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Proskynesis and Adorare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Berthe M. Marti
Berthe M. Marti*
Affiliation:
Bryn Mawr College
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Extract

The verb προσκυνϵῖν, which is commonly used to describe the worship of the gods and the obeisance before rulers, has been the subject of several recent discussions in connection with its use in the New Testament and in the literature of the imperial cult. In a paper on Alexander, Schnabel, relying chiefly on the etymological meaning of the word, explained the proskynesis at Bactra as a kiss sent to the daimon of Alexander. This view was adopted by some scholars. But another interpretation of προσκυνϵῖν has recently found favor. Bolkestein, in his study of the Deisidaimonia in Theophrastos, has attempted to show that the gesture implied in προσκυνϵῖν was to kneel and not to send a kiss. Proskynesis, he says, is generally supposed to have had two distinct meanings, the first one implying a hand.-kissing gesture, the second indicating the Oriental obeisance. But, Bolkestein (30) continues, a careful examination of the texts shows that, although προσκυνϵῖν originally meant ‘zu Fuss fallen und küssen’, in Greek literature it is used only for a kneeling gesture; if the hand-kissing gesture was known in the religion of ancient and classical Greece it was never called proskynesis. The result of Bolkestein's study may be seen in Nock's statement that 'kneeling is the only meaning of the word, as Bolkestein has shown.' In his admirable article on the ceremonial of the Imperial court, Alföldi accepts Bolkestein's interpretation. He calls Berve's explanation of προσκυνϵῖν ώς θϵὸν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον as a hand-kissing gesture 'ein Irrtum, verursacht durch die seither durch Bolkestein widerlegte übliche Erklärung der griechischen Proskynese.' In Horst's recent study of the verb προσκυνϵῖν, the gesture implied, especially in the classical period, is not discussed in detail, though Horst does not entirely accept Bolkestein's results.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 12 , Issue 4-Part1: October-December , December 1936, pp. 272 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © 1936 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 Klio 19.116–18 (1925).

2 G. Radet, Alexandre le Grand 257–68; Paris, 1931. L. R. Taylor, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor, in Am. Phil. Ass. Monogr. 1, App. 2 (1931). Berve, Klio 20.182 (1926), rejects Schnabel's interpretation of the proskynesis at Bactra, but gives the hand-kissing gesture as one meaning of proskynesis.

3 Theophrastos' Charakter der Deisidaimonia, in Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 21.2.21–30 (1929).

4 Gnomon 8.157 (1932).

5 Die Ausgestaltung des monarchischen Zeremoniells am röm. Kaiserhofe, in Mitt. des deutsch. Arch. Inst. Röm. Abt. 49.1–119 (1934).

6 Klio 20.182, n. 2(1926).

7 14, n.5.

8 Proskynein. Zur Anbetung im Urchristentum nach ihrer religionsgeschichtlichen Eigenart (Neutestamentliche Forschungen 3.2); Gütersloh, 1932.

9 Alciphron 3.67.1.

10 Philostratus, Ep. 18.

11 31, n.3; n.7.

12 10–14. See also Friedrich Schwenn's review of Horst, in Gnomon 11.479–83 (1935).

13 Lexicon s. V. ἀντίχϵιρϵ.

14 Enc. 49.

15 77.10.

16 5.7.28.

17 Ann. 16.4.

18 1.3.7. Cf. Juv. 4.117; 3.106.

19 Claud. 12.2.

20 Frag. 37 Diehl.

21 499.

22 936.

23 1408; 533; 657;776.

24 1374.

26 327.

26 1654.

27 1.134; 2.80; etc.

28 Tro. 1021; Or. 1507.

29 Eq. 640; Plut. 771; etc.

30 Aesch. Prom. 936; Soph. Ph. 776; Menander, Perik. 114; Chariton, 3.8.6 etc.

31 Adv. Arist. 1.37.

32 Rep. 451a.

33 6.283.2.

34 N. H. 11.251: est post aurem aeque dexteram Nemeseos, quae dea Latinum nomen ne in Capitolio quidem invenit, quo referimus tactum ore proximum a minimo digitum veniam sermonis a diis ibi recondentes.

35 Anab. 3.2.9; cf. Aristophanes, Eq. 640.

36 Problemata 962.38b (= 33.9.3).

37 N. H. 28.23: Cur sternuentis salutamus?

38 Deipn. 2.66c: .

39 Marc. 6.6.

40 771.

41 Leg. 887e.

42 Frag. 609 ed. Kock.

43 Frag. 672 Nauck2.

44 Anab. 4.11.3.

45 Salt. 17.

46 Odys. 4.522.

47 Odys. 5.463; cf. 13.354.

48 Ebeling, Lex. Homer. s.v. κυνέω, quoted by Horst 118 (see note 8).

49 Ant. 49.

50 Eq. 156.

51 15.1.6.

52 1654–5: .

53 499.

54 Aen. 2.488; cf. 4.659.

55 Val. Flaccus 4.373; cf. Ov. Met. 13.421, 3.24, 7.631, etc.

56 Phil. 533: .

57 Ibid. 1408; . Cf. Electra 1374:

58 30.16.5.

59 45.44.

60 Plutarch, Cam. 5: . Cf. Lucian, Tim. 23: ) Plutarch, De Superstitione 3 (166b): , etc.

61 N. H. 28.25.

62 Met. 4.28.

63 Apol. 56.

64 I Contra. Ruf. 19.

65 Ernout and Meillet, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, s. v. orare.

66 Ibid.; cf. Varro L. L. 6.76: oro ab ore; Ennius, Sc. 306 Vahlen2: quam tibi ex ore orationem duriter dictis dedit.

67 Buck, Osc.-Umb. Gram. 21.

68 Walde, Lat. Etym. Wörterbuch2 548; Stolz-Schmalz, Lat. Gr.5 496. The ancient grammarians were uncertain about the etymology of adorare) they never seem to connect it with a hand-kissing gesture. Nonius 52 M would derive it from the word ador ‘spelt’: ador, frumenti genus, quod epulis et immolationibus sacris pium putatur: unde et adorare, propitiare religiones, potest dictum videri. Lydus, Mag. 1. 47, derives it from adorea ‘glory won in war’.

69 Festus 218.6 Lindsay (= 198b.23M). Re inorata in Cicero and Ennius means ‘without having been able to plead the case’. Cf. also Quintiliano ars orandi, orandi scientiam, etc.; Vergil, Aen. 10.96: talibus orabat Juno; Livy 39.40.12; etc.

70 Ad. Aen. 10.677.

71 Festus 158 Lindsay (= 162b.19 M).

72 Frag. 26; in Baehrens, Frag. Poet. Rom.

73 Livy 38.43.5: deos . . . quos adorent . . . ad quos precentur et supplicent; 7.40.4: deos immortales . . . ita adoravi . . . ut mihi . . . gloriam . . . darent; Ovid, Tr. 1.3.41: hac prece adoravi ...; etc.

74 45.44.

75 Conon 3.3.

76 4.7. ext. 2; cf. also 6.3. ext. 2.

77 8.5.22; cf. also 3.12.17: suo more veneratae sunt; 5.2.22: procumbens venerari me; 10.5.33: venerari ipsum. See also Livy 9.18.4: referre in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis et desideratas humi iacentium adulationes. Justin, in his version of Trogus Pompey's Histories written under Augustus, says (Epit. 1.10): Dareum regem salutaverint. Salutare is also used by Curtius 8.5.6: salutare prosternentes humi corpora. In another passage of Trogus, however, the verbs adorare and salutare are contrasted, adorare being used for the obeisance (Epit. 12.7.1): non salutari sed adorari se iubet. This use of adorare may of course be an addition of Justin's, the author of the Epitome, who lived under the Antonines.

78 Hist. 1.36; cf. Dio 64.8; . Adorare seems to imply a kissing gesture in the following: Suetonius, Nero 12.3: coronam adoravit; Juvenal 6.47: Tarpeium limen adora Pronus; Silius Italicus 17.184: effundunt lacrimas dextramaue ut numen adorant; Pliny, N. H. 11.250; and other passages.