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Title: The Threshold Covenant; or, The Beginning of Religious Rites

Author: H. Clay Trumbull

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THE
THRESHOLD COVENANT
OR

THE BEGINNING OF RELIGIOUS RITES
BY

H. CLAY TRUMBULL
Author of “Kadesh-barnea,” “The Blood Covenant,”
“Studies in Oriental Social Life,” etc.

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

1896

Copyright, 1896
BY
H. CLAY TRUMBULL

PREFACE.

This work does not treat of the origin of man’s religious faculty, or of the
origin of the sentiment of religion; nor does it enter the domain of
theological discussion. It simply attempts to show the beginning of religious
rites, by which man evidenced a belief, however obtained, in the possibility
of covenant relations between God and man; and the gradual development
of those rites, with the progress of the race toward a higher degree of
civilization and enlightenment. Necessarily the volume is not addressed to a
popular audience, but to students in the lessons of primitive life and culture.
In a former volume, “The Blood Covenant,” I sought to show the origin of
sacrifice, and the significance of transferred or proffered blood or life. The
facts given in that work have been widely accepted as lying at the basis of
fundamental doctrines declared in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, and
have also been recognized as the source of perverted views which have had
prominence in the principal ethnic religions of the world. Scholars of as
divergent schools of thought as Professors William Henry Green of
Princeton, Charles A. Briggs of New York, George E. Day of Yale, John A.
Broadus of Louisville, Samuel Ives Curtiss of Chicago, President Mark
Hopkins of Williams, Rev. Drs. Alfred Edersheim of Oxford and
Cunningham Geikie of Bournemouth, Professor Fréderic Godet of
Neuchatel, and many others, were agreed in recognizing the freshness and
importance of its investigations, and the value of its conclusions. Professor
W. Robertson Smith, of Cambridge, in thanking me for that work,
expressed regret that he had not seen it before writing his “Kinship and
Marriage in Early Arabia.” He afterwards made repeated mention of the
work as an authority in its field, in his Burnett Lectures on the “Religion of
the Semites.”
This volume grew out of that one. It looks back to a still earlier date. That
began as it were with Cain and Abel, while this begins with Adam and Eve.

It was while preparing a Supplement for a second edition of that volume
that the main idea of this work assumed such importance in my mind that I
was led to make a separate study of it, and present it independently. The
special theory here advanced is wholly a result of induction. The theory
came out of the gathered facts, instead of the facts being gathered in support
of the theory.
Of course, these facts are not new, but it is believed that their synthetic
arrangement is. It has been a favorite method with students of primitive
religions to point out widely different objects of primitive worship and their
corresponding cults among different peoples, and then to try to show how
the ceremonials of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures were made up from
these primitive cults. But the course of investigation here pursued seems to
show that the earlier cult was the simple one, which has been developed in
the line of the Bible story, and that the other cults, even those baser and
more degraded, are only natural perversions of the original simple one. This
is a reversal of the usual order in studies of primitive religious rites. Here it
is first the simple, then the complex; first the one germ, then the many
varieties of growth from that germ.
As this particular subject of investigation seems to be a hitherto untrodden
field, I am unable to refer to any published works as my principal sources of
information. But I have gathered important related facts from various
directions, giving full credit in explicit foot-notes, page by page. Many
added facts confirmatory of my position might, undoubtedly, have been
found through yet wider and more discerning research, and they will be
brought to light by other gleaners in the same field. Indeed, a chief value of
this volume will be in the fresh study it provokes on the part of those whom
it stimulates to more thorough investigation in the direction here pointed
out. And if such study shows an added agreement between some of the
main facts of modern scientific investigation and those disclosed in the
Bible narrative, that will not be a matter of regret to any fair-minded
scholar.
In my earlier studies for this work, I had valuable assistance from the late
Mr. John T. Napier; and in my later researches I have been materially
assisted by Professors Herman V. Hilprecht, E. Washburn Hopkins, William
R. Lamberton, John Henry Wright, Robert Ellis Thompson, Morris Jastrow,
Jr., D.G. Brinton, Adolph Erman, W. Max Müller, W. Hayes Ward, M.B.

Riddle, Minton Warren, Alfred Gudeman, John P. Peters, M.W. Easton, and
A.L. Frothingham, Jr., President George Washburn, Rev. Drs. Marcus
Jastrow, H.H. Jessup, George A. Ford, William W. Eddy, and Benjamin
Labaree, Rev. William Ewing, Rev. Paulus Moort, Dr. Talcott Williams, Dr.
J. Solis Cohen, Dr. A.T. Clay, Dr. T.H. Powers Sailer, Judge Mayer
Sulzberger, Mr. S. Schecter, Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, Captain John G.
Bourke, Mr. Khaleel Sarkis, Mr. John T. Haddad, Mr. Montague Cockle,
Mr. Le Roy Bliss Peckham, the late Mr. William John Potts, and other
specialists. To all these I return my sincere thanks.
Facts and suggestions that came to my notice after the main work was
completed, or that, while known to me before, did not seem to have a place
in the direct presentation of the argument, have been given a place in the
Appendix. These may prove helpful to scholars who would pursue the
investigation beyond my limits of treatment.
Comments of eminent specialists in Europe and America, to whom the
proof-sheets of the volume were submitted before publication, are given in
a Supplement. Important additions are thus made to the results of my
researches, which are sure to be valued accordingly.
H.C.T.
Philadelphia,
Passover Week, 1896.

CONTENTS.

I.

PRIMITIVE FAMILY ALTAR.

(1.) A Blood Welcome at the Door, 3. (2.) Reverence for the Threshold
Altar, 10. (3.) Threshold Covenanting in the Marriage Ceremony, 25.
(4.) Stepping or Being Lifted across the Threshold, 36. (5.) Laying
Foundations in Blood, 45. (6.) Appeals at the Altar, 57. (7.) Covenant
Tokens on the Doorway, 66. (8.) Symbol of the Red Hand, 74. (9.) Deities
of the Doorway, 94.

II.

EARLIEST TEMPLE ALTAR.

(1.) From House to Temple, 99. (2.) Sacredness of the Door, 102. (3.)
Temple Thresholds in Asia, 108. (4.) Temple Thresholds in Africa, 126.
(5.) Temple Thresholds in Europe, 132. (6.) Temple Thresholds in
America, 144. (7.) Temple Thresholds in Islands of the Sea, 148. (8.) Only
One Foundation, 153.

III.

SACRED BOUNDARY LINE.

(1.) From Temple to Domain, 165. (2.) Local Landmarks, 166. (3.)
National Borders, 177. (4.) Border Sacrifices, 184.

IV.

ORIGIN OF THE RITE.

(1.) A Natural Question, 193. (2.) An Answer by Induction, 194. (3.) No
Covenant without Blood, 196. (4.) Confirmation of this View, 197.

V.

HEBREW PASS-OVER, OR CROSS-OVER, SACRIFICE.

(1.) New Meaning in an Old Rite, 203. (2.) A Welcome with Blood, 204.
(3.) Bason, or Threshold, 206. (4.) Pass-over or Pass-by, 209. (5.)
Marriage of Jehovah with Israel, 212.

VI.

CHRISTIAN PASSOVER.

(1.) Old Covenant and New, 215. (2.) Proffered Welcome by the Father,
216. (3.) Bridegroom and Bride, 218. (4.) Survivals of the Rite, 221.

VII.

OUTGROWTHS AND PERVERSIONS OF THIS RITE.

(1.) Elemental Beginnings, 223. (2.) Main Outgrowths, 225. (3.) Chief
Perversions, 228.

APPENDIX.

Significance of Blood in the Marriage Rite, 243. Exhibiting the
Evidences, 245. Substitute Blood for Deception, 248. Public Performance
of the Rite, 250. Bible Testimony, 251. Woman as a Door, 252. Symbolism
of the Two Sexes, 257. Symbolism of Tree and Serpent, 258. Covenant of
Threshold-Crossing, 259. Doorkeeper, and Carrier, 263. Passing over
into a Covenant, 266. England’s Coronation Stone, 268.

INDEXES.

Topical Index, 273. Scriptural Index, 301.

SUPPLEMENT.

COMMENTS OF SPECIALISTS.

From the Rev. Dr. Marcus Jastrow, 307. From Professor Dr. Herman V.
Hilprecht, 309. From Professor Dr. Fritz Hommel, 313. From Professor
Dr. A.H. Sayce, 314. From Professor Dr. W. Max Müller, 315. From
Professor Dr. C.P. Tiele, 317. From Professor Dr. E. Washburn Hopkins,
318. From the Rev. Dr. William Elliot Griffis, 319. From Professor Dr.
John P. Mahaffy, 324. From Professor Dr. William A. Lamberton, 326.
From Professor Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, 328. From the Rev. Dr. Edward T.
Bartlett, 329. From Professor Dr. T.K. Cheyne, 330. Additional from
Professor Dr. Fritz Hommel, 333.

THE THRESHOLD COVENANT.

I.
PRIMITIVE FAMILY ALTAR.

1. A BLOOD WELCOME AT THE DOOR.

The primitive altar of the family would seem to have been the threshold, or
door-sill, or entrance-way, of the home dwelling-place. This is indicated by
surviving customs, in the East and elsewhere among primitive peoples, and
by the earliest historic records of the human race. It is obvious that houses
preceded temples, and that the house-father was the earliest priest.
Sacrifices for the family were, therefore, within or at the entrance of the
family domicile.
In Syria and in Egypt, at the present time, when a guest who is worthy of
special honor is to be welcomed to a home, the blood of a slaughtered, or a
“sacrificed,” animal is shed on the threshold of that home, as a means of
adopting the new-comer into the family, or of making a covenant union
with him. And every such primitive covenant in blood includes an appeal to
the protecting Deity to ratify it as between the two parties and himself.[1]
While the guest is still outside, the host takes a lamb, or a goat, and, tying
its feet together, lays it upon the threshold of his door. Resting his left knee
upon the bound victim, the host holds its head by his left hand, while with
his right he cuts its throat. He retains his position until all the blood has
flowed from the body upon the threshold. Then the victim is removed, and
the guest steps over the blood, across the threshold; and in this act he
becomes, as it were, a member of the family by the Threshold Covenant.
The flesh of the slaughtered animal is usually given to the neighbors,
although in the case of humbler persons it is sometimes used for the meal of
the guest in whose honor it is sacrificed. It may be a larger offering than a
lamb or a goat, or it may be a smaller one. Sometimes several sheep are
included in the sacrifice. Again, the offering may be a bullock or a heifer, or
simply a fowl or a pair of pigeons. The more costly the gift, in proportion to
the means of the host, the greater the honor to him who is welcomed.
As illustrative of this idea, a story is commonly told in Syria of a large-
hearted man who gave proof of his exceptional devotedness to an honored
guest. He had a horse which he prized as only an Oriental can prize and
love one. This horse he sent to meet his guest, in order that it might bring
him to the home of its owner. When the guest reached the house and

dismounted, he spoke warm words in praise of the noble animal. At once
the host led the horse to the house door, and cut its throat over the
threshold, asking the guest to step over the blood of this costly offering, in
acceptance of the proffered Threshold Covenant.
“If you know that one is coming whom you would honor and welcome, you
must make ready to have the blood on the threshold when he appears,” said
a native Syrian. In case an honored guest arrives unexpectedly, so that there
is no time to prepare the customary sacrifice, salt, as representing blood,
may be sprinkled on the threshold, for the guest to pass over; or again
coffee, as the Muhammadan substitute for the “blood of the grape,”[2] may
be poured on it.[3]
Crossing the threshold, or entering the door, of a house, is in itself an
implied covenant with those who are within, as shown by the earlier laws of
India. He who goes in by the door must count himself, and must be
recognized, as a guest, subject to the strictest laws of hospitality. But if he
enters the house in some other way, not crossing the threshold, there is no
such implied covenant on his part. He may then even despoil or kill the
head of the house he has entered, without any breach of the law of
hospitality, or of the moral law as there understood.[4] Illustrations of this
truth are found in the Mahabharata, as applicable to both a house and a city.
[5]
“It is in accordance with the strict law of all the law books,” of ancient
India, “that one may enter his foe’s house by a-dvāra, ‘not by door,’ but his
friend’s house only ‘by door.’”[6]
It would seem to have been in accordance with this primitive law of the
East that Jesus said: “He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the
sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But
he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.... I am the door:
by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and
shall find pasture. The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and
destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”[7]
It is possible that there is an explanation, in this law of the doorway, or
threshold, of the common practice among primitive Scandinavians of
attacking the inmates of an enemy’s house through the roof instead of by
the door;[8] also, of the custom in Greece of welcoming a victor in the
Olympian games into his city through a breach in the walls, instead of

causing him to enter by the gates, with its implied subjection to all the laws
of hospitality.[9] (See Appendix.)
Examples of the blood welcome at the threshold abound in modern
Egyptian customs. When the new khedive came to his palace, in 1882, a
threshold sacrifice was offered as his welcome. “At the entrance to the
palace six buffaloes were slaughtered, two being killed just as the khedive’s
carriage reached the gateway. The blood of the animals was splashed across
the entrance, so that the horses’ hoofs and wheels of the carriage passed
through it. The flesh was afterwards distributed among the poor.”[10]
When General Grant was at Assioot, on the Upper Nile, during his journey
around the world, he was doubly welcomed as a guest by the American
vice-consul, who was a native of Egypt. A bullock was sacrificed at the
steamer landing, and its head was laid on one side of the gang-plank, and its
body on the other. The outpoured blood was between the head and the body,
under the gang-plank, so that, in stepping from the steamer to the shore,
General Grant would cross over it. When he reached the house of the vice-
consul, a sheep was similarly sacrificed at the threshold, in such a way that
General Grant passed over the blood in entering.[11]
It is also said in Egypt: “If you buy a dahabiyeh,” and therefore are to cross
its threshold for the occupancy of your new home on the water, “you must
kill a sheep, letting the blood flow on the deck, or side, of the boat, in order
that it may be lucky. Your friends will afterwards have to dine on the
sheep.”[12] There seems, indeed, to be a survival of this idea in the custom of
“christening” a ship at the time of its launching, in England and America, a
bottle of wine–the “blood of the grape”[13]–being broken on the bow of the
vessel as it crosses the threshold of the deep. And a feast usually follows
this ceremony also.[14]
In Zindero, or Gingiro, or Zinder, in Central Africa, a new king is welcomed
at the royal residence with a bloody threshold offering. “Before he enters
his palace two men are to be slain; one at the foot of the tree by which his
house is chiefly supported; the other at the threshold of his door, which is
besmeared with the blood of the victim. And it is said ... that the particular
family, whose privilege it is to be slaughtered, so far from avoiding it, glory
in the occasion, and offer themselves willingly to meet it.”[15]

Among the Arabs in Central Africa, the blood welcome of a guest at the
threshold of a home is a prevailing custom. “The usual welcome upon the
arrival of a traveler, who is well received in an Arab camp, is the sacrifice
of a fat sheep, that should be slaughtered at the door of the hut or tent, so
that the blood flows to the threshold.”[16]
On the arrival of strangers among the primitive tribes of Liberia, in West
Africa, a fowl is killed, and its blood is sprinkled at the doorway.[17]
Receiving an honored guest with bread and salt, at the threshold of the
house he enters, is common in Russia. Bread and salt are symbolic, in
primitive thought, of flesh and blood; and this threshold welcome seems to
be a survival of the threshold sacrifice.[18]
To step over or across the blood, or its substitute, on the door-sill, is to
accept or ratify the proffered covenant; but to trample upon the symbol of
the covenant is to show contempt for the host who proffers it, and no
greater indignity than this is known in the realm of primitive social
intercourse.

2. REVERENCE FOR THE THRESHOLD ALTAR.

The threshold, as the family altar on which the sacrificial blood of a
covenant welcome is poured out, is counted sacred, and is not to be stepped
upon, or passed over lightly; but it is to be crossed over reverently, as in
recognition of Him to whom all life belongs. “On passing the threshold,” in
Arabia, “it is proper to say, ‘Bismillah,’ that is, ‘In the name of God.’ Not to
do so would be looked upon as a bad augury, alike for him who enters and
for those within.”[19] In Syria the belief prevails “that it is unlucky to tread
on a threshold.” When they receive a new member to their sect, the
Bektashi derwishes of Syria bring him to the threshold, and prayers and
sacrifices are offered “on the door-sill.”[20]
“The khaleefs of Bagdad required all those who entered their palace to
prostrate themselves on the threshold of the gate, where they had inserted a
fragment of the black stone of the temple at Meccah, in order to render it
[the threshold] more venerable to those who had been accustomed to press
their foreheads against it. The threshold was of some height, and it was a
crime to set foot upon it.” In the advice which Nurshivan gives to his son
Hormuz, he recommends him to betake himself to the threshold of the Lord;
that is, to the “presence of God, in the same fashion in which the poor do, at
the gates of the rich. ‘Since you are his slave,’ he says, ‘set your forehead
on his threshold.’”[21]
Among the Hindoos, “the threshold is ... sacred in private houses; it is not
propitious for a person to remain on it; neither to eat, sneeze, yawn, nor spit
whilst there.”[22]
A double welcome is sometimes given to one who is in an official position.
Thus, a Syrian, who held a commission from the chief officer of customs in
Upper Syria, was surprised at having two sheep sacrificed before him as he
approached the door of a house east of the Sea of Galilee; and he graciously
protested against the excessive honor shown him. “One sheep is to welcome
yourself as a man, and the other is to welcome you as an officer of the
government,” was the answer. Loyalty as well as hospitality was indicated
in these threshold sacrifices.

Sacredness attaches to the threshold in Persia. It must not be trodden on; but
it is often kissed by those who would step over it.[23]
A man should always cross himself when he steps over a threshold in
Russia; and, in some portions of the realm, it is believed that he ought not to
sit down on the threshold.[24]
High sills, or thresholds, so that one must step over, and not on, them, are in
the houses of Finland, and in the houses of many Finns in the United States.
[25]
The same was true of many Teutonic houses.[26]
To shake hands across a threshold, instead of crossing it, is said, in Finland,
to ensure a quarrel.[27] To step over a threshold is, in Lapland, to bring one
under the protection of the family within, and of its guardian deity.[28] The
same is true among the Magyars.[29]
The ancient Pythagoreans quoted various maxims, supposed to be from the
sayings of their great founder, as teaching important lessons for all time. In
these maxims there were indications of a peculiar reverence for the
threshold and doorway. Thus: “He who strikes his foot against the threshold
should go back;” it were unsafe to pursue a movement so inauspiciously
begun. And, again: “The doors should be kissed fondly by those who enter
or depart.”[30]
“Treading on the threshold was ... tabooed by the Tatars.”[31] Again, on the
other side of the globe, in Samoa, to spill water on the door-step, or
threshold, when food is brought in, is a cause of anger to the protecting
deity of the family. It may drive him away.[32]
In Europe and in America it is by many counted an ill omen to tread upon
the threshold of the door on entering a house. To the present day, in portions
of Scotland, the idea popularly prevails, that to tread directly upon the
boundary lines of division between ordinary flagstones is to endanger one’s
soul; hence the very children are careful to avoid stepping upon those lines,
in their walking across the courtyards or along the streets, in their every-day
passing.
Many a person in the United States, who knows nothing of any superstition
connected with this, avoids, if possible, stepping on, instead of over, the
cracks or seams of a board walk, or even the seams of a carpet.

All these customs seem to be a survival of the feeling that the threshold is
sacred as the primitive altar.
Apart from the reverence for the threshold demanded of those who pass
over it, there is an obvious sanctity of the threshold recognized in the
placing of images and amulets underneath it, and in the sacrifices and
offerings placed on it, as a means of guarding the dwelling within.
In the building of private houses, as well as temples, and city gateways, in
ancient Assyria, images of various kinds and sizes, “in bronze, red jasper,
yellow stone, and baked earth, ... are buried beneath the stones of the
threshold, so as to bar the entrance to all destructive spirits.” Invocations
are graven upon these figures.[33]
Herodotus mentions[34] that, in the annual feast in honor of the god Osiris,
“every Egyptian sacrifices a hog before the door of his house” on the
evening before the festival. Osiris was the god who was the judge of the
soul after death, and who in a peculiar sense stood for the truth of the life to
come. Every Egyptian desired, above all, to be in loving covenant with
Osiris, and when he would offer a welcoming sacrifice to him, he did so
before the door of his own house, as before the primitive family altar. That
it was the blood poured out at the threshold which was the essential act of
covenanting in this sacrifice to Osiris, is evidenced in the fact that the
animal sacrificed was not eaten in the family of the sacrificer, but was
carried away by the swineherd who furnished it.
Bunches of grass dipped in blood, and touched by the king, as if made
representative of his dignity and power, are to-day placed on the threshold,
as an offering, and as averters of evil, in Equatorial Africa. This is known
there as an ancient custom. In Uganda, “every house has charms hung on
the door, and others laid on the threshold.” An offering to the lubare, or
local spirit, must be thrown across the threshold, from within the house,
before a native ventures to leave his home in the morning.[35] Charms for
this purpose are kept behind the door.
One of the requirements in the Vedic law (the sacred law of the Hindoos)
was, that “on the door-sill (a bali must be placed) with a mantra addressed
to Antariksha (the air),”[36] by a house father, in his home;[37] that is, that an
offering, with an invocation to a deity, should be a sacrifice at the threshold
altar. Other references in the Hindoo laws seem to demand bali offerings “at

all the doors, as many as they are,” in a house, and evidence the importance
and sacredness attaching to the doorway.[38]
The threshold seems to have special reverence in Northwestern India, in
connection with the seasons of seedtime and harvest. At seedtime “a cake of
cowdung formed into a cup” is placed on the threshold of the householder;
it is filled with corn, and then water is poured over it as a libation to the
deities. Cowdung is not only a means of enrichment to the soil, but it is a
gift from the sacred cow, and so, in a sense, represents or stands for the life
of the cow. It is laid on the threshold altar as an offering of life. The libation
of water is an accompaniment of that offering; water is essential to life and
growth, and it is a gift of the gods accordingly. Seed-sowing is recognized
as an act which needs the blessing of the gods, and on which that blessing is
sought in covenant relations.
At early harvest time the first-fruits of the grain-field are not taken to the
threshing-floor, but are brought home to be presented to the gods at the
household altar, and afterwards eaten by the family, with a portion given to
the Brahmans. The first bundle of corn is deposited at the threshold of the
home, and a libation of water is made as a completion of its offering. The
grain being taken from the ear, of a portion of this first-fruits, is mixed with
milk and sugar, and every member of the family tastes it seven times.[39]
Among the Prabhus of Bombay, at the time of the birth of a child, an iron
crowbar is placed “along the threshold of the room of confinement, as a
check against the crossing of any evil spirit.” This is in accordance with a
Hindoo belief that evil spirits keep aloof from iron, “and even nowadays
pieces of horseshoe can be seen nailed to the bottom sills of doors of native
houses.”[40] Iron seems, in various lands, to be deemed of peculiar value as a
guard against evil spirits, and the threshold to be the place for its efficacious
fixing.
Similarly, “in East Bothnia, when the cows are taken out of their winter
quarters for the first time, an iron bar is laid before the threshold, over
which all the cows must pass; for, if they do not, there will be nothing but
trouble with them all the following summer.”[41]
Among the folk customs in the line of exorcism and divination in Italy, the
threshold has prominence. “In Tuscany, much taking of magical medicine is
done on the threshold; it also plays a part in other sorcery.”[42] A writer

mentions a method of exorcism with incense, where three pinches of the
best incense, and three of the second quality, are put in a row on the
threshold of the door, and then, after other incense is burned within the
house in an earthen fire-dish, these “little piles of incense on the threshold
of the door” are lighted, with words of invocation. This process is repeated
three times over.[43]
A method of curing a disorder of the wrist prevalent in harvest time, in
North Germany, is by taking “three pieces of three-jointed straw,” and so
laying them “side by side as to correspond joint by joint,” then chopping
through the first joint into the block beneath. This “ceremony is performed
on the threshold, and ends with the sign of the cross.”[44]
Observances with reference to the threshold are numerous in Russia. “On it
a cross is drawn to keep off maras (hags). Under it the peasants bury
stillborn children. In Lithuania, when a new house is being built, a wooden
cross, or some article which has been handed down from past generations,
is placed under the threshold. There also when a newly baptized child is
being brought back from church, it is customary for its father to hold it for a
while over the threshold, ‘so as to place the new member of the family
under the protection of the domestic divinities’ [bringing it newly into the
family covenant at the threshold altar].... Sick children, who are supposed to
have been afflicted by an evil eye, are washed on the threshold of their
cottage, in order that, with the help of the Penates who reside there, the
malady may be driven out of doors.”[45]
At the annual feast known as “Death Week,” among Slavonic peoples,
marking the close of winter and the beginning of spring, the peasants in
rural Russia combine for a sacrifice to appease the “Vodyaoui,” or aroused
water-spirit of the thawing streams. They also prepare a sacrifice for the
“Domovoi” or house-spirit. A fat black pig is killed, and cut into as many
pieces as there are residents in the place. “Each resident receives one piece,
which he straightway buries under the door-step at the entrance to his
house. In some parts, it is said, the country folk bury a few eggs beneath the
threshold of the dwelling to propitiate the ‘Domovoi.’”[46]
When a Magyar maiden would win the love of a young man, or would bring
evil on him because of his reluctance, she seeks influence over him by
means of the sacred threshold. “She must steal something from the young

man, and take it to a witch, who adds to it three beans, three bulbs of garlic,
a few pieces of dry coal, and a dead frog. These are all put into an
earthenware pot, and placed under the threshold,” with a prayer for the
object of her desire.[47]
A superstition is prevalent in Roumania, that if a bat, together with a gold
coin, be buried under the threshold, there is “good luck” to the house.[48]
Various superstitions, in connection with the bat are found among primitive
peoples.[49]
In Japan, the threshold of the door is sprinkled with salt, after a funeral, and
as a propitiatory sacrifice in time of danger.[50] Salt represents blood.
Among the Dyaks of Borneo, a pig’s blood is sprinkled at the doorway to
atone for the sin of unchastity by a daughter of the family. Again, the blood
of a fowl is sprinkled there at the annual festival of seed-sowing, with
prayers for fecundity and fertility.[51]
“On New Year’s morning, along the coast [in Aberdeenshire] where
seaweed is gathered, a small quantity is laid down at each door of the farm-
steading [the buildings of the homestead], as a means of bringing good
luck.” And fire and salt are put on the threshold of the byre-door before a
cow leaves the building after giving birth to a calf.[52]
Of portions of Ireland, it was said, early in this century: “On the 11th of
November, every family of a village kills an animal of some kind or other;
those who are rich kill a cow or sheep, others a goose or a turkey; while
those who are poor ... kill a hen or a cock, and sprinkle the threshold with
the blood, and do the same in the four corners of the house; ... to exclude
every kind of evil spirit from the dwelling.”[53]
Holes bored in the door-sill, and plugged with pieces of paper on which are
written incantations, a broom laid across the door-sill, or “three horseshoes
nailed on the door-step with toes up,” are supposed to be a guard against
witches or evil spirits in portions of Pennsylvania to-day.[54] Many a
Pennsylvanian is unwilling to cross, for the first time, the threshold of a
new home, without carrying salt and a Bible.
Among the Indians in ancient Mexico there was an altar near the door of
every house, with instruments of sacrifice, and accompanying idols.[55]

“Threshold” and “foundation” are terms that are used interchangeably in
primitive life. The sacredness of the threshold-stone of a building pivots on
its position as a foundation stone, a beginning stone, a boundary stone.
Hence the foundation stone of any house, or other structure was sacred as
the threshold of that building. According to Dr. H.V. Hilprecht, in the earlier
buildings of Babylonia the inscriptions and invocations and deposits were at
the threshold, and later under the four corners of the building; but when
they were at the threshold they were not under the corners, and vice versa.
It would seem from this that the corner-stone was recognized as the
beginning, or the limit, or the threshold, of the building. It may be,
therefore, that the modern ceremonies at the laying of a “corner-stone” are a
survival of the primitive sacredness of a threshold-laying.[56]
It would seem, moreover, as if the sanctity of the threshold as the primitive
altar were, in many places, in the course of time transferred to the family
hearth. In the primitive tent the household fire was at the entrance way, as it
is in the tents of the East to-day. Where Arabs have camped on an Eastern
desert, the place of the shaykh’s tent can always be known by the blackened
hearthstones at its entrance, or threshold, where he welcomed guests to the
hospitality of his tribe and family by the sharing of bread and salt, or by the
outpouring of the blood of a slaughtered lamb or kid.
If, indeed, the earliest dwelling of man was a cave, rather than a tent, the
household fire was still at its entrance; and the threshold was the
hearthstone. When, in the progress of building-changes, the hearthstone was
removed to the center of the building, or of the inner court, its sanctity went
with it, as the place of the family fire. Thus, for example, in Russia, the
Domovoi, or household deity, who is honored and invoked at the threshold,
“is supposed to live behind the stove now, but in early times he, or the
spirits of the dead ancestors, of whom he is now the chief representative,
were held to be in even more direct relations with the fire on the hearth; as
were the Penates of the Romans, who were sometimes spoken of as at the
threshold, and again as at the hearth.”[57]
A recognition of the peculiar sacredness of the threshold is shown, in
different lands, by the popular unwillingness to have the dead carried over it
on the way to burial. In India, the body of one dying in certain phases of the
moon can in no wise be carried over the threshold. The house wall must be
broken for its removal.[58] When Chinese students are attending the

competitive examinations for promotion, they are shut up in rooms until
their work is completed. If one of them dies at such a time, “the body is
removed over the back wall, as the taking out openly through the front door
would be regarded as an evil omen.”[59]
In the capital of Korea there is a small gate in the city wall known as the
“Gate of the Dead,” through which alone a dead body can be carried out.
But no one can ever enter through that passage-way.[60]
There is a recognition, in Russian folk-tales, of safety to the spirit of one
who dies in a house, if his body be passed out under the threshold of the
outer door.[61]
It is not allowable to carry out a corpse through the main door of a house in
Italy. There is a smaller door, in the side wall, known as the porta di morti,
which is kept closed except as it is opened for the removal of a body at the
time of a funeral.[62]
In Alaska, it is deemed an evil omen for the dead to be carried over the
threshold. “Therefore the dying one, instead of being allowed to rest in
peace in his last hours, is hastily lifted from his couch and put out of doors
[or out of the house] by a hole in the rear wall” so as not to have a corpse
pass the threshold.[63]
In some communities, in both Europe and America, the coffin is passed out
of the house through the window, instead of through the door, at a funeral.
And again, the front door is closed and a window is opened at the time of a
death, in order that the spirit may pass out of the house in some other way
than over the threshold.[64]
Even though the dead may not be lifted over the threshold altar, the dead
may be buried underneath it. In both the far East and the far West, burials
under the threshold are known. And in Christian churches of Europe, a
grave underneath the altar is an honored grave for saint or ecclesiastic.
In the Apocalypse the seer beheld “underneath the altar the souls of them
that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they
held: and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the
holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth?”[65]

3. THRESHOLD COVENANTING IN THE MARRIAGE
CEREMONY.

Marriage customs in various parts of the world, in ancient and modern
times, illustrate this idea of the sacredness of the threshold as the family
altar.
In portions of Syria, when a bride is brought to her husband’s home, a lamb
or a kid is sacrificed on the threshold, and she must step across the
outpoured blood.[66] This marks her adoption into that family.
Among the wide-spreading ʾAnazeh Bed´ween, the most prominent and
extensive tribe of desert Arabs, whose range is from the Sinaitic Peninsula
to the upper Desert of Syria, “when the marriage day is fixed, the
bridegroom comes with a lamb in his arms to the tent of the father of his
bride, and then, before witnesses, he cuts its throat. As soon as the blood
falls upon the earth [and the earth is the only threshold of a tent], the
marriage ceremony is regarded as complete.”[67] “In Egypt, the Copts
sacrifice a sheep as the bride steps into the bridegroom’s house, and she is
compelled to step over the blood which flows upon the threshold in the
doorway.”[68] It is evident, moreover, that this custom is not confined to the
Copts.[69]
Blood on the threshold, as an accompaniment of a marriage, is still counted
important among Armenian Christians in Turkey. After the formal marriage
ceremony at the church, the wedded pair, with their friends, proceed to the
bridegroom’s home. “At the moment of their arrival a sheep is sacrificed on
the threshold, over the blood of which the wedding party steps to enter the
house.”[70]
In the island of Cyprus, a bridegroom is borne to the house of his bride on
the wedding morning, in a living chair formed by the crossed hands of his
neighbor friends. Dismounting at her door, “as he is about to pass in, a fowl
is brought and held down by head and feet upon the threshold of the door;
the bridegroom takes an axe, cuts off the head, and only then may he
enter.”[71]

Like customs are found among yet more primitive peoples. Thus, for
instance, with the western Somali tribes, in east Central Africa: “On
reaching the bridegroom’s house a low-caste man sacrifices a goat or sheep
on the threshold; and the bride steps over it;” and again when the
bridegroom returns from his devotions at a neighboring masjid (a place of
public prayer) to claim his bride, as he reaches his threshold, “another goat
is sacrificed, and he steps over it in the same way as his bride.”[72] Again the
bridegroom himself brings the bride from her father’s hut to his own,
accompanied by young men and maidens dancing and singing. “On
reaching the new hut, the bride holds a goat or sheep in the doorway, while
the bridegroom cuts its throat in the orthodox manner with his jambia (long
knife). The bride dips her finger in the blood, smears it on her forehead, ...
and then enters the gúrí, stepping over the blood. The bridegroom follows
her, also stepping over the blood, and is accompanied by some of his
nearest male relatives.”[73]
There are traces of such customs, also, among the natives of South Africa,
[74]
and elsewhere.
Besides the bloody sacrifices at the threshold, in the marriage ceremony,
there are, in different countries, various forms of making offerings at the
threshold, and of surmounting obstacles at that point, as an accompaniment
of the wedding covenant. All these point to the importance and sanctity of
the threshold and doorway in the primitive mind.
A bride, in portions of Upper Syria, on reaching her husband’s house, is
lifted up so that she can press against the door-lintel a piece of dough,
prepared for the purpose, and handed to her at the time. This soft dough,
thus pressed against the plastered or clay wall, adheres firmly, and is left
there as long as it will remain. The open hand of the bride stamps the dough
as it is fixed in place, and in some cases the finger points are pricked before
the stamping, so that the blood will appear as a sign manual on the cake of
dough.[75]
When a bride reaches the door of her husband’s house, among the fellaheen
of Palestine, a jar of water is placed on her head. She must call on the name
of God as she crosses the threshold; and, at the same moment, her husband
strikes the jar from her head, and causes the water to flow as a libation.[76]

Among the Wallachians there is a marriage rite, said to be of Latin origin,
because there was a similar rite among the old Latins. The Wallachian bride
is borne on horseback, with an accompanying procession, to the house of
the bridegroom. “At the moment when the betrothed maiden dismounts
from her steed, and is about to cross the threshold, they present to her
butter, or sometimes honey, and with this she smears the door-posts.”[77]
An observer says of this rite: “For the same reason among the Latins, the
word for wife, uxor, originally unxor, was derived from the verb ungere, ‘to
anoint,’ because the maidens when they reached the threshold of their future
husbands, were similarly accustomed to anoint the door-posts.” In support
of this fanciful etymology, old-time commentators on Terence and Virgil are
cited;[78] which shows, at least, that this ceremony at the threshold of the
husband’s home has long been recognized as of vital importance in the
marriage contract and relation.
It is customary, among the Greeks in Turkey, for the mother of the
bridegroom, as he leaves his home to go for his bride on the morning of his
wedding, to lay across his pathway a girdle, over which he steps, and to
pour a libation of water before him.[79]
In the Morea, in the vicinity of Sparta, it is said that, when the bride is
brought to her new home, the mother of the bridegroom “stands waiting at
the door, holding a glass of honey and water in her hand. From this glass
the bride must drink; ... while the lintel of the door is smeared with the
remainder; ... in the meantime one of the company breaks a pomegranate on
the threshold.”[80] In Rhodes, when the newly married couple enter the
doorway of their new home, the husband “dips his finger in a cup of honey,
and traces a cross over the door.... A pomegranate is placed on the
threshold, which the young husband crushes with his foot as he enters,
followed by his wife, over whom the wedding guests throw corn and cotton
seeds and orange flower water.”[81]
On Skarpanto (Carpathos), an island lying between Rhodes and Crete, when
the bridegroom reaches the door of the bride’s house “he is greeted by the
mother of the bride, who touches the nape of his neck with a censer
containing incense.... She further gives him a present called embatikon,–that
is to say, ‘the gift of in-going,’–and then places on the threshold a rug or

blanket folded, with a stick resting on one of the corners. The bridegroom
advances his right foot, breaks the stick and passes in.”[82]
Among the Morlacchi, in Dalmatia, it is, or was, a custom for a bride to
kneel and kiss the threshold of her husband’s home, before crossing it for
the first time. Her mother-in-law, or some other near relative of her
husband, at the same time presented her with a sieve full of different kinds
of grain, nuts, and small fruits, which the bride scattered behind her back as
she passed in.[83]
It is a custom in portions of Russia, when the bride is about to leave her
father’s home to meet the bridegroom, for the friends of the bridegroom to
appear at the door, and request that the bride be brought to them. “After
their request has been many times repeated, the ‘princess’ [as the bride is
called] appears, attended by her relatives and attendants, but stops short at
the door. Again the bridegroom’s friends demand the bride, but are told first
to ‘cleanse the threshold; then will the young princess cross the threshold.’”
Thereupon gifts are made by the bridegroom’s friend, and the bride crosses
the threshold to go to the bridegroom.[84]
Among the Mordvins (or, Mordevins), a Finnish people on the Volga, there
are various customs in connection with marriage, tending to confirm the
idea that the threshold is the household altar. In a ceremony of betrothal,
with a conference over the terms of dowry, a prayer is offered to the
“goddess of the homestead,” and the “goddess of the dwelling-house;” “the
girl’s father then cuts off the corner of a loaf of bread with three slashes of a
knife, salts it, and places it under the threshold, where the Penates are
believed to frequent. This is called the ‘gods’ portion.’” Bread and salt are
factors in a sacred covenant, and their proffer to the household gods, at the
threshold altar, would seem to be an invitation to those gods to be a party to
the new marriage covenant. Again, after the terms of betrothal are agreed
on, there is the feast of “hand-striking,” or ratification of the betrothal. On
that occasion also the “gods’ portion” is offered; and “a little brandy is spilt
under the threshold. Bread and salt are once more placed under the
threshold by the bride’s father, who carries it from the table to the
household altar “on the point of the knife–under no circumstances in his
hands.”[85]

A custom of strewing the threshold of the home of a new-married couple
prevailed in Holland until recent times.[86] This was obviously a form of
offering at the household altar.
On the evening before the marriage ceremony, in the rural districts and
smaller towns of Northern Germany, the boys and girls, and others in the
neighborhood, are accustomed to appear at the door of the bride’s house,
and smash on the threshold earthen pots and jars, with loud cries of joy.
“Sometimes, whole car-loads of broken pottery have to be removed from
the door the next morning.” And when the young couple return to their
home, after the ceremony at the church, poor boys and girls are accustomed
to stretch a colored cord across the door of the house, to prevent a passage
over the threshold, unless the bridegroom throws a handful of small coins
among those who bar the way.[87]
Traces of the sacredness of the threshold altar seem to exist in the wedding
ceremonies in villages on the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. “After the
marriage is solemnized, ... the bride’s guests are entertained at her home,
and the bridegroom’s at his.... When the bride returns to her father’s house,
after the marriage, broken bread of various sorts is thrown over her before
she enters. The same ceremony is gone through with the bridegroom at his
father’s door.”[88]
When a girl among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo is married, the wedding takes
place at her house. The marriage rite includes the erecting an altar before
the door of the house, and placing on it an offering of prepared areca-nut,
covered with a red cloth, the color of blood. The families of the bride and
the groom then partake of that offering in covenant conclave.[89]
A lover, among the Woolwas, in Central America, when wooing a bride,
would bring a deer’s carcass, and a bundle of firewood, and deposit it
outside of her house door. If she accepted these, and took them over the
threshold, it was a betrothal.[90] The covenant seemed to consist in the
reaching across the threshold and accepting a proffered offering in a spirit
of loving agreement.
Among the Towkas, in the same part of the world, a bridegroom would go
with his friends to the home of his bride, carrying a bundle of gifts for her.
Sitting down outside of the door, he would call on her family to open to
him. There being no response, music would then be tried by his friends. At

this the door would be opened just far enough for him to put a gift inside
over the threshold. One by one his gifts would be passed in, in this way,
while the door opened wider and wider. When the last gift was over the
threshold, the lover would spring within, and, seizing the bride, would carry
her across the threshold, and take her to a temporary hut erected within a
charmed circle near by, while his friends guarded him from intrusion.[91]
And thus, in various ways, among widely different primitive peoples, the
marriage customs go to show that the home threshold cannot be passed
except by overcoming a barrier of some kind, and making an offering,
bloody or bloodless, at this primal family altar. An essential part of the
covenant of union is a halting at, and then passing over, the threshold of the
new home, with an accompanying sacrifice.

4. STEPPING OR BEING LIFTED ACROSS THE THRESHOLD.
Even more widespread and prominent than the custom of offering blood, or
of making a libation, or of overcoming a special barrier, at the threshold, or
of anointing or stamping the posts or lintel of the doorway as a sign of the
covenant, at the time of a marriage, and as a part of the ceremony, is the
habit of causing the bride to cross the threshold with care, without stepping
upon it. This custom is of well-nigh world-wide observance, and it has
attracted the attention of anthropologists and students of primitive customs.
A favorite method of explaining it has been by calling it a survival of the
practice of “marriage by capture;” but this is nothing more than an
unscientific guess, in defiance of the truth that persistent popular customs
have their origin in a sentiment, and not in a passing historic practice. The
earliest mentions of this custom, of the bride’s crossing the threshold
without stepping on it, show it as a voluntary religious rite; and there are
traces of its recognition in this light from the earliest times until now.
In the Vedic Sutras, or the sacrificial rules of the ancient Hindoo literature,
it is specifically declared that a bride, on entering her husband’s home, shall
step across the threshold, and not upon it. She is not lifted over the door-sill,
but she voluntarily crosses it. Thus it is said: “When (the bridegroom with
his bride) has come to his house, he says to her, ‘Cross (the threshold) with
thy right foot first; do not stand on the threshold.’”[92] In this ancient
ceremony, grains of rice are poured on the heads of the bridegroom and his
bride.[93] This modern custom has, therefore, a very early origin. And again:
“He makes her enter the house (which she does) with her right foot. And
she does not stand on the threshold.”[94]
Putting the right foot forward seems to be a matter of importance in various
primitive religions. “Put your right foot first” is a maxim ascribed to
Pythagoras.[95] In his description of the proportions of a temple, the Roman
architect Vitruvius said: “The number of steps in front should always be
odd, since, in that case, the right foot, which begins the ascent, will be that
which first alights on the landing of the temple.”[96] A Muhammadan is
always careful to put his right foot first in crossing over the threshold of a
mosk.[97]

Among the Albanians, when the bride is taken to the home of the
bridegroom, accompanied by the vlam, or “the friend of the bridegroom,” it
is said that “particular care is taken that the threshold should be crossed
with the right foot foremost.”[98] Here, as in India, the crossing of the
threshold is a voluntary act. The bride is not lifted over, but crosses of her
own accord. If she be veiled, the lifting is a necessity.
In Madagascar, “on entering a house, especially a royal house, it is
improper to use the left foot on first stepping into it. One must ‘put one’s
best (or right) foot foremost.’”[99]
The bride, in Upper Syria, is sometimes carried across the threshold of the
bridegroom’s house by friends of the bridegroom.[100] She, of course, is
veiled.
When the bride reaches the outer gate of her husband’s residence, in Egypt,
the bridegroom meets her, enveloped as she is in her cashmere shawl, clasps
her in his arms, and carries her across the threshold, and up to the doorway
of the female apartments.[101]
In portions of Abyssinia, the bridegroom carries his bride from her home to
his, bearing her across the threshold as he enters his house.[102]
So, also, it is among the more primitive tribes in West Africa. The bride is
carried over the threshold in a rude chair, or on the shoulders of her friends,
into her new home.[103]
There are traces of a similar custom in the marriage ceremonies of ancient
Assyria.[104]
Again, it is said to be found among the Khonds of Orissa,[105] the Tatars,[106]
and the Eskimos.[107]
In ancient Greece[108] and in ancient Rome[109] the lifting of the bride over
the threshold of her new home was an important part of the marriage
ceremony. Classic writers had their explanations of this custom, as certain
modern anthropologists have theirs, but the origin of the ceremony was
earlier than they imagined.
In unchanging China the use of fire on the threshold altar, in connection
with the marriage ceremony, is continued to the present day. The bride is
borne in a sedan-chair to the house of the bridegroom, accompanied by a

procession of friends and musicians. “On arriving at the portal of the house,
the bridegroom taps the door of the sedan-chair with his fan, and in
response, the instructress of matrimony, who prompts every act of the bride,
opens the door and hands out the still enshrouded young lady, who is
carried bodily over a pan of lighted charcoal, or a red-hot coulter laid on the
threshold, while at the same moment a servant offers for her acceptance
some rice and preserved prunes.”[110]
Again, it is burning straw that is thrown upon the door-sill, and is half
extinguished before the Chinese bride is led to step across it. The
instructress says at this point:
“Now, fair young bride, the smoke bestride;
This year have joy, next year a boy.”[111]

Fire, like blood, stands for life in the primitive mind; and fire, like blood,
has its place on the altar. Indeed, as the first threshold altar was the
hearthstone, it was the place of the household fire. The sacredness of the
domestic fire is recognized in all the Hindoo religious literature; and a
Hindoo couple, on beginning their married life, must have a care to enter a
new home bringing their sacred altar fire with them.[112] In ancient Greece,
the mother of the bride accompanied her daughter to the threshold of her
new home, bearing a flaming torch “kindled at the parental hearth,
according to custom immemorial.”[113] A torch was similarly borne in the
Roman marriage ceremonies.[114] This custom is referred to in the term
“hymen’s torch,” or the “nuptial torch.” “In Cicero’s time, they did not
distinguish the hearth-fire from the Penates, nor the Penates from the
Lares.”[115] The bride, in India, in China, in Greece, and in Rome, worshiped
at the altar-fire of her new home.
A connecting link between the altar fire and the nuptial torch is found in a
marriage custom of the Erza, of the Mordvins, in Russia. On the eve of the
wedding day the bridegroom’s family make ready for the bride. “A thick
candle, and several thinner ones, have ... been made ready for the occasion.
The bridegroom’s father lights the smaller ones before the holy pictures [in
use in families of the Greek Church], but sets up the large one on the
threshold. It is called ‘the house candle.’” The father then prays for the new
couple.[116]

A survival of an ancient Slavic custom, of covenanting together by crossing
together an altar fire, would also seem to exist in Russia in the practices of
young people at the “Midsummer Day” festival. A Russian writer says of
these festivals: “More than once have I had an opportunity of being present
at these nightly meetings, held at the end of June, in commemoration of a
heathen divinity. They usually take place close to a river or pond; large fires
are lighted, and over them young couples, bachelors and unmarried girls,
jump barefoot.”[117]
There is a custom of wooing among the Moksha, of the Mordvins, that
brings the threshold-altar idea into prominence. The parents of the wooer
first make gifts, at their home, to the household goddesses. “These gifts
consist of dough figures of domestic animals, which are placed under the
threshold of the house and of the outside gate, while prayer is made to the
goddesses and to deceased ancestors. The father [of the bridegroom] then
cuts off a corner of a loaf placed on the table, and at the time of the offering
scoops out the inside and fills it with honey. At midnight he drives in
profound secrecy to the house of the bride elect, places the honeyed bread
on the gate-post [of her house], strikes the window with his whip, and
shouts: ‘Seta! I, Veshnak Mazakoff, make a match between thy daughter and
my son Uru. Take the honeyed bread from thy gate-post, and pray.’”[118] The
images of domestic animals would here seem to stand for the slaughtered
animals formerly offered at the threshold altar; and the linking of the altars
of the two homes by offerings and prayer would seem to indicate the desire
for a sacred covenant. When the bride is received at the bridegroom’s
house, a notch is cut “with an ax in the door-post to mark the arrival of a
new addition to the family.”
Among the Erza, of the same province, the bride, on the day of “the girl’s
feast,” preceding her marriage, “takes mould [earth] from under the
threshold [of her parental home] with her finger-tips, and thrusts it into her
bosom,” as she goes out to seek a farewell blessing from her friends. In the
bridegroom’s home, meanwhile, a lighted candle is placed on the threshold
of the door; and, in some regions, when he and his friends go to the bride’s
house to bring her to his home, he and they are met at the door by her
parents with the covenanting bread and salt, and the words, “Be welcome,
come within.” As the bride is borne out of her old home to go to her new
one, she and her party “all halt and bow to the gate, for there, or in the

courtyard, is the abode of the god that protects the dwelling-place. The
following prayer is made to him: ‘Kardas Sarks, the nourisher, god of the
house, do not abandon her that is about to depart; always be near her just as
thou art here.‘” When she reaches her new home, she is carried (over the
threshold), in the arms of some of her party, into the house of the
bridegroom, carrying a lighted candle.[119]
The custom survived in portions of Scotland, as recently as the beginning of
this century, of lifting a bride over the threshold, or the first step of the door.
A cake of bread, prepared for the occasion, was, at the same time, broken
by the bridegroom’s mother over the head of the bride. The bride was then
led directly to the hearth, and the poker and tongs, and sometimes the
broom, were put into her hands “as symbols of her office and duty.”
Lifting the bride over the threshold has been practiced in recent times, in
England, Ireland, and the United States.[120]
Both bride and bridegroom were carried, on the shoulders of their elders,
across the threshold of their new home, and laid on their bridal bed, in the
marriage ceremonies of some of the tribes of Central America. And again
the bridegroom carried his bride in this way.[121] In either case, it was the
crossing of the threshold without stepping on it that was the thing aimed at.

5. LAYING FOUNDATIONS IN BLOOD.

In the building of a house, as a new home, the prominence given to the
laying of the threshold, or to its dedicating by blood, is another indication,
or outcome, of its altar-like sacredness. In Upper Syria a sacrifice is often
made at the beginning of the building of a new house, and again at the first
crossing of its threshold. “When a new house is built,” among the
Metâwileh, “the owner will not reside in it until, with certain formalities, a
black hen has been carried several times round the house and slaughtered
within the door,” as if in covenant dedication of the house.[122]
Among the Copts in Egypt, when the threshold of a new house is laid, the
owner slaughters a sheep or a goat on the threshold, and steps over the
blood, as if in covenant for himself and his household with Him to whom
all blood, as life, belongs. Then he divides the sacrificed victim among his
neighbors; and they in turn come and step across the blood on the threshold,
invoking as they do so a blessing on the new house and its owner, while
coming into covenant with him.[123]
The foundation-stone of a new building is, in a sense, the threshold of that
structure. Hence to lay the foundations in blood is to proffer blood at the
threshold. Traces of this custom are to be found in the practices or the
legends of peoples wellnigh all the world over.[124] Apparently the earlier
sacrifices were of human beings.[125] Later they were of animals substituted
for persons. The idea seems to have been that he who covenanted by blood
with God, or with the gods, when his house, or his city, was builded, was
guarded, together with his household, while he and they were dwellers
there; but, if he failed to proffer a threshold sacrifice, his first-born, or the
first person who crossed the bloodless threshold, would be claimed by the
ignored or defied deity.
There is, indeed, a suggestion of this idea in the curse pronounced by
Joshua, when he destroyed the doomed city of Jericho, against him who
should rebuild its walls, he not being in covenant with and obedient to the
Lord. “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this
city Jericho: with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay the foundation
thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of

it.”[126] A later record tells of the fulfilment of this curse. It says of the reign
of Ahab: “In his days did Hiel the Bethel-ite build Jericho: he laid the
foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates
thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub; according to the word of
the Lord, which he spake by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.”[127]
Human sacrifices, in order to furnish blood at the foundations of a house, or
of a public structure, have been continued down to recent times, or to the
present, in some portions of the world; and there are indications in popular
tradition that they were frequent in a not remote past.
It is said that at the building of Scutari, in Asia Minor, “the workmen were
engaged on its fortifications for three years, but the walls would not stand.
Then they protested that the only possible way to succeed was to lay under
or in them a living human being. They accordingly laid hold of a young
woman who brought them dinner, and immured her.”[128]
According to a story in China, when the bridge leading to the site of St.
John’s College, in Shanghai, was in process of building, an official present
took off his shoes, as indicating his rank, and threw them into the stream, in
order to stay the current, and enable the workmen to lay the foundations.
Finding this unavailing, he took off his garments and threw them in. Finally
he threw himself in, and as his life went out the workmen were enabled to
go on with their building. To this day the belief is general that that structure
stands fast because of this sacrifice.[129]
“When the walls of Algiers were built of blocks of concrete [by
Muhammadans], in the sixteenth century, a Christian captive named
Geronimo was placed in one of the blocks and the rampart built over and
about him. Since the French occupation of Algiers a subsidence in the wall
led to an examination of the blocks, and one was found to have given way.
It was removed, and the cast of Geronimo was discovered in the block. The
body had gone to dust, and the superincumbent weight had crushed in the
stone sarcophagus.”[130]
A story told among the Danes is, that “many years ago, when the ramparts
were being raised round Copenhagen, the wall always sank, so that it was
not possible to get it to stand firm. They therefore took a little innocent girl,
placed her in a chair by a table, and gave her playthings and sweetmeats.
While she thus sat enjoying herself, twelve masons built an arch over her,

which, when completed, they covered with earth to the sound of drums and
trumpets. By this process the walls were made solid.”[131]
“Thuringian legend declares that to make the castle of Liebenstein fast and
impregnable, a child was bought for hard money of its mother, and walled
in. It was eating a cake while the masons were at work, the story goes, and
it cried, ‘Mother, I see thee still;’ then later, ‘Mother, I see thee a little still;’
and as they put in the last stone, ‘Mother, now I see thee no more.’”[132]
A similar story is told of a Slavic town on the Danube. A plague devastated
it, and it was determined to build it anew, with a new citadel. “Acting on the
advice of their wisest men, they sent out messengers before sunrise one
morning in all directions, with orders to seize upon the first living creature
they should meet. The victim proved to be a child (Dyetina, archaic form of
Ditya), who was buried alive under the foundation-stone of the new citadel.
The city was on that account called Dyetinets [or Detinetz], a name since
applied to any citadel.”[133]
It is even said that “when, a few years ago, the Bridge Gate of the Bremen
city walls was demolished, the skeleton of a child was found imbedded in
the foundations.”[134]
A Scottish legend tells that St. Columba found himself unable to build a
cathedral on the island of Iona unless he would secure its stability and
safety by the blood of a human sacrifice. Thereupon he took his companion,
Oran, and buried him alive at the foundations of the structure, having no
trouble after that.[135]
And it is said that under the walls of the only two round towers of the
ancient Irish examined, human skeletons were found buried.[136]
Until the transfer of Alaska to the United States, in 1867, by the Russian
government, human sacrifices at the foundation of a new house were
common in that portion of America. The ceremonies are thus described by
one familiar with them: “The rectangular space for the building is ...
cleared, a spot for the fireplace designated, and four holes dug, wherein the
corner posts are to be set.... A slave, either man or woman who has been
captured in war or is even a descendant of such a slave, is blindfolded and
compelled to lie down face uppermost, in the place selected for the fireplace
[the site of the domestic altar]. A sapling is then cut, laid across the throat of

the slave, and, at a given signal, the two nearest relatives of the host sit
upon the respective ends of the sapling, thereby choking the unhappy
wretch to death. But the corner posts must receive their baptism; so four
slaves are blindfolded, and one is forced to stand in each post-hole, when, at
a given signal, a blow on the forehead is dealt with a peculiar club
ornamented with the host’s coat of arms.” It is said that even to the present
time, on the building of a house in Alaska, “the same ceremonies are
enacted, with the exception of the sacrifices, which are prevented by the
United States authorities.”[137]
In Hindoostan, Burmah, Tennasserin, Borneo, Japan, Galam, Yarriba,
Polynesia, and elsewhere, there are modern survivals of this foundation-
laying in blood.[138] It would seem, indeed, to have been wellnigh universal
as a primitive usage.
Popular ballads give other indications of such customs, in various lands. “In
a song, of which there are several versions, of the building of the bridge of
Arta, it is told how the bridge fell down as fast as it was built, until at last
the master-builder dreamed a dream that it would only stand if his own wife
were buried alive in the foundations. He therefore sends for her, bidding her
dress in festival attire, and then finds an excuse to make her descend into
the central pile, whereupon they heap the earth over her, and thus the bridge
stands fast.”[139]
“In another song the same story is told of the Bridge of Tricha, with the
difference only that it is a little bird that whispers in the architect’s ear how
the pile may be made to stand. A similar superstition connected with the
building of the monastery Curtea de Argest, in Wallachia, forms the subject
of a fine poem by the Roumanian poet Alexandri.”[140]
There is an indication of a like custom among the Vlachs in Turkey, as
shown in their folk-poetry. The ballad of the “Monastery of Argis” tells of
such an incident, in which the master-builder Manoli plays a part.[141]
Various substitutes for human offerings at the laying of a foundation-stone,
or a threshold, have been adopted in different countries. Thus, in modern
Greece, “after the ground has been cleared for the foundations of a new
house, the future owner, his family, and the workmen attend, together with
the pappas [the priest] in full canonicals, accompanied by incense, holy
water, and all due accessories. A prayer is said, and those present are

aspersed, and the site is sprinkled with the consecrated water. Then a fowl
or a lamb, which you have noticed lying near with the feet tied together, is
taken by one of the workmen, killed and decapitated, the pappas standing
by all the while, and even giving directions; the blood is then smeared on
the foundation-stone, in the fulfilment of the popular adage that ‘there must
be blood in the foundation.’”[142]
The modern Greek term for this ceremony, stoicheionein, would seem to
indicate a sacrifice to the deity of the threshold, or the foundation.
“The Bulgarians, it is said, when laying a house foundation, take a thread,
and measure the shadow of some casual passer-by. The measure is then
buried under the foundation-stone, and it is expected that the man whose
shadow has been thus treated will soon become but a shade himself....
Sometimes a victim is put to death on the occasion; the foundations being
sprinkled with the blood of a fowl, or a lamb, or some other species of
scapegoat.”[143]
Among the Russian peasants the idea prevails that the building of a new
house “is apt to be followed by the death of the head of the family for
which the new dwelling is constructed, or that the member of the family
who is the first to enter it will soon die. In accordance with a custom of
great antiquity, the oldest member of a migrating household enters the new
house first; and in many places, as, for instance, in the Government of
Archangel, some animal is killed and buried on the spot on which the first
log or stone is laid.”[144]
The “upper corner” of a house, in Russia, is peculiarly sacred, having even
more honor than the doorway threshold in the ordinary home. Yet this upper
corner seems to be in a sense the real threshold, or foundation corner, of the
building. A cock is the ordinary victim sacrificed “on the spot which a
projected house is to cover.” The head of this cock is buried “exactly where
the ‘upper corner’ of the building is to stand.” And this corner is
thenceforward a sacred corner. Opposite to it is the stove. It is called the
“great” and the “beautiful” corner. The family meal is eaten before it, and
every one who enters the cottage makes obeisance toward it. Formerly
ancestral images are supposed to have been in that corner, and now holy
pictures are there.[145] It would seem to be in accordance with this idea that
the foundation-stone, or threshold, of a new building, which in civilized

lands is now laid with imposing ceremonies, is known as the “corner-
stone.” Yet the “corner-stone” of a modern building is sometimes at the
corner of the central doorway.[146]
It is worthy of note that in ancient Egypt the one door of an ordinary
dwelling-house was placed at one side, or end, of the front wall, and not in
the center; so that the corner-stone of the building was literally a portion of
the threshold.[147] The same was true of many an old-time New England
house; the “front door” was at the left-hand side (as one approached the
house) of the gable end. Thus the threshold of the door was often the
corner-stone.
Ancient Romans were accustomed to place statues and images, instead of
living persons, under the foundations of their buildings, as has been shown
by recent researches in and about Rome.[148] In one instance, where a fine
statue of colossal size and in perfect preservation was unearthed, at the
foundations of a convent which was being enlarged, “by order of the
monks, it was buried again,” as if in deference to the primitive belief that it
was essential to the stability of the structure.[149]
There is a Swedish tradition “that under the altar in the first Christian
churches a lamb was usually buried, which imparted security and duration
to the edifice.”[150] And, “according to Danish accounts, a lamb was buried
under every altar, and a living horse was laid in every churchyard before a
human corpse was laid in it. Both lamb and horse are to be seen
occasionally in the church- or grave-yard, and betoken death. Under other
houses pigs and hens were buried alive.”[151]
A new sacrificial stone, or altar of sacrifice, laid on the summit of a
Mexican temple, in 1512, was consecrated by Montezuma by the blood of
more than twelve thousand captives.[152]
When the new railroad was built between Jaffa and Jerusalem, a few years
ago, there were sacrifices of sheep at its beginning. And there were similar
sacrifices at the foundations of the Turkish building, at the Columbian
Exposition at Chicago.
In all these facts or legends, blood on the threshold of the building, in the
foundation-stones of the structure, is shown to have been deemed an

essential factor in a covenant with, or in propitiation of, the deity of the
place.

6. APPEALS AT THE ALTAR.

Because the threshold is recognized as an altar, nearness to the altar is
nearness to God, or to the gods worshiped at that altar. Hence appeals are
made and justice is sought at the gate, or at the threshold, as in the presence
of deity.
To present one’s self at the tent doorway, or to lay hold of the supports, or
cords, at the entrance of an Arab’s “house of hair,” is recognized as an ever-
effective appeal for hospitality in the East. Even an enemy can thus secure
the protection of the home sanctuary.[153]
In the excavation of Tell-el-Hesy, in Southwestern Palestine, supposed to
cover the remains of ancient Lachish,[154] Dr. Petrie discovered various
ornamented door-jambs. In one case a simple volute on a pilaster slab
suggested to Dr. Petrie “a ram’s horn nailed up against a wooden post;” and
“he sees in this the origin of the type of the ‘horns of the altar,’[155] so often
mentioned in temple architecture.”[156] If Dr. Petrie be correct in this
thought, the horns of the altar were first of all at the house doorway, above
the threshold altar.
One of the fundamental laws of the Afghans makes it incumbent on a host
to “shelter and protect any one who in extremity may flee to his threshold,
and seek an asylum under his roof.” Property or life must be sacrificed in
his behalf, if need be. “As soon as you have crossed the threshold of an
Afghan you are sacred to him, though you were his deadly foe, and he will
give up his own life to save yours.” A favorite poem of the Afghan, entitled,
“Adam Khan and Durkhani,” tells of a son who killed his father because
that father had betrayed a refugee who sought the sanctuary of his
threshold. And all Afghans honor the memory of that son.[157]
Among the Arabs of the Syrian desert, when a man would leave his own
tribe and join himself to another, he takes a lamb or a goat with him, and
presents himself at the entrance of the tent of the shaykh of the tribe he
would find a home in. Slaying the animal there, and allowing its blood to
run out on the ground at the threshold of the tent, he makes his appeal to the

shaykh to accept him as a member of his tribe, or as a son by adoption. And
this appeal has peculiar force, as a voice by blood.[158]
When a man among these tribes is in peril of his life, pursued by an enemy,
he can similarly make an appeal for sanctuary at the threshold altar of a
shaykh’s tent, with a like outpouring of the blood of an animal brought by
him; and protection must be granted him by the shaykh. It is as though he
had laid hold of the “horns of the altar.” So, again, when a man would be
reconciled with an enemy who has cause for bitter hostility, he goes to the
tent of that enemy and sacrifices an animal at the threshold, with an appeal
for forgiveness. This offering of a threshold sacrifice secures his safety.
In other portions of Arabia this same idea finds a different but similar
expression. “With bare and shaven head the offender appears at the door of
the injured person, holding a knife in each hand, and, reciting a formula
provided for the purpose, strikes his head several times with the sharp
blades. Then drawing his hands over his bloody scalp, he wipes them on the
door-post. The other must then come out and cover the suppliant’s head
with a shawl [covering the offense, in covering the offender], after which he
kills a sheep, and they sit down together at a feast of reconciliation.”[159]
A record on a Babylonian clay tablet, of the twenty-eighth year of
Nebuchadrezzar, affirms that “on the second day of the month of Ab” a
certain “Imbiʿa shall bring his witness to the gate of the house of the chief
Bel-iddin, and let him testify” as to a certain matter.[160] The gate of the chief
man, or local magistrate, would here seem to have been the recognized
court of justice.
In the palace ruins at Persepolis and Susa, the great doorways show, in their
architecture, the influence of Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt. And in the
relief sculpture of those doorways there is seen a representation of “the king
sitting on his throne rendering justice at his palace gate.”[161]
At one of the gates of modern Cairo, the writer has seen a venerable Arab
sitting in judgment on a case submitted to him by the contestants. And such
a scene may be often witnessed at the gates of an Oriental city.
In accordance with this primitive idea, it became a custom in India for one
who would obtain justice from another to seat himself at the door of a
house, or a tent, and refuse to move from that position until he starved to

death, unless his claim were heeded. If the suitor died at the door, or the
household altar, the sin of his death rested upon the householder. The
suitor’s blood cried out against the evil-doer.
Even to the present time appeals at the household altar are made in blood, in
portions of India. A case recently before the British court in Kathiawar
involved an illustration of such an appeal. One of the Charaus, a caste of
heralds, had become responsible with his life, according to custom, for the
repayment of a loan made to a land owner. The land owner delayed
payment, and seemed disposed to avoid it. “The herald and his brother, with
their old mother for a sacrifice, went to the door of the debtor’s house and
demanded payment, as their family honor was at stake. When the land
owner would not pay, the herald struck off the head of his mother with his
sword before the door, the brother at the same time wounded (intending to
kill) the debtor, and the two brothers sprinkled the mingled blood of the
sacrifice on the householder’s door-posts. The land owner, smitten by
public infamy and the guilt of the matricide, starved himself to death.”[162]
References to this responsibility of the heralds are found in the
Mahabharata.[163]
Even where the primitive custom of sacrificing at the doorway has died out,
there sometimes seems to be a survival of it in popular phraseology. Talcott
Williams, of Philadelphia, relates an incident of his experiences in
Morocco, which illustrates this. He says: “As I was riding through the Soko
at Tangier on a morning in June, 1889, a servant stopped me, and said:
‘Four men, from near Azila (a town on the seacoast of Morocco, about
thirty miles away), are waiting for you at the gate of the house of Mr.
Perdicarus, and they have killed a sheep.’ ‘What have they killed a sheep
for?’ said I. ‘Oh!’ said the servant, ‘I don’t mean that they have actually
killed a sheep, but they are sitting at the gate, asking for your help, and
expect you to aid them in their trouble, because they have heard that you
have influence with the American consul, and are a man of importance in
your own country, and we call that “killing a sheep.”’ I think he added ‘at
the gate,’ but my memory is not perfectly clear at this point. I rode on to the
house of my friend, where I was stopping, and found there the kinsman of a
sheikh, who had been imprisoned by the American consul. They seized my
horse’s bridle, and, with the usual Oriental signs of respect, refused to let
me dismount until I had heard them and their plea for help.

“I was told by my own servant and the other Orientals there, that this plea
‘at the gate,’ accompanied as it was by the readiness to ‘kill a sheep,’ was
one which no man in Morocco would dream of disregarding. I made some
inquiry on the subject afterwards, and found that the habit of sitting at the
gate waiting for a man of supposed influence or authority, while absent, to
return to his house, often actually accompanied, though less frequently at
present, by the slaughter of a sheep, whose blood is poured across the road
over which he must pass, was a form used only in cases of dire necessity,
and one to which a man with whom other pleas would avail nothing, felt
compelled to give attention. I am glad to add that in my own case this
ancient rite was not without its fruits to those who had used it.”[164]
See the Bible references to this idea. Moses stood “in the gate of the camp,”
at a crisis hour in Israel’s history, when he would execute judgment in the
Lord’s cause.[165] All Israel was aroused to do judgment against the sinning
Benjamites because of the appeal of the dying woman who fell at the door
of the house, “with her hands upon the threshold.”[166] Boaz “went up to the
gate,” to meet the elders there, when he would covenant to do justice by
Ruth and the kinsman of Naomi.[167] Absalom sat in “the way of the gate”
when he would show favor to those who came there with their appeals for
justice.[168] And when Absalom was dead, David as king was again sitting in
the gate.[169] Zedekiah, the king of Judah, was sitting in the gate of Benjamin
when Ebed-melech appealed to him in behalf of Jeremiah.[170] Daniel’s post
of honor in Babylon was “in the gate of the king,” as a judge in the king’s
name.[171]
Wisdom, personified, says of him who would seek help where it is to be
obtained:
“Blessed is the man that heareth me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.”[172]

The Lord’s call to Israel, through the prophets, was: “Establish judgment in
the gate,”[173] and “Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your
gates.”[174] A reference to a just and righteous man is to “him that reproveth
in the gate.”[175]
Lazarus in his need is laid daily at the gate of the rich Dives, seeking help.
[176]
So, again, the poor man who was a cripple from his birth was “laid daily

at the door of the temple ... called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that
entered into the temple.”[177]
It is written in the Mosaic law, that, when a bondman would bind himself
and his family in permanent servitude to his loved master, “his master shall
bring him unto God [or to the place of judgment and of covenant], and shall
bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his
ear through with an awl; and he shall [thenceforward] serve him
forever;”[178] or, as it is elsewhere said, the master shall thrust the awl
“through his ear, unto [or into] the door.”[179] Here, apparently, the master
and servant appeal together at the household altar, in witness of their sacred
covenant.
The high court of Turkey is still called the “Sublime Porte,” the “Exalted
Gateway;” and the subjects of the Sultan seek imperial favor at his palace
door. He, or his representative, administers justice there, to those who are
waiting at his gate.
A promise to Abraham was: “Thy seed shall possess the gate of his
enemies.”[180] And again Jesus says of his Church, that “the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it.”[181] In both these cases “gates” are obviously
equivalent to the power of those who are within the gates. Thus, also, when
the overthrow of a city is foretold in prophecy, it is said, that “the gate is
smitten with destruction.”[182]

7. COVENANT TOKENS ON THE DOORWAY.

Because the threshold of the doorway is the primitive altar of the
household, the doorway itself is, as it were, a framework above the altar;
and the side-posts and lintel of the doorway fittingly bear tokens or
inscriptions in testimony to the sacredness of the passage into the home
sanctuary. It would seem that originally the blood poured out in sacrifice on
the threshold was made use of for marking the door-posts and lintel with
proofs of the covenant entered into between the in-comer and the host; and
that afterwards other symbols of life, and appropriate inscriptions, were
substituted for the blood itself.
There are survivals in the East, at the present time, of the original method of
blood-marking the frame of the doorway; and there are traces of its practice
in ancient times in both the East and the West. President Washburn, of
Robert College, Constantinople, says:[183] “I remember, after the great fire in
Stamboul, in 1865, going over the ruins, and coming to a house that the fire
had spared; a sheep had been sacrificed on the threshold, and a hand dipped
in the blood and struck upon the two door-posts.”
This appears, also, in the installing of a Chief Rabbi in modern Jerusalem.
In the welcome to the Hakham Bâshi, or the “First in Zion,”[184] “the
multitude of those gathered together accompany him to his house, but
before he sets the sole of his foot upon the threshold of the outer gate [or
court] one of the shokheteem [or official slaughterers] slays a perfect beast,
and pronounces the sacrificial blessing, and all those present answer, Amen.
Then the rabbi, the Hakham Bâshi, steps over the beast which has been
slain, and the shokhet dips the two palms of his hands into the blood, and
marks first the vessels of the rabbi’s house. And, with his hands stained with
blood, he forms the semblance of a hand above the lintel of the door;–in
their trust that this thing is good [the proper thing] for the evil eye;–and the
flesh of the beast they distribute to the poor.”[185]
A custom in this same line is noted among the Jews in Morocco, in
connection with wedding observances. “Whilst the bullock, or other animal,
is being slaughtered for the evening’s festivities, a number of boys dip their
hands in the blood, and make an impression of an outspread hand on the

door-posts and walls of the bride’s house;” supposedly “for the purpose of
keeping off the ‘evil eye,’ and thus ensuring good luck to the newly married
couple.”[186]
There are indications of such a custom in ancient times. Layard says of his
researches in Assyria: “On all the slabs forming entrances in the oldest
palaces of Nimroud, were marks of a black fluid resembling blood, which
appeared to be daubed on the stone. I have not been able to ascertain the
nature of this fluid; but its appearance cannot fail to call to mind the Jewish
ceremony of placing the blood of the sacrifice on the lintel of the
doorway.”[187]
In ancient Egypt there were inscriptions, together with the name of the
owner, on the side-posts and lintels of the dwellings. “Besides the owner’s
name,” says Wilkinson,[188] “they sometimes wrote a lucky sentence over the
entrance of the house, for a favorable omen, as ‘The Good Abode,’ the
múnzel mobárak of the modern Arabs, or something similar; and the lintels
and imposts of the doors in the royal mansions were frequently covered
with hieroglyphics, containing the ovals and titles of the monarch. It was,
perhaps, at the dedication of the house, that these sentences were affixed;
and we may infer, from the early mention of this custom among the Jews,
that it was derived from Egypt.”[189]
When it is understood that the inscribing, on the doorways, of dedications
to protecting deities, was common among primitive peoples, it would seem
to be in accordance with that custom that the Hebrews were commanded to
dedicate their doorways to the one living God. It is said of the words of the
covenant of God with his people, as recorded in Deuteronomy 6 : 4–9 and
11 : 13–21, “Thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thy house, and
upon thy gates.” To this day, among stricter Jews, these covenant words
inscribed on parchment, and enclosed in a cylinder of glass, or a case of
metal or of wood, are affixed to the side-posts of every principal door in the
house. This case and inscription are called the “mezuza.” On the outside of
the written scroll, the divine name, Shaddai,–“the Almighty,”–is so
inscribed that it may be in sight through an opening in the case or cylinder.
This name stands for “the Guardian of the dwellings of Israel,” whose
protection is thus invoked above the primitive altar of the household on the
threshold of the entrance way.[190]

“Every pious Jew, as often as he passes the mezuza, touches the divine
name with the finger of his right hand, puts it to his mouth and kisses it,
saying in Hebrew, ‘The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming
in, from this time forth, and for evermore;’[191] and when leaving on a
business expedition he says, after touching it, ‘In thy name, kuzu bemuchsaz
kuzu (=God), I go out and shall prosper.’”[192] In some cases the covenant
words are inscribed directly upon the door-posts, instead of being written on
parchment and enclosed in a case.
On the lintels of the ancient synagogues in Palestine there were sculptured
symbolic figures, such as the paschal lamb, a pot of manna, a vine, or a
bunch of grapes, together with inscriptions; and the door-posts were
ornamented more or less richly.[193] Evidences of this are still abundant.
Speaking of the writing over the door and all round the room at the office of
the consul in Sidon, Dr. Thomson says that Muhammadans “never set up a
gate, cover a fountain, build a bridge, or erect a house, without writing on it
choice sentences from the Koran, or from their best poets. Christians also
do the same.”[194] These writings are deemed a protection against harm from
evil spirits.
In Persia, both the Muhammadans and the Armenians inscribe passages
from their sacred books above their doorways, with ornamental adornings,
in “strange, fantastic patterns.”[195] The palace doorways in ancient Persia
were inscribed and ornamented in a high degree.[196]
At the present time, in China, coins are put under the door-sill at the time of
its laying, and charms are fastened above the door;[197] the gods of the
threshold are invoked at the doorway by shrines and inscriptions, while
sentences, as in ancient Egypt, are written on the side-posts and lintel.[198] At
the festival of the fifth month of the Chinese year, “charms, consisting of
yellow paper of various sizes, on which are printed images of idols, or of
animals, or Chinese characters, are pasted upon the doors and door-posts of
houses, in order to expel evil spirits.” In times of pestilence, sentences
written in human blood are fastened on the door-posts for protection from
disease.[199]
Describing a ceremony on a large Chinese junk when starting out on a long
voyage, an observer tells of the sacrifice of a fowl in honor of the divinity
called Loong-moo, or the Dragon’s Mother. A temporary altar was erected

at the bow of the vessel, as its beginning, or threshold, and the blood of the
sacrificed fowl was shed there. Pieces of silver paper were “sprinkled with
the blood [of the fowl], and then fastened to the door-posts and lintels of the
cabin.”[200] The cabin door is the home door of the voyager.
Above the house door of almost every home, in large portions of Japan,
there is suspended the shimenawa, or a thin rope of rice straw, which is one
of the sacred symbols of ancient Shintoism. Above the doors of high Shinto
officials, this symbol is of great size and prominence. Its presence is as a
sign of a covenant with the gods.[201]
The Greeks certainly recognized the entrance of the house as the place for
an altar to the protecting deity. “Before each house stood, usually, its own
peculiar altar of Apollo Agyieus, or an obelisk rudely representing the god
himself;” and that over the house door, “for good luck,” or as a talisman,
“an inscription was often placed.”[202] And on occasions, as when a bride
entered her husband’s house, the doorway was “ornamented with festive
garlands.”[203] Theocritus refers to a Greek custom of smearing the side-
posts of the gateway with the juice of magic herbs, as a method of appeal to
the guardian deity to influence the heart of the dweller within toward the
suppliant at the door.[204]
Roman householders affixed to the lintels and side-posts of their doors the
spoils and trophies taken by them in battle. Branches, and wreaths of bay
and laurel, were hung by them in the doorway on a marriage occasion; and
lamps and torches were displayed at their doors at other times of rejoicing;
while cypresses were shown there at the time of a death.[205]
Texts of Scripture, and other inscriptions, as a means of invoking a blessing
at the doorway, are frequently found at the present time above the entrance
of houses in South Germany.
In Central America and in South America the blood of sacrificial offerings
was smeared on the doorways of houses as well as of temples, as a means
of covenanting with the local deities. Illustrations of this are found in the
records and remains of Peru[206] and Guatemala.[207]
In both Europe and America, the practice of nailing horseshoes on the side-
posts of a doorway, for “good luck,” or as a means of guarding the inmates
of the house from evil, is very common. So lately as the seventeenth

century it was said: “Most houses of the West End of London have the
horseshoe on the threshold.”[208] Even at the threshold of Christian churches,
in recent years, the symbol of the horseshoe was to be found as a means of
protection.[209] The horseshoe is often to be found on a ship’s mast. At the
present time, horseshoes of various sizes, for use as doorway guards against
evil, are found on sale in Philadelphia, and other centers of civilization.

8. SYMBOL OF THE RED HAND.

It would seem that, in primitive practice, the hand of the covenanter dipped
in the sacrificial blood on the threshold, and stamped on the door-posts and
lintel, was the sign-manual of the covenant between the contracting party or
parties, and God, or the gods, invoked in the sacrifice. Illustrations of this
custom, as still surviving in the East, have been given, from Constantinople,
Jerusalem, and Morocco.[210] Naturally, therefore, the sign-manual by itself
came to stand for, or to symbolize, the covenant of the threshold altar; and
the stamp of the red hand became a token of trust in God or the gods
covenanted with in sacrifice, and of power or might resulting from this
covenant relation. Wherever the red hand was shown, or found, it was a
symbol of covenant favor with Deity, and it came to be known, accordingly,
as the “hand of might.”
In the region of ancient Babylonia, also, the red-hand stamp is still to be
seen on houses and on animals, apparently as the symbol of their covenant
consecration by their owner. Dr. Hilprecht says: “Over all the doors of the
rooms in the large khan of Hillah, on the Euphrates, partly built upon the
ruins of ancient Babylon, I noticed the red impression of an outspread hand,
when I was there in January, 1889. Several white horses in our caravan
from Bagdâd to Nippur had the stamp of a red hand on their haunches.”
This symbol is much used in Jerusalem. Referring to its frequency, Major
Conder says: “The ‘hand of might’ is another Jewish belief which may be
supposed to have an Aryan origin. This hand is drawn on the lintel or above
the arch of the door. Sometimes it is carved in relief, and before one house
in the Jews’ quarter, in Jerusalem, there is an elaborate specimen, carefully
sculptured and colored with vermilion. Small glass charms, in the form of
the hand, are also worn, and the symbol is supposed to bring good luck. The
Jewish and Arab masons paint the same mark on houses in course of
construction; and, next to the seven-branched candlestick, it is probably the
commonest house-mark in Jerusalem.”[211]
A Jerusalem Jew thus tells of its use among a portion of his co-religionists
in that city: “Our brethren the Sephardeem [the Spanish Jews], like all the
remnant of the sons of the East, consider the semblance of a hand as good

against the power of the evil eye in a man. And they draw this shape upon
the doors of their houses with a red finger. So, too, they place upon the
heads of their children a hand wrought in silver, saying that this hand–or
this picture of the five fingers–is noxious to the man who delights to bring
the evil upon the child, or upon those dwelling in the house. So, again,
when men quarrel, the one sets his five fingers before the other’s evil eye,
saying that this sign neutralizes the evil.”[212]
This sign of the hand is “found on the houses of Jews, Muslims, and
Christians, in various parts of Palestine.” It is generally painted on or above
the door, often in blue; but frequently, especially when a Jew or a
Muhammadan enters a new house, a lamb is sacrificed at the door, and the
stamp of the hand in the fresh blood is affixed to the post or to the walls.[213]
No one claims to know the origin of this symbol, but all recognize its
importance.
In its ruder form the figure of the hand is much like a five-branched
candlestick. Indeed, it has sometimes been mistaken for that symbol. This
was the case when such a figure was noticed, not long ago, by Dr. Noetling,
on Jewish houses in Safed, and reported to a European journal. This symbol
is sometimes called the “Hand of Moses.” A similar figure on Muslim
houses is said to represent the “Hand of the Prophet;” while in Syria, among
Christians, it is called the Kef Miryam, the “Virgin Mary’s Hand.”[214]
Obviously these terms suggest the idea of power through divinely derived
strength.
One of the sights in the Mosk of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, is the stamp
of a red hand. It is said that when Sultan Muhammad II. entered this
sanctuary as a conqueror, he dipped his right hand in the blood of the
slaughtered Christians, and stamped it on the wall, as if to seal his victory,
and to pledge his covenant devotion to his God.[215] Whether this story be
fact or legend, it is a witness to the idea of such a custom in the minds of
Oriental peoples.
An open hand is, or was, a common symbol on a banner, as also on a
prayer-rug, in both Turkey[216] and Persia. At the annual festival in Persia in
commemoration of the death of Hossein, son of Alee, two large banners,
each surmounted with an open hand, are borne in front of the representation

of the tomb of Hossein; and the same symbol appears in various ways
during the celebration.[217]
“In the East Indies, to this day, the figure of a hand is the emblem of power
and governmental sway. When the Nabob of Arcot was the viceroy of five
provinces, if he appeared in public there were carried before him certain
little banners, each with a hand painted on it, and a larger banner with five
hands.”[218]
Siva, the destroyer, in the Hindoo triad, is also the re-creator; since death is
only the entrance into a new life. One of Siva’s well-known symbols is a
hand, which is a token of might and life.
The uplifted open hand was prominent on or above the doors in ancient
Carthage.[219] And a traveler in Northern Africa, writing of the Jews in
Tunis, near the site of Carthage, says: “What struck me most in all the
houses was the impression of an open bleeding hand on every wall of each
floor. However white the walls, this repulsive sign was to be seen
everywhere. A Jewess never goes out here without taking with her a hand
carved in coral or ivory–she thinks it a talisman against the ‘evil eye,’ or
‘mal occhio.’... When his children’s pictures or horses are praised, the
Tunisian Jew extends his five fingers, or pronounces the number ‘five;’ he
tries by this means to prevent the praise doing damage.”[220]
This symbol of the open hand is frequently found above the graves in the
vicinity of Tunis. It is also seen in old Jewish cemeteries in Europe, as, for
instance, in Prague.[221]
An open hand, in stone, or metal, or enamel, or bone, used as a talisman or
an amulet, to guard the wearer against evil, was in common use in ancient
Egypt. Specimens of these can be seen in museums in Europe and America
to-day.
It is a noteworthy fact that the uplifted hand is prominent in the
representation of the deities of Babylonia, Assyria, Phenicia, and Egypt,
especially of the gods of life, or of fertility, who have covenant relations
with men. And the same is true of the representations of sovereigns, in the
ancient East, who are supposed to be in peculiar covenant relations with the
gods.

Thus, on the seal of Ur-Gur, the earliest ruler of “Ur of the Chaldees,”[222]
the ruler and his attendants appear with uplifted hands before the moon-god
Sin, who in turn is represented with his hand uplifted, as if he were making
covenant with them.[223] It is the same with the sun-god Shamash and his
worshipers.[224]
When a king of ancient Babylon was recognized as having a right to the
throne, he must lift up his hand and clasp the hand of the image of Bel-
Merodach, in order to show that he had “become the adopted son of the true
ruler of the city.” This giving and taking of the hand was a symbol of
covenanting in Babylonia. In this way a child was adopted into a family,
and a husband and a wife covenanted to become one.[225]
The god Asshur, and his worshipers, kings or princes, are similarly
represented in Assyria with the hand uplifted. And it is the same there with
other deities and their worshipers.[226] In Phenicia, and its colonies, the same
idea has prominence.[227]
Deities of ancient Egypt are frequently represented with the uplifted hand,
and their accepted worshipers appear before them with the right hand
uplifted.[228] As showing that this is not the attitude of supplication or of
adoration, like the bowed form, the crossed arms, or the upturned palms, it
is to be noted that in the representation of Amenophis IV., or Khuen-aten,
with his family, before the aten-ra or the solar disk, the worshipers stand
with their right hands uplifted, while the sun-god reaches down a series of
open hands, as if in covenant proffer to the uplifted hands below.[229]
In the county of Roscommon, in Ireland, there is a stone known as “a
druidical altar,” which the common people say was thrown there by the
giant Fin-mac-Coole, “the print of whose five fingers, they say, is to be seen
on it.” The hand-print is pointed to confidently as the proof of authenticity,
as if it were the veritable signature of the giant.[230]
Among the ruins in Central America, there were found at the doorways and
on the walls of many of the ruined buildings of Yucatan the stamp of a red
hand on the plaster or on the stone. “They were the prints of a red hand,
with the thumb and fingers extended, not drawn or painted, but stamped by
the living hand, the pressure of the palm upon the stone. He who made it
had stood before it alive, ... and pressed his hand, moistened with red paint,
hard against the stone. The seams and creases of the palm were clear and

distinct in the impression.” As showing the idea prevalent among the
natives of that region with reference to the source and meaning of these
signs-manual, the Indians of Yucatan said that the stamp was of “the hand
of the owner of the building,” as if he had affixed it to his dwelling in token
of his covenant with its guardian deity; and, again, it was thought that
“these impressions were placed there in a formal act of consecration to the
gods.”[231]
There is a clear recognition of this idea in many Bible references to the
lifting up of the hands unto God, as if in covenant relations with him. Thus,
Abraham says to the king of Sodom, “I have lift up my hand unto the
Lord;”[232] as if he would say, I have pledged myself to him. I have given
him my hand. And the Psalmist says: “I will lift up my hands in thy
name.”[233] God himself says, by his prophet: “I will lift up mine hand to the
nations;”[234] that is, I will covenant with them.[235] And so in many another
case. Indeed, the Assyrian word for swearing (nish) is literally “lifting up
the hand;”[236] and the Hebrew word nasa means to lift up the hand or to
swear.[237] The uplifted hand in a judicial oath seems to be a survival of the
same thought, that an appeal is thus made to God, as one’s covenant God.
Again, there may be a reference to the “hand of might” in a covenant
relation, in those passages where God is spoken of as bringing his people
out of Egypt by “a strong hand,” or “a mighty hand,” and as dealing with
them afterwards in the same way.[238]
An uplifted hand is a symbol found also on the stepped pyramid temples of
Polynesia.[239]
This sign of the red hand is still a familiar one among the aborigines of
America. It is stamped on robes and skins, and on Indian tents.[240]
Schoolcraft says of it: “The figure of the human hand is used by the North
American Indians to denote supplication to the Deity or Great Spirit, and it
stands in the system of picture-writing as the symbol for strength, power, or
mastery, thus derived [through a covenant relation]. In a great number of
instances which I have met with of its being employed, both in the
ceremonial of their dances and in their pictorial records, I do not recollect a
single one in which this sacred character is not assigned to it.”[241]
A frequent use of the hand-print among the American Indians is as “a
symbol applied to the naked body after its preparation and decoration for

sacred and festive dances.” These preparations are “generally made in the
arcanum of the medicine, or secret lodge, or some private place, and with
all the skill of the priest’s, the medicine-man’s, or the juggler’s art. The
mode of applying it in these cases is by smearing the hand of the operator
with white or colored clay, and impressing it on the breast, the shoulder, or
other part of the body. The idea is thus conveyed that a secret influence, a
charm, a mystic power, is given to the dancer, arising from his sanctity, or
his proficiency in the occult arts.” Schoolcraft, speaking of this custom,
says: “The use of the hand is not confined to a single tribe or people. I have
noticed it alike among the Dacotah, the Winnebagoes, and other Western
tribes, as among the numerous branches of the red race still located east of
the Mississippi River, above the latitude of 42°, who speak dialects of the
Algonquin language.”[242]
Is there possibly any connection with this idea in the custom of “the laying
on of hands,” as a symbol of imparting virtue or power to one newly in
covenant relations with those who are God’s representatives, so frequently
referred to in the Bible?[243] This would seem to be indicated by the power
imparted to an Egyptian king by the touch of the uplifted hand of the deity,
as shown in the representations on the monuments of Egypt. It was known
as “the imposition of the Sa,” or increased vitality.[244]
A remarkable illustration of the use of the red-hand print among American
Indians is given in the story of a famous Omaha chief, who, when dying,
enjoined it upon his followers to carry his body to a prominent look-out
bluff above the Missouri River, and bury him there, full armed, on the back
of his favorite war-horse, who was to be buried alive, that he might watch
from that place the passing of the whites up and down the river. It would
seem as if he wanted to be known as dying in the faith of his covenant
relations with the Great Spirit, for himself and for his people.
Because of this request, in the presence of his assembled tribe “he was
placed astride his horse’s back, with his bow in his hand, and his shield and
quiver slung; with his pipe and his medicine bag; with his supply of dried
meat, and his tobacco pouch replenished; ... with his flint and steel, and his
tinder, to light his pipe by the way. The scalps that he had taken ... were
hung to the bridle of his horse. He was in full dress and equipped; and on
his head waved ... his beautiful head-dress of the war-eagle’s plumes.” As
he stood thus on the threshold of the life beyond, when the last funeral

honors were performed by the medicine-men, “every warrior of his band
painted the palm and fingers of his right hand with vermilion, which was
stamped and perfectly impressed on the milk-white sides of his devoted
horse,”–as if in covenant pledge of fidelity to their chief in the sight of the
Great Spirit.[245]
There is another phase of the red-hand symbolism among the American
Indians, which has been noted by Frank H. Cushing, who is so experienced
and careful an observer of their customs and ceremonies. This phase
connects the symbol directly with the idea of life and its transmission. Mr.
Cushing says:[246]
“By reference to the paintings (and writings, to some extent) of such men as
Catlin and Stanley, and to the works of Schoolcraft, Matthews, Bourke, and
others, you will find that the red-hand symbol was painted on the lodges,
sometimes on the clothing and person, and sometimes on the shields of
various of the hunter tribes of the plains,–as, for example, of the Ioways,
Sauks and Foxes, Sioux, Arickarees, Cheyennes, Arapahos, and
Comanches. Precisely what the significance of the symbol was, with these
peoples and others like them, I am not able to say, save that in some cases it
was connected with war, in others with treaties, and in yet others as
expressive of power. There were yet other meanings attached to the sign;
but neither the former significances nor these latter were, I take it, as
definite or fixed [with the hunter tribes] as with the more advanced and
settled tribes of the farther south.
“Of these tribes, the typical Pueblos and the peoples more or less directly
influenced by them–such as the Jicarillas on the north and east, and the
Apaches to the south and west[247]–made frequent use of not only the red-
hand symbol, but also of the black-hand symbol. I have seen both, not only
in the modern but also in the very ancient pueblos–as those of the Pecos,
and those of the great cliff-dweller towns in the Chelly and other canyons.
In the Pecos ruins, to give a special example, I copied beautiful hand-
paintings and prints from the rafters, as well as from the walls of ordinary
dwelling-rooms. Sometimes these paintings were in red, but more often in
black. They invariably represented the hands of women, as could be seen by
their delicacy and smallness of outline and by their shapeliness. There was,
I think, a reason for this, which the following facts will explain.

“It was my good fortune to witness, early in the eighties, a ceremonial
celebrating the attainment to puberty, or womanhood, of a young girl of the
Jicarilla Apaches. The latter people are not to be confounded with the
Apaches proper. They are a mixed people, descended not only from the
Apaches, but also the Comanches, and in large part also from the Pueblos of
the north, the so-called Tañoans of whom the Pecos people were a branch. It
was clear from the character of the masks and other paraphernalia used in
the ceremonials I witnessed, that the latter were almost, if not quite, wholly
derived from the pueblo, rather than from the wilder, ancestry of the
Jicarillas who performed them.
“The ceremonial in question was performed by four medicine-men, or
priests, as one might call them, within and around a rectangular enclosure
of evergreen boughs set in the plain near to the village. Inside of this
enclosure, which was designed to screen from view the more secret
operations of the priest dancers in question, stood a little conical skin lodge,
the snow-white top of which appeared above the screen of evergreen, and
within which the young girl, over whom these rites were being enacted, was
ensconced, together with one or two old women of the tribe. As I have said
before, each of the priests, on appearing (and this they did successively; that
is, the first on the first day, the second on the second day, and so on), wore a
conical mask or helmet, which entirely concealed, not only the face, but
also the head. This mask was painted black or red, and upon the face of it
appeared one of these hand symbols. Unfortunately, I did not see the mask
as worn by the first priest, but, as worn by the second priest on the morning
of the second day, it bore upon its face the symbol of the red hand; and as
worn upon the third day, this symbol recurred, but, if I remember aright,
was surrounded by an outline of another color, either black or yellow, whilst
the hand painted on the mask as worn on the fourth day was black
surrounded by white, that it might stand out more conspicuously; and in
turn, below it, were two or more dots alternating with dotted circles.
“My means of communicating with these people were but limited, but on
learning that the ceremonials they were performing were designed to
celebrate the attainment to maturity, or womanhood, of a virgin, I had little
difficulty in understanding the significance of the succession of these
various hand symbols. I recognized in the ceremonial as a whole the
dramatic epitomization, to state it briefly, of the four ages of a woman’s life.

Thus the white hand (which I was told had been painted on the mask of the
first day) symbolized her infancy and girlhood, the consummation of which
was effected by the first day’s ceremonial performed by the medicine-man
of the white hand.
“The red hand was obviously significant of this girl’s attainment to young
womanhood, the color in this case symbolizing the blood of her perfected
life. I imagine that the black hand painted on the mask as worn during the
third day’s ceremonial was significant of not only the betrothal of the girl,
which was said to have taken place during that day of the ceremonial, but
also of her prospective maternity; the change of color, in the hand, from red
to black, being naturally a symbolic representation of the change from red
to black in blood that has been exposed to the sunlight and dried, and has
thus become black, and is no longer virgin. Likewise the hand painted on
the mask as worn during the fourth day’s ceremonial, which was wholly
black, doubtless represented the fuller life of not only a matron but a
grandmother. From this I would infer that the signs of the red and black
hands found in the ruined pueblos like those of Pecos, and on the cliffs at
the mouths of caves, or in the houses of the cliff villages, symbolized
respectively virginity, and maternity or betrothal.
“What would seem to indicate the correctness of this conclusion is the fact
that, as I have mentioned before, there were below the signs of the black
hand of the last day’s ceremonial of the Jicarillas dots and dotted circles. It
is well known that these dots and dotted circles represent, primarily, grains
of corn, male and female; and, secondarily, children, male and female. Their
occurrence, then, below the painted black hand or symbol of maternity,
would indicate that in this case they represented the children and perhaps
grandchildren, male and female, of the matron it was hoped this young girl
might become.
“The hand symbol as occurring amongst the Zuñi, with whom, of course, I
am much more familiar, has not only some such significances as these, but
also many others,–the significance of a given symbol depending upon the
ceremonial with which it is associated, and particularly upon the coloring
which is given to it, the colors being as various as are the well-known seven
sacramental colors employed to symbolize the seven regions of the world
by the priesthood of these people.

“I will only add, that the hand symbol painted upon the walls of the estufas,
or Kiva temples, or upon the little sacred sand mounds, which are made to
symbolize mythic mountains of the six regions during the ceremonials of
initiation performed once every four years over the new children of the
pueblo, are designed to signify the various ritualistic precepts which are
taught to the children according as they are held to pertain to one or another
of these little sand mounds or so-called mountains of generation.
“In the case above described I was told, although I did not myself see it,
that the symbol of the red hand was painted by the side of the entrance to
the little tent in which the girl sat through the ceremonials, and that later the
same symbol in black was added to the other side of the entrance to this
tent. In the case of the Pueblos the position of the hand symbols depends,
as, no doubt, you have already inferred, upon the sort of ceremonial which
is being performed in connection with them.
“It would seem, however, that the placing of these symbols at the entrance
of the cave villages would correspond to such usages as I have above
described as pertaining to the Jicarilla ceremonial, and that the painting of
them on the rafters of rooms in ancient pueblos had a like connection; for it
must be remembered that in the older pueblos there were no doorways
proper [hence no thresholds]. The rooms were entered by means of ladders
through scuttles in the roof.”[248]
A hand-print is a signature. A hand-print in blood is a pledge of life in a
sacred covenant. A hand-print in the blood of life is symbolic of a covenant
of life with a view to the transmission of life. When a woman of Korea is
married, she affixes her sign manual to the covenanting contract by placing
her hand on the paper and having “the outline drawn round the fingers and
wrist with a fine brush dipped in Chinese ink,” or again she employs “the
simpler process of smearing her hand with black paint, and hitting the
document with it.[249]
Formal documents have often been signed by a hand stamp, or a finger
stamp, in blood or in ink. The monks of the convent of St. Catharine at Mt.
Sinai, for instance, show a copy of the certificate of protection given to
them by the Prophet of Islam, the signature to which is an impression of
Muhammad’s open hand. A letter to Muhammad Issoof, from the king of
Mysore, in 1754, was sealed with the king’s seal, “and on the back was

stamped the print of a hand, a form equivalent, with the Mysoreans, to an
oath.”[250]
The very term “sign manual,” employed for a veritable signature, may point
to an origin in this custom. Indeed, may it not be that the large red seal
attached to important documents, at the present time, is a survival of the
signature and seal of the bloody hand?

9. DEITIES OF THE DOORWAY.

Originally the covenant sacrifice at the threshold was with the one God of
life. But as monotheism degenerated into polytheism, the idea came to
prevail of different deities in different portions of the door, or of different
deities in different districts of country or in different offices of life.
Each gate of an Assyrian city was dedicated to a special god, and named
after it,–as the gate of Bel, the gate of Beltis, the gate of Anu, the gate of
Ishtar. At the entrance-way of every gate gigantic winged bulls with human
heads stood on guard, accompanied by winged genii.[251] And the central
doorway to the king’s palace was similarly guarded.[252] In every house a
special deity was appealed to at different portions of the doorway; Nergal
on the top of the wall and beneath the threshold; Ea and Merodach in the
passage to the right and left of the gate.[253]
The idea of an offering, or of a dedication, to the local divinity, at the time
the threshold is laid, is of wide acceptance. In India, “the god Vāttu, or
Vāttuma [a son of Vishnoo], is said to recline and live in the threshold,
changing his position every month.... On the day when the door-frame and
threshold of a new house or temple are fixed, the Vāttuma santhe [the
tribute to Vāttuma] is offered.”[254]
In China, “Shintu and Yuhlui are named as two tutelar gods to whom the
guardianship of the house is entrusted; and either the names or grotesque
representations of these ‘gods of the threshold’ are at the gate of the house,
with shrines to them upon the left of the entrance way.”[255]
It is said of these “Chinese gods of the threshold,” that “in full stature, and
presumably in primeval strength, they flank the doors of monasteries and
the entrances to the halls of justice. Much reduced in size and perched high
on shelves, they face each other in the vestibules of the Chinese home; and
in their most diminutive aspect they become little images, occasionally two-
headed, which are carried about the person as charms, or hang from the
eaves of Chinese houses.”[256]
Over the doors of almost all the houses of Japan are to be seen small prints
of the “gigantic Ni-o, the Booddhist Gog and Magog,” who are supposed to

guard the entrance way of the holy places.[257] Private buildings as well as
public need this spiritual protection.
The inscriptions at the doorways of the houses of ancient Egypt showed that
every building was “placed under the protection of a tutelary deity.” This
custom “is retained by the modern Egyptians in the protecting genius said
to preside over the different quarters of Cairo.”[258]
Tertullian, a Christian Father who wrote before the close of the second
century, in warning believers against the seducements of idolatry,
emphasized the clustering of deities at the doors and gates in the religions
of Greece and Rome.[259] He says that “among the Greeks ... we read of
Apollo Thyræus (that is, of the door), and the Antelii (or, Anthelii) demons,
as presiders over entrances;” while among the Romans there are other “gods
of entrances; Cardea (Hinge-goddess), called after hinges; and Forculus
(Door-god) after doors; and Limentinus (Threshold-god) after the threshold;
and Janus (Gate-god) himself after the gate.”
Although a Christian might not recognize these gods as gods, he is told to
beware lest he seem to give them honor by adorning his gates with lamps or
wreaths. “Indeed, a Christian will not even dishonor his own gate with
laurel crowns,” says Tertullian, “if so be he knows how many gods the devil
has attached to doors.” And his words of warning are: “Since there are
beings who are adored in entrances [doorways], it is to them that both the
lamps and laurels will pertain. To an idol you will have done whatever you
shall have done to an entrance [or doorway].” “If you have renounced
[heathen] temples, make not your own gate a [heathen] temple.” Yet, in
proof of the prevalence of this heathen custom among Christians, Tertullian
testifies: “‘Let your works shine,’ says He; but now all our shops and gates
shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and
laurel-wreaths than of Christians.”
In Guatemala, in Central America, “the god of houses” is called Chahalka;
and the blood of sacrifices to him is sprinkled on the door of the houses as
an assurance of his protection.[260]
It was much the same in the Old World as in the New. In ancient and in
modern times, and in widely different portions of the world, there are
indications that the threshold of the home was the primitive altar; and that
the side-posts and lintel of the doorway above the threshold bore symbols

or inscriptions in proof of the sacredness of the entrance to the family
home, and in token of an accomplished covenant with its guardian God, or
gods.

II.
EARLIEST TEMPLE ALTAR.

1. FROM HOUSE TO TEMPLE.

A temple is only a more prominent house. As a house was the dwelling of
the earlier priest of his household, who was in covenant for himself and his
family with the guardian deity of that household; so, afterwards, a temple
was a dwelling for the deity guarding an aggregation of families, and for the
priests who stood between him and the community.
This is no new or strange truth; it is obvious. “In the Vedas, Yama, as the
first man, is the first priest too; he brought worship here below as well as
life, and ‘first he stretched out the thread of sacrifice.’”[261] The fire-altar of
the home was first the center of worship in the family in India;[262] as later
the fire-altar was the center of the worship of the community.
The same cuneiform characters in old Babylonian stand for great house, for
palace, and for temple;[263] as similarly, in ancient Egypt, the same
hieroglyph represented house or temple,–a simple quadrangular enclosure,
with its one doorway.[264]
The oldest form of an Egyptian temple known to us through the inscriptions
of the Ancient Empire indicates that the prehistoric houses of worship in
that land were mere hovels of wood and lattice-work, over the doors of
which was a barbaric ornamentation of bent pieces of wood.[265] The private
house became the public temple.
“The design of the Greek temple in its highest perfection was ... a gradual
development of the dwelling-house.”[266] Palace and temple were, indeed,
often identical in ancient Greece.[267]
Strictly speaking, there were no temples in ancient Persia, any more than in
early India. But the fire-altars that were first on the home hearth, or
threshold, were made more and more prominent on their uplifted stepped
bases, until they towered loftily in the sight of their worshipers.[268]
It is the same Hebrew word, ohel, that stands for the “tent” of Abraham, and
for the “Tent” or Tabernacle of the congregation of Israel.[269]
In China “temple architecture differs little from that of the houses.”[270] The
house of a god is as the house of a man, only grander and more richly

ornamented. And Japanese antiquaries say that the architecture of Shinto
temples is on the model of the primeval Japanese hut. The temples of Ise,
the most sacred of the Shinto sanctuaries, are said to represent this primitive
architecture in its purest form.[271]
The father of the family was the primitive priest in the Samoan Islands, and
his house was the first place of worship. Then “the great house of the
village,” or the place of popular assembling, was used as a temple; and
afterwards there were special temple structures with attendant priests.[272]
The transition from house to temple seems to have been a gradual one in the
primitive world. The fire-altar of the family came to be the fire-altar of the
community of families. The house of a king became both palace and
temple, and so again the house of a priest; for the offices of king and of
priest were in early times claimed by the same person.[273]

2. SACREDNESS OF THE DOOR.

In all stages of the transition from house to temple, the sacredness of the
threshold, of the door, of the entrance-way, of the gate, was recognized in
architecture and in ceremonial. Often the door, or the gate, stood for the
temple, and frequently the threshold was an altar, or an altar was at the
threshold.
There are, indeed, reasons for supposing that the very earliest form of a
primitive temple, or sanctuary, or place of worship, was a rude doorway, as
covering or as localizing the threshold altar. This would seem to be
indicated by prehistoric remains in different parts of the world, as well as in
the later development of the idea in the earlier historic ages. The only
exception to this was where, as in India or Persia, the fire-altar on an
uplifted threshold stood alone as a place of worship.
Two upright stone posts, with or without an overlaying stone across them,
and with or without an altar stone between or before them, are among the
most ancient remains of primitive man’s handiwork; and a similar design is
to be recognized, all the way along in the course of history, down to the
elaborate doorway standing by itself as a memorial of the revered dead,[274]
or to the monumental triumphal arch as an accompaniment of the highest
civilization. And the very name of door, or gate, attaches persistently to the
loftiest temple and to the most exalted personage. As the earliest altar was
the threshold, the earliest temple was a doorway above the altar at the
threshold.
When the first dwellers on the plains of Chaldea, after the Deluge, gathered
themselves for the building of a common structure reaching God-ward,[275]
they, in their phraseology, called that structure Bab-el, or Bâb-ilu, or Bâbi-
ilu, the Door of God.[276] Ancient Egyptians called the sovereign head of
their national family “Per-ao” (Pharaoh), the exalted House, or Gate, or
Door;[277] as to-day the Sultan, who is spiritual father of the faithful
Muhammadans, and autocrat of his realm, is widely known as the “Sublime
Porte,” or the Exalted Door.[278] The modern Babists, in Persia and beyond,
look up to their spiritual head as the “Bab,” or the “Door.”[279] “Throughout
the East this word [‘Bab’] signifies the court of a prince [as a ruler by

divine right].... The threshold of the gate is used in the same sense, and
frequently it is qualified by some epithet of nobility, loftiness, or
goodness.”[280]
Jesus Christ did not hesitate to say of himself as the Way to God: “I am the
Door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.”[281]
In China, Japan, Korea, Siam, and India, a gate, or doorway, usually stands
before Confucian and Booddhist and Shinto temples, but apart from the
temple, and always recognized as of peculiar sacredness. These doorways,
in many places, are painted blood-color.[282] They stand “at the entrance of
temple grounds, in front of shrines and sacred trees, and in every place
associated with the native kami”–or gods.[283] Yet, again, in all these
countries, the temple gateway is a main feature, or a prominent one, in the
chief sanctuaries.[284]
Swinging doors, or gates, are represented, in the religious symbolism of
ancient Babylonia, as opening to permit the god Shamash, or the sun, to
start out on his daily circuit of the heavens.[285] A door, or a doorway,
appears as a shrine for a god in various cylinders from this region; and the
god is shown standing within it, just beyond the threshold.[286] Indeed, the
doorway shrine is a common form on the Babylonian and the Assyrian
monuments, as a standing-place for the gods, and for the kings as
representative of the gods.[287] Illustrations of this are found on the Balawat
gates,[288] and the sculptures on the rocks at Nahr-el-Kelb[289]–which is itself
a gateway of the nations, between the mountains and the sea, on the route
between Egypt and Canaan, and both the East and the West.
In ancient Egypt the doorway shrine of the gods was prominent, as in
Babylonia.[290] Moreover, a false door was represented in the earlier
mastabahs, or tombs, of the Old Empire of Egypt. This representation of a
door was toward the west, in which direction Osiris, the god of the under-
world, was supposed to enter his realm as the sun went down. On or around
this false door were memorial inscriptions, and prayers for the dead; and
before it was a table, or altar, for offerings to the ka, or soul, of the dead.[291]
Gradually this false door came to be recognized as the monumental slab,
tablet, or stele, on which were inscribed the memorials of the deceased. As
a doorway or a niche, square-topped, or arched, it was the shrine of the one

worshiped; and as a panel, or independent stele, it was the place of record
of the object of reverence.
“Even at the beginning of the Middle Empire the door form disappeared
completely, and the whole space of the stone was taken up with the
representation of the deceased sitting before a table of offerings, receiving
gifts from his relatives and servants. Soon afterwards it became the custom
to round off the stone at the top, and when, under the New Empire, pictures
of a purely religious character took the place of the former representations,
no one looking at the tomb stele could have guessed that it originated from
the false door.”[292]
A “false door” was, in ancient Egypt, a valued gift from a sovereign to an
honored subject. Doors of this kind were sometimes richly carved and
painted, and were deemed of priceless value by the recipient.[293]
In Phenicia,[294] Carthage,[295] Cyprus,[296] Sardinia,[297] Sicily,[298] and in
Abyssinia,[299] a like prominence was given to the door as a door, in temple
and in tomb, and as a niche for the figure of a deity or for the representation
of one who had crossed the threshold of the new life. And the door-form is a
sacred memorial of the dead in primitive lands in various parts of the world,
from the rudest trilithon to the more finished structures of a high
civilization.[300]
In primitive New Zealand the gateway, or doorway, of a village, a cemetery,
or a public building, is both a sacred image and a sacred passage-way. It is
in the form of a superhuman personage, and it has its guardians on either
hand.[301]
A doorway with an altar between its posts was a symbol of religious
worship in ancient Mexico, as in the far East.[302]
It would seem that the “mihrab,” or prayer niche, pointing toward Meccah,
in Muhammadan lands, and the Chinese honorary portals and ancestral
tablets,[303] as well as the niches for images of saints in churches or at
wayside shrines, or for heroes in public halls, in Christian lands, are a
survival of the primitive doorway in a tomb.
And wherever the door is prominent as a door, the threshold is recognized
and honored as the floor of the door, and as the primitive altar above which

the door is erected. To pass through the door is to cross over the threshold
of the door.

3. TEMPLE THRESHOLDS IN ASIA.

In all the modern excavations in the region of Babylonia and Assyria,
including Tello, Nippur, Sippara, Borsippa, Khorsabad, and Nineveh, it has
been found that the threshold, or foundation-stone, of the temple doorway is
marked with inscriptions that show its peculiar sanctity; while underneath
it, or near it, are frequently buried images and symbols and other treasures
in evidence of its altar-like sacredness. On this point evidence has been
furnished by Botta,[304] Bonomi,[305] Layard,[306] George Smith,[307]
Lenormant,[308] and yet more fully by Dr. Hilprecht, in his later and current
researches.
Bonomi suggests that the word “teraphim,” as an image of a household
divinity, has its connection with the threshold or the boundary limit; and
that the phrase “thy going out, and thy coming in,” which is common in
Egyptian, Babylonian, and Hebrew[309] literature, has reference to the
threshold and its protecting deities.[310] The outgoing and the incoming are
clearly across the threshold and through the door.
The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar II., concerning his building of the walls
of Babylon, comprise various references to the foundations, to the
thresholds, and to their guardians. He says: “On the thresholds of the gates I
set up mighty bulls of bronze, and mighty snakes standing upright.”[311]
Again of the gates of Imgur-Bêl and Nimitti-Bel, of these walls of Babylon,
he says: “Their foundations I laid at the surface (down at) the water, with
pitch and bricks. With blue enameled tiles which were adorned with bulls
and large snakes, I built their interior cleverly. Strong cedars I laid over
them as their covering (or roof). Doors of cedarwood with a covering of
copper, a threshold (askuppu) and hinges of bronze, I set up in their gates.
Strong bulls of bronze, and powerful snakes standing upright, I set upon (or
at) their threshold (sippu). Those gates I filled with splendor for the
astonishment of all mankind.”[312]
In a similar manner Nebuchadrezzar describes his work at the gates of “the
royal castle of all mankind,” at Babylon,[313] and of his palace.[314] In
connection with the shrine or chapel of Nebo (Ezida), within the walls of
the temple of Merodach, in Babylon, he says: “Its threshold (sippu), its lock

and its key, I plated with gold, and made the temple shine daylike.”[315]
When he built Ezida (the “eternal house”), the temple of Borsippa,
Nebuchadrezzar says: “The bulls and the doors of the gate of the sanctuary,
the threshold (sippu), the lock, the hinge, I plated with zarîru”[316] (an
unknown metal, a kind of bronze).
References to the foundations, to the thresholds, to the gates and doorways,
and to bulls and upright serpents, as the guardians of the threshold of the
temples and palaces of Babylonia and Assyria, are numerous on unearthed
cylinders and tablets, and always in such a way as to indicate their peculiar
sacredness. In the recent unearthing, at Nippur, of a small building or
shrine, between two great temples, an altar was found in the eastern
doorway.
It is to be borne in mind that many early temples in Babylonia, as in
Mesopotamia, in Egypt, in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, and in the
South Sea Islands, were in the form of a stepped pyramid, or a staged tower,
with either inclined planes or stairways from each lower stage to the next
higher, and with an altar, or a sanctuary or shrine, at the summit.[317]
Herodotus, describing one of these temples in Babylon, says that the altars,
larger and smaller, were outside the temple.[318]
Light is thrown on the dream of Jacob at Bethel by the shape of the ancient
temple in the East. In his vision it was probably not a ladder, but a
conventional stepped-temple structure, with its stairways rising
heavenward, and its sanctuary, that Jacob saw.[319] The angel ministers were
passing up and down the steps, in the service of the Most High God, who
himself appeared above the structure. When Jacob waked he said: “Surely
the Lord is in this place [or sanctuary]; and I knew it not.... How dreadful is
this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of
heaven;” and he took the stone which had been his pillow at the threshold
of that sanctuary, and set it up for an altar pillar.[320]
In the literature and legends of Babylonia, as of other portions of the
ancient world, there is prominent the idea that an entrance into the life
beyond this, as in the entrance into this life, the crossing of a threshold from
the one world to the other, from the earlier state and the passing of a door,
or gate, marks the change to the later, from the sacred to the more sacred.

This is peculiarly illustrated in the famous legend of Ishtar’s descent into
the under-world in order to bring back to earth her lover Dumuzi.
The Hades of the Babylonians was surrounded by seven high walls, and
was approached through seven gates, each of which was guarded by a
pitiless warder. Two deities ruled within it–Nergal, “the lord of the great
city,” and Beltis-Allat, “the lady of the great land,”–whither everything
which had breathed in this world descended after death. Allat was the actual
sovereign of the country; and even the gods themselves could enter her
realm only on the condition of submitting to death, like mortals, and of
humbly avowing themselves her slaves.[321] “The threshold of Allat’s palace
stood upon a spring, which had the property of restoring to life all who
bathed in it or drank of its waters.” Yet it was needful that another life
should be given for one who would be reborn into this life, after crossing
the threshold of the regions beyond.[322]
In the descent of the goddess Ishtar into Allat’s realm, in pursuit of her lover
Dumuzi, Ishtar was gradually stripped of her garments and adornings at the
successive gates, until she appeared naked, as at birth, at the final threshold
of the new state.[323] But she was held captive by Allat until Ea, chief among
the gods, exerted himself in her behalf, and sent his messenger to secure for
both Ishtar and Dumuzi the waters of life which were underneath the
threshold of Allat’s realm,–which must be broken in order to their
outflowing.[324]
There would seem to be a reference to this primitive idea of the waters of
life flowing from under the threshold of the temple, in the vision of the
prophet Ezekiel, writing in Babylonia, concerning restored Jerusalem and
its holy temple. “Behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the
house eastward, for the forefront of the house was toward the east: and the
waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the
south of the altar.” (Evidently the altar in this temple was near the
threshold.) These flowing waters from under the threshold were life-giving.
“Upon the bank of the river,” as it swelled in its progress, “were very many
trees on the one side and on the other;” and it was said of this stream: “It
shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarmeth, in every
place whither the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great
multitude of fish: for these waters are come thither, ... and every thing shall
live whithersoever the river cometh.”[325] In a curse pronounced against

Assyria by the prophet Zephaniah, it was declared that “drought shall be in
the thresholds,”[326] instead of life-giving waters.
So, again, the waters of the life-giving Jordan flow out from the threshold
of the grotto of Pan, a god of life.[327] And both at the beginning of the Old
Testament, and at the close of the New, the waters of life start from the
sanctuary of the Author of life.[328]
This Dumuzi of Babylonia has linkings with Tammuz of Syria, with Osiris
of Egypt, and with Adonis of Greece, and there are correspondences in all
these legends in the references to the door and the threshold of the under-
world and the life beyond. Thus, for instance, the Lord’s prophet counts as
most heinous of all idolatries the transfer of the weeping worship of
Tammuz from the door in the hole of the temple wall to the door of the
temple sanctuary.[329]
At the right hand of the entrance of the larger temple unearthed at Nineveh
by Layard, a sculptured image of the Assyrian king, with his arm uplifted,
was on a doorway stele just outside. And an altar for offerings was in front
of that image. Altars
were found similarly situated, just outside the doorway, in a smaller temple
in the same region.[330]
An exceptional reverence is shown to the doorway and threshold of their
sanctuary, or temple, by the sect of the Yezidis, in the neighborhood of
ancient Nineveh, at the present time. Describing an evening service which
he attended, Layard says: “When the prayers were ended, those who
marched in procession kissed, as they passed by, the right side of the
doorway leading into the temple, where a serpent is figured on the wall.”
Again, “Soon after sunrise, on the following morning, the sheikhs and
cawals offered up a short prayer in the court of the temple.... Some prayed
in the sanctuary, frequently kissing the threshold and holy places within the
building.”[331]
When the sacred ark of the Hebrews was captured by the Philistines, and
brought into the house of the god Dagon, the record is: “When they of
Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him
in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning,

behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the
Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off
upon the threshold.” It is added, in our present Bible text: “Therefore
neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on
the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day.”[332]
It would seem, from the words “unto this day,” that this added statement
was a gloss by a later writer or copyist. The original force of the wonder
was in Dagon’s being overthrown at his very shrine, falling maimed on the
threshold altar of his temple. But the suggestion of the gloss is that the
unwillingness of the Philistines to tread on the threshold of the temple
(which appears to have been of primitive origin) did not exist among the
worshipers of Dagon prior to this incident. The Septuagint adds,[333]
concerning the later practice of the Philistines at the threshold, “because
leaping they leap over it.”
Leaping over the threshold is at times spoken of in the Bible as if it had a
taint of idolatry. Thus Zephaniah, foretelling, in the name of the Lord, the
divine judgments on idolaters, says: “In that day I will punish all those that
leap over the threshold.”[334] This is explained in the Targum as “those that
walk in the customs of the Philistines.” Yet the Bible sometimes refers to
the temple threshold as a fitting place of worship, and its recognition as a
holy altar as commendable.
Ezekiel prophesies that the restored Prince of Israel “shall worship at the
threshold of the gate”[335] of the Lord’s house; and he sees, in vision, “the
glory of the Lord ... over the threshold of the house.”[336] Again the Lord
complains of the profanation of his temple by idolaters “in their setting of
their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post,
and there was but the wall between me and them.”[337]
That it was the threshold or doorway of the tabernacle which was counted
sacred, is evident from the wording of the Levitical laws concerning the
offering of blood in sacrifices. “This is the thing which the Lord hath
commanded, saying, What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that
killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it without the
camp, and hath not brought it unto the door of the tent of meeting, to offer it
as an oblation unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord: blood shall
be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off

from among his people: to the end that the children of Israel may bring their
sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, even that they may bring
them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tent of meeting, unto the priest, and
sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace offerings unto the Lord. And the priest
shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tent of
meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord.... Whatsoever
man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among
them, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, and bringeth it not unto the
door of the tent of meeting, to sacrifice it unto the Lord; even that man shall
be cut off from his people.”[338]
It was at the doorway of the tent of meeting that Aaron and his sons were
consecrated to the holy priesthood;[339] and it was there that the bullock was
sacrificed, and its blood was poured out as an offering at the base of the
altar.[340] It was at the doorway of that tent, above the threshold, that the
pillar of cloud descended in token of the Lord’s presence, when Moses met
the Lord there in loving communion, while the people stood watching from
the doorways of their own tents.[341] The altar of burnt offering, at the base
or foundation of which the blood of the offerings was outpoured, was itself
at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and he who offered a sacrifice to the
Lord offered it at that threshold.[342]
A post of honor in the temple was as a guardian of the threshold, as was
also the place of a keeper of the gate. In the assignment of the priests and
Levites to service, by Jehoiada the priest, in the days of Athaliah, a third
part of them were in attendance at the “threshold,” and a third part “at the
gate of the foundation.”[343] Later, in the days of Josiah and Hilkiah, the
guardians of the threshold had the care of the money collected for the
repairs of the Lord’s house.[344] And a keeper of the threshold, or of the door,
of the house of God, was always mentioned with honor.[345] When the
Psalmist contrasts the house of God with the tents of wickedness, he speaks
of the honor of a post at the temple threshold, not of the humble place of a
temple janitor, when he says:
“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere].
I had rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God,
Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”[346]

In the Temple at Jerusalem, the altar of burnt offering was before the
threshold of the Holy Place; and those who came with sacrifices must stop
at that threshold, and proffer the blood of their offering to the priests, who
then reverently poured it out at the altar-threshold’s base.[347]
When offerings were accepted for the repairs of the temple, in the days of
Jehoash, king of Judah, it is said that “Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and
bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as
one cometh into the house of the Lord. And the priests that kept [or
guarded] the threshold put therein all the money that was brought into the
house of the Lord.”[348] This would seem to decide the position of the altar
as at the threshold, where “one cometh into the house of the Lord.”
An altar stood at the doorway, or before the door, of temples of later date in
Phenicia and Phrygia, as shown on contemporary medals and coins.[349] And
so in temples in other lands.
Among the early Christian remains unearthed in Asia Minor are indications
of the former position of an altar on the threshold of a sanctuary. At the site
of ancient Aphrodisias, “some of the sarcophagi of the Byzantine age are
richly wrought, and although many are of Christian date, they appear to
have retained the pagan devices.” At the end of one of these sarcophagi
“appears an altar burning in front of a door,” standing indeed on the very
threshold.[350]
An oath of peculiar sacredness among Hindoos is at the threshold of a
temple, as at its primal altar. “Is a man accused of a great crime? He goes to
the temple [threshold], makes his prostrations; he pauses, then steps over it,
declaring at the same time that he is not guilty of the crime laid to his
charge. It is therefore very common to ask a person who denies anything
that he is suspected to have done, ‘Will you step over the threshold of the
temple?’”[351]
Among the stories told in India of judgments at the temple threshold, is one
of a thieving goldsmith, who had secreted himself in a pagoda of Vishnoo,
in order to take from the sacred image one of its jewel eyes. Having
obtained the precious stone, he waited for the opening of the pagoda doors
in the morning, in order to escape with his booty. But as he attempted to
cross the threshold, when the door was opened, he was stricken with death

by Vishnoo “at the very threshold.”[352] Justice was administered at the very
seat of justice.
Bloody sacrifices are still known at the temple thresholds in India,
notwithstanding the prejudice of Hindoos against the shedding of blood.
Within recent times an English gentleman, in an official position in India,
discovered a decapitated child at the very door of a celebrated pagoda; and
an investigation showed that a father had there sacrificed his son to avert an
impending evil.[353]
When a famous idol was destroyed in the temple of Somnauth, during the
Muhammadan conquest of India, pieces of the shattered image were sent by
the conquerors to the mosks of Meccah, Medina, and Ghuznee, to be
thrown down at the thresholds of their gates, there to be trodden under foot
by devout and zealous Mussulmans.[354] The accursed idol fragments might
be trampled on at the threshold, even while the threshold itself was counted
sacred.
In Muhammadan mosks generally the threshold is counted sacred. Across
the threshold proper, at the beginning of the sacred portion of the interior,
“is a low barrier, a few inches high.”[355] Before this barrier the worshiper
stops, removes his shoes, and steps over it, with the right foot first. In some
smaller mosks a rod above the outer door-sill stands for this barrier.
Describing his visit to one of the mosks in Persia, Morier says: “Here we
remarked the veneration of the Persians for the threshold of a holy place....
Before they ventured to cross it, they knelt down and kissed it, whilst they
were very careful not to touch it with their feet.”[356]
On the tomb of the kings of Persia, at Com, the inscription appears: “Happy
and glorious the believing one who in reverence bows his head upon the
threshold of this gate, in imitation of the sun and moon.[357] All that he will
ask with faith in this gate, shall be as the arrow that reaches the mark.”[358]
And on the tomb of Alee, son-in-law of Muhammad and one of his
successors, there stands the declaration: “The angel messenger of the truth,
Gabriel, kisses every day the threshold of thy gate; for that is the only way
by which one can come to the throne of Muhammad.”[359]
Even among Christians in this primitive region, this reverence for the
threshold as the earliest altar of the temple and the church manifests itself in

various ways. Dr. Grant, an American missionary, tells of seeing the
Nestorian Christians kissing the threshold of the church on entering the
sanctuary for the Lord’s Day service.[360]
At Baveddeen, near Bokhara, is the tomb of Baha-ed-deen Nakishbend, the
national saint of Turkestan, which is a place of pilgrimage second only to
the tomb of Muhammad. “In the front of the tomb,” as a threshold, “is the
famous senghi murad,” the “stone of desire,” “which has been tolerably
ground away, and made smooth, by the numerous foreheads of pious
pilgrims that have been rubbed upon it.”[361]
A peculiar sacrifice in Tibet is the disemboweling of a devotee in the
presence of a great multitude, as an act of worship. An altar on which this
act is performed is erected for the occasion “in front of the temple gate.”[362]
In the more sacred shrines of Japan and Korea, Shinto or Booddhist
temples, pilgrim worshipers are permitted to go no farther than the
threshold of the inner sanctuary. There they may deposit their offerings and
may prostrate themselves in prayer, but they cannot pass beyond.
At Kitzuki, “the most ancient shrine of Japan,” multitudes of pilgrims
gather for worship. They are coming and going ceaselessly, but all pause
before the threshold of the inner sanctuary. “None enter there: all stand
before the dragon-swarming doorway, and cast their offerings into the
money-chest placed before the threshold; many making contributions of
small coin, the very poorest throwing only a handful of rice into the box.
Then they clap their hands, and bow their heads before the threshold, and
reverently gaze through the hall of prayer at the loftier edifice, the holy of
holies beyond it. Each pilgrim remains but a little while, and claps his hands
but four times; yet so many are coming and going that the sound of the
clapping is like the sound of a cataract.”[363] The same is true of “the great
Shrines of Isé, chief Mecca of the Shintō faith,”[364] of those of famous
Nikkō, and of other centers of worship.[365]

4. TEMPLE THRESHOLDS IN AFRICA.

The oldest temple discovered in Egypt is little more than a doorway with an
altar at its threshold, and with a stele on either side of the altar. This temple
is near the base of the stepped pyramid of Meydoom, dating back probably
to the beginning of the fourth dynasty.[366]
Later, in Egypt, as in early Babylonia, the doorway, above the threshold,
had peculiar sacredness, in the temples and in the approaches to the under-
world. The pylon, or propylon, of an Egyptian temple, was a monumental
gateway before the temple, and exalted honor attached to it. It frequently
gave its name to the entire temple.[367] The side towers of this gateway are
said to have represented Isis and Nephthys, and the door itself between
these towers stood for Osiris, the judge of the living and the dead.[368]
There was indeed a temple in Thebes which bore the name of “Silver
Threshold.” This temple “is mentioned in the time of the twenty-first
dynasty; and it cannot have been earlier than the eighteenth dynasty, when
silver was growing cheaper in Egypt.”[369] But the prominence of the
“threshold” in the designation of the “temple” is aside from the question of
the time of the use of silver.
“The winged sun disk was placed above all the doors into the temples, that
the image of Horus might drive away all unclean spirits from the sacred
building.”[370] These overshadowing wings marked the special sacredness of
the doors beneath them.
When an Egyptian priest opened the door of the shrine–the holy of holies of
the temple–he must prostrate himself at the threshold in reverent worship.
“According to the Theban rite, ... as soon as he saw the image of the god he
had to ‘kiss the ground, throw himself on his face, throw himself entirely on
his face, kiss the ground with his face turned downward, offer incense,’ and
then greet the god with a short petition.”[371] This priestly worship was at the
threshold of the shrine.
The Egyptian idea of the future life, and of the world beyond this, had
marked correspondences with the Babylonian. Osiris presided over the
under-world, as, indeed, he was the chief object of worship in this.[372] He

had been slain in a conflict with evil, and in his new life he was the friend
and helper of those who struggled against evil.[373] He was in a peculiar
sense the door of the life beyond this, “Osiris, opening the ways of the two
worlds;”[374] and those who passed that door safely were identified with
himself in the under-world.[375]
A closed door toward the west, in a tomb, represented the deceased on his
way to Osiris.[376] And as shown in the “Book of the Dead” the approach to
Osiris was by a series of doors, which could be passed only by one who
showed his identification with Osiris, and his worthiness as such.[377] At the
entrance to the Hall of the Two Truths, or of the Two-fold Maāt,[378] as the
place of final judgment, the deceased was challenged by the threshold of the
door, by the two side-posts, by the lock, by the key, and by the door itself;
and he could not pass these unless he proved his oneness with Osiris by his
knowledge of their names severally.[379]
A saint’s tomb, called a wely, is a common place of worship in Egypt.
Sometimes a mosk is built over it, and sometimes it serves as a substitute
for a mosk, where no mosk is near. “At least one such building forms a
conspicuous object close by, or within, almost every Arab village;” and
these tombs are frequently visited by those who would make supplication
for themselves, or intercession for others, or who would do a worthy act,
and merit a correspondent blessing. “Many a visitor, on entering the tomb,
kisses the threshold, or touches it with his right hand, which he then
kisses.”[380] Similar customs prevail in Arabia and Syria.
At Carthage, which was a Phenician colony but which impressed its
character on northern Africa, the chief temple gave prominence to the
threshold, rising in steps as an altar before a statue of the Queen of Heaven.
Virgil, describing the arrival of Æneas at the court of Queen Dido, says:

“There stood a grove within the city’s midst,
Delicious for its shade; where when they came
First to this place, by waves and tempest tossed,
The Carthaginians from the earth dug up
An omen royal Juno had foretold
That they should find, a noble horse’s head;
Thus intimating that this race would shine,
Famous in war, and furnished with supplies
For ages. Here the great Sidonian queen
A temple built to Juno, rich in gifts,
And in the presence of the goddess blessed.
A brazen threshold rose above the steps,[381]
With brazen posts connecting, and the hinge
Creaked upon brazen doors.”[382]

The churches of Abyssinia always stand on a hill, and in a grove–like the
temple at Carthage. “When you go to the church you put off your shoes
before your first entering the outer precinct.... At entry, you kiss the
threshold and two door-posts, go in and say what prayer you please; that
finished you come out again, and your duty is over.”[383]
The yard of an Abyssinian church has been compared to “the lucus or
sacred grove of the pagan temple.” “The church itself is square, and built of
stone with beams stuck in to support them. At the porch, the wooden lintels,
which the pious kiss with intense earnestness,–in fact, kissing the walls and
lintels of a church is a great feature in Abyssinian devotion, so much so
that, instead of speaking of ‘going to church,’ they say ‘kissing the
church,’–are carved with quaint and elaborate devices.”[384]
At Yeha, near Aksum, are the remains of a ruined temple, within the area of
which a church was at one time built. “In front of the vestibule stood two
rude monoliths, at the base of one of which is an altar with a circular disk
on it, presumably, from the analogy of those at Aksum, for receiving the
blood of slaughtered victims.” Obviously, the altar of this temple was at its
threshold.
Marriages are said to be celebrated in Abyssinia at the church door–the
wedding covenant being thus made before the threshold altar.[385]
And so in the earlier temples of Egypt, of Carthage, and of Abyssinia, and
in Christian and Muhammadan places of worship, the doorway is held
sacred, and, most of all, the threshold, or “floor of the door.”

5. TEMPLE THRESHOLDS IN EUROPE.
Traces of the primitive sacredness of the doorway and the threshold, in
places of worship, are to be found in Europe, ancient and modern, as in Asia
and Africa.
The term “threshold” occurs in such prominence in connection with
temples, in the earliest Greek literature, as to show that its primitive
meaning included the idea of altar, or of sanctuary foundation. Thus the
House of Zeus on Olympus is repeatedly spoken of as the “House of the
Bronze Threshold.”[386] In these references, “the nature of the occurrences,
the uniformity of the phrase, the position of the words in the verse, all point
to this as an old hieratic phrase, and the meaning evidently is, ‘the house
that is stablished forever.’”[387]
This term “bronze threshold” occurs more than once in reference to the
temple-palace of Alcinoüs.[388] Tartarus is described as having gates of iron
and a “bronze threshold.”[389] Night and day meet as they cross the “great
threshold of bronze;” and Atlas upholds heaven at the threshold of the
under-world.[390]
The treasures of Delphi are described as “within the stone threshold of the
archer god, Phoebus Apollo, in Rocky Pytho.”[391] And he who seeks
counsel at that oracle is spoken of as one who crosses “the stone
threshold.”[392]
In Sophocles’ “Oedipus at Colonus” the Athenian warns the stranger
Oedipus that he is on holy ground, in the realm of Poseidon, and that the
spot where he now treads is “called the brazen threshold of the land, the
stay of Athens.”[393] In other words, the bronze threshold is an archaic
synonym for the enduring border, or outer limit, of spiritual domain.
This prominence given to the threshold in earlier Greek literature is not, it is
true, continued in later writings; yet there are traces of it still in occasional
poetic references to the “threshold of life,” and the “threshold of the year,”
and the “threshold of old age.” When Homer refers “to houses, to rooms in
houses, or to courtyards, the ‘threshold’ is constantly spoken of: a man steps
over a threshold, stands at a threshold, sits at a threshold, etc. And so

important is the threshold that its material is almost regularly mentioned; it
is ash, oak, stone, bronze, etc. In later times all these locutions disappear;
men go through doorways, enter, stand in porches, etc., instead.”[394] Yet it is
the archaic use that points to the primitive prominence of the threshold.
In historic times, however, as in earlier, the altar of sacrifice was to be
found, in Grecian and Roman temples, near the threshold of the door. While
there were smaller altars, for the offering of incense and bloodless
sacrifices, in the interior of temples, the larger and more important altars,
for the offering of animal sacrifices, whether of beasts or of men, were
before the temple, in front of the threshold,–bomoi pronaoi.[395]
A ruined temple of Artemis Propylæa, at Eleusis, shows the main altar
immediately before the threshold, between the antæ. The altar of the temple
of Apollo at Delphi was in a like position; as shown in the fact that “when
Neoptolemus is attacked by Orestes in the vestibule of the temple at Delphi,
he seizes the arms which were suspended by means of nails or pins from
one of the antæ, takes his station upon the altar, and addresses the people in
his own defense.”[396]
When the “priest of Jupiter, whose temple was before the city” of Lystra,
would have given divine honors to Paul and Barnabas, he brought the
garlanded oxen “unto the gates,” to sacrifice them there. At the gate of the
city, within which the supposed gods were to be found, seemed the proper
place of sacrifice.[397]
There are references in classic story, as in Babylonian legends, in Phenician
and Syrian beliefs, and in the Hebrew prophetic visions, to life-giving
waters flowing out from under the threshold of the sanctuary. In the garden
of the palace-temple of Alcinoüs “are two springs, the one ripples through
the whole garden, the other opposite it gushes under the threshold of the
courtyard to the lofty house, and from it the citizens draw their water.”[398]
On “the apple-growing shores of the Hesperides,” where Atlas upholds “the
holy threshold of heaven,” according to the poets, “springs of ambrosia
pour from the chamber of Zeus, from his bedside,” and give a rich blessing
to the life-giving earth.[399] And of Delphi it is said: “Going toward the
temple we come upon the spring Cassotis: there is a low wall about it, and
you ascend to the spring through the walls. The water of this Cassotis they

say sinks underground, and in the shrine of the god [Apollo] makes the
woman prophetic [is inspiration to her.]”[400]
In the early churches of Europe, the threshold marked a sacred boundary of
the edifice, to cross which indicated a certain covenant right to participate
in the privileges of the house of God. As the structure of the churches
changed, in the progress of the centuries, the threshold of the sanctuary
came to be in a different portion of the building, or series of buildings; but
its sacredness remained, wherever it was supposed to be. The term “altar”
also changed, from the border line of the place of worship, to the holy table
within the sanctuary.
Speaking of the growth of the early church buildings, Bingham says: “In the
strictest sense, including only the buildings within the walls, they were
commonly divided into three parts: (1.) The narthex or ante-temple, where
the penitents and catechumens stood. (2.) The naos or temple, where the
communicants had their respective places. And (3.) the bēma or sanctuary,
where the clergy stood to officiate at the altar. But in a larger sense there
was another ante-temple or narthex without the walls, under which was
comprised the propylæa, or vestibulum, the outward porch; then the atrium
or area, the court leading from that to the temple, surrounded with porticos
or cloisters.... There were also several exedræ, such as the baptistery, the
diaconicum, the pastophoria, and other adjacent buildings, which were
reckoned to be either without or within the church, according as it was
taken in a stricter or a larger acceptation.”[401]
In the early churches, the place of baptism was outside of the church proper,
or the naos, it is said. “There is nothing more certain than that for many
ages the baptistery was a distinct place from the body of the church, and
reckoned among the exedræ, or places adjoining to the church.”[402] “The
first ages all agreed in this, that, whether they had baptisteries or not, the
place of baptism was always without the church.”[403] Even in mediæval
times, in the churches of England, baptisms were on the outer side of the
threshold of the church proper, “the child being held without the doors of
the church”[404] until baptized. In many churches of Europe at the present
time the baptismal font is at or near the door of the church.
In 1661, a formal reply of the Church of England bishops to a request of the
Presbyterians that the font might be placed before the congregation, that all

might see it, was: “The font usually stands, as it did in primitive times, at or
near the church door, to signify that baptism was the entrance into the
church mystical.”[405]
Marriages, like baptisms, were at the church porch or outside of the
threshold. “The old missals direct the placing of the man and the woman at
the church door during the service, and that at the end of it they shall
proceed within up to the altar.”[406] The idea would seem to be that a holy
covenant like marriage, which is the foundation of a new family, must be
solemnized at the primitive family altar,–the threshold.
Describing the marriage rites of Germany in the middle ages, Baring-Gould
says: “In a Ritual of Rennes, of the eleventh century, we find a rubric to this
effect: ‘The priest shall go before the door of the church in surplice and
stole, and ask the bridegroom and bride prudently whether they desire to be
legally united; and then he shall make the parents give her away, according
to the usual custom, and the bridegroom shall fix the dower, announcing
before all present what (witthum) he intends to give the bride. Then the
priest shall make him betroth her with a ring, and give her an honorarium of
gold or silver according to his means. Then let him give the prescribed
benediction. After which, entering into the church, let him begin mass; and
let the bridegroom and bride hold lighted candles, and make an oblation at
the offertory; and before the Pax let the priest bless them before the altar
under a pall or other covering [the wedding canopy], according to custom;
and lastly, let the bridegroom receive the kiss of peace from the priest, and
pass it on to his bride.’”[407]
“In ancient times the people of France were married, not within the church
at the altar as now, but at the outer door. This was the case in 1599, in which
year Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry II., was married to Philip II. of Spain;
and the Bishop of Paris performed the ceremony at the door of the cathedral
of Notre Dame. Another instance of this kind occurred in 1599 in France.
Henrietta Maria was married to King Charles by proxy at the door of Notre
Dame, and the bride, as soon as the ceremony was over entered the church,
and assisted at [attended] mass.”[408]
“The pre-Reformation rule was to begin the marriage service at the door of
the church. In his ‘Wyf of Bathe,’ Chaucer [in the days of Edward III.]
refers to this custom:–

‘Housbandes atte chirche dore I have had fyve.’

This old usage was abandoned by authority in the time of Edward VI. Yet
there is reason for thinking that it was not entirely given up. “There is a
poem of Herrick’s, written about 1640, which is entitled, ‘The
Entertainment or Porch Verse at the Marriage of Mr. Hen. Northly.’”[409]
“When Edward I. married Marguerite of France, in 1299, he endowed her at
the door of Canterbury Cathedral.” Selden declares that “dower could be
lawfully assigned only at the door;” and Littleton affirms to the same effect.
[410]

“At Witham in Essex it is, or was, the custom to perform the first part of the
marriage service at the font [near the door]. When the Rev. A. Snell was
appointed to the benefice in 1873, he spoke to a bridegroom about this
usage, and he (the bridegroom) particularly requested that he might be
married at the font, as he liked old customs.”[411]
Another survival of the primitive rite of threshold covenanting seems to be
shown in certain customs observed in various parts of Europe, which look
like the substitution of an altar-stone for a threshold altar, in the marriage
ceremony.
“Thus in the old temple of Upsal [in Sweden], wedding couples stood upon
a broad stone which was believed to cover the tomb of St. Eric.”[412]
Corresponding customs in other regions would go to show that the earlier
practice was to leap over the stone, as a mode of threshold covenanting,
instead of standing on it. The latter was a change without a reason for it.
For instance, just outside “the ruined church, or abbey, of Lindisfarne, is the
socket or foot-stone, in which was mortised a ponderous stone cross,
erected by Ethelwold, and broken down by the Danes. This socket stone is
now called the “petting stone,” and whenever a marriage is solemnized in
the neighborhood, after the ceremony the bride is obliged to step upon it;
and if she cannot stride to the end thereof, the marriage is deemed likely to
prove unfortunate and fruitless.” While this would seem to point to the
custom of standing upon the stone, in the modern marriage customs of the
same region, a barrier is “erected at the churchyard gate, consisting of a
large paving-stone which was placed on its edge and supported by two

smaller stones. On either side stood a villager, who made the couple and
every one else jump over it.”[413]
“In Lantevit Major Church was a stone called the ‘marriage stone,’ with
many knots and flourishes, and the head of a person upon it, and this
inscription:
‘Ne Petra calcetur
Qu[a]e subjacet ista tuetur,’

Brides usually stood upon this stone at their marriages.”[414] Yet the
inscription itself:
“Let not the stone be trodden upon;
What it lies under, it guards,”

forbids standing upon this threshold altar; and it is probable that in earlier
times it was stepped over in marriage covenant, and not upon.
At Belford, in Northumberland, it is still the custom to make the bridal pair,
with their attendants, leap over a stone placed in their path outside the
church porch. This stone also is called the “petting stone,” or the “louping
stone.” At the neighboring village of Embleton, in the same county, two
stout young lads place a wooden bench across the door of the church porch,
and assist the bride and groom and their attendants to surmount the
obstacle; for which assistance a gift of money is expected. In some places a
stick has been held by the groomsmen at the church door for the bride to
jump over. And again a stool has been placed at the churchyard gate, over
which the whole bridal party must jump one by one; and this stool has been
called the “parting-stool.”[415]
A “mode of marriage” current in Ireland, until recent times, was that of
jumping over a form of the cross;[416] and jumping over a broomstick as a
form of marriage would seem to be a survival of this custom of leaping
across the threshold-stone, in token of a covenant. “Jumping the
broomstick” is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent of marriage.
These various obstacles to progress, at wedding time, would seem to be as
suggestions of the threshold altar, which must be passed in the marriage
covenant. The church threshold, like the home threshold, is a temporary

hindrance to an advance. Unless it is stepped across, the covenant is
incomplete.
An illustration of the popular idea of the sacredness of the church threshold,
and of the impropriety of stepping on it, in its passing, is found in a Finnish
mode of judging a clergyman. “In Finland, it is regarded as unlucky if a
clergyman steps on the threshold, when he comes to preach at a church.” A
writer on this subject says: “A Finnish friend told me of one of his relations
going to preach at a church, a few years ago,–he being a candidate for the
vacant living,–and the people most anxiously watched if he stepped on the
threshold as he came in. Had he done so, I fear a sermon never so eloquent
would have counted but little against so dire an omen.”[417] Here is a new
peril for pulpit candidates, if this primitive test becomes widely popular!
Even to the present time, it is customary, in portions of Europe, for Jews to
rub their fingers on the posts of a synagogue doorway, and then kiss their
fingers. Quite an indentation in the stone at the door of the synagogue in
Worms is to be seen, as due to this constant sacred rubbing.[418]

6. TEMPLE THRESHOLDS IN AMERICA.

In the West, as in the East, traces of the primitive sacredness of the
threshold and the doorway are to be found. The stepped pyramid, or uplifted
threshold, with the sanctuary at its summit, was the earliest form of temple
or place of worship in Mexico, and in Central and South America. In the
later and more elaborate temples there was no altar within the building,
although an image of the god was there.
The altar, or stone of sacrifice, was without, before the door of the
sanctuary.[419] When a sacrifice was offered on the altar, the blood of that
sacrifice was smeared on the doors of the temple of the god.[420] Human
sacrifices were included in these offerings, in earlier times.[421] Even when
larger temples were erected, and altars were enclosed within them, human
victims were brought to the temple entrance into the hands of the priests;
and from the threshold they were borne by the priests themselves, to be laid
on the altar.[422]
Among the Pipiles, a Maya people, in Central America, there were “two
principal and very solemn sacrifices; one at the commencement of summer,
and the other at the beginning of winter.” Little boys, from six to twelve
years old, were the victims of sacrifice. At the sound of trumpets and
drums, which assembled the people, four priests came out of the temple
with braziers of coals on which incense was burning, and after various
ceremonies and religious exercises they proceeded to the house of the high-
priest, near the temple, and took from it the boy victim of the sacrifice. He
was then conducted four times round the court of the temple, with dancing
and singing.
When this ceremony was finished, the high-priest came out of his house
with the second priest and his major-domo, and they proceeded to the
temple steps, accompanied by the principal men of the locality, who,
however, stopped at the threshold of the temple. Then and there the four
priests “seized the victim by his extremities, and the major-domo coming
out, with little bells on his wrists and ankles, opened the left breast of the
boy, tore out his heart, and handed it to the high-priest, who put it into a
little embroidered purse, which he closed.”

The blood of the victim was received by the priests in a vessel made of a
gourd, and was by them sprinkled in the direction of the four cardinal
points. Then the heart, in its purse, was put back into the body of the victim,
and the body itself was interred inside of the temple. This sacrifice, at the
threshold altar, was performed at the threshold, or the beginning, of each of
the two chief seasons of the year.[423]
In the temples of Central America, generally, the doorway was hardly less
prominent than in the temples of Egypt. There were massive decorations on
and above the lintels; the door jams were richly sculptured; and there were
male and female figures, or figures of animals, as guardians on either side
of the entrance. In some instances a winged globe was above the door; and
the uplifted hand was found over the doorway or at the sides.[424]
Among the Natchez Indians, along the lower Mississippi, there was an
annual “Harvest Festival,” or “Festival of New Fire,” which was celebrated
with great ceremony. An altar was in front of the temple, just before the
door. On this occasion the priest of the sun stood on the threshold of the
temple in the early morning, watching for the first rays of the rising sun.
The chiefs, and braves old and young, stood near the altar. The women with
infants in their arms stood in a semicircle facing the priest. When he gave
the signal of his recognition of the sun, by rubbing two pieces of wood to
start a new fire for the altar, they faced about to the east and held up their
infants to the sun. Other exercises of worship followed. The priest’s place in
this ceremony was on the threshold, before the altar of that temple.[425]
In America, as in the other continents, there are survivals of the primal
sacredness of the threshold of a place of public worship, in the formal
ceremonies attending the laying of the corner-stone, or threshold-stone, of a
new church building of any denomination; and in the use of holy water at
the doorway on entering Roman Catholic churches. More or less
importance is attached in Protestant Episcopal churches to the location of
the baptismal font near the door, and to the beginning of the marriage
service before the bridal party approaches the threshold of the sanctuary
proper.
If indeed, there be found no trace of the fountain of life flowing from under
the threshold sanctuary of the gods worshiped by the aborigines of America,

such a fountain was searched for in this land by Ponce de Leon and his
followers.

7. TEMPLE THRESHOLDS IN ISLANDS OF THE SEA.

There is a certain resemblance in the plan of some of the temples of the
South Sea Islands to those of Central America. A stepped pyramid in a large
court was the central shrine; “in front of which the images were kept, and
the altars fixed.”[426] In both cases the altars were outside of the shrine,–at its
threshold, as it were. A method of sacrificing was by bleeding a pig to death
before the altar, “washing the carcass with the blood, and then placing it in
a crouching position on the altar.”[427] An uplifted hand was one of the
symbols on these stepped pyramid shrines.[428] The temple foundation, or the
threshold of the sacred building, was formerly laid in human blood.[429]
A recognition of the threshold, in a sacred service, and in a form of
covenanting, is found in the ceremonies of circumcision as observed in
Madagascar. This rite is not at infancy, as among the Jews, but is at the
threshold of young manhood. Its period is fixed by the king, who, on “an
application from the parents or the friends of any number of children in a
given province, appoints a time, and orders the observance of the rite.” He
is the “high-priest on this occasion.” The rite marks the transition of the boy
from his dependence on his parents to his personal service of the king, as a
member of the community.
Holy water is brought from a distance to the house of the master of
ceremonies, as the sanctuary for the occasion. A sheep is killed immediately
before this house, and the boys are caused to step across its blood. This
sacrifice is called “fahazza,” or “causing fruitfulness,” and it is supposed to
be the means of causing fruitfulness in all the women who obtain a share of
it.
A tree is planted at the northeast corner of the house, and a lamp is fixed on
it. Honey and water are poured upon the tree, and the boys partake of this
mixture. The next day the persons present walk three times round the house,
with various ceremonies, and then stop at the doorway. The rite of
circumcision is performed on each boy as he sits on a drum at “the
threshold of the door,” held firmly by several men. The knife with which it
is performed is previously dipped in the blood of a young bullock, an ear of
which is slit by the operator. A covenant of fealty to the king is entered into

by the youth on this occasion. Sacrifices and feasting follow this ceremony.
[430]

One of the ancient gods of Maui, an island of Hawaii, was Keoroeva. “In all
the temples dedicated to its worship, the image was placed within the inner
apartment, on the left-hand side of the door; and immediately before it
stood the altar, on which the offerings of every kind were usually
placed.”[431] The altar was at the doorway, in this case, as so generally
elsewhere. Tiha was a female idol, as Keoroeva was a male, and much “the
same homage and offerings” were given to her as to him.[432]
In Kohala, one of the large divisions of Hawaii, stood a prominent temple
called Bukohōla, built by King Kamehameha, at the time of his conquest of
the Sandwich Islands. “At the south end of this great edifice was a kind of
inner court, which might be called the sanctum sanctorum of the temple,
where the principal idol used to stand, surrounded by a number of images of
inferior deities.” “On the outside, near the entrance to the inner court [at the
threshold of the sanctum sanctorum] was the place of the rere [or lélé]
(altar), on which human and other sacrifices were offered.”[433]
Human victims were ordinarily slain in sacrifice outside of the sanctuary
proper, and then their bodies, carefully preserved whole, were taken within
to be presented to the idol.[434]
There were Hawaiian cities of refuge, or puhonuas, as sanctuaries for guilty
fugitives. A thief, or a murderer, might be pursued to the very gateway of
one of those cities, but as soon as he crossed the threshold of that gate, even
though the gate were open, and no barrier hindered pursuit, he was safe, as
at the city altar. When once within the sacred city, the fugitive’s first duty
was to present himself before the idol, and return thanks for his protection.
[435]
This was substantially the Hebrew law as to the cities of refuge.[436]
Safety was only within the threshold.
There are traces of the primitive idea of a spring of life-giving waters
flowing from under the threshold of the goddess of life, in the Islands of the
Sea. According to the myths of that region, Vari, or “The-very-beginning”
of life was a woman. She plucked off a piece of her right side and it became
a man, or part man and part fish, known as Vātea, or Avatea. From the
under-world there came to Vātea a supernatural woman called Papa, or
Foundation. From this union the human race began. Rongo was the first-

born son. The Hades of Polynesia is Avaika, or Hawaika. In the days of
Rongo, and later, there was an opening from earth to Avaika; but because of
the misdoings of the denizens of that realm, coming up through that
passage-way, Tiki, a lovely woman, a descendant of Rongo, “rolled herself
alive down into the gloomy opening, which immediately closed upon her.”
She was the first to die. And now “Tiki sits at the threshold” of her home
below, to welcome the descendants of Rongo, who bring her an offering. A
sacred stream of water, “Vairorongo,” comes up from below into the sacred
grove devoted to the worship of Rongo, and near that stream it is possible
for a spirit to be returned to life and to a home on earth again.[437]
It is obvious that the idea of the sacredness of the threshold, in home, in
temple, or in sanctuary, is not of any one time or of any one people, but is
of human nature as human nature everywhere. It shows itself all the world
over, and always. And it has to do with life, and its perpetuation or
reproduction.

8. ONLY ONE FOUNDATION.
An idea tangent to, rather than identical with, the thought of the altar
sacredness of the temple threshold, as found among primitive peoples, is
that the first temple foundation is the foundation for all subsequent temple
building at that place. And it has already been shown that the threshold, or
hearthstone, or corner-stone, is considered the foundation.[438]
In ancient Babylonia a temple, however grand and extensive, was supposed
to be built on the foundation of an earlier temple; the one threshold being
the first threshold and the latest. If, indeed, there was a variation from the
original foundation in the construction of a new temple, there was
confusion and imperfectness in consequence, and the only hope of
reformation was in finding the first temple threshold and rebuilding on it.
There is an illustration of this in an inscription discovered in the foundation
of a temple at “Ur of the Chaldees.”[439] Nabonidus (556–538 B.C.), the last
Babylonian king, tells with interest of his search for the old foundation, or
outline plan, of the ancient temple, Eulbar, or, more properly, Eulmash, of
the goddess Istar of Agade, as follows:[440]
The foundation of Eulmash in Agade had not been found from Sargon, king
of Babylon (3800 B.C.), and Narâm-Sin, his son, kings living formerly,
until the government of Nabunaʾid king of Babylon.
King Kurigalzu (II.), about 1300 B.C., had, in his reign, searched for this
foundation, but had failed to find it, and he had left this record: “The
foundation of Eulmash I sought, but did not find it.” Later on, Esarhaddon,
king of Assyria and Babylonia (681–669 B.C.), searched for it, but without
success. Again, Nebuchadrezzar (605–561 B.C.) mobilized his large armies,
and ordered them to search for the foundation stone, or threshold, but all his
efforts were in vain. Finally Nabunaʾid, the last king of Babylon before its
fall under Cyrus, gathered his many soldiers, and ordered them to search for
the foundation stone. For “three years in the tracks of Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon,” says Nabunaʾid, “I sought right and left, before and behind,
but did not find it.”

Encouraged by a prompting from the moon-god Sin, Nabunaʾid tried at
another time and in another place, and this time with success. He found the
inscription of King Shagarakti-Buriash (1350 B.C.), which tells that he had
laid a new foundation exactly upon the old one of King Zabû (about 2300
B.C.). Then Nabunaʾid made sure to preserve the exact outline of the old
shrine. He laid the foundation, and restored the ancient temple, so that “it
did not deviate an inch to the outside or the inside.”[441]
There are indications of the same high value set upon the primal foundation
of a temple in the records of ancient Egypt. A temple at its highest grandeur
is in the location of a prehistoric sanctuary. “The site on which it is built is
generally holy ground,[442] that is, a spot on which since the memory of man
an older sanctuary of the god had stood. Even those Egyptian temples
which seem most modern have usually a long history,–the edifice may have
seemed very insignificant, but as the prestige of the god increased larger
buildings were erected, which again, in the course of centuries, were
enlarged and rebuilt in such a way that the original plan could no longer be
traced. This is the history of nearly all Egyptian temples, and explains the
fact that we know so little of the temples of the Old and of the Middle
Empire; they have all been metamorphosed into the vast buildings of the
New Empire.”[443]
While early Vedic and Brahmanic religion makes no mention of temples as
such, fire from an ancestral altar was borne to a newly erected altar, in order
to secure a continuance of the sacred influences issuing from that original
family threshold.[444] And Vishnooism takes old temples from Booddhism
for its centers of worship, prizing the old sacred foundation.
“Buddha-Gaya,” or “Bodhi-Gaya,” in Upper India, is famous as the locality
of the holy pipal tree, or the Booddha-drum (“Tree of Knowledge”), under
which for six years sat Sakya Sinha, in meditation, before he attained to
Booddha-hood. A temple still standing on that site is supposed to have been
rebuilt A.D. 1306, on the remains of one visited by Hwen Thsang, a
Chinese traveler, in the seventh century of our era, which, in turn, had been
built by Amara Sinha, or Amara Deva, about A.D. 500. This earlier temple
is said to have been built by a command of Booddha himself conveyed in a
vision, or by a command of the Brahmanical Mahâdeva, on the site of a still
earlier sanctuary, or monastery, erected by Asoka between 259 and 241
B.C., on the site of Booddha’s meditations, about 300 B.C.[445] The existing

temple has been called at different times “Buddha-pad” and “Vishnu-pad,”
“Booddha’s foot” and “Vishnoo’s foot.”
Kuru-Kshetra, or the “Plain of Kuru,” near Delhi, India, has been deemed
holy ground from time immemorial. At Thâvesar, on this plain, a temple of
Siva was built on a site that was sacred long before Sivaism was known. It
is even believed that the sacredness of this site runs back to the ancient
times of the Rig Veda. The boundaries of this “Holy Land” are given in the
great Hindoo epic, the Mahabharata. This plain is said to comprise three
hundred and sixty holy shrines, each of which is erected on a foundation
sacred from the times of the gods themselves.[446]
So general, in India, is this habit of building a sanctuary on an old sacred
foundation, that it is said that “the erection of a mosk by a Muhammadan
conqueror always implies the previous destruction of a Hindu temple.”[447]
Thus a mosk erected by the emperor Altamash, A D. 1232, is supposed to
have been on the foundation of a temple of the sun, built for Raja Pasupati
about A.D. 300.[448] Not a new foundation, but an old one, was sought, in
India, for a new temple, even to a god newly worshiped there.
Fourteen centuries before Christ, Pan-Kăng, an emperor of China, moved
his capital from north of the Ho to south of it because he had ascertained
that the original foundation was attempted to be laid there by his ancestor
Thang in the Shing dynasty, seventeen reigns before him; hence the
removal back to that first foundation would renew the blessing of Thang
upon his descendants.[449]
A temple has added sacredness in China according as its foundation is on a
spot originally chosen or honored by a representative of Heaven as a
threshold of a place of worship. Thus Tai Shan, or the “Great Mount,” in the
province of Shantung, China, is mentioned in the Shoo King, or Book of
Records, as the site of the great Emperor Shun’s altar of sacrifice to
Heaven, 2254 B.C., or, say, three centuries before the time of Abraham. On
this holy mountain, as the earliest historic foundation of Chinese worship,
“is the great rendezvous of devotees, every sect has there its temples and
idols, scattered up and down its sides;” and great multitudes come thither to
worship from near and far.[450]
This idea shows itself in modern discoveries among the ruins of ancient
Greece. It appears that when Pericles (437 B.C.) began his building of the

new Propylæa on the Acropolis, he would have cleared away the remains of
such ancient sacred structures as stood within its outline. “The plan of
Mnesikles the architect was very simple, and is still clear enough, though it
was never fully carried out.” “That the original plan of Mnesikles had
undergone modifications was long ago seen by every architect who made
the Propylæa matter of serious study.” Dr. Dörpfeld thinks he has
discovered how the plan was modified, and why. The enforced departure
from the original plan seems to have been because that plan involved the
destruction of shrines on an earlier foundation, with a threshold that might
not be moved. The gate of Cimon, with its “statue of some guardian god of
the gate,–it may be Hermes Propylaios himself,”–was within that outline,
and also other sacred sites.
“Against such intrusion it is very likely the priesthood rose and protested,
and, before even the foundations were laid, he had to give up, at least for
the time, the whole of the southeast hall, and a part of the southwest wing.”
This conclusion is the result of recent investigation by careful scholars, and
it is in accordance with the ascertained fact that in primitive thought an
original foundation for a temple or shrine is counted sacred for all time as
the foundation there for such a place of worship, not to be swept away or
ignored in any rebuilding or new building.[451]
When from any reason, in early Europe, an ancient shrine must be removed
from its primitive foundation, it was deemed desirable to remove to the new
site a portion of the foundation itself, as well as the sanctuary or altar above
that foundation. Thus, for example, when Thorolf of Norway, who had
charge of the temple of Thor in Mostur, removed to Iceland in A.D. 833, he
took with him the temple posts and furniture “and the very earth on which
the altar of that idol had been erected.” And when he landed in Iceland,
Thorolf built a new temple of Thor, with an altar on the foundation which
he had brought from the earlier shrine. A thousand years after this the
foundation-site of that second temple was still pointed out near Hofstad, in
Iceland.[452]
Bible language and narrative abound with incidental evidence of the
commonness of this primitive idea. When Jacob, on his way to Haran, came
to Beth-el–a House of God–he lighted on “the place” (hammaqâm) where,
[453]
long before, his ancestor Abraham had worshiped, as he came from
Egypt by way of the Negeb.[454] And yet earlier Abraham himself, as he

came a pilgrim from Haran and Ur, had there “builded an altar unto the
Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.”[455] And if that place were
already known as Beth-el it must have been a sanctuary before Abraham’s
day.
Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, is told that the ground whereon he stands
is “holy ground,” and that he is to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt to
worship God in that mountain.[456] And the Egyptian records give reason for
supposing that that region of Mt. Sinai, perhaps of the moon-god “Sin,” was
known as holy ground, and as the “land of God,” or of the gods, before the
days of Moses.[457]
At Jerusalem the Temple was built on Mt. Moriah, where the ark of the
covenant rested after its return from Philistia,[458] and where David erected
an altar to the Lord after the staying of the pestilence from Israel.[459] And it
is supposed that this same Mt. Moriah was where Abraham offered a
sacrifice to God on an altar he had built for the sacrifice of his son.[460] And
this site of the Temple at Jerusalem is held sacred to-day, in view of its
being deemed by multitudes a holy place from the beginning of the world.
[461]

When Naaman the Syrian was healed of leprosy by Elisha, the prophet of
Israel, he desired thenceforth to worship Jehovah in his Syrian home. To
this end he asked of Elisha the gift of “two mules’ burden of earth” from
Samaria, in order that he might on that sacred foundation erect in Syria an
altar to Jehovah.[462]
In a prophecy of the Messiah as the foundation, or threshold, of a new
temple, it was declared by the Lord: “Behold, I lay [or, I have laid] in Zion
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure
foundation.”[463] Again, it was the promise of God to the Israelites that they
should be restorers of worship on former foundations. “They that shall be of
thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of
many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The
restorer of paths to dwell in.”[464]
New Testament phraseology makes frequent reference to this same idea.
“According to the grace which was given unto me, as a wise master-builder,
I laid a foundation,” says Paul. “But let each man take heed how he buildeth
thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is

Christ Jesus.”[465] The Christian saints of the “household of God,” as “living
stones,”[466] are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several
building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.”[467]
Muhammadanism, which shows many survivals of primitive ideas and
primitive customs, emphasizes the importance of the first foundation as the
only foundation, in the traditions and legends of the holy places of its most
sacred city. Every masjid, or “place of prostration,” in that vicinity is on a
site counted holy long centuries before the days of the Prophet of Islam.
The Kaʿbah, or Holy House, in the mosk at Meccah is said to have been
built by Adam himself, on the model of a similar structure in heaven. It
would seem as if no earthly foundation, or threshold, could have been
earlier than that; indeed, the Qurân declares: “The first house appointed
unto men to worship in was that which was in Beccah [or Meccah];”[468] yet
there is a tradition that Adam erected a place of prayer even before he built
the Kaʿbah. In the Deluge the Holy House was destroyed; but Abraham was
directed to rebuild it, and on digging beneath the surface of its site he
discovered the original foundation, and the Kaʿbah was newly built up on
that.
According to Muhammadan traditions, it was while Hagar was near the site
of the Holy House, with her famishing son Ishmael, that a spring of water
gushed forth with its life-giving stream from beneath that holy site. And that
spring is the well Zemzem, or Zamzam, whose waters are deemed sacred
and life-giving to-day.
Mount Arafat, a holy hill near Meccah, is another place of pilgrimage, and
its sacredness dates from even an earlier day than the laying of the first
foundation of the Holy House at Meccah by Adam. When our first parents
were cast out of their heavenly paradise, Adam lighted in Ceylon, and Eve
in Arabia. Seeking each other, they met on Mount Arafat, or the Mount of
Recognition, and therefore that spot of their reunion and new covenanting is
a place of pilgrimage and worship for the faithful of all the world at this
time.[469] Adam is said to have built a madaa, a place of prayer, on Mount
Arafat, before he built the Kaʿbah.[470] The religion of Islam thus teaches its
subjects to worship at the earliest threshold laid by our first parents in their

primal covenanting, and all other religions recognize the importance of a
similar idea.

III.
SACRED BOUNDARY LINE.

1. FROM TEMPLE TO DOMAIN.

Man’s first dwelling-place was the cave, or the tent, or the hut, in which he
made a home with his family. The threshold and hearth of that dwelling-
place was the boundary of his earthly possessions. It was the sacred border
or limit of the portion of the earth’s surface over which he claimed control,
and where he and his were under the special protection of the deity with
whom he was in covenant. Therefore the threshold hearth was hallowed as a
place of covenant worship.
As families were formed into tribes and communities, they came to have a
common ruler or priest, and his dwelling-place was counted by all as the
common center of covenant with their common deity; and when they would
worship that deity there, they worshiped at the threshold altar of his
sanctuary. So it was that the threshold was the place of the hearth-fire and
altar, in both house and temple.
When man acquired property rights beyond his dwelling-place, and
communities and peoples gained control over portions of country more or
less extensive, the boundary limits of their possessions were extended, but
were no less real and positive than before. The protecting deity of the region
thus bounded was recognized as having sway in that domain; and those who
were dwellers there were in covenant relations with him. Therefore it was
that the boundary line of such domain was deemed its threshold, and as
such was held sacred as a place of worship and of sacrifice.

2. LOCAL LANDMARKS.

A private landmark was a sacred boundary, and was a threshold altar for its
possessor. To remove or to disregard such a local threshold, was an offense
not only against its owner, but against the deity in whose name it had been
set up.
Among the earliest remains from unearthed Babylonia are local landmarks,
or threshold boundary stones, inscribed, severally, with a dedication and an
appeal to the deity honored by him who erected the stone. These local
landmarks were ordinarily in the form of a phallus; as phallic forms were
numerous under Babylonian temple thresholds. Among the records of those
peoples are writings, showing the importance attached to such threshold
stones, in the contracts accompanying their setting up, and in the sacred
ceremonies on that occasion.
Illustrations of the importance attached by the ancient Babylonians to a
boundary stone, or threshold landmark, are found in the records of the
imprecations inscribed on these phallic pillars, as directed against the
violator of their sacredness.[471] For example, a Babylonian, Sir-usur [“O
snake-god protect”], a descendant of the house of Habban, presented a
valuable tract of land to his daughter on her betrothal to Tâbashâp-Marduk.
The withering curse inscribed on the conventional boundary-stone pillar is
as follows:
“For all future time: Whosoever, of the brothers, sons, family, relatives,
descendants, servants purchased or house-born, of the house of Habban, be
he a prefect, or an overseer, or anybody else, shall rise and stand up to take
this field away, or to remove this boundary stone, and causes this field to be
presented to a god, or sends some one to take it away [for the state], or
brings it into his own possession; who changes the area, the limit, or the
boundary stone, divides it into pieces, or takes a piece from it, saying, ‘The
field and mulugi[472] have not been presented;’ or who on account of the dire
curse [written] on this boundary stone, sends a fool, a deaf man, a blind
man, a reckless man, an enemy, an alien, an ignorant man, and causes this
inscribed stone to be removed, throws it into the water, hides it in the earth,
crushes it with a stone, burns it with fire, effaces it and writes something

else on it, or puts it into a place where nobody can see it,–upon this man
may the great gods Anu, Bêl, Ea, and Nusku, look wrathfully, uproot his
foundation, and destroy his offspring. May Marduk, the great lord, cause
him to carry dropsy as an ever-entangling net; may Shamash the judge,
greatest of heaven and earth, decide all his lawsuits, standing relentlessly
against him; may Sin, the light dwelling in the brilliant heavens, cover him
with leprosy as a garment; like a wild ass may he lie down at the wall
surrounding his city; may Ishtar, mistress of heaven and earth, lead him into
evil daily before the god and the king; may Ninib, born in the temple Ekura,
the sublime son of Bêl, uproot his area, his limit, and his boundary stone;
may Gula, the great physician, consort of the god Ninib, put never-ceasing
poison into his body till he urinates blood and pus like water; may
Rammân, first of heaven and earth, the strong son of the god Anu, inundate
his field, and destroy the corn, that thorns may shoot up, and may his feet
tread down vegetation and pasturage; may Nabû, the sublime messenger,
bring want and famine upon him, and whatsoever he desires for the hole of
his mouth may he not obtain; and may the great gods, as many names as are
mentioned on this inscribed stone, curse him with a dire curse that cannot
be removed, and destroy his seed for ever and ever.”[473]
Prominence is given, in the ancient laws of India, to the manner in which
disputed boundaries between villages, and between land owners, shall be
settled; and it is made evident that a peculiar sacredness attaches to these
landmarks. The king was to decide the dispute, after hearing testimony and
examining evidence. Trees, and mounds, or heaps of earth, were preferred
as landmarks; and tanks, wells, cisterns, and fountains, as also temples,
were desired on boundary lines.[474]
Emphasis was laid on the sacredness of the local landmark, in the laws of
the Hebrews; and a curse was pronounced against him who dared remove
this threshold altar. “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which
they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit, in
the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee,” was an injunction in the
fundamental law of the Promised Land.[475] And it passed into a proverb of
duty: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”[476] It
was a reproach to a people that there were those among them who would
“remove the landmarks” and disregard sacred property rights.[477] And
among the curses which were to be spoken from the summit of Ebal, when

Israel took possession of Canaan, was this: “Cursed be he that removeth his
neighbor’s landmark. And,” it was added, “all the people shall say,
Amen.”[478]
Abraham and Abimelech found that their followers were quarreling over the
boundary line between their respective domains on the borders of the
Negeb. Abraham claimed the well at Beer-sheba as his by right, but the
servants of Abimelech forcibly took possession of it. So the two chieftains
met and agreed upon a border line, and made a covenant with
accompanying sacrifices. “And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-
sheba” as his border landmark, “and called there on the name of the Lord,
the Everlasting God.”[479] Border landmarks were in the form of a pillar, a
tree, a heap, or a stele, in Oriental countries generally.
When Jacob and Laban agreed to part in peace after their stormy meeting in
Gilead, they set up a heap of stones and a stone pillar as a monument of
witness of their mutual covenant, and as a landmark of their agreed
territorial boundary. This memorial of their covenant was called “Galeed,”
or “Witness Heap,” and “Mizpah,” or “Watch Tower.” “And Laban said to
Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set betwixt me
and thee. This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass
over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this
pillar unto me, for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the
God [or, gods] of their father, judge betwixt us.”[480] The new boundary
mark was a token of a sacred covenant.
In classic literature and customs the sacred boundary landmark is prominent
as devoted to, or as representing, various deities, at different times. Zeus
and Hermes among the Greeks; Jupiter, Mercury, Silvanus, and Terminus,
among the Romans, are sometimes interchangeably referred to in this
connection. The legends and symbols employed seem to indicate that life
and its transmission took their start at the threshold boundary, and therefore
a pillar or a phallus marked every new beginning along a road or at a
territorial boundary.
An image of Zeus, or Jupiter, was sometimes employed as a boundary
landmark, and an image of Hermes, or Mercury, was at the starting-point of
a road, and again at various points along the road. Zeus, or Jupiter, was
chief of gods as the arbiter of life. Hermes, or Mercury, was earliest known

as the fertilizing god of earth, and hence was the promoter of all forms of
life, as guardian of flocks, fish, fields, and fruits. He also guarded those
who went out from the threshold. Sacrifices were offered to him by
Athenian generals as they started on their expeditions. He was even spoken
of as the inventor of sacrifices and the promoter of commerce and of
enrichment.[481]
Of Terminus, Ovid say: “When the night shall have passed away [and the
threshold of a new day is to be crossed], let the god who by his landmark
divides the fields be worshiped with the accustomed honors. Terminus,[482]
whether thou art a stone, or whether a stock sunk deep in the field by the
ancients, yet even in this form thou dost possess divinity.”[483] This symbol
of Terminus was regularly “sprinkled with the blood of a slain lamb,” in
recognition of its sacredness.
It is said that Numa, the second king of Rome, who was revered by the
Romans as the author of their whole system of religious worship, directed
that every one should mark the boundaries of his landed property by stones
consecrated to Jupiter, and that yearly sacrifices should be offered at these
boundary stones, at the festival of the Terminalia.[484] At this festival the two
owners of adjacent property crowned the statue or stone pillar with
garlands, and raised a rude altar, on which they offered up corn,
honeycombs, and wine, and sacrificed a lamb or a sucking pig, with
accompanying praises to the god.[485]
Silvanus also was a god of the boundary. He was represented by a tree
grove, as Terminus was by a pillar, and offerings of fruit, grain, and milk,
and of pigs, were made to him. When he would be guarded against as a
source of evil in a home, the protectors of the inmates would perform
certain ceremonies at the threshold of the house.
A tree, and sometimes a grove, was the sacred landmark of a village
boundary in primitive lands. Such trees and groves are still to be found in
Equatorial Africa. Describing some of these in Zinga and its vicinity,
Stanley expresses surprise that they have so long remained untouched in “a
country left to the haphazard care of patriarchal chiefs ignorant of written
laws.”[486] But reverence for a threshold landmark seems to be in the very
nature of a primitive people, as truly as any primitive sentiment; and
sentiment is in itself a dominant law.

At the boundary line between two villages in Samoa, in olden time, there
were two stones said to have been two living beings. When any quarrel
arose, those engaged in it were told, “Go and settle it at the stones;” and
they went to those boundary line stones and fought out their contest.[487]
Trees and stone pillars are still known as boundary landmarks between
parishes and townships in Europe and America, as in Asia, Africa, and
Polynesia in more primitive days; and their importance is recognized as
peculiar, even if not always absolutely sacred. The annual custom of
“beating the bounds” of a parish by the parish authorities survives in some
parts of England to-day. A procession makes the circuit of the parish
boundary, under the care of a “select vestryman,” or other parish official,
halting at every landmark to identify it and carefully to observe its location.
In former times it was customary to take the boys of the parish on this
round, and beat them at every landmark, in order to impress upon their
memories its precise position. More recently the boys are permitted to carry
willow wands peeled white, and with these to beat the landmarks. The later
plan is certainly more satisfactory to the boys, and it is quite as likely to
impress their memories. Formerly this ceremony was accompanied by
religious services, in which the clergyman invoked curses on him who
“transgresseth the bounds and doles of his neighbor,” and blessings on him
who regarded the landmarks.[488]
It has been suggested that this fixing and honoring of the landmarks by an
annual festival goes back to the Roman Terminalia, in the days of Numa,
but there is reason to believe that it was far earlier than that. There are
traces of it in primitive times, among various primitive peoples.
In Russia, the Cossacks long had a custom somewhat like this, in the case
of a disputed boundary line. When the boundary had been formally
determined, all the boys of the two contiguous stanitsas, or land divisions,
were collected, and driven by the people along the frontier line. “At each
landmark a number of boys were soundly whipped and allowed to run
home,” in order that in later years they might be able to testify as to the spot
where that landmark stood. In cases where the boys’ memory failed to be
accurate, an arbiter was chosen from the older inhabitants, and sworn to act
honestly to the best of his knowledge; and his decision was accepted as
final.[489]

A similar custom of beating the bounds under a “selectman” of the town has
existed in portions of New England until recently, and perhaps it has not yet
died out there. Thus Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks of the selectmen of
Concord perambulating the bounds of its township “once in five years,” up
to 1858.[490] Is there not a survival of this old custom in the habit of striking
a child on his birthday as many blows as he has passed years, when he
comes to the threshold of another year of his life?
Mile-posts would seem to have been originally landmarks separating the
public way from private lands, being placed at regular distances along the
road for convenience of measurement and locating. They marked the
threshold of the “king’s highway” to and from his capital in the Roman
empire, as trees marked the border-lines of the principal roads in Greece.

3. NATIONAL BORDERS.
Stone pillars marking the exact boundaries of states or nations, whether
settled by a joint commission or by a conqueror’s fiat, are not a modern
invention, although they are in use to-day. They are of old time, and of
primitive ages. And these boundaries of a country are by their very nature
its thresholds.
In Babylonia, the name of Nebuchadrezzar meant literally, “Nebo protect
the boundary!” The threshold of the empire was sacred; and the deity, with
whom the Babylonian king was in covenant, was the protector of that
boundary, and of those who dwelt within it. From the earliest times onward
an Oriental sovereign would set up a pillar, or pillars, or stele, at the
extreme limits of his newly extended dominion, as the outer threshold or
doorway of his empire.
From Tiglath-Pileser I. to Esarhaddon, from about 1100 B.C. to 669 B.C.,
the great Assyrian kings tell us, in their inscriptions, that whenever they
restored an old boundary of their predecessors that had been lost to them, or
extended their boundary beyond its former limits, they had set up a large
stele bearing their image at this threshold of their empire.[491] Frequently
these stele doorways,[492] with the king represented on the threshold, had
inscriptions on them giving the story of the new conquests, with an
ascription of honor to the covenant god by whose power they had been
wrought. Prominent mountain peaks, sources of rivers, the temples or
market-places of conquered cities, the banks of lakes, or the shores of the
sea, are chosen as conspicuous places for such steles. National boundary
marks of this character are still to be seen on the rocks of Nahr-el-Kelb,
above Beyroot, on the shores of the Mediterranean, and at the sources of the
Tigris and the Euphrates.[493]
Ashurnâsirapli (king of Assyria, 885–860 B.C.) tells of such a new
boundary mark set up by him at the farthest point of his conquests, “whither
nobody of my royal ancestors had advanced.... At that time I made a picture
[a stele] of my person. The glory of my power I wrote upon it. On the
mountain Eki, in the city Ashurnâsirapli [named after the king], at a spring I
set it up.”[494]

A similar custom would seem to have prevailed with the rulers of ancient
Egypt. Sneferu, a king of the fourth dynasty, greatest among the very early
names of the Old Empire (say, about 4000 B.C.), went down as a conqueror
into the Peninsula of Sinai, and left there inscribed a mammoth figure of
himself, on the granite hills above the famous copper and turquoise mines
of Wady Magharah. He is styled in the accompanying inscription the
“vanquisher of a foreign people.”[495]
As early as the twelfth dynasty of ancient Egypt, before the days of
Abraham, stone thresholds marked the upper border of that mighty empire.
“Two huge pillars of stone, covered with long inscriptions, served formerly
as boundary marks between the Egyptian empire and the negro-land called
Heh.”[496] King Usurtasen III., who set up these landmarks, says in an
inscription on the second of them: “Every one of my sons who maintains
this boundary which I have fixed, he shall be called my son who was born
of me. My son is like the protector of his father (that is Horus), like the
preserver of the boundary of his father (that is Osiris.) But if he abandons it,
so that he does not fight upon it, he is not my son, he is not then born of me.
I have caused my own image to be set up, on this boundary which I have
fixed, not that ye may (only) worship it (the image of the founder), but that
ye may fight upon it.”
On the oldest map in the world, a map of the gold districts in Nubia, in the
nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, there is a mention of the “memorial stone of
King Mineptah I. Seti I.” And that memorial stone, of this new threshold of
domain, marked the boundary line of empire in that direction.[497]
Rameses II. had it recorded on the walls of the rock grotto of Bayt-el-Walli
concerning his threshold extensions: “The deeds of victory are inscribed a
hundred thousand times on the glorious Persea. As the chastiser of the
foreigners, who has placed his boundary-marks according to his pleasure in
the land of the Ruthennu, he is in truth the son of Ra, and his very
image.”[498]
On the eastern border of Lower Egypt, the main passage way from the
Delta into Arabia, the great gateway of the empire toward the north and the
east, is still known as El Gisr, or “The Threshold.”[499] This point is near
Lake Timsah, on the line of the modern Suez Canal.

In ancient Greece, Theseus “set up a pillar,” as a threshold stone between
Peloponnesus and Attica,–then called Ionia,–“writing upon it an epigram in
two trimeters, bounding the land. Of these [inscriptions] the one toward the
east side said, ‘This is not Pelopennesus, but Ionia,’ and that toward the
west, ‘This is Pelopennesus, not Ionia.’”[500]
Even the term, the “Pillars of Hercules,” as the boundaries of the Grecian
empire and the then known world, is an indication of this idea in the classic
age, as well as in the primitive mind. Calpë and Abyla were the door-posts
of the great outer passage way, and the threshold between those pillars was
founded upon the seas, and established upon the floods.[501]
As showing that the term “threshold” is not applied to these boundary
stones merely by accommodation, it is sufficient to quote from Justinian in
the case. He declares specifically that “as the threshold makes a certain
boundary in a house, so also the ancients designed that the boundary of the
empire should be its threshold; hence it is called the ‘threshold,’ as if it were
a certain bound and term.”[502] Speaking of one who has been in foreign
captivity, and who desires a resumption, or a restoration, of his civil rights,
on his coming back to his country, Justinian says that such a return “is
called postliminium [a recrossing of the threshold], because at that same
threshold the thing which he has lost is restored to him.”[503]
When the old Portuguese navigators started out on their voyages of
discovery, they were accustomed to take with them stone pillars to set up in
a prominent place at the farthest limits of their newly claimed territory as
the national door-posts or threshold in that direction. Such a pillar was
erected at the mouth of the Congo River, at the time of its discovery by
Diego Cão, or Cam, in 1484–85. On this account, the river was known for a
time as the “Rio de Padrão,” or “Pillar River.”[504] It might, indeed, have
been called the “River of the Threshold.”
This custom of setting up stone pillars as boundary marks along the borders
of countries, nations, and states, has been continued down to the present
day. Such landmarks are still to be seen along the borders of the great
divisions of Europe, and they are on the lines of the several states of the
United States of America. The line between the English grants in America,
originally made to the Duke of York and to Lord Baltimore, was, after much
dispute, run by two English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon,

in 1763–67, and marked by stone pillars at intervals of five miles. This was
generally known as “Mason and Dixon’s line;” it separated Pennsylvania
from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and was the dividing line between
the free and the slave states before the Civil War of 1861–65. One of those
early stone landmarks on that line is still to be seen near Oxford, in Chester
County, Pennsylvania, as an illustration of a practice beginning in
Babylonia as far back as 4000 B.C., and continued in America down to
A.D. 1895.[505]
European titles of rank bear traces of the importance formerly attached to
national boundary lines and their preservation. The old German title of
“markgraf,” the “graf” or count or warden of the marches, designated a
representative or servant of the king who was in charge of the “marches,” or
“marks,” or “border lines,” which guarded the thresholds of the empire in
different directions. It was under “Henry the Fowler,” early in the tenth
century, that this title, as a title, first gained prominence. Afterwards it
became hereditary; “and hence have come the innumerable margraves,
marquises, and such like of modern times.”[506]
“Letters of marque” were letters of commission, or permission, granted by
the government to individuals, in time of war, to pass over the boundary
mark, or national threshold, for purposes of seizure or reprisal. And a
“marquee” is primarily a tent over, or before, the threshold of a military
commander’s tent.

4. BORDER SACRIFICES.
An altar would have no meaning unless sacrifices were offered at it. If,
therefore, the boundary threshold of an empire were an altar for that empire,
sacrifices would surely be offered there; and the records of history, and the
customs of old times and later, show this to have been the case.
Sacrifices were offered at the new boundary of an empire, by ancient
Assyrian and Egyptian kings, when they set up a pillar, or stele, at the
freshly acquired threshold in that direction. Thus, for example,
Ashurnâsirapli (king of Assyria, 885–860 B.C.), telling of his far-reaching
conquests, says that he marched with his armies to the slopes of the
Lebanon, and to the great sea of the Westland, and that at the mountains of
Ammanus he made and set up a stele of victory, and offered sacrifices unto
his gods.[507]
At the Egyptian boundary line in the Sinaitic Peninsula, there was a temple
with its sacrifices to “the sublime Hathor, queen of heaven and earth and the
dark depths below, whom the Egyptians worshiped as the protectress of the
land of Mafkat.” There were other temples with their sacrifices at that point.
[508]
On the southern boundary of Egypt, in the gold district of Nubia, there
was “the temple of Amon in the holy mountain,” where threshold sacrifices
were offered.[509]
One of the most ancient of Chinese classics is the Shih King. Its age is not
known, but it is certain that it was a classic in the days of Confucius, five
centuries before the Christian era. This work contains frequent references to
sacrifices at the border altars, or the altars of the boundary. There were
public sacrifices at the “border altar” in the beginning of every new year;
and again when a ruler crossed his border line on a warlike mission.[510]
When, in ancient times, a Chinese emperor passed over the outer threshold
of his empire, he offered a sacrifice of a dog, by running over it with the
wheels of his chariot. This is supposed to have been a propitiatory offering
to the dog-shaped guardians of the roadway threshold, known also among
the Indo-Aryans and the Assyro-Babylonians.[511]

From what is known of modern customs in this line, and from occasional
historical references to the matter, it would seem that where there were no
gateways, or double columns to stand for door-posts, or doorway stele, it
was the practice to divide or separate the animals offered in sacrifice, so as
to make a passage-way between them, as through a door or gate, and to
pour out the blood of the victims on the earth between the two portions, so
that the offerer, or the one welcomed, might pass over, or step across, that
blood, as in a threshold covenant.
It has already been noted that when General Grant came to the border line
of Assioot, in Upper Egypt, as he landed from his Nile boat, a bullock was
sacrificed in covenant welcome, its head being put on one side of the gang-
plank, and its body on the other; while its blood was between the two, so
that it should be stepped over in the act of landing.[512] And every year, when
the great Hajj procession returns from Meccah to Syria, it is welcomed, as it
approaches Damascus, by just such sacrifices as this. Sheep and oxen are
sacrificed before the caravan, their blood being poured out in the middle of
the road, and their bodies being divided and placed on either side of the
way. Then those who approach by this “new and living way,”[513] on the
boundary line of their country, renew their covenant with those within, by
passing over the blood.[514]
There seems to be a reference to such a mode of boundary sacrifices, in the
description of the Lord’s covenant welcome to Abraham, on the border of
the land promised to him for a possession.[515] Abraham was near the
southern boundary of Canaan. He had the promise of the Lord, that he and
his seed should possess that land; but as yet he was childless, and he had no
control over any portion of the land. He naturally desired some tangible
assurance, in accordance with the customs of mankind, that the Lord’s
promises to him would be made good. Therefore when the Lord said to him,
“I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this
land to inherit it,” Abraham replied with the question, “O Lord God,
whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?”
Then the Lord responded with these directions, apparently in accordance
with a well-known mode of covenanting among men: “Take me an heifer of
three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years
old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abraham seems to have
understood what was to be done with these victims for sacrifice. “And he

took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over
against the other: but the birds divided he not.” The blood of the victims
was doubtless poured out on the earth where they were sacrificed, midway
between the places of the divided portions, as is the present custom.
“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,
behold a smoking furnace [or brazier, or censer], and a flaming torch [a fire
and a light as a symbol of the Divine presence] that passed [covenant-
crossed the blood on the threshold] between these pieces.” And the record
adds: “In that day the Lord made a covenant [a border-altar covenant] with
Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite, and the
Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the
Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the
Jebusite.”
Thus Abram was assured that the Lord had covenanted to protect his
boundaries; as Nebuchadrezzar long afterward desired that his god Nebo
would protect his empire boundary or threshold. As to the fact of boundary
sacrifices in these lands and elsewhere, in those days and earlier, there
would seem to be no room for question.
It is not to be expected that border sacrifices would at all times, and in all
places, be just alike; but a common primitive symbolism would be likely to
show itself in them all. In Persia, these sacrifices are still common, when
one is to be received with honors at the border of a new territory or
jurisdiction.[516] Morier, describing his journey through Persia, in the early
part of this century, speaks of the first entrance of a new ruler into the
territory he was to govern. “The khan, with all his attendants, accompanied
us about two miles. He was preparing to enter Bushire, his new
government, with all splendor. From the town to the swamps [from the
territorial border to the border of the capital] were erected stages on which
bullocks were to be sacrificed, and from which their heads were to be
thrown under his horse’s feet as he advanced; a ceremony, indeed,
appropriated to princes alone, and to them only on particular occasions.”[517]
On another occasion, when the British envoy approached Kauzeroon, on a
visit of ceremony, he was welcomed at the threshold of the town by a
corresponding ceremony. “A bottle which contained sugar candy was

broken under the feet of the envoy’s horse, a ceremony never practiced in
Persia to any but to royal personages.”[518]
the gates “oxen and sheep in great numbers were sacrificed just as he
passed, and their heads thrown under his horse’s feet.” And “glass vases
filled with sugar were broken before him.” On this occasion the Shah
frequently looked at a watch, “anxious that he should enter the gates exactly
at the time prescribed by the astrologers” for his crossing the threshold.[519]
More recently, Layard has testified to the prevalence of such customs.
Speaking of his reception among the Yezidis, he tells of his approach to the
village of Guzelder, and of his welcome there: “The head of the village of
Guzelder, with the principal inhabitants, had come to invite me to eat bread
in his house, and we followed him.... Before we reached Guzelder, the
procession had swollen to many hundreds.... As I approached, sheep were
brought into the road and slain before my horse’s feet, and as we entered the
yard of Akko’s house the women and men joined in the loud and piercing
‘tahlel.’”[520]
Again, as Layard entered the village of Redwan, he was similarly
welcomed. “I alighted,” he says, “amidst the din of music and the ‘tahlel’ at
the house of Nazi, the chief of the whole Yezidi district; two sheep being
slain before me as I took my feet from the stirrups.”[521]
When, some twenty years ago, a European prince visited the Mt. Lebanon
region,[522] a generous host killed a valuable cow on the road by which the
prince must come into his region. Then the royal visitor and his retinue
were requested to step over, not upon, the blood of the slaughtered cow, at
the threshold of that host’s domain.
On the occasion of a caravan starting out from the boundary line of a
country in the East, there are border sacrifices offered, even in recent times.
Thus Burckhardt tells of this ceremony, when he went from Egypt to Nubia.
The various traders going with this caravan assembled at the starting-point,
having their goods with them. “At noon the camels were watered, and knelt
down by the side of their respective loads. Just before the lading
commenced, the Ababde women appeared with earth vessels in their hands,
filled with burning coals. They set them before the several loads, and threw
salt upon them.” It has already been shown that salt stands for blood, in the

minds of primitive peoples. “At the rising of the bluish flame produced by
the burning of the salt, they exclaimed, ‘May you be blessed in going and in
coming!’”[523] And this sacrifice was supposed to secure safety against evil
spirits encountered in crossing the boundary line.
Thus it would seem that, from the beginning, on the national threshold, as
on the threshold of the temple and of the home, sacrifices were offered, and
boundary marks were set up, in recognition of a peculiar sacredness of the
border line,–which is in itself a foundation and a limit. These boundary
marks were commonly a pillar or a tree, in apparent symbolism of a
fructifying or a fruit-bearing agency, of the transmission or the continuance
of life. And the establishment and protection of these boundary marks was
deemed well pleasing to God or to the gods, and in the nature of a holy
covenant service.

IV.
ORIGIN OF THE RITE.

1. A NATURAL QUESTION.

A question that forces itself on the mind, in connection with the study of a
world-wide primitive rite like this of the Threshold Covenant, is, What was
its origin? How came it to pass, that primitive peoples, in all parts of the
world, were brought to attach such exceptionally sacred significance to the
threshold of a hut, or tent, or cave, or house; of a palace or temple; of a
domain, local or national; and to count its crossing by blood a form of holy
covenanting between the parties engaged in it, and the deity invoked in the
ceremony? This question goes back to the origin of religious rites among
human beings, and its answer must, in order to commend itself to all, be in
accordance with the natural outgrowths and the abnormal perversions of
religious rites, in the main line of human development all the world over.
However simple and elemental were man’s earliest religious ideas, they
must have been from the beginning pure and uplifting, or they would not
have been religious. Nothing impure or debasing in itself would have raised
man’s thoughts Godward, even though man might subsequently come to
degrade his best conceptions of God and his worship. Hence the answer to
this question must include only such facts as were capable of being viewed
reverently by primitive man, as worthy of God’s creatures in the loving
service and worship of God.

2. AN ANSWER BY INDUCTION.

This threshold rite clearly goes back to the beginning of family life. The
facts already presented are proof of this. The rite includes the proffer of
blood at the foundation of the family as a family. It is a part of the marriage
ceremonial among primitive peoples. It is also the means by which one is
adopted from without into a family circle or group. It marks every stage of
the progress of family life, from one pair to a community and to an empire,
in its civil and religious relations. It is a form of covenanting between its
participants, and between them and God; and thus it has sanctity as a
religious rite.
A fair induction from these recognized facts, in their sweep and
significance, would seem to indicate, as the origin of this primitive rite, the
covenant union between the first pair in their instituting of the family
relation. When was the first covenant made between two human beings?
When was the first outpouring of blood in loving sacrifice? By what act was
the first appeal made to the Author and Source of life for power for the
transmission of life, by two persons who thereby entered into covenant with
each other and with him? The obvious answer to these questions is an
answer to the question, What was the origin of the rite of the Threshold
Covenant?
Life and its transmission must have been a sacred mystery to the first
thinkers about God and his human workers. Blood was early recognized as
life, its outpouring as the pledge and gift of life, and its interchange as a life
covenant between those who shared its substance. In view of this truth, a
covenant union by blood that looked to the transmission of life must have
been in itself, to a thoughtful and reverent person, an appeal to the Author
of life to be a party to that covenant union, in order to give it efficiency.
When first a twain were made one in a covenant of blood, the threshold
altar of the race was hallowed as a place where the Author of life met and
blessed the loving union. And from this beginning there was the natural
development of religious rites and ceremonies, in the family, in the temple,
and in the domain, as shown alike in the history of the human race and in
the main teachings of both the Old Testament and the New.

3. NO COVENANT WITHOUT BLOOD.

Flowing blood is widely deemed essential to the covenant by which two are
made one in the marriage relation. This is peculiarly the case among those
primitive peoples where young maidens are guarded with jealous care, and
are given in marriage at a very early age. In the thought of such peoples
there is no binding covenant without blood, in the family relation.[524] And a
bloody hand stamp on the cloth of testimony is the primitive certificate of
the marriage covenant.
Facts in illustration of this truth are numerous in the nuptial customs of
Syria, Egypt, China, Dahomey, Liberia, Europe, Central America, Samoa,
and other widely different regions. A few of these facts are given in the
Appendix for the benefit of scientific students, in a language better suited
than English for the presentation of such details.[525]

4. CONFIRMATION OF THIS VIEW.
If the view here given of the origin of this rite of the Threshold Covenant be
correct, there will be found traces of the truth in the different religions of
mankind. And this is the case, as shown in religious literatures, in history,
and in primitive customs and beliefs.
The most ancient expression of the religious thought and feeling of the
Aryan races is found in the Vedas and their accompanying literature. The
Brahmanas, in this literature, deal with the sacrificial element in public and
family worship, and with the rites and ceremonies pertaining to religion. In
the description of the construction of the household altars and the high
altars, there is abundant evidence that the woman is recognized as the
primitive altar, and that the form of the woman is made the pattern of the
altar form.
It is distinctly declared as to the shape of the altar, standing east and west,
that it “should be broader on the west side, contracted on the middle, and
broad again on the east side; for thus shaped they praise a woman: ‘broad
about the hips, somewhat narrower between the shoulders, and contracted
in the middle [or about the waist].’” Again, it is said, in explanation, that
“the altar (vedi, feminine) is female, and the fire (agni, masculine) is
male.”[526] This identifying of the altar with the woman, of the offering with
the man, and of their union with worship and covenanting, is repeatedly
found in the Brahmanas.[527]
Even as far back as the Vedas themselves the term yoni, or doorway of
physical life, is used as synonymous with altar.[528] And the production of
sacred fire, for purposes of worship, by twisting a stick in softened wood, is
described in the Rig-Vedas as a form of this covenant rite. These facts point
to this origin of the threshold altar of covenant and sacrifice.
At present in India the most widely recognized visible aid in worship is the
representation of the linga and the yoni combined. This symbol nominally
stands for Siva; but that seems to be only because Saivism predominates in
modern Hindooism. The idea of this symbolic combination long antedates
this prominence of Siva worship.[529]

A form of Booddhist prayer in Tibet, said to be repeated more frequently
than any other known among men, is “the six-syllabled sentence, ‘Om mani
padme Hūm,’–‘Om! the Jewel in the Lotus! Hum!’” This prayer is simply a
euphemism for the primitive Threshold Covenant, as here explained, with
an ejaculatory invocation and ascription before and after it.[530] It seems to
be a survival of the thought that here was the beginning of religious rites,
and that all covenant worship must continue in its spirit and power.
Every repetition of that prayer, by speech or by mechanism, is supposed to
affect the progress of a soul in its crossing the threshold of one of the stages
of being in the universe. It is a help to a new birth for some soul
somewhere.
There would thus appear to be no room for doubt in this matter in the
language and customs of the primitive Aryan peoples, and there are also
confirmations of the idea among the Semites. A legend that has a place
among the Jews and the Muhammadans, tells of a visit of Abraham to the
home of Hagar and Ishmael in Arabia.[531] An Amalekite wife of Ishmael
refused hospitality to Abraham, and in consequence Abraham left a message
to Ishmael to “change his threshold.” This message Ishmael understood to
mean the putting away of his wife and the taking of another, and he acted
accordingly. In the Arabic “a wife” is one of the meanings of the term
“threshold.”[532]
And the term “gate,” or “door,” had among the rabbis a specific application
to the altar of family covenanting. Thus Buxtorf, in his definings of “janua”
and “ostium,” says plainly: “Apud rabbinos etiam est ‘ostium ventris
muliebris.’” And he quotes the saying of a disappointed bridegroom :
“Ostium apertum inveni.”[533]
Among the early Babylonians and Egyptians, as among other primitive
peoples, the twofold symbols of sex are counted the sacred emblem of life,
and as such are borne by the gods of life, and by those who have the power
of life and death from those gods. The circle and rod, or ring and bolt,
conjoined, are in the right hand of the Babylonian sun-god Shamash;[534] as,
in the ankh, or crux ansata, they are in the right hand of every principal
deity of ancient Egypt.[535] It is much the same with the Phœnicians and
others.[536]

In the innermost shrine of the most sacred Shinto temples of Japan, the
circular mirror, and the straight dagger, with the same meaning as the circle
and rod in Babylonia and Egypt and Phœnicia, are the only indications of
the presence of deity; and the worshipers in those temples can come no
farther than the threshold of the shrine containing these emblems.[537]
Wherever, among the primitive peoples in America, as elsewhere, the red
hand is found as a symbol of covenant, and of life and strength through
covenant, it would seem to point to this primal meaning of the hand stamp
of blood at the doorway of life in a sacred covenant. There are indications
in Central American sculptures of the sacredness attaching to the covenant
rite between the first pair; and the combined symbols of sex are represented
there as in the East.[538]
It is a well-known fact that the public exhibit of the primitive Threshold
Covenant, as here explained, has been continued as a mode of reverent
worship among primitive peoples in the South Sea Islands, down to modern
times. The testimony of Captain Cook, the famous navigator, is specific on
this point.[539] It is also to be noted that in these islands the two supports of
the altar, or table of sacrifice, are seemingly symbols of the two sexes,
similar to those used in the far East.[540]
All of the gathered facts concerning the Threshold Covenant in different
lands and in different times, as presented in the foregoing pages, would
seem to be in accordance with this view of the origin of the rite, as with no
other that can be suggested. The main symbolism of both the Old and the
New Testament also seem to indicate the same beginning.

V.
HEBREW PASS-OVER, OR CROSS-OVER,
SACRIFICE.

1. NEW MEANING IN AN OLD RITE.

How the significance of the Hebrew passover rite stands out in the light of
this primitive custom! It is not that this rite had its origin in the days of the
Hebrew exodus from Egypt, but that Jehovah then and there emphasized the
meaning and sacredness of a rite already familiar to Orientals. In dealing
with his chosen people, God did not invent a new rite or ceremonial at
every stage of his progressive revelation to them; but he took a rite with
which they were already familiar, and gave to it a new and deeper
significance in its new use and relations.
Long before that day, a covenant welcome was given to a guest who was to
become as one of the family, or to a bride or bridegroom in marriage, by the
outpouring of blood on the threshold of the door, and by staining the
doorway itself with the blood of the covenant. And now Jehovah announced
that he was to visit Egypt on a designated night, and that those who would
welcome him should prepare a threshold covenant, or a pass-over sacrifice,
as a proof of that welcome; for where no such welcome was made ready for
him by a family, he must count the household as his enemy.[541]
In announcing this desire for a welcoming sacrifice by the Hebrews, God
spoke of it as “Jehovah’s passover,” as if the pass-over rite was a familiar
one, which was now to be observed as a welcome to Jehovah.[542] Moses, in
reporting the Lord’s message to the Hebrews, did not speak of the proposed
sacrifice as something of which they knew nothing until now, but he first
said to them, “Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families,
and kill the passover”–or the threshold cross-over;[543] and then he added
details of special instruction for this new use of the old rite.

2. A WELCOME WITH BLOOD.

A lamb was the chosen sacrifice in the welcome to Jehovah. Each
household, or family, was to take one lamb for this offering. No directions
were given as to the place or manner of its sacrifice; for that seems to have
been understood by all, because of the very term “pass-over,” or threshold
cross-over. This is implied, indeed, in the directions for the use of the blood
when it was poured out: “Kill the passover,” in the usual place; “and ye
shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is at the threshold
[Hebrew, saph], and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood
that is at the threshold.”[544]
In that welcome with blood there was covenant protection from Jehovah as
he came into Egypt to execute judgment on his enemies. The Egyptians had
already refused him allegiance, and put themselves in open defiance of his
authority. They were now to be visited in judgment.[545] But in order to the
distinguishing of the Lord’s people from his enemies, the Hebrews were to
prepare a blood welcome at their doorway, and the Lord would honor this
welcome by covenanting with those who proffered it.
“And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the
midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of
the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of cattle.... But
against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel.”[546]
In furtherance of this purpose, the Lord asked for the sacrifice of the
threshold cross-over by the Hebrews: “For the Lord will pass through [the
land] to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel,
and on the two side posts [of the Hebrew homes], the Lord will pass over
[cross-over or through] the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come
in unto your houses to smite you.”[547] Obviously the figure here employed
is of a sovereign accompanied by his executioner, a familiar figure in the
ancient East. When he comes to a house marked by tokens of the
welcoming covenant, the sovereign will covenant-cross that threshold, and

enter the home as a guest, or as a member of the family; but where no such
preparation has been made for him, his executioner will enter on his
mission of judgment.[548]

3. BASON, OR THRESHOLD.

It is strange that the Hebrew word for “threshold” (saph) in this narrative is
translated “bason” in our English Bible. It is because of this that the identity
of the passover sacrifice with the primitive Threshold Covenant is so
generally lost sight of. This word saph occurs many times in the Old
Testament text, and in nine cases out of ten it is translated “threshold,” or
“door,” or “door-post,” or the like.[549] It would seem that it should be so
translated in this instance.
In some cases where saph is translated “bason,” or “cup,” the term
“threshold” would be more appropriate, as when included in an
enumeration of the temple furniture.[550] Bronze and silver thresholds were
often mentioned in the furniture of Babylonian and Assyrian temples;[551]
and they might well have had mention among the Hebrews. It is possible,
however, that there was a cavity, as a blood receptacle, in the threshold of
houses or temples where sacrifices were so frequent; and this would
account for the use of the word saph as “bason,” even where it referred to
the threshold of the door.
The translators of the Septuagint, living in Egypt and familiar with the
customs of that land, rendered saph by thyra, “doorway,”[552] in the story of
the exodus. Jerome, with his understanding of Oriental life, gives limen,
“threshold,” for saph, at this point.[553] Philo Judæus, out of his Egyptian
Jewish experiences, describing the Jewish passover festival, speaks of it as
“the feast diabateria, which the Jews called paskha.”[554] “Diabateria” are
“offerings before crossing a border,”[555] or threshold sacrifices. Rabbi
Ishmael, a Talmudist, in explaining the passage descriptive of the institution
of the passover in Egypt, says: “One dug a hole in the [earthen] threshold,
and slaughtered into that,” “for saph signifies here nothing else than
threshold.”[556]
A striking illustration of the error of translating saph “a bason” or “a cup,”
is shown in the rendering of Zechariah 12 : 1–3 in our English Bible. The
Lord is there promising to protect the borders of Jerusalem against all
besiegers. “Thus saith the Lord, which ... layeth the foundation of the
earth:... Behold, I will make Jerusalem a threshold [or, boundary stone,

Hebrew, saph] of reeling unto all the peoples round about.... I will make
Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples.” The figure seems to be
that of the besiegers staggering as they come against that foundation, or
threshold stone, which the Lord has established. Yet saph is here translated
“cup,” and the passage thereby rendered meaningless.
There would seem, indeed, to be little room for doubt that saph should be
translated “threshold” in the description of the pass-over sacrifice. In
Assyrian, the word sippu, from the same root as the Hebrew saph, means
only threshold, not bason or cup.[557]

4. PASS-OVER OR PASS-BY.

The common understanding of the term “passover,” in connection with the
Hebrew exodus from Egypt, is that it was, on the Lord’s part, a passing by
those homes where the doorways were blood-stained, without entering
them. Yet this meaning is not justified by the term itself, nor by the
significance of the primitive rite. Jehovah did not merely spare his people
when he visited judgment on the Egyptians. He covenanted anew with them
by passing over, or crossing over, the blood-stained threshold into their
homes, while his messenger of death went into the houses of the Lord’s
enemies and claimed the first-born as belonging to Jehovah.[558]
This word pesakh, translated “passover,” is a peculiar one. Its etymology
and root meaning have been much in discussion. It is derived from the root
pāsăkh “to cross over,” a meaning which is still preserved in the Hebrew
word Tiphsakh, the name of a city on the banks of the Euphrates,[559] the
Hebrew equivalent of the classical Thapsacus.[560] Tiphsakh means
“crossing,” apparently so called from the ford of the Euphrates at that place.
Later Jewish traditions and customs point to the meaning of the original
passover rite as a crossing over the threshold of the Hebrew homes by
Jehovah, and not of his passing by his people in order to their sparing. A
custom by which a Hebrew slave became one of the family in a Hebrew
household, through having his ear bored with an awl at the door-post of the
house, and thereby blood staining the doorway,[561] is connected with the
passover rite by the rabbis. “The Deity said: The door and the side-posts
were my witnesses in Egypt, in the hour when I passed-over the lintel and
the two side-posts, and I said that to Me the children of Israel shall be
slaves, and not slaves to slaves; I brought them out from bondage to
freedom; and this man who goeth and taketh a lord to himself shall be bored
through before these witnesses.”[562]
According to Jewish traditions, it was on a passover night when Jehovah
entered into a cross-over covenant with Abraham on the boundary of his
new possessions in Canaan.[563] It was on a passover night that Lot
welcomed the angel visitors to his home in Sodom.[564] It was at the
passover season that the Israelites crossed the threshold of their new home

in Canaan, when the walls of Jericho fell down, and the blood-colored
thread on the house of Rahab was a symbol of the covenant of the Hebrew
spies with her and her household.[565] The protection of the Israelites against
the Midianites,[566] and the Assyrians,[567] and the Medes and the Persians,[568]
and again the final overthrow of Babylon,[569] all these events were said to
have been at the passover season.[570] These traditions would seem to show
that the pass-over covenant was deemed a cross-over covenant, and a
covenant of welcome at the family and the national threshold.
In the passover rite as observed by modern Jews, at a certain stage of the
feast the outer door is opened, and an extra cup and chair are arranged at the
table, in the hope that God’s messenger will cross the threshold, and enter
the home as a welcome guest.[571] All this points to the meaning of “cross-
over,” and not of “pass-by.”
In some parts of northern and eastern Europe there is a custom still
preserved among the Jews of jumping over a tub of water on passover
night, which is said to be symbolic of crossing the Red Sea, but which
shows that the passover feast was a feast of crossing over.[572]

5. MARRIAGE OF JEHOVAH WITH ISRAEL.

It seems clear that the Egyptian passover rite was a rite of threshold
covenanting, as ordered of God and as understood by the Israelites. Its
sacrifice was on the threshold of the homes of the Hebrews on the threshold
of a new year,[573] and on the threshold of a new nationality. Then Israel
began anew in all things. Moreover, it was recognized as the rite of
marriage between Jehovah and Israel; as the very Threshold Covenant had
its origin in the rite of primitive marriage.
That first passover night was the night when Jehovah took to himself in
covenant union the “Virgin of Israel,” and became a Husband unto her.
From that time forward any recognition of, or affiliation with, another God,
is called “whoredom,” “adultery,” or “fornication.”[574] In this light it is that
the prophets always speak of idolatry.
Jeremiah recognizes the first passover night as the time of this marriage
covenant, when he says:
“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,
That I will make a new covenant
With the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
In the day that I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
Which my covenant they brake,
Although I was an husband unto them, saith Jehovah.”[575]

And Jehovah, speaking through Ezekiel of his loving choice of the Hebrew
daughter of the Amorite and the Hittite, says: “Now when I passed by thee,
and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and
entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine.”[576]
It seems to be in recognition of the truth that the Egyptian passover was the
rite of marriage between Jehovah and Israel, that the Song of Songs, the
epithalamium of the Hebrew Scriptures, is always read in the synagogue at
the passover service. This idea of the relation of Jehovah and Israel runs

through the entire Old Testament, and shows itself in the Jewish ritual of to-
day.
In the primitive marriage rite the stamp of the red hand of the bridegroom is
the certification of the covenant union, at the doorway of the family. But in
the Egyptian passover it was the virgin of Israel who certified to the
marriage covenant by the bloody stamp on the doorway. Hence it was a
feminine symbol, in a bush of hyssop, that was dipped in the blood and
used for this stamping.[577] The tree, or bush, is a universal symbol of the
feminine in nature. This is shown, for example, in the tree or brush-topped
pole as the symbol of Ashtaroth, “wife,”[578] as over against the pillar or
obelisk as the symbol of Baal, or “lord,” or “husband.”[579]

VI.
CHRISTIAN PASSOVER.

1. OLD COVENANT AND NEW.

In the New Testament the rites and symbols of the Old Testament find
recognition and explanation. This is peculiarly true of the passover service.
It was a central fact in the gospel story. The sacrifice, or offering, of Jesus
Christ as the Saviour, was made at that season;[580] and it was evident that he
himself felt that it was essential that this be so. He held back from
Jerusalem until the approach of the passover feast, when he knew that his
death was at hand.[581] And his last passover meal was made the basis of the
new memorial and symbolic covenant meal with his disciples.[582] The
passover sacrifice is as prominent in the New Testament as in the Old.
Paul, familiar with Jewish customs by study and experience, writing to
Corinthian Christians of their duty and privileges as members of the
household of faith, urges them to make a new beginning in their lives, as the
Israelites made a new beginning on the threshold of every year at the
passover festival, with its accompanying feast of unleavened bread, when
all the lay-over leaven from a former state was put away. “Purge out the old
leaven,” he says, “that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened.
For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ.”[583]

2. PROFFERED WELCOME BY THE FATHER.

The primitive passover sacrifice was an offering of blood by the head of the
household on the threshold of his home, as a token of his welcome to the
guest who would cross over that blood and thereby become one with the
family within. It was not an outsider or a stranger who proffered a threshold
sacrifice, but it was the house-father who thus extended a welcome to one
who was yet outside. The welcoming love was measured by the
preciousness of the sacrifice. The richer the offering, the heartier the
welcome.[584]
In the Egyptian passover the threshold sacrifice was a proffer of welcome to
Jehovah by the collective family in each Hebrew home. In the Christian
passover it was the sacrifice of the Son of God on the threshold of the
Father’s home, the home of the family of the redeemed, as a proffer of
welcome to whoever outside would cross the outpoured blood, and become
a member of the family within. Therefore it is written: “God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life.”[585] And “for this cause,” says Paul,
“I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and
on earth is named.”[586]
Among primitive peoples, as among the Jews, no indignity could equal the
refusal of a proffered guest-welcome, in a rude trampling on the blood of
the threshold sacrifice, instead of crossing over it reverently as a mode of its
acceptance. Hence the peculiar force of the words of the Jewish-Christian
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, concerning the mistreatment of God’s
threshold sacrifice, in the Son of God offered as our passover: “A man that
hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two
or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be
judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath
counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified [separated
from the outside world], an unholy [a common] thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace?”[587]

3. BRIDEGROOM AND BRIDE.

All through the New Testament, Jesus, the outpouring of whose blood is
“our passover” welcome from the Father, is spoken of as the Bridegroom,
and his church as the Bride. His coming to earth is referred to as the coming
of the Bridegroom–as was the coming of Jehovah to the Virgin of Israel in
Egypt. He likened himself to a bridegroom. And his coming again to his
church is foretold as the meeting of the Bridegroom and the Bride.
John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus, speaking of his mission as closing,
and that of Jesus as opening out gloriously, says: “Ye yourselves bear me
witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the
bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but
I must decrease.”[588]
Jesus, referring to the charge against his disciples, that they did not fast, as
did the disciples of John, said: “Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn,
as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the
bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.”[589]
Paul repeatedly refers to this relation between Christ and his church: “The
head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the
head of Christ is God.”[590] “The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ
also is the head of the church.... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself up for it.... He that loveth his own
wife loveth himself: for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth
and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church; because we are members
of his body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh. This mystery is
great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church.”[591]
In the Apocalypse, the inspired seer looking into the future, at the
consummation of the present age, tells of the glorious vision before him,
when Christ shall come to claim his own: “I heard as it were the voice of a
great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty

thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth.
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright
and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he saith
unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are bidden to the marriage supper of
the Lamb.”[592]
And again he says: “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.... And
there came one of the seven angels; ... and he spake with me, saying, Come
hither, I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me
away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and shewed me the holy
city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of
God: ... having a wall great and high; having twelve gates. And I saw no
temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the
temple thereof.... And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for
there shall be no night there): and they shall bring the glory and the honor
of the nations into it: and there shall in no wise enter into it anything
unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they which
are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”[593]
A closing declaration of the seer is, that the church as the Bride, with the
representative of the Bridegroom until his coming, waits and calls for his
return: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.... Come, Lord Jesus.”[594] And
so, from the Pentateuch to the Apocalypse, the Scriptures, Hebrew and
Christian, recognize and emphasize the primitive Threshold Covenant as the
beginning of religious rites, and as symbolic of the spirit of all true
covenant worship.

4. SURVIVALS OF THE RITE.

Survivals of the primitive Threshold Covenant are found in various customs
among Oriental Christians, and Christians the world over. Thus Easter is
still looked at in some regions as the continuance of Passover, and the blood
on the threshold is an accompaniment of the feast. Among the modern
Greeks, each family, as a rule, buys a lamb, kills it, and eats it on Easter
Sunday. “In some country districts the blood [of the lamb] is sometimes
smeared on the threshold of the house.”[595] Easter, like the Jewish Passover,
is the threshold of the new ecclesiastical year.
At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem, a principal incident in
the Easter festivities is the bringing down of fire from heaven at the opening
of the new ecclesiastical year.[596] This ceremony seems to be a survival of
the primitive custom of seeking new life, in its symbol of fire, at the
threshold of the home and of the new year, in the East and in the West.[597]
In the sacredness of the rite of the primitive Threshold Covenant there is
added emphasis to the thought which causes both the Roman Catholic
Church and the Greek Church to count marriage itself a sacrament. And
thus again to the claim that a virgin who is devoted to a religious life is a
“spouse of Christ,” and that her marriage to an earthly husband is adultery.
[598]
Many another religious custom points in the same direction.

VII.
OUTGROWTHS AND PERVERSIONS
OF THIS RITE.

1. ELEMENTAL BEGINNINGS.

Apart from the mooted question of the origin and development of man as
man,–whether it be held that he came into being as an incident in the
evolutionary progress of the ages, or that his creation was by a special fiat
of the Author of all things,–it is obvious that there was a beginning, when
man first appeared as a higher order of being than the lower animals then in
existence. The distinguishing attribute of man, as distinct from the lower
animals at their best, is the capacity to conceive of spiritual facts and forces.
Even at his lowest estate man is never without an apprehension of
immaterial and supernatural personalities, intangible yet real and potent.
The lower animals at their highest, and under the most effective training,
give no indication of the possibility of such a conception on their part.
Both the Bible record and the disclosed facts of science show man at the
start in a primitive state, with only elemental beginnings of knowledge or
thought or skill. No claim is made for him, by any advocate of his pre-
eminence in creation, that he then had skill in the arts, or attainment in
civilization, or that he was possessed of a religious theory or ritual of even
the simplest character. It is a matter of interest and importance to trace the
course of man’s progress from the first to the present time, and to see how
the good and the evil showed themselves along the line, from the same
germs of thought and conduct rightly used or misused. The primitive rite of
the Threshold Covenant, here brought out as initial and germinative, seems
to present a reasonable solution of the observed course in religious
development and in religious perversions in the history of mankind from the
beginning until now.
Before primitive man could have concerned himself seriously with the
course of the heavenly bodies, or the changes of the seasons, or the points
of compass and the correspondent shifting of the winds, he must have
recognized the sacred mystery of life and its transmission. It would seem
that a covenant involved in the union of twain made one over outpoured
blood, with power from the Author of life for the transmission of life, must
have been the primal religious rite that brought man’s personal action into
the clear light of a covenant relation with his Creator. Every subsequent

development of the religious idea, good and bad, pure and impure, would
seem to be traceable as an outgrowth, or as a perversion, of this elemental
religious rite.

2. MAIN OUTGROWTHS

It would seem clear that the primal idea of a covenant union between two
persons, and between those persons and their God, was found in the initial
and primitive rite of marriage, with its outpoured blood, or gift of life, on
the threshold of being; and that this rite contained in itself the germs of
covenanting and of sacrifice, and the idea of an altar and a sacrament,
where, and by which, man and God were brought into loving communion
and union. Thus the beginning of religious rites was found in the primal
Threshold Covenant as here portrayed.
Out of this beginning came all that is best and holiest in the thought of
sacrifice and sacrament and spiritual communion. The very highest
development of religious truth, under the guidance of progressive revelation
from God, and of man’s growth in thought and knowledge with the passing
ages, is directly in the line of this simple and germinal idea. Both the Bible
record and the record of outside history tend to confirm this view of
religious rites in their beginning and progress.
New life as a consequence of blood, or life, surrendered in holy
covenanting, is a natural inference or outgrowth of the truth of the primal
Threshold Covenant. Thus the thought of life after death, in the resurrection
or in metempsychosis, comes with the recognition of the simple fact of the
results of covenant union in the sight, and with the blessing, of the Author
of life, in the rite of the Threshold Covenant.[599]
The transference of the altar of threshold covenanting, from the persons of
the primary pair in the family to the hearthstone or entrance threshold of the
home or family doorway, with the accompaniment of fire as a means of
giving and sustaining life to those who sat at the common table or altar, in
the covenant meal or sacrament of hospitality, brought about the custom of
sacramental communion feasts with guests human and divine. And so, also,
there came the rites of worship, with the altar of burnt sacrifice or of
incense, and the marriage torch, and the doorway fire, and the threshold or
hearthstone covenant at a wedding. Out of this thought there came
gradually and naturally the prominence of the altar and the altar fire in

private and public worship, as it obtains both in the simpler and in the more
gorgeous ecclesiastical rituals.[600]
In conjunction with the place of fire on the family altar in the Threshold
Covenant, there came naturally the recognition of fire and warmth and light
as gifts of God for the promotion and preservation of life to those who were
dependent on him. Thus the sun as the life-giving fire of the universe came
to be recognized as a manifestation of God’s power and love. Its agency in
bringing new life after death, in the course of the changing seasons, led men
to connect the movements of the heavenly bodies with God’s dealings with
man in the line of his covenant love. The too common mistake has been of
thinking of this view of celestial nature as the origin of man’s religious
rites, instead of as an outgrowth of the primal religious rite, which
antedated man’s study of, or wonder over, the workings of the elements and
the course of the heavenly bodies.
In summing up the results of such a study as this, of primitive customs and
their outgrowth, it is necessary only to suggest a few of the more prominent
lines of progress from the elemental beginning, leaving it to the student and
thinker to follow out these, and to find others, in his more careful and
further consideration of the subject in its varied ramifications. It is sufficient
now to affirm that the Old Testament and the New point to this primitive
rite of the Threshold Covenant as a basis of their common religious ritual;
and that gleams of the same germinal idea show themselves in the best
features of all the sacred books of the ages. It would be easy, did time and
space allow, to follow out in detail the indications that all modes of worship
in sacrifice, in oblation, in praise, and prayer, in act and in word, are but
natural expressions of desire for covenant union with Deity, and of joy in
the thought of its possession, as based on the fact of such covenanting
sought and found in the primal religious rite of the human race.

3. CHIEF PERVERSIONS.

With the world as it is, and with man as he is, every possibility of good has
a corresponding possibility of evil. Good perverted becomes evil. Truth
which, rightly used, proves a savor of life, will, when misused, prove a
savor of death.[601] And that which is a symbol of truth becomes a means of
misleading when looked at as if it were in itself the truth.
The primitive Threshold Covenant as an elemental religious rite was holy
and pure, and had possibilities of outgrowth in the direction of high spiritual
attainment and aspiring. But the temptation to uplift the agencies in this rite
into objects deemed of themselves worthy of worship resulted in impurity
and deterioration, by causing the symbol to hide the truth instead of
disclosing it.
Among the earliest forms of a temple as a place of worship was the
ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, erected as a mighty altar, with its shrine, or
holy of holies, at the summit, wherein a bride of the gods awaited the
coming of the deity to solemnize the primal Threshold Covenant in
expression of his readiness to enter into loving communion with the
children of men.[602] From this custom the practice of Threshold
Covenanting at the temple doorways became incumbent on women of all
conditions of society at certain times, and under certain circumstances, in
certain portions of the world, as a proof of their religious devotion,[603] and
thus there grew up all the excesses of sacred prostitution in different
portions of the world.[604]
The prominence given to the two factors in the primitive Threshold
Covenant as a sacred religious act, led to the perversion of the original idea
by making the factors themselves objects of reverence and worship; and
separately, or together, they came to be worshiped with impure and
degrading accompaniments.
Reverence for the phallus, or for phallic emblems, shows itself in the
earliest historic remains of Babylonia, Assyria, India, China, Japan, Persia,
Phrygia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Greece, Rome, Germany,
Scandinavia, France, Spain, Great Britain, North and South America, and

the Islands of the Sea. It were needless to attempt detailed proof of this
statement, in view of all that has been written on the subject by historians,
archæologists, and students of comparative religions.[605] It is enough to
suggest that the mistake has too often been made of supposing that this
“phallic worship” was a primitive conception of a religious truth, instead of
a perversion of the earlier and purer idea which is at the basis of the highest
religious conceptions, from the beginning until now.
Quite as widely extended, in both time and space, as the worship of the
phallus as the symbol of masculine potency, is the recognition of the tree of
life as the symbol of feminine nature in its fruit-bearing capacity. A single
tree, or a grove of trees, or the lotus flower, the fig, or the pomegranate,
with the peculiar form of their seed capsules, appear in all the earlier
religious symbolisms, over against the phallus in its realistic or its
conventional forms, as representative of reproductive life.[606]
In ancient Assyrian sculpture the most familiar representation of spiritual
blessing was of a winged deity with a basket and a palm cone, touching
with the cone a sacred tree, or again the person of a sovereign, as if
imparting thereby some special benefit or power. This representation was
long a mystery to the archeologist, but a recent scholar has shown that it is
an illustration of a practice common in the East to-day, of carrying a cone of
the male palm to a female palm tree, in order to vitalize it by the pollen.[607]
The cone is one of the conventional forms of the phallus, worshiped as a
symbol in the temples of the goddesses of the East in earlier days and later.
[608]
Hence this ancient Assyrian representation is an illustration of the truth
that the primitive threshold covenant was recognized as the type of divine
power, and covenant blessing, imparted to God’s representative, under the
figure of the phallus and the tree.
It would seem, indeed, that the pillar and the tree came to be the
conventional symbols of the male and female elements erected in front of
an altar of worship,[609] and that, in the deterioration of the ages, these
symbols themselves were worshiped, and their symbolism was an incentive
to varied forms of impurity, instead of to holy covenanting with God and in
God’s service. Therefore these symbols were deemed by true worshipers a
perversion of an originally sacred rite, and their destruction was a duty with
those who would restore God’s worship to its pristine purity.

Thus the command to Jehovah’s people as to their treatment of the people
of Canaan was: “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the
inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst
of thee: but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars
[or male symbols], and ye shall cut down their Asherim [or trees as a female
symbol]: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord [Jehovah], whose
name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the
inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods.”[610] Here is a
distinct reference to the primitive Threshold Covenant in its purity and
sacredness, and to its perversion in the misuse of the phallus and tree in
their symbolism.
Again the command was explicit to the Israelites: “Thou shalt not plant thee
an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God, which
thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar; which the Lord
thy God hateth.”[611]
From the earliest historic times the serpent seems to have been accepted as
a symbol of the nexus of union between the two sexes, and to be associated,
therefore, with the pillar and the tree, as suggestive of the desire that may
be good or evil, according to its right or wrong direction and use. Its place
as a symbol has been at the threshold of palace and temple and home, with
limitless powers of evil in its misuse.[612]
“Mighty snakes standing upright,” together with “mighty bulls of bronze”
were “on the threshold of the gates” in ancient Babylon.[613] A serpent
wreathed the phallus boundary stone (as if suggestive of its being a thing of
life) on the threshold of Babylonian domains.[614] As a symbol of life and
life-giving power the serpent stood erect above the head of the mightiest
kings of Egypt, who gave and took life at their pleasure,[615] and it even
accompanied the winged sun-orb in its manifestation of light and warmth
and life over the grandest temples of ancient Thebes.[616] The Egyptian
goddess Ket, or Kadesh, “Mistress of Heaven,” a divinity borrowed from
the Semites, was represented as standing on a lioness, with lotus flowers,
their stems coiled in circular form, in her right hand, and two serpents in her
left hand, as she came with her offering to Min, or Khem, the god of
generative force.[617] A similar representation of a goddess of life is found in
ancient Assyrian remains.

In the representation of Nergal, the lord of the under world, in the ancient
Babylonian mythology, the phallus and the serpent were identical.[618]
Beltis-Allat, consort of Nergal, and lady of the under world, brandished a
serpent in either hand. She was guardian of the waters of life which were
under the threshold of the entrance of her realm.[619]
That which was primarily a holy instinct became, in its perversion, a source
of evil and a cause of dread; hence the serpent became a representative of
evil itself, and the conflict with it was the conflict between good and evil,
between light and darkness. This is shown in the religions of ancient
Babylonia, Egypt, and India, and Phœnicia and Greece, and Mexico and
Peru, and various other countries.[620]
Vishnoo and his wife Lakshmi, from whom, according to Hindoo teachings,
the world was produced, and by whom it continues or must cease, are
represented as seated on a serpent, as the basis of their life and power.[621]
Siva, also, giver and destroyer of life, is crowned with a serpent, and a
serpent is his necklace, while the symbol of his worship is the linga in yoni.
[622]
A mode of Hindoo worship includes the placing of a stone linga
between two serpents, and under two trees, the one a male tree and the other
a female tree.[623] And in various ways the serpent appears, in connection
with different Hindoo deities, as the agent of life-giving or of life-
destroying.[624] A suggestive representation of Booddha as the conqueror of
desire shows him seated restfully on a coiled serpent, the hooded head of
which is a screen or canopy above his head.[625]
Apollo, son of Zeus, was the slayer of the man-destroying serpent at
Delphi; yet the serpent, when conquered, became a means of life and
inspiration to others.[626] Æsculapius, the god of healing, a son of Apollo,
was represented by the serpent because he gave new life to those who were
dying. Serpents were everywhere connected with his worship as a means of
healing.[627] The female oracle who represented Apollo at Delphi sat on a
tripod formed of entwined serpents.[628] Serpents on the head of Medusa
were a means of death to the beholder; and these serpents were given to
Medusa instead of hair because of her faithlessness and sacrilege in the
matter of the Threshold Covenant.[629] Thus the good and the evil in that
which the serpent symbolized were shown in the religions of the nations of
antiquity, and serpent worship became one of the grossest perversions of the
idea of the primitive Threshold Covenant.

As in the matter of phallic worship and tree worship, so in this of the
worship of the serpent, it would seem unnecessary to multiply illustrations
of its prominence in various lands, when so many special treatises on the
subject are already available.[630] It is only necessary to emphasize anew the
fact that the evident thought of the symbol is an outgrowth or a perversion
of the idea of the primitive Threshold Covenant.
The form of the Bible narrative, portraying the first temptation and the first
sin, seems to show how early the symbolism of the tree and the serpent was
accepted in popular speech. From that narrative as it stands it would appear
that the first act of human disobedience was incontinence, in transgression
of a specific command to abstain, at least for a time, from carnal
intercourse. Desire, as indicated by the serpent, prompted to an untimely
partaking of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and the consequences of sin
followed. The results of this act of disobedience, as recorded in the sacred
text,[631] make evident the correctness of this view of the case. When the
Bible narrative was first written, whenever that was, the terms “tree,”[632]
“fruit” of the tree,[633] “knowledge,”[634] “serpent,” were familiar figures of
speech or euphemisms, and their use in the Bible narrative would not have
been misunderstood by readers generally. Probably there was no question as
to this for many centuries. It was not until the dull prosaic literalism of the
Western mind obscured the meaning of Oriental figures of speech that there
was any general doubt as to what was affirmed in the Bible story of the first
temptation and disobedience.[635]
Philo Judæus at the beginning of the Christian era, seems to understand this
as the meaning of the narrative in Genesis, and he applies the teachings of
that narrative accordingly.[636] There are indications that the rabbis looked
similarly at the meaning of the Bible text. There are traces of this traditional
view in different Jewish writings.[637]
Evidently the original meaning was still familiar in the early Christian ages.
But its becoming connected with false doctrines and heresies, as taught by
the Ophites and other Gnostic sects, seems to have brought the truth itself
into disrepute, and finally led to its repudiation in favor of a dead literalism.
[638]
The curse resting on the serpent, in consequence of the first sin of
incontinence, was the degradation of the primitive impulse,[639] unless
uplifted again by divine inspiration.[640] Because of their breach of the

covenant of divine love our first parents were expelled from their home of
happiness, and the guardians of the threshold forbade their return to it.[641]
In the closing chapters of the New Testament, as in the opening chapters of
the Old, the symbolism of the tree and the serpent, and the covenant
relations involved in crossing the threshold, appear as familiar and well-
understood figures of speech. “The dragon, the old serpent, which is the
Devil and Satan,”[642] representing unholy desire, is shut out from the
precincts of the New Jerusalem. Within the gates of that city is there the tree
of life watered by the stream that flows from under the throne of power.[643]
The city threshold is the dividing line between light and darkness, good and
evil, life and death. “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may
have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into
the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the
murderers, and the idolators, and every one that loveth and maketh a
lie.”[644]
Thus it is in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, at their beginning and at
their close. And there are traces of the same truth in the teachings of the
various religions, and of the more primitive customs and symbolisms. The
all-dividing threshold separates the within from the without; and a covenant
welcome there gives one a right to enter in through the gates into the eternal
home, to be a partaker of the tree of life, with its ever-renewing and
revivifying fruits.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOOD IN THE MARRIAGE RITE.[645]

In Ægypto Superiori, quemadmodum in aliis regionibus, ubi mores prisci
praeservati vigent, matrimonium eousque non consummatur, donec,
examine instituto, sponsus sanguinem, ceu testimonium virginitatis sponsae
elicuerit. Linteolum quoddam singulare, mucinii vel mappae speciem prae
se ferens, a parentibus sponsae ad obryssam hanc praeparatur.
Quum sponsus vigilia nuptiarum sponsam convenit, linteolum istud digito
circumvolvit, atque periculum virginitatis instituit. Sanguis linteolum
maculis cruentans fit insigne ac testimonium sponsi autographum
virginitatis sponsae intemeratae atque comprobatae, necnon tessera eius in
uxorem accitae. Ipsum linteolum, manu sua cruenta quasi sigillo signatum,
parentibus, qui illud, tamquam indubitatum castitatis filiae suae virginalis
servatae testimonium, insimul et pignus sacri foederis sui connubii
custodiant, thesauri instar recondendum redditur. Receptio pignoris
evidentiaeque tarn castitatis illibatae quam matrimonii iuncti, inter amicos,
qui prae foribus cubiculi nuptialis adventum linteoli praestolantur, causa
exsistit gaudii laetitiaeque exsultantis.
Verumenimvero si nec manamen sanguinis, nec rubrum manus cruentatae
vestigium occasione istiusmodi se prodiderint, turba amicorum in limine
conclavis nuptialis praestolantium, loco exsultationis laetae moerore tristi
luget atque plangorem eiulatumque saevum ciet; aut vero silentium,
eloquens luctus indicium, inter eos regnat, nam dolor est illatus domui
decore honoris orbatae, cuius parem ne mors ipsa quidem gignere possit. Si
res sic se habent, sponsa libello repudii, absque vinculo connubii, a sponso
dimittitur. Ast si digitus suus tactu cruore manante contaminetur, ab ipso eo
momento sua fit uxor, etiamsi consummatio coniugii, ut moris est, ad usque
triduum aut hebdomadem differatur.[646]
Id quod foedus inter se suamque sponsam figit atque sancit, est cruoris tactu
sponsi eliciti profluvium. Meatum in penetralia suae essentiae incisione
aperiens, sponsus “caedit foedus” cum ea in conspectu sui Creatoris, ad
litteram.[647] Sponsus “nocte nuptiarum sanguinem virginalem offerens,” fit
sponsus sanguineus, “khatan damim.”[648] In hoc rerum statu divulsio est

quod coniungit, atque vestigium manus cruentum est quod instrumentum
foederis subministrat.
Sponsus, loco proprii digiti ansa interdum clavis ianuae ligneae pristinae,
specie digito simili, quae linteolo hoc obvolvitur, examen instituit, eo quod
haec, aperiendo penetralia intemerata, quae penetrare[649] praeter se liceat
nemini, actum reseratus imagine quadam symbolica significet. Signaculum
tamen cruentum in linteolo utroque in casu eiusdem omnino est momenti.
Pari modo camisia sponsae communis, loco mucinii vel telae, soluit notam
manus cruentae recipere, quae ut testimonium matrimonii identidem
custodiri consuevit. Caeterum hae sunt moris vigentis variationes exiliores,
nec quae referantur dignae, nisi ut declarent, quam sint testimonia variorum,
qui haec perhibuerint, secum pugnantia.[650]

EXHIBITING THE EVIDENCES.

In Syria, veluti in Ægypto, tela cruenta, vel indusium sanguine maculatum
loco probae castitatis testimoniique matrimonii habetur. In Sinis
“linteolum” ferculo a famulo offertur sponso, ubi is cubiculum nuptiale
primum intrat, quod his thalamo insternit, parentibus sponsae, sanguine
inquinatum ad praeservandum traditurus.[651] Apud Dahomeanos thalamus,
nocte nuptiarum gossypina nova impressa (vulgo “calico”) consternitur,
postero autem die, si cuncta e sententia successerint, godo (ligatura, quae
Anglis “T bandage” sonat) ad amicos sponsae cum triumpho deportatur ...
dum sponsus lodiculam thalami exhibet.[652]
In Ægypto indumenta nuptialia, vestigiis manus cruentae notata, “erant post
nuptias supra fores domus rustici suspensa.”[653] Alias sponsa poterat
postridie nuptiarum amicis se sistere indusio sanguine maculato supra alias
vestes induta, atque in responsum coram eis congratulantibus saltare rogata.
[654]
Soluit, porro, indusium hoc amicis visum venientibus exhiberi, aut vero
ad examinandum a vicinis in domos circumferri.[655] Mores consimiles in
quibusdam etiam Syriae partibus usuvenerunt.
Ubi mappa vel pannus specialis in Ægypto Superiori adhibetur, haec,
quamprimum madere cruore contingat, a sponso mulieribus praestolantibus
foras exporrigitur. Mater sponsae, eam obtentam marito tradit, hic autem
tiarae (Turcis turban) suae apponit, seque primoribus senioribusque populi
in aedibus suis ut hospites congregatis sistit. Hi, testimonium istud illibatae
filiae suae castitatis servatae intelligentes, atque insimul eam nunc foedere
matrimonii in uxorem accitam, inclinatione reverenter facta, ei apprecantes
aiunt: “Fidem facio.”[656]
In oris Africae occiduis, apud populos magis primaevos, indumentum
sanguine commaculatum vicinis exhiberi consuevit. Quinimo et apud
humaniores Christianorum gentes mos viget vestem hanc die Solis post
nuptias in fana, ut a cunctis cernatur, deferendi atque exhibendi.[657]
Siquidem absque veste hac cruentata indicium matrimonii est nullum.
Ritus nuptiales apud veteres Aztec atque Nahuas, gentes Americae
Centralis, a ritibus Ariorum priscorum haud fuerunt absimiles. Quum enim

sponsa a suis amicis ad novum deduceretur domicilium, ibidem a sponso
excipiebatur. Utrisque erat thuribulum thusque cremabant, in matta coram
focum domesticum simul sedentes. Tum sacerdos accessit, atque eos ritu
sacro in matrimonium coniugavit. Hinc se in fanum contulerunt, in limine
cuius sacerdotes praestolantes eos exceperunt. In cubiculo proprio in fano
morantes, triduum tresque noctes exercitiis pietatis dediti, secum ipsis
transigere debebant, tribus vetulis custoditi atque invigilati. Nocte quarta,
quum connubium consummandum erat, sacerdotes duo thalamum suum
praepararunt, tumque relicti sunt secum ipsi soli. “Nonnullis in locis proba
virginitatis iuvencae postridie nuptiarum postulabatur. In quibuslibet nuptiis
moris erat ut sponsores cubiculum, ubi nupturientes pernoctassent, intrarent,
atque camisiam sponsae tradi postularent; quam, si cruore infectam
reperissent, foras proferrent, perticae appenderent, atque ceu testimonium,
sponsam virginem fuisse, visui exhiberent; tum choreae institutae totaque
loca peragrata saltando, debacchando summaque laetitia exsultando; quae
omnia ‘camisiam saltare’ appellari consueverunt. Si quando camisiam
sanguine non maculari contigerit, gaudia lacrymis ac plangori cesserunt
locum, non secus ac maledicta, sugillationes dicteriaque soluerunt in
sponsam iactari, insimul vero et marito ius erat eam libello repudii
donare.”[658]
“Si Muhammadanus puellam in uxorem ducit, atque lege pacti connubialis
eam virginem castam esse oportere stipulaverit, indicia eiusdem interdum
exigere consuevit. Quandoquidem familia eam, casu quo indicio hoc
caruerit, repudio remittendam exspectare debeat, pater sollicita cura cavebit
ut habeat quo se, si forte filia sua iacturam indicii virginitatis fecisset,
purgare possit. Halebii versanti mihi audire contigit Arabem quemdam a
Cadi documentum impetrasse, atque a testibus subsignari curasse, quo
ostenderetur filiam camelo delapsam detrimentum tulisse.
“Muhammadani, de foeminis suis interrogati, aegre invitique respondent.
Attamen post longam diuturnamque cum iis consuetudinem, data occasione,
contigit mihi hac de re cum quibusdam eorum disseruisse, ex quo intellexi
Arabes humaniores linteaminibus sordidatis parum fidei praestare.... Viri
interdum deliquium cruoris, velut testimonium debilitatis propriae, vulgo
innotescere abnuunt.
“Muhammadanis in Iemen atque in India persuasum est aiuntque lintea
infecta visui offerre viro perquam dedecere. Nec profecto, nisi curiositas

muliebris atque agnati, res huiusmodi insectantur. A mente sana neminem
tam alienum existimandum arbitrantur quam quibus haec praeservanda
videantur. Proinde linteum hoc apud eos eluitur traditurque ut usui consueto
inter linteamina domestica restituatur. Percontanti mihi Iudaeus quidam de
Iudaeis et Muhammadanis Muscatensibus, Christianus vero aliquis de
Christianis et Muhammadanis Halebitis idem significaverat. Busrae tamen
audisse mihi licuit dari mulieres ordinis plebeii, quae tesseram hanc
pristinae suae castitatis velut vindicias praeservare solitae sint, nequis ganeo
protervus de eius post pubertatem moribus quasi ambiguis sermocinari sibi
praesumpserit.”[659]

SUBSTITUTE BLOOD FOR DECEPTION.

Quum in Arabia sponsa quaedam virginitatis orba sponso a parentibus
imponitur, mater sponsae turturillam clam iugulat, eiusque sanguine
camisiam sponsae, antequam illa amicis visui exhibeatur, tingit atque
commaculat. Ad mores hos in fabulis “Noctium Mille et Unius” haud tam
infrequenter referimur.[660] Burton haec interpretans ait: “Vetus ac
venerabilis consuetudo linteum nuptiale visendi in plurimis Orientis
regionibus pietate quadam religiosa adhuc praeservata viget; in familiis
enim Muhammedanis, moribus priscis addictis, linteum hoc in gynaeceo, ut
cernatur, expositum prostat, ut ... filiam marito illibatam se obtulisse
ostendat testeturque.... Opinio popularis praevalet nullam sanguinem posse
peritos, h. e. matronas iuratrices, fallere, praeterquam sanguis turturillae,
utpote qui sanguini hymenaeo existimetur esse simillimus, nisi indages
adminiculo microscopii instituatur. Fides haec apud Europae Australis
populos bene universa est, tum etiam de re eadem in Anglia quoque me
audisse memini.”[661] Burton porro subiungit: “Arabes atque Indi in diebus
nostris linteum nuptiale indagare, quemadmodum apud Iudaeos Persasque
usuvenit, raro sinunt. Sponsa mucinium candidum secum in lectum sumit,
ut habeat quo cruorem manantem sopiat, postridie autem mane maculae in
gynaeceo propalantur. In Darfuria vero, regione Africae, hoc ipsum a
sponso perficitur.”[662]
Apud Morduinos, gentem Fennicam, accolas Rha, mores prisci vigent.[663]
Consuetudinem testimonium virginitatis exhibendi, vel in eius locum
sanguinem pulli gallinacei substituendi, velut in partibus Asiae atque
Africae, in his Europae Septemtrione-Orientalis plagis ad usque modo
reperiri licet. “In comitatu Crasnaslobodsceno, Provinciae Pensae, mulier
neo-nupta e thalamo arcessitur, atque in camisia sua cruore commaculata (si
opus sit, etiam sanguine pulli gallinacei) a duabus amicis labrum vacuum
secum baiulantibus, vetulaque panem secum portante, ad fluvium
proximum deducitur. In iis autem regionibus, ubi Morduini Russorum
moribus sunt magis imbuti, hospites nuptiales, quamprimum virginitas sit
comprobata, quidquid ipsis sub manus cadat, ut suum gaudium
reverentiamque rite significent, confringunt atque comminuunt.”[664]

PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF THE RITE.
Navarchus Cook, in Chronico sui primi circum orbem itineris de Fœdere
Liminari, ceu modo cultus publici in Otaheita, seu Tahiti, sequentia refert:
“Die 14-mo (Maii), qui erat Solis, in castris cultum divinum celebrandum
iussi; maximopere desiderabamus ut principes Indorum huic interessent, at
hi, quum hora appropinquasset, domum discesserunt. Verumtamen Dñus
Banks, traiecto flumine, Tuburai Tamaide suamque uxorem Tomio, secum
reduxit, fore enim sperabat, ut cultus noster ab iis percontationes quasdam
eliceret, non secus ac nobis instrui liceret: quum eos discumbere iussisset,
ipse in medio eorum discubuit, qui durantibus ceremoniis suum agendi
modum summa animadversione sunt prosecuti actionesque imitati; stantes,
considentes, genua flectentes, prout eum facere videbant: haud erant
nimirum ignari apud nos quiddam solemnis agi atque serii, ut hoc vel inde
concludi potuerit, quod hi suos populares praeter castra tripudiantes
clamando ad silentiam servandum cohortati fuissent; attamen cultu
absoluto, neuter percontabatur quid rei gestum esset, nec ullis volebant
tentaminibus res gestas explicandi aures praebere.
“Talia erant nostra officia matutina; Indi vero nostri vesperas toto coelo
diversas iudicarunt esse offerendas. Vir quidam iuvenis, procerus, fere sex
pedes, ritus Veneris cum pupula vix undenorum vel duodenorum annorum,
pluribus nostrum magnoque popularium numero coram intuentibus,
perfecit, quin actum dedecere, vel bonis adversari moribus senserit; verum,
ut concludere licuit, moribus illius regionis omnino congruenter. Erant
autem in turba inspectante non paucae mulieres ordinum superiorum, in
specie autem Oberea (mulier principalis illius Insulae, quae primum regina
esse reputabatur), quae ad ceremonias ministrasse iure dici potest; nam
mulieres hae puellam monendo instituebant quemadmodum vidl. sibi sua
parte muneris obeundum esset.”[665]
Quum apud Samoanos nuptiae cuiusdam optimatum in diebus primaevis
celebrabantur, partes agnatique sponsae in maroe, seu foro publico
congregabantur, ubi sponsus, cunctis intuentibus, primam virginitatis
sponsae obryssam instituit. Si documentum virginitatis ab eo exhiberi
potuerat, coetus omnis exsurrexit complosisque manibus sponsae

gratulabundus acclamavit; at, si quo casu proba haec defuerit, eam probris
scommatibusque lacessiverant. Apud plebem humilem ritus his in aedibus
privatis, nec tanta pompa celebrabatur.[666]

BIBLE TESTIMONY.

A distinct reference to the proofs of chastity, in the blood-stamped cloth, is
found in the Bible record of the ancient law of Israel. “If any man take a
wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and lay shameful things to her
charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and
when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity: then
shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the
tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: and
the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this
man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath laid shameful things to her
charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet
these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the
garment [or cloth, Hebrew simlah] before the elders of the city.
“And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him; and they
shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the
father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin
of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the
damsel: then they shall bring out the damsel to the doors of her father’s
house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones that she die:
because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s
house.”[667]

WOMAN AS A DOOR.

In different languages and among various peoples there is, as already
suggested,[668] an apparent connection between the terms, and the
corresponding ideas, of “woman” and “door,” that would seem to be a
confirmation of the fact that the earliest altar was at the threshold of the
woman, and of the door.
Thus, in the Song of Songs 8 : 8, 9:–
“We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her a turret of silver:
And if she be a door,
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.”

Job, cursing the day of his birth, says (Job 3 : 1–10):
“Let the day perish wherein I was born,
And the night which said, There is a man child conceived....
Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.”

Referring to this passage, the Babylonian Talmud (Treatise Bechoroth, 45 a)
quotes Rabbi Eliezer as saying, “Just as a house has doors, so also a woman
has doors.” Others say: “Just as a house has keys [miphteakh, literally
‘opener’], so the woman has a key; for it is said (Gen. 30 : 22) ‘God
hearkened to her, and opened [a play upon patakh, ‘to open,’ and
miphteakh, ‘key’] her womb.’” The famous Rabbi Akibah says: “Just as a
house has hinges, so there are hinges to a wife; for it is written (1 Sam. 4 :
19), ‘She kneeled and gave birth, for her hinges had turned’ [translating
ṣîrîm (or tseereem) as ‘hinges’ instead of ‘pains’; the word has the former
meaning in Proverbs 26 : 14, ‘As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth
the sluggard upon his bed.’]”

The Talmudic treatise Middâ (Mishna § 2, 5) explains the different parts of
the womb under the metaphors khĕdĕr, “interior chamber;” pʾrosdôr,
“vestibule;” ʿalîyyâ, “upper story.”[669] Professor Dr. Morris Jastrow, Jr., in
citing these metaphors, suggests that they coincide with the Arabic and
Egyptian custom of using a key in the marriage rite, as described at page
244.
Critics have long puzzled over the seemingly contradictory uses of the
Hebrew word pôth in two places in the Old Testament; and the connection
of “woman” and “door” with the parts thereof, above suggested, may aid in
resolving the difficulty. At 1 Kings 7 : 50, in a list of the holy vessels of the
house of the Lord, there are mentioned “the hinges (Heb., pôthôth), both for
the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the
house, to wit, of the temple, of gold.” At Isaiah 3 : 17 the same word poth is
translated “their secret parts,” in a reference to the humiliation of “the
daughters of Zion.” It has been suggested by some that there was a
corruption of the text in Isaiah. (See Delitzsch and Dillmann, in their
commentaries at this place.) Yet in view of the rabbinical uses of language,
the text would seem to be trustworthy. Pôth is an “opening,” of a woman or
of a door. Additional light is thrown on the use of the term pôth as
“opening” and as “hinge,” or “socket,” when we bear in mind that the hinge
of an Oriental door was a hole, or cavity, or door socket, on which the door
turned, in order to give an opening or entrance. Often these door sockets
were made of metal,–bronze, silver, or gold.[670] Sometimes the entire
thresholds, in which were these sockets or “basons,” were of metal. If,
however, the threshold was of stone or wood, the socket, or a plate with a
depression in it, was of metal. The pôth, therefore, when referring to a door,
was the metal plate or socket in the threshold on which the door turned as
on a hinge.
It is, indeed, possible that the opening or cavity in the ancient stone or metal
threshold was sometimes the bason, or vessel, into which the covenanting
blood was poured.[671] In that case, the correspondence of the opening of the
woman, and the socket of the threshold, would be more obvious. Important
inscriptions are usually found at or around these so-called “door sockets,”
in Babylonian relics; and there is still doubt in many minds whether these
cavities were always hinge sockets.

The word “hinges,” or “hangers,” is at the best an inaccurate and
misleading term, as applied to the pivots or knuckles on which an ancient
door swung in its socket. Ancient doors were not hung on hinges, but they
swung on pivots. Instead of a hinge, there was a knuckle or pintle, with a
corresponding socket, or cavity, or opening, in the threshold or door-sill.
Both Gesenius[672] and Stade[673] give “socket” as one of the meanings of
pôth. The plural, pôthoth, of course, refers to the sockets of two leaves of a
double door on one threshold.
When Samson was shut in at Gaza by the Philistines, the double leaves of
the city gate were held together by a bar, without the lifting of which the
doors could not be opened. “And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at
midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two
posts [the upright stiles, at the bottom of which were the knuckles that
turned in the threshold sockets], and plucked them up, bar [cross-bar or
latch] and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the
top of the mountain that is before Hebron.”[674]
I have in my possession a bronze door-socket and knuckle of an ancient
gate or door, unearthed from a mound in the vicinity of Ghuzzeh, the site of
ἡ τύχηancient Gaza, that meets this description.

In primitive symbolism, as shown in Babylonia, Egypt, and India, the circle
or ring, like this socket, represents woman.
It would be interesting, in this connection, to follow out the meanings and
uses of the Greek words πυθμήν (puthmēn), root φυ (phu); and φλιή (phliē),
doorpost, root φλι (phli); compare φλέω (phleō), φίλος (philos). It is evident
that the twofold idea of the threshold of life, and the threshold, or sockets,
of the door, is in the uses of these terms and their derivatives in earlier and
later Greek. But only this suggestion can be made here.
The correspondence of “woman” and “door,” or of “wife” and “threshold,”
in the Arabic, has already been pointed out.[675] A similar suggestion is in
Sanskrit terms.[676]
In Germany, even at the present time, a common term for “woman” is
“woman chamber” (frauenzimmer), as in Arabic hareema is a woman, while
hareem is the women’s apartment. A remark attributed to a prominent
American clergyman, as showing the naturalness of the figure of woman as
a door, is: “He who marries a wife opens a door, through which unborn
generations shall troop.”
A Chinese character is the representation of “threshold,” of “door,” and also
of “woman.”[677] It is suggested by the lexicographer that the origin of this
character was a small door in a large gate, as the inner door to the hareem or
women’s apartments; but it seems probable, from the correspondence of this
twofold idea with the primitive thought of woman as the door of humanity,
that the Chinese character must have had an origin prior to that degree of
civilization which recognized such a classification in household apartments.
The combination of “door” and “border” is another Chinese character[678]
that stands for “threshold” or “door-sill.”[679] Confucius said that this
threshold “should not be trodden on when walking through” the door.

SYMBOLISM OF THE TWO SEXES.

As showing the antiquity, as well as the universality, of the symbolism of
the two sexes as the source of life, in connection with reverent worship, an
illustration of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead is noteworthy. In a
vignette on Chapter CXXV, in the Papyrus Ani, a worshiper, is represented
before the throne of Osiris, in the Hall of Righteousness, with uplifted
hands, in token of covenant worship, while his offering is a lotus flower, the
symbol of fecundity, laid on the conventional phallus, the symbol of virility.
[680]
This vignette is reproduced on the cover of this volume. The lotus
flower has the same signification in Assyria and India as in Egypt.[681]
The pine cone, which, as the symbol of virility and vitalizing force, was
prominent in the ancient Assyrian sculptures, as also in the Phenician and
Grecian cults,[682] was likewise to be found in ancient Rome. An enormous
bronze pine cone, eleven feet high, probably older than the Christian era,
still ornaments a fountain in the gardens of the Vatican. Lanciani says:
“Pope Symmachus, who did so much toward the embellishment of sacred
edifices in Rome (between 498 and 514), removed the pine cone from its
ancient place, most probably from Agrippa’s artificial lake in the Campus
Martius, and used it for adorning the magnificent fountain which he had
built in the center of the so-called ‘Paradise’ of S. Peter’s, viz., in the center
of the square portico in front of the basilica.”[683]
Among the Pompeian relics in the Royal Museum at Naples is a
representation of a woman making an offering to Priapus in order to be
cured of sterility. She brings a pine cone, while her husband is near her.[684]
Evidences of the fact that boundary posts, landmarks, and milestones were
intended to represent the phallus at the threshold in the Roman empire, as in
the far East, abound among the same relics in the Neapolitan Museum.[685]

SYMBOLISM OF TREE AND SERPENT.

A striking confirmation of the view taken in this work of the symbolism of
the serpent, as the nexus between the two sexes, the female being
represented by the fig-tree, and the male by the upright stone, or pole,[686] is
found in an ancient religious custom in Mysore, India. Captain J.S.F.
Mackenzie contributed an interesting paper on this subject to the “Indian
Antiquary.”[687] “Round about Bangalore, more especially towards the Lal
Bagh and Petta,–as the native town is called,–three or more stones are to be
found together, having representations of serpents carved upon them. These
stones are erected always under the sacred fig-tree by some pious person,
whose means and piety determine the care and finish with which they are
executed. Judging from the number of the stones, the worship of the serpent
appears to be more prevalent in the Bangalore district than in other parts of
the province. No priest is ever in charge of them. There is no objection to
men doing so, but from custom, or for some reason,–perhaps because the
serpent is supposed to confer fertility on barren women,–the worshiping of
the stones, which takes place during the Gauri feast, is confined to women
of all Hindu classes and creeds. The stones, when properly erected, ought to
be on a built-up stone platform facing the rising sun, and under the shade of
two peepul (Ficus religiosa) trees,–a male and female growing together, and
wedded by ceremonies, in every respect the same as in the case of human
beings,–close by, and growing in the same platform a nimb (margosa) and
bipatra (a kind of wood-apple), which are supposed to be living witnesses
of the marriage. The expense of performing the marriage ceremony is too
heavy for ordinary persons, and so we generally find only one peepul and a
nimb on the platform. By the common people these two are supposed to
represent man and wife.”

COVENANT OF THRESHOLD-CROSSING.

An American gentleman traveling among the Scandinavian immigrants in
Wisconsin and Minnesota, was surprised to see their house doors quite
generally standing open, as if they had no need of locks and bolts. He
argued from this that they were an exceptionally honest people, and that
they had no fear of thieves and robbers. A Scandinavian clergyman, being
asked about this, said that they had thieves in that region, but that thieves
would not cross a threshold, or enter a door, with evil intent, being held
back by a superstitious fear of the consequences of such a violation of the
covenant obligation incurred in passing over the threshold.
I asked a native Syrian woman, “If a thief wanted to get into your house to
steal from you, would he come in at the door, if he saw that open?” “Oh,
no!” she answered, “he would come in at the window, or would dig in from
behind.” “Why wouldn’t he come in at the door?” I asked. “Because his
reverence would keep him from that,” she said, in evident reference to the
superstitious dread of crossing a threshold with evil intent,–a dread growing
out of an inborn survival of reverence for the primitive altar, with the
sacredness of a covenant entered into by its crossing.
The very term commonly employed in the New Testament for thieving
indicates the “digging through” a building, instead of entering by the door.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust
doth consume, and where thieves break through [literally, dig through;
Greek, diorussō and steal.”[688] “If the master of the house had known in
what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have left
his house to be digged through.”[689]
Canon Tristram tells of an Adwan shaykh who was proud of being a
“robber,” a “highwayman,” but who resented the idea that he was a
“thief,”–a “sneak thief.” “I am not a thief,” he said; “I do not dig into the
houses of fellaheen in the night. I would scorn it. I only take by force in the
day time. And, if God gives me strength, shall I not use it?” Canon Tristram
adds: “A ‘thief,’ as distinguished from a ‘robber,’ would never think of
attempting to force the door, but would noiselessly dig through a wall in the

rear,–a work of no great labor, as the walls are generally of earth, or sun-
dried bricks, or, at best, of stone imbedded in turf instead of in mortar.”[690]
A former missionary in Palestine[691] says: “Digging through the wall is the
common method pursued by housebreakers in Palestine, and, save in the
cities, the operation is not one of great difficulty. Windows, in our sense, do
not exist in the houses of the villagers; ... but the walls, built of roughly
broken stones and mud, are easily, and by a skilled hand almost noiselessly,
penetrated. One night, about midnight, I was driven from my resting-place
under a stunted olive-tree in the plain of Sharon by a terrific thunderstorm,
and took refuge in the miserable fellahy village of Kalansaweh. A good
woman unbarred her door and admitted me to a single apartment, in which,
on the ground level, were several sheep and cattle, with an ass, and on the
higher level a pretty large family asleep, all dimly discerned by the light of
a little oil lamp stuck in a crevice of the wall. The atmosphere was awful. I
asked why they did not have a window or opening in the wall. The woman
held up her hands in amazement. ‘What!’ she exclaimed, ‘and assist the
robbers [“thieves”]?’... The robbers [‘thieves’], she explained, were the
Arabs in the plain. Greater rascals do not exist. They were great experts, she
explained, in ‘digging through’ the houses; to put a window in the wall
would only tempt them, and facilitate their work.”
Now, as of old, among the more primitive pastoral people of Palestine, “He
that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.... The thief cometh not,
but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy.”[692]
I remember now, what I did not realize the meaning of at the time, that
while I was journeying in Arabia we did not set a watch before the entrance
of our tents, when we were near a village; but the guards were at the rear of
the tents, to watch against thieves, who would crawl underneath the canvas
to steal what they might.
It seems to have been a custom in medieval times, and probably earlier, for
the besiegers in war time to endeavor to enter a city which they would sack
through a breach in the walls, or by scaling the walls, rather than by
entering the gates. On the other hand, if a conqueror would protect the
inhabitants of a captured city, he would pass in through the opened gates. To
deliver up the keys of the city gates to a hostile commander was equivalent

to capitulating or making formal terms of surrender. In the military museum
at Berlin are preserved the keys of cities captured by the emperors of
Germany at various times along the centuries.
There is a trace of this custom of besiegers, even in Old Testament times, in
the injunctions to Israel with reference to its warfares: “When thou drawest
nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it [proffer
quarter]. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open [the
gates] unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein
shall become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee. And if it will make
no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege
it: and when the Lord thy God delivereth it into thine hand, thou shalt smite
every male thereof with the edge of the sword.”[693]
It has been suggested on a former page,[694] but perhaps not sufficiently
explained, that this idea of subjecting one’s self to the covenant obligations
of citizenship by passing through the city gates, over the threshold, had to
do with the Grecian custom of welcoming back to his own city the victor in
the Olympian games through a breach in the walls, instead of through the
gate. The meaning of this Greek custom (continued in Rome) was not clear
in the days of Plutarch, and he, in seeking to account for it, suggests that it
may have been intended to show that a city having such men among its
citizens needed no walls of defense.[695] But, as they rebuilt their walls after
the entrance of the victor, this explanation is not satisfactory. The world-
wide recognition of the covenant obligations of a passage through a gate
over the threshold is a more satisfactory explanation. If the victor, on
returning in triumph from the games, were to enter his city through the
gates, like any other citizen, he would be subject to the laws of the city as a
citizen or a guest; but if the city would recognize him as a conqueror, at
home as well as at Olympia, they would let him come in through a breach
in the walls. In this act the citizens nominally submitted themselves to him;
and a city thus entered, and, as it were, captured, often felt that it received
more honor from its victor than it could confer upon him.[696]

DOORKEEPER, AND CARRIER.

A “porter” and a “porter” are two very different persons, as the terms are
employed in both Europe and America. We speak of a porter as a menial
who carries burdens, such as parcels or baggage, a mere carrier for hire.
Again, we speak of a porter as the attendant at, or the custodian of, the
entrance gate of a mansion or public building. In the one case the porter is a
very humble personage, in the other case he is a person of responsibility
and importance. How it came about that the same term is applied to both
these personages is worth considering, in view of its bearing on the
importance of the door and the gate.
It is said to have been a custom of the ancient Etruscans and Romans, and
perhaps of older peoples, in laying out the foundations of a city, to mark
first the compass of the whole city with a plow. When they came to those
places where they were to have the gates of the city, they took up the plow
and carried it across the gateway, “transported” the plow at that space. It is
said that from this custom the Latin word porta came to apply to “a gate,”
“a portando aratrum,” “from carrying the plow,”–porta, in Latin, meaning
“to carry.” Whether or not the traditional custom referred to had a historical
basis, it will be seen that the mere fact of the tradition will account for the
twofold use, in languages derived from the Latin, of the word “porter” as a
carrier, and again as a doorkeeper, or a gate watcher, or a guardian of the
threshold. Apart from the question of the origin of the terms, we find that
the porter or carrier is one who goes through the gate as the place of
entrance or exit in his carryings; or, again, the porter or guardian of the gate
is one who watches the place of carryings, and of outgoing and incoming.
Among the stories told of the founding of Rome by Romulus, it is said that
at the threshold of this enterprise the people kindled fires before their tents,
and then leaped through or over the flames.[697] In connection with this
ceremony sacrifices were offered, and offerings of the first-fruits of forest
and field were made to the gods.[698] A heifer and a bull were yoked to the
plow, as in symbol of marriage, and afterwards were offered in sacrifice,
thus supplying the symbolic blood on the threshold of the new city.[699]
Plutarch, it is true, thinks that, in consequence of this custom of laying out a

city, the walls of a city, except the gates, were counted sacred; but in this, as
in other matters relating to the threshold,[700] it is evident that Plutarch was
not sure to be correct as to the meaning of archaic customs.
There seems to be force in the suggestion that the two Latin words, porta
and porto, like the Greek poros, were derived from the common Aryan root
par or por, “to go,” “to bring over,” “to pass through.”[701] However this
may be, we have the common English use of the term “port” in words
meaning a door or entrance, and again a carrying or a place of carriage, as
“export,” “import,” “transport,” “portico,” “porthole,” “portfolio,” etc.
An illustration of the twofold use of the word is found in the word “a
portage” or “a carry” as the designation of “a break in a chain of water
communication over which goods, boats, etc., have to be carried, as from
one lake or river to another.” It is not merely that this is a place where a
canoe, or other luggage, must be carried, but it is the definite “carry” or
“portage,” the bridge, or isthmus, or door, or threshold,[702] by which they
enter another region. This is the common American use of the term in
pioneer life.[703]

PASSING OVER INTO A COVENANT.
As these pages are going to press, Dr. Sailer calls my attention to the phrase
‫ לעבר בברית‬laʿabhor bibereeth, to enter, or pass over, into a covenant. This
phrase, as Dr. Driver[704] points out, is found only in one place, at
Deuteronomy 29 : 12. “That thou shouldest enter [or pass] into the covenant
of the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with
thee this day.”
It is evident that here is the idea of passing over a line or boundary, or
threshold limit, into another region, or state or condition. Until that
threshold is crossed, the person is outside of the covenant with its privileges
and benefits; but when it is crossed, or passed, the person is a partaker of all
that is within.
This word ʿabhar corresponds with, while it differs from, the word pasakh.
The two words have, indeed, been counted by some lexicographers as
practically equivalents. Thus Fürst[705] gives “pasakh=ʿabhar.” In the
covenant which Jehovah makes with Abraham, for himself and his posterity
(Gen. 15 : 1–21), when the heifer and the she goat and the ram had been
slaughtered and divided, and the pieces laid over against each other as two
walls, or sides of a door, with the blood probably poured out on the earth as
a threshold between, “a smoking furnace and a flaming torch,”–representing
the divine presence–“passed,” or covenant-crossed, the blood on the
threshold “between these pieces,” between these fleshly walls or door-posts
of the sacrifice.[706]
In Jeremiah 34 : 18, the word appears in its twofold signification, in
conjunction with a similar double use of the word karath (“to cut”).
Jehovah says, “I will give the men that have transgressed [ʿabhar, crossed
or passed] my covenant, ... which they made [cut] before me when they cut
the calf in twain and passed [over its blood] between the parts thereof.”
Again, in Amos 7 : 8, Jehovah says of his reprobate people, “I will not
again pass by [ʿabhar] them [covenant-cross them] any more.”
There seems to be a trace of this cross-over, or pass-over, covenant idea in
the references to the passing through the fire in the worship of false gods, as

at 2 Kings 16 : 3, where King Ahaz is said to have “walked in the way of
the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through [ʿʿabhar] the fire,
according to the abominations of the heathen.”[707] It is evident that this
passing through the fire in honor of a false god was not the being thrown
into the fire as a burnt offering; for such sacrifices are referred to by
themselves, as at Deuteronomy 12 : 31, where it is said of the people of
Jehovah that “even their sons and their daughters do they burn [saraph] in
the fire to their gods.”[708] In the same chapter of 2 Kings (17 : 17, 31) the
two phrases of causing children to “pass through” the fire, and of “burning”
children in the fire, are separately referred to, in illustration of the fact that
they are not one and the same thing.
It has already been shown[709] that jumping across, or being lifted over, a
fire, at the threshold, is an ancient mode of covenanting, still surviving in
many marriage or other customs; and that the blood of both human and
substitute sacrifices has often been poured out at the same primitive altar.
Under the figure of a marriage covenant Jehovah speaks, in Ezekiel 16 : 8,
of entering into a covenant, when he takes the virgin Israel as his bride:
“Yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the
Lord God, and thou becamest mine.” Here the more common word bo is
used for the idea of entering; but its connection with the covenant of
marriage would seem to connect it, like the other words, pasach and ʿabhar,
with the thought of crossing over the threshold or barrier into a new state.

ENGLAND’S CORONATION STONE.

A notable survival of the primitive reverence for the one foundation, or the
original threshold, as the earliest place of sacrifice and covenanting,[710] is
shown in the famous “Coronation Stone” in Westminster Abbey. This stone
is under the chair in which all the sovereigns of England from Edward I. to
Victoria have been crowned. It was brought by Edward I. to England from
Scone, the coronation seat of the kings of Scotland. The legend attached to
it was that it was the stone pillar on which Jacob rested at Bethel,–the
House of God where Abraham worshiped, and where Jacob covenanted
with God for all his generations.[711]
“In it, or upon it, the Kings of Scotland were placed by the Earls of Fife.
From it Scone became the ‘sedis principalis’ of Scotland, and the kingdom
of Scotland the kingdom of Scone.” Since the days of Edward I., it has
never been removed from Westminster Abbey, except when Cromwell was
installed as Lord Protector in Westminster Hall, on which occasion it was
brought out in order that he might be placed on it.
As in ancient Babylonia, in Egypt, in Syria, in India, in China, in Arabia, in
Greece, in Scandinavia, the one primitive foundation was deemed the only
foundation on which to build securely with Divine approval, so in the very
center of the highest modern civilization the reputed foundation stone of the
kingdom of the “Father of the Faithful” is deemed the only secure
coronation, or installation, seat of King, Queen, or Lord Protector. Is it not
reasonable to suppose that this feeling has a basis in primitive religious
convictions and customs?
Dean Stanley, referring to this Coronation Stone as “probably the chief
object of attraction to the innumerable visitors to the Abbey,” says of it: “It
is the one primeval monument which binds together the whole Empire. The
iron rings, the battered surface, the crack which has all but rent its solid
mass asunder, bear witness to its long migrations. It is thus embedded in the
heart of the English monarchy–an element of poetic, patriarchal, heathen
times, which, like Araunah’s rocky threshing-floor in the midst of the
Temple of Solomon, carries back our thoughts to races and customs now
almost extinct; a link which unites the Throne of England to the traditions

of Tara and Iona, and connects the charm of our complex civilization with
the forces of our mother earth,–the stocks and stones of savage nature.”[712]

INDEXES.

TOPICAL INDEX.

Aaron and his sons consecrated at doorway, 119.
Aberdeenshire:
New Year’s custom in, 20 f.;
sacredness of threshold in, 34.
Abimelech and Abraham settling disputed boundary, 170.
Abiram, Jericho’s foundation laid in blood of, 47.
Aborigines of America, worship of, 148.
Abraham:
promise that his seed should possess gate of enemies, 65;
lifting up his hand to God, 82;
coming from Haran and Ur, 160;
his offering on Mt. Moriah, 161;
directed to rebuild holy house at Meccah, 163;
and Abimelech settling disputed boundary, 170;
the Lord’s covenant welcome to, 187;
his visit to home of Ishmael in Arabia, 200;
covenant with, 211.
Absalom in “way of the gate” to do judgment, 64.
Abyla and Calpë as boundary marks, 181.
Abyssinia:
bride carried to her new home in, 38;
prominence of door in, 107;
churches of, on hill or in grove, 130 f.;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
Acropolis, Propylæa built by Pericles on, 158.
Adam as builder of Holy House at Meccah, 163.
“Adam Khan and Durkhani,” poem of Afghans, 58.
Adonis of Greece, reference to, 115.
Adoption:
of guest in Egypt and Syria, 3;
of bride by stepping over blood at threshold, 26;
among Arabs accompanied by sacrifice at door, 59.
“Adultery,” affiliation with any but true God called, 213.
Æneas at court of Queen Dido, 130.
Æschylus, reference to, 134.
Æsculapius represented by serpent, 236.
Afghans, protection for all at threshold among, 58.
Africa:

Africa:
human sacrifice in Central, 8 f.;
fowl sacrificed for guest in West, 9;
sheep sacrificed for guest in Central, 9;
bloody grass on threshold in Equatorial, 15;
sacrifices at threshold among Somalis of, 27;
threshold customs in South, 28;
bride carried over threshold in West, 39;
bloody hand in North, 78 f.;
bloody hand in, 93;
primitive sacredness of doorway in, 132;
boundary lines in, 174;
trees as boundaries in Equatorial, 174;
exhibit of blood stains in western, 246.
Agade, Istar of, 153.
Agni, masculine, 198.
Ahab, reference to time of, 47.
Ainé’s Herc. at Pomp.: cited, 258.
Akibah, Rabbi: cited, 253.
Alaska:
dead not carried over threshold in, 24;
human sacrifices at foundation of houses in, 50 f.
Albanians, crossing threshold right foot foremost, 37 f.
Alcinoüs, temple palace of, 132, 135.
Alee, kissing threshold of tomb of, 124.
Alexandri, poem by, regarding foundation sacrifice, 52.
Algiers, walls of, laid in blood of Christian captive, 48.
Algonquins, prominence of hand among, 84.
ʿAlîyyâ, symbolic meaning of, 253.
Allat, sovereign of Hades, life restored at threshold of, 113 f.
Altamash, emperor of India, building mosk, 157.
Altar:
primitive family, 3;
reverence for threshold, 10-25;
offering of life on threshold, 16;
near door in Mexico, 21;
sanctity of threshold as primitive, 22;
reference to souls under, 25;

saint or ecclesiastic buried under, in Europe, 25;
threshold, in Russia, 31 f.;
offerings at threshold, in Holland, 33;
before door at marriage in Borneo, 34;
sacredness of threshold in Scotland, 34;
fire taken over threshold among Hindoos, 40 f.;
lamb buried under, in Swedish tradition, 56;
before Greek houses, 72;
at or before threshold, 102, 136;
in doorway of temple at Nippur, 111;
of burnt offering, blood poured out at, 119;
at doorway, in Jerusalem, Phenicia, Phrygia, Aphrodisias, 121;
at threshold in Egyptian temple, 126;
at Yeha, 131;
lélé, name for, 150 f.
Altar-fire:
connecting link between nuptial torch and, 41;
crossing, in Russia, 42;
references to, 39 f., 99-102, 226.
Amara Deva, temple builder, 156.
Amara Sinha, temple builder, 156.
Amenophis IV. before Aten-ra, 81.
America, Central:
bridal couple carried over threshold in, 45;
blood of sacrificial offerings smeared on doorways in, 73;
earliest form of temple in, 144;
boys sacrificed in, 145;
temples of, 145, 148;
nuptial customs of, 196;
sculptures indicating covenant rite between first pair in, 202;
marriage ceremonies in, 246.
America, North:
survival of sacrifice in, 8;
treading on threshold in, 13;
coffin passed out window of house in, 25;
window opened and door closed at death in, 25;
nailing horseshoes on side-posts of doorway in, 73 f.;
symbol of open hands in museums of, 79;

symbol of open hands in museums of, 79;
red hand among aborigines of, 83 f., 93;
laying of corner-stones in, 147;
survival of primitive sacredness of threshold in, 147;
aborigines of, religious worship of, 148;
boundary lines in, 174;
symbol of covenant among primitive peoples in, 201;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
America, South:
blood smeared on doorway in, 73;
earliest form of temple in, 144;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
serpent as religious symbol in, 235.
America, United States of:
vice-consul of, in Egypt, reference to, 7 f.;
boundary marks in, 126, 182 f.
American Architect, reference to the, 175.
American Indians, red-hand symbolism among, 85-93.
Amon, temple of, reference to, 185.
Amorite, daughter of, 213.
ʾAnazeh Bed´ween, sacrifice at threshold among, 26.
Andersson, Charles John: cited, 28.
Ani before throne of Osiris, 257.
Animals:
images of, on Mordvin door-posts, 42 f.;
substituted for human beings in sacrifice, 46;
lower, as distinguished from man, 223.
Animals sacrificed. See Sacrifice.
Ankh, or crux ansata, 201.
Anointing door-posts among Latins, 29 f.
Antariksha invoked on door-sill, 15.
Antelii presiding over entrance, 97.
Antiquary, The, reference to, 50.
Anu, gate of, reference to, 95
Apaches:
prominence of red hand among, 87;
reference to, 88.
Aphrodisias, altar on threshold in ancient, 121.
A ll

Apollo:
temple of, at Delphi, 134;
represented by female oracle, 236;
slayer of serpent, 236.
Apollo Agyieus, altar of, placed before house among Greeks, 72.
Apollo Thyræus, at entrance, 97.
Arabia:
crossing threshold in, 10;
blood at door-post to secure protection in, 59 f.;
kissing threshold in, 129;
Eve settling in, 164;
Abraham’s visit to Ishmael in, 200;
use of pigeon poult’s blood in, 248.
Arabic term for woman, 256.
Arabs:
of Central Africa, blood welcome among, 9;
sacrifice at threshold among, 26;
“house of hair” of, 57;
of Syrian Desert, doorway sacrifice in joining another tribe, 58 f.;
red hand on houses of, in Jerusalem, 76;
wely common as place of worship for, in Egypt, 129;
exhibit of evidences among, 249.
Arafat near Meccah, 163 f.
Arapahoes, red hand among, 87.
Arch, memorial, meaning of, 103.
Archangel, foundation sacrifice in, 54.
Architecture:
influence of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt in doorway, 60;
of temples in China and Japan, 101;
sacredness of threshold recognized in, 102.
Arcot, Nabob of, banners with painted hands carried before, 78.
Areca-nut eaten in marriage covenant in Borneo, 34.
Arickarees, red hand among, 87.
Ark of Hebrews in house of Dagon, 116.
Armenian Christians, blood on threshold among, 26.
Armenians, sacred inscriptions above doorway of, 71.
Arta, bridge of, story of burying women alive to secure, 52.
Artemis Propylæa at Eleusis, 134.

py ,
Aryan origin of red hand, 75.
Aryan races:
reference to, 197;
language and customs of, 199.
Asherah, command to Israelites concerning, 233.
Ashtaroth, symbol of, 214.
Ashurnâsirapli, references to, 178, 184.
Asia:
bloody hand in marriage in, 93;
traces of primitive sacredness of doorway found in, 132;
boundary lines in, 174.
See, also, China, India, Japan.
Asia Minor:
human sacrifice in, 47 f.;
references to, 93, 132, 174;
altar on threshold in early Christian remains in, 121.
Askuppu, word for threshold, 110.
Asshur and his worshipers represented with uplifted hands, 80.
Assioot:
threshold sacrifice at, 7 f.;
General Grant at border line of, 186.
Assyria:
images buried under threshold in, 14;
crossing threshold in marriage in ancient, 39;
influence of, shown in architecture of doorways, 60;
uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79;
inscriptions at doorway in, 108 f.;
guardians of threshold in, 111;
Zephaniah’s curse on, 115;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
Assyrian:
word nish–lifting up hand, 83;
city gates named after special god, 95;
god Nergal beneath threshold, 95;
gods Ea and Merodach at gate of house, 95;
monuments on doorway shrine, 105;
king, sculptured image of, with arms uplifted, 115;
kings and boundary lines 177;

kings and boundary lines, 177;
kings offering sacrifices at boundaries of empire, 184;
temples, furniture of, 207;
sculpture, testimony of, 231, 257.
Assyro-Babylonians and boundary lines, 185.
Athaliah, priests assigned to service at threshold in days of, 120.
Athenian generals offering sacrifices to Mercury, 172.
Atlas upholding heaven, 132.
Attica and Peloponnesus, boundary between, 180.
Aubrey, John: cited, 74.
Avaika, or under world, 152.
Avatea, part man and part fish, 152.
Azila, reference to, 62.
Aztecs, marriage ceremonies among, 246.

Baal, symbol of, 214.
“Bab,” or Door, spiritual head of Babists, 103.
Babel, tower of, or door of God, 103.
Babelon, Ernest, reference to, 60.
Bâb-ilu, Bâbi-ilu, Bab-el, Door of God, 103.
Babist sect in Persia, 103 f.
Babylon:
Daniel as judge in, 64;
reference to, 75;
king of, recognized by uplifted hand, 80;
building of walls of, 109 f.;
gates dedicated to gods in, 110;
temples with altars outside in, 111 f.;
kings of, 154;
final overthrow of, 211;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
ancient, in religious symbolism, 234.
Babylonia:
inscriptions placed at threshold in, 22;
influence shown in architecture of doorways, 60;
red hand on houses and animals in, 75;
uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79;
i i d i li i b li f 105

swinging doors in religious symbolism of, 105;
sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.;
guardians of threshold in, 111;
crossing threshold in death in literature and legends of, 112 f.;
sacredness of doorway above threshold in, 126 f.;
temple building in, 153;
boundaries in, 177;
indications of presence of deity in, 201;
ancient, religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235.
Babylonian:
tablet of Nebuchadrezzar on gate as place of justice, 60;
character for house, palace, and temple identical, 99 f.;
monuments on doorway shrine, 105;
literature, reference to, 109;
Hades surrounded by seven walls with seven gates, 113;
idea of future life, 128;
king, reference to last, 153;
sun-god Shamash, 201;
temples, furniture of, 207.
Babylonian and Oriental Record, reference to, 231.
Babylonian Talmud, reference to, 253.
Babylonians, twofold symbols among, 200.
Bagdad, khaleefs of, threshold custom of, 10.
Baker, Sir Samuel W., quotation from, 9.
Balawat gates, gods and kings at, 105.
Baldensperger, P.J.: cited, 29.
Bali:
meaning of word, 15;
placed on door-sill among Hindoos, 15;
offering demanded at all doors, 15.
Ballads, popular, on human sacrifice in foundation building, 52.
Baltimore, Lord, boundary lines reported to, 182.
Bancroft, H.H.:
cited, 34 f., 45, 56, 144, 146, 202, 247;
reference to, 108.
Bangalore, serpent worship in, 258 f.
Banks of lakes as boundaries, 178.
Banners inscribed with open hand in Turkey and Persia, 78.

Ba e s sc bed w t ope a d u ey a d e s a, 8.
Baptism, place of, in early churches, 137.
Baptismal custom with reference to threshold, 18 f.
Baptismal font, location of, in Protestant Episcopal churches, 147.
Baptist, John the, mission of, 218.
Baring-Gould, Rev. S.: quotation from, 138 f.
Barker, W.B., reference to, 257.
Barnabas and Paul at Lystra, 135.
“Bason” word for saph in English Bible, 206.
Bat:
under threshold in Roumania, 20;
superstitions among primitive peoples regarding, 20.
Baveddeen, famous threshold stone at, 124.
Bay and laurel in doorway at marriage among Romans, 73.
Bayt-el-Walli, rock grotto of, 180.
Beans under threshold, among Magyars, 19 f.
“Beating the bounds:”
in England, 174;
in New England, 176.
Beccah. See Meccah.
Becker, W.A.: cited, 37, 41, 72 f.
Beer-sheba, well at, in dispute, 170.
Beginning of religious rites, 199, 225.
Beirut. See Beyroot.
Bektashi derwishes of Syria, threshold custom of, 10.
Bel, gate of, reference to, 95.
Bel-Merodach, new king of ancient Babylon adopted by, 80.
Belford, marriage customs at, 142.
Beltis, gate of, reference to, 95.
Beltis-Allat:
“lady of the great hand,” 113;
brandishing serpent in either hand, 235.
Benjamin, S.G.W.: cited, 71.
Bent, J. Theodore: cited, 107, 131.
Bergeron, Pierre: cited, 13.
Berlin, keys of captured cities in museum of, 262.
Beth-el: Jacob at, 160; meaning of, 160.
Betrothal:
i R i 32

ceremony in Russia, 32;
threshold custom in Central America, 34.
Beyroot, boundary marks near, 178.
Biaz, B.: cited, 21.
Bible:
carried into new home in Pennsylvania, 21;
references to lifting up hands unto God, 82 f.;
references to leaping over threshold, 117;
reference to temple threshold as fitting place of worship, 117;
its record of man, 224.
Bingham, Joseph:
cited, 136;
quotation from, 136 f.
Bird, Isabella: cited, 20, 72, 96, 101, 104 f., 126, 151.
Birth:
custom in Bombay, 17;
new, help to, 199.
Birthday, striking child on his, 176.
Bishop, Isabella Bird. See Isabella Bird.
Bishop of Paris, reference to, 139.
“Bismillah,” use of word, on passing threshold, 10.
Black hand:
among Pecos, 87 f.,
Jicarilla Apaches, 89 f.;
in Korea, 93 f.
Black stone of Meccah, reference to, 10.
Blessing, spiritual, represented in Assyrian sculpture, 231.
Bliss, Dr. Frederick J.: cited, 58.
Blood:
welcome at door in Syria and Egypt, 3-10;
stepping over, in East, 4 f., 7 f., 26;
coffee as substitute for, 5;
salt as substitute for, 5, 9, 20;
in threshold in Central Africa, 8 f.;
poured out on threshold in covenanting, 14 f.;
threshold sprinkled with, in Ireland, 21;
hospitality in outpoured, among Arabs, 23;
at threshold in marriage ceremony in desert of Sinai, in Egypt, in

g y , gyp ,
Turkey, 26;
stepping over, in marriage in Cyprus, 27;
wedding-party to step over, among Armenians, 27;
stepping over in Central Africa, 28;
and fire, significance of, 40;
world-wide custom of laying foundations in, 46;
foundation-laying in, in Hindostan, Burmah, Tennasserin, Borneo,
Japan, Galam, Yarriba, Polynesia, 51 f.;
on foundation-stone in Greece, 53;
of thousands of captives at consecration of altar in Mexico, 56;
on threshold deemed essential factor in covenant with deity, 57;
voice of, among Arabs, 59;
poured across road to secure help in necessity in Morocco, 63;
hand dipped in, struck upon door-posts in Stamboul, 66 f.;
on lintel and door-posts, 66;
of wedding sacrifice placed on door-posts, 67 f.;
sentences in, on door-posts as protection from disease in China, 71;
on bow, or threshold, of Chinese junk, 72;
affixed to post or walls of new house in Palestine, 76 f.;
of Christians, hand dipped in, stamped on wall to seal victory over
them, 77;
or ink used in hand or finger stamp, 93 f.;
of sacrifice sprinkled on door in Guatemala, 98;
of sacrifice at base of altar at Yeha, 131;
proffer of, foundation of family, 194;
stains exhibited in Western Africa, 246.
“Blood of the grape,” in covenant, 5, 8.
Blood-color, doorways painted, 104.
Bloody grass representing dignity and power, 15.
Bloody hand:
stamped in dough placed on lintel, 28 f.;
on lintel of temple at Jerusalem, 67;
on walls among Jews in Tunis, 78 f.;
red seal on modern documents probably survival of, 94;
in testimony to covenant, 244 f.
See, also, Red hand.
Bloody sacrifices at temple thresholds in India, 122.
Blue hands on houses in Palestine 76

Blue hands on houses in Palestine, 76.
Blunt, J.H.: cited, 137.
Boaz meeting elders at gate in justice to Ruth and Naomi, 64.
“Bodhi-Gaya,” reference to, 156.
Body, not to cross threshold, 23-25.
Bombay Anthropological Society, reference to, 17.
Bombay, birth custom at, 17.
Bomoi pronaioi, 134.
Bonavia, Dr., reference to, 231.
Bonomi, Joseph: his suggestion regarding word “teraphim,” 109.
Booddha:
commanding temple to be built, 156;
and serpent, 236.
Booddha-drum, reference to, 156.
Booddha-hood, Sakya Sinha attaining to, 156.
“Booddha’s foot,” 156.
Booddhism concerning temple, 156.
Booddhist:
Gog and Magog of, 96;
temples, doorways apart from, 104;
temples, pilgrims at threshold of, 125;
prayer in Tibet, 199.
Book of Records, Chinese, reference to, 158.
“Book of the Dead,” Egyptian, references to, 128 f., 257.
Border landmarks, form of, 170 f.
Border lines referred to, 183.
Borneo:
pig’s blood sprinkled at door in, 20;
marriage custom in, 34;
survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.
Borsippa:
sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.;
temple of, threshold plated with zarîru, 111.
Bothnia, East, iron bar on threshold for cows to cross, 17.
Botta, P.E.: cited, 109.
Boundary:
references to, 13, 17, 154, 165-192, 234;
as place of worship and sacrifice, 166;

stones, importance of, 167;
Nebo protector of, 177.
Bourke, Capt. J.G.: cited, 87.
Bowing:
to gate on leaving bride’s home in Russia, 44;
before threshold, 126.
Boys sacrificed in Central America, 145.
Brahmanas, reference to, 197.
Brahmanic religion concerning temples, 155 f.
Brahmanical Mahâdeva, commanding temple to be built, 156.
Brandy offered to threshold gods in Russia, 32 f., 43 f.
Bread:
placed under threshold as “gods’” portion, 32;
thrown over bride at door in Scotland, 34, 44;
and honey placed on bride’s gate-post in Russia, 42 f.
Bread and salt:
at threshold in Russia, 9;
in hospitality among Arabs, 22;
as factors in sacred covenant, 32.
“Breaking the stick” at threshold in Skarpanto, 31.
Bremen, skeleton of child found in walls of Bridge Gate of, 50.
Bridal couple carried across threshold in Central America, 45.
Bride:
made to step over blood of sacrifice in Syria, 26;
in Central Africa, 27 f.;
called “princess” at wedding in Russia, 32;
bread thrown over, at door in Scotland, 34, 44;
carried over threshold among Towkas, 35,
in Abyssinia, Egypt, and Upper Syria, 38,
in West Africa, 39,
in Russia, 44;
to step over threshold among Hindoos, 36 f.;
not lifted over threshold in India, 38;
borne in sedan-chair to new home, 39 f.;
carried over fire in China, 40;
worshiping at altar-fire of new home in India, China, Greece, and
Rome, 41;
inducted into household office at hearth 44;

inducted into household office at hearth, 44;
represented by the Church, 218, 221.
Bridegroom:
to step over blood at threshold in Central Africa, 27 f.;
bread thrown over, at door, 34;
Jesus called, 218;
of blood, 244.
British envoy welcomed at threshold of Kauzeroon, 189.
Bronze bulls on gates of Babylon, 109 f.
“Bronze threshold,” reference to, 132.
Broom laid across door-sill in Pennsylvania, 21.
Browne, Edward G., reference to, 104.
Bruce, James:
quotation from, 9;
cited, 38, 130.
Brugsch Bey: references to, 103, 127, 161, 179 f., 184 f.
Brush-topped pole as symbol, 214.
“Buddha-Gaya,” reference to, 156.
“Buddha-pad,” reference to, 156.
Buffaloes sacrificed in Egypt, 7.
Bühler, G.: cited, 169.
Bukohōla temple in Sandwich Islands, 150.
Bulgarian foundation custom, 53.
Bullock:
sacrificed at door for guest, 4;
sacrifice of, 7 f.
Bulls:
winged, with human heads to guard entrance way, 95;
of bronze on gates of Babylon, 109 f.;
as guardians of threshold in Babylonia, 110 f.;
of bronze, in Babylon, 234.
Bunsen, Chevalier, reference to, 111.
Burckhardt, John Lewis: cited, 26, 38, 191, 244-246.
Burder, Samuel: cited, 13.
Burials made under threshold in East and West, 25.
Buried images, symbols and treasures under temple doorways, 109.
Burmah, survival of foundation laying in blood in, 51 f.
Burton, Richard F.:

cited, 164;
quotation from, 248 f.
Burying women and children in foundation, 18, 50.
Bush as symbol of feminine in nature, 214.
Bush, George, reference to, 112.
Busrah, women exhibiting evidences at, 248.
Butter or honey smeared on door-posts among Wallachians, 29.
Buxtorf, John: cited, 200, 253.
“By door,” entering house, 6.
Byzantine age, sarcophagi of, showing altar at threshold, 121.

Cairo:
Arab sitting in judgment at gate of, 60;
protecting genius of different quarters of, 96 f.
Calling on name of God at threshold, 29.
Calpë and Abyla as boundary marks, 181.
Cam, Diego, discoverer of Congo River, 182.
Campbell, John: cited, 39.
Canaan:
gateway between Egypt and, 105;
Israelites entering into, 211;
people of, treatment of, 232.
Candle on threshold in Russia, 41-44.
Candlestick, five branched, similar to sign of hand, 77.
Cão, Diego, reference to, 182.
Cardea, Hinge-goddess of Romans, 97.
Carlyle, Thomas: cited, 183.
Carpathos. See Skarpanto.
Carthage:
uplifted hand above door in, 78;
prominence of door in, 107;
prominence of temple threshold in, 130.
Cassotis spring, reference to, 135.
Catholic Church, Roman:
holy water in, 147;
on marriage, 222.
Catlin, George: quotation from, and reference to, 86.

Cave, fire at entrance of, 23.
Central America:
threshold custom in, 34;
blood smeared on doorways in, 72;
red hand stamped on doorways and walls in, 81 f.;
“the god of houses” in, 98;
sacrifice of boys in, 145.
Ceremony:
wedding threshold in North Germany, 18;
of laying threshold in India, 95.
Ceylon, Adam settling in, 164.
Chahalka, “the god of houses,” in Central America, 98.
Chamberlain, Basil Hall: cited, 101, 104.
Chambers’s Journal, reference to, 175.
Charans, appeal at threshold for justice among, 61.
Chardin, Sir John: cited, 124.
Charms:
on threshold and door in Uganda, 15;
under door-step in Russia, 19;
fastened above door in China, 71;
on doors and door-posts in China, 71, 95;
worn in Jerusalem, 75 f.
Chase, W.G., quotation from, 51.
Chateaubraud, Viscount de: cited, 147.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, quotation from, 139.
Cheetham, Samuel. See Smith and Cheetham.
Chelly canyon, red-hand symbol in, 87.
Cheyennes, red hand among, 87.
Chicago, Columbian Exposition at, reference to, 57.
Chief rabbi, in Jerusalem, sacrifice at threshold in installing, 67.
Child:
held over threshold after baptism, 18 f.;
buried in ramparts of Copenhagen, 49;
buried under citadel of Dyetinets, 50;
adopted into family by clasping hands in Babylonia, 80;
striking, on birthday, 176.
Children:
custom of relative to boundary lines 13;

custom of, relative to boundary lines, 13;
buried under threshold in Russia, 18;
buried in foundations, 49 f.;
sacrifice of, in Central America, 145.
China:
body to be removed over wall, 23;
fire on threshold in marriage in, 39;
bride worshiping at altar-fire in, 41;
human sacrifice to make sure foundations in, 48;
coins and charms under door-sill in, 71;
sacred inscriptions on side-posts and lintel in, 71;
tutelar gods of threshold in, 95 f.;
temple and house in architecture, 101;
doorways apart from temples in, 104;
sacredness of temple in, 158;
nuptial customs of, 196;
phallic emblems in, 230;
marriage customs in, 245.
Chinese:
custom of avoiding threshold, 23 f.;
native clergyman, testimony of, 48;
year, festival of fifth month of, 71;
junk, sacrifice on bow of, 71 f.;
honorary portals and ancestral tablets, 108;
classics, most ancient of, 185;
emperor passing boundary line of empire, 185;
characters for threshold, door, border, and woman, 256.
“Chinese gods of the threshold,” 96.
Chipiez, Charles. See Perrot and Chipiez.
“Christ, spouse of,” 222.
“Christening” ship, custom of, 8.
Christian:
lands, niches for heroes in, survival primitive doorway in tomb in, 108;
passover, reference to, 216.
Christian churches:
of Europe, burials under altar of, 25;
tradition of burial of lamb under altar of, 56;
symbol of horseshoe at threshold of, 74.

Christian Fathers, reference to, 97.
Christians:
inscribed gates of, in East, 70;
in Syria, sign of hand among, 76 f.;
warned not to dishonor their gates with laurel crowns, 97;
admonished not to make their gates heathen temples, 98;
kissing threshold of church in Persia, 124.
Church House in Philadelphia, reference to, 55.
Church of England bishops replying to Presbyterians on position of
baptismal font, 137.
Churches always on hill or in grove in Abyssinia, 130 f.
Cicero, hearth-fire and Penates in time of, 41.
Cimon, gate of, in Propylæa, 159.
Circumcision as practiced in Madagascar, 149.
Cities of refuge:
Hebrew law as to, 151;
in Hawaii, 151.
Clapping of hands at threshold in Japan, 126.
Classic writers: their explanation of threshold custom, 39.
“Cleansing the threshold” at wedding in Russia, 32.
Clement of Alexandria, reference to, 239.
Clothing stamped with red hand, 87.
Coal under threshold among Magyars, 19 f.
Cock sacrificed:
in Ireland, 21;
at foundation in Russia, 54 f.
Cockle, Montague, reference to, 233.
Coffee as Muhammadan substitute for blood, 5.
Columbian Exposition, reference to, 57.
Com, tomb of kings of Persia at, 124.
Comanches:
prominence of red hand among, 87;
reference to, 88.
Communion feasts, origin of, 226.
Concord, beating bounds in, 176.
Conder, Maj. C.R.:
quotation from, 10, 28 f.:
cited, 123.

cited, 123.
Confucius, reference to, 256 f.
Confucian temple, doorways apart from, 104.
Congo River, boundary pillar erected in mouth of, 182.
Constantinople, red hand stamp in, 77.
Contemporary Review, reference to, 229.
Convent, trace of foundation sacrifice in rebuilding, 56.
Cook, Capt. James:
cited, 202;
quotation from, 250 f.
Coote, H.C.: cited, 50, 55 f.
Copenhagen, immuring of child in ramparts of, 49.
Copts, sacrifice of sheep at threshold among, 26, 45.
Coral hand as talisman among Jews at Tunis, 79.
Cord stretched across door to prevent bridal couple entering, 33 f.
Corn:
and water used in threshold ceremony, 16 f.;
mixed with milk and sugar as offering, 17;
thrown on bride at threshold in Rhodes, 31.
Corner-stone:
laying as survival of primitive sacredness, 22;
recognized as beginning or limit of threshold of Babylonian buildings,
22;
ceremonies in civilized lands, 55;
laying of, in America, 55, 147.
Cornhill Magazine, reference to, 48-50, 56.
Corinthian Christians, Paul to, 216.
Corpse:
not to cross threshold in India, China, and Italy, 23 f.,
in Alaska, 24;
passed out under threshold in Russia, 24.
Correspondences of legends of Babylonia, Syria, Egypt and Greece as to
door and threshold, 115.
Cossacks, disputes over boundary lines among, 175.
Cotton seeds thrown on bride at threshold in Rhodes, 31.
Coulanges, Numa D.F. de: cited, 41, 99, 156.
Covenant:
through blood in Egypt, 3;
S i 35

Syria, 3-5;
symbolized by uplifted hand, 81;
sacrifice at threshold with God of life, 94;
worship place of, 165.
Covenanting:
by crossing threshold, 5-10;
by stepping over blood on door-sill, 9.
Cow:
gift from sacred, in India, 16;
driven over iron bar on threshold, 17;
sacrifice of, in Ireland, 21.
Cowdung cake at seed-time in India, 16.
Cranch, C.P., quotation from, 130.
Croix, de la, J.F., reference to, 124.
Cross:
sign of, in curing disorder, 18;
drawn on threshold to keep off hags, 18;
under threshold of new house in Lithuania, 18.
Crowbar at threshold, 17.
Crux ansata or ankh, 201.
Cunningham, Alexander: reference to, 156 f.
Curse:
for removing threshold altar, 169 f.;
for removal of neighbor’s landmark, 170.
Curtea de Argest, superstition regarding sacrifice at building of, 52.
Curtin, Jeremiah: cited, 142 f.
Cushing, Frank H., communication from, 86-93.
Cyprus:
fowl sacrificed at door in, 27;
prominence of door in, 107.
Cyrus, reference to, 154.

Dacotahs, symbol of hand among, 84.
Dagon, his overthrow, 116 f.
Dahabiyeh, threshold custom on purchasing, 8.
Dahomey, nuptial customs of, 245.
Dalmatia, kissing threshold in, 31.

Damascus, Hajj procession approaching, 186.
Dances of American Indians, prominence of hand in, 83 f.
Dancing custom in Central America, 247.
Danes:
immuring of girl in city walls among, 49;
lamb buried under every altar of, 56.
Daniel in gate of king, 64.
Darfour, marriage ceremonies in, 249.
Darmesteter, James:
cited, 58;
reference to, 99.
David:
sitting in gate, 64;
erecting altar to Lord, 161.
De Amicis, Edmondo: cited, 77.
De Coulanges, Numa D.F. de:
cited, 41, 156;
reference to, 99.
De Hesse-Wartegg, Chevalier: cited, 79.
Dead:
not to cross threshold in India, China, 23 f.,
Korea, Russia, Italy, Alaska, 24;
taken over wall in China, 23 f.;
taken under threshold in Russia, 24;
prayers for, inscribed on false door of tombs of Egypt, 106.
“Dead, Book of the,” references to, 128 f., 257.
“Dead, Gate of the,” in Korea, 24.
Death following building of new house, 54.
“Death Week” among Slavonic peoples, 19.
Dedications on doorways by primitive peoples, 69.
Deer carried over threshold in betrothal in Central America, 34.
Deity:
appeal to, in East, 3 f.;
of ancient Egypt with uplifted hands, 81;
of threshold, reference to, 109;
of gates of Hades, 113.
Delhi and serpent, 236.
Delitzsch Franz reference to 254

Delitzsch, Franz, reference to, 254.
Delitzsch, Friedrich, reference to, 100.
Delphi:
treasures of, described, 133;
Neoptolemus attacking Orestes in, 134;
temple of Apollo at, 134 f.;
Apollo at, represented by female oracle, 236.
Deluge:
reference to, 103;
destruction of Holy House in, 163.
Detinetz, burial in foundations in, 50.
Development and origin of man, 223.
D’Herbelot, quotation from, 10 f.
Diabateria, meaning of, 208.
Dido, Queen, Æneas at court of, 130.
Dieulafoy, M.: cited, 60.
“Digging through” in New Testament, 260.
Dillmann, Christian F.A., reference to, 254.
Ditya, reference to, 50.
Dives, Lazarus at gate of, 64.
Divination and exorcism in Italy, 17.
Documents signed in blood or ink, 94.
Domestic divinities, protection from, in Lithuania, 18 f.
“Domovoi:”
household deity of Russia, sacrifice for, 19;
invoked at threshold, 23.
Donaldson, T., reference to, 86.
Donaldson, T.L., references to, 121, 134, 231.
Donatus: cited, 29 f.
Doolittle, Rev. Justus: cited, 71.
Door:
animal sacrifices at house-door in Egypt, 3, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15,
among Pythagoreans, 12 f.,
among Slavonic peoples, 19,
among Dyaks of Borneo, 20,
in Ireland, 21,
among Arabs, 22 f.,
in Syria, 26, 45,
i T k C dC l Af i 27

in Turkey, Cyprus, and Central Africa, 27,
in Egypt, 45,
all over world, 46,
in Greece, 53,
in Russia, 54,
in Arabia, 58-60,
in Morocco, 63, 67,
in Turkey, 66 f.,
in Jerusalem, 67,
in China, 72,
in Palestine, 76,
in tabernacle in Wilderness, 118 f.,
in South Sea Islands, 148;
blood welcome at, in Syria and Egypt, 3-10,
Central Africa, 8 f.,
West Africa, 9,
Egypt, 7, 205;
charms placed at, in Uganda, 15,
in Russia, 19,
in China, 71,
in Jerusalem, 75 f.;
dead not to pass out of, 23-25;
human sacrifice at, in Central Africa, 8 f.,
references to, 46-48, 51 f., 144 f.,
in China and Algiers, 48,
in Denmark and Thuringia, 49,
on Danube and in Alaska, 49 f.,
in Bremen, Scotland, and Ireland, 50,
in Arta, Tricha, and Wallachia, 52,
in Turkey, 52 f.,
in India, 61, 122 f.,
in Tibet, 125,
in Central America, 145 f.;
kissing right hand at, 69 f., 144,
serpent at, in Yezidis temple, 116,
of holy places, 116,
at mosk in Persia, 123 f.,
at tomb of Alee, 124;

at to b o ee, ;
sacredness of, 10-25, 102, 174, 260,
in Persia, 12, 123 f.,
references to, 25-36,
among Nestorians, 124,
among Scandinavians in America, 259 f.,
in Bible times, 261;
stepping over blood at, in Syria and Egypt, 4 f., 7 f., 26, 45 f.,
in West Africa, 9,
in marriage in Cyprus, 27,
among Armenians, 27,
in Central Africa, 28;
reference to, 254, 256.
Door-key, finger-shaped, symbolic use of, 244.
Dörpfeld, Dr., reference to, 159.
Dough:
on door-lintel in Upper Syria, 28 f.;
under threshold among Moksha, 42.
Douglas, Robert K.:
cited, 40;
reference to, 105.
Dozy, Reinhart, reference to, 200.
Dragon representing unholy desire, 240.
Du Bois, Abbé J.A.: cited, 23.
Dumuzi and Ishtar, legend of, 113, 115.
Dwelling-place, man’s first, 165.
Dyaks of Borneo:
blood sprinkled at door among, 20;
marriage custom among, 34.
Dyetina, reference to, 50.
Dyetinets, burial in foundations in, 50.
Dying person passed through hole in wall in Alaska, 24.

Ea, god of right side of gate, 95.
Early churches, position of altar in, 136.
Easter:
continuance of Passover, 221;
festivities in Jerusalem 221;

festivities in Jerusalem, 221;
threshold of new Ecclesiastical Year, 221.
Ebed-melech: his appeal in behalf of Jeremiah, 64.
Edersheim, Dr. Alfred, references to, 120, 211 f.
Edward I., marriage of, at door, 140.
Eggs under threshold in Russia, 19.
Egypt:
blood welcome at door in, 3;
sacrifice of buffaloes in, 7;
threshold sacrifice of sheep in, 7 f.;
sacrifice at threshold in, 26;
bride met at gate of husband’s residence in, 38;
door at one side of dwelling in, 55;
its influence shown in architecture of doorways, 60;
inscribed doors in, 68, 96;
uplifted hand in representing deities of, 79, 81, 85;
God bringing out of, with strong hand, 83;
and Canaan, gateway between, 105;
prominence of doorway shrine in, 106;
false door as gift in, 107;
literature of, 109;
oldest temple in, 126;
sacredness of doorway in, 126;
saints’ tomb as place of worship in, 129;
temples of, 145;
concerning temple foundations of, 155;
boundary customs among, 178;
ancient stone thresholds in, 179;
Lower, boundary of, 180;
southern boundary of, 184;
nuptial customs of, 196;
ancient deities of, 201;
presence of deity in, 201;
Virgin of Israel in, 218;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
kings of, and serpent, 234;
and serpent as symbol, 235;
bloody cloth in marriage in Upper, 243;

marriage customs in, 243, 245.
Egyptian:
sacrifice before door, 14;
king, power imparted to, by touch, 85;
hieroglyph for house or temple identical, 100;
temple, oldest form of, 100,
monumental temple gateway, 127,
history of, 155;
priest, prostrations of, at threshold of shrine, 127 f.;
idea of future life, 128;
“Book of the Dead,” 128 f., 257;
empire and Heh, boundary marks between, 179;
sacrifices at boundaries of empire, 184;
twofold sex symbols, 200;
attitude towards Jehovah, 205;
passover rite, 212, 214, 216.
Eki as boundary mark, 178.
El Gisr or threshold, 180.
Eleusis, temple of Artemis Propylæa at, 134.
Eliezer, Rabbi, references to, 200, 253.
Elisha and Naaman, Syrian, 161.
Elliot, Sir Henry M.: cited, 16 f.
Ellis, Rev. William: cited, 83, 111, 148, 150 f., 202.
Embatikon, gift of in-going, 31.
Embleton, wedding custom at, 142.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: cited, 176.
Enemy, appeal of, for protection among Arabs, 59.
Entering “not by door,” 6.
Entrance-way, importance of, 3.
Episcopal, Protestant, churches, location of baptismal font in, 147.
Epithalamium of Hebrew Scriptures, 214.
Erman, Adolf:
cited, 55, 100, 103, 106, 127, 234;
quotation from, 106 f., 155;
reference to, 128.
Erzas:
marriage custom of, 41;
earth from under threshold for bride, 43.

earth from under threshold for bride, 43.
Esarhaddon, his search for boundary lines, 154, 177.
Eskimos, importance of threshold among, 39.
Eulmash, ancient Babylonian temple, 153.
Eulbar, ancient Babylonian temple, 153.
Euphrates, boundary marks at, 178.
Euripides: cited, 134 f.
Europe:
treading on threshold in, 13;
burials under altar in Christian churches in, 25;
coffin passed out window of house in, 25;
window opened and door closed at death in, 25;
horseshoes on side-posts in, 73 f.;
symbols of open hand found in museums and Jewish cemeteries of, 79;
hand-print in marriage in, 93;
traces of primitive sacredness of doorway found in, 122;
ancient shrines in, 150;
boundary lines in, 174;
great divisions of landmarks along borders of, 182;
nuptial customs of, 196;
Jews of, observing passover, 212.
Evil eye:
references to, 19, 67;
averted by bloody hand, 67 f.;
by five fingers held up to, 76;
image of hand as talisman against, 79.
Evil spirits in Pennsylvania, guard against, 21.
Ewing, Rev. William:
testimony of, 45, 261;
cited, 77.
“Exalted Gateway,” high court of Turkey called, 65, 103.
Exalted House, Gate, or Door, meaning of Pharaoh, 103.
Exorcism and divination in Italy, 17 f.
Eye, evil. See Evil eye.
Ezekiel:
his reference to waters from under threshold of temple, 114;
his prophecy that Prince of Israel should worship at threshold of gate,
118;
hi i i f l fL d th h ld 118

“Fahazza” in Madagascar, 149.
False door:
of tombs in ancient Egypt, 106 f.;
as gift from sovereign to subject in Egypt, 107.
Family:
altar and sacrifices for, in primitive times, 3;
offering itself for sacrifice in Central Africa, 8 f.;
life, beginning of, in threshold rite, 194.
Fathers, Christian, reference to, 93.
Feast after sacrifice: 4, 7;
at beginning of spring among Slavonic peoples, 19;
of “hand-striking” at betrothal, 32 f.
Fecundity, lotus flower symbol of, 257.
Fellaheen threshold custom in Palestine, 29.
Fellows, Sir Charles: cited, 121.
Feminine in nature, symbol of, 214, 230, 258.
Fergusson, Dr. James: references to, 103-105, 107, 231, 235-237.
“Festival, Harvest,” among Indians of lower Mississippi, 147.
“Festival of New Fire,” 147.
Ficus religiosa, reference to, 259.
Fielde, Adele M.: cited, 40, 71.
Fig:
in religious symbolisms, 230;
tree representing female, 258.
Figures of speech, Oriental, obscured by literalism of Western mind, 238.
Finger-shaped door-key used in wedding ceremony, 244.
Finland:
shaking hands across threshold in, 12;
high thresholds in, 12;
threshold as altar in, 32;
clergyman to step over threshold in, 143.
Finmac-Coole, print of hand of, 81.
Finn, James: cited, 67.
Fire:
and salt on threshold, 21;
at entrance to cave or tent, in primitive times, 22 f.;

, p , ;
on threshold altar in China, 39;
and blood, significance of, 40;
reference to, 41 f.;
references to, 54-56, 158;
masculine symbol, 198;
production of sacred, 198;
doorway, origin of, 226;
as gift of God, 227.
Fire-altar:
center of public worship, 99;
in Persia, 100,
in India, 102;
of family developed into that of community, 101;
origin of, 226.
First-fruits of grain-field offered at threshold, 16 f.
Five:
fingers held before evil eye, 76,
extended on receiving praise, 79;
pronouncing word, in response to praise, 79.
Flaming torch in Roman marriage ceremonies, 41.
Flesh:
of sacrificed animal distributed, 4;
and blood symbolized by bread and salt, 9.
“Floor of the door” held sacred in Abyssinia, 131.
Folk-Lore, London, references to, 8, 40, 42-44.
Folk-Lore Journal, reference to, 221.
Folk-Lore Journal, London, references to, 21, 27 f., 34, 50, 56, 196.
Folk-Lore Record, London, reference to, 38.
Foot:
against threshold, “unlucky” to strike, 12 f.;
importance placed on use of right, 36-38.
Forculus, door-god of Romans, 97.
Forlong, Gen. J.G.R.: references to, 230, 237.
“Fornication,” idolatry called, 213.
“Foundation:”
and “threshold” interchangeable terms, 21 f.;
references to, 47, 50, 53, 158;
laying in blood in Galam 51 f ;

laying in blood in Galam, 51 f.;
sacrifice in Algiers, 48,
among Vlachs in Turkey, 52 f.;
in Archangel, 54;
in inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar II., 109 f.;
or Papa, 152.
Foundation-stone as threshold of building, 46.
Fountain of life sought for, 148.
Fowl:
sacrificed at door, 4, 9, 21, 27, 45, 54 f.;
sacrificed at foundation-laying in Greece, 53,
in Bulgaria, 54;
sacrificed on Chinese junk starting on long voyage, 71 f.
Foxes, tribe of, red hand among, 87.
France:
marriages in ancient times in, 139;
Marguerite of, married to Edward I. at door in, 140;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
Frazer, J.G.:
references to, 5, 93, 209, 230;
cited, 147, 221.
Freytag, G.W., reference to, 244.
Friend of bridegroom:
gifts made at threshold by, in Russia, 32;
among Albanians, 37 f.
Frog under threshold among Magyars, 19 f.
Frothingham, Prof. A.L., Jr., testimony of, 24.
Fruit:
presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31;
in Bible narrative, 238.
Fuerst, Julius: cited, 244.
Funeral:
salt on threshold in Japan after, 20;
coffin passed out window at, in Europe and America, 25.

Gabriel kissing threshold of gate, 124.
Galam, survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.
“G l d ” i l f b J b dL b 171

“Galeed,” memorial of covenant between Jacob and Laban, 171.
Galilee, Sea of, reference to, 11.
Gardner, Dr. Percy:
cited, 7;
reference to, 263.
Garlic placed under threshold among Magyars, 19 f.
Garnett, L.M.J.:
cited, 27, 30;
quotation from, 53.
Gate:
justice at palace, in Persepolis, 60;
of camp of Israel, Moses at, 63;
inscribed, among Muhammadans, 70;
dishonoring, among Greeks, 97;
image as gate in New Zealand, 107 f.;
gods of, 95, 110, 113, 127-129;
of Beltis, 95,
at Medina, at Ghuznee, of mosk at Meccah, images trodden upon at,
123;
keys of captured cities preserved in Germany, 262.
“Gate of the Dead” in Korea, 24.
Gate-god of Romans, 97.
“Gate of heaven” in Jacob’s dream at Bethel, 112.
Gateway:
sacredness of, among Greeks, 7;
of city, images buried under, 14.
Gauri feast, worship of serpent at, 259.
Gaza, gates of, carried off by Samson, 255.
Genesis, the temptation in narrative of:
as understood by Philo Judæus, 238;
teaching of Gnostic sects on, 239.
Genii, winged, and winged bulls at entrance, 95.
Gentleman’s Magazine, reference to, 74.
Germany:
threshold cure in North, 18;
pottery broken on threshold on marriage eve in North, 33;
South, Scripture inscriptions above entrance of houses in, 73;
marriage rites of, 138;

a age tes o , 38;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
term for women in, 256;
emperors of, preserving keys of captured cities, 262.
Geronimo sacrificed in building walls of Algiers, 48.
Gesenius, Wilhelm:
cited, 83;
references to, 103, 210, 255.
Ghuzzeh, ancient site of Gaza, 255.
“Gift of in-going” for bridegroom in Skarpanto, 31.
Gifts at threshold:
at wedding in Russia, 32;
at marriage among Towkas, 35.
Gilead, Jacob and Laban in, 171.
Gill, Rev. W.W.: cited, 152.
Gingiro, bloody threshold offering in, 8 f.
Ginsburg, Dr. Christian D.:
cited, #69.f190# f.;
references to, 120, 212.
Gnostic sects, teaching of, on narrative in Genesis, 239.
Goat sacrificed:
at threshold for guest, 4;
in Central Africa, 27 f.;
among Copts in Egypt, 45;
on Arab joining new tribe, 59.
Gobineau, Count de: reference to, 104.
God:
of household party to marriage covenant, 32;
of life and fertility, 79;
of threshold in China, 71, 95 f.,
in India, 95,
in Japan, 96,
in Egypt, 96 f.,
in Greece and Rome, 97,
in Guatemala, 98;
of doorways in China, Japan, Korea, Siam, India, 104;
Asshur and his worshipers with uplifted hands, 89;
doorway shrine as standing-place for, 105;
f d ld f l d f t b f 106

of under-world, false door of tomb for, 106;
of gates in Babylonia, 113;
Ea in legend of Ishtar and Dumuzi, 114;
Isis, guardian of gateway, 127;
Nephthys, guardian of gateway, 127;
Osiris–judge of living and dead, at door of gateway, 127-129.
“Goddess of the homestead,” prayer to, in betrothal in Russia, 32.
“Goddess of the dwelling-house,” reference to, 32.
Goddess Ishtar, descent of, into Allat’s realm, 113 f.
Godo preserved from wedding night in Dahomey, 245.
“Gods of entrances” among Romans, 97.
“Gods’ portion:”
salted bread under threshold in betrothal in Russia, 32;
of brandy spilt under threshold in Russia, 33.
Godwyn, Thomas: cited, 39.
“Going out and coming in,” reference to threshold and deities, 109.
Gold:
under threshold in Roumania, 20;
threshold plated with, 110.
Goldsmith struck dead at threshold, 122.
Gomme, George L., 50.
“Good Abode, The,” inscribed on door-posts of dwelling, 68.
“Good luck” from horseshoes on side-posts of doorway, 73 f.
Goodwin, William W.: cited, 39, 41.
Goose sacrificed in Ireland, 21.
“Graf,” meaning of, 183.
Grain, nuts, and fruit presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31.
Grant, General:
threshold sacrifice in honor of, 7 f.;
at border line of Assioot, 186.
Grant-Bey, Dr. J.A.S., reference to, 124.
“Grape, blood of the,” among Muhammadans, 5.
Grass dipped in blood representing dignity and power, 15.
Graves, symbol of open hand above, 79.
Gray, Archdeacon:
cited, 40, 72;
references to, 104, 108, 245.
Great Britain, reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.

, p ,
Greece:
lifting bride over threshold in, 39;
bride worshiping at altar-fire in, 41;
flaming torch to accompany foundation sacrifice in, 53;
reference to religion of, 97;
palace and temple often identical in, 100;
position of altar in temples of, 134;
ancient ruins on sacred foundations of, 158;
trees marking border lines in, 176;
boundaries in ancient, 180;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235;
prominence of pine-cone in ancient, 257.
Greek Church, marriage sacrament in, 222.
Greeks:
sacredness of city gates among, 7;
in Turkey, wedding custom among, 30;
altars before houses among, 72;
doorway ornamented for bride among, 72 f.;
appealing to guardian deity at gateway among, 73;
smearing side-posts of gateway with magic herbs among, 73;
deities of doors and gates among, 97;
temple of, developed from dwelling-house, 100;
earliest literature of, in reference to threshold, 132;
modern Easter observance among, 221.
Gregor, Walter, quotation from, 34.
Griffis, William Elliot:
cited, 20;
references to, 101, 104, 230.
Grove of trees:
sacred landmark of boundary in primitive times, 173 f.;
in religious symbolisms, 230.
Guardian deity’s protection secured by stepping over threshold, 12.
“Guardian of the dwellings of Israel, the,” 69.
Guardian of threshold as post of honor, 119 f.
Guarding dwelling by placing sacrifices on threshold, 14.
Guatemala:
blood smeared on doorway in 73;

blood smeared on doorway in, 73;
“the god of houses” in, 98.
Guest:
adopted by bloody sacrifice at door in Syria and Egypt, 3;
welcomed by stepping over blood at door of host, 4;
by blood among Arabs of Central Africa, 9;
by sacrifice of fowl in Liberia, 9;
refusal of welcome to, 217.
Guhl and Koner: cited, 40 f., 72, 100.
Guzelder, reference to, 190.
Gwilt, Joseph: cited, 36.

Hades, Babylonian conception of, 113.
Hagar:
and Holy House, tradition of, 163;
Abraham’s visit to home of, 200.
Hags kept off by cross drawn on threshold, 18.
Hajj procession returning from Meccah, 186.
Hakham Bâshi, welcome to, 67.
Haleb:
reference to, 247;
marriage customs among Christians at, 248.
Hall of the Two Truths, deceased challenged at entrance to, 129.
Hall of Two-fold Maat, place of final judgment, 129.
Hammaqâm or place of worship, 160.
Hand:
stamped on door-lintel in Upper Syria, 28 f.;
wrought in silver placed on children’s necks, 76;
figure of, similar to five-branched candlestick, 77;
as symbol on banner and prayer-rug in Turkey and Persia, 78;
as symbol of Siva, the destroyer, 78;
as emblem of power in East Indies, 78;
inscribed on or above door in ancient Carthage, 78;
carved in coral or ivory carried by Jewess, 79;
open, made in stone, metal, enamel, or bone, common in ancient Egypt,
79;
symbol of open, found above graves near Tunis, 79;
b l f lift d i B b l i 79 f

symbol of uplifted, in Babylonia, 79 f.,
Assyria and Phenicia, 80,
Egypt, 81, 85,
Polynesia, 83, 148,
Central America, 148;
clasping in covenant in Babylonia, 80;
print of, giant Finmac-Coole as signature, 81;
of clay impressed on human body among American Indians, 84;
print of, as symbol on naked body, 84;
of bride traced in ink in covenant in Korea, 93 f.;
print of, as signature, 93 f.;
of Muhammad signed to certificate of protection, 94.
“Hand of might,” red hand as, 75.
“Hand of Moses,” red hand called, 77.
“Hand-striking” feast at betrothal, 32 f.
Haran, reference to, 160.
Hareema, Arabic term for woman, 256.
Harper’s Magazine, reference to, 96.
Harrison and Verrall, reference to, 159.
Harvest threshold ceremony in India, 16 f.
“Harvest Festival” among Indians of lower Mississippi, 147.
Hasselquist, F., reference to, 222.
Hathor, Queen, reference to, 184.
Hawaii:
ancient gods of, 150;
cities of refuge in, 151.
Hayes, Isaac I.: cited, 39.
Hearth:
as primitive altar, 22;
Penates of Romans at, 23;
bride taken to, in Scotland, 44.
Hearthstone:
of Arab shaykh’s tent, 22;
as first threshold altar, 40.
Hearn, Lafcadio:
cited, 72, 201;
quotation from, 125 f.
Hebrew:

word nasa–to lift up or to swear, 83;
word for tent and tabernacle, 101;
literature, reference to, 109;
law as to cities of refuge, 151,
as to local landmarks, 169;
new year, 212.
Hebrews:
commanded to dedicate doorways to living God, 69;
sacred ark of, in house of god Dagon, 116 f.
Hebrews, Epistle to, on threshold sacrifice, 217.
Hebron, reference to, 255.
Heh and Egyptian empire, boundary marks between, 179.
Heifer sacrificed at door for guest, 4.
Hen:
sacrificed in Ireland, 21;
sacrificed at new houses among Metâwileh, 45;
buried alive under house, 56.
Henderson, William: cited, 142, 160.
Herald in India responsible with life for repayment of debt, 61 f.
Herbs, juice of magic, smeared on door-posts among Greeks, 73.
“Hercules, Pillars of,” 181.
Hermann, K.F.: cited, 172.
Hermes, reference to, concerning boundary lines, 171 f.
Hermes Propylaios, reference to, 159.
Herodotus:
quotation from, 14;
cited, 111;
references to, 229, 236.
Herrick, R.: his poem on marriage, 139 f.
Hesiod, reference to, 132 f.
Hesperides, shores of, 135.
Heuzey, Léon: cited, 29 f.
Hiel, Jericho’s foundation laid in blood of son of, 47.
Hieroglyphics placed on door-posts and lintels in Egypt, 68 f.
High thresholds in houses of Finland and United States, and in Teutonic
houses, 12.
Highway, king’s, reference to, 176.
Hilkiah duties of guardians of threshold in days of 120

Hilkiah, duties of guardians of threshold in days of, 120.
Hillah, red hand over doors of large khan of, 75.
Hilprecht, Dr. H.V.:
cited, 22, 78, 109, 155, 209;
testimony of, 33 f.;
on use of red hand over doors in Babylonia, 75;
quotation from, 167-169.
Hindooism, modern, Saivism predominating in, 198.
Hindoos:
sacredness of threshold among, 11;
law regarding door-sill, 15;
belief that evil spirits keep aloof from iron, 17;
rules requiring right foot to cross threshold first, 36 f.;
sacredness of fire recognized by, 40;
sacredness of oath taken at threshold of temple among, 121 f.;
prejudice against shedding blood, sacrifices in spite of, 122 f.;
worship of, 236;
exhibit of evidence among, 249.
Hindoostan, survivals of foundation-laying in blood, 50.
Hinge-goddess of Romans, 97.
Hinges, reference to, 254.
Hittite, reference to, 213.
Hofstad, temple in, 160.
Hog sacrificed before door in Egypt, 14.
Holland, strewing of threshold in, 33.
Holy water at doorway of Roman Catholic churches in America, 147.
Holy Sepulcher, Church of, 221.
Homer: cited, 100;f267#, #132 f., 135.
Hommel, Prof. Fritz: cited, 201.
Honey:
smeared on door-posts among Wallachians, 29;
and water for bride at threshold in Morea, 30;
and bread placed on bride’s gate-post, 42 f.
Hooke, N., reference to, 265.
Hopkins, Prof. Dr. E.W.:
cited, 6, 62, 198, 231;
quotation from, 15.
Hormuz, son of Nurshivan, reference to, 11.

“Horns of the altar,” meaning of, 58.
Horus, image of, over temple door to drive away unclean spirits, 127;
reference to, 179.
Horse:
sacrificed at threshold in Syria, 4 f.;
passing through blood of sacrifice, 7;
laid in churchyard before burial in Sweden, 56;
stamped with red hand in Babylonia, 75;
covered with red hands buried with Indian chief, 85 f.
Horseshoe:
nailed to door-sills in Bombay, 17,
on door-step in Pennsylvania, 21,
to side-posts for “good luck” in Europe and America, 73 f.;
often found on ship’s mast, 74.
Hospitality:
law of, in India, 5 f.;
among Arabs, 22.
Hossein, banners with open hand at commemoration of death of, 78.
House:
preceding temple, 3;
corners of, sprinkled with blood, in Ireland, 21;
wall broken for removal of body, in India, 23;
earliest form of Egyptian temple, 100;
of king both palace and temple, 101 f.;
to temple, gradual transition from, 101 f.
House-father:
as earliest priest, 3;
among Hindoos, 15.
House of the Bronze Threshold, 132.
Household “teraphim,” 109.
Hovel earliest form of Egyptian temple, 100.
Huc, Abbé: cited, 125.
Hughes, Thomas P.:
cited, 37, 123;
reference to, 164.
Human nature and sacredness of threshold, 152.
Human sacrifice:
in Zindero and Central Africa 8 f

in Zindero and Central Africa, 8 f.,
in China, 48,
in Alaska, 50 f.,
in Mexico, 56,
at pagoda door in India, 122 f.,
on altar at temple gate in Tibet, 125;
in modern times, 47;
various substitutes for, 53 f.;
reference to, 144.
Human skeletons found under towers of ancient Irish, 50 f.
Hut earliest form of Japanese temple, 101.
Hwen Thsang, reference to, 156.
“Hymen’s torch” in marriage ceremony, 41.
Hyssop, significance of, 214.

Iceland, Thorolf of Norway in, 160.
Idolaters, threshold and door-post of, beside Lord’s, 118.
Idols:
at door-altar in Mexico, 21;
destroyed at gate in Meccah, Medina, and Ghuznee, 123.
Image as gateway of village or cemetery in New Zealand, 107 f.
Images:
buried under threshold of houses, temples, and city gates, 14;
in sacred “upper corner” of building in Russia, 55;
under foundations in ancient Rome, 55 f.;
of gods of threshold in China, 96.
Imbiʾa, reference to, 60.
Imgur-Bêl gate in walls of Babylon, 110.
“Imposition of the Sa, the,” touch of uplifted hand of deity, 85.
Incantations:
mantra used in, 15;
on paper placed in door-sill in Pennsylvania, 21.
Incense:
placed on threshold, 18;
exorcism with, 18;
burned on threshold in Tuscany, 42;
origin of, 226.
India:

India:
law of threshold in, 5 f.;
sacredness of threshold in, 16;
body not to cross threshold, 23;
body removed through wall, 23;
crossing threshold by bride in, 38;
bride at altar-fire in, 41;
appeals in blood at household altar in, 61;
refusal to move from threshold until claim is heeded in, 61;
offering to threshold god Vāttu in, 95;
fire-altar center of worship in, 99;
no temples in early, 100;
fire-altar on threshold as place of worship in, 102;
doorways apart from temples in, 104;
judgments at temple threshold in, 122;
bloody sacrifices at temple threshold in, 122;
holy trees in Upper, 156;
habit of building sanctuary in, 157;
landmarks in, 169;
laws of, regarding disputed boundaries, 169;
visible aid of worship in, 198;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
serpent as religious symbol in, 235;
marriage ceremonies in, 248;
lotus symbol in, 257;
religious custom in, 258.
Indian Antiquary, reference to, 258.
Indians:
of Mexico, reference to, 21;
of Yucatan, reference to, 82;
red hand among American, 85-93;
Natchez, religious ceremonies among, 147.
Indies, East, hand as emblem of power in, 78.
Indo-Aryans and boundary lines, 185.
Inscription:
and invocation placed at corner of building in Babylonia, 22;
on gates and houses deemed protection against evil spirits, 70;
at doorway in China, 71;

y
among Greeks, 72;
on tomb of kings of Persia, 124;
showing sanctity of temple doorways in Asia, 109.
Instructress in matrimony in China, 40.
Invocations:
on images buried under threshold, 14;
and deposits at threshold in Babylonia, 22.
Iona cathedral built in human blood, 50.
Ionia, pillar as threshold stone in, 180.
Ioways, red hand among, 87.
Ireland:
sacrifice in, 21;
lifting bride over threshold in, 44;
human skeletons in round towers in, 50;
print of five fingers on “druidical altar” in, 81;
mode of marriage in, 142 f.
Irenæus: cited, 239.
Iron as guard against evil spirits, 17.
Isé:
temples of, modeled on primeval hut, 101;
great shrines of, chief Meccah of Shintō faith, 126.
Ishmael:
and Holy House, tradition of, 163;
and Hagar, Abraham’s visit to home of, 200.
Ishmael, Rabbi: cited, 208.
Ishtar:
gate of, 95;
legend of, 113.
Isis, guardian of Egyptian temple, 127.
Islands, South Sea, temples of, 148.
Israel:
executing judgment against Benjamites for disregard of appeal at door,
63 f.;
called to “establish judgment at the gate,” 64.
Israelites:
protected against Medes, Persians, Midianites, and Assyrians, 211;
reference to, 216;
command to concerning Asherah and pillar 233;

command to, concerning Asherah and pillar, 233;
exhibiting evidences among, 249.
Istar of Agade, 153. See, also, Ishtar.
Italy:
prominence of threshold in folk customs of, 17 f.;
corpse not to pass main door of house in, 24.
Ivory hand as talisman among Jews at Tunis, 79.

Jacob:
at Bethel, 160;
and Laban agreeing on landmark, 171;
his pillar, 268 f.
“Jacob’s ladder” probably stepped-temple structure, 112.
Jaffa, sacrifices of sheep at beginning of railroad at, 56.
“Janua,” reference to, 200.
Janus, Gate-god of Romans, 97.
Japan:
salt sprinkled on threshold in, 20;
survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.;
shimenawa suspended above door in, 72;
gods of Ni-o guarding threshold in, 96;
temples of, on model of primeval huts, 101;
doorways apart from temples in, 104;
pilgrims at threshold of sacred shrines of, 125;
Shinto temples of, 201;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
Jastrow, Prof. Dr. Morris, Jr.: cited, 79, 144, 253.
Jastrow, Rev. Dr. Marcus, testimony of, 212.
Jehoash, altar at threshold in days of, 121.
Jehoiada:
chest for offerings placed at temple door and altar, 121;
his assignment of priests to threshold, 120.
Jennings, Hargrave: cited, 230.
Jeremiah, references to, 64, 213.
Jericho:
curse of Joshua on rebuilder of walls of, 46 f.;
walls of, falling down, 211.
J hi t l ti f h 207

Jerome: his translation of saph, 207.
Jerusalem:
and Jaffa railroad, sacrifice at beginning of, 57;
blood placed on lintel of temple at, 67;
red hand in Jews’ quarter of, 75;
waters issuing from under threshold of temple at, 114;
altar of burnt offering at threshold of temple at, 120;
temple site at, 161;
presence of Christ at, 215;
Church of Holy Sepulcher at, 221.
Jesus:
reference of, to door, 6,
to gates of Hades, 65;
the Door, 104.
Jews:
red hand on houses of, in Jerusalem, 76,
on houses at Safed, 77;
open hand found over graves of, in Europe, 79;
in Morocco, bloody hand on door-posts among, 67 f.;
sign of hand found in houses of, 76;
sacrifice of lamb at door of new house of, 76 f.;
in Tunis, bloody hand among, 78 f.;
hand as talisman against evil eye among, 79;
rubbing fingers on synagogue door-posts among, 144;
modern, observing passover, 211 f.
Jicarilla Apaches:
prominence of red hand among, 87;
celebration of attainment to puberty among, 88-92.
John the Baptist, reference to, 218 f.
Jones and Kropf:
cited, 12, 18, 20 f., 143;
quotation from, 17.
Jordan, source of, at threshold of grotto of Pan, 115.
Joshua:
his curse on rebuilder of Jericho, 46 f.;
guardians of threshold in days of, 120.
Journal of American Folk-Lore, references to, 5, 21.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, reference to, 236.

y y, ,
Joyner. See Von Löher and Joyner.
Judicial oath, uplifted hand in, 83.
Julien, Stanislas: cited, 156.
“Jumping the broomstick,” 143.
Juno, Virgil’s reference to brazen threshold in temple of, 130.
Jupiter:
priest of, at Lystra, 134 f.;
reference to boundary lines, 171;
image of, as boundary mark, 172.
Justice sought at gate:
among Arabs, 57-59;
in Arabia, 59 f.;
in Babylonia and Elam, 60;
in Egypt, 60 f.;
in India, 61;
in Morocco, 62 f.;
among Israelites, 63 f.;
in Turkey, 65.
Justinian, Emperor: cited, 181.

Ka, or soul, of dead, offerings to, 106.
Kaʿbah in mosk at Meccah, 163.
Kadesh, Egyptian goddess, 234.
Kadi, reference to, 247.
Kamehameha, king of Sandwich Islands, 150.
Kami, gods of doorways, 104.
Kardas Sarks, god of house, prayer to, 44.
Kathiawar, human sacrifice at threshold at, 61.
Kauzeroon, British envoy approaching, 189.
Keeper of gate, honorable position, 119 f.
Kef Miryam, name of sign of hand, 77.
Keightley, Thomas, references to, 172, 236.
Keoroeva, ancient gods of Maui, 150.
Ket, uses of the Egyptian goddess, 234.
Key, uses of the Hebrew word for, 253.
Khaleefs of Bagdad, threshold custom of, 10.
Khedive, threshold sacrifice to welcome new, 7.

Khedive, threshold sacrifice to welcome new, 7.
Khem, god of generative force, 234.
Khonds of Orissa, crossing threshold in wedding among, 39.
Khorsabad, sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.
Kid:
outpoured blood of, in hospitality among Arabs, 23;
sacrificed on threshold in Syria, 26.
King, Capt. J.S.:
quotations from, #27f72# f.;
cited, 196.
King:
human sacrifice to welcome, 8 f.;
and priest, offices claimed by same person, 101 f.
Kings of Scotland crowned on Coronation Stone, 268.
King’s highway, 176.
Kissing:
threshold in Persia, 12;
doors among Pythagoreans, 13;
threshold among Morlacchi in Dalmatia, 31;
doorway serpent in Yezidis’ temple, 116;
threshold of mosk in Persia, 123 f.;
threshold of gate of tomb of Alee, 124;
threshold of wely, 129;
threshold and door-posts of church in Abyssinia, 130 f.
“Kissing the church” in Abyssinia, 131.
Kitto, John, references to, 120, 212.
Kitzuki, sacredness of threshold among pilgrims at, 125 f.
Kiva temples, hand on walls of, 92.
Knight, Richard Payne: cited, 230.
“Knowledge, Tree of,” reference to, 156.
“Knowledge,” in Bible narrative, 238.
Kohala, temple in, 150.
Koner. See Guhl and Koner.
Koran, See Quran.
Korea:
dead taken through hole in city wall in, 24;
marriage covenant made by tracing woman’s hand on contract, 93;
doorways apart from temples in, 104;
il i t th h ld i d hi f 125

pilgrims at threshold in sacred shrines of, 125.
Kowalewsky, M.: cited, 42.
Krasnoslobodsk, marriage customs in, 249.
Kropf, Lewis L.:
cited, 12, 18, 20.
See, also, Jones and Kropf.
Kurigalzu II., king of Babylon, 154.
Kuru-Kshetra, holy ground, 156.
“Kuza bemuchsaz Kuzu”–name of God, 70.

Laban and Jacob agreeing about landmark, 171.
Lachish, Tell el-Hesy, site of ancient, 58.
Lacouperie, Terrien de: cited, 185, 231.
Ladder, Jacob’s, probably stepped-temple structure, 112.
“Lady of the great land,”–Beltis Allat, 113.
Lakshmi, wife of Vishnoo, represented as seated on serpent, 235.
Lamb:
sacrificed at door for guest, in Egypt, 4,
in Syria, 4, 26;
outpoured blood of, in hospitality among Arabs, 23;
sacrificed at foundation-laying in Greece, 53;
buried under altar in first Christian churches in Swedish tradition, 56;
sacrificed on Arab joining another tribe, 58 f.;
sacrificed at door of new house of Jew or Muhammadan in Palestine,
76 f.
Lamberton, Prof. W.A.: cited, 132, 134.
Lamps and laurels on gates in Tertullian’s time, 97 f.
Lanciani, Dr. Rodolfo: cited, 56, 257 f.
Landmark:
sacred boundary of private, 166;
local, in form of phallus, 166;
in Babylonia, 166;
in laws of Hebrews, 169;
in India, 169;
fixing and honoring of, origin of, 175.
Landor, A. Henry Savage-: cited, 24, 94.
Lane, Edward William:

cited, 26, 37, 129, 245;
references to, 123, 244.
Lane-Poole, Stanley: cited, 129, 200.
Lantevit Major Church, wedding customs at, 141.
Lapland, significance of stepping over threshold in, 12.
Lares and Penates in Cicero’s time, 41.
Latins, marriage custom among, 29.
Launching custom of “christening” in England and America, 8.
Laurel:
wreaths hung in doorway at marriage among Romans, 73;
Christians warned against placing, on their gates, 97.
Laurie, Dr. Thomas: cited, 124.
Law of doorway, 5-10.
Laws of Manu, reference to, 6.
Layard, Sir Austen H.:
cited, 68, 109, 111, 190, 201, 234 f.;
his discovery of sculptured image of Assyrian king, 115 f.
“Laying on of hands, the,” as symbol of imparting power, 85.
Lazarus at gate of Dives, 64.
Leaping over threshold, 117.
Lebanon, Mt., region receiving European prince, 191.
Legend and fact as contributors to proof of custom among Orientals, 77.
Legends:
of Dumuzi, Tammuz, Osiris, and Adonis, correspondences in, 115;
and symbols employed concerning boundary lines, 171 f.
Leland, Charles Godfrey: cited, 17 f., 233.
Lèlè, name for altar, 150 f.
Lemm, Oscar von: cited, 128.
Lenormant, François: cited, 109.
Levites and priests assigned to threshold and foundation, 120.
Levitical laws concerning sacrifice not made at “door of tent of meeting,”
118 f.
Levy, Rabbi Jacob: cited, 208.
Libation of water offered on threshold, 16 f., 29.
Liberia:
fowl sacrificed to welcome guest in, 9;
nuptial customs of, 196.
Liberian clergyman’s testimony regarding threshold custom, 39.

Liberian clergyman s testimony regarding threshold custom, 39.
Liddell and Scott: cited, 208.
Liebenstein, castle of, made fast by burying child, 49.
Life:
new, outgrowth of truth of primal threshold covenant, 226;
tree of, symbol of feminine nature, 230;
goddess of, in Egypt and Assyria, 234.
Lifting bride over threshold:
among Towkas, 35;
in Abyssinia, Egypt, Syria, 38;
in Greece, Rome, and West Africa. 39;
in Russia, England, Scotland, Ireland, and United States, 44;
in Central America, 45.
Limen, Jerome’s word for saph, 207.
Limentinus, threshold god of Romans, 97.
Lindisfarne Abbey, marriage customs at, 141.
Linga in yoni, symbol of Siva’s worship, 198, 236.
Lintel:
hand in dough impressed on, in Upper Syria, 28 f.;
smeared with honey and water, 30;
blood on, 66, 68;
inscriptions as to sacredness of, 66, 68;
blood stains above, 67;
symbolic figures on, 70;
sentences written on, in China, 71;
Romans affixing spoils of battle on, 73;
red hand on, 74;
red hand on, in Babylonia, 75;
ornamentation of, in ancient Egypt, 100;
image of Horus on, 127;
kissed by pious in Abyssinia, 131;
decorations on, and above, 146;
blood on, as protection for house, 206;
and two side-posts, God passing over, 210.
Lithuania, wooden cross placed under threshold in, 18.
Littleton, Sir Thomas: cited, 140.
London, horseshoes on threshold of houses in ancient, 74.
Loong-moo, sacrifice of fowl in honor of divinity, among Chinese, 71 f.
“L d f h i ” dN l 113

“Lord of the great city,” god Nergal as, 113.
Lot welcoming angels, 211.
Lotus flower:
in religious symbolisms, 230;
reference to, 234;
symbol of fecundity, 257.
“Louping stone,” 142.
Lowell, Percival: cited, 104, 126, 201.
Lubare, offering to, in Uganda, 15.
Lubbock, Sir John: cited, 39.
Luncz, A.M., quotations from, 67, 76.
Lund’s Every-day Life in Scandinavia: reference to, 7, 12.
Lystra, temple of Jupiter at, reference to, 135.

McDowell, Henry B.: cited, 96.
McLennan, Dr. John F.: cited, 39.
Mackay, Alexander: cited, 15.
Mackenzie, Capt. J.S.F., quotation from, 258 f.
Maçoudi’s Les Prairies d’Or, reference to, 200.
Madaa, place of prayer, 164.
Madagascar, importance of right foot in, 38;
circumcision in, 149.
Mafkat, land of, 184.
Magharah, Wady, boundary marks in, 179.
Magyars:
stepping over threshold among, 12;
custom to win love, 19 f.
Mahabharata:
cited, 6;
on responsibility of heralds, 62;
Hindoo epic, 157.
Mal occhis, or evil eye, 79.
Male represented by stone or pole, 258.
Man, origin and development of, 223.
Manoli in “Monastery of Argis,” story of, 52 f.
Mantra, meaning of word, 15.
Manu, Laws of, reference to, 6.

Maras kept off by cross on threshold, 18.
“Marches,” reference to, 183.
Marduk, reference to, 235.
Margosa, reference to, 259.
Margrave, origin of, 183.
Mariette Bey, references to, 111, 126, 128.
Market-places as boundaries, 178.
“Markgraf,” meaning of, 183.
“Marks,” reference to, 183.
Marquardt, Joachim: cited, 30, 39, 41.
“Marque, Letters of,” meaning of, 183.
“Marquee,” meaning of, 183.
Marquises, origin of, 183.
Marriage:
threshold covenanting in, 25-35;
by outpoured blood at threshold, 26;
customs among Somalis in Central Africa, 27,
among Wallachians, 29,
in Egypt, 243, 245,
in China, Dahomey, 245,
in Syria, 246,
in Asia and Africa, in Krasnoslobodsk, among Mordvins, in Pensa,
249,
in Samoa, 251;
not “by capture,” 36;
celebrated at church door in Abyssinia, 131;
where solemnized, 138;
Pre-Reformation rule of, 139;
services in Protestant Episcopal churches, 148;
covenant, primitive certificate of, 196;
primitive rite of, 214, 225;
sacrament of, in Roman Catholic Church, 222;
torch, origin of, 226;
certificate in Syria, 245,
in Upper Egypt, 245;
ceremonies among Muhammedans, 247;
ceremonies among Christians at Haleb, 248;
ceremonies in Darfour 249

ceremonies in Darfour, 249.
See, also, Wedding ceremonies.
“Mary’s Hand, Virgin,” among Christians of Syria, 77.
Masjid:
bridegroom’s visit to, in Central Africa, 27;
place of prostration, 163.
Mask marked with hand among Jicarilla Apaches, 89.
Mason, William Shaw: cited, 21, 81.
“Mason and Dixon’s line,” 182.
Maspero, Prof. G.:
cited, 14, 39, 85;
references to, 95, 102, 105 f., 113 f., 126, 169, 201, 235.
Massachusetts, beating bounds in, 176.
Mastabahs, false doors in ancient Egypt, 106 f.
Matthews, Washington, reference to, 87.
Maundrell, Henry, reference to, 222.
Maui, Island of, ancient god of, 150.
Maurice, Thomas:
cited, 122;
references to, 123, 236 f.
Maya people, sacrifices among, 145.
Meccah:
black stone of, reference to, 10;
prayer niche toward, 108;
mosk of, image thrown down at gate of, 123;
mosk at, reference to, 163;
Hajj procession from, 186.
Medals showing altar at threshold, 121.
Medicine taken on threshold in Tuscany, 17 f.
Medina, mosk of, pieces of idol thrown down at gate of, 123.
Mediterranean, boundary marks on shores of, 178.
Medusa and serpents, 237.
Memorials in door form, in various lands, 107.
Mercury:
reference to, concerning boundary lines, 171;
image of, as boundary landmark, 172.
Merodach:
god of left side of gate, 95;
l f h h ld l d i h ld 110

temple of, threshold plated with gold, 110.
Metâwileh, hen sacrificed at building of house among, 45.
Metempsychosis connected with threshold covenant, 226.
Mexico:
Indians of ancient, reference to, 21;
sacrificial stone of temple of, 56;
ancient, altar in doorway, 108;
earliest form of temple in, 144;
religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235.
Meydoom, stepped pyramid of, in Egypt, 126.
“Mezuza,” covenant record at door-way, 69 f.
Middle Empire of Egypt:
disappearance of door form in, 106;
temples of, 155.
“Midsummer Day” festival in Russia, 42.
“Mihrab,” or prayer niche, probable origin of its form, 108.
Mile-posts as landmarks, 176.
Min, Egyptian god of generative force, 234.
Mineptah I., memorial stone of, 180.
Minnesota, threshold custom among Scandinavians in, 259.
Mississippi, lower, religious ceremonies among Indians along, 147.
“Mizpah,” memorial of covenant, 171.
Mnesikles, architect, plan of, 158.
Moksha, wooing custom among, 42.
“Monastery of Argis,” foundation sacrifice in, 52 f.
Monier-Williams, Sir Monier: cited, 156, 198 f., 230, 236.
Monoliths in front of door of temple at Yeha, 131.
Montezuma: his consecration of altar by blood of captives, 56.
Moon-god Sin:
Ur-Gur with uplifted hands before, 80;
reference to, 161.
Mordevins. See Mordvins.
Mordvins:
threshold as altar among, 32;
marriage customs of, 41, 249.
Morea, threshold custom in, 30.
Morier, James:
cited, 11 f., 78, 123;

c ted, ., 8, 3;
quotation from, 189 f.
Morlacchi custom of kissing threshold, 31.
Morocco, survival of sacrificing at door-way in, 62.
Mosaic law, appeal to altar in covenant in, 65.
Moses:
at gate of camp, 63;
meeting Jehovah at doorway, 119;
in wilderness of Sinai, 160 f.
“Moses, Hand of,” red hand called, 77.
Mosk of St. Sophia, stamp of red hand in, 77.
Mostur, temple of Thor in, 160.
Mt. Lebanon region, European prince received in, 191.
Mt. Moriah:
temple on, reference to, 161;
and Abraham’s offering, 161.
Mt. Sinai, reference to, 94.
Mountain peaks as boundaries, 178.
Muhammad:
certificate of protection signed with impression of open hand of, 94;
throne of, reached only by kissing threshold, 124.
Muhammad II.: his victory over Christians sealed by bloody hand, 77.
Muhammad Issoof, letter from king of Mysore to, 94.
Muhammadan:
substitute for “blood of the grape,” 5;
conquest of India, reference to, 123.
Muhammadans:
to place right foot first in crossing threshold, 36;
inscribe gates, fountains, bridges, and houses, 70;
sacred inscriptions placed above doorways by, 71;
sign of hand among, 76;
lamb sacrificed at door of new house of, 76 f.;
“Hand of the Prophet” on houses of, 77;
sultan as father of faithful, 103;
prayer niche among, 108;
treading on idol at gate, 123;
threshold of mosks counted sacred among, 123;
their estimate of first foundations, 162;
i g t f 247

Naaman, reference to, 161.
Nabob of Arcot, banners of, inscribed with hand, 78.
Nabonidus, king of Babylon, 153.
Nabunaʾid, king of Babylon, 154.
Nahr-el-Kelb:
as gateway of nations, 105;
boundary marks at, 178.
Nahuas, marriage ceremonies of, 246.
Nakishbend, tomb of, threshold stone at, 124 f.
Naomi, reference to, 64.
Napier, James: cited, 44.
Naples, pine cone among Pompeian relics at, 257.
Narâm-Sin, reference to, 154.
Nasa, meaning of Hebrew word, 83.
Natchez Indians, religious ceremonies among, 147.
Nations or states, boundaries of, 177.
Neapolitan Museum, information concerning threshold at, 258.
Nebo:
shrine of, 110;
references to, 177, 188.
Nebuchadrezzar I.:
meaning of name, 177;
his empire boundary, 188.
Nebuchadrezzar II.:
inscriptions of, 109;
his description of building walls of Babylon, 109-111;
reference to, 154.
Negeb:
reference to, 160;
boundary dispute on borders of, 170.
Neoptolemus and Orestes in temple at Delphi, 134.
Nephthys, guardian of gateway of Egyptian temple, 127.
Nergal, threshold god among Assyrians, 95, 113, 235.
Nestorians kissing threshold on entering church, 124.
Nevius, Rev. J.W.: cited, 24.
New Empire of Egypt:

p gyp
religious pictures on stele in tombs of, 107;
buildings of, 155.
New England:
door at corner of house in, 55;
“beating the bounds” in, 176.
“New Fire, Festival of,” 147.
New Testament, symbols of Old Testament explained in, 215.
New Year:
threshold custom in Aberdeenshire, 20 f.;
of Hebrews, 212;
Easter beginning new Ecclesiastical, 221.
New Zealand, sacred image as gateway in, 107 f.
Niche:
as shrine in Egypt, 106;
survival of tomb doorways, 108;
prominence of, in Egypt, 106 f.,
in New Zealand, 107 f.,
in Muhammadan and Christian lands and in China, 108.
Niebuhr, C.: cited, 248.
Nikkō, shrines of, 126.
Nile, Gen Grant on Upper, 7 f.
Nimb tree, reference to, 259.
Nimitti-Bel, gate of, in walls of Babylon, 110.
Nimroud, blood-stained slabs at entrance to palace of, 68.
Nineveh:
sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.;
sculpture of Assyrian king with uplifted arm found at, 115.
Ni-o, prints of gods placed over doors in Japan, 95.
Nippur:
sanctity of doorway in, 108 f.;
altar found between temples in, 111.
Nish, Assyrian word for swearing, 83.
Noetling, Dr., reference to, 77.
Northly, Hen., reference to, 140.
Norway, Thorolf of, removing to Iceland, 160.
“Not by door,” entering house, 6.
Notre Dame, marriage at door of church of, 130.
November 11 as sacrifice day in Ireland 21

November 11 as sacrifice day in Ireland, 21.
Nubia:
ancient map of gold districts in, 180;
reference to, 185.
Numa, directions of, concerning boundaries, 173.
Nuptial torch in marriage ceremony, 41.
Nurshivan and Hormuz, reference to, 11.
Nuts presented to bride at threshold in Dalmatia, 31.

Oath, uplifted hand in judicial, 83.
Obelisk, symbol of Baal, 214.
Oberea, queen of Otaheite, 250 f.
Offerings:
at threshold, 28, 118 f.;
to local divinity at threshold-laying, 95;
for dead pictured on stele of Middle Empire of Egypt, 106.
Ohel, applied to private tent and to sacred tabernacle, 101.
Ohnefalach-Richter, reference to, 231.
Old Empire of Egypt:
false door in early tombs of, 106;
temples of, 155.
Old Testament and New:
waters of life in, 115;
rites and symbols of, 215.
Oldest member of household first to enter new house, 54.
Olympian games, references to, 7, 263.
Olympus, House of Zeus, 132.
Om mani padme Hūm, 199.
Omaha chief, burial of, 85 f.
Ophites, teaching of, 239.
Oracle at Delphi, 236.
Oran buried alive in foundation of cathedral in Iona, 50.
Orestes and Neoptolemus at Delphi, 134.
Oriental:
sovereigns and boundaries, 177;
Christians, covenanting at threshold among, 221;
figures of speech obscured by literalism of Western mind, 238.
Oi i f h h ld i i i 39

Orissa, importance of threshold in marriage in, 39.
Orme, R.: cited, 94.
Osiris:
annual feast in honor of, 14 f.;
references to, 106, 115, 128 f., 179;
door of gateway, 127.
“Ostium” defined, 200.
Otaheite, primitive threshold in, 250.
Ovid: cited, 172 f.
Owens, J.G.: cited, 21.
Oxford, Penn., stone landmark at, 183.

Palestine:
spilling water on threshold in, 29;
sacrifice at beginning railroad in, 57;
blood on lintel, 67;
red hand in, 75;
hand printed in blue in houses of, 76.
Palgrave, William G.: cited, 10.
Palm cone, symbolism of, 231.
Palmer, Prof. E.H., quotation from, 26.
Pan, threshold of grotto of, 115.
Pan-kăng, emperor of China, reference to, 157.
Paper sprinkled with blood in China, 72.
“Parting-stool,” reference to, 142.
Pāsăkha, meaning of, 208, 210, 266.
Paul:
with Barnabas at Lystra, 135;
his reference to foundations, 162;
to Corinthian Christians, 215;
on Christian passover, 217;
on relation between Christ and his church, 219.
Pausanias: cited, 135.
Pecos, red-hand symbol in ancient Pueblos of, 87 f.
Peepul tree, in Upper India, 156, 259.
Peloponnesus and Attica, boundary between, 180.
Penates:

reference to, 19;
of Romans at threshold, 23;
appeased by bread and salt, 32;
and Lares in Cicero’s time, 41.
Pennsylvania:
threshold custom in, 21;
corner-stone at door in, 55;
horseshoes as doorway guards in, 74;
stone landmark in, 183.
Pennsylvania Magazine of History, reference to, 183.
Pensa, marriage customs in, 249.
“Per-ao” (Pharaoh), meaning of, 103.
Pericles building new Propylæa, 158.
Perrot and Chipiez:
cited, 71, 78, 80, 85, 100, 103, 105, 111, 201, 231, 235;
quotation from, 106 f.
Persea, reference to, 180.
Persepolis, justice at palace gate of, 60.
Persia:
sacredness of threshold in, 11 f.;
sacred passages inscribed over doorways in, 71;
banners and prayer-rugs inscribed with open hand in, 78;
no temples in ancient, 100;
fire-altar on uplifted threshold as place of worship in, 100, 102;
veneration for threshold of mosks in, 123 f.;
border sacrifices in, 188;
shah of, entering Teheran, 189;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
marriage customs in, 249;
phallus represented by boundary posts, 258.
Peru:
blood smeared on doorway in, 73;
stepped pyramid temples in, 111;
religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235.
Pesakh. See Pāsăkh.
Petrie, Dr. W.M. Flinders:
his discovery of ornamental door-jams, 58;
reference to 126

reference to, 126.
“Petting stone,” at Lindisfarne Abbey, 141.
Phallus, reverence for, in Babylonia, Assyria, India, China, Japan, Persia,
Phrygia, Phenicia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Greece, Rome, Germany,
Scandinavia, France, Spain, Great Britain, North and South
America, Islands of the Sea, 230.
“Pharaoh,” meaning of, 103.
Phenicia:
uplifted hand of deities of, 79 f.;
prominence of door in, 107;
altar at threshold in, 121;
indications of presence of deity in, 201;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
religions of, and serpent as symbol, 235;
pine cone symbol in, 257.
Philip II. of Spain, reference to, 139.
Philistines, sacredness of threshold among, 11 f.
Philo Judæus:
cited, 208, 238;
reference to, 239.
Philos, Phleō, and Phliē, meanings and uses of, 255 f.
Phœbus Apollo, reference to, 133.
Phrygia:
threshold altar in, 121;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230.
Pig:
sacrifice of black, in Russia, 19;
blood of, sprinkled at door in Borneo, 20;
buried alive under houses, 56;
as sacrifice, 148.
Pigeon-poult’s blood in Arabia, 248.
Pigeons sacrificed at door, 4.
Pilgrims at threshold in Japan, in Korea, in Shinto and Booddhist temple,
125.
Pillar:
of cloud at doorway of tent of meeting, 119;
of Baal, 214;
and tree in religious symbolism, 232;

command to Israelites concerning, 233.
“Pillars of Herculus,” 181.
Pine cone: in ancient Assyrian sculptures, in Grecian and Phenician cults,
and in ancient Rome, 257.
Pinkerton, John: cited, 39.
Pipal tree. See Peepul tree.
Pipiles, sacrifices among, 146.
“Plain of Kuru,” 156.
Pliny, reference to, 93.
Ploss, H., reference to, 93.
Plutarch: cited, 25, 39, 41, 180 f., 263, 265.
Pole, brush-topped, symbolism of, 214, 258.
Polynesia:
survival of foundation-laying in blood in, 51 f.;
uplifted hand found in stepped-pyramid temples of, 83;
boundary lines in, 174.
Pomegranate:
on threshold in Morea, 30, in Rhodes, 30 f.;
in religious symbolisms, 230.
Pompeian relics at Naples, 257.
Ponce de Leon and fountain of life, 148.
Poole. See Lane-Poole.
Poros, derivation of, 265.
Porta and Porto, derivation of, 265.
Porta di morti in Italian houses for corpse, 24.
Porter, Sir Robert Kerr: cited, 9, 71.
Porter, twofold use of word, 263-265.
Portuguese navigators and boundary pillars, 180 f.
Postliminium, a recrossing of threshold, 181.
Pôth:
uses of Hebrew word, 253;
as hinge or socket, 254.
Prabhus of Bombay, birth custom among, 17.
Prague, open hand above graves in, 79.
Prayer:
on burying articles under threshold, 20;
offered to “goddess of the homestead” in betrothal in Russia, 32;
for dead at door of Egyptian tombs, 106;

for dead at door of Egyptian tombs, 106;
Booddhist in Tibet, 199;
meaning of, 228.
Prayer-rug in Turkey and Persia, 78.
Priest:
house-father as earliest, 3;
among Jicarilla Apaches, 89;
as ruler, 165;
of Dagon not to tread on threshold, 117.
Primitive:
altar of family, 3;
threshold customs, 35;
temple as rude door-way, 102;
man and his knowledge, 224.
Prisse’s Monuments of Egypt, reference to, 234.
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, references to, 201,
231, 257.
Propylon:
of Egyptian temple, 127;
of Greek temple on Acropolis, 158.
Pʾrosdôr, rabbinical meaning of, 253.
Prostitution, sacred, origin of, 229.
Prostrating:
at gate of palace in Bagdad, 10;
at threshold of shrines of Egypt, 127 f.
Protection:
for enemy at home sanctuary, 57;
at threshold among Afghans, 58.
Protestant Episcopal churches:
baptismal font in, 147;
marriage ceremonies in, 148.
Psalmist:
his reference to lifting up hand, 82;
to honorable position of doorkeeper, 120.
Puberty celebrated among Jicarilla Apaches, 88-91.
Pueblos:
prominence of red hand among, 87;
references to, 88, 92.
P h iti f f i H ii 151

Puhonuas, cities of refuge in Hawaii, 151.
Purity of primitive threshold covenant, 233.
“Put your right foot first,” 37 f.
Puthmēn, meanings and uses of, 255.
Pylon. See Propylon.
Pyramid, stepped:
many early temples in form of, 83, 111;
of Meydoom, 126;
references to, 144, 148, 229.
Pythagoras: cited, 37.
Pythagoreans, reverence for threshold among, 12 f.

Quarrels as result of shaking hands over threshold in Finland, 12.
Quarterly Statement of Palestine Exploration Fund, reference to, 29.
Queen of Heaven, statue of, in Carthage, 130.
Qurân, sentences from:
on gates, fountains, bridges, and houses, 70;
on houses of worship, 163.

.p2
Rahab, blood-colored thread on house of, 211.
Raja Pasupati, reference to, 157.
Ralston, W.R.S.:
cited, 12, 19, 24, 32, 54 f.;
quotation from, 23.
Rameses II., reference to, 180.
Ram’s horn on door-post in Tell-el-Hesy, 58.
Ramsay, Prof. W.M.: cited, 229.
Rawlinson, George: cited, 14, 105, 111 f.
Rawlinson, Sir Henry C.:
cited, 110, 153, 178, 184, 234;
quotation from, 167-169.
Recognition, Mount of, reference to, 164.
Records, Book of, or Shoo King, reference to, 158.
Red cloth on altar at marriage, 34.
Red hand:
as sign of covenant, 74 f.;
i M 74

in Morocco, 74;
in Palestine, 74-76;
in Turkey, 74, 77;
in Babylonia, 75;
on lintel, 75;
Aryan origin of, 75;
among Sephardeem, 76;
in Mosk of St. Sophia, 77;
in Central America, 81 f.;
among aborigines of America, 83;
among Dacotahs, Winnebagoes, 84;
among Omahas, 85;
among Ioways, Sauks, Foxes, Sioux, Arickarees, Cheyennes,
Arapahoes, Comanches, Apaches, Jicarillas, and Pueblos, 87;
among Pecos, 87 f.;
among cliff-dwellers of Chelly Canyon, 87.
See, also, Bloody hand.
Red seal on documents, probable meaning of, 94.
Redwan, village of, 190.
Refuge, cities of, 151.
Remondino, Dr. P.C.: cited, 196.
Renouf, Le Page: cited, 128 f., 257.
Rere, name for altar, 150 f.
Réville, Albert: cited, 73, 111, 144 f., 235.
Rhodes, doorway marked with honey in, 30.
Rice:
as offering among Hindoos, 15;
on heads of bridal couple among Hindoos, 36;
presented to bride in China, 40;
as offering at threshold in Japan, 125 f.
Richon’s Dic. of Bib. Antiq., reference to, 103.
Rig Veda:
reference to, 157;
on production of sacred fire, 198.
Right foot first to cross threshold of mosk, 123.
Rio de Padrāo, or Pillar River, 182.
Rites:
religious, beginning of, 36, 199, 225;

g , g g , , , ;
and symbols of New Testament, 215.
Ritual of Old and New Testament, basis of, 228.
Rituals, ecclesiastical, origin of, 226.
River of Threshold, 182.
Roberts, Joseph: cited, 95, 122.
Robes stamped with red hand among American Indians, 83.
Rocky Pytho, reference to, 133.
Rod at door, stepping over, 123.
Rodd, Rennell:
cited, 27, 30 f., 38;
quotation from, 52 f.
Roman:
Penates at threshold or hearth, 23;
architect on proportions of temple, 36;
custom of placing statues under foundations, 55 f.;
custom of affixing spoils and trophies of war to lintels, 73;
temples, position of altar in, 134;
empire, mile-posts in, 176;
empire, threshold of, 258.
Roman Catholic Church on marriage, 222.
Roman Catholic churches, holy water in, in America, 147.
Rome:
lifting bride over threshold in, 39;
bride worshiping at altar-fire in, 41;
images under foundations in, 55 f.;
“gods of entrances” in, 97;
reference to religion of, 97;
reverence for phallic emblems in, 230;
pine cone found in, 257;
ceremonies at founding of, 264 f.
Romulus, founder of Rome, 264 f.
Rongo, first-born son of Vatea and Papa, reference to, 152.
Roscommon, county of, Druidical altar in, 81.
Rosenmüller, Ernst F.K.: cited, 78.
Roumania, bat and coin under threshold in, 20.
Rous’s Archæologia Attica, reference to, 39.
Rubbing foreheads on “stone of desire” at Baveddeen, 125.
Russia: