ANOINTING. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and other ancient peoples were accustomed to anoint the body or parts of it with oil as part of their toilet. Among the Hebrews anointing with oil was combined with washing or bathing in water (Ruth iii., 3: Esther ii., 12; Ezekiel xvi., 9; Judith x., 3). Olive oil is frequently mentioned in this connection (Amos vi., 6; Micah vi., 15; Luke vii., 46). Even this ordinary anointing has become among some peoples a kind of religious duty. Brahmans anoint themselves with oil of sesamum or castor oil from head to foot, then rub themselves with herbs and finally bathe the body. On grand ceremonial occasions their guests are provided with some kind of ointment that they may anoint themselves in the same way. Another kind of anointing, practised by primitive folk, has a different significance. In this case, as in that of swallowing or inoculation, the idea is to get certain virtues imparted to one. The Australian Blacks used to cut out the caul fat of a slain man and rub themselves with it in the belief that they would thus acquire his distinguishing qualities. The negroes of Southern Guinea hang up the head of a dead man that the drippings of his brain may fall on to a lump of chalk, which they afterwards use as a kind of ointment for the forehead. The Andaman Islanders rub the melted fat of a boar into the body of a young man when he is initiated into manhood. The Arabs of Eastern Africa anoint themselves with lion's fat, and the Central Australian tribes use the fat of the kangaroo, their totem. Such customs seem to throw light on the practice (e.g. among the Hebrews) of anointing kings, priests, and prophets with oil. By this action (now
become symbolical) it was supposed that the good qualities of their predecessors were imparted to them. Another practice has been to anoint sacred pillars or stones with oil. This seems to have been a form of sacrifice, the oil being a substitute for the fat of an animal. The practice among the Arabs of smearing pillars with fat seems to prove this (see Robertson Smith). This kind of anointing was not confined to Hebrews (Genesis xxviii., 18) and Arabs. The image of Aphrodite was a white cone or pyramid. A cone was also In certain places the emblem of Artemis and Astarte. This cone was anointed with olive oil at a special festival. In the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, too, a sacred stone was anointed. Another idea is at work In anointing when it is practised in sympathetic magic. In Suffolk when a man cuts himself with a scythe, he " oils it to prevent the wound from festering." He does the same with a thorn which has run into his hand. In the Harz mountains people say that " if you cut yourself, you ought to smear the knife or the scissors with fat and put the instrument away in a dry place in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. As the knife dries, the wound heals." Among the aborigines of Central Australia, when a boy has been circumcised, his mother rubs grease all over her body every day until the wound is healed. Cp., further, CHRISM and EXTREME UNCTION. See J. G. Frazer, G.B.; Adonis Attis Osiris, 1906; W. R. Smith, R.S.; J. A. Dubois and H. K. Beau champ, Hindu Manners, etc.; Encycl. Bibl.