[315] Apollod. ap. Zenob. _Cant._ V. 22 μήλου (l. μήλων) Ἡρακλῆς. Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς περὶ θεῶν ὅτι θύεται Ἀθήνησι Ἡρακλεῖ ἀλεξικάκῳ ἰδιάζουσά τις θυσιά. Pollux (_Onom._ I. 30) gives the aetiological myth and adds the important detail that the same cultus title _Melon_ and the same ritual was in use in Boeotia. καὶ καλεῖται παρὰ τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἢ τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς Μήλων ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, ὄνομα ἐκ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς θυσίας λαβών. Melos and Belos appear to be interchangeable forms (Steph. Byz. Βῆλος, ἢ καὶ Μῆλος πρὸς ταῖς Ἡρακλέους στήλαις), and of the island Melos we know from the same writer (_s.v._ Μῆλος) that its earlier colonists were Phenicians, Φοίνικες οὖν οἰκισταὶ πρότερον. Cf. Herakles at Gades, Appian (ed. Bekk. p. 49) says Θρησκεύεται νῦν ἔτι φοινικικῶς. [316] The Oriental character of the Herakles cult at Melite was first, I believe, pointed out by Curtius, and further emphasized by Wachsmuth, _Stadt Athen_, p. 404 ff. It has never, I believe, been discussed in relation to the shift of population from Melite to Diomeia. [317] See Lewy, _Die Semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen_, p. 209, the root mālaṭ ‎‏מלט‏‎ to save, ‎‏מְלִיטָה‏‎. [318] Diod. V. 12 καὶ πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ προσαγορευομένη Μελίτη ... ἐστὶ δὲ ἡ νῆσος αὕτη Φοινίκων ἄποικος οἳ ταῖς ἐμπορίαις διατείνοντες μέχρι τοῦ κατὰ τὴν δύσιν Ὠκεανοῦ καταφυγὴν εἶχον ταύτην, εὐλίμενον οὖσαν καὶ κειμένην πελαγίαν. [319] Strab. X. 472 ... ἀπελθεῖν τούτους (τοὺς Κορύβαντας) εἰς Σαμοθράκην καλουμένην πρότερον Μελίτην. [320] Diod. V. 47 ἔνιοι δέ φασι τὸ παλαιὸν Σαόννησον καλουμένην ... ἐσχήκασι δὲ παλαιὰν ἰδίαν διάλεκτον οἱ αὐτόχθονες ἧς πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τηρεῖται ... ὅρους θέσθαι τῆς σωτηρίας. [321] Hesych. _s.v._ ἐκ Μελίτης μαστιγίας, καλεῖται δὲ ὁ ἐν Μελίτῃ Ἡρακλῆς ἀλεξίκακος. The Greek was doubtless, as Lewy points out, simply the translation of some such Semitic divine title as ‎‏מְמַלֵּט מֵרָעָה‏‎ mᵉmallēṭ mērāʿā, Preserver-from-Evil. [322] Diod. IV. 39. Diodorus goes on to describe the strange primitive ceremony of adoption by which Hera naturalized Herakles among the Olympians; see my _Proleg._, p. 347. [323] Strabo X. 471. [324] Plut. _Vit. Them._ 1. [325] The cult of Herakles in Diomeia contains other elements obviously Semitic, the discussion of which would lead us far. The details are given in my _Myth. and Mon. Ancient Athens_, p. 216, but the Semitic character of the ‘white dog’ legend I did not then realize. Prof. Robertson Smith long ago (_Religion of the Semites_, p. 274, note 2), pointed out that the supposed ‘white dog’ is really the ‘dogs’ enclosure’ and that the sacred dogs are a class of Semitic temple-ministrants (see Deut. xxiii. 18, and _C.I.S._ No. 86). To the whole question of the Semitic elements in the worship of Herakles I hope to return on another occasion. [326] Plut. _Vit. Them._ 22 ... ἣν Ἀριστοβούλην μὲν προσηγόρευσεν.