Forlong - Rivers of Life

502
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
ventured for long to touch this temple; but, alas! in 389 A.C. a popular riot caused
its destruction, owing to the foolish votaries of the God barricading themselves in the
semi-fortress of their loved shrine. The bold, bad Archbishop Theophilus about this
time received orders from the Emperor Theodosius to destroy all idols, and the worshippers
of Serapis had therefore to fly. All that the Christian rabble could pull to
pieces and efface—even the valuable library, was destroyed, and on the immoveable
base of the temple a Christian church was erected. The colosaal statue of Serapis, says
Gibbon, was composed of different kinds of metals, and his figure touched on all sides
his capacious sanctuary. His aspect and sitting posture, with a sceptre in his left
hand, made him extremely like the usual representations of Jupiter, which is natural,
as both represented Sol; his head was surmounted by a basket, no doubt denoting
plenty, and in his right hand he held a monster Serpent—the wintry Typhon with
three tail, which “terminated in the triple heads of a dog, a lion, and a wolf.”
Here, and in much else, we see that great prominence is given to the figures of
the far older faiths, which long before those days had been expelled from public notoriety,
at least in the great cities of the Mediterronean States. That Phalli existed,
however, and both as Lares and Penates, in the secret if not open adytum of every
public as well as most private shrines all over the world, I have not the smallest
doubt, and in the case of the Shrine of Serapis, we see from Socrates’ Ecclesiastical
History that Priapi were clearly the principal objects of worship at this solar shrine—
a fact I had always felt certain about, but the evidence in the case of Serapis had
escaped me till lately pointed out by a friend. It is stated by Socrate, that as
soon as Theophilus of Alexandria—“that perpetual enemy of peace and virtue”
—had received the Emperor’s permission to demolish the pagan temples, he did
so at once, and in a manner so as to expose them to contempt. “The temple
of Mitha he caused to be cleared out to exhibit the tokens of its bloody mys-
teries;” that is, the horrible charnel-house or pit into which the bodies or at least
skulls of its victims had been thrown. 1 The pious St George had on an earlier date
paid with his life for such temerity, and at the hands of the deluded relatives or posterity
of those very persons who had then offered up their lives to their faith; thus
do flocks cling to their cruel pastors, 2 but the times were now riper, sp Theophilus
uprooted all the mysteries of Serapis, the idols and gods, but he “had the Phalli of
Priapus carried through the midst of the Forum,” which was more than could be endured.
“The Pagans of Alexandria, and especially the professors of philosophy, unable to repress
their rage . . . then with one accord . . . rushed impetuously upon the Christians, and
murdered every one they could lay hands on . . . This desperate affray was prolonged
until both parties were exhausted . . . very few of the heathens were killed, but a great
number of the Christians.” Socrates says that amongst the Pagans who then dispersed,
1
Soc. Eccles Hist. Bohn’s Ed., 1853, p. 278. Sokrates was born at Constantinople about the
2
eleventh year of Emperor Theodosius A.C. 390. Ibid, b. III., c. ii.. p. 173.