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a remarkable person, partly philosopher and partly charlatan of the first century. Philostratus relates how when Apollonius was travelling in India he received from Iarchas the chief of the Brahmins seven rings bearing the names of the seven planets, which he wore 'according to the names of the days.' Clearly this refers to the planetary week. Now Philostratus professes to derive this statement that his hero had a ring for every day of the week from a disciple or companion of Apollonius called Damis, whose memoirs had fallen into his hands. Whether there really was such a book, or if there was, whether it was really written by a companion of Apollonius has always been a moot question. If we take the story at its face value, since Apollonius' visit to India is supposed to be dated somewhere between A.D. 40 and 60 it would shew that some observance of a planetary week existed at that time. But this is not of real importance for my present purpose. We shall find other undoubtedly contemporary evidence that the planetary week was recognized by some people in the first century, and if so, it was only to be expected, indeed it might almost be taken for granted, that Apollonius, who had a strong leaning to the occult and was credited with a work on astrology, should have known and used it. The value of the passage lies in its wording. Philostratus wrote for the general reader. In fact his work has often been thought to be a
