66. The relation between the two ideas is apparent in the alleged account of the Pythagorean doctrine which Diogenes Laertius took from Alexander Polyhistor, and which is in reality an apocryphal composition of the first century of our era. It was said that Hermes guided the pure souls, after their separation from the body, [Greek: eis ton Hupsiston] (Diog. Laert., VIII, Sec. 31; cf. Zeller, _Philos. der Griechen_, V, p. 106, n. 2).--On the meaning of Hypsistos, cf. _supra_, p. 128. It appears very plainly in the passage of Isaiah, xiv, 13, as rendered by the Septuagint: {256} [Greek: Eis ton ouranon anabesomai, epano ton asteron theso ton thronon mou ... esomai homoios toi Hupsistoi.] 67. Originally he was the thunder-god, in Greek [Greek: Keraunos]. Under this name he appeared for instance on the bas-relief preserved in the museum of Brussels (Dussaud, _Notes_, p. 105). Later, by a familiar process, the influence of a particular god becomes the attribute of a greater divinity, and we speak of a [Greek: Zeus Keraunios] (cf. Usener, _Keraunos_, Rhein. Museum, N. F., LX, 1901).--This Zeus Keraunios appears in many inscriptions of Syria (_CIG_, 4501, 4520; Le Bas-Waddington, 2195, 2557 _a_, 2631, 2739; cf. Roscher, _Lexikon Myth._, s. v. "Keraunos"). He is the god to whom Seleucus sacrificed when founding Seleucia (Malalas, p. 199), and a dedication to the same god has been found recently in the temple of the Syrian divinities at Rome (_supra_, n. 10).--An equivalent of the Zeus Keraunios is the Zeus [Greek: Kataibates]--"he who descends in the lightning"--worshiped at Cyrrhus (Wroth, _Greek Coins in the British Museum_: "Galatia, Syria," p. 52 and LII; Roscher, _Lexikon_, s. v.) 68. For instance the double ax was carried by Jupiter Dolichenus (cf. _supra_, p. 147). On its significance, cf. Usener, _loc. cit._, p. 20. 69. Cf. Lidzbarski, _Balsamem, Ephem. semit. Epigr._, I, p. 251.--Ba'al Samain is mentioned as early as the ninth century B. C. in the inscription of Ben Hadad (Pognon, _Inscr. semit._, 1907, pp. 165 ff.; cf. Dussaud, _Rev. archeol._, 1908, I, p. 235). In Aramaic papyri preserved at Berlin, the Jews of Elephantine call Jehovah "the god of heaven" in an address to a Persian governor, and the same name was used in the alleged edicts of Cyrus and his successors, which were inserted in the book of Esdras (i. 1; vi. 9, etc.)--If there were the slightest doubt as to the identity of the god of thunder with Baalsamin, it would be dispelled by the inscription of Et-Tayibe, where this Semitic name is translated into Greek as [Greek: Zeus megistos keraunios]; cf. Lidzbarski, _Handbuch_, p. 477, and Lagrange, _op. cit._, p. 508.