Note 55 — Chapter I

Dhu ’l-Qarnayn is described as "the measurer of the earth" (Massáḥu ’l-arḍ) by Hamdání, Jazíratu ’l-‘Arab, p. 46, l. 10. If I may step for a moment outside the province of literary history to discuss the mythology of these verses, it seems to me more than probable that Dhu ’l-Qarnayn is a personification of the Sabæan divinity ‘Athtar, who represents "sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name" (see D. H. Müller in S.B.W.A., vol. 97, p. 973 seq.). The Minæan inscriptions have "‘Athtar of the setting and ‘Athtar of the rising" (ibid., p. 1033). Moreover, in the older inscriptions ‘Athtar and Almaqa are always mentioned together; and Almaqa, which according to Hamdání is the name of Venus (al-Zuhara), was identified by Arabian archæologists with Bilqís. For qarn in the sense of 'ray' or 'beam' see Goldziher, Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie, Part I, p. 114. I think there is little doubt that Dhu ’l-Qarnayn and Bilqís may be added to the examples (ibid., p. 111 sqq.) of that peculiar conversion by which many heathen deities were enabled to maintain themselves under various disguises within the pale of Islam.