the divine

genealogy, and marked as Hermes by the winged caduceus which he carries, and as Men by the crescent

and the pointed Phrygian cap. The divine nature regarded as male was commonly conceived in this double

form as father and son; and when these Anatolian ideas were expressed under Greek forms and names, they

were described sometimes as Zeus and Hermes (so in Acts 14:10, and in this relief), sometimes as Zeus and

Apollo or Dionysus. When the deity in his male character was conceived as a single impersonation, he was

called in Greek sometimes by one, sometimes by another of those four names. The Greek names were used in

this loose varying way, because none of them exactly corresponded to the nature of the Anatolian

conception; and sometimes one name, sometimes another, seemed to correspond best to the special aspect

of the Anatolian god which was prominent at the moment.

The god on the car is here represented as beardless, but the god on the platform is bearded; and yet the two

are presentments of the same divine power. But this relief is a work of symbolism, not a work of art: it aims

not at artistic or dramatic truth, but at showing the divine nature in two of the characters under which it

reveals itself to man: the object of the artist was to express a meaning, not to arrive at beauty or consistency.

The interpretation which has just been stated of this symbolical relief would be fairly certain from the

analogy of other monuments of the same class; but it is placed beyond doubt by the inscription which

occupies the broad lower zone of the stone: "in the year 185 (AD 100-101), the thirtieth of Daisios (22nd