[50] For this information I am indebted to Schürer's _History of the Jewish People in the Time of Christ_. [51] See "Circus, games of," _A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities_, etc. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1891. [52] For a description and plans of Herod the Great's _Theatre_ (not Amphitheatre as in text) outside Jerusalem, see Herr Schick's Report, _Quarterly Statement_ P. E. F., July 1887, pp. 161-6. [53] This tale (No. X) by the late Dr. Neale appears in his _Lent Legends: Stories for Children from Church History_. [54] The Editorial Secretary of the _Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge_ informs me that "No permission is required to reprint from Neale's _Lent Legends_, as the copyright has now expired." It was written at Sackville College in 1855, and reprinted in 1905 by the S.P.C.K. APPENDIX II DESTRUCTION OF THE EIGHT HEATHEN TEMPLES OF GAZA (A.D. 401) During the Episcopate of St. Porphyrius, A.D. 395-420, there were eight State-property temples in the city of Gaza: (1) Helios--the Sun; (2) Aphroditus--Venus; (3) Apollo; (4) Persephone; (5) Hecate; (6) the Hiereion (or Heroon); (7) the Tychæon; (8) the Marneion. Their names imply that purely Greek worship prevailed in them. 1. THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN.--In Greek mythology the sun-god, son of the Titan Hyperion and the Titaness Theia, is himself often called Hyperion. Helios was worshipped in many places. The Island of Rhodes was entirely consecrated to him. The worship of this sun-god was with great difficulty eventually suppressed by substituting for him the prophet Ἡλίας. In modern times Helios seems to be identified with St. Elias, whose chapels are built chiefly on hill-tops. It was this particular worship to which the Antonines showed special favour. The name of Antoninus Pius is connected with the building of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec. The late Lieut. Conder wrote an interesting article on "Sun Worship in Syria," in the _Quarterly Statement_ of the P. E. F., April 1881, pp. 80-4. Prof. Sayce, in _Patriarchal Palestine_, p. 218, ed. 1912, states that with both the Semites of Babylonia and of Canaan the supreme object of worship was Baal or Bel, "the Lord," who was but the Sun-god under a variety of names.[55] 2. APHRODITE (called _Venus_ by the Romans). In Greek, the goddess of love and beauty. The worship of the Phœnician goddess Astarte, brought in by Phœnician traders in early days, helped to form the conception which the Greeks had of Aphrodite. A Sanctuary of Aphrodite (Astarte) stood on the place where, according to Christian tradition, was the Sepulchre of CHRIST. A chief worship of Ascalon was that of Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, _i.e._ of Astarte, as Queen of Heaven. Herodotus mentions her as the deity of Ascalon. This female deity is represented on coins of the Imperial epoch chiefly as the tutelary goddess of the City.