SOLOMON AND SOLOMONIC LITERATURE BY MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd. 1899 INSCRIBED TO MY BROTHER OMARIANS OF THE OMAR KHAYYÁM CLUB LONDON "Seek the circle of the wise: flee a thousand leagues from men without wit. If a wise man give thee poison, drink it without fear; if a fool proffer an antidote, spill it on the ground." CONTENTS Page Preface v CHAPTER I Solomon 1 CHAPTER II The Judgment of Solomon 12 CHAPTER III The Wives of Solomon 24 CHAPTER IV Solomon's Idolatry 30 CHAPTER V Solomon and the Satans 34 CHAPTER VI Solomon in the Hexateuch 41 CHAPTER VII Solomonic Antijahvism 51 CHAPTER VIII The Book of Proverbs and the Avesta 59 CHAPTER IX The Song of Songs 89 CHAPTER X Koheleth (Ecclesiastes) 104 CHAPTER XI Wisdom (Ecclesiasticus) 111 CHAPTER XII The Wisdom of Solomon 118 CHAPTER XIII Epistle to the Hebrews (A Sequel to Sophia Solomontos) 129 CHAPTER XIV Solomon Melchizedek 150 CHAPTER XV The Pauline Dehumanization of Jesus 164 CHAPTER XVI The Mythological Mantle of Solomon Fallen on Jesus 176 CHAPTER XVII The Heir of Solomon's Godhead 194 CHAPTER XVIII The Last Solomon 207 CHAPTER XIX Postscripta 234 PREFACE. An English lady of my acquaintance, sojourning at Baalbek, was conversing with an humble stonecutter, and pointing to the grand ruins inquired, "Why do you not occupy yourself with magnificent work like that?" "Ah," he said, "those edifices were built by no mortal, but by genii."