The Washington herald., 1909-03-21
LORE OF THE METEOR.
Divine HonOrs Paid It-StOne Pre-
served I'm a Church.

November IS the special montn 1Or
meteors. It Is only within the last hun
dred years that science has taken up the
study OF the meteor seriously, but IN all
ages its ftful gleam has captured the
imagination Of men.
The mystery OF lis origin fascinated.
and the fact Of its coming from above
suggested a heavenly source And so
/ around the meteor and the meteorite in
prescienti1c days. says the London Globe.
there gathered no little superstitiOus and
fancital lore. The meteorite came from
above-that Is. from heayen-therefore q
was divine. SO ran the simple logic OF
the time. For this reason temples were
built and divine honors paid 10 the me-
/ teorite.
In Asia in early times a fragment was
picked up which probably bore very
rude resemblance TO a human figure II
was looked upon as an image OF Diana
sent down from Jupiter. A great temple
was built at Ephesus in its honor. the
Temple of Diana Of the Ephesians. There
from all parts OF Asia people fiocled 10
worship a meteOrite.
The Romans. too. at certain epochs OF
their history. fell under the spell Of the
meteorite. Aeneas. the mythic founder
Of the race. Is said to have carried one
with him 10 Italy, and one OF the
strangest pictures in the wonderful gal
leTy OF Roman history is that OF the
Emperor Heliogabalus paying divine
hOnors 10 his meteoric god: for the head
Of the imperial city was high priest in
a temple whose god was a rude fragment
Of meteoric stone.
4 magnificent temple was built for II
in Rome. Every morning hecatombs Of
bulls and sheep were offered, frkins or
the richest wines were poured out and
much costly incense was burned. Every
year the meteorite god was carried with
gorgeous ceremony TO another temple in
the suburbs. The chariot in which il
rode glittered with gold and precious
stones and was drawn by six white
horses in golden trappings. The emperor
himself held the reins. walking back
ward so as to keep his eyes fixed on his
gcd. On either side the people ran bear
ing torches and throwing garlands OF
flowers as they passed.
on another occasion a meteoric stone
played an important part in Roman his
tory. II fell in ancient times IN Phrveia
and was wOrshiped AT PessinUs by the
Phrygians and Phoenicians as Cvbele.
the mother Of the gods" To II had
been ascribed the victory Of the Romans
over hannibal in the first Punic war. So
when in later years the Carthagenian
general had crossed the Alps and main
tanned his place in Italy for twelve years
the troubled Romans wished for the won
derfuI stone.
They had learned from the Sybnline
books that an enemy might be expelled
from Italy II the stone was brought 10
Rome. So they went 10 King AtsaIus
asking that It might be sent. It was
carried with much ceremony 10 the
Temple OF Victory on the Palatine Hin
and sure enough Hannibal was presently
compelled 10 return 10 Africa Having
surmounted increditable difficulties. he
was yet forced to yield TO a meteorite.
Even in more recent times the meteor-
ite seemed to have lost little of ifs mower
A picture by Raphael, the Madonna di
Fligno' depicts a notable fall Of rneteorio
stones. The fall took place while the
Pope was at war with France. The
French we're defeated and the papaI vic
tory was ascribed to the meteorites. In
1892 a large meteOrite, weighing 500
pounds. fell In Alsace. The Emperor
Macmillan was then at Basel. and bv
his command the stone was brought to
the castle
There a solemn consultation was held
as 10 what message il brought from
heaven. II was finally decided to hang
It up in the church, there 10 be carefully
preserved; but the emperor had, II an
pears. first broken of two pieces, one
for himself and the other for Duke Sigis-
mund Of Austria-probably for luck. The
very identical stone may now be seer. IN
the Rathhaus Of the town.
The Moslems have also fallen under
the spell of the meteorite Their famous
black stone,' one Of their holiest relics.
built into the northeast corner of the
Kaaba at Meeca. is a meteorite. When
Mohammed took the sacred city he
found the meteOrite already regarded as
holy thing. According TO an old legend
it had been given by God to Abraham
So the conqueror spared it and even did
Il reverence.