Amos v. 25, 26.NICHES. It is said in the Prophet Amos, that the Israelites in their Peregrination in the Wilderness, bore the Tabernacle of their Moloch, and Chiun their Images, the Star of their God, which they made to Acts vii. 43.themselves. St. Stephen in the Acts upbraids them with the same. ‘Tis thought with great Probability, that Moloch, and those other Pagan Deities, that they carried with them in the Desart, were carried in Niches upon Mens Shoulders, or upon cover’d Carriages, as we know the Heathen heretofore carried their Idols in Procession, or in publick Marches. There are some that believe that those Silver Temples of the Goddess Diana1, which were made and sold at Ephesus, were also these Niches, or portable Temples, for the Devotion of Pilgrims. We must here a little farther illustrate this Piece of Antiquity. The Custom of carrying the Images of the Gods under Tents, and in cover’d Litters, came originally from the Egyptians. Herodotus2 speaks of a Feast of Isis, wherein her Statue was carried upon a Chariot with four Wheels, drawn by her Priests. The same Author speaking of one of their Deities, says, they carried it from one Temple to another, inclosed in a little Chappel made of gilt Wood. Clemens of Alexandria3 speaks of an Egyptian Procession, wherein they carried two Dogs of Gold, an Hawk, and an Ibis. The same Father quotes the Words of Menander4, who rally’d those vagrant Divinities, that could not continue in one Place. Macrobius says5, that the Egyptian Priests carried the Statue of Jupiter of Heliopolis upon their Shoulders, as the Gods of the Romans were carried in the Pomp of the Games of the Circus. Philo of Biblos relates6, that they us’d to carry Agrotes, a Phenician Deity, in a cover’d Nich upon a Car drawn by Beasts.
The Egyptian Priests7 placed Jupiter Ammon upon a little Boat, from whence hung Plates of Silver, by the Motion of which they formed a Judgment of the Will of the Deity, and from thence they made their Responses to such as consulted them. The Egyptians and Carthaginians, as Servius reports8, had little Images, which were carried upon Chariots, and gave Oracles by the Motion that they communicated to those Carriages. The Gauls, as we are told by Sulpicius Severus9, carried their Gods abroad into the Fields, cover’d with a white Veil. Tacitus speaks of an unknown Goddess, who resided in an Island of the Ocean10. They keep for her a cover’d Chariot, which none dares approach but her Priest. When he says that the Goddess is enter’d therein, two Heifers are harness’d to it, who draw the Chariot where they think fit, and then bring it back into her Grove. They wash the Chariot, and the Veils that cover it, and then they drown the Slaves that were employed in that Service. Here therefore are Examples of Gods carried in Niches and in Chariots.
We must yet give some Examples of little Temples of Metal. Diodorus Siculus speaks of two small Temples of Gold. There was one at Lacedemon, which was all of Brass, and therefore was call’d Chalcoteichos, or the House of Brass. Victor in his Description of Rome gives Instances of some of the same Metal in this City; but I should rather think, that the little Temples of Diana of Ephesus, which were made and sold by Demetrius the Silversmith, were either Models in little of the Temple of this Goddess, or Niches wherein the Goddess herself was represented.
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