Chapter 29

[162]See Pindar’s Pythian Ode, iv.[163]Strabo, ix, 3.[164]In most of the Oriental countries, including Egypt, there was always more or less of a belief in one great divinity. “The Supreme Omnipotent Intelligence” of the Hindus was “a spirit by no means the object of any sense, which can only be conceived by a mind wholly abstracted from matter.” (Institutes of Menu). El was a name given the Ineffable One by the Phœnicians and other peoples. Il or Ilu and Jaoh, the “being,” the “Eternal,” the “Jehovah” of the Hebrews, were designations of him used by the Babylonians, and from him, it was believed, the great trinity, Anu, Hea, and Bel emanated. Some, however, especially in early times, confounded him with Anu. Baal, the “Lord,” was a common designation of him in Syria and elsewhere.[165]Dictionary of Mythology. London, 1793.[166]Anantas.[167]Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 519.[168]The reader is doubtless familiar, through the Bible, with consecrated stones. A Maççeba was a necessary mark of every “high place.” Jacob set one up (Gen., xxxi, 45).[169]See Lenormant’s Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 230. A pillar, cone, or tree-stem, more or less ornamented, constituted the Ashêrah of the Syrians and others, which many of the Israelites long looked on with favor (see Numbers, xxv, and 2 Judges, xxii), and which is in the authorized version of the Bible translated “grove,” as in the phrase, “the women wove hangings for the grove” (2 Judges, xxxiii, 7). It was the image of the goddess of fertility and life, the Istar of the Babylonians, The Baal-peor of the Moabites, Midianites, and others, and the Priapus of the Greeks and Romans were practically similar. I may add that thePhallus(derived from Apis, the Egyptian sacred bull), thelingaof the Hindus, has been taken by many peoples as emblematic of the widely-worshipped, active, renovating power in nature, the sun; just as an oval or round figure, thecteisof the Greeks, theyoniof the Hindus, has been of the passive power, the earth. (See Cox’s Mythology of the Aryans). The latter is the Mipleçeth, or “abominable image for an Ashêrah,” spoken of in the Bible (1 Kings, xv, 13, and 2 Chronicles, xv, 16). The whole subject is well presented in a little book by Messrs. Westropp and Wake,—Ancient Symbol Worship. New York, 1874.[170]Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 442.[171]A name given to Hermes.[172]Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 329. London, 1873.[173]“Aaron’s rod” is similarly constituted, but of different import.[174]Gemmæ Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.[175]Mercury of the Romans was not much, except the god of commerce.[176]The posture only approximates that assumed in the act of generation. In this act the two serpents, in the words of Aristotle, “are folded together with the abdomens opposite.... They roll themselves together so closely that they seem to be one serpent with two heads.” Natural History, p. 103. Bohn’s edition. London, 1862.[177]Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 38.[178]Natural History, xxix, 12.[179]Æneid, iv.[180]Zoological Mythology, p. 406.[181]See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 23. Edition by Hodges. London, 1876.[182]McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical and Religious Literature.[183]Historic Devices, Badges, and War-Cries. London, 1870.[184]Natural History, xxix.[185]Ibid.[186]Myths of the New World, p. 3. New York, 1868.[187]Household Tales.[188]See Hyginus. Poet. Astr., ii, 14.[189]The literal meaning ofnagasis snakes. In his Indian Arts (London, 1882), Dr. Birdwood says: “The worship of the snake still survives everywhere in India, and at Nagpur was, until very recently, a public danger, from the manner in which the city was allowed to be overrun with cobras.” p. 83.[190]“Serpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,” in Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.[191]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 460.[192]Egyptian Mythology, p. 36. London, 1863.[193]Numbers, xxi, 9.[194]Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 8. A splendid illustrated publication, issued by the government. It treats principally of East Indian matters. London, 1873.[195]Brazen. See 2 Kings, xviii, 4.[196]From the Greek ἀγαθός, good, and δαίμων, god, soul, fortune.[197]Uarda, vol. ii, p. 38.[198]One of the Pharaoh’s “treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus, i, 11.[199]On the Egyptian obelisk, originally from On (Heliopolis), the great seat of learning, now in the city of New York, in whose shadow, doubtless, Joseph at times made love to the high-priest’s daughter, and Moses learned the meaning of hieroglyphics, occurs the phrase, “Tum, lord of the city of On;” and, what is of more interest in this connection, one which reads, “The god Tum, who gives life.” I may add a stanza from a hymn addressed to Tum:—“Come to me, O thou sun;Horus of the horizon, give me help.Thou art he that giveth help;There is no help without thee.”—Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.[200]See 2 Kings, xviii, 5.[201]Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. ii, p. 376. Second edition. London, 1881.[202]It is well known that this is not the correct form of the name. It was lost at an early day, and is not to be found in the New Testament in any form. It was not to be spoken. Much interest has always been taken in this remarkable word. According to a recently-translated Assyrian inscription, the correct form of the name is Ya-u, or Yâhu. Mr. Hodges dwells on this highly-interesting discovery in his edition of Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 28.[203]Op. cit., p. 377.[204]Book of Wisdom, ii, 6.[205]Ibid., xv, 12.[206]The power of healing was a prominent and popular characteristic of the god of the Hebrews. “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex., xv, 26); “I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jer., xxx, 17); “He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds” (Ps. cxlvii, 3); “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed” (Jer., xvii, 14); and other similar passages are met with in the Bible. Indeed, the curing of diseases has always been largely resorted to when the claim of divinity has been brought forward. It is a deceptive test.[207]Naia tripudians.[208]Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.[209]Herodotus, ii, 74.[210]Note to ii, 74, in George Rawlinson’s edition of Herodotus.[211]The reader may turn with advantage to Dr. J. S. Phené’s interesting illustrated essay on “Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship,” in the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. viii, p. 321. London, 1875.[212]Hymn to Apollo. Translation by C. C. Conwell, M.D. Philadelphia, 1830.[213]No doubt the great home of the Indo-Europeans furnishes a closely corresponding myth. But there is good reason to hold that the main features of the great astronomical myths antedated the Vedas. Grecian mythology was largely derived from Egypt and Phœnicia.[214]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 197.[215]Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 3.[216]Murray’s Mythology, p. 117.[217]Chaldean Magic, p. 114.[218]A graphic account of this mystic creature is given in an extant fragment of Berosus. He introduced all civilizing arts. See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 59. Hodges’ edition.[219]Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122.[220]“The Origin of Serpent-Worship,” in the Journal of the Victoria Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.[221]Dr. Brinton gives the name as Michabo. He gives an interesting account of this great Algonkin myth in his American Hero-Myths. Philadelphia, 1882.[222]Partly true.[223]Indian Myths, p. 45. Boston, 1884.[224]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 458.[225]Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 75. London and New York, 1882.[226]Ibid., p. 77.[227]Myths of the New World, p. 107.[228]It is interesting to observe that, according to Miss Emerson, “it is probable that the Indian derived the sacred symbols of his worship from the configuration of the constellations.” Indian Myths, p. 316.[229]Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 7. London, 1881.[230]The Great Pyramid, p. 100. London, 1883.[231]In an article on the “Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians,” Mr. Sayce says: “Next to the planets in importance was the polar star, called Tir-anna, or Gagan-same, or ‘Judge of the Heaven,’ to which a special treatise was devoted in Sargon’s Library.” See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 206.[232]Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.[233]The constellation of Draco lies near to and to the north of “the Dipper,” or Great Bear, and is easily distinguished.[234]Op. cit., p. 101.[235]Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles is shorter, and was probably suggested by the same thing. Iliad, xviii.[236]See pictures of such in Astronomical Myths, by Blake, London, 1877. Also, in Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies.[237]It is believed that it is referred to in Job, in the verse reading, “His spirit hath adorned the heavens and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent” (xxvi, 13, Douai version). The authorized is not literal.[238]The Shield of Hercules. Translation by Elton.[239]Translated Pleiades. Job, ix, 9; xxxviii, 31; and Amos, v, 8.[240]Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122. See also his edition of Herodotus, vol. i, p. 600.[241]Those interested in this symbol should consult Schliemann’s Troy and its Remains.[242]The swastika was so formed by Indians. See illustration in Emerson’s Indian Myths, p. 10.[243]Totem is an Algonkin word, signifying to have or possess. It represented, among the Indians, the social unit or clan, the gens of the Romans.[244]Fortnightly Review, vol. vi and vii. N. S.[245]The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, 1870.[246]Strabo, xiii, 1.[247]1 Chronicles, xix, 2.[248]Indian Myths, p. 44.[249]The History of the Heavens. Translated from the French by J. B. de Freval. Two volumes. London, 1741, vol. i, p. 42. The first volume is a very able and interesting mythological production.[250]Beginnings of History, p. 114.[251]Myths of the New World, p. 120.[252]“The Origin of Serpent Worship,” in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.[253]By Plutarch, in Isis and Osiris.[254]In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement that “Taautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians,” it is said of the animal that it is “the most inspired of all the reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of those external organs by which other animals effect their motion.” See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges.[255]Proverbs, xxx, 19.[256]Mr. Spencer says: “The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.” “Origin of Animal Worship, etc.,” in Fortnightly Review, vol. vii, p. 536. N. S.[257]Uarda, vol. ii, p. 249.[258]Myths of the New World, p. 108.[259]Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 38.[260]Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore, p. 148. London, 1881.[261]See Exodus, vii, 10-13.[262]The spinal marrow was believed by some in ancient times to be the seat of life. Plato entertained that view. See Timæus, 74, 91.[263]In that hoary Egyptian work, The Book of the Dead (ch. 155), occurs this remarkable passage: “All creation is, when dead, turned into living reptiles.”[264]Rev., xvi, 9.[265]Pantheon, p. 271. Am. edition. Baltimore, 1830.[266]For much of interest about the laurel, see Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics, p. 404, by Richard Folkard, Jr. London, 1884.[267]Thessaly.[268]The literal meaning of Telesphorus is “bringing to an end;” of Euemerion, “prosperous, or glorious;” and of Acesius, “health-giving.”[269]Pantheon.[270]Tooke states that bygeniusis generally meant “that spirit of nature which produces all things, from which generative power it has its name.... The images of the genii resembled, for the most part, the form of a serpent. Sometimes they were described like a boy, a girl, or an old man.” Pantheon, p. 240.[271]Zend Avesta.[272]Herodotus, i, 140.[273]See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. ii, p. 245.[274]Phædo.[275]Grimm justly remarks that sacrifice was a common feature of heathen medicine; “great cures and the averting of pestilence,” says he, “could only be effected by sacrifice.” Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1150.[276]The Past in the Present, p. 164. New York, 1881.[277]Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.[278]Pantheon, p. 271.[279]See Levit., xviet seq.[280]Ch. ii, 39.[281]Ammon, Knuphis, or Agathodæmon of later times.[282]Ancient History of the East, vol. i, p. 326.[283]The language of the Hebrews is essentially the same:esorezmeans a goat.[284]ἀίξ.[285]The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History, vol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740.[286]New System of Mythology, vol. iii, p. 456. Philadelphia, 1819.[287]Now called Beyrout.[288]Damascius, in his Life of Isidorus, uses the phrase “Esmun, who is interpreted Asclepius.”[289]Daughters of Titan, by Astarte.[290]See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 14. Edition by Hodges.[291]From the Semitic wordKabir, great.[292]Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 19.[293]Chambers’s Encyclopædia.[294]The temple of the god at Carthage was of great splendor and renown. See Dr. Davis’s Carthage and its Remains, ch. xvii. London, 1861. Says the Doctor: “The Temple of Æsculapius was as prominent a feature of Carthage as the Capitoline hill was at Rome, or as St. Paul’s is in London” (p. 369). It was on a rocky eminence (the Byrsa). Ruins of the staircase still remain.[295]The city of Hermopolis received also the name of Esmun. In the Book of the Dead (ch. cxiv) the deceased is represented as saying, while adoring Thoth, Amset, and Tum: “I have come as a prevailer, through knowing the spirits of Esmun.” Thoth presided over this nome.[296]Bunsen maintains that the Cabiri were the seven archangels of the Jews, originally “the seven fundamental powers of the visible creation.” Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. iv, p. 256.[297]See Prof. Lesley’s interesting work, Man’s Origin and Destiny, first edition. Philadelphia, 1868. For some reason the chapter on Arkite symbolism is not given in the second edition.[298]Primitive Culture, vol. i, p. 218. London, 1871.[299]Saturnal, i, 20.[300]The Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 98. Oxford, 1803.[301]In Phœnicia he was the seven viewed collectively as “the soul of the world.” Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 229.[302]Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 221.[303]Æneid, vii, line 773.[304]Tiele takes such a view of Anubis. See History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 65.[305]Nearly all ancient Hebrew, as well as Assyrian, proper names are expressive of something about the birth or life of the bearers.[306]Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome. Third edition. London, 1854.[307]The Hebrew word, like the Latinvir, means man in a distinguished sense (virile), and may come from the Egyptianash, tree of life.[308]Caleb, or city of the dog, on the coast of Phœnicia, has been accorded the credit of the name of the god. See the Abbé Banier’s Mythology and Fables of the Ancients, etc. (translation), vol. iii, p. 160.[309]Possibly the first syllable of Æsculapius, like the Hebrewishi, salutary, andasa, to heal, may have been from the Egyptianusha, health-bringing,—doctor. See Gerald Massey’s Book of Beginnings, vol. ii, p. 301. London, 1881.[310]Hence the name, Canicular Year.[311]It does not now rise heliacally until the middle of August. But, 4000 years ago it rose so about the 20th of June, and just preceded the annual rising of the Nile.[312]History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 185. Anubis had various functions which cannot be spoken of here. He bore the souls of men to the nether world, like Hermes, of the Greeks, and assisted Horus in weighing them. A passage in the Book of the Dead reads, “He is behind the bier which holds the bowels of Osiris.” Evidently he might be regarded as the god of undertakers.[313]Typhon, or Set, was regarded, indeed, by the Egyptians as the god Sothis, or Sirius. See Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. i, p. 429. But Typhon was not, in early times, regarded as simply the personification of evil. See Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 350.[314]Zend Avesta. Edition by James Darmesteter, in two parts, or volumes, in The Sacred Books of the East, edited by Max Müller, vol. i, p. 83. Oxford, England, 1883.[315]Iliad, xxii.[316]Such a staff is, indeed, shown by Wilkinson, and is given by Cooper in his essay, already quoted. From the presence of the hawk and uræus, one might more properly accord it to Horus.[317]Physic and Physicians, vol. i, p. 6. London, 1839.

[162]See Pindar’s Pythian Ode, iv.

[163]Strabo, ix, 3.

[164]In most of the Oriental countries, including Egypt, there was always more or less of a belief in one great divinity. “The Supreme Omnipotent Intelligence” of the Hindus was “a spirit by no means the object of any sense, which can only be conceived by a mind wholly abstracted from matter.” (Institutes of Menu). El was a name given the Ineffable One by the Phœnicians and other peoples. Il or Ilu and Jaoh, the “being,” the “Eternal,” the “Jehovah” of the Hebrews, were designations of him used by the Babylonians, and from him, it was believed, the great trinity, Anu, Hea, and Bel emanated. Some, however, especially in early times, confounded him with Anu. Baal, the “Lord,” was a common designation of him in Syria and elsewhere.

[165]Dictionary of Mythology. London, 1793.

[166]Anantas.

[167]Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 519.

[168]The reader is doubtless familiar, through the Bible, with consecrated stones. A Maççeba was a necessary mark of every “high place.” Jacob set one up (Gen., xxxi, 45).

[169]See Lenormant’s Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 230. A pillar, cone, or tree-stem, more or less ornamented, constituted the Ashêrah of the Syrians and others, which many of the Israelites long looked on with favor (see Numbers, xxv, and 2 Judges, xxii), and which is in the authorized version of the Bible translated “grove,” as in the phrase, “the women wove hangings for the grove” (2 Judges, xxxiii, 7). It was the image of the goddess of fertility and life, the Istar of the Babylonians, The Baal-peor of the Moabites, Midianites, and others, and the Priapus of the Greeks and Romans were practically similar. I may add that thePhallus(derived from Apis, the Egyptian sacred bull), thelingaof the Hindus, has been taken by many peoples as emblematic of the widely-worshipped, active, renovating power in nature, the sun; just as an oval or round figure, thecteisof the Greeks, theyoniof the Hindus, has been of the passive power, the earth. (See Cox’s Mythology of the Aryans). The latter is the Mipleçeth, or “abominable image for an Ashêrah,” spoken of in the Bible (1 Kings, xv, 13, and 2 Chronicles, xv, 16). The whole subject is well presented in a little book by Messrs. Westropp and Wake,—Ancient Symbol Worship. New York, 1874.

[170]Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 442.

[171]A name given to Hermes.

[172]Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 329. London, 1873.

[173]“Aaron’s rod” is similarly constituted, but of different import.

[174]Gemmæ Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.

[175]Mercury of the Romans was not much, except the god of commerce.

[176]The posture only approximates that assumed in the act of generation. In this act the two serpents, in the words of Aristotle, “are folded together with the abdomens opposite.... They roll themselves together so closely that they seem to be one serpent with two heads.” Natural History, p. 103. Bohn’s edition. London, 1862.

[177]Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 38.

[178]Natural History, xxix, 12.

[179]Æneid, iv.

[180]Zoological Mythology, p. 406.

[181]See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 23. Edition by Hodges. London, 1876.

[182]McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical and Religious Literature.

[183]Historic Devices, Badges, and War-Cries. London, 1870.

[184]Natural History, xxix.

[185]Ibid.

[186]Myths of the New World, p. 3. New York, 1868.

[187]Household Tales.

[188]See Hyginus. Poet. Astr., ii, 14.

[189]The literal meaning ofnagasis snakes. In his Indian Arts (London, 1882), Dr. Birdwood says: “The worship of the snake still survives everywhere in India, and at Nagpur was, until very recently, a public danger, from the manner in which the city was allowed to be overrun with cobras.” p. 83.

[190]“Serpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,” in Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.

[191]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 460.

[192]Egyptian Mythology, p. 36. London, 1863.

[193]Numbers, xxi, 9.

[194]Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 8. A splendid illustrated publication, issued by the government. It treats principally of East Indian matters. London, 1873.

[195]Brazen. See 2 Kings, xviii, 4.

[196]From the Greek ἀγαθός, good, and δαίμων, god, soul, fortune.

[197]Uarda, vol. ii, p. 38.

[198]One of the Pharaoh’s “treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus, i, 11.

[199]On the Egyptian obelisk, originally from On (Heliopolis), the great seat of learning, now in the city of New York, in whose shadow, doubtless, Joseph at times made love to the high-priest’s daughter, and Moses learned the meaning of hieroglyphics, occurs the phrase, “Tum, lord of the city of On;” and, what is of more interest in this connection, one which reads, “The god Tum, who gives life.” I may add a stanza from a hymn addressed to Tum:—“Come to me, O thou sun;Horus of the horizon, give me help.Thou art he that giveth help;There is no help without thee.”—Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.

“Come to me, O thou sun;Horus of the horizon, give me help.Thou art he that giveth help;There is no help without thee.”—Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.

“Come to me, O thou sun;Horus of the horizon, give me help.Thou art he that giveth help;There is no help without thee.”

“Come to me, O thou sun;

Horus of the horizon, give me help.

Thou art he that giveth help;

There is no help without thee.”

—Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.

[200]See 2 Kings, xviii, 5.

[201]Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. ii, p. 376. Second edition. London, 1881.

[202]It is well known that this is not the correct form of the name. It was lost at an early day, and is not to be found in the New Testament in any form. It was not to be spoken. Much interest has always been taken in this remarkable word. According to a recently-translated Assyrian inscription, the correct form of the name is Ya-u, or Yâhu. Mr. Hodges dwells on this highly-interesting discovery in his edition of Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 28.

[203]Op. cit., p. 377.

[204]Book of Wisdom, ii, 6.

[205]Ibid., xv, 12.

[206]The power of healing was a prominent and popular characteristic of the god of the Hebrews. “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex., xv, 26); “I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jer., xxx, 17); “He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds” (Ps. cxlvii, 3); “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed” (Jer., xvii, 14); and other similar passages are met with in the Bible. Indeed, the curing of diseases has always been largely resorted to when the claim of divinity has been brought forward. It is a deceptive test.

[207]Naia tripudians.

[208]Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[209]Herodotus, ii, 74.

[210]Note to ii, 74, in George Rawlinson’s edition of Herodotus.

[211]The reader may turn with advantage to Dr. J. S. Phené’s interesting illustrated essay on “Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship,” in the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. viii, p. 321. London, 1875.

[212]Hymn to Apollo. Translation by C. C. Conwell, M.D. Philadelphia, 1830.

[213]No doubt the great home of the Indo-Europeans furnishes a closely corresponding myth. But there is good reason to hold that the main features of the great astronomical myths antedated the Vedas. Grecian mythology was largely derived from Egypt and Phœnicia.

[214]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 197.

[215]Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 3.

[216]Murray’s Mythology, p. 117.

[217]Chaldean Magic, p. 114.

[218]A graphic account of this mystic creature is given in an extant fragment of Berosus. He introduced all civilizing arts. See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 59. Hodges’ edition.

[219]Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122.

[220]“The Origin of Serpent-Worship,” in the Journal of the Victoria Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.

[221]Dr. Brinton gives the name as Michabo. He gives an interesting account of this great Algonkin myth in his American Hero-Myths. Philadelphia, 1882.

[222]Partly true.

[223]Indian Myths, p. 45. Boston, 1884.

[224]Mythology, vol. ii, p. 458.

[225]Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 75. London and New York, 1882.

[226]Ibid., p. 77.

[227]Myths of the New World, p. 107.

[228]It is interesting to observe that, according to Miss Emerson, “it is probable that the Indian derived the sacred symbols of his worship from the configuration of the constellations.” Indian Myths, p. 316.

[229]Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 7. London, 1881.

[230]The Great Pyramid, p. 100. London, 1883.

[231]In an article on the “Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians,” Mr. Sayce says: “Next to the planets in importance was the polar star, called Tir-anna, or Gagan-same, or ‘Judge of the Heaven,’ to which a special treatise was devoted in Sargon’s Library.” See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 206.

[232]Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.

[233]The constellation of Draco lies near to and to the north of “the Dipper,” or Great Bear, and is easily distinguished.

[234]Op. cit., p. 101.

[235]Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles is shorter, and was probably suggested by the same thing. Iliad, xviii.

[236]See pictures of such in Astronomical Myths, by Blake, London, 1877. Also, in Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies.

[237]It is believed that it is referred to in Job, in the verse reading, “His spirit hath adorned the heavens and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent” (xxvi, 13, Douai version). The authorized is not literal.

[238]The Shield of Hercules. Translation by Elton.

[239]Translated Pleiades. Job, ix, 9; xxxviii, 31; and Amos, v, 8.

[240]Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122. See also his edition of Herodotus, vol. i, p. 600.

[241]Those interested in this symbol should consult Schliemann’s Troy and its Remains.

[242]The swastika was so formed by Indians. See illustration in Emerson’s Indian Myths, p. 10.

[243]Totem is an Algonkin word, signifying to have or possess. It represented, among the Indians, the social unit or clan, the gens of the Romans.

[244]Fortnightly Review, vol. vi and vii. N. S.

[245]The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, 1870.

[246]Strabo, xiii, 1.

[247]1 Chronicles, xix, 2.

[248]Indian Myths, p. 44.

[249]The History of the Heavens. Translated from the French by J. B. de Freval. Two volumes. London, 1741, vol. i, p. 42. The first volume is a very able and interesting mythological production.

[250]Beginnings of History, p. 114.

[251]Myths of the New World, p. 120.

[252]“The Origin of Serpent Worship,” in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.

[253]By Plutarch, in Isis and Osiris.

[254]In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement that “Taautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians,” it is said of the animal that it is “the most inspired of all the reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of those external organs by which other animals effect their motion.” See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges.

[255]Proverbs, xxx, 19.

[256]Mr. Spencer says: “The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.” “Origin of Animal Worship, etc.,” in Fortnightly Review, vol. vii, p. 536. N. S.

[257]Uarda, vol. ii, p. 249.

[258]Myths of the New World, p. 108.

[259]Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 38.

[260]Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore, p. 148. London, 1881.

[261]See Exodus, vii, 10-13.

[262]The spinal marrow was believed by some in ancient times to be the seat of life. Plato entertained that view. See Timæus, 74, 91.

[263]In that hoary Egyptian work, The Book of the Dead (ch. 155), occurs this remarkable passage: “All creation is, when dead, turned into living reptiles.”

[264]Rev., xvi, 9.

[265]Pantheon, p. 271. Am. edition. Baltimore, 1830.

[266]For much of interest about the laurel, see Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics, p. 404, by Richard Folkard, Jr. London, 1884.

[267]Thessaly.

[268]The literal meaning of Telesphorus is “bringing to an end;” of Euemerion, “prosperous, or glorious;” and of Acesius, “health-giving.”

[269]Pantheon.

[270]Tooke states that bygeniusis generally meant “that spirit of nature which produces all things, from which generative power it has its name.... The images of the genii resembled, for the most part, the form of a serpent. Sometimes they were described like a boy, a girl, or an old man.” Pantheon, p. 240.

[271]Zend Avesta.

[272]Herodotus, i, 140.

[273]See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. ii, p. 245.

[274]Phædo.

[275]Grimm justly remarks that sacrifice was a common feature of heathen medicine; “great cures and the averting of pestilence,” says he, “could only be effected by sacrifice.” Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1150.

[276]The Past in the Present, p. 164. New York, 1881.

[277]Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.

[278]Pantheon, p. 271.

[279]See Levit., xviet seq.

[280]Ch. ii, 39.

[281]Ammon, Knuphis, or Agathodæmon of later times.

[282]Ancient History of the East, vol. i, p. 326.

[283]The language of the Hebrews is essentially the same:esorezmeans a goat.

[284]ἀίξ.

[285]The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History, vol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740.

[286]New System of Mythology, vol. iii, p. 456. Philadelphia, 1819.

[287]Now called Beyrout.

[288]Damascius, in his Life of Isidorus, uses the phrase “Esmun, who is interpreted Asclepius.”

[289]Daughters of Titan, by Astarte.

[290]See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 14. Edition by Hodges.

[291]From the Semitic wordKabir, great.

[292]Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 19.

[293]Chambers’s Encyclopædia.

[294]The temple of the god at Carthage was of great splendor and renown. See Dr. Davis’s Carthage and its Remains, ch. xvii. London, 1861. Says the Doctor: “The Temple of Æsculapius was as prominent a feature of Carthage as the Capitoline hill was at Rome, or as St. Paul’s is in London” (p. 369). It was on a rocky eminence (the Byrsa). Ruins of the staircase still remain.

[295]The city of Hermopolis received also the name of Esmun. In the Book of the Dead (ch. cxiv) the deceased is represented as saying, while adoring Thoth, Amset, and Tum: “I have come as a prevailer, through knowing the spirits of Esmun.” Thoth presided over this nome.

[296]Bunsen maintains that the Cabiri were the seven archangels of the Jews, originally “the seven fundamental powers of the visible creation.” Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. iv, p. 256.

[297]See Prof. Lesley’s interesting work, Man’s Origin and Destiny, first edition. Philadelphia, 1868. For some reason the chapter on Arkite symbolism is not given in the second edition.

[298]Primitive Culture, vol. i, p. 218. London, 1871.

[299]Saturnal, i, 20.

[300]The Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 98. Oxford, 1803.

[301]In Phœnicia he was the seven viewed collectively as “the soul of the world.” Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 229.

[302]Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 221.

[303]Æneid, vii, line 773.

[304]Tiele takes such a view of Anubis. See History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 65.

[305]Nearly all ancient Hebrew, as well as Assyrian, proper names are expressive of something about the birth or life of the bearers.

[306]Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome. Third edition. London, 1854.

[307]The Hebrew word, like the Latinvir, means man in a distinguished sense (virile), and may come from the Egyptianash, tree of life.

[308]Caleb, or city of the dog, on the coast of Phœnicia, has been accorded the credit of the name of the god. See the Abbé Banier’s Mythology and Fables of the Ancients, etc. (translation), vol. iii, p. 160.

[309]Possibly the first syllable of Æsculapius, like the Hebrewishi, salutary, andasa, to heal, may have been from the Egyptianusha, health-bringing,—doctor. See Gerald Massey’s Book of Beginnings, vol. ii, p. 301. London, 1881.

[310]Hence the name, Canicular Year.

[311]It does not now rise heliacally until the middle of August. But, 4000 years ago it rose so about the 20th of June, and just preceded the annual rising of the Nile.

[312]History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 185. Anubis had various functions which cannot be spoken of here. He bore the souls of men to the nether world, like Hermes, of the Greeks, and assisted Horus in weighing them. A passage in the Book of the Dead reads, “He is behind the bier which holds the bowels of Osiris.” Evidently he might be regarded as the god of undertakers.

[313]Typhon, or Set, was regarded, indeed, by the Egyptians as the god Sothis, or Sirius. See Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. i, p. 429. But Typhon was not, in early times, regarded as simply the personification of evil. See Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 350.

[314]Zend Avesta. Edition by James Darmesteter, in two parts, or volumes, in The Sacred Books of the East, edited by Max Müller, vol. i, p. 83. Oxford, England, 1883.

[315]Iliad, xxii.

[316]Such a staff is, indeed, shown by Wilkinson, and is given by Cooper in his essay, already quoted. From the presence of the hawk and uræus, one might more properly accord it to Horus.

[317]Physic and Physicians, vol. i, p. 6. London, 1839.

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