כמוש, an idol of the Moabites, Numbers xxi, 29. The name is
derived from a root which in Arabic signifies _to hasten_. For this
reason, many believe Chemosh to be the sun, whose precipitate course
might well procure it the name of swift. Some identify Chemosh with
Ammon; and Macrobius shows that Ammon was the sun, whose rays were
denoted by his horns. Calmet is of opinion that the god Hamanus and
Apollo Chomeus, mentioned by Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus, was
Chamos, or the sun. These deities were worshipped in many parts of the
east. Some, from the resemblance of the Hebrew Chamos with the Greek
Comos, have thought Chamos to signify Bacchus. Jerom and most
interpreters consider Chamosh and Peor as the same deity; but some think
that Baal-Peor was Tammuz, or Adonis. To Chemosh Solomon erected an
altar upon the Mount of Olives, 1 Kings xi, 7. As to the form of the
idol Chemosh, the Scripture is silent; but if, according to Jerom, it
were like Baal-Peor, it must have been of the beeve kind; as were,
probably, all the Baals, though accompanied with various insignia. There
can be little doubt that part of the religious services performed to
Chemosh, as to Baal-Peor, consisted in revelling and drunkenness,
obscenities and impurities of the grossest kinds. From Chemosh the
Greeks seem to have derived their Κῶμος, called by the Romans _Comus_,
the god of feasting and revelling.
derived from a root which in Arabic signifies _to hasten_. For this
reason, many believe Chemosh to be the sun, whose precipitate course
might well procure it the name of swift. Some identify Chemosh with
Ammon; and Macrobius shows that Ammon was the sun, whose rays were
denoted by his horns. Calmet is of opinion that the god Hamanus and
Apollo Chomeus, mentioned by Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus, was
Chamos, or the sun. These deities were worshipped in many parts of the
east. Some, from the resemblance of the Hebrew Chamos with the Greek
Comos, have thought Chamos to signify Bacchus. Jerom and most
interpreters consider Chamosh and Peor as the same deity; but some think
that Baal-Peor was Tammuz, or Adonis. To Chemosh Solomon erected an
altar upon the Mount of Olives, 1 Kings xi, 7. As to the form of the
idol Chemosh, the Scripture is silent; but if, according to Jerom, it
were like Baal-Peor, it must have been of the beeve kind; as were,
probably, all the Baals, though accompanied with various insignia. There
can be little doubt that part of the religious services performed to
Chemosh, as to Baal-Peor, consisted in revelling and drunkenness,
obscenities and impurities of the grossest kinds. From Chemosh the
Greeks seem to have derived their Κῶμος, called by the Romans _Comus_,
the god of feasting and revelling.