,,myth1 ,,ritual ,,and ,,religion ,volume ,,ii4 ,by ,andrew ,lang ,longmans1 ,green1 ,and ,co4 #ci ,paternoster ,row1 ,london ,new ,york ,and ,bombay #aija ,first printed1 ,august1 #ahhg ,,myth1 ,,ritual ,,and ,,religion ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,gods ,,of ,,the ,,lowest ,,races4 ,savage religion mysterious--,why this is so--,australians in #afhh--,sir ,john ,lubbock--,roskoff--,evidence of religion--,mr4 ,manning--,mr4 ,howitt--,supreme beings--,mr4 ,tylor's theory of borrowing--,reply--,morality sanctioned--,its nature--,satirical rite--,our ,father--,mr4 ,ridley on a creator--,mr4 ,langloh ,parker--,dr4 ,roth--,conclusion--,australians' religious4 ,the ,science of ,anthropology can speak1 with some confidence1 on many questions of ,mythology4 ,materials are abundant and practically undisputed1 because1 as to their myths1 savage races have spoken out with freedom4 ,myth represents1 now the early scientific1 now the early imaginative and humorous faculty1 playing freely round all objects of thought3 even round the ,superhuman beings of belief4 ,but1 as to his ,religion1 the savage by no means speaks out so freely4 ,religion represents his serious mood of trust1 dependence or apprehension4 ,in certain cases the ideas about superhuman ,makers and judges are veiled in mysteries1 rude sketches of the mysteries of ,greece1 to which the white man is but seldom admitted4 ,in other cases the highest religious conceptions of the people are in a state of obsolescence1 are subordinated to the cult of accessible minor deities1 and are rarely mentioned4 ,while sacrifice or service again is done to the lower objects of faith 7ghosts or gods developed out of ghosts7 the ,supreme ,being1 in a surprising number of instances1 is wholly unpropitiated4 ,having all things1 he needs nothing 7at all events gets nothing7 at men's hands except obedience to his laws2 being good1 he is not feared2 or being obsolescent 7superseded1 as it seems1 by deities who can be bribed7 he has shrunk to the shadow of a name4 ,of the gods too good and great to need anything1 the ,ahone of the ,red ,men in ,virginia1 or the ,dendid of the ,african ,dinkas1 is an example4 ,of the obsolescent god1 now but a name1 the ,atahocan of the ,hurons was1 while the ,lord in heaven of the ,zulus is1 an instance4 ,among the relatively supreme beings revealed only in the mysteries1 the gods of many ,australian tribes are deserving of observation4 ,for all these reasons1 mystery1 absence of sacrifice or idol1 and obsolescence1 the ,religion of savages is a subject much more obscure than their mythology4 ,the truth is that anthropological inquiry is not yet in a position to be dogmatic2 has not yet knowledge sufficient for a theory of the ,origins of ,religion1 and the evolution of belief from its lowest stages and earliest germs4 ,nevertheless such a theory has been framed1 and has been already stated4 ,we formulated the objections to this current hypothesis1 and observed that its defenders must take refuge in denying the evidence as to low savage religions1 or1 if the facts be accepted1 must account for them by a theory of degradation1 or by a theory of borrowing from ,christian sources4 ,that the ,australians are not degenerate we demonstrated1 and we must now give reasons for holding that their religious conceptions are not borrowed from ,europeans4 ,the ,australians1 when observed by ,dampier on the ,north-west ,coast in #afhh1 seemed the miserablest people in the world1 without houses1 agriculture1 metals1 or domesticated animals499 ,in this condition they still remain1 when not under ,european influence4 ,dampier1 we saw1 noted peculiarities3 ,be it little or much they get1 every one has his part1 as well the young and tender as the old and feeble1 who are not able to go abroad1 as the strong and lusty4 ,this kind of justice or generosity1 or unselfishness1 is still inculcated in the religious mysteries of some of the race4 ,generosity is certainly one of the native's leading features4 ,he is always accustomed to give a share of his food1 or of what he may possess1 to his fellows4 ,it may be1 of course1 objected to this that in doing so he is only following an old-established custom1 the breaking of which would expose him to harsh treatment and to being looked on as a churlish fellow4 ,it will1 however1 be hardly denied that1 as this custom expresses the idea that1 in this particular matter1 every one is supposed to act in a kindly way towards certain individuals3 the very existence of such a custom1 even if it be only carried out in the hope of securing at some time a quid pro quo1 shows that the native is alive to the fact that an action which benefits some one else is worthy to be performed4444 99 ,early ,voyages to ,australia1 pp4 #ajb-aaa4 ,hakluyt ,society4 ,it is with the native a fixed habit to give away part of what he has499 ,the authors of this statement do not say that the duty is inculcated1 in ,central ,australia1 under religious sanction1 in the tribal mysteries4 ,this1 however1 is the case among the ,kurnai1 and some tribes of ,victoria and ,new ,south ,wales49999 ,since ,dampier found the duty practised as early as #afhh1 it will scarcely be argued that the natives adopted this course of what should be ,christian conduct from their observations of ,christian colonists4 ,the second point which impressed ,dampier was that men and women1 old and young1 all lacked the two front upper teeth4 ,among many tribes of the natives of ,new ,south ,wales and ,victoria1 the boys still have their front teeth knocked out1 when initiated1 but the custom does not prevail 7in ritual7 where circumcision and another very painful rite are practised1 as in ,central ,australia and ,central ,queensland4 ,dampier's evidence shows how little the natives have changed in two hundred years4 ,yet evidence of progress may be detected1 perhaps1 as we have already shown4 ,but one fact1 perhaps of an opposite bearing1 must be noted4 ,a singular painting1 in a cave1 of a person clothed in a robe of red1 reaching to the feet1 with sleeves1 and with a kind of halo 7or set of bandages7 round the head1 remains a mystery1 like similar figures with blue halos or bandages1 clothed and girdled4 ,none of the figures had mouths2 otherwise1 in ,sir ,george ,grey's sketches1 they have a remote air of ,cimabue's work4999999 ,these designs were by men familiar with clothing1 whether their own1 or that of strangers observed by them1 though in one case an unclothed figure carries a kangaroo4 ,at present the natives draw with much spirit1 when provided with ,european materials1 as may be seen in ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's two volumes of ,australian ,legendary ,tales4 ,their decorative patterns vary in character in different parts of the continent1 but nowhere do they now execute works like those in the caves discovered by ,sir ,george ,grey4 ,the reader must decide for himself how far these monuments alone warrant an inference of great degeneration in ,australia1 or are connected with religion4 99 ,spencer and ,gillen1 ,natives of ,central ,australia1 p4 #dh4 9999 ,howitt1 ,journal ,anthrop4 ,inst41 #ahhe1 p4 #caj4 999999 ,grey's ,journals of ,expeditions of ,discovery in ,north- ,west and ,western ,australia1 in the years #ahcg-ci1 vol i41 pp4 #bjj-bfc4 ,sir ,george regarded the pictures as perhaps very ancient4 ,the natives chaffed him when he asked for traditions on the subject4 ,such are the ,australians1 men without kings or chiefs1 and what do we know of their beliefs8 ,the most contradictory statements about their religion may be found in works of science ,mr4 ,huxley declared that their theology is a mere belief in the existence1 powers and dispositions 7usually malignant7 of ghost-like entities who may be propitiated or scared away2 but no cult can be properly said to exist4 ,and in this stage theology is wholly independent of ethics4 ,this1 he adds1 is theology in its simplest condition4 ,in a similar sense1 ,sir ,john ,lubbock writes3 ,the ,australians have no idea of creation1 nor do they use prayers2 they have no religious forms1 ceremonies or worship4 ,they do not believe in the existence of a ,deity1 nor is morality in any way connected with their religion1 if it can be so called499 99 ,lubbock1 ,origin of ,civilisation1 p4 #aeh1ahgj4 ,in #ahhi1 for a deity a true ,deity4 ,this remark must be compared with another in the same work 7#ahhb1 p4 #baj74 ,mr4 ,ridley1 indeed1444 states that they have a traditional belief in one supreme ,creator1 called ,baiamai1 but he admits that most of the witnesses who were examined before the ,select ,committee appointed by the ,legislative ,council of ,victoria in #aheh to report on the ,aborigines1 gave it as their opinion that the natives had no religious ideas4 ,it appears1 moreover1 from a subsequent remark1 that ,baiamai only possessed 'traces' of the three attributes of the ,god of the ,bible1 ,eternity1 ,omnipotence and ,goodness499 99 ,cf4 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 #ahgb1 #beg-bga4 ,mr4 ,ridley1 an accomplished linguist who had lived with wild blacks in #ahed-eh1 in fact1 said long ago1 that the ,australian ,bora1 or ,mystery1 involves the idea of dedication to ,god 4 ,he asked old ,billy ,murri ,bundur whether men worshipped ,baiame at the ,bora8 ,of course they do1 said ,billy4 ,mr4 ,ridley1 to whose evidence we shall return1 was not the only affirmative witness4 ,archdeacon ,gunther had no doubt that ,baiame was equivalent to the ,supreme ,being1 a remnant of original traditions1 and it was ,mr4 ,guenther1 not ,mr4 ,ridley1 who spoke of traces of ,baiame's eternity1 omnipotence and goodness4 ,mr4 ,ridley gave similar reports from evidence collected by the committee of #aheh4 ,he found the higher creeds most prominent in the interior1 hundreds of miles from the coast4 ,apparently the reply of ,gustav ,roskoff to ,sir ,john ,lubbock 7#ahhj7 did not alter that writer's opinion4 ,roskoff pointed out that ,waitz-,gerland1 while denying that ,australian beliefs were derived from any higher culture1 denounced the theory that they have no religion as entirely false4 ,belief in a ,good ,being is found in ,south ,australia1 ,new ,south ,wales1 and the centre of the south-eastern continent499 ,the opinion of ,waitz is highly esteemed1 and that not merely because1 as ,mr4 ,max ,mueller has pointed out1 he has edited ,greek classical works4 ,avec du ,grec on nepeut gater rien4 ,mr4 ,oldfield1 in addition to bogles and a water-spirit1 found ,biam 7,baiame7 and ,namba-jundi1 who admits souls into his ,paradise1 while ,warnyura torments the bad under earth49999 ,mr4 ,eyre1 publishing in #ahde1 gives ,baiame 7on the ,morrum-bidgee1 ,biam2 on the ,murray1 ,biam-,vaitch-y7 as a source of songs sung at dances1 and a cause of disease4 ,he is deformed1 sits cross-legged1 or paddles a canoe4 ,on the ,murray he found a creator1 ,noorele1 all powerful1 and of benevolent character1 with three unborn sons1 dwelling up among the clouds4 ,souls of dead natives join them in the skies4 ,nevertheless the natives1 as far as yet can be ascertained1 have no religious belief or ceremonies2 and1 though ,noorele is credited with the origin of creation1 he made the earth1 trees1 water1 etc41 a deity1 or ,great ,first ,cause1 can hardly be said to be acknowledged4999999 99 ,waitz-,gerland1 ,anthropologic1 vi4 #gid et seq4 9999 ,oldfield1 ,translations of ,ethnol4 ,soc41 iii4 #bjh4 ,on this evidence ,i lay no stress4 999999 ,eyre1 ,journals1 ii4 pp4 #cee-ceh4 ,such are the consistent statements of ,mr4 ,eyre6 ,roskoff also cites ,mr4 ,ridley1 ,braim1 ,cunningham1 ,dawson1 and other witnesses1 as opposed to ,sir ,john ,lubbock1 and he includes ,mr4 ,tylor499 ,mr4 ,tylor1 later1 found ,baiame1 or ,pei-a-mei1 no earlier in literature than about #ahdj1 in ,mr4 ,hale's ,united ,states ,exploring ,expedition8 ,previous to that date1 ,baiame1 it seems1 was unknown to ,mr4 ,threlkeld1 whose early works are of #ahca-aheg4 ,he only speaks of ,koin1 a kind of goblin1 and for lack of a native name for ,god1 ,mr4 ,threlkeld tried to introduce ,jehova-ka-birue1 and ,eloi1 but failed4 ,mr4 ,tylor1 therefore1 appears to suppose that the name1 ,baiame1 and1 at all events1 his divine qualities1 were introduced by missionaries1 apparently between #ahca and #ahdj4999999 ,to this it must be replied that ,mr4 ,hale1 about #ahdj1 writes that when the missionaries first came to ,wellington 7,mr4 ,threlkeld's own district7 ,baiame was worshipped there with songs4 ,these songs or hymns1 according to ,mr4 ,threlkeld1 were passed on from a considerable distance4 ,it is notorious that songs and dances are thus passed on1 till they reach tribes who do not even know the meaning of the words499999999 99 ,roskoff1 ,das ,religionstoesen der ,rohesten ,naturvolher1 pp4 #cg-da4 9999 ,ethnology and ,philology1 p4 #aaj4 #ahdf4 999999 ,tylor1 ,the ,limits of ,savage ,religion1 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 vol4 xxi4 #ahib4 99999999 ,roth1 ,natives of ,n4-,w4 ,central ,queensland1 p4 #aag4 ,in this way ,baiame songs had reached ,wellington before the arrival of the missionaries1 and for this fact ,mr4 ,threlkeld 7who is supposed not to have known ,baiame7 is ,mr4 ,hale's authority4 ,in ,mr4 ,tylor's opinion 7as ,i understand it7 the word ,baiame was the missionary translation of our word ,creator1 and derived from ,baia to make4 ,now1 ,mr4 ,ridley says that ,mr4 ,greenway discovered this baia to be the root of ,baiame4 ,but what missionary introduced the word before #ahdj8 ,not ,mr4 ,threlkeld1 for he 7according to ,mr4 ,tylor71 did not know the word1 and he tried ,eloi1 and ,jehova-ka-biru,l1 while ,immanueli was also tried and also failed99 ,baiame1 known in #ahdj1 does not occur in a missionary primer before ,mr4 ,ridley's ,gurre ,kamilaroi 7#ahef71 so the missionary primer did not launch ,baiame before the missionaries came to ,wellington4 ,according to ,mr4 ,hale1 the ,baiame songs were brought by blacks from a distance 7we know how ,greek mysteries were also colportes to new centres71 and the yearly rite had1 in #ahdj1 been for three years in abeyance4 ,moreover1 the etymology1 ,baia to make has a competitor in ,byamee ,big ,man49999 ,thus ,baiame1 as a divine being1 preceded the missionaries1 and is not a word of missionary manufacture1 while sacred words really of missionary manufacture do not find their way into native tradition4 ,mr4 ,hale admits that the ideas about ,baiame may possibly be of ,european origin1 though the great reluctance of the blacks to adopt any opinion from ,europeans makes against that theory4999999 99 ,ridley1 speaking of #ahee4 ,lang's ,queensland1 p4 #dce4 9999 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker1 ,more ,australian ,legendary ,tales4 #ahih4 ,glossary4 999999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #aaj4 ,it may be said that1 if ,baiame was premissionary1 his higher attributes date after ,mr4 ,ridley's labours1 abandoned for lack of encouragement in #aheh4 ,in #ahdj1 ,mr4 ,hale found ,baiame located in an isle of the seas1 like ,circe1 living on fish which came to his call4 ,some native theologians attributed ,creation to his ,son1 ,burambin1 the ,demiurge1 a common savage form of ,gnosticism4 ,on the nature of ,baiame1 we have1 however1 some curious early evidence of #ahdd-de4 ,mr4 ,james ,manning1 in these years1 and earlier1 lived near the outside boundaries of settlers to the south4 ,a conversation with ,goethe1 when the poet was eighty-five1 induced him to study the native beliefs4 ,no missionaries1 he writes1 ever came to the southern district at any time1 and it was not till many years later that they landed in ,sydney on their way to ,moreton ,bay1 to attempt1 in vain1 to ,christianise the blacks of that locality1 before the ,queensland separation from this colony took place4 ,mr4 ,manning lost his notes of #ahde1 but recovered a copy from a set lent to ,lord ,audley1 and read them1 in ,november1 #ahhb1 to the ,royal ,society of ,new ,south ,wales4 ,the notes are of an extraordinary character1 and ,mr4 ,manning1 perhaps unconsciously1 exaggerated their ,christian analogies1 by adopting ,christian terminology4 ,dean ,cowper1 however1 corroborated ,mr4 ,manning's general opinion1 by referring to evidence of ,archdeacon ,gunther1 who sent a grammar1 with remarks on ,bhaime1 or ,bhaiame1 from ,wellington to ,mr4 ,max ,mueller4 ,he received his information1 he told me1 from some of the oldest blacks1 who1 he was satisfied1 could not have derived their ideas from white men1 as they had not then had intercourse with them4 ,old savages are not apt to be in a hurry to borrow ,european notions4 ,mr4 ,manning also averred that he obtained his information with the greatest difficulty4 ,they required such secrecy on my part1 and seemed so afraid of being heard even in the most secret places1 that1 in one or two cases1 ,i have seen them almost tremble in speaking4 ,one native1 after carefully examining doors and windows1 stood in a wooden fireplace1 and spoke in a tone little above a whisper1 and confirmed what ,i had before heard4 ,another stipulated that silence must be observed1 otherwise the ,european hands might question his wife1 in which case he would be obliged to kill her4 ,mr4 ,howitt also found that the name of ,darumulun 7in religion7 is too sacred to be spoken except almost in whispers1 while the total exclusion of women from mysteries and religious knowledge1 on pain of death1 is admitted to be universal among the tribes499 ,such secrecy1 so widely diffused1 is hardly compatible with humorous imposture by the natives4 ,there is an element of humour in all things4 ,mr4 ,manning1 in #ahhb1 appealed to his friend1 ,mr4 ,mann1 to give testimony to the excellency of ,black ,andy1 the native from whom he derived most of his notes1 which were corroborated by other black witnesses4 ,mr4 ,mann arose and replied that he had never met one aborigine who had any true belief in a ,supreme ,being4 ,on cross-examination1 they always said that they had got their information from a missionary or other resident4 ,black ,andy was not alluded to by ,mr4 ,mann1 who regarded all these native religious ideas as filtrations from ,european sources4 ,mr4 ,palmer1 on the other hand1 corroborated ,mr4 ,manning1 who repeated the expression of his convictions49999 ,such1 then1 is the perplexed condition of the evidence4 99 ,howitt14#g4 ,a4 ,i41 xiii4 #aic4 9999 ,mr4 ,mann told a story of native magic1 viewed by himself1 which might rouse scepticism among persons not familiar with what these conjurers can do4 ,it may be urged that the secrecy and timidity of ,mr4 ,manning's informants1 corresponding with ,mr4 ,howitt's experience1 makes for the affirmative side2 that1 in #ahde1 when ,mr4 ,manning made his notes1 missionaries were scarce1 and that a native cross-examined by the sceptical and jovial ,mr4 ,mann1 would probably not contradict4 7,lubbock1 ,o4 of ,c4 p4 #d47 ,confidence is only won by sympathy1 and one inquirer will get authentic legends and folklore from a ,celt1 while another of the ordinary ,english type will totally fail ,on this point ,mr4 ,manning says3 ,sceptics should consider how easy it might be for intelligent men to pass almost a lifetime among the blacks in any quarter of this continent without securing the confidence even of the best of the natives around them1 through whom they might possibly become acquainted with their religious secrets1 secrets which they dare not reveal to their own women at all1 nor to their adult youths until the latter have been sworn to reticence under that terrifying ceremony which my notes describe4 ,in the same way ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker found that an ,european neighbour would ask1 but have the blacks any legends8 and we have cited ,mr4 ,hartt on the difficulty of securing legends on the ,amazon1 while ,mr4 ,sproat had to live long among1 and become very intimate with1 the tribes of ,british ,columbia1 before he could get any information about their beliefs4 ,thus1 the present writer is disinclined to believe that the intelligence offered to ,mr4 ,manning with shy secrecy in #ahde was wholly a native copy of recently acquired hints on religion derived from ,europeans1 especially as ,mr4 ,howitt1 who had lived long among the ,kurnai1 and had written copiously on them1 knew nothing of their religion1 before1 about #ahhb1 he was initiated and admitted to the knowledge like that of ,mr4 ,manning in #ahde ,the theory of borrowing is also checked by the closely analogous savage beliefs reported from ,north ,america before a single missionary had arrived1 and from ,africa4 ,for the ,australian1 ,african and ,american ideas have a common point of contact1 not easily to be explained as deduced from ,christianity4 ,according1 then1 to ,mr4 ,manning1 the natives believed in a being called ,boyma1 who dwells in heaven1 immovably fixed in a crystal rock1 with only the upper half of a supernatural body visible4 ,now1 about #ahhj1 a native described ,baiame to ,mr4 ,howitt as a very great old man with a beard1 and with crystal pillars growing out of his shoulders which prop up a supernal sky4 ,this vision of ,baiame was seen by the native1 apparently as a result of the world-wide practice of crystal-gazing499 ,mr4 ,tylor suspects the old man with the beard as derived from ,christian artistic representations1 but old men are notoriously the most venerated objects among the aborigines4 ,turning now to ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's ,more ,australian ,legendary ,tales 7p4 #ij71 we find ,byamee fixed to the crystal rock on which he sat in ,bullimah 7,paradise74 ,are we to suppose that some savage caught at ,christian teaching1 added this feature of the crystal rock from the glassy sea of the ,apocalpyse1 or from the great white throne1 and succeeded in securing wide acceptance and long persistence for a notion borrowed from ,europeans8 ,is it likely that the chief opponents of ,christianity everywhere1 the ,wirreenuns or sorcerers1 would catch at the idea1 introduce it into the conservative ritual of the ,mysteries1 and conceal it from women and children who are as open as adults to missionary influence8 ,yet from native women and children the belief is certainly concealed4 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xvi4 p4 #di1 #fj4 ,mr4 ,manning1 who prejudices his own case by speaking of ,boyma as the ,almighty1 next introduces us to a ,son of ,god equal to the father as touching his omniscience1 and otherwise but slightly inferior4 ,mr4 ,eyre had already reported on the unborn sons of ,noorele1 there is no mother4 ,the son of ,boyma's name is ,grogoragally4 ,he watches over conduct1 and takes the good to ,ballima 7,bullimah in ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker71 the bad to ,oorooma1 the place of fire 7gumby74 ,mr4 ,eyre had attested similar ideas of future life of the souls with ,noorele4 7,eyre1 ii4 #ceg47 ,in ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's book a ,messenger is called the ,all-seeing ,spirit1 apparently identical with her ,wallahgooroonbooan1 whose voice is heard in the noise of the tundun1 or bull-roarer1 used in the ,mysteries499 99 ,more ,legendary ,tales1 p4 #hf4 ,grogoragally is unborn of any mother4 ,he is represented by ,mr4 ,manning as a mediator between ,boyma and the race of men4 ,here our belief is apt to break down1 and most people will think that ,black ,andy was a well-instructed ,christian catechumen4 ,this occurred to ,mr4 ,manning1 who put it plainly to ,andy4 ,he replied that the existence of names in the native language for the sacred persons and places proved that they were not of ,european origin4 ,white fellow no call budgery place 7paradise7 ',ballima1' or other place ',oorooma1' nor ,god ',boyma1' nor ,son ',grogoragally1' only we black fellow think and call them that way in our own language1 before white fellow came into the country4 ,a son or deputy of the chief divine being is1 in fact1 found among the ,kurnai and in other tribes4 ,he directs the mysteries4 ,here1 then1 ,andy is backed by ,mr4 ,howitt's aboriginal friends4 ,their deity sanctioned morality before the white men came to ,melbourne 7#ahce7 and was called ,our ,father at the same date499 ,several old men insisted on this1 as a matter of their own knowledge4 ,they were initiated before the arrival of ,europeans4 ,archdeacon ,gunther received the same statements from old aborigines1 and ,mr4 ,palmer1 speaking of other notions of tribes of the ,north1 is perfectly satisfied that none of their ideas were derived from the whites49999 ,in any case1 ,black ,andy's intelligence and logic are far beyond what most persons attribute to his race4 ,if we disbelieve him1 it must be on the score1 ,i think1 that he consciously added ,european ideas to names of native origin4 ,on the other hand1 analogous ideas1 not made so startling as in ,mr4 ,manning's ,christian terminology1 are found in many parts of ,australia4 99 ,j4 ,a41 xiii4 p4 #aib1 #aic1 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bij4 ,mr4 ,manning next cites ,moodgeegally1 the first man1 immortal1 a ,culture ,hero1 and a messenger of ,boyma's4 ,there are a kind of rather mediaeval fiends1 ,waramolong1 who punish the wicked 7murderers1 liars and breakers of marriage laws7 in ,gumby4 ,women do not go to ,ballima1 ,boyma being celibate1 and women know nothing of all these mysteries2 certainly this secrecy is not an idea of ,christian origin4 ,if women get at the secret1 the whole race must be exterminated1 men going mad and slaying each other4 ,this notion we shall see is corroborated4 ,but if missionaries taught the ideas1 women must know all about them already4 ,mr4 ,manning's information was confirmed by a black from #cjj miles away1 who called ,grogoragally by the name of ,boymagela4 ,there are no prayers1 except for the dead at burial3 corroborated by ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's beautiful ,legend of ,eerin4 ,byamee1 the mourners cry1 let in the spirit of ,eerin to ,bullimah4 ,save him from ,eleanbah wundah1 abode of the wicked4 ,for ,eerin was faithful on earth1 faithful to the laws you left us699 ,the creed is taught to boys when initiated1 with a hymn which ,mr4 ,manning's informant dared not to reveal4 ,he said angrily that ,mr4 ,manning already knew more than any other white man4 ,now1 to invent a hymn could not have been beyond the powers of this remarkable savage1 ,black ,andy4 ,the ,sons of ,baiame answer1 we have seen1 to those ascribed to ,noorele1 in ,mr4 ,eyre's book4 ,they also correspond to ,daramulun where he is regarded as the son of ,baiame1 while the ,culture ,hero1 ,moodgeegally1 founder of the ,mysteries1 answers to ,tundun1 among the ,kurnai49999 ,we have1 too1 in ,australia1 ,dawed1 a subordinate where ,mangarrah is the ,maker in the ,larrakeah tribe4999999 99 ,more ,australian ,tales1 p4 #if4 9999 ,howitt1 ,j4 ,a4 _/41 #ahhe1 p4 #cac4 999999 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 ,nov41 #ahid1 p4 #aia4 ,in some cases1 responsibility for evil1 pain1 and punishment1 are shifted from the good ,maker on to the shoulders of his subordinate4 ,this is the case1 in early ,virginia1 with ,okeus1 the subordinate of the ,creator1 the good ,ahone499 ,we have also1 in ,west ,africa1 the unpropitiated ,nyankupon1 with his active subordinate1 who has human sacrifices1 ,bobowissi29999 and ,mulungu1 in ,central ,africa1 possesses many powerful servants1 but is himself kept a good deal behind the scenes of earthly affairs1 like the gods of ,epicurus4999999 ,the analogy1 as to the ,son1 interpreter of the divine will1 in ,apollo and ,zeus 7certainly not of ,christian origin67 is worth observing4 ,in the ,andaman ,islands1 ,mr4 ,mann1 after long and minute inquiry from the previously un-contaminated natives1 reports on an only son of ,puluga1 a sort of archangel1 who alone is permitted to live with his father1 whose orders it is his duty to make known to the moro-win1 his sisters1 ministers of ,puluga1 the angels1 that is1 inferior ministers of ,puluga's will499999999 99 ,william ,strachey1 ,hakluyt ,society1 chapter vii41 date1 #afab4 9999 ,ellis1 ,religion of the ,tshi-speaking ,races4 999999 ,macdonald1 ,africana1 vol4 i4 p4 #fg4 99999999,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xii4 p4 #aeh4 ,it is for science to determine how far this startling idea of the ,son is a natural result of a desire to preserve the remote and somewhat inaccessible and otiose dignity of the ,supreme ,being from the exertion of activity2 and how far it is a savage refraction of missionary teaching1 even where it seems to be anterior to missionary influences1 which1 with these races1 have been almost a complete failure4 ,the subject abounds in difficulty1 but the sceptic must account for the marvellously rapid acceptance of the ,european ideas by the most conservative savage class1 the doctors or sorcerers2 for the admission of the ideas into the most conservative of savage institutions1 the ,mysteries2 for the extreme reticence about the ideas in presence of the very ,europeans from whom they are said to have been derived2 and in some cases for the concealment of the ideas from the women1 who1 one presumes1 are as open as the men to missionary teaching4 ,it is very easy to talk of borrowing1 not so easy to explain these points on the borrowing theory1 above all1 when evidence is frequent that the ideas preceded the arrival of ,christian teachers4 ,on this crucial point1 the question of borrowing1 ,i may cite ,mr4 ,mann as to the ,andamanese beliefs4 ,mr4 ,mann was for eleven years in the islands1 and for four years superintended our efforts to reclaim some natives4 ,he is well acquainted with the ,south ,andaman dialect1 and has made studies of the other forms of the language4 ,this excellent witness writes3 ,it is extremely improbable that their legends were the result of the teaching of missionaries or others4 ,they have no tradition of any foreign arrivals1 and their reputation 7undeserved7 as cannibals1 with their ferocity to invaders1 precludes the belief that any one ever settled there to convert or instruct them4 ,moreover1 to regard with suspicion1 as some have done1 the genuineness of such legends argues ignorance of the fact that numerous other tribes1 in equally remote or isolated localities1 have1 when first discovered1 been found to possess similar traditions on the subject under consideration1 ,further1 ,i have taken special care not only to obtain my information on each point from those who are considered by their fellow tribesmen as authorities1 but also from those who1 from having had little or no intercourse with other races1 were in entire ignorance regarding any save their own legends1 which1 they all agree in stating1 were handed down to them by their first parent1 ,to-mo1 and his immediate descendants499 ,what ,mr4 ,mann says concerning the unborrowed character of ,andaman beliefs applies1 of course1 to the yet more remote and inaccessible natives of ,australia4 ,in what has been1 and in what remains to be said1 it must be remembered that the higher religious ideas attributed to the ,australians are not their only ideas in this matter4 ,examples of their wild myths have already been offered1 they are totemists1 too1 and fear1 though they do not propitiate1 ghosts4 ,vague spirits unattached are also held in dread1 and inspire sorcerers and poets19999 as also does the god ,bunjil4999999 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xii4 pp4 #aef1 #aeg4 9999 ,ibid4y xvi41 pp4 #ccj1 #cca4 ,on ,bunjil4 999999 ,in ,folk-,lore1 ,december1 #ahih1 will be found an essay1 ,mr4 ,hartland1 on my account of ,australian gods4 ,instancing many wild or comic myths 7some of them unknown to me when ,i wrote ',the ,making of ,religion'71 ,mr4 ,hartland seems to argue that these destroy the sacredness of other coexisting native beliefs of a higher kind4 ,but1 on this theory1 what religion is sacred8 ,all have contradictory myths4 ,see ,introduction4 ,turning from early accounts of ,australian religion1 say from #ahce to #ahde1 we look at the more recent reports4 ,the best evidence is that of ,mr4 ,howitt1 who1 with ,mr4 ,fison1 laid the foundations of serious ,australian anthropology in ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai 7#ahha74 ,in #ahha1 ,mr4 ,howitt1 though long and intimately familiar with the tribes of ,gippsland1 the ,yarra1 the ,upper ,murray1 the ,murumbidgee1 and other districts1 had found no trace of belief in a moral ,supreme ,being4 ,he was afterwards1 however1 initiated1 or less formally let into the secret1 by two members of ,brajerak 7wild7 black fellows1 not of the same tribe as the ,kurnai4 ,the rites of these former aborigines are called ,kuringal4 ,their supreme being is ,daramulun believed in from the sea-coast across to the northern boundary claimed by the ,wolgal1 about ,yass and ,gundagai1 and from ,omeo to at least as far as the ,shoalhaven ,river4444 ,he was not1 as it seems to me1 everywhere thought to be a malevolent being1 but he was dreaded as one who could severely punish the trespasses committed against these tribal ordinances and customs1 whose first institution is ascribed to him4444 ,it was taught also that ,daramulun himself watched the youths from the sky1 prompt to punish by sickness or death the breach of his ordinances4 ,these are often mere taboos2 an old man said3 ,i could not eat ,emu's eggs4 ,he would be very angry1 and perhaps ,i should die4 ,it will hardly be argued that the savages have recently borrowed from missionaries this conception of ,daramulun1 as the originator and guardian of tribal taboos4 ,opponents must admit him as of native evolution in that character at least4 ,the creed of ,daramulun is not communicated to women and children4 ,it is said that the women among the ,ngarego and ,wolgal knew only that a great being lived beyond the sky1 and that he was spoken of by them as ,papang 7,father74 ,this seemed to me when ,i first heard it to bear so suspicious a resemblance to a belief derived from the white men1 that ,i thought it necessary to make careful and repeated inquiries4 ,my ,ngarego and ,wolgal informants1 two of them old men1 strenuously maintained that it was so before the white men came4 ,they themselves only learned the doctrine when initiated1 as boys1 by the old men of that distant day4 ,the name ,daramulun1 was almost whispered to ,mr4 ,howitt1 and phrases were used such as ,he1 the man1 the name ,i told you of4 ,the same secrecy was preserved by a ,woi-worung man about ,bunjil1 or ,pund-jel1 though he did not show so much reluctance when repeating to me the 'folk-lore' in which the ',great ,spirit' of the ,kulin plays a part4 ,he was used1 or gesture signs were employed by this witness1 who told how his grandfather had warned him that ,bunjil watched his conduct from a star1 he can see you and all you do down here1--before the white men came to ,melbourne4 7#ahce7499 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i4f xiii1 #ahhd1 pp4 #aib1 #aic4 ,are we to believe that this mystic secrecy is kept up1 as regards white men1 about a ,being first heard of from white men8 ,and is it credible that the old men1 the holders of tribal traditions1 and the most conservative of mortals1 would borrow a new divinity from the white devils1 conceal the doctrine from the women 7as accessible to missionary teaching as themselves71 adopt the new ,being as the founder of the antique mysteries1 and introduce him into the central rite8 ,and can the natives have done so steadily1 ever since about #ahdj at least8 ,to believe all this is to illustrate the credulity of scepticism4 ,mr4 ,howitt adds facts about tribes from ,twofold ,bay to ,sydney1 and as far west1 at least1 as ,hay4 ,here1 too1 ,daramulun instituted the rites2 his voice is heard in the noise of the whirling mudji 7bull-roarer74 ,the muttering of thunder is said to be his voice 'calling to the rain to fall1 and make the grass grow up green'4 ,such are the very words of ,umbara1 the minstrel of the tribe499 ,at the rites1 respect for age1 for truth1 for unprotected women and married women1 and other details of sexual morality1 is inculcated partly in obscene dances4 ,a magic ceremony1 resembling mesmeric passes1 and accompanied by the word ,good 7nga7 is meant to make the boys acceptable to ,daramulun4 ,a temporary image of him is made on raised earth 7to be destroyed after the rites71 his attributes are then explained4 ,this is the ,master 7,biamban7 who can go anywhere and do anything49999 ,an old man is buried1 and rises again4 ,this ceremony is most impressive4 ,the opportunity is taken of impressing on the mind of youth1 in an indelible manner1 those rules of conduct which form the moral law of the tribe4 ,there is clearly a belief in a ,great ,spirit1 or rather an anthropomorphic ,supernatural ,being1 the ,master of ,all1 whose abode is above1 the sky1 and to whom are attributed powers of omnipotence and omnipresence1 or1 at any rate1 the power to do anything and go anywhere4444 ,to his direct ordinance are attributed the social and moral laws of the community4 ,mr4 ,howitt ends1 ,i venture to assert that it can no longer be maintained that the ,australians have no belief which can be called religious--that is1 in the sense of beliefs which govern tribal and individual morality under a supernatural sanction4999999 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 #ahhd1 p4 #ddf4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #dec4 999999 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 #ahhd1 p4 #dei4 ,among the rites is one which is said to be intended to teach the boys to speak the straightforward truth1 and the kabos 7mystagogues7 thus explain it to them 499 ,it is1 perhaps1 unfortunate that ,mr4 ,howitt does not give a full account of what the morality thus sanctioned includes4 ,respect for age1 for truth1 for unprotected women1 and for nature 7as regards avoiding certain unnatural vices7 are alone spoken of1 in addition to taboos which have no relation to developed morality4 ,mr4 ,palmer1 in speaking of the morality inculcated in the mysteries of the ,northern ,australians1 adds to the elements of ethics mentioned by ,mr4 ,howitt in the south1 the lesson not to be quarrelsome4 ,to each lad is given1 by one of the elders1 advice so kindly1 fatherly and impressive1 as often to soften the heart1 and draw tears from the youth49999 99 ,j4 ,a4 #a41 xiii4 #ddd4 9999 ,ibid41 xlii #bif4 ,so far1 the morality religiously sanctioned is such as men are likely to evolve1 and probably no one will maintain that it must have been borrowed from ,europeans4 ,it is argued that the morality is only such as the tribes would naturally develop1 mainly in the interests of the old 7the ruling class7 and of social order 7,hart-land1 op4 cit4 pp4 #caf-cbi74 ,what else did any one ever suppose the mores of a people to be1 plus whatever may be allowed for the effects of kindliness1 or love1 which certainly exists8 ,i never hinted at morals divinely and supernormally revealed4 ,all morality had been denied to the ,australians4 ,yet in the religious rites they are taught to speak the straightforward truth6 ,as regards women1 there are parts of ,australia where disgusting laxity prevails1 except in cases prohibited by the extremely complex rules of forbidden degrees4 ,such parts are ,central ,australia and ,north-west ,central ,queensland499 ,another point in ,mr4 ,howitt's evidence deserves notice4 ,he at first wrote ,the ,supreme ,being who is believed in by all the tribes ,i refer to here1 either as a benevolent or more frequently as a malevolent being1 it seems to me represents the defunct headman 4 ,we have seen that ,mr4 ,howitt came to regard malevolence as merely the punitive aspect of the ,supreme ,being 4 ,as to the theory that such a being represents a dead headman1 no proof is anywhere given that ghosts of headmen are in any way propitiated4 ,even corpse-feeding was represented to ,mr4 ,dawson by intelligent old blacks1 as white fellows' gammon49999 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker writes to me that she1 when she began to study the blacks1 had1 ,i must allow1 a prejudice in favour of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's theory--it seemed so rational1 but1 accepting my savages' evidence1 ,i must discard it4 ,as to offerings of food to the dead1 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker found that nothing was offered except food which happened to be in the possession of the corpse1 at his decease4 ,for these reasons it is almost inconceivable that the ,supreme ,being should represent a dead headman1 as to dead men of any sort no tribute is paid4 ,mr4 ,howitt himself appears to have abandoned the hypothesis that ,daramulun represents a dead headman1 for he speaks of him as the ,great ,spirit1 or rather an anthropomorphic ,supernatural ,being1999999 99 ,spencer and ,gillen1 and ,roth4 9999 ,dawson1 ,aborigines of ,australia4 999999 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 #ahhd1 p4 #deh4 ,a ,great ,spirit might1 conceivably1 be developed out of a little spirit1 even out of the ghost of a tribesman4 ,but to the conception of a supernatural anthropomorphic being1 the idea of spirit is not necessary4 ,men might imagine such an entity before they had ever dreamed of a ghost4 ,having been initiated into the secrets of one set of tribes1 ,mr4 ,howitt was enabled to procure admission to those of another group of clans1 the ,kurnai4 ,for twenty-five years the ,jeraeil1 or mystery1 had been in abeyance1 for they are much in contact with ,europeans4 ,the old men1 however1 declared that they exactly reproduced 7with one confessed addition7 the ancestral ceremonies4 ,they were glad to do it1 for their lads now paid no attention either to the words of the old men1 or to those of the missionaries499 99,j4 ,a4 ,i41#ahhe1 p4 #cjd4 ,this is just what usually occurs4 ,when we meet a savage tribe we destroy the old bases of its morality and substitute nothing new of our own4 ,they pay no attention to the words of the missionaries1 but loaf1 drink and gamble like station hands knocking down a cheque 4 ,consequently a rite unknown before the arrival of ,europeans is now introduced at the ,jeraeil4 ,swift would have been delighted by this ceremony4 ,it was thought that the boys1 having lived so much among the whites1 had become selfish and no longer willing to share that which they obtained by their own exertions1 or had given to them1 with their friends4 ,the boys were1 therefore1 placed in a row1 and the initiator or mystagogue stooped over the first boy1 and1 muttering some words which ,i could not catch1 he kneaded the lad's stomach with his hands4 ,this he did to each one successively1 and by it the ,kurnai supposed the greediness 7------7 of the youth would be expelled499 99 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #caj1 #caa4 ,so far from unselfishness being a doctrine borrowed by the ,kurnai from ,christians1 and introduced into their rites1 it is 7as we saw in the case of the ,arunta of ,central ,australia7 part of the traditional morality--the good old ancestral virtues1 says ,mr4 ,howitt--of the tribes4 ,a special ceremony is needed before unselfishness can be inspired among blacks who have lived much among adherents of the ,gospel4 ,thus one satiric touch seems to demonstrate that the native ethics are not of missionary origin4 ,after overcoming the scruples of the old men by proving that he really was initiated in the ,kuringal1 ,mr4 ,howitt was admitted to the central rite of the ,kurnai showing the ,grandfather4 ,the essence of it is that the mystae have their heads shrouded in blankets4 ,these are snatched off1 the initiator points solemnly to the sky with his throwing stick 7which propels the spears7 and then points to the ,tundun1 or bull-roarer4 ,this object 7------7 was also used in the ,mysteries of ancient ,greece1 and is still familiar in the rites of savages in all quarters of the world4 ,the ancestral beliefs are then solemnly revealed4 ,it seems desirable to quote freely the condensed version of ,mr4 ,howitt4 ,long ago there was a great ,being called ,mungan-ngaur4 ,here a note adds that ,mungan means ,father1 and ngaur means ,our4 ,he has no other name among the ,kurnai4 ,in other tribes the ,great ,supreme ,being1 besides being called 'father1' has a name1 for example ,bunjil1 ,baiame1 ,daramulun4 ,this ,being lived on the earth1 and taught the ,kurnai444 all the arts they know4 ,he also gave them the names they bear4 ,mungan-gnaur had a son 7the ,sonship doctrine already noticed by ,mr4 ,manning7 named ,tundun 7the bull-roarer71 who was married1 and who is the direct ancestor--the ,weintwin or father's father--of the ,kurnai4 ,mungan-ngaur instituted the ,jeraeil 7mysteries7 which was conducted by ,tundun1 who made the instruments 7a large and a small bull-roarer1 as also in ,queensland7 which bear the name of himself and his wife4 ,some tribal traitor impiously revealed the secrets of the ,jeraeil to women1 and thereby brought down the anger of ,mungan upon the ,kurnai4 ,he sent fire which filled the wide space between earth and sky4 ,men went mad1 and speared one another1 fathers killing their children1 husbands their wives1 and brethren each other4 ,this corroborates ,black ,andy4 ,then the sea rushed over the land1 and nearly all mankind were drowned4 ,those who survived became the ancestors of the ,kurnai4444 ,tundun and his wife became porpoises 7as ,apollo in the ,homeric hymn became a dolphin71 ,mungan left the earth1 and ascended to the sky1 where he still remains499 99 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #cac1 #cad4 ,here the ,son is credited with none of the mediatorial attributes in ,mr4 ,manning's version1 but universal massacre1 as a consequence of revealing the esoteric doctrine1 is common to both accounts4 ,morals are later inculcated4 #a4 ,to listen to and obey the old men4 #b4 ,to share everything they have with their friends4 #c4 ,to live peaceably with their friends4 #d4 ,not to interfere with girls or married women4 #e4 ,to obey the food restrictions until they are released from them by the old men4 ,as at ,eleusis4 ,these doctrines1 and the whole belief in ,mungan-ngaur1 the ,kurnai carefully concealed from me1 says ,mr4 ,howitt1 until ,i learned them at the ,jeraeil499 ,mr4 ,howitt now admits1 in so many words1 that ,mungan-ngaur is rather the beneficent father1 and the kindly though severe headman of the whole tribe4444 than the malevolent wizard4444 ,he considers it perhaps indicative of great antiquity1 that this identical belief forms part of the central mysteries of a tribe so isolated as the ,kurnai1 as well as of those of the tribes which had free communication one with another4 ,as the morals sanctioned by ,mungan-ngaur are simply the extant tribal morals 7of which unselfishness is a part1 as in ,central ,australia71 there seems no reason to attribute them to missionaries--who are quite unheeded4 ,this part of the evidence may close with a statement of ,mr4 ,howitt's3 ,beyond the vaulted sky lies the mysterious home of that great and powerful ,being who is ,bunjil1 ,baiame1 or ,dara-mulun in different tribal languages1 but who in all is known by a name1 the equivalent of the only one used by the ,kurnai1 which is ,mungan-ngaur1 ,our ,father49999 99 ,op4 cit4 #cba1 note #c 9999 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xvi4 #fd4 ,other affirmative evidence might be adduced4 ,mr4 ,ridley1 who wrote primers in the ,kamilaroi language as early as in #ahef 7using ,baiame for ,god71 says3 ,in every part of ,australia where ,i have conversed with the aborigines1 they have a traditional belief in one ,supreme ,creator1 and he wonders1 as he well may1 at the statement to the contrary in the ,encyclopedia ,britannica1 which rests solely on the authority1 of ,dr4 ,lang1 in ,queensland4 ,of names for the ,supreme ,being1 ,mr4 ,ridley gives ,baiame1 ,anamba2 in ,queensland1 ,mumbal 7,thunder7 and1 at ,twofold ,bay1 ,dhu-rumbulum1 which signifies1 in the ,namoi1 a sacred staff1 originally given by ,baiame1 and is used as the title of ,deity499 ,by staff ,mr4 ,ridley appears to indicate the ,tundun1 or bull-roarer4 ,this ,i venture to infer from ,mr4 ,matthews' account of the ,wiradthuri 7,new ,south ,wales7 with whom ,dhuramoolan is an extinct bugbear1 not answering to ,tundun among the ,kurnai1 who is subordinate1 as son1 to ,mungan-ngaur1 and is associated with the mystic bull-roarer1 as is ,gayandi1 the voice of the ,messenger of ,baiame1 among ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's informants49999 ,in one tribe1 ,dara-mulun used to carry off and eat the initiated boys1 till he was stopped and destroyed by ,baiame4 ,this myth can hardly exist1 one may suppose1 among such tribes as consider ,daramulun to preside over the mysteries4 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 ii4 7#ahgb71 #bfh1 #bgj4 9999 ,ibid41 xxv4 #bih4 ,living in contact with the ,baiame-worshipping ,kamilaroi1 the ,wiradthuri appear to make a jest of the power of ,daramulun1 who 7we have learned7 is said to have died1 while his spirit dwells on high499 ,mr4 ,green way also finds ,turramulan to be subordinate to ,baiame1 who sees all1 and knows all1 if not directly1 through ,turramulan1 who presides at the ,bora4444 ,turramulan is mediator in all the operations of ,baiame upon man1 and in all man's transactions with ,baiame4 ,turramulan means leg on one side only1 one-legged4 ,here the mediatorial aspect corroborates ,mr4 ,manning's information49999 ,i would suggest1 periculo meo1 that there may have been some syncretism1 a ,baiame-worshipping tribe adopting ,daramulun as a subordinate and mediator2 or ,baiame may have ousted ,daramulun1 as ,zeus did ,cronos4 ,mr4 ,ridley goes on to observe that about eighteen years ago 7that is1 in #ahed7 he asked intelligent blacks if they knew ,baiame4 ,the answer was3 ,kamil zaia zummi ,baiame1 zaia winuzgulda1 ,i have not seen ,baiame1 ,i have heard or perceived him4 ,the same identical answer was given in #ahgb by a man to whom ,i had never before spoken4 ,if asked who made the sky1 the earth1 the animals and man1 they always answer ',baiame'4 ,varieties of opinion as to a future life exist4 ,all go to ,baiame1 or only the good 7the bad dying eternally71 or they change into birds6999999 99 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xii4 #aid4 9999 ,ibid41 vii4 #bdb4 999999 ,ibid41 ii4 #bfi4 ,turning to ,north-west ,central ,queensland we find ,dr4 ,roth 7who knows the language and is partly initiated7 giving ,mul-ka-ri as a benevolent1 omnipresent1 supernatural being4 ,anything incomprehensible4 ,he offers a sentence3 ,mulkari tikkara ena ,lord 7who dwellest7 among the sky4 ,again3 ,mulkari is the supernatural power who makes everything which the blacks cannot otherwise account for2 he is a good1 beneficent person1 and never kills any one4 ,he initiates medicine men4 ,his home is in the skies4 ,he once lived on earth1 and there was a culture-hero1 inventing magic and spells4 ,that ,mulkari is an ancestral ghost as well as a beneficent ,maker ,i deem unlikely1 as no honours are paid to the dead4 ,not in any way to refer to the dead appears to be an universal rule among all these tribes499 ,mulkari has a malignant opposite or counterpart4 ,nothing is said by ,dr4 ,roth as to inculcation of these doctrines at the ,mysteries1 nor do ,messrs4 ,spencer and ,gillen allude to any such being in their accounts of ,central ,australian rites1 if we except the self-existing out of nothing ,ungambikula1 sky-dwellers4 ,one rite is supposed to make the men who pass through it more kindly1 we are not told why49999 ,we have also an allusion to the great spirit ,twangirika1 whose voice 7the women are told7 is heard in the noise of the bull-roarer4999999 99 ,roth1 pp4 #ad1 #cf1 #aaf1 #aec1aeh1 #afe4 9999 ,spencer and ,gillen1 p4 #cfi4 999999 ,ibid41 p4 #bdf4 ,the belief is fundamentally the same as that found in all ,australian tribes1 write the authors1 in a note citing ,tundun and ,daramulun4 ,but they do not tell us whether the ,arunta belief includes the sanction1 by ,twangirika1 of morality4 ,if it does not1 have the ,central ,australians never developed the idea1 or have they lost it8 ,they have had quite as much experience of white men 7or rather much more7 than the believers in ,baiame or ,bunjil1 before the white men came to ,melbourne1 and1 if one set of tribes borrowed ideas from whites1 why did not the other8 ,the evidence here collected is not exhaustive4 ,we might refer to ,pirnmeheal1 a good being1 whom the blacks loved before they were taught by missionaries to fear him499 99 ,dawson1 ,the ,australian ,aborigines4 ,mr4 ,dawson took all conceivable pains to get authentic information1 and to ascertain whether the belief in ,pirnmeheal was pre-,european4 ,he thinks it was original4 ,the idea of god-borrowing is repudiated by ,manning1 ,gunther1 ,ridley1 ,green-way1 ,palmer1 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker and others1 speaking for trained observers and 7in several cases7 for linguists1 studying the natives on the spot1 since #ahde4 ,it is thought highly improbable by ,mr4 ,hale 7#ahdj74 ,it is rejected by ,waitz-,gerland1 speaking for studious science in ,europe4 ,mr4 ,howitt1 beginning with distrust1 seems now to regard the beliefs described as of native origin4 ,on the other hand we have ,mr4 ,mann1 who has been cited1 and the great authority of ,mr4 ,e4 ,b4 ,tylor1 who1 however1 has still to reply to the arguments in favour of the native origin of the beliefs which ,i have ventured to offer4 ,such arguments are the occurrence of ,baiame before the arrival of missionaries2 the secrecy1 as regards ,europeans1 about ideas derived 7,mr4 ,tylor thinks7 from ,europeans2 the ignorance of the women on these heads2 the notorious conservatism of the doctors who promulgate the creed as to ritual and dogma1 and the other considerations which have been fully stated4 ,in the meanwhile ,i venture to think1 subject to correction1 that1 while ,black ,andy may have exaggerated1 or ,mr4 ,manning may have coloured his evidence by ,christian terminology1 and while mythical accretions on a religious belief are numerous1 yet the lowest known human race has attained a religious conception very far above what savages are usually credited with1 and has not done so by way of the ghost-theory of the anthropologists4 ,in this creed sacrifice and ghost-worship are absent499 ,it has seemed worth while to devote space and attention to the ,australian beliefs1 because the vast continent contains the most archaic and backward of existing races4 ,we may not yet have a sufficient collection of facts microscopically criticised1 but the evidence here presented seems deserving of attention4 ,about the still more archaic but extinct ,tasmanians and their religion1 evidence is too scanty1 too casual1 and too conflicting for our purpose49999 99 ,these ,australian gods are confusing4 #a4 ,daramulun is supreme among the ,coast ,murring4 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 ziv4 #dcb-dei4 #b4 ,baiame is supreme1 ,daramulun is an extinct bugbear1 among the ,wiradthuri4 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xxv4 #bih4 #c4 ,baiame is supreme1 ,daramulun is mediator1 among the ,kamilaroi4 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 vii4 #bdb4 9999 ,see ,ling ,roth's ,tasmanians4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,gods ,,of ,,the ,,lowest ,,races4 ,bushmen gods--,cagn1 the grasshopper8--,hottentot gods--,wounded knee1 a dead sorcerer--,melanesian gods--,qat and the spider --,aht and ,maori beasts-gods and men-gods--,samoan form of animal-gods--,one god incarnate in many animal shapes--,one for each clan--,they punish the eating of certain animals4 ,passing from ,australia to ,africa1 we find few races less advanced than the ,bushmen 7,sa-n1 settlers1 in ,nama74 ,whatever view may be taken of the past history of the ,bushmen of ,south ,africa1 it is certain that at present they are a race on a very low level of development4 ,even the ,hottentots1 according to ,dr4 ,bleek1 exceed the ,bushmen in civilisation and political organisation499 99 ,see ,waitz1 ,anthrop4 ,nat4 ,volk1 ii4 #cbc-cbi4 ,before investigating the religious myths of the ,bushmen1 it must be repeated that1 as usual1 their religion is on a far higher level than their mythology4 ,the conception of invisible or extra-natural powers1 which they entertain and express in moments of earnest need1 is all unlike the tales which they tell about their own4 ,our main authorities at present for ,bushman myths are contained in ,a ,brief ,account of ,bushman ,folk-lore1 ,bleek1 ,london1 #ahge2 and in ,a ,glimpse into the ,mythology of the ,maluti ,bushmen1 by ,mr4 ,orpen1 ,chief ,magistrate1 ,st4 ,john's ,territory1 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahgd4 ,some information may also be gleaned from the ,south ,african ,folk-lore ,journal1 #ahgi-hj1 gods1 if gods such mythical beings may be called4 ,thus ,livingstone says3 ,on questioning intelligent men among the ,bakwains as to their former knowledge of good and evil1 of ,god and the future state1 they have scouted the idea of any of them ever having been without a tolerably clear conception on all these subjects499 ,their ideas of sin were the same as ,livingstone's1 except about polygamy1 and apparently murder4 ,probably there were other trifling discrepancies4 ,but they spoke in the same way of the direct influence exercised by ,god in giving rain in answer to the prayers of the rain-makers1 and in granting deliverance in times of danger1 as they do now1 before they ever heard of white men 4 ,this was to be expected4 ,in short1 the religion of savages1 in its childlike and hopeful dependence on an invisible friend or friends1 in its hope of moving him 7or them7 by prayer1 in its belief that he 7or they7 make for righteousness1 is absolutely human4 ,on the other side1 as in the myths of ,greece or ,india1 stand the absurd and profane anecdotes of the gods4 99 ,missionary ,travels1 p4 #aeh4 ,we now turn to a ,bushman's account of the religious myths of his tribe4 ,shortly after the affair of ,langa-libalele1 ,mr4 ,orpen had occasion to examine an unknown part of the ,maluti range1 the highest mountains in ,south ,africa4 ,he engaged a scout named ,qing1 son of a chief of an almost exterminated clan of hill ,bushmen4 ,he was now huntsman to ,king ,nqusha1 ,morosi's son1 on the ,orange ,river1 and had never seen a white man1 except fighting4 ,thus ,qing's evidence could not be much affected by ,european communications4 ,mr4 ,orpen secured the services of ,qing1 who was a young man and a mighty hunter4 ,by inviting him to explain the wall-pictures in caves1 ,mr4 ,orpen led him on to give an account of ,cagn1 the chief mythical being in ,bushman religion4 ,cagn made all things1 and we pray to him1 said ,qing4 ,at first he was very good and nice1 but he got spoilt through fighting so many things4 ,the prayer uttered by ,qing1 'in a low imploring voice1' ran thus3 ',o ,cagn1 ,o ,cagn1 are we not your children8 ,do you not see our hunger8 ,give us food4' ,where ,cagn is ,qing did not know1 but the elands know4 ,have you not hunted and heard his cry when the elands suddenly run to his call899 ,now comes in myth4 ,cagn has a wife called ,coti4 ,how came he into the world8 ,perhaps with those who brought the sun2444 only the initiated men of that dance know these things49999 99 ,another ,bushman prayer1 a touching appeal1 is given in ,alexander's ,expedition1 ii4 #abe1 and a ,khoi-,khoi hymn of prayer is in ,hahn1 pp4 #ef1 #eg4 9999 ,cf4 ,custom and ,myth1 pp4 #da1 #db4 ,it appears that the ,bushmen1 like the ,egyptians and ,greeks1 hand down myths through esoteric societies1 with dramatic mysteries4 ,cagn had two sons1 ,cogaz and ,gcwi4 ,he and they were great chiefs1 but used stone-pointed digging sticks to grub up edible roots6 ,cagn's wife brought forth a fawn1 and1 like ,cronus when ,rhea presented him with a foal1 ,cagn was put to it to know the nature and future fortunes of this child of his4 ,to penetrate the future he employed the ordinary native charms and sorcery4 ,the remainder of the myth accounts for the origin of elands and for their inconvenient wildness4 ,a daughter of ,cagn's married snakes who were also men1 the eternal confusion of savage thought4 ,these snakes became the people of ,cagn4 ,cagn had a tooth which was great medicine2 his force resided in it1 and he lent it to people whom he favoured4 ,the birds 7as in ,odin's case7 were his messengers1 and brought him news of all that happened at a distance499 99 ,compare with the separable vigour of ,cagn1 residing in his tooth1 the ,european and ,egyptian examples of a similar myth--the lock of hair of ,minos1 the hair of ,samson--in introduction to ,mrs4 ,hunt's ,grimm's ,household ,stories1 p4 lxxv4 ,he could turn his sandals and clubs into dogs1 and set them at his enemies4 ,the baboons were once men1 but they offended ,cagn1 and sang a song with the burden1 ,cagn thinks he is clever2 so he drove them into desolate places1 and they are accursed till this day4 ,his strong point was his collection of charms1 which1 like other ,bushmen and ,hottentots1 he kept in his belt4 ,he could1 and did1 assume animal shapes2 for example1 that of a bull-eland4 ,the thorns were once people1 and killed ,cagn1 and the ants ate him1 but his bones were collected and he was revived4 ,it was formerly said that when men died they went to ,cagn1 but it has been denied by later ,bushmen sceptics4 ,such is ,qing's account of ,cagn1 and ,cagn in myth is plainly but a successful and idealised medicine-man whose charms actually work4 ,dr4 ,bleek identifies his name with that of the mantis insect4 ,this insect is the chief mythological personage of the ,bushmen of the western province4 ,kaggen his name is written4 ,dr4 ,bleek knew of no prayer to the mantis1 but was acquainted with addresses to the sun1 moon and stars4 ,if ,dr4 ,bleek's identification is correct1 the ,cagn of ,qing is at once human and a sort of grasshopper1 just as ,pund-jel was half human1 half eagle-hawk4 ,the most prominent of the mythological figures1 says ,dr4 ,bleek1 speaking of the ,bushmen1 is the mantis4 ,his proper name is ,kaggen1 but if we call him ,cagn1 the interests of science will not seriously suffer4 ,his wife is the ,dasse ,hyrax4 ,their adopted daughter is the porcupine1 daughter of ,khwdi hemm1 the ,all-devourer4 ,like ,cronus1 and many other mythological persons1 the ,all-devourer has the knack of swallowing all and sundry1 and disgorging them alive4 ,dr4 ,bleek offers us but a wandering and disjointed account of the mantis or ,cagn1 who is frequently defeated by other animals1 such as the suricat4 ,cagn has one point at least in common with ,zeus4 ,as ,zeus was swallowed and disgorged by ,cronus1 so was ,cagn by ,khwai hemm4 ,as ,indra once entered into the body of a cow1 so did ,cagn enter into the body of an elephant4 ,dr4 ,bleek did not find that the mantis was prayed to1 as ,cagn was by ,qing4 ,the moon 7like sun and stars7 is1 however1 prayed to1 and the moon belongs to the mantis1 who1 indeed1 made it out of his old shoe6 ,the chameleon is prayed to for rain on occasion1 and successfully4 ,the peculiarity of ,bushman mythology is the almost absolute predominance of animals4 ,except an old woman1 who appears now and then in these incoherent legends1 their myths have scarcely one human figure to show4 ,now1 whether the ,bushmen be deeply degenerate from a past civilisation or not1 it is certain that their myths are based on their actual condition of thought1 unless we prefer to say that their intellectual condition is derived from their myths4 ,we have already derived the constant presence and personal action of animals in myth from that savage condition of the mind in which all things1 animate or inanimate1 human1 animal1 vegetable or inorganic1 seem on the same level of life1 passion and reason 7chap4 iii474 ,now1 there can be no doubt that1 whether the ,bushman mind has descended to this stage or not1 in this stage it actually dwells at present4 ,as examples we may select the following from ,dr4 ,bleek's ,bushman ,folk-lore4 ,dialkwain told how the death of his own wife was foretold by the springbok and the gems-bok4 ,again1 for examples of living belief in community of nature with animals1 ,dialkwain mentioned an old woman1 a relation1 and friend of his own1 who had the power of turning herself into a lioness4 ,another ,bushman1 ,kabbo1 retaining1 doubtless1 his wide-awake mental condition in his sleep1 dreamed of lions which talked4 ,another informant explained that lions talk like men by putting their tails in their mouth4 ,this would have pleased ,sydney ,smith1 who thought that if lions would meet and growl out their observations to each other1 they might sensibly improve in culture4 ,again1 all things that belong to the mantis can talk1 and most things do belong to that famous being4 ,in ,news from ,zululand199 in a myth of the battle of ,isandlwana1 a blue-buck turns into a young man and attacks the ,british4 99 ,folk-lore ,journal of ,south ,africa1 i4 iv4 #hc4 ,these and other examples demonstrate that the belief in the personal and human character and attributes of animals still prevails in ,south ,africa4 ,from that living belief we derive the personal and human character and attributes of animals1 which1 remarkable in all mythologies1 is perhaps specially prominent in the myths of the ,bushmen4 ,though ,bushman myth is only known to us in its outlines1 and is apparently gifted with even more than the due quantity of incoherence1 it is perhaps plain that animals are the chief figures in this ,african lore1 and that these ,bushmen gods1 if ever further developed1 will retain many traces of their animal ancestry4 ,from the ,bushmen we may turn to their near neighbours1 the ,hottentots or ,khoi-,khoi4 ,their religious myths have been closely examined in ,dr4 ,hahn's ,tsuni ,goam1 the ,supreme ,being of the ,khoi-,khoi4 ,though ,dr4 ,hahn's conclusions as to the origin of ,hottentot myth differ entirely from our own1 his collection and critical study of materials1 of oral traditions1 and of the records left by old travellers are invaluable4 ,the early ,european settlers at the ,cape found the ,khoi-,khoi1 that is1 ,the ,men1 a yellowish race of people1 who possessed large herds of cattle1 sheep and goats499 ,the ,khoi-,khoi1 as nomad cattle and sheep farmers1 are on a much higher level of culture than the ,bushmen1 who are hunters49999 99 ,op4 cit4 i4 pp4 #a1 #cb4 9999 ,ibid41 p4 #e4 ,the languages of the two peoples leave no more doubt as to their primitive relationship 7p4 #g74 ,the wealth of the ,khoi-,khoi was considerable and unequally distributed1 a respectable proof of nascent civilisation4 ,the rich man was called gou1 aob1 that is fat4 ,in the same way the early ,greeks called the wealthy 7------------7499 ,as the rich man could afford many wives 7which gives him a kind of commendation over men to whom he allots his daughters71 he gradually rose to the station of a chief49999 ,in domestic relations1 ,khoi-,khoi society is matriarchal 7pp4 #ai-ba 74999999 99 ,herodotus1 v4 #cj4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #af4 999999 ,but speaking of the wife1 ,kolb calls the poor wretch a drudge1 exposed to the insults of her children1--,english transl41 p4 #afb4 ,all the sons are called after the mother1 the daughters after the father4 ,among the arts1 pottery and mat-making1 metallurgy and tool-making are of ancient date4 ,a past stone age is indicated by the use of quartz knives in sacrifice and circumcision4 ,in ,khoi-,khoi society seers and prophets were the greatest and most respected old men of the clan 7p4 #bd74 ,the ,khoi-,khoi of to-day have adopted a number of ,indo-,european beliefs and customs1 and the ,christian ideas introduced by missionaries have amalgamated444 with the national religious ideas and mythologies1 for which reasons ,dr1 ,hahn omits many legends which1 though possibly genuine1 might seem imported 7pp4 #cj1 #ca74 ,a brief historical abstract of what was known to old travellers of ,khoi-,khoi religion must now be compiled from the work of ,dr4 ,hahn4 ,in #afee ,corporal ,mueller found adoration paid to great stones on the side of the paths4 ,the worshippers pointed upwards and said ,hette hie1 probably ,heitsi ,eibib1 the name of a ,khoi-,khoi extra-natural being4 ,it appears 7p4 #cg7 that ,heitsi ,eibib has changed names in parts of ,south ,africa1 and what was his worship is now offered to ,garubeb1 or ,tsui ,goab4 ,in #afga ,dapper found that the ,khoi-,khoi believe there is one who sends rain on earth2444 they also believe that they themselves can make rain and prevent the wind from blowing4 ,worship of the moon and of erected stones is also noticed4 ,in #afia ,nicolas ,witsen heard that the ,khoi-,khoi adored a god which ,dr4 ,hahn 7p4 #ia7 supposes to have been a peculiar-shaped stone-fetish1 such as the ,basutos worship and spit at4 ,witsen found that the god was daubed with red earth1 like the ,dionysi in ,greece4 ,about #agje ,valentyn gathered that the people believed in a great chief who dwells on high1 and a devil2 but in carefully examining this1 it is nothing else but their somsomas and spectres 7p4 #ch74 ,we need not accept that opinion4 ,the worship of a great chief is mentioned again in #ahfh4 ,in #agai ,peter ,kolb1 the ,german ,magister1 published his account of the ,hottentots1 which has been done into ,english499 ,kolb gives ,gounja ,gounja1 or ,gounja ,ticqvoa1 as the divine name2 they say he is a good man1 who does nobody any hurt1444 and that he dwells far above the moon 49999 ,this corresponds to the ,australian ,pirnmeheal4 ,kolb also noted propitiation of an evil power4 ,he observed that the ,khoi-,khoi worship the mantis insect1 which1 as we have seen1 is the chief mythical character among the ,bushmen4999999 99 ,second edition1 ,london1 #aghh4 9999 ,engl4 transl41 #ie4 999999 ,engl1 transl41 i4 #ig1 gives a picture of ,khoi-,khoi adoring the mantis4 ,dr4 ,hahn remarks1 ,strangely enough the ,namaquas also call it ,gaunab1 as they call the enemy of ,tsui ,goab499 ,in ,kolb's time1 as now1 the rites of the ,khoi 7except1 apparently1 their worship at dawn7 were performed beside cairns of stones4 ,if we may credit ,kolb1 the ,khoi-,khoi are not only most fanatical adorers of the mantis1 but pay a religious veneration to their saints and men of renown departed4 ,thunberg 7#agib7 noticed cairn-worship and heard of mantis-worship4 ,in #ahjc ,lichtenstein saw cairn-worship4 ,with the beginning of the present century we find in ,apple-yard1 ,ebner and others ,khoi-,khoi names for a god1 which are translated ,sore-,knee or ,wounded-,knee 4 ,this title is explained as originally the name of a doctor or sorcerer of repute1 invoked even after death1 and finally converted into a deity4 ,his enemy is ,gaunab1 an evil being1 and he is worshipped at the cairns1 below which he is believed to be buried49999 ,about #ahdb ,knudsen considered that the ,khoi-,khoi believed in a dead medicine-man1 ,heitsi ,eibib1 who could make rivers roll back their waves1 and then walk over safely1 as in the maerchen of most peoples4 ,he was also1 like ,odin1 a shape-shifter1 and he died several times and came to life again4999999 99 ,page #db2 compare pp4 #ib1 #abe4 9999 ,alexander1 ,expedition1 i #aff2 ,hahn1 op4 cit41 pp4 #fi1 #ej1 where ,moffat is quoted4 999999 ,hahn1 p4 #ff4 ,thus the numerous graves of ,heitsi ,eibib are explained by his numerous deaths4 ,in ,egypt the numerous graves of ,osiris were explained by the story that he was mutilated1 and each limb buried in a different place4 ,probably both the ,hottentot and the ,egyptian legend were invented to account for the many worshipped cairns attributed to the same corpse4 ,we now reach the myths of ,heitsi ,eibib and ,tsui ,goab collected by ,dr4 ,hahn himself4 ,according to the evidence of ,dr4 ,hahn's own eyes1 the working religion of the ,khoi-,khoi is a firm belief in sorcery and the arts of living medicine-men on the one hand1 and1 on the other1 belief in and adoration of the powers of the dead 7pp4 #ha1 #hb1 #aab1 #aac74 ,our author tells us that he met in the wilds a woman of the fat or wealthy class going to pray at the grave and to the manes of her own father4 ,we ,khoi-,khoi always1 if we are in trouble1 go and pray at the graves of our grandparents and ancestors4 ,they also sing rude epic verses1 accompanied by the dance in honour of men distinguished in the late ,namaqua and ,damara war4 ,now it is alleged by ,dr4 ,hahn that prayers are offered at the graves of ,heitsi ,eibib and ,tsui ,goab1 as at those of ancestors lately dead1 and ,heitsi ,eibib and ,tsui ,goab within living memory were honoured by song and dance1 exactly like the braves of the ,damara war4 ,the obvious and natural inference is that ,heitsi ,eibib and ,tsui ,goab were and are regarded by their worshippers as departed but still helpful ancestral warriors or medicine-men4 ,we need not hold that they ever were actual living men2 they may be merely idealised figures of ,khoi-,khoi wisdom and valour4 ,here1 as elsewhere1 ,animism1 ghost-worship1 is potent1 and1 in proportion1 theism declines4 ,here ,dr4 ,hahn offers a different explanation1 founded on etymological conjecture and a philosophy of religion4 ,according to him1 the name of ,tsui ,goab originally meant1 not wounded knee1 but red dawn4 ,the dawn was worshipped as a symbol or suggestion of the infinite1 and only by forgetfulness and false interpretation of the original word did the ,khoi-,khoi fall from a kind of pure theosophy to adoration of a presumed dead medicine-man4 ,as ,dr4 ,hahn's ingenious hypothesis has been already examined by us199 it is unnecessary again to discuss the philological basis of his argument4 ,dr4 ,hahn not only heard simple and affecting prayers addressed to ,tsui ,goab1 but learned from native informants that the god had been a chief1 a warrior1 wounded in his knee in battle with ,gaunab1 another chief1 and that he had prophetic powers4 ,he still watches the ways of men 7p4 #fb7 and punishes guilt4 ,universal testimony was given to the effect that ,heitsi ,eibib also had been a chief from the ,east1 a prophet and a warrior4 ,he apportioned1 by blessings and curses1 their present habits to many of the animals4 ,like ,odin1 he was a shape-shifter1 possessing the medicine-man's invariable power of taking all manner of forms4 ,he was on one occasion born of a cow1 which reminds us of a myth of ,indra4 ,by another account he was born of a virgin who tasted a certain kind of grass4 ,this legend is of wonderfully wide diffusion among savage and semi-civilised races49999 99 ,custom and ,myth1 pp4 #aig-baa4 9999 ,le ,fits de la ,vierge1 ,h4 de ,charency1 ,havre1 #ahgi4 ,a tale of incest by ,heitsi ,eibib1 may be compared with another in ,muir's ,sanskrit ,texts1 iv4 #ci4 ,the tales about ,tsui ,goab and ,heitsi ,eibib are chiefly narratives of combats with animals and with the evil power in a nascent dualism1 ,gaunab1 at first a ghost1 according to ,hahn 7p4 #he71 or certainly nobody else but the ,night 7pp4 #abe1 #abf74 ,here there is some inconsistency4 ,if we regard the good power1 ,tsui ,goab1 as the ,red ,dawn1 we are bound to think the evil power1 ,gaunab1 a name for the ,night4 ,but ,dr4 ,hahn's other hypothesis1 that the evil power was originally a malevolent ghost1 seems no less plausible4 ,in either case1 we have here an example of the constant mythical dualism which gives the comparatively good being his perpetual antagonist--the ,loki to his ,odin1 the crow to his eagle-hawk4 ,in brief1 ,hottentot myth is pretty plainly a reflection of ,hottentot general ideas about ancestor worship1 ghosts1 sorcerers and magicians1 while1 in their religious aspect1 ,heitsi ,eibib or ,tsui ,goab are guardians of life and of morality1 fathers and friends4 ,a description of barbarous beliefs not less scholarly and careful than that compiled by ,dr4 ,hahn has been published by the ,rev4 ,r4 ,h4 ,codrington499 ,mr4 ,codrington has studied the myths of the ,papuans and other natives of the ,melanesian group1 especially in the ,solomon ,islands and ,banks ,island4 ,these peoples are by no means in the lowest grade of culture2 they are traders in their way1 builders of canoes and houses1 and their society is interpenetrated by a kind of mystic hierarchy1 a religious ,camorra4 ,the ,banks ,islanders9999 recognise two sorts of intelligent extra-natural beings--the spirits of the dead and powers which have never been human4 99 ,journal ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,february1 #ahha4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bfg4 ,the former are ,tamate1 the latter ,vui--ghosts and genii1 we might call them4 ,vuis are classed by ,mr4 ,codrington as corporeal and incorporeal1 but he thinks the corporeal ,vuis have not human bodies4 ,among corporeal ,vuis the chief are the beings nearest to gods in ,melanesian myths--the half god1 half culture-hero1 ,i ,qat1 his eleven brothers1 and his familiar and assistant1 ,marawa4 ,these were members of a race anterior to that of the men of to-day1 and they dwelt in ,vanua ,levu4 ,though now passed away from the eyes of mortals1 they are still invoked in prayer4 ,the following appeal by a voyaging ,banks ,islander resembles the cry of the shipwrecked ,odysseus to the friendly river3-- ,qat6 ,marawa6 look down upon us2 smooth the sea for us two1 that ,i may go safely on the sea4 ,beat down for me the crests of the tide-rip2 let the tide-rip settle down away from me2 beat it down level that it may sink and roll away1 and ,i may come to a quiet landing-place4 ,compare the prayer of ,odysseus3-- ',hear me1 ,o king1 whosoever thou art2 unto thee am ,i come as to one to whom prayer is made1 while ,i flee the rebukes of ,poseidon from the deep4444' ,so spake he1 and the god straightway stayed his stream and withheld his waves1 and made the water smooth before him1 and brought him safely to the mouth of the river4 ,but for ,qat's supernatural power and creative exploits199 there would be little indeed to show him other than a man4 ,he answers almost precisely to ,maui1 the the culture-hero of ,new ,zealand4 ,qat's mother either was1 or1 like ,niobe1 became a stone4 99 ,see ,savage ,myths of the ,origin of ,things4 ,he was the eldest 7unlike ,maui7 of twelve brothers1 among whom were ,tongaro the ,wise and ,tongaro the ,fool4 ,the brothers were killed by an evil gluttonous power like ,kwai ,hemm and put in a food chest4 ,qat killed the foe and revived his brothers1 as the sons of ,cronus came forth alive from their father's maw4 ,his great foe--for of course he had a foe--was ,qasavara1 whom he destroyed by dashing him against the solid firmament of sky4 ,qasavara is now a stone 7like the serpent displayed by ,zeus at ,aulis9971 on which sacrifices are made4 ,qat's chief friend is ,marawa1 a spider1 or a ,vui in the shape of a spider4 ,the divine mythology of the ,melanesians1 as far as it has been recovered1 is meagre4 ,we only see members of a previous race1 magnified non-natural men1 with a friendly insect working miracles and achieving rather incoherent adventures4 99 ,iliad1 ii4 #cae-cah4 ,much on the same footing of civilisation as the ,melanesians were the natives of ,tonga in the first decade of this century4 ,the ,tongan religious beliefs were nearly akin to the ideas of the ,samoans and of the ,solomon ,islanders4 ,in place of ,vuis they spoke of ,hotooas 7,atuas71 and like the ,vuis1 those spiritual beings have either been purely spiritual from the beginning or have been incarnate in humanity and are now ghosts1 but ghosts enjoying many of the privileges of gods4 ,all men1 however1 have not souls capable of a separate existence1 only the ,egi or nobles1 possess a spiritual part1 which goes to ,bolotoo1 the land of gods and ghosts1 after death1 and enjoys power similar to that of the original gods1 but less4 ,it is open to philosophers of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer's school to argue that the original gods were once ghosts like the others1 but this was not the opinion of the ,tongans4 ,they have a supreme ,creator1 who alone receives no sacrifice499 ,both sorts of gods appear occasionally to mankind--the primitive deities particularly affect the forms of lizards1 porpoises and a species of water-snake1 hence those animals are much respected49999 99 ,mariner1 ii4 #bje4 9999 ,mariner's ,tonga ,islands1 ,edin41 #ahbg1 ii #ii-aja4 ,whether each stock of ,tongans had its own animal incarnation of its special god does not appear from ,mariner's narrative4 ,the gods took human morality under their special protection1 punishing the evil and rewarding the good1 in this life only1 not in the land of the dead4 ,when the comfortable doctrine of eternal punishment was expounded to the ,tongans by ,mariner1 the poor heathen merely remarked that it was very bad indeed for the ,papalangies or foreigners4 ,their untutored minds1 in their pagan darkness1 had dreamed of no such thing4 ,the ,tongans themselves are descended from some gods who set forth on a voyage of discovery out of ,bolotoo4 ,landing on ,tonga1 these adventurers were much pleased with the island1 and determined to stay there2 but in a few days certain of them died4 ,they had left the deathless coasts for a world where death is native1 and1 as they had eaten of the food of the new realm1 they would never escape the condition of mortality4 ,this has been remarked as a widespread belief4 ,persephone became enthralled to ,hades after tasting the mystic pomegranate of the underworld4 ,in ,samoa ,siati may not eat of the god's meat1 nor ,wainamoinen in ,pohjola1 nor ,thomas the ,rhymer in ,fairyland4 ,the exploring gods from ,bolotoo were in the same way condemned to become mortal and people the world with mortal beings1 and all about them should be mea mama1 subject to decay and death499 ,it is remarkable1 if correctly reported1 that the secondary gods1 or ghosts of nobles1 cannot reappear as lizards1 porpoises and water-snakes2 this is the privilege of the original gods only1 and may be an assumption by them of a conceivably totemistic aspect4 ,the nearest approach to the idea of a permanent supreme deity is contained in the name of ,tali y ,toobo--wait there1 ,toobo--a name which conveys the notion perhaps of permanence or eternity4 ,he is a great chief from the top of the sky to the bottom of the earth49999 99 ,mariner1 ii4 #aae4 9999 ,ibid41 ii4 #bje4 ,he is invoked both in war and peace1 not locally1 but for the general good of the natives4 ,he is the patron1 not of any special stock or family1 but of the house in which the royal power is lodged for the time4 ,alone of gods he is unpropitiated by food or libation1 indicating that he is not evolved out of a hungry ghost4 ,another god1 ,toobo ,toty or ,toobo the ,mariner1 may be a kind of ,poseidon4 ,he preserves canoes from perils at sea4 ,on the death of the daughter of ,finow1 the king in ,mariner's time1 that monarch was so indignant that he threatened to kill the priest of ,toobo ,toty4 ,as the god is believed to inspire the priest1 this was certainly a feasible way of getting at the god4 ,but ,toobo ,toty was beforehand with ,finow1 who died himself before he could carry the war into ,bolotoo499 ,this ,finow was a sceptic2 he allowed that there were gods1 because he himself had occasionally been inspired by them2 but what the priests tell us about their power over mankind ,i believe to be all false4 ,thus early did the conflict of ,church and ,state declare itself in ,tonga4 ,human sacrifices were a result of priestcraft in ,tonga1 as in ,greece4 ,even the man set to kill a child of ,toobo ,toa's was moved by pity1 and exclaimed ,o iaooe chi vale6 7poor little innocent67 ,the priest demanded this sacrifice to allay the wrath of the gods for the slaying of a man in consecrated ground49999 ,such are the religious ideas of ,tonga2 of their mythology but little has reached us1 and that is under suspicion of being coloured by acquaintance with the stories of missionaries4 99 ,mariner1 i4 #cjg1 it #ajg4 9999 ,compare the ayos of the ,alcmaenidae4 ,the ,maoris1 when first discovered by ,europeans1 were in a comparatively advanced stage of barbarism4 ,their society had definite ranks1 from that of the ,rangatira1 the chief with a long pedigree1 to the slave4 ,their religious hymns1 of great antiquity1 have been collected and translated by ,grey1 ,taylor1 ,bastian and others4 ,the mere possession of such hymns1 accurately preserved for an unknown number of years by oral tradition1 proves that the mythical notions of the ,maoris have passed through the minds of professed bards and early physical speculators4 ,the verses1 as ,bastian has observed 7,die ,heilige ,sage der ,polynesier71 display a close parallel to the roughest part of the early ,greek cosmogonies1 as expounded by ,hesiod4 ,yet in the ,maori hymns there are metaphysical ideas and processes which remind one more of ,heraclitus than of ,hesiod1 and perhaps more of ,hegel than of either4 ,whether we are to regard the abstract conceptions or the rude personal myths of gods such as ,a1 the ,beyond ,all1 as representing the earlier development of ,maori thought1 whether one or the other element is borrowed1 not original1 are questions which theorists of different schools will settle in their own way to their own satisfaction4 ,some hymns represent the beginning of things from a condition of thought1 and ,socrates might have said of the ,maori poets as he did of ,anaxagoras1 that compared with other early thinkers1 they are like sober men among drunkards4 ,thus one hymn of the origins runs thus3-- ,from the conception the increase1 ,from the increase the swelling1 ,from the swelling the thought1 ,from the thought the remembrance1 ,from the remembrance the desire4 ,the word became fruitful1 ,it dwelt with the feeble glimmering1 ,it brought forth ,night4 ,from the nothing the begetting1 ,it produced the atmosphere which is above us4 ,the atmosphere above dwelt with the glowing sky1 ,forthwith was produced the sun4 ,then the moon sprang forth4 ,they were thrown up above as the chief eyes of heaven1 ,then the heavens became light4 ,the sky which floats above dwelt with ,hawaiki199 ,and produced 7certain islands74 99 ,the islands of ,hawaiki1 being then the only land known1 is put for ,papa1 the earth4 ,then follow genealogies of gods1 down to the chief in whose family this hymn was traditional499 99 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 pp4 #aaj-aab4 ,other hymns of the same character1 full of such metaphysical and abstract conceptions as the proceeding from the nothing1 are quoted at great length4 ,these extracts are obviously speculative rather than in any sense mythological ,the element of myth just shows itself when we are told that the sky dwelt with the earth and produced certain islands4 ,but myth of a familiar character is very fully represented among the ,maoris4 ,their mythical gods1 though mixed up with the spirits of ancestors1 are great natural powers1 first ,heaven and ,earth1 ,rangi and ,papa1 the parents of all4 ,these are conceived as having originally been united in such a close embrace1 the ,heaven lying on the ,earth1 that between their frames all was darkness1 and in darkness the younger gods1 ,atua1 ,o-te-po1 their children1 were obliged to dwell4 ,these children or younger gods 7answering to the ,cronidae7 were the god of war 7,tumatauenga71 the forest-god 7,tane ,mahuta71 in shape a tree1 the wind-god 7,tawhiri ,matea71 the gods of cultivated and natural fruits1 the god of ocean 7,tangaroa74 ,these gods were unable to endure the dungeon and the darkness of their condition1 so they consulted together and said3 ,let us seek means whereby to destroy ,heaven and ,earth1 or to separate them from each other4 ,the counsel of ,tane ,mahuta prevailed3 ,let one go upwards and become a stranger to us2 let the other remain below and be a parent to us4 ,finally1 ,tane ,mahuta rent asunder ,heaven and ,earth1 pushing ,heaven up where he has ever since remained4 ,the wind-god followed his father1 abode with him in the open spaces of the sky1 and thence makes war on the trees of the forest-god1 his enemy4 ,tangaroa went1 like ,poseidon1 to the great deep1 and his children1 the reptiles and fishes1 clove part to the waters1 part to the dry land4 ,the war-god1 ,tu1 was more of a human being than the other gods1 though his brethren are plants1 fish and reptiles4 ,still1 ,tu is not precisely the first man of ,new ,zealand4 ,though all these mythical beings are in a sense departmental gods1 they yield in renown to a later child of their race1 ,maui1 the great culture-hero1 who is an advanced form of the culture-heroes1 mainly theriomorphic1 of the lower races499 ,maui1 like many heroes of myth1 was a youngest son4 ,he was prematurely born 7a similar story comes in the ,brahmanic legend of the ,adityas72 his mother wrapped him up in her long hair and threw him out to sea4 ,a kinsman rescued him1 and he grew up to be much the most important member of his family1 like ,qat in his larger circle of brethren4 ,maui it was who snared the sun1 beat him19999 and taught him to run his appointed course1 instead of careering at will and at any pace he chose about the heavens4 99 ,te-,heu-,heu1 a powerful chief1 described to ,mr4 ,taylor the departmental character of his gods4 ,is there one maker of things among ,europeans8 ,is not one a carpenter1 another a blacksmith1 another a shipbuilder8 ,so it was in the beginning4 ,one made this1 another that4 ,tane made trees1 ,ru mountains1 ,tangaroa fish1 and so forth4 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 p4 #ajh1 note4 9999 ,the sun1 when beaten1 cried out and revealed his great name1 exactly as ,indra did in his terror and flight after slaying the serpent4 ,taylor1 op4 cit41 p4 #aca4 ,he was the culture-hero who invented barbs for spears and hooks2 he turned his brother into the first dog1 whence dogs are sacred1 he fished ,new ,zealand out of the sea2 he stole fire for men4 ,how ,maui performed this feat1 and how he brought death into the world and all our woe1 are topics that belong to the myths of ,death and of the ,fire-,stealer499 ,maui could not only change men into animals1 but could himself assume animal shapes at will4 ,such is a brief account of the ancient traditions of mythical ,maori gods and of the culture-hero4 ,in practice1 the conception of ,atua 7or a kind of extra-natural power or powers7 possesses much influence in ,new ,zealand4 ,all manner of spirits in all manner of forms are ,atuas4 ,a great chief was regarded as a malignant god in life1 and a still worse one after death49999 ,again1 after ,maui came a host of gods1 each with his history and wonderful deeds4444 ,these were ancestors who became deified by their respective tribes1999999--a statement which must be regarded as theoretical4 99 ,see ,la ,mythologie1 ,a4 ,l41 ,paris1 #ahhf4 9999 ,taylor1 op4 cit41 pp4 #acd1 #acf4 999999,op4 cit41 p4 #acf4 ,it is odd enough1 if true1 that ,maru should be the war-god of the southern island1 and that the planet ,mars is called after him ,maru4 ,there were also gods in human forms1 and others with those of reptiles4444 ,at one period there seems to have been a mixed offspring from the same parents4 ,thus while ,tawaki was of the human form1 his brethren were taniwa and sharks2 there were likewise mixed marriages among them4 ,these legends are the natural result of that lack of distinction between man and the other things in the world which1 as we demonstrated1 prevails in early thought4 ,it appears that the great mythical gods of the ,maoris have not much concern with their morality4 ,the myths are but a magnified history of their chiefs1 their wars1 murders and lusts1 with the addition of some supernatural powers--such as the chiefs are very apt to claim499 ,in the opinion of a competent observer1 the gods1 or ,atua1 who are feared in daily life1 are spirits of the dead1 and their attention is chiefly confined to the conduct of their living descendants and clansmen4 ,they inspire courage1 the leading virtue4 ,when converted1 the natives are said not to expel1 but merely to subordinate their ,atua1 believing ,christ to be a more powerful ,atua49999 99 ,op4 cit41 p4 #acg4 9999 ,shortland1 ,trad1 and ,superst4 of ,new ,zealanders1 #ahef1 pp4 #hc-he4 ,the ,maoris are perhaps the least elevated race in which a well-developed polytheism has obscured almost wholly that belief in a moral ,maker which we find among the lowest savages who have but a rudimentary polytheism4 ,when we advance to ancient civilised peoples1 like the ,greeks1 we shall find the archaic ,theism obscured1 or obliterated1 in a similar way4 ,in the beliefs of ,samoa 7formerly called the ,navigators' ,islands1 and discovered by a ,dutch expedition in #agbb7 may be observed a most interesting moment in the development of religion and myth4 ,in many regions it has been shown that animals are worshipped as totems1 and that the gods are invested with the shape of animals4 ,in the temples of higher civilisations will be found divine images still retaining in human form certain animal attributes1 and a minor worship of various beasts will be shown to have grouped itself in ,greece round the altars of ,zeus1 or ,apollo1 or ,demeter4 ,now in ,samoa we may perhaps trace the actual process of the transition1 as ,mr4 ,tylor says1 from the spirit inhabiting an individual body to the deity presiding over all individuals of a kind4 ,in other words1 whereas in ,australia or ,america each totem-kindred reveres each animal supposed to be of its own lineage--the ,cranes revering all cranes1 the ,kangaroos all kangaroos--in ,samoa the various clans exhibit the same faith1 but combine it with the belief that one spiritual deity reveals itself in each separate animal1 as in a kind of avatar4 ,for example1 the several ,australian totem-kindreds do not conceive that ,pund-jel incarnates himself in the emu for one stock1 in the crow for another1 in the cockatoo for a third1 and they do not by these1 but by other means1 attain a religious unity1 transcending the diversity caused by the totemic institutions4 ,in ,samoa this kind of spiritual unity is actually reached by various stocks4 ,the ,samoans were originally spoken of by travellers as the godless ,samoans1 an example of a common error4 ,probably there is no people whose practices and opinions1 if duly investigated1 do not attest their faith in something of the nature of gods4 ,certainly the ,samoans1 far from being godless1 rather deserve the reproach of being in all things too superstitious4 ,the gods were supposed to appear in some visible incarnation1 and the particular thing in which his god was in the habit of appearing was to the ,samoanan object of veneration499 99 ,turner's ,samoa1 p4 #ag4 ,here we find that the religious sentiment has already become more or less self-conscious1 and has begun to reason on its own practices4 ,in pure totemism it is their kindred animal that men revere4 ,the ,samoans explain their worship of animals1 not on the ground of kinship and common blood or one flesh 7as in ,australia71 but by the comparatively advanced hypothesis that a spiritual power is in the animal4 ,one1 for instance1 saw his god in the eel1 another in the shark1 another in the turtle1 another in the dog1 another in the owl1 another in the lizard1 and so on1 even to shell-fish4 ,the creed so far is exactly what ,garcilasso de la ,vega found among the remote and ruder neighbours of the ,incas1 and attributed to the pre-,inca populations4 ,a man1 as in ,egypt1 and in totemic countries generally1 would eat freely of what was regarded as the incarnation of the god of another man1 but the incarnation of his own god he would consider it death to injure or eat4 ,the god was supposed to avenge the insult by taking up his abode in that person's body1 and causing to generate there the very thing which he had eaten until it produced death4 ,the god used to be heard within the man1 saying1 ,i am killing this man2 he ate my incarnation4 ,this class of tutelary deities they called aitu fale1 or gods of the house1 gods of the stock or kindred4 ,in totemistic countries the totem is respected per se1 in ,samoa the animal is worshipful because a god abides within him4 ,this appears to be a theory by which the reflective ,samoans have explained to themselves what was once pure totemism4 ,not only the household1 but the village has its animal gods or god incarnate in an animal ,as some ,arab tribes piously bury dead gazelles1 as ,athenians piously buried wolves1 and ,egyptians cats1 so in ,samoa if a man found a dead owl by the roadside1 and if that happened to be the incarnation of his village god1 he would sit down and weep over it1 and beat his forehead with a stone till the blood came4 ,this was supposed to be pleasing to the deity4 ,then the bird would be wrapped up and buried with care and ceremony1 as if it were a human body4 ,this1 however1 was not the death of the god4 ,like the solemnly sacrificed buzzard in ,california1 like the bull in the ,attic ,dupolia1 he was supposed to be yet alive and incarnate in all the owls in existence499 ,in addition to these minor and local divinities1 the ,samoans have gods of sky1 earth1 disease and other natural departments49999 ,of their origin we only know that they fell from heaven1 and all were incarnated or embodied in birds1 beasts1 plants1 stones and fishes4 ,but they can change shapes1 and appear in the moon when she is not visible1 or in any other guise they choose4 ,if in ,samoa the sky-god was once on the usual level of sky-gods elsewhere1 he seems now to be degenerate4 99 7------------------7 ,porph41 ,de ,abst4t ii4 #bi2 ,samoa1 p4 #ba4 9999 ,i am careful not to call ,samoan sacred animals ,totems4 to which ,mr4 ,tylor justly objects1 but ,i think the ,samoan belief has ,totemistic origins4 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,american ,,divine ,,myths ,novelty of the ,new ,world --,different stages of culture represented there--,question of ,american ,monotheism-- ,authorities and evidence cited--,myths examined3 ,eskimo1 ,ahts1 ,thlinkeets1 ,iroquois1 the ,great ,hare--,dr4 ,brinton's theory of the hare--,zuni myths--,transition to ,mexican mythology4 ,the divine myths of the vast ,american continent are a topic which a lifetime entirely devoted to the study could not exhaust4 ,at best it is only a sketch in outline that can be offered in a work on the development of mythology in general4 ,the subject is the more interesting as anything like systematic borrowing of myths from the ,old ,world is all but impossible1 as has already been argued in chapter xi4 ,america1 it is true1 may have been partially discovered many times2 there probably have been several points and moments of contact between the ,new and the ,old ,world4 ,yet at the time when the ,spaniards landed there1 and while the first conquests and discoveries were being pursued1 the land and the people were to ,europeans practically as novel as the races and territories of a strange planet499 ,but the ,new ,world only revealed the old stock of humanity in many of its familiar stages of culture1 and1 consequently1 with the old sort of gods1 and myths1 and creeds4 99 ,reville1 ,hibbert ,lectures1 #ahhd1 p4 #h ,in the evolution of politics1 society1 ritual1 and in all the outward and visible parts of religion1 the ,american races ranged between a culture rather below the ancient ,egyptian and a rudeness on a level with ,australian or ,bushman institutions4 ,the more civilised peoples1 ,aztecs and ,peruvians1 had many peculiarities in common with the races of ancient ,egypt1 ,china and ,india2 where they fell short was in the lack of alphabet or syllabary4 ,the ,mexican ,,mss4 are but an advanced picture-writing1 more organised than that of the ,ojibbeways2 the ,peruvian ,quipus was scarcely better than the ,red ,indian wampum records4 ,mexicans and ,peruvians were settled in what deserved to be called cities2 they had developed a monumental and elaborately decorated architecture2 they were industrious in the arts known to them1 though ignorant of iron4 ,among the ,aztecs1 at least1 weapons and tools of bronze1 if rare1 were not unknown4 ,they were sedulous in agriculture1 disciplined in war1 capable of absorbing and amalgamating with conquered tribes4 ,in ,peru the ruling family1 the ,incas1 enjoyed all the sway of a hierarchy1 and the chief ,inca occupied nearly as secure a position1 religious1 social and political1 as any ,rameses or ,thothmes4 ,in ,mexico1 doubtless1 the monarch's power was at least nominally limited1 in much the same way as that of the ,persian king4 ,the royal rule devolved on the elected member of an ancient family1 but once he became prince he was surrounded by imposing ceremony4 ,in both these two civilised peoples the priesthood enjoyed great power1 and in ,mexico1 though not so extensively1 if at all1 in ,peru1 practised an appalling ritual of cannibalism and human sacrifice4 ,it is extremely probable1 or rather certain1 that both of these civilisations were younger than the culture of other ,american peoples long passed away1 whose cities stand in colossal ruin among the forests1 whose hieroglyphs seem undecipherable1 and whose copper-mines were worked at an unknown date on the shore of ,lake ,superior4 ,over the origin and date of those crowned races it were vain to linger here4 ,they have sometimes left the shadows of names--,toltecs and ,chichimecs--and relics more marvellous than the fainter traces of miners and builders in ,southern and ,central ,africa4 ,the rest is silence4 ,we shall never know why the dwellers in ,palenque deserted their majestic city while the staircases were new1 the steps whole1 the edges sharp1 and nowhere did traces of wear and tear give certain proof of long habitation499 ,on a much lower level than the great urban peoples1 but tending1 as it were1 in the same direction1 and presenting the same features of state communism in their social arrangements1 were1 and are1 the cave and cliff dwellers1 the agricultural village ,indians 7,pueblo ,indians7 of ,new ,mexico and ,arizona4 ,in the sides of the canons towns have been burrowed1 and men have dwelt in them like sand-martins in a sand-bank4 ,the traveller views perpendicular cliffs everywhere riddled with human habitations1 which resemble the cells of a honeycomb more than anything else4 ,in lowland villages the dwellings are built of clay and stone4 99 ,nadaillac1 ,prehistoric ,america1 p4 #cbh4 ,the ,san ,juan valley is strewn with ruins for hundreds of miles2 some buildings1 three storeys high1 of masonry1 are still standing499 ,the ,moquis1 ,zunis and ,navahos of to-day1 whose habits and religious rites are known from the works of ,mr4 ,cushing1 ,mr4 ,matthews1 and ,captain ,john ,g4 ,bourke1 are apparently descendants of a sedentary1 agricultural and comparatively cultivated race1 whose decadence perhaps began before the arrival of the ,spaniards49999 ,rather lower in the scale of culture than the settled ,pueblo ,indians were the hunter tribes of ,north ,america generally4 ,they dwelt1 indeed1 in collections of wigwams which were partially settled1 and the long house of the ,iroquois looks like an approach to the communal system of the ,pueblos4999999 ,but while such races as ,iroquois1 ,mandans and ,ojibbeways cultivated the maize plant1 they depended for food more than did the ,pueblo peoples on success in the chase4 ,deer1 elk1 buffalo1 the wild turkey1 the bear1 with ducks and other birds1 supplied the big kettle with its contents4 ,their society was totemistic1 as has already been described2 kinship1 as a rule1 was traced through the female line2 the ,sachems or chiefs and counsellors were elected1 generally out of certain totem-kindreds2 the war-chiefs were also elected when a military expedition started on the war-path2 and ,jossakeeds or medicine-men 7the title varied in different dialects7 had no small share of secular power4 99,nadaillac1 p4 #bbb4 9999 ,ibid41 p4 #beg4 ,see ,bourke's ,snake-,dance of the ,natives of ,arizona1 and the fifth report of the ,archaeological ,institute of ,america1 with an account of the development of ,pueblo buildings4 ,it seems scarcely necessary to discuss ,mr4 ,lewis ,morgan's attempt to show that the ,aztecs of ,cortes's time were only on the level of the modern ,pueblo ,indians4 999999 ,mr4 ,lewis ,morgan's valuable ,league of the ,iroquois and the ,iroquois ,book of ,rites 7,brinton1 ,philadelphia1 #ahhc7 may be consulted4 ,in war these tribes displayed that deliberate cruelty which survived under the ,aztec rulers as the enormous cannibal ritual of human sacrifice4 ,a curious point in ,red ,indian custom was the familiar institution of scalping the slain in war4 ,other races are head-hunters1 but scalping is probably peculiar to the ,red ,men and the ,scythians499 99 ,herodotus1 iv4 #fd4 ,on a level1 yet lower than that of the ,algonkin and other hunter tribes1 are the ,american races whom circumstances have driven into desolate infertile regions2 who live1 like the ,ahts1 mainly on fish2 like the ,eskimos1 in a world of frost and winter2 or like the ,fuegians1 on crustaceans and seaweed4 ,the minute gradations of culture cannot be closely examined here1 but the process is upwards1 from people like the ,fuegians and ,diggers1 to the builders of the kitchen-middens--probably quite equals of the ,eskimos999999--and so through the condition of ,ahts4 999999 ,nadaillac1 ,prehistoric ,america1 p4 #ff4 ,the resemblance between ,scythian and ,red ,indian manners exercised the learned in the time of ,grotius4 ,it has been acutely remarked by ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller1 that in ,america one stage of society1 as developed in the ,old ,world1 is absent4 ,there is no pastoral stage4 ,the natives had neither domesticated kine1 goats nor sheep4 ,from this lack of interest in the well-being of the domesticated lower animals he is inclined to deduce the peculiarly savage cruelty of ,american war and ,american religion4 ,sympathy was undeveloped4 ,possibly the lack of tame animals may have encouraged the prevalence of human sacrifice4 ,the ,brahmana shows how1 in ,hindostan1 the lower animals became vicarious substitutes for man in sacrifice1 as the fawn of ,artemis or the ram of ,jehovah took the place of ,iphigenia or of ,isaac4 ,cf4 ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller1 ,oeschichte der ,amerikanisehen ,urreligionen1 pp4 #bb1 #bc4 ,thlinkeets1 ,cahrocs and other rude tribes of the ,north-west ,pacific ,coast1 to that of ,sioux1 ,blackfeet1 ,mandans1 ,iroquois1 and then to the settled state of the ,pueblo folk1 the southern comforts of the ,natchez1 and finally to the organisation of the ,mayas1 and the summit occupied by the ,aztecs and ,incas4 ,through the creeds of all these races1 whether originally of the same stock or not1 run many strands of religious and mythical beliefs--the very threads that are woven into the varied faiths of the ,old ,world4 ,the dread of ghosts2 the religious adoration paid to animals2 the belief in kindred and protecting beasts2 the worship of inanimate objects1 roughly styled fetishes2 a certain reverence for the great heavenly bodies1 sun1 moon and ,pleiades2 a tendency to regard the stars1 with all other things and phenomena1 as animated and personal--with a belief in a ,supreme ,creator1 these are the warp1 as it were1 of the fabric of ,american religion499 99 ,the arguments against the borrowing of the ,creator from missionaries have already been stated4 ,in one stage of culture one set of those ideas may be more predominant than in another stage1 but they are present in all4 ,the zoo-morphic or theriomorphic mythologies and creeds are nowhere more vivacious than in ,america4 ,not content with the tribal zoomorphic guardian and friend1 the totem1 each ,indian was in the habit of seeking for a special animal protector of his own4 ,this being1 which he called his ,manitou1 revealed itself to him in the long fasts of that savage sacrament which consecrates the entrance on full manhood4 ,even in the elaborate religions of the civilised races1 ,peruvians and ,aztecs1 the animal deities survive1 and sacred beasts gather in the shrine of ,pachacamac1 or a rudimentary remnant of ancestral beak or feather clings to the statue of ,huitzilopochtli4 ,but among the civilised peoples1 in which the division of labour found its place and human ranks were minutely discriminated1 the gods too had their divisions and departments4 ,an organised polytheism prevailed1 and in the temples of ,centeotl and ,tlazolteotl1 ,herodotus or ,pausanias would have readily recognised the ,demeter and the ,aphrodite of ,mexico4 ,there were departmental gods1 and there was even an obvious tendency towards the worship of one spiritual deity1 the ,bretwalda of all the divine kings1 a god on his way to becoming single and supreme4 ,the religions and myths of ,america thus display1 like the myths and religions of the ,old ,world1 the long evolution of human thought in its seeking after ,god4 ,the rude first draughts of ,deity are there1 and they are by no means effaced in the fantastic priestly designs of departmental divinities4 ,the question of a primitive ,american monotheism has been more debated than even that of the ,heno-theism of the ,aryans in ,india4 ,on this point it must be said that1 in a certain sense1 probably any race of men may be called monotheistic1 just as1 in another sense1 ,christians who revere saints may be called polytheistic499 99 ,gaidoz1 ,revue ,critique1 ,march1 #ahhg4 ,it has been constantly set forth in this work that1 in moments of truly religious thought1 even the lowest tribes turn their minds towards a guardian1 a higher power1 something which watches and helps the race of men4 ,this mental approach towards the powerful friend is an aspiration1 and sometimes a dogma2 it is religious1 not mythological2 it is monotheistic1 not polytheistic4 ,the ,being appealed to by the savage in moments of need or despair may go by a name which denotes a hawk1 or a spider1 or a grasshopper1 but we may be pretty sure that little thought of such creatures is in the mind of the worshipper in his hour of need499 99 ,there are exceptions1 as when the ,ojibbeway1 being in danger1 appeals to his own private protecting ,manitou1 perhaps a wild duck2 or when the ,zuni cries to ,ye animal gods1 my fathers6 7,bureau of ,ethnol41 #ahhj-ha1 p4 #db47 ,thus we can scarcely agree entirely with ,m4 ,maurice ,vernes when he says1 ,all men are monotheistic in the fervour of adoration or in moments of deep thought4 7,l',histoire des ,religions1 ,paris1 #ahhg1 p4 #fa47 ,the tendency of adoration and of speculation is1 however1 monotheistic4 ,again1 the most ludicrous or infamous tales may be current about the adventures and misadventures of the grasshopper or the hawk4 ,he may be1 as mythically conceived1 only one out of a crowd of similar magnified non-natural men or lower animals4 ,but neither his companions nor his legend are likely to distract the thoughts of the ,bushman who cries to ,cagn for food1 or of the ,murri who tells his boy that ,pund-jel watches him from the heavens1 or of the ,solomon ,islander who appeals to ,qat as he crosses the line of reefs and foam4 ,thus it may be maintained that whenever man turns to a guardian not of this world1 not present to the senses1 man is for the moment a theist1 and often a monotheist4 ,but when we look from aspiration to doctrine1 from the solitary ejaculation to ritual1 from religion to myth1 it would probably be vain to suppose that an uncontaminated belief in one ,god only1 the maker and creator of all things1 has generally prevailed1 either in ,america or elsewhere4 ,such a belief1 rejecting all minor deities1 consciously stated in terms and declared in ritual1 is the result of long ages and efforts of the highest thought1 or1 if once and again the intuition of ,deity has flashed on some lonely shepherd or sage like an inspiration1 his creed has usually been at war with the popular opinions of men1 and has1 except in ,islam1 won its disciples from the learned and refined4 ,america seems no exception to so general a rule4 ,an opposite opinion is very commonly entertained1 because the narratives of missionaries1 and even the novels of ,cooper and others1 have made readers familiar with such terms as the ,great ,spirit in the mouths of ,pawnees or ,mohicans4 ,on the one hand1 taking the view of borrowing1 ,mrs4 ,e4 ,a4 ,smith says3 ',the ,great ,spirit1' so popularly and poetically know as the ,god of the ,red ,man1' and 'the happy hunting-ground1' generally reported to be the ,indian's idea of a future state1 are both of them but their ready conception of the white man's ,god and heaven499 ,dr4 ,brinton1 too19999 avers that the ,great ,spirit is a post-,christian conception4 ,in most cases these terms are entirely of modern origin1 coined at the suggestion of missionaries1 applied to the white man's ,god4444 99 ,bureau of ,ethnology's ,second ,report1 p4 #eb4 9999 ,myths of the ,new ,world1 ,new ,york1 #ahgf1 p4 #eh4 ,the ,jesuits' ,relations state positively that there was no one immaterial ,god recognised by the ,algonkin tribes1 and that the title ',the ,great ,manito' was introduced first by themselves in its personal sense4 ,the statement of one missionary cannot be taken1 of course1 to bind all the others4 ,the ,pere ,paul le ,jeune remarks3 ,the savages give the name of ,manitou to whatsoever in nature1 good or evil1 is superior to man4 ,therefore when we speak of ,god1 they sometimes call him ',the ,good ,manitou1' that is1 ',the ,good ,spirit'499 ,the same ,pere ,paul le ,jeune9999 says that by ,manitou his flock meant un ange ou quelque nature puissante4 ,il y'en a de bons et de mauvais4 ,the evidence of ,pere ,hierosme ,lallemant999999 has already been alluded to1 but it may be as well to repeat that1 while he attributes to the ,indians a kind of unconscious religious theism1 he entirely denies them any monotheistic dogmas4 ,with ,tertullian1 he writes1 ,exclamant vocem naturaliter ,christianam4 ,to speak truth1 these peoples have derived from their fathers no knowledge of a god1 and before we set foot in their country they had nothing but vain fables about the origin of the world4 ,nevertheless1 savages as they were1 there did abide in their hearts a secret sentiment of divinity1 and of a first principle1 author of all things1 whom1 not knowing1 they yet invoked4 ,in the forest1 in the chase1 on the water1 in peril by sea1 they call him to their aid4 99 ,relations de la ,novelle ,france1 #afcg1 p4 #di4 9999 ,relations1 #afcc1 p4 #ag4 999999 #afdh1 p4 #gg4 ,this guardian1 it seems1 receives different names in different circumstances4 ,myth comes in2 the sky is a ,god2 a ,manitou dwelling in the north sends ice and snow2 another dwells in the waters1 and many in the winds499 ,the ,pere ,allouez9999 says1 ,they recognise no sovereign of heaven or earth4 ,here the good father and all who advocate a theory of borrowing are at variance with ,master ,thomas ,heriot1 that learned ,mathematician 7#aehh74 ,in ,virginia there is one chiefe god1 that has beene from all eternitie1 who made other gods of a principal order4999999 ,near ,new ,plymouth1 ,kiehtan was the chief god1 and the souls of the just abode in his mansions499999999 ,we have already cited ,alione1 and shown that he and the other gods found by the first explorers1 are certainly not of ,christian origin4 99 ,the ,confessions of ,kah-ge-ga-gah ,bowh1 a converted ,crane of the ,ojibbeways1 may be rather a suspicious document4 ,kah1 to shorten his noble name1 became a preacher and platform- speaker of somewhat windy eloquence1 according to ,mr4 ,longfellow1 who had heard him4 ,his report is that in youth he sought the favour of the ,manitous 7,mon-e-doos he calls them71 but also revered ,ke-sha-mon-e-doo1 the benevolent spirit1 who made the earth with all its variety and smiling beauty4 ,but his narrative is very unlike the ,indian account of the manufacture of the world by this or that animal1 already given in ,myths of the ,origin of ,things4 ,the benevolent spirit1 according to ,kah's father1 a medicine- man1 dwelt in the sun 7,copway1 ,recollections of a ,forest ,life1 ,london1 s4 a4 pp4 #d1 #e74 ,practical and good-natured actions of the ,great ,spirit are recorded on p4 #ce4 ,he directs starving travellers by means of dreams4 9999 ,relations1 #affg1 p4 #a4 999999 ,arber1 ,captain ,john ,smith1 p4 #cba4 99999999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #gfh4 ,a curious account of ,red ,indian religion may be extracted from a work styled ,a ,narrative of the ,captivity and ,adventures of ,john ,tanner during a ,thirty ,years' ,residence among the ,indians 7,new ,york1 #ahcj74 ,tanner was caught when a boy1 and lived as an ,indian1 even in religion4 ,the ,great ,spirit constantly appears in his story as a moral and protecting deity1 whose favour and help may be won by prayers1 which are aided by magical ceremonies and dances4 ,tanner accepted and acted on this part of the ,indian belief1 while generally rejecting the medicine men1 who gave themselves out for messengers or avaters of the ,great ,spirit4 ,tanner had frequent visions of the ,great ,spirit in the form of a handsome young man1 who gave him information about the future4 ,do ,i not know1 said the appearance1 when you are hungry and in distress8 ,i look down upon you at all times1 and it is not necessary you should call me with such loud cries4 7p4 #ahi74 ,almost all idea of a tendency towards monotheism vanishes when we turn from the religions to the myths of the ,american peoples4 ,doubtless it may be maintained that the religious impulse or sentiment never wholly dies1 but1 after being submerged in a flood of fables1 reappears in the philosophic conception of a pure deity entertained by a few of the cultivated classes of ,mexico and ,peru4 ,but our business just now is with the flood of fables4 ,from north to south the more general beliefs are marked with an early dualism1 and everywhere are met the two opposed figures of a good and a bad extra-natural being in the shape of a man or beast4 ,the ,eskimos1 for example1 call the better being ,torngarsuk4 ,they don't all agree about his form or aspect4 ,some say he has no form at all2 others describe him as a great bear1 or as a great man with one arm1 or as small as a finger4 ,he is immortal1 but might be killed by the intervention of the god ,crepitus499 99 ,the circumstances in which this is possible may be sought for in ,crantz1 ,history of ,greenland1 ,london1 #agfg1 vol4 i4 p4 #bjj ,the other great but malignant spirit is a nameless female1 the wife or mother of ,torngarsuk4 ,she dwells under the sea in a habitation guarded by a ,cerberus of her own1 a huge dog1 which may be surprised1 for he sleeps for one moment at a time4 ,torngarsuk is not the maker of all things1 but still is so much of a deity that many1 when they hear of ,god and his omnipotence1 are readily led to the supposition that probably we mean their ,torngarsuk 4 ,all spirits are called ,torngak1 and soak great2 hence the good spirit of the ,eskimos in his limited power is the ,great ,spirit499 ,in addition to a host of other spirits1 some of whom reveal themselves affably to all1 while others are only accessible to ,angakut or medicine-men1 the ,eskimos have a ,pluto1 or ,hades1 or ,charos of their own4 ,he is meagre1 dark1 sullen1 and devours the bowels of the ghosts4 ,there are spirits of fire1 water1 mountains1 winds2 there are dog-faced demons1 and the souls of abortions become hideous spectres1 while the common ghost of civilised life is familiar4 ,the spirit of a boy's dead mother appeared to him in open day1 and addressed him in touching language3 ,be not afraid2 ,i am thy mother1 and love thee6 for here1 too1 in this frozen and haunted world1 love is more strong than death49999 ,eskimo myth is practical1 and1 where speculative1 is concerned with the fortunes of men1 alive or dead1 as far as these depend on propitiating the gods or extra-natural beings4 ,the ,eskimo myth of the origin of death would find its place among the other legends of this sort4999999 99 ,crantz1 op4 cit41 i4 #bjg4 note4 9999 ,op4 cit41 i4 #bji 999999 ,cf4 ,modern ,mythology1 ,the ,origin of ,death4 ,as a rule1 ,eskimo myth1 as far as it has been investigated1 rather resembles that of the ,zulus4 ,maerchen or romantic stories are very common2 tales about the making of things and the actions of the pre-human beings are singularly scarce4 ,except for some moon and star myths1 and the tale of the origin of death1 hardly any myths1 properly so called1 are reported4 ,only very scanty traces1 says ,rink1 have been found of any kind of ideas having been formed as to the origin and early history of the world and the ruling powers or deities499 99 ,he adds that this seems sufficiently to show that such mythological speculations have been1 in respect to other nations1 also the product of a later stage of culture4 ,that this position is erroneous is plain from the many myths here collected from peoples lower in culture than the ,eskimos4 ,cf4 ,rink1 ,tales and ,traditions of the ,eskimos4 ,turning from the ,eskimos to the ,ahts of ,vancouver's ,island1 we find them in possession of rather a copious mythology4 ,without believing exactly in a supreme1 they have the conception of a superior being1 ,quawteaht1 no mere local nor tribal deity1 but known in every village1 like ,osiris in ,egypt4 ,he is also1 like ,osiris and ,baiame1 the chief of a beautiful1 far-off1 spiritual country1 but he had his adventures and misadventures while he dwelt on earth4 ,the malevolent aspect of things--storms1 disease and the rest--is either ,quawteaht enraged1 or the manifestation of his opponent in the primitive dualism1 ,tootooch or ,chay-her1 the ,hades or ,pluto of the ,ahts4 ,like ,hades1 ,chay-her is both a person and a place--the place of the dead discomforted1 and the ruler of that land1 a boneless form with a long grey beard4 ,the exploits of ,quawteaht in the beginning of things were something between those of ,zeus and of ,prometheus4 ,he is the general framer--,i do not say creator of all things1 though some special things are excepted499 ,quawteaht1 in the legend of the loon 7who was once an injured ,indian1 and still wails his wrongs71 is represented as conscious of the conduct of men1 and as prone to avenge misdeeds49999 ,in person ,quawteaht was of short stature1 with very strong hairy arms and legs4999999 ,there is a touch of unconscious ,darwinism in this description of the first ,indian4 ,in ,quawteaht mingle the rough draughts of a god and of an ,adam1 a creator and a first man4 ,this mixture is familiar in the ,zulu ,unkulunkulu4 ,unlike ,prometheus1 ,quawteaht did not steal the seed of fire4 ,it was stolen by the cuttlefish1 and in some legends ,quawteaht was the original proprietor4 ,like most gods1 he could assume the form of the beasts1 and it was in the shape of a great whale that he discomfited his opponent ,tootooch4999999 ,it does not appear that ,tootooch receives any worship or adoration1 such as is offered to the sun and moon4 99 ,sproat1 ,savage ,life1 ,london1 #ahfh1 p4 #baj4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #ahb4 999999,ibid4 i4 p4 #agi4 ,leaving the ,ahts for the ,thlinkeets1 we find ,yehl1 the god or hero of the introduction of the arts1 who1 like the ,christ of the ,finnish epic or ,maui in ,new ,zealand1 was born by a miraculous birth4 ,his mother was a ,thlinkeet woman1 whose boys had all been slain4 ,as she wandered disconsolate by the sea-shore1 a dolphin or whale1 taking pity upon her4 bade her drink a little salt water and swallow a pebble4 ,she did so1 and in due time bore a child1 ,yehl1 the hero of the ,thlinkeets4 ,once1 in his youth1 ,yehl shot a supernatural crane1 skinned it1 and whenever he wished to fly1 clothed himself in the bird's skin4 ,yet he is always known as a raven4 ,hence there is much the same confusion between ,yehl and the bird as between ,amun in ,egypt and the ram in whose skin he was once pleased to reveal himself to a mortal4 ,in ,yehl's youth occurred the deluge1 produced by the curse of an unfriendly uncle of his own2 but the deluge was nothing to ,yehl1 who flew up to heaven1 and anchored himself to a cloud by his beak till the waters abated4 ,like most heroes of his kind1 ,yehl brought light to men4 ,the heavenly bodies in his time were kept in boxes by an old chief4 ,yehl1 by an ingenious stratagem1 got possession of the boxes4 ,to fly up to the firmament with the treasure1 to open the boxes1 and to stick stars1 sun and moon in their proper places in the sky1 was to the active ,yehl the work of a moment4 ,fire he stole1 like ,prometheus1 carrying a brand in his beak till he reached the ,thlinkeet shore4 ,there the fire dropped on stones and sticks1 from which it is still obtained by striking the flints or rubbing together the bits of wood4 ,water1 like fire1 was a monopoly in those days1 and one ,khanukh kept all of it in his own well4 ,khanukh was the ancestor of the ,wolf family among the ,thlinkeets1 as ,yehl is the first father of the stock called ,ravens4 ,the wolf and raven thus answer to the mythic creative crow and cockatoo in ,australian mythology1 and take sides in the primitive dualism4 ,when ,yehl went to steal water from ,khanukh1 the pair had a discussion1 exactly like that between ,joukahainen and ,waina-moinen in the epic of the ,finns1 as to which of them had been longer in the world4 ,before the world stood in its place1 ,i was there1 says ,yehl2 and ,wainamoinen says1 ,when earth was made1 ,i was there2 when space was unrolled1 ,i launched the sun on his way4 ,similar boasts occur in the poems of ,empedocles and of ,taliesin4 ,khanukh1 however1 proved to be both older and more skilled in magic than ,yehl4 ,yet the accomplishment of flying once more stood ,yehl in good stead1 and he carried off the water1 as ,odin1 in the form of a bird1 stole ,suttung's mead1 by flying off with it in his beak4 ,yehl then went to his own place499 ,in the myths of the other races on the ,north-west ,pacific ,coast nothing is more remarkable than the theriomorphic character of the heroes1 who are also to a certain extent gods and makers of things4 ,the ,koniagas have their ancestral bird and dog1 demiurges1 makers of sea1 rivers1 hills1 yet subject to a great deity called ,schljam ,schoa1 of whom they are the messengers and agents49999 ,the ,aleuts have their primeval dog-hero1 and also a great old man1 who made people1 like ,deucalion1 and as in the ,macusi myth1 by throwing stones over his shoulder4999999 99 ,bancroft1 iii4 #ajj-ajb ,holmberg1 ,eth4 ,skiz41 p4 #fa4 9999 ,ibid41 #ajd1 quoting ,dall's ,alaska1 p4 #dje1 and ,lisiansky's ,voyage1 pp4 #aig1 #aih4 999999 ,brett's ,indians qf ,guiana1 p4 #chd4 ,concerning the primal mythical beings of the great hunter and warrior tribes of ,america1 ,algonkins1 ,hurons and ,iroquois1 something has already been said in the chapter on ,myths of the ,origin of ,things4 ,it is the peculiarity of such heroes or gods of myth as the opposing ,red ,indian good and evil deities that they take little part in the affairs of the world when once these have been started499 ,ioskeha and ,tawiscara1 the good and bad primeval brothers1 have had their wars1 and are now1 in the opinion of some1 the sun and the moon49999 ,the benefits of ,ioskeha to mankind are mainly in the past2 as1 for example1 when1 like another ,indra1 he slew the great frog that had swallowed the waters1 and gave them free course over earth4999999 99 ,erminie ,smith1 in ,report of ,bureau of ,ethnology1 #ahhj- #ha1 publishes a full1 but not very systematic1 account of ,iroquois gods of to-day4 ,thunder1 the wind1 and echo are the chief divine figures4 ,the ,titans or ,jotuns1 the opposed supernatural powers1 are giants of stone4 ,among the most ancient of the deities were their most remote ancestors1 certain animals who later were transformed into human shapes1 the name of the animals being preserved by their descendants1 who have used them to designate their gentes or clans4 ,the ,iroquois have a strange and very touching version of the myth of ,orpheus and ,eurydice 7op4 cit41 p4 #ajd74 ,it appears to be native and unborrowed2 all the details are pure ,iroquois4 9999 ,relations de la ,nouvelle ,france1 #afcf1 p4 #ajb4 999999 ,ibid4 i4 p4 #ajh4 ,ioskeha is still so far serviceable that he makes the pot boil1 though this may only be a way of recalling the benefits conferred on man by him when he learned from the turtle how to make fire4 ,ioskeha1 moreover is thanked for success in the chase1 because he let loose the animals from the cave in which they lived at the beginning4 ,as they fled he spoiled their speed by wounding them with arrows2 only one escaped1 the wind-swift wolf4 ,some devotees regarded ,ioskeha as the teacher of agriculture and the giver of great harvests of maize4 ,in #afce ,ioskeha was seen1 all meagre and skeleton-like1 tearing a man's leg with his teeth1 a prophecy of famine4 ,a more agreeable apparition of loskeha is reported by the ,pere ,barthelemy ,vimont499 ,when an ,iroquois was fishing1 a demon appeared to him in the shape of a tall and beautiful young man4 ',be not afraid1' said this spirit2 ',i am the master of earth1 whom you ,hurons worship under the name of ,ioskeha2 the ,french give me the erroneous name of ,jesus1 but they know me not4' ,ioskeha then gave some directions for curing the small-pox4 ,the ,indian's story is1 of course1 coloured by what he knew of missionary teaching1 but the incident should be compared with the medicine dream of ,john ,tanner4 ,the sky1 conceived as a person1 held a place rather in the religion than in the mythology of the ,indians4 ,he was approached with prayer and sacrifice1 and they implored the sky in all their necessities49999 ,the sky hears us1 they would say in taking an oath1 and they appeased the wrath of the sky with a very peculiar semi-cannibal sacrifice4999999 99 ,relations1 #afdj1 p4 #ib4 9999 ,op4 cit4 i4 #afcf1 p4 #ajg4 999999 ,for ,pawnees and ,blackfeet see ,grinnell1 ,pawnee and ,blackfoot ,legends 7#b vols474 ,what ,ioskeha was to the ,iroquois1 ,michabo or ,manibozho was to the ,algonkin tribes4 ,there has been a good deal of mystification about ,michabo or ,manibozho1 or ,messou1 who was probably1 in myth1 a hare sans phrase1 but who has been converted by philological processes into a personification of light or dawn4 ,it has already been seen that the wild ,north ,pacific peoples recognise in their hero and demiurge animals of various species2 dogs1 ravens1 muskrats and coyotes have been found in this lofty estimation1 and the ,utes believe in ,cin-au-av1 the ancient of wolves499 ,it would require some labour to derive all the ancient heroes and gods from misconceptions about the names of vast natural phenomena like light and dawn1 and it is probable that ,michabo or ,mani-bozho1 the ,great ,hare of the ,algonkins1 is only a successful apotheosised totem like the rest4 ,his legend and his dominion are very widely spread4 ,dr4 ,brinton himself 7p4 #aec7 allows that the great hare is a totem4 ,perhaps our earliest authority about the mythical great hare in ,america is ,william ,strachey's ,travaile into ,virginia49999 99 ,powell1 in ,bureau of ,ethnology1 #ahgi-hj1 p4 #dc4 9999 ,circa #afab2 reprinted by the ,hakjuyt ,society4 ,among other information as to the gods of the natives1 ,strachey quotes the remarks of a certain ,indian3 ,we have five gods in all2 our chief god appears often unto us in the likeness of a mighty great hare2 the other four have no visible shape1 but are indeed the four wynds4 ,an ,indian1 after hearing from the ,english the ,biblical account of the creation1 explained that our god1 who takes upon him the shape of a hare1444 at length devised and made divers men and women4 ,he also drove away the cannibal ,manitous4 ,that godlike hare made the water and the fish and a great deare4 ,the other four gods1 in envy1 killed the hare's deer4 ,this is curiously like the ,bushman myth of ,cagn1 the mantis insect1 and his favourite eland4 ,the godly hare's house is at the place of sun-rising2 there the souls of good ,indians feed on delicious fruits with that great hare1 who is clearly1 so far1 the ,virginian ,osiris499 ,dr4 ,brinton has written at some length on this chimerical beast1 whose myth prevails1 he says1 from the remotest wilds of the ,north-west to the coast of the ,atlantic1 from the southern boundary of ,carolina to the cheerless swamps of ,hudson's ,bay4444 ,the totem 7totem-kindred probably is meant7 clan which bore his name was looked up to with peculiar respect4 ,from this it would appear that the hare was a totem like another1 and had the same origin1 whatever that may have been4 ,according to the ,pere ,allouez1 the ,indians ont en veneration toute particuliere1 une certaine beste chimerique1 qu'ils n'ont jamais veue sinon en songe1 ils ,tappelient ,missibizi1 which appears to be a form of ,michabo and ,mani-bozho49999 99 ,history of ,travaile1 pp4 #ih1 #ii4 ,this hare we have alluded to in vol4 i4 p4 #ahd1 but it seems worth while again to examine ,dr4 ,brinton's theory more closely4 9999 ,relations1 #afcg1 p4 #ac ,in #afgj the same ,pere ,allouez gives some myths about ,michabo4 ,c'est-a-dire le grand lievre1 who made the world1 and also invented fishing-nets4 ,he is the master of life1 and can leap eight leagues at one bound1 and is beheld by his servants in dreams4 ,in #afcd ,pere ,paul le ,jeune gives a longer account of ,messou1 a variation of the same name1 according to ,dr4 ,brinton1 as ,michabo4 ,this ,messou reconstructed the drowned world out of a piece of clay brought him by an otter1 which succeeded after the failure of a raven sent out by ,messou4 ,he afterwards married a muskrat1 by whom he became the father of a flourishing family4 ,le brave reparateur de l'univers est le frere aisne de toutes les bestes1 says the mocking missionary499 ,messou has the usual powers of shape-shifting1 which are the common accomplishments of the medicine-man or conjuror1 se transformant en mille sortes d'animaux49999 ,he is not so much a creator as a demiurge1 inferior to a mysterious being called ,atahocan4 ,but ,atahocan is obsolescent1 and his name is nearly equivalent to an old wife's fable1 a story of events au temps jadis4999999 ,le mot ,nitatoho-can signifie1 ',je dis un vieux conte fait a plaisir'4 99 ,relations1 #afcd1 p4 #ac4 9999 ,op4 cit41 #afcc1 p4 #af4 999999 ,op4 cit41 #afcd1 p4 #ac4 ,these are examples of the legends of ,michabo or ,manibozho1 the great hare4 ,he appears in no way to differ from the other animals of magical renown1 who1 in so many scores of savage myths1 start the world on its way and instruct men in the arts4 ,his fame may be more widely spread1 but his deeds are those of eagle1 crow1 wolf1 coyote1 spider1 grasshopper1 and so forth1 in remote parts of the world4 ,his legend is the kind of legend whose origin we ascribe to the credulous fancy of early peoples1 taking no distinction between themselves and the beasts4 ,if the hare was indeed the totem of a successful and honoured kindred1 his elevation is perfectly natural and intelligible4 ,dr4 ,brinton1 in his ,myths of the ,new ,world 7,new ,york1 #ahgf71 adopts a different line of explanation4 ,michabo1 he says1 was originally the highest divinity recognised by them1 powerful and beneficent beyond all others1 maker of the heavens and the world4 ,we gladly welcome him in that capacity in religion4 ,but it has already been shown that ,michabo is only1 in myth1 the reparateur de l'univers1 and that he has a sleeping partner--a deity retired from business4 ,moreover1 ,dr4 ,brinton's account of ,michabo1 powerful and beneficent beyond all others1 maker of the heavens and the world1 clashes with his own statement1 that of monotheism as displayed in the one personal definite ,god of the ,semitic races 7to whom ,dr4 ,brinton's description of ,michabo applies7 there is not a single instance on the ,american continent499 ,the residences and birthplaces of ,michabo are as many as those of the gods of ,greece4 ,it is true that in some accounts1 as in ,strachey's1 his bright home is in the rising sun4 ,it does not follow that the hare had any original connection with the dawn4 ,but this connection ,dr4 ,brinton seeks to establish by philological arguments4 ,according to this writer1 the names 7,manibozho1 ,nanibozhu1 ,missibizi1 ,michabo1 ,messou7 all seem compounded1 according to well-ascertained laws of ,algonkin euphony1 from the words corresponding to great and hare or rabbit1 or the first two perhaps from spirit and hare49999 ,but this seeming must not be trusted4 ,we must attentively examine the ,algonkin root wab1 when it will appear that in fact there are two roots having this sound4 ,one is the initial syllable of the word translated hare or rabbit1 but the other means white1 and from it is derived the words for the east1 the dawn1 the light1 the day1 and the morning4 ,beyond a doubt 7sic7 this is the compound in the names ,michabo and ,manibozho1 which therefore mean the great light1 the spirit of light1 of the dawn1 or the east4 99 ,relations1 pp4 #fc1 #agf4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #agh4 ,then the war of ,manibozho became the struggle of light and darkness4 ,finally1 ,michabo is recognised by ,dr4 ,brinton as the not unworthy personification of the purest conceptions they possessed concerning the ,father of ,all199 though1 according to ,dr4 ,brinton in an earlier passage1 they can hardly be said to have possessed such conceptions49999 ,we are not responsible for these inconsistencies4 ,the degeneracy to the belief in a mighty great hare1 a chimerical beast1 was the result of a misunderstanding of the root wab in their own language by the ,algonkins1 a misunderstanding that not only affected the dialects in which the root wab occurred in the hare's name1 but those in which it did not6 ,on the whole1 the mythology of the great hunting and warrior tribes of ,north ,america is peopled by the figures of ideal culture-heroes1 partly regarded as first men1 partly as demiurges and creators4 ,they waver in outward aspect between the beautiful youths of the medicine-dreams and the bestial guise of totems and protecting animals4 ,they have a tendency to become identified with the sun1 like ,osiris in ,egypt1 or with the moon4 ,they are adepts in all the arts of the medicine-man1 and they are especially addicted to animal metamorphosis4 ,in the long winter evenings1 round the camp-fire1 the ,indians tell such grotesque tales of their pranks and adventures as the ,greeks told of their gods1 and the ,middle ,ages of the saints4999999 99 ,relations1 p4 #ahc4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #ec4 999999 ,a full collection of these1 as they survive in oral tradition1 with an obvious ,european intermixture1 will be found in ,mr4 ,leland's ,algonquin ,legends1 ,london1 #ahhd1 and in ,schoolcraft's ,hiawatha ,legends1 ,london1 #ahef4 ,see especially the ,manibozho legend4 ,the stage in civilisation above that of the hunter tribes is represented in the present day by the settled ,pueblo ,indians of ,new ,mexico and ,arizona4 ,concerning the faith of the ,zunis we fortunately possess an elaborate account by ,mr4 ,frank ,cushing499 ,mr4 ,cushing was for long a dweller in the clay pueblos of the ,zunis1 and is an initiated member of their sacred societies4 ,he found that they dealt at least as freely in metaphysics as the ,maoris1 and that1 like the ,australians1 they suppose sun1 moon and stars1 the sky1 earth and sea1 in all their phenomena and elements1 and all inanimate objects1 as well as plants1 animals and men1 to belong to one great system of all conscious and interrelated life1 in which the degrees of relationship seem to be determined largely1 if not wholly1 by the degrees of resemblance4 ,this1 of course1 is stated in terms of modern self-conscious speculation4 ,when much the same opinions are found among the ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai of ,australia1 they are stated thus3 ,some of the totems divide not mankind only1 but the whole universe into what may almost be called gentile divisions49999 99 ,report of ,bureau of ,ethnology1 ,washington1 #ahhj-ha4 9999 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #afg47p4 #agj74 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker1 in a letter to me1 remarks that ,baiame alone is outside of this conception1 and is common to all classes1 and totems1 and class divisions4 ,everything in nature is divided between the classes4 ,the wind belongs to one and the rain to another4 ,the sun is ,wutaroo and the moon is ,yungaroo4444 ,the ,south ,australian savage looks upon the universe as the great tribe1 to one of whose divisions he himself belongs1 and all things1 animate or inanimate1 which belong to his class are parts of the body corporate1 whereof he himself is part4 ,they are almost parts of himself4 ,manifestly this is the very condition of mind out of which mythology1 with all existing things acting as dramatis personae1 must inevitably arise4 ,the ,zuni philosophy1 then1 endows all the elements and phenomena of nature with personality1 and that personality is blended with the personality of the beast whose operations most resemble its manifestation4 ,thus lightning is figured as a serpent1 and the serpent holds a kind of mean position between lightning and man4 ,strangely enough1 flint arrow-heads1 as in ,europe1 are regarded as the gift of thunder1 though the ,zunis have not yet lost the art of making1 nor entirely abandoned1 perhaps1 the habit of using them4 ,once more1 the supernatural beings of ,zuni religion are almost invariably in the shape of animals1 or in monstrous semi-theriomorphic form4 ,there is no general name for the gods1 but the appropriate native terms mean creators and masters1 makers1 and finishers1 and immortals4 ,all the classes of these1 including the class that specially protects the animals necessary to men1 are believed to be related by blood 4 ,but among these essences1 the animals are nearest to man1 most accessible1 and therefore most worshipped1 sometimes as mediators4 ,but the ,zuni has mediators even between him and his animal mediators1 and these are fetishes1 usually of stone1 which accidentally resemble this or that beast-god in shape4 ,sometimes1 as in the ,egyptian sphinx1 the natural resemblance of a stone to a living form has been accentuated and increased by art4 ,the stones with a natural resemblance to animals are most valued when they are old and long in use1 and the orthodox or priestly theory is that they are petrifactions of this or that beast4 ,flint arrow-heads and feathers are bound about them with string4 ,all these beliefs and practices inspire the ,zuni epic1 which is repeated1 at stated intervals1 by the initiated to the neophytes4 ,mr4 ,cushing heard a good deal of this archaic poem in his sacred capacity4 ,the epic contains a ,zuni cosmogony4 ,men1 as in so many other myths1 originally lived in the dark places of earth in four caverns4 ,like the children of ,uranus and ,gaea1 they murmured at the darkness4 ,the holder of the paths of life1 the sun1 now made two beings out of his own substance2 they fell to the earth1 armed with rainbow and lightning1 a shield and a magical flint knife4 ,the new-comers cut the earth with a flint-knife1 as ,qat cut the palpable dark with a blade of red obsidian in ,melanesia4 ,men were then lifted through the hole on the shield1 and began their existence in the sunlight1 passing gradually through the four caverns4 ,men emerged on a globe still very wet2 for1 as in the ,iroquois and other myths1 there had been a time when water was the world 4 ,the two benefactors dried the earth and changed the monstrous beasts into stones4 ,it is clear that this myth accounts at once for the fossil creatures found in the rocks and for the merely accidental resemblance to animals of stones now employed as fetishes499 ,in the stones is believed to survive the medicine or magic1 the spiritual force of the animals of old4 99 ,report1 etc1 p4 #ae4 ,the ,zunis have a culture-hero as usual1 ,po'shai-an-k'ia1 who founded the mysteries1 as ,demeter did in ,greece1 and established the sacred orders4 ,he appeared in human form1 taught men agriculture1 ritual1 and then departed4 ,he is still attentive to prayer4 ,he divided the world into regions1 and gave the animals their homes and functions1 much as ,heitsi ,eibib did in ,namaqualand4 ,these animals carry out the designs of the culture-hero1 and punish initiated ,zunis who are careless of their religious duties and ritual4 ,the myths of the sacred beasts are long and dismal1 chiefly aetiological1 or attempts to account by a fictitious narrative for the distribution and habits of the various creatures4 ,zuni prayers are mainly for success in the chase2 they are directed to the divine beasts1 and are reinforced by magical ceremonies4 ,yet a prayer for sport may end with such a truly religious petition as this3 ,grant me thy light2 give me and my children a good trail across life 4 ,again we read3 ,this day1 my fathers1 ye animal gods1 although this country be filled with enemies1 render me precious4444 ,oh1 give ye shelter of my heart from them6 ,yet in religious hymns the ,zunis celebrate ,ahonawilona1 the ,maker and ,container of ,all1 the ,all ,father1 the uncreated1 the unbegotten1 who thought himself out into space4 ,here is monotheism among fetishists499 99 ,cushing1 ,report1 ,ethnol4 ,bureau1 #ahia-ib1 p4 #cgi4 ,the faith of the ,zunis1 with its metaphysics1 its devoutness and its magic ritual1 may seem a kind of introduction to the magic1 the ritual and the piety of the ancient ,aztecs4 ,the latter may have grown1 in a long course of forgotten ages1 out of elements like those of the ,zuni practice1 combined with the atrocious cruelty of the warrior tribes of the north4 ,perhaps in no race is the extreme contrast between low myth1 and the highest speculation1 that of the ,eternal thinking himself out into space1 so marked as among the ,zunis4 ,the highly abstract conception of ,ahonawilona was unknown to ,europeans when this work first appeared4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,mexican ,,divine ,,myths ,european eye-witnesses of ,mexican ritual--,diaz1 his account of temples and ,gods,sahagun1 his method--,theories of the god ,huitzilopochtli--,totemistic and other elements in his image and legend--,illustrations from ,latin religion-- ,god-eating--,the calendar--,other gods--,their feasts and cruel ritual--,their composite character--,parallels from ancient classical peoples--,moral aspects of ,aztec gods4 ,the religion of the ,mexicans was a compound of morality and cruelty so astonishing that its two aspects have been explained as the contributions of two separate races4 ,the wild ,aztecs from the north are credited with having brought to a high pitch of organised ritual the ferocious customs of the ,red ,indians4 ,the tortures which the tribes inflicted on captives taken in war were transmuted into the cannibal sacrifices and orgies of bloodshed with which the ,aztec temples reeked4 ,the milder elements1 again1 the sense of sin which found relief in confession and prayer1 are assigned to the influence of ,mayas1 and especially of ,toltecs1 a shadowy and perhaps an imaginary people4 ,our ignorance of ,mexican history before the ,spanish conquest is too deep to make any such theory of the influence of race on religion in ,mexico more than merely plausible4 ,the facts of ritual and of myth are better known1 thanks to the observations of such an honest soldier as ,bernal ,diaz and such a learned missionary as ,sahagun4 ,the author of the ,historia ,general de las ,cosas de ,nueva ,espana was a ,spanish ,franciscan1 and one of the earliest missionaries 7#aebi7 in ,mexico4 ,he himself describes the method by which he collected his information about the native religion4 ,he summoned together the chief men of one of the provinces1 who1 in turn1 chose twelve old men well seen in knowledge of the ,mexican practices and antiquities4 ,several of them were also scholars in the ,european sense1 and had been taught ,latin4 ,the majority of the commission collected and presented pictures which were the writings formerly in use among them1 and the grammarians or ,latin-learned ,aztecs wrote in ,european characters and in ,aztec the explanations of these designs4 ,when ,sahagun changed his place of residence1 these documents were again compared1 re-edited and enlarged by the assistance of the native gentlemen in his new district1 and finally the whole was passed through yet a third sieve1 as ,sahagun says1 in the city of ,mexico4 ,the completed manuscript had many ups and downs of fortune1 but ,sahagun's book remains a source of almost undisputed authenticity4 ,probably no dead religion whose life was among a people ignorant of syllabaries or of the alphabet is presented to us in a more trustworthy form than the religion of ,mexico4 ,it is necessary1 however1 to discount the theories of ,sahagun and his converts1 who though they never heard of ,euhemerus1 habitually applied the euhemeristic doctrine to their facts4 ,they decided that the gods of the ,aztecs had once been living men and conjurors1 worshipped after their decease4 ,it is possible1 too1 that a strain of ,catholic piety has found its way into the long prayers of the heathen penitents1 as reported by ,sahagun499 ,sahagun gives us a full account of the ,mexican mythology4 ,what the gods1 as represented by idols and adored in ritual1 were like1 we learn from a gallant ,catholic soldier1 ,bernal ,diaz49999 ,above the altars1 he writes1 were two shapes like giants1 wondrous for height and hugeness4 ,the first on the right was ,huichilobos 7,huitzilopochtli71 their god of war4 ,he had a big head and trunk1 his eyes great and terrible1 and so inlaid with precious stones that all his head and body shone with stars thereof4 ,great snakes of gold and fine stones were girdled about his flanks2 in one hand he held a bow1 and arrows in the other1 and a little idol called his page stood by his side4444 ,thereby also were braziers1 wherein burned the hearts of three ,indians1 torn from their bodies that very day1 and the smoke of them and the savour of incense were the sacrifice4 ,the walls of this oratory were black and dripping with gouts of blood1 and likewise the floor that stank horribly4 ,such was the aspect of a ,mexican shrine before the ,spaniards introduced their faith4 99 ,for a brief account of ,sahagun and the fortunes of his book1 see ,bancroft1 ,native ,races of the ,pacific ,states1 iii4 #bca1 note #fa4 ,the references here to ,sahagun's own work are to the translation by ,,mm4 ,jourdanet and ,simeon1 published by ,masson1 ,paris1 #ahhj4 ,bernal ,diaz is referred to in the ,french edition published by ,m4 ,lemerre in #ahgi4 9999 ,veridique ,histoire1 chap1 xcii4 ,as to the mythical habits of the ,aztec ,olympians in general1 ,sahagun observes that they were friends of disguise1 and changed themselves often into birds or savage beasts4 ,hence he1 or his informants1 infer that the gods have originally been necromancers or medicine-men1 now worshipped after death2 a natural inference1 as magical feats of shape-shifting are commonly ascribed everywhere to witches and warlocks4 ,as a matter of fact1 the ,aztec gods1 though bedizened with the attributes of mortal conjurors1 and with the fur and feathers of totems1 are1 for the most part1 the departmental deities of polytheism1 each ruling over some province of nature or of human activity4 ,combined with these are deities who1 in their origin1 were probably ideal culture-heroes1 like ,yehl1 or ,qat1 or ,prometheus4 ,the long and tedious myths of ,quetzalcoatl and ,tezcatlipoca appear to contain memories of a struggle between the gods or culture-heroes of rival races4 ,such struggles were natural1 and necessary1 perhaps1 before a kind of syncretism and a general tolerance could unite in peace the deities of a realm composed of many tribes originally hostile4 ,in a cultivated people1 made up out of various conquered and amalgamated tribes1 we must expect polytheism1 because their ,olympus is a kind of divine representative assembly4 ,anything like monotheism1 in such a state1 must be the result of philosophic reflection4 ,a laughable matter it is1 says ,bernal ,diaz1 that in each province the ,indians have their gods1 and the gods of one province or town are of no profit to the people of another4 ,thus have they an infinite number of idols1 to each of which they sacrifice499 99 ,bernal ,diaz1 chap4 xcii4 ,he might have described1 in the same words1 the local gods of the ,egyptian nomes1 for a similar state of things preceded1 and to some extent survived1 the syncretic efforts of ,egyptian priesthood4 ,meanwhile1 the ,teocallis1 or temples of ,mexico1 gave hospitable shelter to this mixed multitude of divinities4 ,hard by ,huitzilopochtli was ,tezcatlipoca 7,tezcatepuca1 ,bernal calls him71 whose chapel stank worse than all the shambles of ,castile4 ,he had the face of a bear and shining eyes1 made of mirrors called ,tezcut4 ,he was understood by ,bernal to be the ,mexican ,hades1 or warden of the dead4 ,not far off was an idol1 half-human and half-lizard1 the god of fruits and harvest1 ,i remember not his name1 and all his chapel walls dripped blood4 ,in the medley of such a pantheon1 it is difficult to arrange the deities on any principle of order4 ,beginning with ,huitzilopochtli1 as perhaps the most famous1 it is to be observed that he indubitably became and was recognised as a god of battles1 and that he was also the guide and protector who 7according to the ,aztec painted scriptures7 led the wandering fathers through war and wilderness to the promised land of ,mexico4 ,his birth was one of those miraculous conceptions which we have seen so frequently in the myths and maerchen of the lower and the higher races4 ,it was not by swallowing a berry1 as in ,finland1 but by cherishing in her bosom a flying ball of feathers that the devout woman1 ,coatlicue1 became the mother of ,huitzilopochtli4 ,all armed he sprang to the light1 like ,athene from the head of ,zeus1 and slew his brothers that had been born by natural generation4 ,from that day he received names of dread1 answering to ,deimos and ,phobos499 99 ,clavigero1 ,staria ,ant4 del ,mexico1 ii4 #ag1 #ai2 ,bancroft1 iii4 #bij4 ,by another myth1 euhemeristic in character1 ,huitziton 7the name is connected with huitzilin1 the humming-bird7 was the leader of the ,aztecs in their wanderings4 ,on his death or translation1 his skull gave oracles1 like the head of ,bran in the ,welsh legend4 ,sahagun1 in the first page of his work1 also euhemerises ,huitzilopochtli1 and makes him out to have been a kind of ,hercules double with a medicine-man2 but all this is mere conjecture4 ,the position of ,huitzilopochtli as a war-god1 guardian and guide through the wilderness is perfectly established1 and it is nearly as universally agreed that his name connects him with the humming-bird1 which his statue wore on its left foot4 ,he also carried a green bunch of plumage upon his head1 shaped like the bill of a small bird ,now1 as ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller has pointed out1 the legend and characteristics of ,huitzilopochtli are reproduced1 by a coincidence startling even in mythology1 in the legend and characteristics of ,picus in ,latium4 ,just as ,huitzilopochtli wore the humming-bird indicated by his name on his foot1 so ,picus was represented with the woodpecker of his name on his head499 99 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,uramerik4 ,rel41 p4 #eie4 ,on the subject of ,picus one may consult ,ovid1 ,metamorph1 xiv4 #cad4 ,here the story runs that ,circe loved ,picus1 whom she met in the woods4 ,he disdained her caresses1 and she turned him into the woodpecker1 with his garnet head4 ,et fulvo cervix pnecingitur auro4 ,according to ,virgil 7,j4 ,sn41 vii4 #ahg71 the statue of this ,picus was settled in an old ,laurentian temple or palace of unusual sanctity1 surrounded by images of the earlier gods4 ,the woodpeckers1 pici1 are known ,martio cognomine1 says ,pliny 7#aj1 #ah1 #bj1 ,sec4 #dj71 and so connected with the ,roman war-god1 ,picas ,martius4 ,in his ,romische ,mythologie1 i4 #ccf1 #ccg1 ,preller makes no use of these materials for comparison1 though the conduct and character of the other beast of war1 the wolf1 as guide and protector of the ,hirpi 7wolves71 and worshipped by them with wolf-dances1 is an obvious survival of totemism4 ,the ,picini have their animal leader1 ,picus1 the woodpecker1 the ,hirpi have their animal leader1 the wolf1 just as the humming-bird was the leader of the ,aztecs4 ,in these ,latin legends1 as in the legends of ,huit-zilopochtli1 the basis1 as ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller sees1 is the bird--the humming-bird in one case1 the woodpecker in the other4 ,the bird is then euhemerised or brought into anthropomorphic form4 ,it is fabled that he was originally a man 7like ,picus before ,circe enchanted him to a bird's shape71 or1 in ,mexico1 a man named ,huitziton1 who during the ,aztec migrations heard and pursued a little bird that cried ,tinni1 that is1 ,follow1 follow499 ,now we are all familiar with classical legends of races that were guided by a bird or beast to their ultimate seats4 ,mueller mentions ,battus and the raven1 the ,chalcidians and the dove1 the ,cretans and the dolphin1 which was ,apollo1 ,cadmus and the cow2 the ,hirpi1 or wolves1 who followed the wolf4 ,in the same way the ,picini followed the woodpecker1 ,picus1 from whom they derived their name1 and carried a woodpecker on their banners4 ,thus we may connect both the ,sabine war-gods and the bird of the ,mexican war-gods with the many guiding and protecting animals which occur in fable4 ,now a guiding and protecting animal is almost a synonym for a totem4 ,that the ,sabine woodpecker had been a totem may be pretty certainly established on the evidence of ,plutarch4 ,the people called by his name 7,picini7 declined1 like totemists everywhere1 to eat their holy bird1 in this case the woodpecker49999 99 ,bancroft1 iii4 #fi1 note1 quoting ,torquemada4 9999 ,quoest4 ,rom41 xxi4 ,the inference is that the humming-bird whose name enters into that of ,huitzilopochtli1 and whose feathers were worn on his heel1 had been the totem of an ,aztec kindred before ,huitzilopochtli1 like ,picus1 was anthropomorphised4 ,on the other hand1 if ,huitzilopochtli was once the ,baiame of the ,aztecs1 their ,guide in their wanderings1 he might1 in myth1 be mixed up with a totem or other worshipful animal4 ,before this god was represented in human form1 he was merely a little humming-bird1 ,huitziton2 but as the anthropomorphic processes advanced1 the bird became an attribute1 emblem1 or symbol of the deity499 ,if ,huitzilopochtli is said to have given the ,aztecs fire1 that boon is usually regarded by many races1 from ,normandy to ,australia1 as the present given to men by a bird2 for example1 the fire-crested wren49999 ,thus understood1 the ornithological element in ,huitzilopochtli is purely totemic4 ,while accepting the reduction of him to a hummingbird1 ,m4 ,reville ingeniously concludes that he was a derivative form of the sun1 and especially of the sun of the fair season4 ,if the bird was worshipped1 it was not as a totem1 but as the divine messenger of the spring1 like the plover among the ,latins4999999 ,attempts have been made1 with no great success1 to discover the cosmical character of the god from the nature of his feasts4 99 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 op4 cit4 i4 p4 #eif4 9999 ,bosquet1 ,la ,normandie ,merveilleuse1 ,paris1 #ahde2 ,brough ,smyth1 ,aborigines of ,victoria1 vol4 i42 ,kuhn1 ,herabkunft1 p4 #aji2 ,journal ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,november1 #ahhd2 ,sproat1 ,savage ,life 7the cuttlefish71 p4 #agh2 ,bancroft1 iii4 #ajj4 999999 ,hibbert ,lectures1 #ahhd1 ,english trans41 pp4 #ed1 #ee4 ,the woodpecker seems a better ,latin example than the plover4 ,the ,mexican calendar1 the ,aztec year1 as described at considerable length by ,sahagun1 was a succession of feasts1 marked by minute and elaborate rites of a magical character4 ,the gods of rain were frequently propitiated1 so was the goddess of maize1 the mountain god1 the mother of the gods1 and many other divinities4 ,the general theory of worship was the adoration of a deity1 first by innumerable human sacrifices1 next by the special sacrifice of a man for male gods1 of a woman for each goddess4 ,the latter victims were regarded as the living images or incarnations of the divinities in each case2 for no system of worship carried farther the identification of the god with the sacrifice1 and of both with the officiating priest4 ,the connection was emphasised by the priest's wearing the newly-flayed skins of the victims1 just as in ,greece1 ,egypt and ,assyria the fawn-skin1 or bull-hide1 or goat-skin1 or fish-skin of the victims is worn by the celebrants4 ,finally1 an image of the god was made out of paste1 and this was divided into morsels and eaten in a hideous sacrament by those who communicated499 99 ,copious details as to the sacraments1 human sacrifices1 paste figures of gods1 and identity of god and victim1 will be found in ,sahagun's second and third books4 ,the magical character of the ritual deserves particular attention4 ,see many examples of gods made of flour and eaten in ,liebrecht's ,zur ,volkskunde1 ,der aufgegessene ,gott1 p4 #dcf4 ,it will be noted that the feasts of the corn goddess1 like the rites of ,demeter1 were celebrated with torch-dances4 ,the ritual of the month ,quecholli 7iii4 #cc1 #add7 is a mere medicine hunt1 as ,tanner and the ,red ,indians call it1 a procuring of magical virtue for the arrows1 as in the ,zuni mysteries to- day4 ,compare ,report of ,bureau of ,ethnology1 vol4 ii41 ,zuni ,prey ,gods4 ,from the special ritual of ,huitzilopochtli ,mr4 ,tylor conjectures that this inextricable compound parthenogenetic god may have been originally a nature deity whose life and death were connected with the year499 ,this theory is based on the practice at the feast called ,panquetzaliztli49999 ,his paste idol was shot through with an arrow1 says ,mr4 ,tylor1 and being thus killed1 was divided into morsels and eaten2 wherefore the ceremony was called ,teoqualo1 or 'god-eating1' and this was associated with the winter solstice4 ,m4 ,reville says that this feast coincided with our month of ,december1 the beginning of the cold and dry season1 ,huitzilopochtli would die with the verdure1 the flowers and all the beauteous adornments of spring and summer2 but like ,adonis1 like ,osiris1 and so many other solar deities1 he only died to live and to return again4 ,before identifying him with the sun1 it may be remarked that the ,aztec feast of the return of the gods was celebrated in the twelfth month and the paste sacrifice of ,huitzilopochtli was in the fifteenth4 ,there were eighteen months in the ,aztec year1 and the year began on the #bnd of ,february4 ,the return of the gods was1 therefore1 in ,september1 and the paste sacrifice of ,huitzilopochtli in ,december4 ,clearly the god who dies in the winter solstice cannot be thought to return late in ,september4 ,huitzilopochtli had another feast on the first day of the ninth month1 that is1 between ,june and ,july1 when much use was made of floral decorations1 and they offered him the first flowers of the year1 although flowers were used two months earlier1 in the seventh month and in the fourth month4999999 99 ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 #cjg2 ,clavigero1 ,messico1 ii4 #ag1 #ha4 9999 ,sahagun1 ii4 #ae1 and ,appendix1 iii4 #b1 #c4 999999 ,ibid4 i4 ii #i4 ,but the ,mexican calendar is hard to deal with4 ,mueller places the feasts of ,huitzilopochtli in the middle of ,may1 the middle of ,august1 and the middle of ,december499 ,he combines his facts with a legend which made ,huitzilopochtli to be the son of the goddess of vegetation4 ,j4 ,g4 ,mueller's whole argument is learned and acute1 but errs probably in attempting to extract a consecutive symbolical sense out of the chaos of myth4 ,thus he writes3 ,when the myth makes the god the son of the mother of plants1 it divides his essence from that of his mother1 and thus ,huitzilopochtli1 however closely akin to the plant world1 is not the plant world itself 4 ,this is to consider more curiously than the myth-makers4 ,the name of the patron goddess of the flower-wearers in feasts was ,coatlicue or ,coatlan1 which is also the name of the mother of ,huitzilopochtli2 its meaning is serpent petticoated49999 99 ,uramerik4 ,rel4 v4 p4 #fjb4 9999 ,sahagun1 ii4 #h ,when ,mueller goes on to identify ,huitzilopochtli with the bunch of feathers that fell into his mother's breast before his birth1 and that again with the humming-bird1 and that again with the honey-sucking bird as the means of fructifying the plants1 and1 finally1 with the maennliche befrwchtende ,naturkraft1 we have left myth far behind1 and are in a region of symbolism and abstract thought1 where one conjecture is as good as another4 ,the hypothesis is that men1 feeling a sense of religious reverence for the germinal force in ,nature1 took the humming-bird for its emblem1 and so evolved the myth of the birth of ,huitzilopochtli1 who at once fructifies and is born from the bosom of vernal ,nature4 ,it would be rash and wrong to deny that such ideas are mixed in the medley of myth4 ,but1 as a rule1 the sacred animal 7as the humming-bird7 is sacred first in itself1 probably as a totem or as a guide and protector1 and the symbolical sense is a forced interpretation put later on the facts499 ,we can hardly go farther1 with safety1 than the recognition of mingled aspects and elements in ,huitzilopochtli as the totem1 the tribal god1 the departmental war-god1 and possibly he is the god of the year's progress and renewal4 ,his legend and ritual are a conglomerate of all these things1 a mass of ideas from many stages of culture4 ,an abstract comparatively brief must suffice for the other ,aztec deities4 ,tezcatlipoca is a god with considerable pretensions to an abstract and lofty divinity4 ,his appearance was not prepossessing2 his image1 as ,bernal has described it1 wore the head of a bear1 and was covered with tiny mirrors49999 ,various attributes1 especially the mirror and a golden ear1 showed him forth as the beholder of the conduct of men and the hearer of prayer4 ,he was said1 while he lived on earth1 to have been a kind of ,ares in the least amiable aspect of the god1 a maker of wars and discord4999999 ,wealth and power were in his gift4 ,he was credited with ability to destroy the world when he chose4 ,seats were consecrated to him in the streets and the public places2 on these might no man sit down4 99 ,compare ,maspero on ,egyptian ,beast-,gods1 ,rev4 de l',hist4 des ,rel41 vol4 i4 and chapter postea1 on ,egyptian ,divine ,myths4 9999,the name means shining mirror4 ,acosta makes him the god of famine and pestilence 7p4 #cec74 999999 ,sahagun1 i4 #c4 ,he was one of the two gods whose extraordinary birth1 and death by happy despatch1 that their vitality might animate the motionless sun1 have already been described499 ,tezcatlipoca1 like most of the other gods1 revived1 and came back from the sky to earth4 ,at a place called ,tulla he encountered another god or medicine-man1 ,quetzalcoatl1 and their legends become inextricably entangled in tales of trickery1 animal metamorphosis1 and perhaps in vague memories of tribal migrations4 ,throughout ,tezcatlipoca brought grief on the people called ,toltecs1 of whom ,quetzalcoatl was the divine culture-hero49999 ,his statues1 if we may believe ,acosta1 did him little credit4 ,in ,cholula1 which is a commonwealth of ,mexico1 they worship a famous idol1 which was the god of merchandise4444 ,it had the forme of a man1 but the visage of a little bird with a red bill and above a combe full of wartes4999999 99 ,antea1 ,myths of the ,origins of ,things 4 9999 ,sahagnn1 iii4 #e1 #f4 999999 ,acosta1 ,nalurall and ,morall ,historic of the ,east and ,west ,indies1 ,london1 #afjd4 ,a ready way of getting a view of the ,mexican ,pantheon is to study ,sahagun's two books on the feasts of the gods1 with their ritual4 ,it will become manifest that the worship was a worship1 on the whole1 of departmental gods of the elements1 of harvest1 of various human activities1 such as love and commerce1 and war and agriculture4 ,the nature of the worship1 again1 was highly practical4 ,the ceremonies1 when not mere offerings of human flesh1 were commonly representations on earth of desirable things which the gods were expected to produce in the heavenly sphere4 ,the common type of all such magical ceremonies1 whereby like is expected to produce like1 has been discussed in the remarks on magic 7chapter iv474 ,the black smoke of sacrifice generates clouds2 the pouring forth of water from a pitcher 7as in the ,attic ,thesmophoria7 induces the gods to pour forth rain4 ,thus in ,mexico the rain-god 7,tlaloc1 god of waters7 was propitiated with sacrifices of children4 ,if the children wept and shed abundant tears1 they who carried them rejoiced1 being convinced that rain would also be abundant499 ,the god of the maize1 again 7,cinteotl1 son of the maize-goddess71 had rites resembling those of the ,greek ,pyanepsion and ,eiresione4 ,the ,aztecs used to make an image of the god1 and offer it all manner of maize and beans49999 ,curiously enough1 the ,greeks also regarded their ,pyanepsion as a bean-feast4 ,a more remarkable analogy is that of the ,peruvian ,mama ,cora1 the figure of a goddess made of maize1 which was asked if it hath strength sufficient to continue until the next year1 and of which the purpose was1 that the seed of the maize may not perish4999999 ,this corn image of the corn goddess1 preserved through all the year and replaced in the next year by a fresh image1 is the ,attic 7--------71 a branch of olive hung with a loaf and with all the fruits of the season1 and set up to stand for all the year in front of each house4 ,and it remains for a year1 and when it is dry and withered next year they make a fresh one499999999 99 ,sahagun4 ii4 #b1 #c4 9999 ,ibid41 ii4 #d1 #bd4 999999 ,acosta1 ,hist ,nat41 #afjd1 p4 #dac4 99999999 ,see ,schol4 in ,aristoph4 ,plut41 #ajed1 and other texts1 quoted by ,mannhardt1 ,arntike ,waldund ,feld ,cultus1 ii4 #bba1 note #c4 ,children were sacrificed in ,mexico to this deity4 ,in the rites of a goddess of harvest1 as has been said1 torches were borne by the dancers1 as in the ,eleusinia2 and in ,european and ,oriental folk-lore4#a ,demeter was the ,greek harvest goddess1 in whose rites torches had a place4 ,one of her names is ,demeter ,erinnys4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller recognises ,erinnys as the dawn4 ,schwartz connects ,demeter ,erinnys with the thunderstorm4 ,the torch in the hand of ,demeter is the lightning1 according to ,schwartz4 ,it is interesting1 whether the torch be the torch of dawn1 or of storm1 or neither1 to see the prevalence of these torch festivals in rural rites in ,mexico1 ,greece and modern ,europe4 ,the idea of the peasants is that the lights scare away evil spirits49999 ,in the ,mexican rite1 a woman1 representing the goddess and dressed in her ornaments1 was sacrificed4 ,the same horrid ceremony accompanied the feast of the mother of the gods1 ,teteo ,innan4999999 ,in this rite the man who represented the son of the goddess wore a mask of the skin from the thigh of the female victim who had personated the goddess herself4 ,the wearing of the skin established a kinship between the man and the woman1 as in the many classical1 ancient and savage rituals where the celebrants wear the hides of the sacrificed beasts4 ,there was a god of storm called cloudy serpent1 ,mixcoatl1 whose rites were not more humane4 ,the ,mexican ,aphrodite was named ,tlacolteotl199999999 the impure4 99 ,mannhardt1 op4 cit41 ii4 #bfc1 i4 #eja1 #ejb2 ,schwartz1 ,praehistorisch ,anthropologische ,studien1 p4 #gi4 9999 ,compare the ,french jour des brandons4 999999,see ,sahagun1 ii4 #cj4 99999999 ,ibid41 i4 #ab4 ,about her character the ,aztecs had no illusions4 ,she listened to the confessions of the most loathsome sinners1 whom she perhaps first tempted to err1 and then forgave and absolved4 ,confession was usually put off till people had ceased to be likely to sin4 ,she is said to have been the wife of ,tlaloc1 carried off by ,tezcatlipoca4 ,she must have been the aquatic vegetation of marshy lands1 says ,m4 ,roville1 possessed by the god of waters till the sun dries her up and she disappears4 ,this is an amusing example of modern ingenuity4 ,it resembles ,m4 ,reville's assertion that ,tlaloc1 the rain-god1 had but one eye1 which shows that he must be ultimately identified as an ancient personification of the rainy sky1 whose one eye is the sun4 ,a rainy sky has usually no eye at all1 and1 when it has1 in this respect it does not differ from a cloudless sky4 ,a less lovely set of ,olympians than the ,aztec gods it is difficult to conceive4 ,yet1 making every allowance for ,catholic after-thoughts1 there can be no doubt that the prayers1 penances and confessions described at length by ,sahagun indicate a firm ,mexican belief that even these strange deities made for righteousness1 loved good1 and1 in this world and the next1 punished evil4 ,however it happened1 whatever accidents of history or of mixture of the races in the dim past caused it1 the ,aztecs carried to extremes the religious and the mythical ideas4 ,they were exceedingly pious in their attitude of penitence and prayer2 they were more fierce and cruel in ritual1 more fantastic in myth1 than the wildest of tribes1 tameless and homeless1 ignorant of agriculture or of any settled and assured existence4 ,even the ,inquisition of the ,spanishof the sixteenth century was an improvement on the unheard-of abominations of ,mexican ritual4 ,as in all fully developed polytheisms of civilised races among the ,aztecs we lose sight of the moral primal ,being of low savage races4 ,he is obscured by deities of a kind not yet evolved in the lowest culture4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,mythology ,,of ,,egypt ,antiquity of ,egypt--,guesses at origin of the people-- ,chronological views of the religion--,permanence and changes-- ,local and syncretic worship--,elements of pure belief and of totemism--,authorities for facts--,monuments and ,greek reports--,contending theories of modern authors--,study of the gods1 their beasts1 their alliances and mutations--,evidence of ritual--,a study of the ,osiris myth and of the development of ,osiris-,savage and theological elements in the myth--,moral aspect of the religion--,conclusion4 ,even to the ancients ,egypt was antiquity1 and the ,greeks sought in the dateless mysteries of the ,egyptian religion for the fountain of all that was most mysterious in their own4 ,curiosity about the obscure beginnings of human creeds and the first knowledge of the gods was naturally aroused by that spectacle of the ,pantheon of ,egypt4 ,her highest gods were abstractions1 swathed1 like the ,involuti of the ,etrurians1 in veils of mystic doctrine2 yet in the most secret recess of her temples the pious beheld a crocodile1 a cat1 or a serpent1 a beast rolling on a purple couch499 99 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,paedagog41 iii4 #b 7#ic74 ,in ,egypt1 the earlier ages and the later times beheld a land dominated by the thought of death1 whose shadow falls on the monarch on his crowning day1 whose whisper bids him send to far-off shores for the granite and the alabaster of the tomb4 ,as life was ruled by the idea of death2 so was fact conquered by dream1 and all realities hastened to lose themselves in symbols2 all gods rushed to merge their identity in the sun1 as moths fly towards the flame of a candle4 ,this spectacle of a race obedient to the dead and bowing down before the beasts1 this procession of gods that were their own fathers and members together in ,ra1 wakened the interest of the ,greeks1 who were even more excited by the mystery of extreme age that hid the beginnings of ,egypt4 ,full of their own memories and legends of tribal movements1 of migrations1 of invasions1 the ,greeks acknowledged themselves children of yesterday in face of a secular empire with an origin so remote that it was scarcely guessed at in the conjectures of fable4 ,egypt presented to them1 as to us1 the spectacle of antique civilisation without a known beginning4 ,the spade of to-day reveals no more than the traditions of two thousand years ago4 ,the most ancient relics of the earliest dynasty are the massive works of an organised society and an accomplished art4 ,there is an unbridged interval between the builders of the mysterious temple hard by the ,sphinx and their predecessors1 the chippers of palaeolithic flint axes in the river drift4 ,we know not whence the ,egyptians came2 we only trifle with hypotheses when we conjecture that her people are of an ,asiatic or an ,african stock2 we know not whether her gods arose in the fertile swamps by ,nile-side1 or whether they were borne in arks1 like the ,huitzilopochtli of ,mexico1 from more ancient seats by the piety of their worshippers4 ,yet as one great river of mysterious source flows throughout all ,egypt1 so through the brakes and jungles of her religion flows one great myth from a distant fountain-head1 the myth of ,osiris499 99 ,as to the origin of the ,egyptians1 the prevalent belief among the ancients was that they had descended the ,nile from the interior of ,africa4 ,cf4 ,diodorus ,siculus1 iii4 #h4 ,modern theorists occasionally lean in this direction4 ,dumichen1 ,geschichte des ,alien ,a,egyptiens1 i4 #aah4 ,again1 an attempt has been made to represent them as successful members of a race whereof the ,bushmen of ,south ,africa are the social failures4 ,m4 ,maspero conceives1 once more1 that the ,egyptians were proto-,semitic1 ethnologically related to the people of ,eastern ,asia1 and the grammar of their language has ,semitic affinities4 ,but the connection1 if it ever existed1 is acknowledged to be extremely remote4 ,maspero1 ,hist1 de l',orient1 #dth edit41 p4 #ag4 ,de ,rouge writes1 ,tout nous ramene vers la parente primitive de ,mitsraim 7,egyptains7 et de ,canaan 7,recherches sur les ,muniments1 p4 #aa74 ,the questions which we have to ask in dealing with the mythology of ,egypt come under two heads3 ,first1 ,what was the nature of ,egyptian religion and myth8 ,secondly1 ,how did that complex mass of beliefs and practices come into existence8 ,the question1 ,what was the religion of ,egypt8 is far from simple4 ,in a complete treatise on the topic1 it would be necessary to ask in reply1 ,at what period1 in what place1 and among what classes of society did the religion exist which you wish to investigate8 ,the ancient ,egyptian religion had a lifetime so long that it almost requires to be meted by the vague measures of geological time4 ,it is historically known to us1 by the earliest monuments1 about the date at which ,archbishop ,usher fixed the ,creation4 ,even then1 be it noticed1 the religion of ,egypt was old and full-grown2 there are no historical traces of its beginnings4 ,like the material civilisation1 it had been fashioned by the unrecorded ,sheshoa ,hor1 the servants of ,horus1 patriarchs dwelling with the blessed4 ,in the four or five thousand years of its later existence1 ,egyptian religion endured various modifications499 ,it was a conservative people1 and schooled by the wisdom of the sepulchre4 ,but invaders1 ,semitic1 ,ethiopian and ,greek1 brought in some of their own ideas4 ,priestly colleges developed novel dogmas1 and insensibly altered ritual ,the thought of hundreds of generations of men brooded1 not fruitlessly1 over the problems of the divine nature4 ,finally1 it is likely that in ,egypt1 as elsewhere1 the superstitions of the least educated and most backward classes1 and of subject peoples on a lower level of civilisation1 would again and again break up1 and win their way to the surface of religion4 ,thus a complete study of ,egyptian faiths would be chronological--would note the setting and rising of the stars of elder and later deities4 99 ,professor ,lieblein1 maintaining this view1 opposes the statement of ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf1 who writes3 ,the earliest monuments which have been discovered present to us the very same fully developed civilisation and the same religion as the later monuments 7,hib4 ,lectures1 #ahhj1 p4 #ha74 ,but it is superfluous to attack a position which ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf does not appear really to hold4 ,he admits the existence of development and evolution in ,egyptian religious thought ,i believe1 therefore1 that1 after closely approaching the point at which polytheism might have turned into monotheism1 the religious thought of ,egypt turned aside into a wrong track 7,op4 cit1 p4 #bcf74 ,the method of a systematic history of ,egyptian religion would not be regulated by chronology alone4 ,topographical and social conditions would also claim attention4 ,the favoured god or gods of one nome 7administrative district71 or of one town1 or of one sacred metropolis1 were not the gods of another metropolis1 or town1 or nome1 though some deities were common to the whole country4 ,the fundamental character might be much the same in each case1 but the titles1 and aspects1 and ritual1 and accounts of the divine genealogy varied in each locality4 ,once more1 the syncretic tendency kept fusing into one divine name and form1 or into a family triad of gods 7mother1 father and son71 the deities of different districts1 which1 beneath their local peculiarities1 theologians could recognise as practically the same4 ,while political events and local circumstances were thus modifying ,egyptian religion1 it must never be forgotten that the different classes of society were probably by no means at one in their opinions4 ,the monuments show us what the kings believed1 or at least what the kings practised1 record the prayers they uttered and the sacrifices they offered4 ,the tombs and the papyri which contain the ,book of the ,dead and other kindred works reveal the nature of belief in a future life1 with the changes which it underwent at different times4 ,but the people1 the vast majority1 unlettered and silent1 cannot tell us what they believed1 or what were their favourite forms of adoration4 ,we are left to the evidence of amulets1 of books of magic1 of popular tales1 surviving on a papyrus here and there1 and to the late testimony of ,greek writers--,herodotus1 ,diodorus1 the author of the treatise ,de ,osiride et hide1 and others4 ,while the clergy of the twentieth dynasty were hymning the perfections of ,ammon ,ra--so high that man may not attain unto him1 dweller in the hidden place1 him whose image no man has beheld--the peasant may have been worshipping1 like a modern ,zulu1 the serpents in his hovel1 or may have been adoring the local sacred cat of his village1 or flinging stones at the local sacred crocodile of his neighbours4 ,to the enlightened in the later empire1 perhaps to the remotest unknown ancestors also1 ,god was self-proceeding1 self-made1 manifest in the deities that were members together in him of godhead4 ,but the peasant1 if he thinks of the gods at all1 thinks of them walking the earth1 like our ,lord and the saints in the ,norse nursery tales1 to amuse themselves with the adventures of men4 ,the peasant spoke of the ,seven ,hathors1 that come like fairy godmothers to the cradle of each infant1 and foretell his lot in life499 99 ,compare ,maspero1 ,hist1 de l',orient41 #dth edit41 pp4 #bgi- #bhh1 for the priestly hymns and the worship of beasts4 ,the lofty thoughts remained the property of a small number of priests and instructed people2 they did not penetrate the mass of the population4 ,far from that1 the worship of animals1 goose1 swallow1 cat1 serpent1 had many more followers than ,amnion ,ra could count4 ,see also ,tiele1 ,manuel de l',hist4 des ,rel41 ,paris1 #ahhj1 pp4 #df1 #dg4 ,for the folk-lore of wandering gods see ,maspero1 ,contes ,egyptiens1 ,paris1 #ahhb1 p4 #ag4 ,it is impossible1 of course1 to write here a complete history of ,egyptian religion1 as far as it is to be extracted from the books and essays of learned moderns2 but it has probably been made clear that when we speak of the religion and mythology of ,egypt1 we speak of a very large and complicated subject4 ,plainly this is a topic which the lay student will find full of pitfalls1 and on which even scholars may well arrive at contradictory opinions4 ,to put the matter briefly1 where one school finds in the gods and the holy menagerie of ,egyptian creeds the corruption of a primitive monotheism1 its opponents see a crowd of survivals from savagery combined with clearer religious ideas1 which are the long result of civilised and educated thought499 ,both views may be right in part4 99 ,the ,english leader of the former school1 the believer in a primitive purity1 corrupted and degraded but not extinguished1 is ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf 7,hibbert ,lectures1 ,london1 #ahgi74 ,it is not always very easy to make out what side ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf does take4 ,for example1 in his ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #hi1 he speaks somewhat sympathetically of the very many eminent scholars1 who1 with full knowledge of all that can be said to the contrary1 maintain that the ,egyptian religion is essentially monotheistic4 ,he himself says that a power without a name or any mythological characteristic is constantly referred to in the singular number1 and can only be regarded as the object of that sensus numinis1 or immediate perception of the ,infinite4 which is the result of an intuition as irresistible as the impressions of our senses4 ,if this be not primitive instinctive monotheism1 what is it8 ,yet ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf says that ,egyptian polytheism1 after closely approaching the point where it might have become monotheism1 went off on a wrong track2 so the ,egyptians after all were polytheists1 not monotheists 7op4 cit41 p4 #bce74 ,of similar views are the late illustrious ,vicomte de ,rouge1 ,m4 ,mariette1 ,m4 ,pierret1 and ,brugsch ,pasha 7,rel4 und ,myth1 der ,alien ,egypter1 vol i41 ,leipzig1 #ahhd74 ,on the other side1 on the whole regarding ,egyptian creeds as a complex mass of early uncivilised and popular ideas1 with a later priestly religion tending towards pantheism and monotheism1 are ,m4 ,maspero1 ,professor ,tiele1 ,professor ,lieblein 7,english readers may consult his pamphlet1 ,egyptian ,religion1 ,leipzig1 #ahhd71 ,m4 ,edward ,meyer1 7,geschichte des ,alterthums1 ,stuttgart1 #ahhd71 ,herr ,pietsch4 mann 7,zeitschrtftfur ,ethnologic1 ,berlin1 #ahgh1 art4 ,fetisch ,dienst71 and ,professor ,tiele 7,manuel de l',histoire des ,religions1 ,paris1 #ahhj1 and ,history of ,egyptian ,religion1 ,english translation1 #ahhb74 ,after this preamble let us endeavour to form a general working idea of what ,egyptian religion was as a whole4 ,what kind of religion did the ,israelites see during the sojourn in ,egypt1 or what presented itself to the eyes of ,herodotus8 ,unluckily we have no such eye-witnesses of the earlier ,egyptian as ,bernal ,diaz was of the ,aztec temples4 ,the ,bible says little that is definite about the theological wisdom of the ,egyptians4 ,when confronted with the sacred beasts1 ,herodotus might have used with double truth the ,greek saw3 ,a great ox has trod upon my tongue499 ,but what ,herodotus hinted at or left unsaid is gathered from the evidence of tombs and temple walls and illuminated papyri4 ,one point is certain4 ,whatever else the religion of ,egypt may at any time have been1 it struck every foreign observer as polytheism49999 ,moreover1 it was a polytheism like another4 ,the ,greeks had no difficulty1 for example1 in recognising amongst these beast-headed monsters gods analogous to their own4 ,this is demonstrated by the fact that to almost every deity of ,egypt they readily and unanimously assigned a ,greek divine name4 ,seizing on a certain aspect of ,osiris and of his mystery-play1 they made him ,dionysus2 ,hor became ,apollo2 ,ptah1 ,hephaestus3 ,ammon ,ra1 ,zeus2 ,thoth1 ,hermes1 and so on with the rest4 ,the ,egyptian deities were recognised as divine beings1 with certain 7generally ill-defined7 departments of ,nature and of human activity under their care4 ,some of them1 like ,seb 7earth7 and ,nut 7heaven71 were esteemed elemental forces or phenomena1 and were identified with the same personal phenomena or forces1 ,uranus and ,gaea1 in the ,greek system1 where heaven and earth were also parents of many of the gods4 99 ,a,eschylus1 ,agamemnon1 #cg1 7--------7 9999 ,maspero1 ,musee de ,boulaq1 p4 #aej2 ,le ,page ,renouf1 ,hib4 ,led41 pp4 #he1hf4 ,thus it is indisputably clear that ,egyptian religion had a polytheistic aspect1 or rather1 as ,maspero says1 was a well-marked polytheism2 that in this regard it coincided with other polytheisms1 and that this element must be explained in the ,egyptian1 as it is explained in the ,greek or the ,aztec1 or the ,peruvian or the ,maori religion499 ,now an explanation has already been offered in the mythologies previously examined4 ,some gods have been recognised1 like ,rangi and ,papa1 the ,maori heaven and earth 7,nut and ,seb71 as representatives of the old personal earth and heaven1 which commend themselves to the barbaric fancy4 ,other gods are the informing and indwelling spirits of other phenomena1 of winds or sea or woods4 ,others1 again1 whatever their origin1 preside over death1 over the dead1 over the vital functions1 such as love1 or over the arts of life1 such as agriculture2 and these last gods of departments of human activity were probably in the beginning culture-heroes1 real1 or more likely ideal1 the first teachers of men4 99 ,it is certainly erroneous to consider ,egyptian religion as a polytheistic corruption of a prehistoric monotheism4 ,it is more correct to say that1 while polytheistic in principle1 the religion developed in two absolutely opposite directions4 ,on one side1 the constant introduction of new gods1 local or foreign2 on the other1 a groping after a monotheism never absolutely reached4 ,the learned explained the crowd of gods as so many incarnations of the one hidden uncreated deity4--,tiele1 ,manuel de l',histoire des ,religions1 p4 #df4 ,in polytheisms of long standing all these attributes and functions have been combined and reallotted1 and the result we see in that confusion which is of the very essence of myth4 ,each god has many birth-places1 one has many sepulchres1 all have conflicting genealogies4 ,if these ideas about other polytheisms be correct1 then it is probable that they explain to a great extent the first principles of the polytheism of ,egypt ,they explain at least the factors in ,egyptian religion1 which the ,greeks recognised as analogous with their own1 and which are found among polytheists of every degree of culture1 from ,new ,zealand to ,hellas4 ,if ever ,ptah1 or any other name1 represented ,our ,father as he is known to the most backward races1 he was buried into the background by gods evolved from ghosts1 by departmental gods1 and by the gods of races amalgamated in the course of conquest and settlement4 ,leaving on one side1 then1 for the moment1 the vast system of ancestor-worship and of rites undertaken for the benefit of the dead1 and leaving aside the divinity of the king1 polytheism was the most remarkable feature of ,egyptian religion4 ,the foreign traveller in the time of the pyramid-builders1 as in the time of ,ramses ,,ii41 or of the ,ptolemies1 or of the ,roman domination1 would have found a crowd of gods in receipt of honour and of sacrifice4 ,he would have learned that one god was most adored in one locality1 another in another1 that ,ammon ,ra was predominant in ,thebes2 ,ra1 the sun-god1 in ,heliopolis2 ,osiris in ,abydos1 and so forth4 ,he would also have observed that certain animals were sacred to certain gods1 and that in places where each beast was revered1 his species was not eaten1 though it might blamelessly be cooked and devoured in the neighbouring nome or district1 where another animal was dominant4 ,everywhere1 in all nomes and towns1 the adoration of ,osiris1 chiefly as the god and redeemer of the dead1 was practised499 99 ,on the different religions of different nomes1 and especially the animal worship1 see ,pietschmann1 ,der ,a,egyptische ,fetischdienst und ,goetterglaube1 ,zeitschrtft fuer ,ethnologie1 #ahgh1 p4 #afh4 ,while these are the general characteristics of ,egyptian religion1 there were inevitably many modifications in the course of five thousand years4 ,if one might imagine a traveller endowed1 like the ,wandering ,jew1 with endless life1 and visiting ,egypt every thousand1 or every five hundred years1 we can fancy some of the changes in religion which he would observe4 ,on the whole1 from the first dynasty and the earliest monuments to the time when ,hor came to wear a dress like that of a ,roman centurion1 the traveller would find the chief figures of the ,pantheon recognisably the same4 ,but there would be novelties in the manner of worshipping and of naming or representing them4 ,in the oldest tombs1 where the oldest writings are found1 there are not many gods mentioned--there are ,osiris1 ,horus1 ,thot1 ,seb1 ,nut1 ,hathor1 ,anubis1 ,apheru1 and a couple more499 ,here was a stock of gods who remained in credit till the dog ,anubis fled from the ,star of ,bethlehem4 ,most of these deities bore birth-marks of the sky and of the tomb4 ,if ,osiris was the sun-god of ,abydos1 he was also the murdered and mutilated culture-hero4 ,if ,hor or ,horus was the sun at his height1 he too had suffered despiteful usage from his enemies4 ,seb and ,nut 7named on the coffin of ,mycerinus of the fourth dynasty in the ,british ,museum7 were our old friends the personal heaven and earth4 ,anubis1 the jackal1 was the lord of the grave1 and dead kings are worshipped no less than gods who were thought to have been dead kings4 ,while certain gods1 who retained permanent power1 appear in the oldest monuments1 sacred animals are also present from the first4 99 ,lieblein1 ,egyptian ,religion1 p4 #g4 ,the gods1 in fact1 of the earliest monuments were beasts4 ,here is one of the points in which a great alteration developed itself in the midst of ,egyptian religion4 ,till the twelfth dynasty1 when a god is mentioned 7and in those very ancient remains gods are not mentioned often71 he is represented by his animal1 or with the name spelled out in hieroglyphs1 often beside the bird or beast499 ,the jackal stands for ,anup 7,anubis71 the frog for ,hekt1 the baboon for ,tahuti 7,thoth74 ,it is not till after ,semitic influence had begun to work in the country that any figures of gods are found4 ,by figures of gods are meant the later man-shaped or semi-man-shaped images1 the hawk-headed1 jackal-headed1 and similar representations with which we are familiar in the museums4 ,the change begins with the twelfth dynasty1 but becomes most marked under the eighteenth4 ,during the ancient empire1 says ,m4 ,maspero1 ,i only find monuments at four points--at ,memphis1 at ,abydos1 in some parts of ,middle ,egypt1 at ,sinai1 and in the valley of ,hammamat4 ,the divine names appear but occasionally1 in certain unvaried formulae4 ,under the eleventh and twelfth dynasties ,lower ,egypt comes on the scene4 ,the formulae are more explicit1 but the religious monuments rare4 ,from the eighteenth dynasty onwards1 we have representations of all the deities1 accompanied by legends more or less developed1 and we begin to discover books of ritual1 hymns1 amulets1 and other objects49999 ,there are also sacred texts in the ,pyramids4 99 ,flinders ,petrie1 ,arts of ,ancient ,egypt1 p4 #h4 9999 ,revue de l',histoire des ,religions1 i4 #abd4 ,other changes1 less important than that which turned the beast-god into a divine man or woman1 often beast-headed1 are traced in the very earliest ages4 ,the ritual of the holy bulls 7,hapi1 ,apis7 makes its official appearance under the fourth king of the first1 and the first king of the second dynasties499 ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf1 admitting this1 thinks the great development of bull-worship later49999 ,in the third dynasty the name of ,ra1 sun1 comes to be added to the royal names of kings1 as ,nebkara1 ,noferkara1 and so forth4999999 ,osiris becomes more important than the jackal-god as the guardian of the dead4 ,sokar1 another god of death1 shows a tendency to merge himself in ,osiris4 ,with the successes of the eighteenth dynasty in ,thebes1 the process of syncretism1 by which various god-names and god-natures are mingled1 so as to unite the creeds of different nomes and provinces1 and blend all in the worship of the ,theban ,ammon ,ra1 is most notable4 ,now arise schools of theology2 pantheism and an approach to monotheism in the ,theban god become probable results of religious speculations and imperial success4 ,these tendencies are baffled by the break-up of the ,theban supremacy1 but the monotheistic idea remains in the esoteric dogmas of priesthoods1 and survives into ,neo-,platonism4 ,special changes are introduced--now1 as in the case of worship of the solar disk by a heretic king2 earlier1 as in the prevalence of ,set-worship1 perhaps by ,semitic invaders499999999 99 ,brugsch1 ,history of ,egypt1 ,english transl41 i4 #ei1 #fj4 9999 ,hib4 ,lect41 pp4 #bcg1 #bch4 999999 ,op4 cit4 i4 p4 #ef4 99999999 ,for ,khunaten1 and his heresy of the disk in ,thebes1 see ,brugsch1 op4 cit41 i4 #ddb4 ,it had little or no effect on myth4 ,tiele says 7,hist4 ,egypt4 ,rel41 p4 #di71 ,from the most remote antiquity ,set is one of the ,osirian circle1 and is thus a genuine ,egyptian deity4 ,it is impossible here to do more than indicate the kind of modification which ,egyptian religion underwent4 ,throughout it remained constant in certain features1 namely1 the local character of its gods1 their usefulness to the dead 7their ,chthonian aspect71 their tendency to be merged into the sun1 ,ra1 the great type and symbol and source of life1 and1 finally1 their inability to shake off the fur and feathers of the beasts1 the earliest form of their own development4 ,thus life1 death1 sky1 sun1 bird1 beast and man are all blended in the religious conceptions of ,egypt4 ,here follow two hymns to ,osiris1 hymns of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties1 which illustrate the confusion of lofty and almost savage ideas1 the coexistence of notions from every stage of thought1 that make the puzzle of ,egyptian mythology4 ,hail to thee1 ,osiris1 eldest son of ,seb1 greatest of the six deities born of ,nut1 chief favourite of thy father1 ,ra1 the father of fathers2 king of time1 master of eternity2 one in his manifestations1 terrible4 ,when he left the womb of his mother he united all the crowns1 he fixed the urseus 7emblem of sovereignty7 on his head4 ,god of many shapes1 god of the unknown name1 thou who hast many names in many provinces2 if ,ra rises in the heavens1 it is by the will of ,osiris2 if he sets1 it is at the sight of his glory499 ,in another hymn9999 ,osiris is thus addressed3 ,king of eternity1 great god1 risen from the waters that were in the beginning1 strong hawk1 king of gods1 master of souls1 king of terrors1 lord of crowns1 thou that art great in ,hnes1 that dost appear at ,mendes in the likeness of a ram1 monarch of the circle of gods1 king of ,amenti 7,hades71 revered of gods and men1 who so knoweth humility and reckoneth deeds of righteousness1 thereby knows he ,osiris4999999 99 ,from ,abydos1 nineteenth dynasty4 ,maspero1 ,musee de ,boulaq1 pp4 #di1ej4 9999 ,twentieth dynasty4 ,op4 cit41 p4 #dh4 999999 ,this phase of religious thought1 says ,mr4 ,page ,renouf1 speaking of what he calls monotheism1 is chiefly presented to us in a large number of hymns1 beginning with the earliest days of the eighteenth dynasty4 ,it is certainly much more ancient1 but4444 none of the hymns of that time have come down to us4 ,see a very remarkable pantheistic hymn to ,osiris1 lord of holy transformations1 in a passage cited1 ,hib4 ,lect41 p4 #bah1 and the hymns to ,amnion ,ra1 closely approaching the language of monotheism1 pp4 #bbe1 #bbf4 ,excellent examples of pantheistic litanies of ,ra are translated from originals of the nineteenth dynasty1 in ,records of the ,past1 viii4 #aje-abh4 ,the royal ,osiris is identified with ,ra4 ,here1 too1 it is told how ,ra smote ,apap1 the serpent of evil1 the ,egyptian ,ahi4 ,here the noblest moral sentiments are blended with ,oriental salutations in the worship of a god who1 for the moment1 is recognised as lord of lords1 but who is also a ram at ,mendes4 ,this apparent confusion of ideas1 and this assertion of supremacy for a god who1 in the next hymn1 is subjected to another god1 mark civilised polytheism2 but the confusion was increased by the extreme age of the ,egyptian faith1 and by the doubt that prevailed as to the meaning of tradition4 ,the seventeenth chapter of the ,book of the ,dead which seems to contain a statement of the system of the universe as understood at ,heliopolis under the first dynasties1 is known to us by several examples of the eleventh and twelfth dynasties4 ,each of the verses had already been interpreted in three or four different ways2 so different1 that1 according to one school1 the ,creator1 ,ra-,show1 was the solar fire2 according to another school1 not the fire1 but the waters6 ,the ,book of the ,dead1 in fact1 is no book1 but collections of pamphlets1 so to speak1 of very different dates4 ,plan or unity cannot be expected1 and glosses only some four thousand years old have become imbedded in really ancient texts499 ,fifteen centuries later the number of interpretations had considerably increased49999 ,where the ,egyptians themselves were in helpless doubt1 it would be vain to offer complete explanations of their opinions and practices in detail2 but it is possible1 perhaps1 to account for certain large elements of their beliefs1 and even to untie some of the knots of the ,osirian myth4 ,the strangest feature in the rites of ,egypt was animal-worship1 which appeared in various phases4 ,there was the local adoration of a beast1 a bird1 or fish1 to which the neighbours of other districts were indifferent or hostile4 ,there was the presence of the animal in the most sacred penetralia of the temple2 and there was the god conceived of1 on the whole1 as anthropomorphic1 but often represented in art1 after the twelfth dynasty1 as a man or woman with the head of a bird or beast4999999 99 ,cf4 ,tiele1 ,hist ,egypt4 ,rel41 pp4 #bf-bi1 and notes4 9999 ,maspero1 ,musee de ,boulaq1 p4 #adi4 999999 ,as to the animals which were sacred and might not be eaten in various nomes1 an account will be found in ,wilkinson's ,ancient ,egyptians1 ii4 #dfg4 ,the ,english reader will find many beast-headed gods in the illustrations to vol4 iii4 ,the edition referred to is ,birch's1 ,london1 #ahgh4 ,a more scientific authority is ,lanzoni1 ,dizion4 ,mit4 ,these points in ,egyptian religion have been the great puzzle both of antiquity and of modern mythology4 ,the common priestly explanations varied4 ,sometimes it was said that the gods had concealed themselves in the guise of beasts during the revolutionary wars of ,set against ,horus499 ,often1 again1 animal-worship was interpreted as symbolical2 it was not the beast1 but the qualities which he personified that were adored49999 ,thus ,anubis1 really a jackal1 is a dog1 in the explanations of ,plutarch1 and is said to be worshipped for his fidelity1 or because he can see in the night1 or because he is the image of time4 ,as he brought forth all things out of himself1 and contains all things within himself1 he gets the title of dog4999999 ,once more1 and by a nearer approach to what is probably the truth1 the beast-gods were said to be survivals of the badges 7representing animals7 of various tribal companies in the forces of ,osiris4 ,such were the ideas current in ,graeco-,roman speculation1 nor perhaps is there any earlier evidence as to the character of native interpretation of animal-worship4 ,the opinion has also been broached that beast-worship in ,egypt is a refraction from the use of hieroglyphs4 ,if the picture of a beast was one of the signs in the writing of a god's name1 adoration might be transferred to the beast from the god4 ,it is by no means improbable that this process had its share in producing the results499999999 ,some of the explanations of animal-worship which were popular of old are still in some favour4 99 ,de ,is4 et ,os41 lxxii4 9999 ,op4 cit41 xi4 999999 ,ibid41 xliv4 99999999 ,pietschmann1 op4 cit41 p4 #afc1 contends that the animal-worship is older than these ,egyptian modes of writing the divine names1 say of ,amnion ,ra or ,hathor4 ,moreover1 the signs were used in writing the names because the gods were conceived of in these animal shapes4 ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf appears to hold that there was something respectably mythical in the worship of the inhabitants of zoological and botanical gardens1 something holy apparent at least to the devout499 ,he quotes the opinion attributed to ,apollonius of ,tyana1 that the beasts were symbols of deity1 not deities1 and this was the view of a grave opponent4 ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf also mentions ,porphyry's theory1 that under the semblance of animals the ,egyptians worship the universal power which the gods have revealed in the various forms of living nature49999 ,it is evident1 of course1 that all of these theories may have been held by the learned in ,egypt1 especially after the ,christian era1 in the times of ,apollonius and ,porphyry2 but that throws little light on the motives and beliefs of the pyramid-builders many thousands of years before1 or of the contemporary peasants with their worship of cats and alligators4 ,in short1 the systems of symbolism were probably made after the facts1 to account for practices whose origin was obscure4 ,yet another hypothesis is offered by ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf1 and in the case of ,set and the hippopotamus is shared by ,m4 ,maspero4 ,tiele also remarks that some beasts were promoted to godhead comparatively late1 because their names resembled names of gods4999999 99 ,hibbert ,lectures1 pp4 #f1 #g4 9999 ,de ,abst41 iv4 c4 #i4 999999 ,theolog4 ,tidjsch41 #abth year1 p4 #bfa4 ,the gods1 in certain cases1 received their animal characteristics by virtue of certain unconscious puns or mistakes in the double senses of words4 ,seb is the earth4 ,seb is also the ,egyptian name for a certain species of goose1 and1 in accordance with the homonymous tendency of the mythological period of all nations1 the god and the bird were identified499 ,seb was called the ,great ,cackler49999 ,again1 the god ,thoth was usually represented with the head of an ibis4 ,a mummied ibis in the human form is made to represent the god ,thoth4999999 ,this connection between ,thoth and the ibis ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf explains at some length as the result of an etymological confusion499999999 ,thus metaphorical language reacted upon thought1 and1 as in other religions1 obtained the mastery4 ,while these are the views of a distinguished modern ,egyptologist1 another ,egyptologist1 not less distinguished1 is of an entirely opposite opinion as to the question on the whole4 ,it is possible1 nay1 certain1 writes ,m4 ,maspero1 that during the second ,theban empire the learned priests may have thought it well to attribute a symbolical sense to certain bestial deities4 ,but whatever they may have worshipped in ,thoth-,ibis1 it was a bird1 and not a hieroglyph1 that the first worshippers of the ibis adored49999999999 ,m4 ,meyer is of the same opinion1 and so are ,professor ,tiele and ,m4 ,perrot4999999999999 99 ,for a statement of the theory of homonymous tendency1 see ,selected ,essays1 ,max ,mueller1 i4 #bii1 #bde4 ,for a criticism of the system1 see ,mythology in ,encyclop1 ,brit41 or in ,la ,mythologie1 ,a4 ,lang1 ,paris1 #ahhf4 9999 ,hibbert ,lectures1 #ahhj1 p4 #aaa4 999999 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #cbe4 99999999 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #aaf1 #aag1 #bcg4 9999999999 ,revue de ,v ,histoire des ,religions1 vol4 i4 999999999999 ,meyer1 ,oeschichte des ,alterthums1 p4 #gb2 ,tiele1 ,manuel1 p4 #de2 ,perrot and ,chipiez1 ,egyptian ,art1 ,english transl41 i4 #ed4 ,hist4 ,egypt4 ,rel41 pp4 #ig1 #ajc4 ,tiele finds the origin of this animal-worship in animism1 and supposes that the original colonists or conquerors from ,asia found it prevalent in and adopted it from an ,african population4 ,professor ,tiele does not appear1 when he wrote this chapter1 to have observed the world-wide diffusion of animal-worship in totem ism1 for he says1 ,nowhere else does the worship of animals prevail so extensively as among ,african peoples4 ,while the learned have advanced at various periods these conflicting theories of the origin of ,egyptian animal-worship1 a novel view was introduced by ,mr4 ,m',lennan4 ,in his essays on ,plant and ,animal ,worship1 he regarded ,egyptian animal-worship as only a consecrated and elaborate survival of totemism4 ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf has ridiculed the school-boy authorities on which ,mr4 ,m',lennan relied499 ,nevertheless1 ,mr4 ,m',lennan's views are akin to those to which ,m4 ,maspero and ,,mm4 ,perrot and ,chipiez are attached1 and they have also the support of ,professor ,sayce4 ,these animal forms1 in which a later myth saw the shapes assumed by the affrighted gods during the great war between ,horus and ,typhon1 take us back to a remote prehistoric age1 when the religious creed of ,egypt was still totemism4 ,they are survivals from a long-forgotten past1 and prove that ,egyptian civilisation was of slow and independent growth1 the latest stage only of which is revealed to us by the monuments4 ,apis of ,memphis1 ,mnevis of ,heliopolis1 and ,pachis of ,hermonthis are all links that bind together the ,egypt of the ,pharaohs and the ,egypt of the stone age4 ,these were the sacred animals of the clans which first settled in these localities1 and their identification with the deities of the official religion must have been a slow process1 never fully carried out1 in fact1 in the minds of the lower classes49999 99 ,hibbert ,lectures1 pp4 #f1 #cj4 9999 ,herodotus1 p4 #cdd4 ,thus it appears that1 after all1 even on philological showing1 the religions and myths of a civilised people may be illustrated by the religions and myths of savages4 ,it is in the study of savage totemism that we too seek a partial explanation of the singular ,egyptian practices that puzzled the ,greeks and ,romans1 and the ,egyptians themselves4 ,to some extent the ,egyptian religious facts were purely totemistic in the strict sense4 ,some examples of the local practices and rites which justify this opinion may be offered4 ,it has been shown that the totem of each totem-kindred among the lower races is sacred1 and that there is a strict rule against eating1 or even making other uses of1 the sacred animal or plant499 ,at the same time1 one totem-kindred has no scruple about slaying or eating the totem of any other kindred4 ,now similar rules prevailed in ,egypt1 and it is not easy for the school which regards the holy beasts as emblems1 or as the results of misunderstood language1 to explain why an emblem was adored in one village and persecuted and eaten in the next4 ,but if these usages be survivals of totemism1 the practice at once ceases to be isolated1 and becomes part of a familiar1 if somewhat obscure1 body of customs found all over the world4 ,the same animal which was revered and forbidden to be slaughtered for the altar or the table in one part of the country was sacrificed and eaten in another49999 99 ,this must be taken generally4 ,see ,spencer and ,gillen in the ,natives of ,central ,australia1 where each kin helps the others to kill its own totem4 9999 ,wilkinson1 ,ancient ,egyptians1 ii4 #dfg4 ,herodotus bears testimony to this habit in an important passage4 ,he remarks that the people of the ,theban nome whose god1 ,ammon ,ra1 or ,khnum1 was ram-headed1 abstain from sheep and sacrifice goats2 but the people of ,mendes1 whose god was goat-headed1 abstain from goats1 sacrifice sheep1 and hold all goats in reverence499 ,these local rites1 at least in ,roman times1 caused civil brawls1 for the customs of one town naturally seemed blasphemous to neighbours with a different sacred animal4 ,thus when the people of ,dog-town were feasting on the fish called oxyrrhyncus1 the citizens of the town which revered the oxyrrhyncus began to eat dogs1 to which there is no temptation4 ,hence arose a riot49999 99 ,herodotus1 ii4 #db-df4 ,the goat-headed ,mendesian god ,pan1 as ,herodotus calls him1 is recognised by ,dr4 ,birch as the goat-headed ,ba-en-tattu4 ,wilkinson1 ii4 #eab1 note #b4 9999 ,de ,is4 et ,os41 #ga1 #gb4 ,the most singular detail in ,juvenal's famous account of the war between the towns of ,ombi and ,tentyra does not appear to be a mere invention4 ,they fought because each place loathes the gods of its neighbours4 ,the turmoil began at a sacred feast1 and the victors devoured one of the vanquished4 ,now if the religion were really totemistic1 the worshippers would be of the same blood as the animal they worshipped1 and in eating an adorer of the crocodile1 his enemies would be avenging the eating of their own sacred beast4 ,when that beast was a crocodile1 probably nothing but starvation or religious zeal could induce people to taste his unpalatable flesh4 ,yet in the city ,apollinopolis it is the custom that every one must by all means eat a bit of crocodile2 and on one day they catch and kill as many crocodiles as they can1 and lay them out in front of the temple 4 ,the mythic reason was that ,typhon1 in his flight from ,horus1 took the shape of a crocodile4 ,yet he was adored at various places where it was dangerous to bathe on account of the numbers and audacity of the creatures4 ,mummies of crocodiles are found in various towns where the animal was revered499 ,it were tedious to draw up a list of the local sacred beasts of ,egypt29999 but it seems manifest that the explanation of their worship as totems at once colligates it with a familiar set of phenomena4 ,the symbolic explanations1 on the other hand1 are clearly fanciful1 mere jeux d'esprit4 ,for example1 the sacred shrew-mouse was locally adored1 was carried to ,butis on its death1 and its mummy buried with care1 but the explanation that it received divine honours because it is blind1 and darkness is more ancient than light1 by no means accounts for the mainly local respect paid to the little beast4999999 99 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #cbi4 ,compare ,a,elian1 x4 #bd1 on the enmity between worshippers of crocodiles and hawks 7and ,strabo1 xvii4 #eeh74 ,the hawk-worshippers averred that the hawk was a symbol of fire2 the crocodile people said that their beast was an emblem of water2 but why one city should be so attached to water-worship and its neighbour to tire-worship does not appear4 9999 ,a good deal of information will be found in ,wilkinson's third volume1 but must be accepted with caution4 999999 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #cc2 ,plutarch1 ,sympos41 iv4 quaest4 #e2 ,herodot1 ii4 #fg4 ,if this explanation of the local worship of sacred beasts be admitted as plausible1 the beast-headed gods1 or many of them1 may be accounted for in the same way4 ,it is always in a town where a certain animal is locally revered that the human-shaped god wearing the head of the same animal finds the centre and chief holy place of his worship4 ,the cat is great in ,bubastis1 and there is ,bast1 and also the cat-headed ,sekhet99 of ,memphis4 ,the sheep was great in ,thebes1 and there was the sacred city of the ram-headed ,khnum or ,ammon ,ra49999 ,if the crocodile was held in supreme regard at ,ombos1 there1 too1 was the sacred town of the crocodile-headed god1 ,sebak4 99 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #bhf4 ,but the cat1 though ,bubastis was her centre and metropolis1 was sacred all over the land4 ,nor was puss only in this proud position4 ,some animals were universally worshipped4 9999 ,the inconsistencies of statement about this ram-headed deity in ,wilkinson are most confusing4 ,ammon is an adjective hidden1 and is connected with the ram-headed ,khnum1 and with the hawk-headed ,ra1 the sun4 ,while ,greek writers like ,porphyry and ,plutarch and ,jamblichus repeat the various and inconsistent ,egyptian allegorical accounts of the origin of those beast-headed gods1 the facts of their worship and chosen residence show that the gods are only semi-anthropomorphic refinements or successors of the animals4 ,it has been said that these representations are later in time1 and it is probable that they are later in evolution1 than the representations of the deities as mere animals4 ,nor1 perhaps1 is it impossible to conjecture how the change in art was made4 ,it is a common ritual custom for the sacrificer to cover himself with the skin and head of the animal sacrificed4 ,in ,mexico we know that the ,aztec priests wore the flayed skins of their human victims4 ,herodotus mentions that on the one awful day when a sheep was yearly sacrificed in ,thebes1 the statue of ,zeus1 as he calls him1 was draped in the hide of the beast4 ,in the same way certain ,californian tribes which worship the buzzard sacrifice him1 himself to himself1 once a year1 and use his skin as a covering in the ritual499 ,lucian gives an instance in his treatise ,de ,dea ,syria 7#ee73 ,when a man means to go on pilgrimage to ,hierapolis1 he sacrifices a sheep and eats of its flesh4 ,he then kneels down and draws the head over his own head1 praying at the same time to the god4 ,chaldean works of art often represent the priest in the skin of the god1 sometimes in that of a fish49999 ,it is a conjecture not unworthy of consideration that the human gods with bestial heads are derived from the aspect of the celebrant clad in the pelt of the beast whom he sacrifices4 ,in ,egyptian art the heads of the gods are usually like masks1 or flayed skins superimposed on the head of a man4999999 ,if it be asked why the celebrant thus disguises himself in the sacrifice1 it is only possible to reply by guess-work4 ,but the hypothesis may be hazarded that this rite was one of the many ways in which the sacred animal has been propitiated in his death by many peoples4 ,it is a kind of legal fiction to persuade him that1 like the bear in the ,finnish ,kalewala and in the ,red ,indian and ,australian legend1 he does not die4 ,his skin is still capering about on other shoulders499999999 99 ,robinson1 ,life in ,california1 pp4 #bda1 #hjc2 ,herodotus1 ii4 #db4 9999 ,menant1 ,recherehes1 ii4 #di4 ,see a collection of cases in our ,cupid and ,psyche1 pp4 lviii41 lix4 999999 ,the idea is ,professor ,robertson ,smith's4 99999999 ,for examples of propitiation of slain animals by this and other arts1 see ,prim4 ,cult1 i4 #dfg1 #dfi4 ,when the ,koriaks slay a bear or wolf1 they dress one of their people in his skin1 and dance round him1 chanting excuses4 ,we must not forget1 while offering this hypothesis of the origin of beast-headed gods1 that representations of this kind in art may only be a fanciful kind of shorthand4 ,everyone knows the beasts which1 in ,christian art1 accompany the four ,evangelists4 ,these do not1 of course1 signify that ,st4 ,john was of the eagle totem kin1 and ,st4 ,mark of the stock of the lion4 ,they are the beasts of ,ezekiel and the ,apocalypse1 regarded as types of the four ,gospel writers4 ,moreover1 in mediaeval art1 the ,evangelists are occasionally represented with the heads of their beasts--,john with an eagle's head1 ,mark with a lion's1 ,luke with that of an ox4 ,see ,bulletin1 ,com4 ,hist4 ,archeol41 iv4 #aheb4 ,for this note ,i am indebted to ,m4 ,h4 ,gaidoz4 ,while ,egyptian myth1 religion and ritual is thus connected with the beliefs of the lower races1 the animal-worship presents yet another point of contact4 ,not only were beasts locally adored1 but gods were thought of and represented in the shape of various different beasts4 ,how did the evolution work its way8 what is the connection between a lofty spiritual conception1 as of ,ammon ,ra1 the lord of righteousness1 and ,osiris1 judge of the dead1 and bulls1 rams1 wolves1 cranes1 hawks1 and so forth8 ,osiris especially had quite a collection of bestial heads1 and appeared in divers bestial forms499 ,the bull ,hapi was a fair and beautiful image of the soul of ,osiris1 in late ritual49999 ,we have read a hymn in which he is saluted as a ram4 ,he also taketh the character of the god ,bennu1 with the head of a crane1 and as ,sokar ,osiris has the head of a hawk4999999 ,these phenomena could not but occur1 in the long course of time1 when political expediency1 in ,egypt1 urged the recognition of the identity of various local deities4 ,in the same way ,ammon ,ra1 like most of the gods1 frequently took the character of other deities1 as ,khem1 ,ra and ,chnumis1 and even the attributes of ,osiris 499999999 99 ,cf4 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #hf1 #hg4 9999 ,de ,is4 et ,os41 #bi4 999999,wilkinson1 iii4 #hb4 99999999,op4 cit41 iii1 #i4 ,there was a constant come and go of attributes1 and gods adopted each other's symbols1 as kings and emperors wear the uniform of regiments in each other's service4 ,moreover1 it is probable that the process so amply illustrated in ,samoan religion had its course in ,egypt1 and that different holy animals might be recognised as aspects of the same deity4 ,finally1 the intricate connection of gods and beasts is no singular or isolated phenomenon4 ,from ,australia upwards1 a god1 perhaps originally1 conceived of as human and moral in character1 is also recognised in a totem1 as ,pund-jel in the eagle-hawk4 ,thus the confusion of ,egyptian religion is what was inevitable in a land where new and old did not succeed and supersede each other1 but coexisted on good terms4 ,had religion not been thus confused1 it would have been a solitary exception among the institutions of the country4 ,the peculiarity of ,egypt1 in religion and myth as in every other institution1 is the retention of the very rudest and most barbarous things side by side with the last refinements of civilisation 7,tiele1 ,manuel1 p4 #dd74 ,the existence of this conservatism 7by which we profess to explain the ,egyptian myths and worship7 is illustrated1 in another field1 by the arts of everyday life1 and by the testimony of the sepulchres of ,thebes4 ,m4 ,passalacqua1 in some excavations at ,quoarnah 7,gurna71 struck on the common cemetery of the ancient city of ,thebes4 ,here he found the mummy of a hunter1 with a wooden bow and twelve arrows1 the shaft made of reed1 the points of hardened wood tipped with edged flints4 ,hard by lay jewels belonging to the mummy of a young woman1 pins with ornamental heads1 necklaces of gold and lapis-lazuli1 gold earrings1 scarabs of gold1 bracelets of gold1 and so forth 7,chabas1 ,etudes sur l',antiquity ,historique1 p4 #cij74 ,the refined art of the gold-worker was contemporary1 and this at a late period1 with the use of flint-headed arrows1 the weapons commonly found all over the world in places where the metals had never penetrated4 ,again1 a razor-shaped knife of flint has been unearthed2 it is inscribed in hieroglyphics with the words1 ,the great ,sam1 son of ,ptah1 chief of artists 4 ,the ,sams were members of the priestly class1 who fulfilled certain mystic duties at funerals4 ,it is reported by ,herodotus that the embalmers opened the bodies of the dead with a knife of stone2 and the discovery of such a knife1 though it had not belonged to an embalmer1 proves that in ,egypt the stone age did not disappear1 but coexisted throughout with the arts of metal-working4 ,it is alleged that flint chisels and stone hammers were used by the workers of the mines in ,sinai1 even under ,dynasties ,,xii41 ,,xix4 ,the soil of ,egypt1 when excavated1 constantly shows that the ,egyptians1 who in the remote age of the pyramid-builders were already acquainted with bronze1 and even with iron1 did not therefore relinquish the use of flint knives and arrow-heads when such implements became cheaper than tools of metal1 or when they were associated with religion4 ,precisely in the same way did the ,egyptians1 who1 in the remotest known times1 had imposing religious ideas1 decline to relinquish the totems and beast-gods and absurd or blasphemous myths which 7like flint axes and arrow-heads7 are everywhere characteristic of savages4 ,the fact is1 that the ,egyptian mind1 when turned to divine matters1 was constantly working on1 and working over1 the primeval stuff of all mythologies and of all religions4 ,first1 there is the belief in a moral guardian and father of men2 this is expressed in the sacred hymns4 ,next1 there is the belief in a strange and powerful race1 supposed to have been busy on earth before the making1 or the evolution1 or the emergence of man2 this is expressed in the mythical legends4 ,the ,egyptians inherited a number of legends of extra-natural heroes1 not unlike the savage ,qat1 ,cagn1 ,yehl1 ,pund-jel1 ,ioskeha and ,quahteaht1 the ,maori ,tutenganahau and the ,south ,sea ,tangaroa4 ,some of these were elemental forces1 personified in human or bestial guise2 some were merely idealised medicine-men4 ,their wanderings1 rapes and manslaughters and mutilations1 as ,plutarch says1 remained permanently in legend4 ,when these beings1 in the advance of thought1 had obtained divine attributes1 and when the conception of abstract divinity1 returning1 perhaps1 to its first form1 had become pure and lofty1 the old legends became so many stumbling-blocks to the faithful4 ,they were explained away as allegories 7every student having his own allegorical system71 or the extranatural beings were taken 7as by ,plutarch7 to be demons1 not gods 4 ,a brief and summary account of the chief figures in the ,egyptian pantheon will make it sufficiently plain that this is a plausible theory of the gods of ,egypt1 and a probable interpretation of their adventures4 ,accepting the classification proposed by ,m4 ,maspero1 and remembering the limitations under which it holds good1 we find that3-- #a4 ,the gods of death and the dead were ,sokari1 ,isis and ,osiris1 the young ,horus and ,nephthys499 #b4 ,the elemental gods were ,seb and ,nut1 of whom ,seb is the earth and ,nut the heavens4 ,these two1 like heaven and earth in almost all mythologies1 are represented as the parents of many of the gods4 ,the other elemental deities are but obscurely known4 #c4 ,among solar deities are at once recognised ,ra and others1 but there was a strong tendency to identify each of the gods with the sun1 especially to identify ,osiris with the sun in his nightly absence49999 ,each god1 again1 was apt to be blended with one or more of the sacred animals4 ,ra1 in his transformations1 assumed the form of the lion1 cat and hawk4999999 ,the great cat in the alley of persea trees at ,heliopolis1 which is ,ra1 crushed the serpent499999999 99 ,their special relation to the souls of the departed is matter for a separate discussion4 9999 ,the gods of the dead and the elemental gods were almost all identified with the sun1 for the purpose of blending them in a theistic unity 7,maspero1 ,rev4 de l'hist4 des ,rel41 i4 #abf74 999999 ,birch1 in ,wilkinson1 iii4 #ei4 999999,le ,page ,renouf1 op4 cit41 p4 #aad4 ,in different nomes and towns1 it either happened that the same gods had different names1 or that analogies were recognised between different local gods2 in which case the names were often combined1 as in ,ammon-,ra1 ,sabek-,ra1 ,sokar-,osiris1 and so forth4 ,athwart all these classes and compounds of gods1 and athwart the theological attempt at constructing a monotheism out of contradictory materials1 came that ancient idea of dualism which exists in the myths of the most backward peoples4 ,as ,pund-jel in ,australia had his enemy1 the crow1 as in ,america ,yehl had his ,khanukh1 as ,ioskeha had his ,tawiscara1 so the gods of ,egypt1 and specially ,osiris1 have their ,set or ,typhon1 the spirit who constantly resists and destroys4 ,with these premises we approach the great ,osirian myth4 ,,the ,,osirian ,,myth4 ,the great ,egyptian myth1 the myth of ,osiris1 turns on the antagonism of ,osiris and ,set1 and the persistence of the blood-feud between ,set and the kindred of ,osiris499 ,to narrate and as far as possible elucidate this myth is the chief task of the student of ,egyptian mythology4 ,though the ,osiris myth1 according to ,mr4 ,le ,page ,renouf1 is as old as ,egyptian civilisation1 and though ,m4 ,maspero finds the ,osiris myth in all its details under the first dynasties1 our accounts of it are by no means so early49999 99 ,herodotus1 ii4 #add4 9999 ,the principal native documents are the ,magical ,harris ,papyrus1 of the nineteenth or twentieth dynasty1 translated by ,m4 ,chabas 7,records of the ,past1 x4 #acg72 the papyrus of ,nebseni 7eighteenth dynasty71 translated by ,m4 ,naville1 and in ,records of ,past1 x4 #aei2 the hymn to ,osiris1 on a stele 7eighteenth dynasty7 translated by ,m4 ,chabas 7,rev4 ,archeol41 #aheg2 ,records of ,past1 iv4 #ii72 ,the ,book of ,respirations1 mythically said to have been made by ,isis to restore ,osiris-- ,book of the ,breath of ,life 7the papyrus is probably of the time of the ,ptolemies--,records of ,part1 iv4 #aai72 ,the ,lamentations of ,isis and ,nephthys1 translated by ,m4 de ,horrack 7,records of ,past1 ii4 #aag74 ,there is also ,the ,book of the ,dead3 the version of ,m4 ,pierret1 7,paris1 #ahhb7 is convenient in shape 7also ,birch1 in ,bunsen1 vol4 v474 ,m4 de ,naville's new edition is elaborate and costly1 and without a translation4 ,sarcophagi and royal tombs 7,champollion7 also contain many representations of the incidents in the myth4 ,the myth of ,osiris in its details1 the laying out of his body by his wife ,isis and his sister ,nephthys1 the reconstruction of his limbs1 his mythical chest1 and other incidents connected with his myth are represented in detail in the temple of ,philae 7,birch1 ap4 ,wilkinson1 iii4 #hd74 ,the reverent awe of ,herodotus prevents him from describing the mystery-play on the sufferings of ,osiris1 which he says was acted at ,sais1 ii4 #aga1 and ii4 #fa1 #fg1 #hf4 ,probably the clearest and most consecutive modern account of the ,osiris myth is given by ,m4 ,lefebure in ,les ,yeux d',horus et ,osiris4 ,m4 ,lefebure's translations are followed in the text2 he is not1 however1 responsible for our treatment of the myth4 ,the ,ptolemaic version of the temple of ,edfou is published by ,m4 ,naville1 ,mythe d',horus 7,geneva1 #ahgj74 ,they are mainly allusive1 without any connected narrative4 ,fortunately the narrative1 as related by the priests of his own time1 is given by the author of ,de ,iside et ,osiride1 and is confirmed both by the ,egyptian texts and by the mysterious hints of the pious ,herodotus4 ,here we follow the myth as reported in the ,greek tract1 and illustrated by the monuments4 ,the reader must1 for the moment1 clear his mind of all the many theories of the meaning of the myth1 and must forget the lofty1 divine and mystical functions attributed by ,egyptian theologians and ,egyptian sacred usage to ,osiris4 ,he must read the story simply as a story1 and he will be struck with its amazing resemblances to the legends about their culture-heroes which are current among the lowest races of ,america and ,africa4 ,seb and ,nut--earth and heaven--were husband and wife4 ,in the ,de ,iside version1 the sun cursed ,nut that she should have no child in month or year2 but thanks to the cleverness of a new divine co-respondent1 five days were added to the calendar4 ,this is clearly a later edition to the fable4 ,on the first of those days ,osiris was born1 then ,typhon or ,set1 neither in due time1 nor in the right place1 but breaking through with a blow1 he leaped out from his mother's side499 99 ,de ,iside et ,osiride1 xii4 ,it is a most curious coincidence that the same story is told of ,indra in the ,rig- ,veda1 iv4 #ah1 #a4 ,this is the old and well-known path by which all the gods were born3 thou mayst not1 by other means1 bring thy mother unto death4 ,indra replies1 ,i will not go out thence1 that is a dangerous way3 right through the side will ,i burst4 ,compare 7,leland1 ,algonquin ,legends1 p4 #ae7 the birth of the ,algonquin ,typhon1 the evil ,malsumis1 the wolf4 ,glooskap said1 ',i will be born as others are'4 ,but the evil ,malsumis thought himself too great to be brought forth in such a manner1 and declared that he would burst through his mother's side4 ,mr4 ,leland's note1 containing a ,buddhist and an ,armenian parallel1 but referring neither to ,indra nor ,typhon1 shows the bona fides of the ,algonquin report4 ,the ,bodhisattva was born through his mother's right side 7,kern44 ,der ,buddhismus1 #cj74 ,the ,irish version is that our ,lord was born through the crown of the head of the ,virgin1 like ,athene4 ,saltair na ,rann1 #gebi1 #gecj4 ,se also ,liebrecht1 ,zur ,volkskunde1 p4 #dij4 ,for the ,irish and ,buddhist legends 7there is an ,anglo-,saxon parallel7 ,i am indebted to ,mr ,whitley ,stokes4 ,probably the feeling that a supernatural child should have no natural birth1 and not the borrowing of ideas1 accounts for those strange similarities of myth4 ,isis and ,nephthys were later-born sisters4 ,the ,greek version of the myth next describes the conduct of ,osiris as a culture-hero4 ,he instituted laws1 taught agriculture1 instructed the ,egyptians in the ritual of worship1 and won them from their destitute and bestial mode of living4 ,after civilising ,egypt1 he travelled over the world1 like the ,greek ,dionysus1 whom he so closely resembles in some portions of his legend that ,herodotus supposed the ,dionysiac myth to have been imported from ,egypt499 ,in the absence of ,osiris1 his evil brother1 ,typhon1 kept quiet4 ,but1 on the hero's return1 ,typhon laid an ambush against him1 like ,a,egisthus against ,agamemnon4 ,he had a decorated coffer 7mummy-case87 made of the exact length of ,osiris1 and offered this as a present to any one whom it would fit4 ,at a banquet all the guests tried it2 but when ,osiris lay down in it1 the lid was closed and fastened with nails and melted lead4 ,the coffer1 ,osiris and all1 was then thrown into the ,nile4 ,isis1 arrayed in mourning robes like the wandering ,demeter1 sought ,osiris everywhere lamenting1 and found the chest at last in an erica tree that entirely covered it4 ,after an adventure like that of ,demeter with ,triptolemus1 ,isis obtained the chest4 ,during her absence ,typhon lighted on it as he was hunting by moonlight2 he tore the corpse of ,osiris into fourteen pieces1 and scattered them abroad4 ,isis sought for the mangled remnants1 and1 whenever she found one1 buried it1 each tomb being thenceforth recognised as a grave of ,osiris4 ,precisely the same fable occurs in ,central ,australian myths of the ,alcheringa1 or legendary past49999 99 ,osiris is ,dionysus in the tongue of ,hellas 7,herodotus1 ii4 #add1 ii4 #dh74 ,most of the details of the mystery of ,osiris1 as practised by the ,egyptians1 resemble the ,dionysus mysteries of ,greece4444 ,methinks that ,melampus1 ,amythaon's son1 was well seen in this knowledge1 for it was ,melampus that brought among the ,greeks the name and rites and phallic procession of ,dionysus4 7,compare ,dels1 et ,os41 xxxv47 ,the coincidences are probably not to be explained by borrowing2 many of them are found in ,america4 9999 ,spencer and ,gillen1 p4 #cii4 ,the wives search for the murdered man's mutilated parts4 ,it is a plausible suggestion that1 if graves of ,osiris were once as common in ,egypt as cairns of ,heitsi ,eibib are in ,namaqualand to-day1 the existence of many tombs of one being might be explained as tombs of his scattered members1 and the myth of the dismembering may have no other foundation4 ,on the other hand1 it must be noticed that a swine was sacrificed to ,osiris1 at the full moon1 and it was in the form of a black swine that ,typhon assailed ,horus1 the son of ,osiris1 whose myth is a doublure or replica1 in some respects1 of the ,osirian myth itself4#a ,we may conjecture1 then1 that the fourteen portions into which the body of ,osiris was rent may stand for the fourteen days of the waning moon49999 ,it is well known that the phases of the moon and lunar eclipses are almost invariably accounted for in savage science by the attacks of a beast--dog1 pig1 dragon1 or what not--on the heavenly body4 ,either of these hypothesis 7the ,egyptians adopted the latter7999999 is consistent with the character of early myth1 but both are merely tentative suggestions499999999 99 ,in the ,edfou monuments ,set is slain and dismembered in the shape of a red hippopotamus 7,naville1 ,mythe d',horus1 p4 #g74 9999 ,the fragments of ,osiris were sixteen1 according to the texts of ,deuderah1 one for each nome4 999999 ,de ,is4 et ,os41 xxxv4 99999999 ,compare ,lefebure1 ,les ,yeux d',horus1 pp4 #dg #dh4 ,the phallus of ,osiris was not recovered1 and the totemistic habit which made the people of three different districts abstain from three different fish--lepidotus1 phagrus and oxyrrhyncus--was accounted for by the legend that these fish had devoured the missing portion of the hero's body4 ,so far the power of evil1 the black swine ,typhon1 had been triumphant4 ,but the blood-feud was handed on to ,horus1 son of ,isis and ,osiris4 ,to spur ,horus on to battle1 ,osiris returned from the dead1 like ,hamlet's father4 ,but1 as is usual with the ghosts of savage myth1 ,osiris returned1 not in human1 but in bestial form as a wolf499 ,horus was victorious in the war which followed1 and handed ,typhon over bound in chains to ,isis4 ,unluckily ,isis let him go free1 whereon ,horus pushed off her crown and placed a bull's skull on her head4 ,there the ,greek narrator ends1 but9999 he expressly declines to tell the more blasphemous parts of the story1 such as the dismemberment of ,horus and the beheading of ,isis4 ,why these myths should be considered more blasphemous than the rest does not appear4 ,it will probably be admitted that nothing in this sacred story would seem out of place if we found it in the legends of ,pund-jel1 or ,cagn1 or ,yehl1 among ,australians1 ,bushmen1 or ,utes1 whose own culture-hero1 like the ghost of ,osiris1 was a wolf4 ,this dismembering of ,osiris in particular resembles the dismembering of many other heroes in ,american myth2 for example1 of ,chokanipok1 out of whom were made vines and flint-stones4 ,objects in the mineral and vegetable world were explained in ,egypt as transformed parts or humours of ,osiris1 ,typhon and other heroes4999999 99 ,wicked squires in ,shropshire 7,miss ,burns1 ,shropshire ,folk- ,lore7 come as bulls4 ,osiris1 in the ,mendes nonie1 came as a ram 7,marietta1 ,denderah1 iv4 #ge74 9999 ,de ,is1 et ,os41 xx4 999999,magical ,text1 nineteenth dynasty1 translated by ,dr4 ,birch ,records of ,past vi4 #aae2 ,lefebure1 ,osiris1 pp4 #ajj1 #aac1abd1 #bje2 ,livre des ,morts chap4 xvii42 ,records of ,past1 x4 #hd4 ,once more1 though the ,egyptian gods are buried here and are immortal in heaven1 they have also1 like the heroes of ,eskimos and ,australians and ,indians of the ,amazon1 been transformed into stars1 and the priests could tell which star was ,osiris1 which was ,isis1 and which was ,typhon499 ,such are the wild inconsistencies which ,egyptian religion shares with the fables of the lowest races4 ,in view of these facts it is difficult to agree with ,brugsch9999 that from the root and trunk of a pure conception of deity spring the boughs and twigs of a tree of myth1 whose leaves spread into a rank impenetrable luxuriance 4 ,stories like the ,osiris myth--stories found all over the whole world--spring from no pure religious source1 but embody the delusions and fantastic dreams of the lowest and least developed human fancy and human speculation4 ,and these flourish1 like mistletoe on the oak1 over the sturdier growth of a religious conception of another root4 ,the references to the myth in papyri and on the monuments1 though obscure and fragmentary1 confirm the narrative of the ,de ,iside4 ,the coffer in which ,osiris foolishly ventured himself seems to be alluded to in the ,harris magical papyrus4999999 ,get made for me a shrine of eight cubits4 ,then it was told to thee1 ,o man of seven cubits1 ,how canst thou enter it8 ,and it had been made for thee1 and thou hast reposed in it4 99 ,custom and ,myth1 ,star ,myths2 ,de ,rouge1 ,nouv4 ,not41 p4 #aig2 ,lefebure1 ,osiris1 p4 #bac4 9999 ,religion und ,mythologie1 p4 #ii4 999999 ,records of ,past1 x4 #aed4 ,here1 too1 ,isis magically stops the mouths of the ,nile1 perhaps to prevent the coffer from floating out to sea4 ,more to the point is one of the original ,osirian hymns mentioned by ,plutarch499 ,the hymn is on a stele1 and is attributed by ,m4 ,chabas1 the translator1 to the seventeenth dynasty49999 ,osiris is addressed as the joy and glory of his parents1 ,seb and ,nut1 who overcomes his enemy4 ,his sister1 ,isis1 accords to him due funeral rites after his death and routs his foes4 ,without ceasing1 without resting1 she sought his dead body1 and wailing did she wander round the world1 nor stopped till she found him4 ,light flashed from her feathers4999999 ,horus1 her son1 is king of the world4 ,such is a precis of the mythical part of the hymn4 ,the rest regards ,osiris in his religious capacity as a sovereign of nature1 and as the guide and protector of the dead4 ,the hymn corroborates1 as far as it goes1 the narrative of the ,greek two thousand years later4 ,similar confirmation is given by ,the ,lamentations of ,isis and ,nephthys1 a papyrus found within a statue of ,osiris in ,thebes4 ,the sisters wail for the dead hero1 and implore him to come to his own abode4 ,the theory of the birth of ,horus here is that he was formed out of the scattered members of ,osiris1 an hypothesis1 of course1 inconsistent with the other myths 7especially with the myth that he dived for the members of ,osiris in the shape of a crocodile7199999999 and1 therefore1 all the more mythical4 99 ,de ,is4 et ,os41 #baa4 9999 ,rev4 ,archeol41 ,may1 #aheg4 999999 ,the ,greek version says that ,isis took the form of a swallow4 99999999 ,mariette1 ,denderah1 iv4 #gg1 #hh1 #hi4 ,the ,book of ,respirations1 finally1 contains the magical songs by which ,isis was feigned to have restored breath and life to ,osiris499 ,in the representations of the vengeance and triumph of ,horus on the temple walls of ,edfou in the ,ptolemaic period1 ,horus1 accompanied by ,isis1 not only chains up and pierces the red hippopotamus 7or pig in some designs71 who is ,set1 but1 exercising reprisals1 cuts him into pieces1 as ,set cut ,osiris4 ,isis instructs ,osiris as to the portion which properly falls to each of nine gods4 ,isis reserves his head and saddle2 ,osiris gets the thigh2 the bones are given to the cats4 ,as each god had his local habitation in a given town1 there is doubtless reference to local myths4 ,at ,edfou also the animal of ,set is sacrificed1 symbolically in his image made of paste1 a common practice in ancient ,mexico49999 99 ,records of ,past1 iv4 #aba4 9999 ,herodotus1 ii4 #dg2 ,de4 ,is4 et ,os41 #ij4 ,see also ,porphyry's ,life of ,pythagoras1 who sacrificed a bull made of paste1 ,liebrecht1 ,zur ,volkskunde1 p4 #dcf4 ,many of these myths1 as ,m4 ,naville remarks1 are doubtless ratiological3 the priests1 as in the ,brahmanas1 told them to account for peculiar parts of the ritual1 and to explain strange local names4 ,thus the names of many places are explained by myths setting forth that they commemorate some event in the campaign of ,horus against ,set4 ,in precisely the same way the local superstitions1 originally totemic1 about various animals were explained by myths attaching these animals to the legends of the gods4 ,explanations of the ,osiris myth thus handed down to us were common among the ancient students of religion4 ,many of them are reported in the familiar tract ,de ,iside et ,osiride4 ,they are all the interpretations of civilised men1 whose method is to ask themselves1 ,now1 if ,i had told such a tale as this1 or invented such a mystery-play of divine misadventures1 what meaning could ,i have intended to convey in what is apparently blasphemous nonsense8 ,there were moral1 solar1 lunar1 cosmical1 tellurian1 and other methods of accounting for a myth which1 in its origin1 appears to be one of the world-wide early legends of the strife between a fabulous good being and his brother1 a fabulous evil being4 ,most probably some incidents from a moon-myth have also crept into1 or from the first made part of1 the tale of ,osiris4 ,the enmity of ,typhon to the eyes of ,horus1 which he extinguishes1 and which are restored199 has much the air of an early mythical attempt to explain the phenomena of eclipses1 or even of sunset4 ,we can plainly see how local and tribal superstitions1 according to which this or that beast1 fish1 or tree was held sacred1 came to be tagged to the general body of the myth4 ,this or that fish was not eaten2 this or that tree was holy2 and men who had lost the true explanation of these superstitions explained them by saying that the fish had tasted1 or the tree had sheltered4 99 ,livre des ,moris1 pp4 #aab1 #aah4 ,this view of the myth1 while it does not pretend to account for every detail1 refers it to a large class of similar narratives1 to the barbarous dualistic legends about the original good and bad extra-natural beings1 which are still found current among contemporary savages4 ,these tales are the natural expression of the savage fancy1 and we presume that the myth of the mutilated ,osiris survived in ,egypt1 just as the use of flint-headed arrows and flint knives survived during millenniums in which bronze and iron were perfectly familiar4 ,the cause assigned is adequate1 and the process of survival is verified4 ,whether this be the correct theory of the fundamental facts of the myth or not1 it is certain that the myth received vast practical and religious developments4 ,orisis did not remain the mere culture-hero of whom we have read the story1 wounded in the house of his friends1 dismembered1 restored and buried1 reappearing as a wolf or bull1 or translated to a star4 ,his worship pervaded the whole of ,egypt1 and his name grew into a kind of hieroglyph for all that is divine4 ,the ,osirian type1 in its long evolution1 ended in being the symbol of the whole deified universe--underworld and world of earth1 the waters above and the waters below4 ,it is ,osiris that floods ,egypt in the ,nile1 and that clothes her with the growing grain4 ,his are the sacred eyes1 the sun that is born daily and meets a daily death1 the moon that every month is young and waxes old4 ,osiris is the soul that animates these1 the soul that vivifies all things1 and all things are but his body4 ,he is1 like ,ra of the royal tombs1 the earth and the sun1 the creator and the created499 99 ,lefebure1 ,osiris1 p4 #bdh4 ,such is the splendid sacred vestment which ,egyptian theology wove for the mangled and massacred hero of the myth4 ,all forces1 all powers1 were finally recognised in him2 he was sun and moon1 and the maker of all things2 he was the truth and the life2 in him all men were justified4 ,on the origin of the myth philology throws no light4 ,m4 ,lefebure recognises in the name ,osiris the meaning of the infernal abode1 or the nocturnal residence of the sacred eye1 for1 in the duel of ,set and ,horus1 he sees a mythical account of the daily setting of the sun499 ,osiris himself1 the sun at his setting1 became a centre round which the other incidents of the war of the gods gradually crystallised4 ,osiris is also the earth4 ,it would be difficult either to prove or disprove this contention1 and the usual divergency of opinion as to the meaning and etymology of the word ,osiris has always prevailed49999 ,the ,greek999999 identifies ,osiris with ,hades4 ,both1 says ,m4 ,lefebure1 originally meant the dwellings--and came to mean the god--of the dead4 ,in the same spirit ,anubis1 the jackal 7a beast still dreaded as a ghost by the ,egyptians71 is explained as the circle of the horizon1 or the portals of the land of darkness1 the gate kept1 as ,homer would say1 by ,hades1 the mighty warden4 ,whether it is more natural that men should represent the circle of the horizon or the twilight at sunset as a jackal1 or that a jackal-totem should survive as a god1 mythologists will decide for themselves499999999 99 ,osiris1 p4 #abi4 ,so ,lieblein1 op4 cit41 p4 #g4 9999 ,see the guesses of etymologists 7,osiris1 pp4 #acb1acc74 ,horus has even been connected with the ,greek ,hera1 as the atmosphere6 999999 ,de ,is4 ,os41 #ge4 99999999 ,le ,page ,renouf1 ,hibbert ,lectures1 pp4 #aab-aad1 #bcg4 ,the jackal1 by a myth that cannot be called pious1 was said to have eaten his father1 ,osiris4 ,mr4 ,frazers theory of ,osiris as somehow connected with vegetation will be found in his ,golden ,bough4 ,his master1 ,mannhardt1 the great writer on vegetation myths1 held that ,osiris was the sun4 ,the conclusions to be drawn from so slight a treatment of so vast a subject are1 that in ,egypt1 as elsewhere1 a mythical and a religious1 a rational and an irrational stream of thought flowed together1 and even to some extent mingled their waters4 ,the rational tendency1 declared in prayers and hymns1 amplifies the early human belief in a protecting and friendly personal power making for righteousness4 ,the irrational tendency1 declared in myth and ritual1 retains and elaborates the early human confusions of thought between man and beast and god1 things animate and inanimate4 ,on the one hand1 we have almost a recognition of supreme divinity2 on the other1 savage rites and beliefs1 shared by ,australians and ,bushmen4 ,it is not safe or scientific to call one of those tendencies earlier than the other2 perhaps we know no race so backward that it is not influenced by forms of both4 ,nor is it safe or scientific to look on ruder practices as corruptions of the purer beliefs4 ,perhaps it may never be possible to trace both streams to the same fountain-head2 probably they well up from separate springs in the nature of man4 ,we do but recognise and contrast them2 the sources of both are lost in the distance1 where history can find no record of actual experience4 ,egyptian religion and myth are thus no isolated things2 they are but the common stuff of human thought1 decorated or distorted under a hundred influences in the course of unknown centuries of years4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,gods ,,of ,,the ,,aryans ,,of ,,india4 ,difficulties of the study--,development of clan-gods-- ,departmental gods-,divine patronage of morality--,immorality mythically attributed to gods--,indra--,his love of ,soma-- ,scandal about ,indra--,attempts to explain ,indra as an elemental god--,varuna--,ushas--,the ,asvins--,their legend and theories about it--,tvashtri--,the ,maruts--,conclusions arrived at4 ,nothing in all mythology is more difficult than the attempt to get a clear view of the gods of ,vedic ,india4 ,the perplexed nature of the evidence has already been explained1 and may be briefly recapitulated4 ,the obscure documents on which we have to rely1 the ,vedas and the ,brahmanaa1 contain in solution the opinions of many different ages and of many different minds4 ,old and comparatively modern conceptions of the deities1 pious efforts to veil or to explain away what seemed crude or profane1 the puerilities of ritual1 half-conscious strivings in the direction of monotheism or pantheism1 clan or family prejudices1 rough etymological guesses1 and many other elements of doubt combine to confuse what can never have been clear4 ,savage legends1 philosophic conjectures1 individual predilections are all blended into the collection of hymns called the ,rig- ,veda4 ,who can bring order into such a chaos8 ,an attempt to unravel the tangled threads of ,indian faith must be made4 ,the gods of the ,vedas are1 on the whole1 of the usual polytheistic type1 though their forms mix into each other like shadows cast by a flickering fire4 ,the ideas which may be gathered about them from the ancient hymns have1 as usual1 no consistency and no strict orthodoxy4 ,as each bard of each bardic family celebrates a god1 he is apt to make him for the occasion the pre-eminent deity of all499 ,this way of conceiving of the gods leads naturally 7as thought advances7 in the direction of a pantheistic monotheism1 a hospitable theology which accepts each divine being as a form or manifestation of the supreme universal spirit4 ,it is easy1 however1 to detect certain attributes more or less peculiar to each god4 ,as among races far less forward in civilisation1 each of the greater powers has his own special department1 however much his worshippers may be inclined to regard him as really supreme sovereign4 ,thus ,indra is mainly concerned with thunder and other atmospheric phenomena3 these are his department2 but ,vayu is the wind or the god of the wind1 and ,agni as fire or the god of fire is necessarily not unconnected with the lightning4 ,the ,maruts1 again1 are the storm-winds1 or gods of the storm-winds2 ,mitra and ,varuna preside over day and night2 ,ushas is the dawn or the goddess of dawn1 and ,tvashtri is the mechanic among the deities1 corresponding more or less closely to the ,greek ,hephaestus4 99 ,muir1 v4 #abe4 ,compare ,muir1 i4 #cdh1 on the word ,kusikas1 implying1 according to ,benfey1 that ,indra is designated as the sole or chief deity of this tribe 4 ,cf1 also ,hang1 ,ait4 ,br41 ii4 #chd4 ,though many of these beings are still in ,vedic poetry departmental powers with provinces of their own in external ,nature1 they are also supposed to be interested not only in the worldly1 but in the moral welfare of mankind1 and are imagined to make for righteousness 4 ,it is true that the myths by no means always agree in representing the gods as themselves moral4 ,incest and other hideous offences are imputed to them1 and it is common to explain these myths as the result of the forgotten meanings of sayings which originally were only intended to describe processes of nature1 especially of the atmosphere4 ,supposing1 for the sake of argument1 that this explanation is correct1 we can scarcely be expected to think highly of the national taste which preferred to describe pure phenomena like dawn and sunset in language which is appropriate to the worst crimes in the human calendar4 ,it is certain that the ,indians1 when they came to reflect and philosophise on their own religion 7and they had reached this point before the ,veda was compiled71 were themselves horrified by the immoralities of some of their gods4 ,yet in ,vedic times these gods were already acknowledged as beings endowed with strong moral attributes and interested in the conduct of men4 ,as an example of this high ethical view1 we may quote ,mr4 ,max ,muller's translation of part of a hymn addressed to ,varuna499 99 ,rig-,veda1 ii4 #bh2 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #bhd4 ,take from me my sin like a fetter1 and we shall increase1 ,o ,varuna1 the spring of thy law4 ,let not the thread be cut while ,i weave my song6 ,let not the form of the workman break before the time4444 ,like as a rope from a calf1 remove from me my sin1 for away from thee ,i am not master even of the twinkling of an eye4444 ,move far away from me all self-committed guilt1 and may ,i not1 ,o king1 suffer for what others have committed4 ,many dawns have not yet dawned2 grant me to live in them1 ,o ,varuna4 ,what follows is not on the same level of thought1 and the next verse contains an appeal to ,varuna to save his worshipper from the effect of magic spells4 ,whether it be my companion or a friend who1 while ,i was asleep and trembling1 uttered fearful spells against me1 whether it be a thief or a wolf who wishes to hurt me1 protect us against them1 ,o ,varuna499 ,agni1 again1 the god of fire1 seems to have no original connection with righteousness4 ,yet even ,agni9999 is prayed to forgive whatever sin the worshipper may have committed through folly1 and to make him guiltless towards ,aditi4999999 ,the goddess ,aditi once more1 whether her name 7rendered the boundless7 be or be not one of the oldest names of the dawn199999999 is repeatedly called on by her worshippers to make them sinless4 ,in the same way sun1 dawn1 heaven1 soma1 and earth are implored to pardon sin4 99 ,an opposite view is expressed in ,weber's ,hist1 of ,sansk4 ,literature4 9999 ,rig- ,veda1 iv4 #ab1 #d2 viii4 #ic1 #g4 999999 ,for divergent opinions about ,aditi1 compare ,revue de l',histoire des ,religions1 xii4 #a1 pp4 #dj-db2 ,muir1 v4 #bah4 99999999 ,max ,mueller1 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #bbh4 ,though the subject might be dwelt on at very great length1 it is perhaps already apparent that the gods of the ,vedic poetry are not only potent over regions of the natural world1 but are also conceived of1 at times1 as being powers with ethical tendencies and punishers of mortal guilt4 ,it would be difficult to overstate the ethical nobility of certain ,vedic hymns1 which even now affect us with a sense of the hunger and thirst after righteousness so passionately felt by the ,hebrew psalmists4 ,how this emotion1 which seems naturally directed to a single god1 came to be distributed among a score1 it is hard to conjecture4 ,but all this aspect of the ,vedic deities is essentially the province of the science of religion rather than of mythology4 ,man's consciousness of sin1 his sense of being imperfect in the sight of larger other eyes than ours1 is a topic of the deepest interest1 but it comes but by accident into the realm of mythological science4 ,that science asks1 not with what feelings of awe and gratitude the worshipper approaches his gods1 but what myths1 what stories1 are told to or told by the worshipper concerning the origin1 personal characteristics and personal adventures of his deities4 ,as a rule1 these stories are a mere chronique scandaleuse1 full of the most absurd and offensive anecdotes1 and of the crudest fictions4 ,the deities of the ,vedic poems1 so imposing when regarded as vast natural forces1 or as the spiritual beings that master vast natural forces1 so sympathetic when looked on as merciful gods conscious of1 yet lenient towards1 the sins of perishing mortals1 have also their mythological aspect and their chronique scandaleuse499 99 ,here we must remind the reader that the ,vedas do not offer us all these tales1 nor the worst of them4 ,as ,m4 ,barth says1 ,le sentiment religieux a ecarte la plupart de ces mythes ainsi que beaucoup d'autres qui le choquaient1 mais il ne les a pas ecartes tous 7,religions de l',inde1 p4 #ad74 ,it is1 of course1 in their anthropomorphic aspect that the ,vedic deities share or exceed the infirmities of mortals4 ,the gods are not by any means always regarded as practically equal in supremacy4 ,there were great and small1 young and old gods199 though this statement1 with the habitual inconsistency of a religion without creeds and articles1 is elsewhere controverted4 ,none of you1 ,o gods1 is small or young2 you are all great49999 ,as to the immortality and the origin of the gods1 opinions are equally divided among the ,vedic poets and in the traditions collected in the ,brahmanas4 ,several myths of the origin of the gods have already been discussed in the chapter on ,aryan ,myths of the ,creation of the ,world and of ,man4 ,it was there demonstrated that many of the ,aryan myths were on a level with those current among contemporary savages all over the world1 and it was inferred that they originally sprang from the same source1 the savage imagination4 ,in this place1 while examining the wilder divine myths1 we need only repeat that1 in one legend1 heaven and earth1 conceived of as two sentient living beings of human parts and passions1 produced the ,aryan gods1 as they did the gods of the ,new ,zealanders and of other races4 ,again1 the gods were represented in the children of ,aditi1 and this might be taken either in a high and refined sense1 as if ,aditi were the infinite region from which the solar deities rise1999999 or we may hold that ,aditi is the eternal which sustains and is sustained by the gods199999999 or the ,indian imagination could sink to the vulgar and half-magical conception of ,aditi as a female1 who1 being desirous of sons1 cooked a ,brahmandana oblation for the gods1 the ,sadhyas49999999999 99 ,rig-,veda1 i4 #bg1ac4 9999 ,ibid41 viii4 #cj2 ,muir1 v4 #ab4 999999 ,max ,mueller1 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #bcj4 99999999 ,roth1 in ,muir1 iv4 #ef4 9999999999 ,taittirya ,brahmana1 i4 #a1 #i1 #a2 ,muir1 v4 #ee1 #a1 #bg4 ,various other gods and supernatural beings are credited with having created or generated the gods4 ,indra's father and mother are constantly spoken of1 and both he and other gods are often said to have been originally mortal1 and to have reached the heavens by dint of that austere fervour1 that magical asceticism1 which could do much more than move mountains4 ,the gods are thus by no means always credited in ,aryan mythology with inherent immortality4 ,like most of the other deities whose history we have been studying1 they had struggles for pre-eminence with powers of a titanic character1 the ,asuras4 ,asura1 'living1' was originally an epithet of certain powers of ,nature1 particularly of the sky1 says ,mr4 ,max ,mueller49999 ,as the gods also are recognised as powers of ,nature1 particularly of the sky1 there does not seem to be much original difference between ,devas and ,asuras4999999 ,the opposition between them may be secondary1 as ,mr4 ,max ,mueller says1 but in any case it too strongly resembles the other wars in heaven of other mythologies to be quite omitted4 ,unluckily1 the most consecutive account of the strife is to be found1 not in the hymns of the ,vedas1 but in the collected body of mythical and other traditions called the ,brahmanas499999999 9999 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #cah4 999999 ,in the ,atharva ,veda it is said that a female ,asura once drew ,indra from among the gods 7,muir1 v4 #hb74 ,thus gods and ,asuras are capable of amorous relations4 99999999 ,satapatha ,br4 ,the story in the ,brahmana begins by saying that throughout4 ,see the ,oxford translation4 ,prajapati 7the producer of things1 whose acquaintance we have made in the chapter on cosmogonic myths7 was half mortal and half immortal4 ,after creating things endowed with life1 he created ,death1 the devourer4 ,with that part of him which was mortal he was afraid of ,death1 and the gods were also afraid of this ender1 ,death4 ,the gods in this tradition are regarded as mortals4 ,compare the ,black ,yajur ,veda399 ,the gods were formerly just like men4 ,they desired to overcome want1 misery1 death1 and to go to the divine assembly4 ,they saw1 took and sacrificed with this ,chaturvimsatiratra1 and in consequence overcame want1 misery and death1 and reached the divine assembly4 ,in the same ,veda we are told that the gods and ,asuras contended together2 the gods were less numerous1 but1 as politicians make men peers1 they added to their number by placing some bricks in the proper position to receive the sacrificial fire4 ,they then used incantations3 ,thou art a multiplier2 and so the bricks became animated1 and joined the party of the gods1 and made numbers more equal49999 99 ,taittirya ,sanhita2 ,muir1 v4 #ae1 note #bb4 9999 ,according to a later legend1 or a legend which we have received in a later form1 the gods derived immortality from drinking of the churned ocean of milk4 ,they churned it with ,mount ,mandara for a staff and the serpent ,hasuki for a cord4 ,the ,ramayana and ,mahabharata ascribe this churning to the desire of the gods to become immortal4 ,according to the ,mahabharata1 a ,daitya named ,rahu insinuated himself among the gods1 and drank some of the draught of immortality4 ,vishnu beheaded him before the draught reached lower than his throat2 his head was thus immortal1 and is now a constellation4 ,he pursues the sun and moon1 who had spied him among the gods1 and causes their eclipses by his ferocity4 ,all this is on a level with ,australian mythology4 ,to return to the gods in the ,satapatha ,brahmana and their dread of death4 ,they overcame him by certain sacrifices suggested by ,prajapati4 ,death resented this1 and complained that men would now become immortal and his occupation would be gone4 ,to console him the gods promised that no man in future should become immortal with his body1 but only through knowledge after parting with his body4 ,this legend1 at least in its present form1 is necessarily later than the establishment of minute sacrificial rules4 ,it is only quoted here as an example of the opinion that the gods were once mortal and just like men4 ,it may be urged1 and probably with truth1 that this belief is the figment of religious decadence4 ,as to the victory of the gods over the ,asuras1 that is ascribed by the ,satapatha ,brahmana99 to the fact that1 at a time when neither gods nor ,asuras were scrupulously veracious1 the gods invented the idea of speaking the truth4 ,the ,asuras stuck to lying4 ,the first results not unnaturally were that the gods became weak and poor1 the ,asuras mighty and rich4 ,the gods at last overcame the ,asuras1 not by veracity1 but by the success of a magical sacrifice4 ,earlier dynasties of gods1 to which the generation of ,indra succeeded1 are not unfrequently mentioned in the ,rig- ,veda49999 99 ,muir1 iv4 #f;a4 9999 ,ibid41 v4 #af4 ,on the whole1 the accounts of the gods and of their nature present in ,aryan mythology the inconsistent anthropomorphism1 and the mixture of incongruous and often magical and childish ideas1 which mark all other mythological systems4 ,this will become still more manifest when we examine the legends of the various gods separately1 as they have been disentangled by ,dr4 ,muir and ,m4 ,bergaigne from the ,vedas1 and from the later documents which contain traditions of different dates4 ,the ,vedas contain no such orderly statements of the divine genealogies as we find in ,hesoid and ,homer4 ,all is confusion1 all is contradiction499 ,in many passages heaven and earth1 ,dyaus and ,prithivi1 are spoken of as parents of the other gods4 ,dyaus is commonly identified1 as is well known1 with ,zeus by the philologists1 but his legend has none of the fulness and richness which makes that of ,zeus so remarkable4 ,before the story of ,dyaus could become that of ,zeus1 the old ,aryan sky or heaven god had to attract into his cycle that vast collection of miscellaneous adventures from a thousand sources which fill the legend of the chief ,hellenic deity4 ,in the ,veda1 ,dyaus appears now1 as with ,prithivi19999 the parent of all1 both men and gods1 now as a created thing or being fashioned by ,indra or by ,tvashtri4999999 ,he is essentially beneficent1 but has no marked individuality1 and can only have become the ,greek ,zeus by inheriting attributes from other deities 499999999 ,another very early divine person is ,aditi1 the mother of the great and popular gods called ,adityas4 ,nothing is less certain than the derivation of the name of ,aditi1 says ,m4 ,paul ,regnaud49999999999 99 ,certain myths of the beginnings of things will be found in the chapter on cosmogonic traditions4 9999 ,muir1 v4 #ba-bd4 999999 ,ibid41 v4 #cj4 99999999 ,bergaigne1 iii4 #aab4 9999999999 ,revue de l',histoire des ,religions1 xii4 #a1 #dj4 ,m4 ,regnaud finds the root of ,aditi in ad1 to shine4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller looks for the origin of the word in a1 privative1 and da1 to bind2 thus ,aditi will mean the boundless1 the infinite1 a theory rejected by ,m4 ,regnaud4 ,the expansion of this idea1 with all its important consequences1 is worked out by ,mr4 ,max ,mueller in his ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,the dawn came and went1 but there remained always behind the dawn that heaving sea of light or fire from which she springs4 ,was not this the invisible infinite8 ,and what better name could be given than that which the ,vedic poets gave to it1 ,aditi1 the boundless1 the yonder1 the beyond all and everything4 ,this very abstract idea may have been one of the earliest intuitions and creations of the ,hindu mind 7p4 #bbi74 ,m4 ,darmesteter and ,mr4 ,whitney1 on the other hand1 explain ,aditi just as ,welcker and ,mr4 ,max ,mueller explain ,cronion4 ,there was no such thing as a goddess named ,aditi till men asked themselves the meaning of the title of their own gods1 the ,adityas4 ,that name might be interpreted children of ,aditi1 and so a goddess called ,aditi was invented to fit the name1 thus philologically extracted from ,adityas499 ,m4 ,bergaigne9999 finds that ,aditi means free1 untrammelled1 and is used both as an adjective and as a name4 99 ,the ,brahmanic legend of the birth of the ,adityas 7,aitareya ,brahmana iii4 #cc7 is too disgusting to be quoted4 9999 ,religion ,vedique1 iii4 #hh4 ,this vague and floating term was well suited to convey the pantheistic ideas natural to the ,indian mind1 and already notable in the ,vedic hymns4 ,aditi1 cries a poet1 is heaven2 ,aditi is air2 ,aditi is the father1 the mother and the son2 ,aditi is all the gods2 ,aditi is that which is born and which awaits the birth499 ,nothing can be more advanced and metaphysical4 ,meanwhile1 though ,aditi is a personage so floating and nebulous1 she figures in fairly definite form in a certain myth4 ,the ,rig-,veda 7x4 #gb1 #h7 tells us the tale of the birth of her sons1 the ,adityas4 ,eight sons were there of ,aditi1 born of her womb4 ,to the gods went she with seven2 ,martanda threw she away4 ,the ,satapatha ,brahmana throws a good deal of light on her conduct4 ,aditi had eight sons2 but there are only seven gods whom men call ,adityas4 ,the eighth she bore a shapeless lump1 of the dimensions of a man1 as broad as long1 say some4 ,the ,adityas then trimmed this ugly duckling of the family into human shape1 and an elephant sprang from the waste pieces which they threw away2 therefore an elephant partakes of the nature of man4 ,the shapen eighth son was called ,vivasvat1 the sun49999 99 ,rig- ,veda1 i4 #hi1 #aj4 9999 ,muir1 iv4 #ae4 ,it is not to be expected that many1 if any1 remains of a theriomorphic character should cling to a goddess so abstract as ,aditi4 ,when1 therefore1 we find her spoken of as a cow1 it is at least as likely that this is only part of the pleasant unconscious poetry of the ,veda1 as that it is a survival of some earlier zoomorphic belief4 ,gubernatis offers the following lucid account of the metamorphosis of the infinite 7for so he understands ,aditi7 into the humble domestic animal3 ,the inexhaustible soon comes to mean that which can be milked without end 7it would be more plausible to say that what can be milked without end soon comes to mean the inexhaustible71 and hence also a celestial cow1 an inoffensive cow1 which we must not offend4444 ,the whole heavens being thus represented as an infinite cow1 it was natural that the principal and most visible phenomena of the sky should become1 in their turn1 children of the cow4 ,aditi then is the great spotted cow4 ,thus did the ,vedic poets 7according to ,gubernatis7 descend from the unconditioned to the byre4 ,from ,aditi1 however she is to be interpreted1 we turn to her famous children1 the ,adityas1 the high gods4 ,there is no kind of consistency1 as we have so often said1 in ,vedic mythical opinion4 ,the ,adityas1 for example1 are now represented as three1 now as seven2 for three and seven are sacred numbers4 ,to the triad a fourth is sometimes added1 to the seven an eighth ,aditya4 ,the ,adityas are a brotherhood or college of gods1 but some of the members of the fraternity have more individual character than1 for example1 the ,maruts1 who are simply a company with a tendency to become confused with the ,adityas4 ,considered as a triad1 the ,adityas are ,varuna1 ,mitra1 ,aryaman4 ,the name of ,varuna is commonly derived from vri 7or ,var7199 to cover1 according to the commentator ,sayana1 because he envelops the wicked in his snares1 the nets which he carries to capture the guilty4 ,as god of the midnight sky1 ,varuna is also the covering deity1 with his universal pall of darkness4 ,varuna's name has frequently been compared to that of ,uranus 7------71 the ,greek god of heaven1 who was mutilated by his son ,cronos4 99 ,max ,mueller1 ,select ,essays1 i4 #hga4 ,supposing ,varuna to mean the heaven1 we are not much advanced1 for dyu also lias the same meaning2 yet ,dyaus and ,varuna have little in common4 ,the interpreters of the ,vedas attempted to distinguish ,mitra from ,varuna by making the former the god of the daylight1 the latter the god of the midnight vault of heaven4 ,the distinction1 like other ,vedic attempts at drawing a line among the floating phantasms of belief1 is not kept up with much persistency4 ,of all ,vedic deities1 ,varuna has the most spiritual and ethical character4 ,the grandest cosmical functions are ascribed to ,varuna4 ,his ordinances are fixed and unassailable4 ,he who should flee far beyond the sky would not escape ,varuna the king4 ,he is gracious even to him who has committed sin4 ,to be brief1 the moral sentiments1 which we have shown to be often present in a pure form1 even in the religion of savages1 find a lofty and passionate expression in the ,vedic psalms to ,varuna499 ,but even ,varuna has not shaken off all remains of the ruder mythopoeic fancy4 ,a tale of the grossest and most material obscenity is told of ,mitra and ,varuna in the ,rig- ,veda itself--the tale of the birth of ,vasistha49999 ,in the ,aitareya ,brahmana 7ii4 #dfj7 ,varuna takes a sufficiently personal form4 ,he has somehow fallen heir to a role familiar to us from the ,russian tale of ,tsar ,morskoi1 the ,gaelic ,battle of the ,birds1 and the ,scotch ,nicht1 ,nought1 nothing999999 ,varuna1 in short1 becomes the giant or demon who demands from the king the gift of his yet unborn son4 99 ,muir1 v4 #ff4 9999 ,rig4 ,veda1 vii4 #cc1 #b4 999999 ,see ,custom1 and ,myth1 ,a ,far-,travelled ,tale1 and our chapter postea1 on ,romantic ,myths4 ,harischandra is childless1 and is instructed to pray to ,varuna1 promising to offer the babe as a human sacrifice4 ,when the boy is born1 ,harischandra tries to evade the fulfilment of his promise4 ,finally a young ,brahman is purchased1 and is to be sacrificed to ,varuna as a substitute for the king's son4 ,the young ,brahman is supernaturally released4 ,thus even in ,vedic1 still more in ,brahmanic myth1 the vague and spiritual form of ,varuna is brought to shame1 or confused with some demon of lower earlier legends4 ,there are believed on somewhat shadowy evidence to be traces of a conflict between ,varuna and ,indra 7the fourth ,aditya sometimes added to the triad71 a conflict analogous to that between ,uranus and ,cronos499 ,the hymn1 as ,m4 ,bergaigne holds1 proves that ,indra was victorious over ,varuna1 and thereby obtained possession of fire and of the soma juice4 ,but these births and battles of gods1 who sometimes are progenitors of their own fathers1 and who seem to change shapes with demons1 are no more to be fixed and scientifically examined than the torn plumes and standards of the mist as they roll up a pass among the mountain pines49999 99 ,rig- ,veda1 x4 #abd4 9999 ,bergaigne1 iii4 #adg4 ,we next approach a somewhat better defined and more personal figure1 that of the famous god ,indra1 who is the nearest ,vedic analogue of the ,greek ,zeus4 ,before dealing with the subject more systematically1 it may be interesting to give one singular example of the parallelisms between ,aryan and savage mythology4 ,in his disquisition on the ,indian gods1 ,dr4 ,muir has been observing99 that some passages of the ,rig- ,veda imply that the reigning deities were successors of others who had previously existed4 ,he quotes1 in proof of this1 a passage from ,rig- ,veda1 iv4 #ah1 #ab3 ,who1 ,o ,indra1 made thy mother a widow8 ,who sought to kill thee1 lying or moving8 ,what god was present in the fray when thou didst slay thy father1 seizing him by the foot8 ,according to ,m4 ,bergaigne19999 ,indra slew his father1 ,tvashtri1 for the purpose of stealing and drinking the soma1 to which he was very partial4 ,this is rather a damaging passage1 as it appears that the ,vedic poet looked on ,indra as a parricide and a drunkard4 ,to explain this hint1 however1 ,sayana the ancient commentator1 quotes a passage from the ,black ,yajur ,veda which is no explanation at all4 ,but it has some interest for us1 as showing how the myths of ,aryans and ,hottentots coincide1 even in very strange details4 ,yajna 7sacrifice7 desired ,dakshina 7largesse74 ,he consorted with her4 ,indra was apprehensive of this4 ,he reflected1 ,whoever is born of her will be this4 ,he entered into her4 ,indra himself was born of her4 ,he reflected1 ,whoever is born of her besides me will be this4 ,having considered1 he cut open her womb4 ,she produced a cow4 ,here we have a high ,aryan god passing into and being born from the womb of a being who also bore a cow4 ,the ,hottentot legend of the birth of their god1 ,heitsi ,eibib1 is scarcely so repulsive4999999 99 ,sanskrit ,texts1 v4 #af1ag4 9999 ,religion ,vedique1 iii4 #ii4 999999 ,tsuni ,goam1 ,hahn1 p4 ,there was grass growing1 and a cow came and ate of that grass1 and she became pregnant 7as ,hera of ,ares in ,greek myth71 and she brought forth a young bull4 ,and this bull became a very large bull4 ,and the people came together one day in order to slaughter him4 ,but he ran away down hill1 and they followed him to turn him back and catch him4 ,but when they came to the spot where he had disappeared1 they found a man making milk tubs4 ,they asked this man1 ,where is the bull that passed down here8 ,he said1 ,i do not know2 has he then passed here8 ,and all the while it was he himself1 who had again become ,heitsi ,eibib4 ,thus the birth of ,heitsi ,eibib resembled that of ,indra as described in ,rig-,veda1 iv4 #ah1 #aj4 ,his mother1 a cow1 bore ,indra1 an unlicked calf499 ,whatever view we may take of this myth1 and of the explanation in the ,brahmana1 which has rather the air of being an invention to account for the ,vedic cow-mother of ,indra1 it is certain that the god is not regarded as an uncreated being49999 99 ,ludwig1 ,die farse hat den groszen1 starken1 nicht zu venoundenden stier1 den tosenden ,indra1 geboren4 9999 ,as to the etymological derivation and original significance of the name of ,indra1 the greatest differences exist among philologists4 ,yaska gives thirteen guesses of old1 and there are nearly as many modern conjectures4 ,in #ahdf ,roth described ,indra as the god of the bright clear vault of heaven 7,zeller's ,theologisches ,jahrbuch1 #ahdf1 p4 #ceb74 ,compare for this and the following conjectures1 ,e4 ,d4 ,perry1 ,journal of ,american ,oriental ,society1 vol4 i4 p4 #aah4 ,roth derived the radiance from idh1 indh1 to kindle4 ,roth afterwards changed his mind1 and selected in or inv1 to have power over4 ,lassen 7,indisclie ,allerthumskunde1 #bnd ed41 i4 p4 #hic7 adopted a different derivation4 ,benfey 7,or4 und ,occ1 #ahfb1 p4 #dh7 made ,indra ,god1 not of the radiant1 but of the rainy sky4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller 7lectures on ,science of ,language1 ii4 #dgj7 made ,indra another conception of the bright blue sky1 but 7p4 #dgc1 note #ce7 he derives ,indra from the same root as in ,sanskrit gives indu1 drop or sap1 that is1 apparently1 rainy sky1 the reverse of blue4 ,it means originally the giver of rain1 and ,beufey is quoted ut supra4 ,in ,chips1 ii4 #ia1 ,indra becomes the chief solar deity of ,india 4 ,muir 7,texts1 v4 #gg7 identifies the character of ,indra with that of ,jupiter ,pluvius1 the ,rainy ,jove of ,rome4 ,grassman 7,dictionary1 s4 v47 calls ,indra the god of the bright firmament4 ,mr4 ,perry takes a distinction1 and regards ,indra as a god1 not of sky1 but of air1 a midgarth between earth and sky1 who inherited the skyey functions of ,dyu4 ,in the ,veda ,mr4 ,perry finds him the personification of the thunderstorm4 ,and so on6 ,it seems incontestable that in ,vedic mythology ,tvashtri is regarded as the father of ,indra499 ,thus 7ii4 #ag1 #f7 ,indra's thunderbolts are said to have been fashioned by his father4 ,other proofs are found in the account of the combat between father and son4 ,thus 7iii4 #dh1 #d7 we read1 ,powerful1 victorious1 he gives his body what shape he pleases4 ,thus ,indra1 having vanquished ,tvashtri even at his birth1 stole and drank the soma49999 ,these anecdotes do not quite correspond with the version of ,indra's guilt given in the ,brahmanas4 ,there it is stated999999 that ,tvashtri had a three-headed son akin to the ,asuras1 named ,vairupa4 ,this ,vairupa was suspected of betraying to the ,asuras the secret of soma4 ,indra therefore cut off his three heads4 99 ,on the parentage of ,indra1 ,bergaigne writes1 iii4 #eh4 9999 iii4 #fa4 ,bergaigne identifies ,tvashtri and ,vritra4 ,cf4 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 ii4 #dhc1 note #e4 999999 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 it #dhc1 note #f4 ,now ,vairupa was a ,brahman1 and ,indra was only purified of his awful guilt1 ,brahmanicide1 when earth1 trees and women accepted each their share of the iniquity4 ,tvashtri1 the father of ,vairupa1 still excluded ,indra from a share of the soma1 which1 however1 ,indra seized by force4 ,tvashtri threw what remained of ,indra's share into the fire with imprecations1 and from the fire sprang ,vritra1 the enemy of ,indra4 ,indra is represented at various times and in various texts as having sprung from the mouth of ,purusha1 or as being a child of heaven and earth1 whom he thrust asunder1 as ,tutenganahau thrust asunder ,rangi and ,papa in the ,new ,zealand myth4 ,in a passage of the ,black ,yajur ,veda1 once already quoted1 ,indra1 sheep and the ,kshattriya caste were said to have sprung from the breast and arms of ,prajapati499 ,in yet another hymn in the ,rig- ,veda he is said to have conquered heaven by magical austerity4 ,leaving the ,brahmanas aside1 ,mr4 ,perry9999 distinguishes four sorts of ,vedic texts on the origin of ,indra3-- #a4 ,purely physical4 #b4 ,anthropomorphic4 #c4 ,vague references to ,indra's parents4 #d4 ,philosophical speculations4 ,of the first class1999999 it does not appear to us that the purely physical element is so very pure after all4 ,heaven1 earth1 ,indra1 the cow1 are all thought of as personal entities1 however gigantic and vague4 ,in the second or anthropomorphic myths we have99999999 the dialogue already referred to1 in which ,indra1 like ,set in ,egypt and ,malsumis or ,chokanipok in ,america1 insists on breaking his way through his mother's side49999999999 99 ,muir1 i4 #af4 9999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #abd4 999999 ,rig- ,veda1 iv4 #ag1 #d1 #b1 #ab2 iv4 #bb1 #d2 i4 #fc1 #a2 viii4 #ei1 #d2 viii4 #f1 #bh-cj4 99999999 ,ibid41 iv4 #ah1a4 9999999999 ,cf4 ,egyptian ,divine ,myths ,in verse #e his mother exposes ,indra1 as ,maui and the youngest son of ,aditi were exposed4 ,indra soon after1 as precocious as ,heitsi ,eibib1 immediately on his birth kills his father499 ,he also kills ,vritra1 as ,apollo when new-born slew the ,python4 ,in iii4 #dh1 #b1 #c1 he takes early to soma-drinking4 ,in x4 #aec1 #a1 women cradle him as the nymphs nursed ,zeus in the ,cretan cave4 ,in the third class we have the odd myth19999 while an immature boy1 he mounted the new waggon and roasted for father and mother a fierce bull 4 ,in the fourth class a speculative person tries to account for the statement that ,indra was born from a horse1 or the verse means that ,agni was a horse's son4 ,finally1 ,sayana99999999 explains nothing1 but happens to mention that the goddess ,aditi swallowed her rival ,nisti1 a very primitive performance1 and much like the feat of ,cronos when he dined on his family1 or of ,zeus when he swallowed his wife4 99 ,why do ,indra and his family behave in this bloodthirsty way8 ,hillebrandt says that the father is the heaven which ,indra kills by covering it with clouds4 ,but1 again1 ,indra kills his father by concealing the sun4 ,he is abandoned by his mother when the clear sky1 from which he is born1 disappears behind the veil of cloud4 ,is the father sun or heaven8 is the mother clear sky1 or1 as elsewhere1 the imperishability of the daylight8 7,perry1 op4 cit41 p4 #adi74 9999 ,rig- ,veda1 viii4 #fh1 #ae4 999999 ,ibid41 x4 #gc1 #aj4 99999999 ,ibid41 x4 #aja1 #ab4 ,for ,sayana1 see ,mr4 ,perry's ,essay1 ,journal ,a4 #j4 ,s4 #ahhb1 p4 #ahj4 ,thus a fixed tradition of ,indra's birth is lacking in the ,veda1 and the fluctuating traditions are not very creditable to the purity of the ,aryan fancy4 ,in personal appearance ,indra was handsome and ruddy as the sun1 but1 like ,odin and ,heitsi ,eibib and other gods and wizards1 he could assume any shape at will4 ,he was a great charioteer1 and wielded the thunderbolt forged for him by ,tvashtri1 the ,indian ,hephaestus4 ,his love of the intoxicating soma juice was notorious1 and with sacrifices of this liquor his adorers were accustomed to inspire and invigorate him4 ,he is even said to have drunk at one draught thirty bowls of soma4 ,dr4 ,haug has tasted it1 but could only manage one teaspoonful4 ,indra's belly is compared by his admirers to a lake1 and there seems to be no doubt that they believed the god really drank their soma1 as ,heitsi ,eibib really enjoys the honey left by the ,hottentots on his grave4 ,i have verily resolved to bestow cows and horses4 ,i have quaffed the soma4 ,the draughts which ,i have drunk impel me as violent blasts4 ,i have quaffed the soma4 ,i surpass in greatness the heaven and the vast earth4 ,i have quaffed the soma4 ,i am majestic1 elevated to the heavens4 ,i have quaffed the soma499 ,so sings the drunken and bemused ,indra1 in the manner of the ,cyclops in ,euripides1 after receiving the wine1 the treacherous gift of ,odysseus4 ,according to the old commentator ,sayana1 ,indra got at the soma which inspired him with his drinking-song by assuming the shape of a quail4 ,the great feats of ,indra1 which are constantly referred to1 are his slaughter of the serpent ,vritra1 who had taken possession of all the waters1 and his recovery of the sun1 which had also been stolen49999 99 ,rig- ,veda1 x4 #aai4 9999 ,ibid41 #aci1 #d2 iii4 #ci1 #f2 viii4 #he1 #g4 ,these myths are usually regarded as allegorical ways of stating that the lightning opens the dark thundercloud1 and makes it disgorge the rain and reveal the sun4 ,whether this theory be correct or not1 it is important for our purpose to show that the feats thus attributed to ,indra are really identical in idea with1 though more elevated in conception and style1 than certain ,australian1 ,iroquois and ,thlinkeet legends4 ,in the ,iroquois myth1 as in the ,australian199 a great frog swallowed all the waters1 and was destroyed by ,ioskeha or some other animal4 ,in ,thlinkeet legends1 ,yehl1 the raven-god1 carried off to men the hidden sun and the waters4 ,among these lower races the water-stealer was thought of as a real reptile of some sort1 and it is probable that a similar theory once prevailed among the ancestors of the ,aryans4 ,vritra and ,ahi1 the mysterious foes whom ,indra slays when he recovers the sun and the waters1 were probably once as real to the early fancy as the ,australian or ,iroquois frog4 ,the extraordinary myth of the origin of ,vritra1 only found in the ,brahmanas1 indicates the wild imagination of an earlier period4 ,indra murdered a ,brahman1 a three-headed one1 it is true1 but still a ,brahman4 ,for this he was excluded from the banquet and was deprived of his favourite soma4 ,he stole a cup of it1 and the dregs1 thrown into the fire with a magical imprecation1 became ,vritra1 whom ,indra had such difficulty in killing4 ,before attacking ,vritra1 ,indra supplied himself with ,dutch courage4 ,a copious draught of soma provided him with the necessary courage and strength4 ,the terror of the other gods was abject49999 ,after slaying him1 he so lost self-possession that in his flight he behaved like ,odin when he flew off in terror with the head of ,suttung4999999 99 ,brinton1 ,myths of ,new ,world1 pp4 #ahd1 #ahe4 ,see also chapter i4 9999 ,perry1 op4 cit41 p4 #acg2 ,rig-,veda1 v4 #bi1 #c1 #g2 iii4 #dc1 #g2 iv4 #ah1 #aa2 viii4 #he1 #g4 999999 ,rig-,veda1 i4 #cb1ad1 tells of a flight as headlong as that of ,apollo after killing the ,python4 ,mr4 ,perry explains the flight as the rapid journey of the thunderstorm4 ,if our opinion be correct1 the elemental myths which abound in the ,veda are not myths in the making1 as is usually held1 but rather myths gradually dissolving into poetry and metaphor4 ,as an example of the persistence in civilised myth of the old direct savage theory that animals of a semi-supernatural sort really cause the heavenly phenomena1 we may quote ,mr4 ,darmesteter's remark1 in the introduction to the ,zendavesta3 ,the storm floods that cleanse the sky of the dark fiends in it were described in a class of myths as the urine of a gigantic animal in the heavens499 ,a more savage and theriomorphic hypothesis it would be hard to discover among ,bushmen or ,nootkas49999 ,probably the serpent ,vritra is another beast out of the same menagerie4 ,if our theory of the evolution of gods is correct1 we may expect to find in the myths of ,indra traces of a theriomorphic character4 ,as the point in the ear of man is thought or fabled to be a relic of his arboreal ancestry1 so in the shape of ,indra there should1 if gods were developed out of divine beasts1 be traces of fur and feather4 ,they are not very numerous nor very distinct1 but we give them for what they may be worth4 ,the myth of ,yehl1 the ,thlinkeet raven-god1 will not have been forgotten4 ,in his raven gear ,yehl stole the sacred water1 as ,odin1 also in bird form1 stole the mead of ,suttung4 ,we find a similar feat connected with ,indra4 ,gubernatis says3999999 99 ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vol4 iv4 p4 lxxxviii4 9999 ,the etymology of ,vritra is usually derived from vn1 to cover1 hinder1 restrain1 then what is to be hindered1 then enemy1 fiend4 999999 ,zoological ,mythology1 ii4 #ahb4 ,in the ,rig-,veda ,indra often appears as a hawk4 ,while the hawk carries the ambrosia through the air1 he trembles for fear of the archer ,kricanus1 who1 in fact1 shot off one of his claws1 of which the hedgehog was born1 according to the ,aitareya ,brahmana1 and according to the ,vedic hymn1 one of his feathers1 which1 falling on the earth1 afterwards became a tree499 ,indra's very peculiar relations with rams are also referred to by ,gubernatis49999 ,they resemble a certain repulsive myth of ,zeus1 ,demeter and the ram referred to by the early ,christian fathers4 ,in the ,satapatha ,brahmana999999 ,indra is called ram of ,medhatithi1 wife of ,vrishanasva4 ,indra1 like ,loki1 had taken the part of a woman499999999 ,in the shape of a ram he carried off ,medhatithi1 an exploit like that of ,zeus with ,ganymede49999999999 ,in the ,vedas1 however1 all the passages which connect ,indra with animals will doubtless be explained away as metaphorical1 though it is admitted that1 like ,zeus1 he could assume whatever form he pleased4999999999999 ,vedic poets1 probably of a late period1 made ,indra as anthropomorphic as the ,homeric ,zeus4 ,his domestic life in the society of his consort ,indrani is described499999999999999 ,when he is starting for the war1 ,indrani calls him back1 and gives him a stirrup-cup of soma4 ,he and she quarrel very naturally about his pet monkey49999999999999999 ,in this brief sketch1 which is not even a summary1 we have shown how much of the irrational element1 how much1 too1 of the humorous element1 there is in the myths about ,indra4 ,he is a drunkard1 who gulps down cask1 spigot and all4999999999999999999 99 ,compare ,rig-,veda1 iv4 #bga4 9999 ,zool4 ,myth41 i4 #dad4 999999 ii4 #ha4 99999999 ,rig- ,veda1 i4 #ea1 #ac4 9999999999 ,ibid41 viii4 #b1 #dj4 999999999999 ,ibid41 999999999999 ,ibid41 iii4 #dh1 #d4 99999999999999 ,ibid1 #ec1 #d-f2 vii4 #ah1 #b4 9999999999999999 ,ibid41 x4 #hf4 999999999999999999 ,ibid4 #aaf4 ,he is an adulterer and a shape-shifter1 like all medicine-men and savage sorcerers4 ,he is born along with the sheep from the breast of a vast non-natural being1 like ,ymir in ,scandinavian myth2 he metamorphoses himself into a ram or a woman2 he rends asunder his father and mother1 heaven and earth2 he kills his father immediately after his birth1 or he is mortal1 but has attained heaven by dint of magic1 by austere fervour4 ,now our argument is that these and such as these incongruous and irrational parts of ,indra's legend have no necessary or natural connection with the worship of him as a nature-god1 an elemental deity1 a power of sky and storm1 as civilised men conceive storm and sky4 ,on the other hand1 these legends1 of which plenty of savage parallels have been adduced1 are obviously enough survivals from the savage intellectual myths1 in which sorcerers1 with their absurd powers1 are almost on a level with gods4 ,and our theory is1 that the irrational part of ,indra's legend became attached to the figure of an elemental divinity1 a nature-god1 at the period when savage men mythically attributed to their gods the qualities which were claimed by the most illustrious among themselves1 by their sorcerers and chiefs4 ,in the ,vedas the nature-god has not quite disengaged himself from these old savage attributes1 which to civilised men seem so irrational4 ,trailing clouds of anything but glory does ,indra come from heaven1 which is his home4 ,if the irrational element in the legend of ,indra was neither a survival of1 nor a loan from1 savage fancy1 why does it tally with the myths of savages8 ,the other ,adityas1 strictly so called 7for most gods are styled ,adityas now and then by way of compliment71 need not detain us4 ,we go on to consider the celebrated soma4 ,soma is one of the most singular deities of the ,indo-,aryans4 ,originally ,soma is the intoxicating juice of a certain plant499 ,the wonderful personifying power of the early imagination can hardly be better illustrated than by the deification of the soma juice4 ,we are accustomed to hear in the maerchen or peasant myths of ,scotch1 ,russian1 ,zulu and other races1 of drops of blood or spittle which possess human faculties and intelligence1 and which can reply1 for example1 to questions4 ,the personification of the soma juice is an instance of the same exercise of fancy on a much grander scale4 ,all the hymns in the ninth book of the ,rig- ,veda1 and many others in other places1 are addressed to the milk-like juice of this plant1 which1 when personified1 holds a place almost as high as that of ,indra in the ,indo-,aryan ,olympus4 ,the sacred plant was brought to men from the sky or from a mountain by a hawk1 or by ,indra in guise of a hawk1 just as fire was brought to other races by a benevolent bird1 a raven or a cow4 ,according to the ,aitareya ,brahmana 7ii4 #ei71 the gods bought some from the ,gandharvas in exchange for one of their own number1 who was metamorphosed into a woman1 a big naked woman of easy virtue4 ,in the ,satapatha ,brahmana19999 the gods1 while still they lived on earth1 desired to obtain soma1 which was then in the sky4 99 ,as to the true nature and home of the soma plant1 see a discussion in the ,academy1 #ahhe4 9999 ,muir1 v4 #bfc4 ,a ,gandharva robbed the divine being who had flown up and seized the soma1 and1 as in the ,aitareya ,brahmana1 the gods won the plant back by the aid of ,vach1 a woman-envoy to the amorous ,gandharvas4 ,the ,black ,yajur ,veda has some ridiculous legends about ,soma 7personified7 and his thirty-three wives1 their jealousies1 and so forth4 ,soma1 in the ,rig- ,veda1 is not only the beverage that inspires ,indra1 but is also an anthropomorphic god who created and lighted up the sun199 and who drives about in a chariot4 ,he is sometimes addressed as a kind of ,atlas1 who keeps heaven and earth asunder49999 ,he is prayed to forgive the violations of his law4999999 ,soma1 in short1 as a personified power1 wants little of the attributes of a supreme deity499999999 ,another1 and to modern ideas much more poetical personified power1 often mentioned in the ,vedas1 is ,ushas1 or the dawn4 ,as among the ,australians1 the dawn is a woman1 but a very different being from the immodest girl dressed in red kangaroo-skins of the ,murri myth4 ,she is an active maiden1 who9999999999 advances1 cherishing all things2 she hastens on1 arousing footed creatures1 and makes the birds fly aloft4444 ,the flying birds no longer rest after thy dawning1 ,o bringer of food 7874 ,she has yoked her horses from the remote rising-place of the sun4444 ,resplendent on thy massive car1 hear our invocations4 ,ushas is like a fair girl adorned by her mother4444 ,she has been beheld like the bosom of a bright maiden4444 99 ,rig- ,veda1 vi4 #dd1 #bc4 9999 ,ibid41 #dd1 #bd4 999999 ,ibid41 viii4 #dh1 #i4 99999999 ,bergaigne1 i4 #baf4 ,to me it seems that the ,rishis when hymning ,soma simply gave him all the predicates of ,god that came into their heads4 ,cf4 ,bergaigne1 i4 #bbc4 99999999 ,rig-,veda1 i4 #dh4 ,born again and again though ancient1 shining with an ever uniform hue1 she wasteth away the life of mortals4 ,she is the sister of ,night1 and the bright sun is her child4 ,there is no more pure poetry in the ,vedic collections than that which celebrates the dawn1 though even here the ,rishis are not oblivious of the rewards paid to the sacrificial priests499 ,dawn is somewhat akin to the ,homeric ,eos1 the goddess of the golden throne19999 she who loved a mortal and bore him away1 for his beauty's sake1 to dwell with the immortals4 ,once ,indra1 acting with the brutality of the ,homeric ,ares1 charged against the car of ,ushas and overthrew it4999999 99 ,rig- ,veda1 i4 #dh1 #d4 9999 ,ibid41 i44 #dh1aj4 999999 ,ibid41 iv4 #cj1 #h2 ,ait ,br41 iv4 #i4 ,in her legend1 however1 we find little but pure poetry1 and we do not know that ,ushas1 like ,eos1 ever chose a mortal lover4 ,such is the ,vedic ,ushas1 but the ,brahmanas1 as usual1 manage either to retain or to revive and introduce the old crude element of myth4 ,we have seen that the ,australians account to themselves for the ruddy glow of the morning sky by the hypothesis that dawn is a girl of easy virtue1 dressed in the red opossum-skins she has received from her lovers4 ,in a similar spirit the ,aitareya ,brahmana 7iv4 #i7 offers brief and childish aetiological myths to account for a number of natural phenomena4 ,thus it explains the sterility of mules by saying that the gods once competed in a race2 that ,agni 7fire7 drove in a chariot drawn by mules and scorched them1 so that they do not conceive4 ,but in this race ,ushas was drawn by red cows2 hence after the coming of dawn there is a reddish colour4 ,the red cows of the ,brahmana may pair off with the red opossums of the ,australian imagination4 ,we now approach a couple of deities whose character1 as far as such shadowy things can be said to have any character at all1 is pleasing and friendly4 ,the ,asvins correspond in ,vedic mythology to the ,dioscuri1 the ,castor and ,polydeuces of ,greece4 ,they1 like the ,dioscuri1 are twins1 are horsemen1 and their legend represents them as kindly and helpful to men in distress4 ,but while the ,dioscuri stand forth in ,greek legend as clearly and fairly fashioned as two young knights of the ,panathenaic procession1 the ,asvins show as bright and formless as melting wreaths of mist4 ,the origin of their name has been investigated by the commentator ,yaska1 who quotes sundry verses to prove that the two ,asvins belong together 7sic7499 ,the etymology of the name is the subject1 as usual1 of various conjectures4 ,it has been derived from ,asva1 a horse1 from the root as1 to pervade1 and explained as a patronymic from ,asva1 the sun4 ,the nature of the ,asvins puzzled the ,indian commentators no less than their name4 ,who1 then1 are these ,asvins8 ,heaven and earth1 say some49999 99 ,max ,mueller1 ,lectures on ,language1 ii4 #ecf4 9999 ,yaska in the ,nirukta1 xii4 #a4 ,see ,muir1 v4 #bcd4 ,the some who held this opinion relied on an etymological guess1 the derivation from as to pervade 4 ,others inclined to explain the ,asvins as day and night1 others as the sun and moon1 others--,indian euhemerists--as two real kings1 now dead and gone4 ,professor ,roth thinks the ,asvins contain an historical element1 and are the earliest bringers of light in the morning sky4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller seems in favour of the two twilights4 ,as to these and allied modes of explaining the two gods in connection with physical phenomena1 ,muir writes thus3 ,this allegorical method of interpretation seems unlikely to be correct1 as it is difficult to suppose that the phenomena in question should have been alluded to under such a variety of names and circumstances4 ,it appears1 therefore1 to be more probable that the ,rishis merely refer to certain legends which were popularly current of interventions of the ,asvins in behalf of the persons whose names are mentioned4 ,in the ,veda99 the ,asvins are represented as living in fraternal polyandry1 with but one wife1 ,surya1 the daughter of the sun1 between them4 ,they are thought to have won her as the prize in a chariot-race1 according to the commentator ,sayana4 ,the time of their appearance is properly the early dawn1 when they receive the offerings of their votaries49999 ,when the dark 7night7 stands among the tawny cows1 ,i invoke you1 ,asvins1 sons of the sky4999999 ,they are addressed as young1 beautiful1 fleet1 and the foes of evil spirits4 99 ,rig- ,veda1 i4 #aai1 #b2 i4 #aai1 #e2 x4 #ci1 #aa 7874 9999 ,muir1 v4 #bch4 999999 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #fa1 #d4 ,there can be no doubt that1 when the ,vedas were composed1 the ,asvins shone and wavered and were eclipsed among the bright and cloudy throng of gods1 then contemplated by the ,rishis or sacred singers4 ,whether they had from the beginning an elemental origin1 and what that origin exactly was1 or whether they were merely endowed by the fancy of poets with various elemental and solar attributes and functions1 it may be impossible to ascertain4 ,their legend1 meanwhile1 is replete with features familiar in other mythologies4 ,as to their birth1 the ,rig- ,veda has the following singular anecdote1 which reminds one of the cloud-bride of ,ixion1 and of the woman of clouds and shadows that was substituted for ,helen of ,troy3 ,tvashtri makes a wedding for his daughter4 ,hearing this1 the whole world assembled4 ,the mother of ,yama1 the wedded wife of the great ,vivasvat1 disappeared4 ,they concealed the immortal bride from mortals4 ,making another of like appearance1 they gave her to ,vivasvat4 ,saranyu bore the two ,asvins1 and when she had done so1 deserted the twins499 ,the old commentators explain by a legend in which the daughter of ,tvashtri1 ,saranyu1 took on the shape of a mare4 ,vivasvat followed her in the form of a horse1 and she became the mother of the ,asvins1 sons of the horse1 who more or less correspond to ,castor and ,pollux1 sons of the swan4 ,the ,greeks were well acquainted with local myths of the same sort1 according to which1 ,poseidon1 in the form of a horse1 had become the parent of a horse by ,demeter ,erinnys 7,saranyu871 then in the shape of a mare4 ,the ,phigaleians1 among whom this tale was current1 worshipped a statue of ,demeter in a woman's shape with a mare's head4 ,the same tale was told of ,cronus and ,philyra49999 ,this myth of the birth of gods1 who are lauded as ,asvins sprung from a horse1999999 may be the result of a mere volks etymologie4 99 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #ag1 #a-b2 ,bergaigne1 ii4 #hjf1 #cah4 9999 ,pausanias1 viii4 #be2 ,virgil1 ,georgia1 iii4 #ia2 ,muir1 v4 #abh4 ,see chapter on ,greek ,divine ,myths1 ,demeter4 999999 ,muir1v4 #bbh4 ,some one may have asked himself what the word ,asvins meant2 may have rendered it sprung from a horse1 and may either have invented1 by way of explanation1 a story like that of ,cronus and ,philyra1 or may have adapted such a story1 already current in folk-lore1 to his purpose2 or the myth may be early1 and a mere example of the prevalent mythical fashion which draws no line between gods and beasts and men4 ,it will probably be admitted that this and similar tales prove the existence of the savage element of mythology among the ,aryans of ,india1 whether it be borrowed1 or a survival1 or an imitative revival4 ,the ,asvins were usually benefactors of men in every sort of strait and trouble4 ,a quail even invoked them 7,mr4 ,max ,mueller thinks this quail was the dawn1 but the ,asvins were something like the dawn already71 and they rescued her from the jaws of a wolf4 ,in this respect1 and in their beauty and youth1 they answer to ,castor and ,pollux as described by ,theocritus4 ,succourers are they of men in the very thick of peril1 and of horses maddened in the bloody press of battle1 and of ships that1 defying the setting and the rising of the stars in heaven1 have encountered the perilous breath of storms499 99 ,theoc4 ,idyll1 xxii4 i4 #ag4 ,a few examples of the friendliness of the ,asvins may be selected from the long list given by ,muir4 ,they renewed the youth of ,kali4 ,after the leg of ,vispala had been cut off in battle1 the ,asvins substituted an iron leg6 ,they restored sight to ,rijrasva1 whom his father had blinded because1 in an access of altruism1 he had given one hundred and one sheep to a hungry she-wolf4 ,the she-wolf herself prayed to the ,asvins to succour her benefactor499 ,they drew the ,rishi ,rebha out of a well4 ,they made wine and liquors flow from the hoof of their own horse49999 ,most of the persons rescued1 quail and all1 are interpreted1 of course1 as semblances of the dawn and the twilight4 ,goldstucker says they are among the deities forced by ,professor ,mueller to support his dawn-theory4 ,m4 ,bergaigne also leans to the theory of physical phenomena4 ,when the ,asvins restore sight to the blind ,kanva1 he sees no reason to doubt that the blind ,kanva is the sun during the night1 or ,agni or ,soma is concealment4 ,a proof of this he finds in the statement that ,kanva is dark2 to which we might reply that dark is still a synonym for blind among the poor4999999 99 ,rig- ,veda1 i4 #aaf1 #af4 9999 ,ibid41 i4 #aaf1 #g4 999999 ,bergaigne1 ,rel4 ,ved41 ii4 #dfj1 #dfe4 ,m4 ,bergaigne's final hypothesis is that the ,asvins may be assimilated to the two celebrants who in the beginning seemed to represent the terrestrial and celestial fires4 ,but this origin1 he says1 even if correctly conjectured1 had long been forgotten4 ,beyond the certainty that the ,asvins represent the element of kindly and healing powers1 as commonly conceived of in popular mythology--for example1 in the legends of the saints--there is really nothing certain or definite about their original meaning4 ,a god with a better defined and more recognisable department is ,tvashtri1 who is in a vague kind of way the counterpart of the ,greek ,hephaestus4 ,he sharpens the axe of ,brahmanaspiti1 and forges the bolts of ,indra4 ,he also bestows offspring1 is a kind of male ,aphrodite1 and is the shaper of all forms human and animal4 ,saranyu is his daughter4 ,professor ,kuhn connects her with the storm-cloud1 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller with the dawn499 ,her wedding in the form of a mare to ,vivasvat in the guise of a horse has already been spoken of and discussed4 ,tvashtri's relations with ,indra1 as we have shown1 are occasionally hostile2 there is a blood-feud between them1 as ,indra slew ,tvashtri's three-headed son1 from whose blood sprang two partridges and a sparrow49999 ,the ,maruts are said to be gods of the tempest1 of lightning1 of wind and of rain4 ,their names1 as usual1 are tortured on various by the etymologists4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller connects ,maruts with the roots mar1 to pound1 and with the ,roman war-god ,mars4 ,others think the root is mar1 to shine4 ,benfey999999 says that the ,maruts 7their name being derived from mar1 'to die'7 are personfications of the souls of the departed4 99 ,max ,mueller1 ,lectures on ,language1 ii4 #ecj4 9999 ,muir1 v4 #bbd1 #bcc4 999999 ,ibid41 v4 #adg4 ,their numbers are variously estimated4 ,they are the sons of ,rudra and ,prisni4 ,rudra as a bull1 according to a tale told by ,sayana1 begat the ,maruts on the earth1 which took the shape of a cow4 ,as in similar cases1 we may suppose this either to be a survival or revival of a savage myth or a merely symbolical statement4 ,there are traces of rivalry between ,indra and the ,maruts4 ,it is beyond question that the ,rishis regard them as elementary and mainly as storm-gods4 ,whether they were originally ghosts 7like the ,australian ,mrarts1 where the name tempts the wilder kind of etymologists71 or whether they are personified winds1 or1 again1 winds conceived as persons 7which is not quite the same thing71 it is difficult1 and perhaps impossible1 to determine4 ,though divers of the ,vedic gods have acquired solar characteristics1 there is a regular special sun-deity in the ,veda1 named ,surya or ,savitri4 ,he answers to the ,helios of the ,homeric hymn to the sun1 conceived as a personal being1 a form which he still retains in the fancy of the ,greek islanders499 ,surya is sometimes spoken of as a child of ,aditi's or of ,dyaus and ,ushas is his wife1 though she also lives in ,spartan polyandry with the ,asvin twins49999 ,like ,helios ,hyperion1 he beholds all things1 the good and evil deeds of mortals4 ,he is often involved in language of religious fervour4999999 ,the ,english reader is apt to confuse ,surya with the female being ,surya4 ,surya is regarded by ,grassmann and ,roth as a feminine personification of the sun499999999 ,m4 ,bergaigne looks on ,surya as the daughter of the sun or daughter of ,savitri1 and thus as the dawn4 ,savitri is the sun1 golden-haired and golden-handed4 ,from the ,satapatha ,brahmana9999999999 it appears that people were apt to identify ,savitri with ,prajapati4999999999999 99 ,bent's ,cyclades4 9999 ,rig- ,veda1 vii4 #ge1 #e4 999999 ,muir1 v4 #aee-afb4 99999999 ,bergaigne1 ii4 #dhf4 9999999999 xiii4 #c1 #e1 #a4 999999999999 ,the very strange and important personage of ,prajapati is discussed in the chapter on ,indian ,cosmogonic ,myths4 ,these blendings of various conceptions and of philosophic systems with early traditions have now been illustrated as far as our space will permit4 ,the natural conclusion1 after a rapid view of ,vedic deities1 seems to be that they are extremely composite characters1 visible only in the shifting rays of the ,indian fancy1 at a period when the peculiar qualities of ,indian thought were already sufficiently declared4 ,the lights of ritualistic dogma and of pantheistic and mystic and poetic emotion fall in turn1 like the changeful hues of sunset1 on figures as melting and shifting as the clouds of evening4 ,yet even to these vague shapes of the divine there clings1 as we think has been shown1 somewhat of their oldest raiment1 something of the early fancy from which we suppose them to have floated up ages before the ,vedas were compiled in their present form4 ,if this view be correct1 ,vedic mythology does by no means represent what is primitive and early1 but what1 in order of development1 is late1 is peculiar1 and is marked with the mark of a religious tendency as strongly national and characteristic as the purest ,semitic monotheism4 ,thus the ,veda is not a fair starting-point for a science of religion1 but is rather1 in spite of its antiquity1 a temporary though advanced resting-place in the development of ,indian religious speculation and devotional sentiment499 99 ,in the chapters on ,india the translation of the ,veda used is ,herr ,ludwig's 7,prag1 #ahgf74 ,much is owed to ,mr4 ,perry's essay on ,indra1 quoted above4 ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,greek ,,divine ,,myths ,gods in myth1 and ,god in religion--,the society of the gods like that of men in ,homer--,borrowed elements in ,greek belief--,zeus--,his name--,development of his legend--,his bestial shapes explained--,zeus in religion--,apollo--,artemis-- ,dionysus--,athene--,aphrodite--,hermes- -,demeter--,their names1 natures1 rituals and legends--,conclusions4 ,in the gods of ,greece1 when represented in ideal art and in the best religious sentiment1 as revealed by poets and philosophers1 from ,homer to ,plato1 from ,plato to ,porphyry1 there is something truly human and truly divine4 ,it cannot be doubted that the religion of ,apollo1 ,athene1 ,artemis and ,hermes was1 in many respects1 an adoration directed to the moral and physical qualities that are best and noblest4 ,again1 even in the oldest ,greek literature1 in ,homer and in all that follows1 the name of the chief god1 ,zeus1 might in many places be translated by our word ,god499 99 ,postea1 ,zeus4 ,it is ,god that takes from man half his virtue on the day of slavery2 it is ,god that gives to each his lot in life1 and ensures that as his day is so shall his strength be4 ,this spiritual conception of deity1 undifferentiated by shape or attributes1 or even by name1 declares itself in the ,homeric terms 7------------7 and in the 7------7 of ,herodotus4 ,these are spiritual forces or tendencies ruling the world1 and these conceptions are present to the mind1 even of ,homer1 whose pictures of the gods are so essentially anthropomorphic2 even of ,herodotus1 in all things so cautiously reverent in his acceptation of the popular creeds and rituals4 ,when ,socrates1 therefore1 was doomed to death for his theories of religion1 he was not condemned so much for holding a pure belief in a spiritual divinity1 as for bringing that opinion 7itself no new thing7 into the marketplace1 and thereby shocking the popular religion1 on which depended the rites that were believed to preserve the fortune of the state4 ,it is difficult or impossible quite to unravel the tangled threads of mythical legend1 of sacerdotal ritual1 of local religion1 and of refined religious sentiment in ,greece4 ,even in the earliest documents1 the ,homeric poems1 religious sentiment deserts1 in moments of deep and serious thought1 the brilliant assembly of the ,olympians1 and takes refuge in that fatherhood of the divine after which all men yearn499 99 ,odyssey1 iii4 #dh4 ,yet1 even in ,pausanias1 in the second century of the ,christian era1 and still more in ,plutarch and ,porphyry1 there remains an awful acquiescence in such wild dogmas and sacred traditions as antiquity handed down4 ,we can hardly determine whether even ,homer actually believed in his own turbulent cowardly ,ares1 in his own amorous and capricious ,zeus4 ,did ,homer1 did any educated ,greek1 turn in his thoughts1 when pain1 or sorrow1 or fear fell on him1 to a hope in the help of ,hermes or ,athene8 ,he was ready to perform all their rites and offer all the sacrifices due1 but it may be questioned whether1 even in such a god-fearing man as ,nicias1 this ritualism meant more than a desire to fulfil all righteousness1 and to gratify a religious sentiment in the old traditional forms4 ,in examining ,greek myths1 then1 it must be remembered that1 like all myths1 they have far less concern with religion in its true guise--with the yearning after the divine which is not far from any one of us1 after the ,god in whom we live1 and move1 and have our being--than with the religio1 which is a tissue of old barbarous fears1 misgivings1 misapprehensions4 ,the religion which retained most of the myths was that ancient superstition which is afraid of changing the luck1 and which1 therefore1 keeps up acts of ritual that have lost their significance in their passage from a dark and dateless past4 ,it was the local priesthoods of demes and remote rural places that maintained the old usages of the ancient tribes and kindreds--usages out of keeping with the mental condition of the splendid city state1 or with the national sentiment of ,hellenism4 ,but many of the old tales connected with1 and explanatory of1 these ritual practices1 after winning their way to the mythical1 as ,thucydides says1 won their way into literature1 and meet us in the odes of ,pindar1 the plays of ,a,eschylus and ,sophocles1 the notes of commentators1 and the apologetic efforts of ,plutarch and ,porphyry4 ,it is with these antique stories that the mythologist is concerned4 ,but even here he need not loose his reverence for the nobler aspects of the gods of ,greece4 ,like the archaeologist and excavator1 he must touch with careful hand these-- ,strange clouded fragments of the ancient glory1 ,late lingerers of the company divine2 ,for even in ruin of their marble limbs ,they breathe of that far world wherefrom they came1 ,of liquid light and harmonies serene1 ,lost halls of heaven and far ,olympian air499 ,homer and ,hesiod named the gods for the ,greeks2 so ,herodotus thought1 and constructed the divine genealogies4 ,though the gods were infinitely older than ,homer1 though a few of them probably date from before the separation of the ,indo-,aryan and ,hellenic stocks1 it is certain that ,homer and ,hesiod stereotyped1 to some extent1 the opinions about the deities which were current in their time49999 99 ,ernest ,myers1 ,hermes1 in ,the ,judgment of ,prometheus4 9999 ,as a proof of the ,pre-,homeric antiquity of ,zeus1 it has often been noticed that ,homer makes ,achilles pray to ,zeus of ,dodona 7the ,zeus1 according to ,thrasybulus1 who aided ,deucalion after the deluge7 as the ,pelasgian ,zeus 7,iliad1 xvi4 #bcc74 ,pelasgian may be regarded as equivalent to pre-historic ,greek 4 ,sophocles 7,trach41 #fe2 see ,scholiast7 still speaks of the ,selli1 the priests of ,dodonean ,zeus1 as mountain-dwelling and couching on the earth 4 ,they retained1 it seems1 very primitive habits4 ,be it observed that ,achilles has been praying for confusion and ruin to the ,achaeans1 and so invokes the deity of an older1 perhaps hostile1 race4 ,probably the oak-oracle at ,dodona1 the message given by the sound of a going in the tree-tops or by the doves1 was even more ancient than ,zeus1 who1 on that theory1 fell heir to the rites of a peasant oracle connected with tree-worship4 ,zeus1 according to ,hesiod1 dwelt in the trunk of the oak tree 7cited by ,preller1 i4 #ih71 much as an ,indian forest-god dwells in the peepul or any other tree4 ,it is rather curious that1 according to ,eustathius 7,iliad1 xvi4 #bcc71 ,pelargicus1 connected with storks1 was sometimes written for ,pelasgicus2 that there was a ,dodona in ,thessaly1 and that storks were sacred to the ,thessalians4 ,hesiod codified certain priestly and ,delphian theories about their origin and genealogies4 ,homer minutely described their politics and society4 ,his description1 however1 must inevitably have tended to develop a later scepticism4 ,while men lived in city states under heroic kings1 acknowledging more or less the common sway of one king at ,argos or ,mycenae1 it was natural that the gods 7whether in the dark backward of time ,greece knew a ,moral ,creative ,being or not7 should be conceived as dwelling in a similar society1 with ,zeus for their ,agamemnon1 a ruler supreme but not absolute1 not safe from attempts at resistance and rebellion4 ,but when ,greek politics and society developed into a crowd of republics1 with nothing answering to a certain imperial sway1 then men must have perceived that the old divine order was a mere survival from the time when human society was similarly ordained4 ,thus ,xenophanes very early proclaimed that men had made the gods in their own likeness1 as a horse1 could he draw1 would design his deity in equine semblance4 ,but the detection by ,xenophanes of the anthropomorphic tendency in religion could not account for the instinct which made ,greeks1 like other peoples1 as ,aristotle noticed1 figure their gods not only in human shape1 but in the guise of the lower animals4 ,for that zoomorphic element in myth an explanation1 as before1 will be sought in the early mental condition which takes no great distinction between man and the beasts4 ,the same method will explain1 in many cases1 the other peculiarly un-,hellenic elements in ,greek divine myth4 ,yet here1 too1 allowance must be made for the actual borrowing of rites and legends from contiguous peoples4 ,the ,greeks were an assimilative race4 ,the alphabet of their art they obtained1 as they obtained their written alphabet1 from the kingdoms of the ,east499 ,like the ,romans1 they readily recognised their own gods1 even under the barbarous and brutal disguises of ,egyptian popular religion2 and1 while recognising their god under an alien shape1 they may have taken over legends alien to their own national character49999 ,again1 we must allow1 as in ,india1 for myths which are really late1 the inventions1 perhaps1 of priests or oracle-mongers4 ,but in making these deductions1 we must remember that the later myths would be moulded1 in many cases1 on the ancient models4 ,these ancient models1 there is reason to suppose1 were often themselves of the irrational and savage character which has so frequently been illustrated from the traditions of the lower races4 ,the elder dynasties of ,greek gods1 ,uranus and ,cronos1 with their adventures and their fall1 have already been examined4999999 99 ,helbig1 ,homerwche ,epos cms dem ,denhmalern4 ,perrot and ,chipiez1 on ,mycenaean art1 represent a later view4 9999 ,on the probable amount of borrowing in ,greek religion see ,maury1 ,religions de la ,greece1 iii4 #gj-ge2 ,newton1 ,nineteenth ,century1 #ahgh1 p4 #cjf4 ,gruppe1 ,griech4 ,culte u4 ,mythen41 pp4 #aec-afc 999999 ,greek ,cosmogonic ,myths1 antea4 ,uranus may have been an ancient sky-god1 like the ,samoyed ,num1 deposed by ,cronus1 originally1 perhaps1 one of the deputy-gods1 active where their chief is otiose1 whom we find in barbaric theology4 ,but this is mere guess-work4 ,we may now turn to the deity who was the acknowledged sovereign of the ,greek ,olympus during all the classical period from the date of ,homer and ,hesiod to the establishment of ,christianity4 ,we have to consider the legend of ,zeus4 ,it is necessary first to remind the reader that all the legends in the epic poems date after the time when an official and national ,olympus had been arranged4 ,probably many tribal gods1 who had originally no connection with gods of other tribes1 had1 by ,homer's age1 thus accepted places and relationships in the ,olympic family4 ,even rude low-born ,pelasgian deities may have been adopted into the highest circles1 and fitted out with a divine pedigree in perfect order4 ,to return to ,zeus1 his birth 7whether as the eldest or the youngest of the children of ,cronus7 has already been studied2 now we have to deal with his exploits and his character4 ,about the meaning of the name of ,zeus the philologists seem more than commonly harmonious4 ,they regard the ,greek ,zeus as the equivalent of the ,sanskrit ,dyaus1 the bright one1 a term for the sky499 99 ,max ,mueller1 ,selected ,essays1 ii4 #dai2 ,preller1 ,gr4 ,myth41 i4 #ib4 ,he was especially worshipped on hill-tops 7like the ,aztec rain-god72 for example1 on ,ithome1 ,parnes1 ,cithgeron1 and the ,lycaean hill of ,arcadia4 ,on the ,arcadian mountain1 a centre of the strangest and oldest rites1 the priest of ,zeus acted as what the ,african races call a rainmaker4 ,there was on the hill the sacred well of the nymph ,hagno1 one of the nurses of the child ,zeus4 ,in time of drought the priest of ,zeus offered sacrifice and prayer to the water according to ritual law1 and it would be interesting to know what it was that he sacrificed4 ,he then gently stirred the well with a bough from the oak1 the holy tree of the god1 and when the water was stirred1 a cloud arose like mist1 which attracted other clouds and caused rain4 ,as the priest on a mountain practically occupied a meteorological observatory1 he probably did not perform these rites till he knew that a depression might be expected from one quarter or another499 99 ,see similar examples of popular magic in ,gervase of ,tilbury1 ,otia ,imperiidia2 ,liebrecht1 ii4 #adf4 ,the citation is due to ,freller1 i4 #ajb4 ,wonderful feats of rain-prophecy are done by ,australian seers1 according to ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker and others4 ,as soon as we meet ,zeus in ,homer1 we find that he is looked on1 not as the sky1 but as the deity who dwells in the heights of air1 and who exercises supreme sway over all things1 including storm and wind and cloud4 ,he casts the lightning forth 7--------7 he thunders on high 7--------71 he has dark clouds for his covering 7--------7 all these imposing aspects he is religiously regarded by people who approach him in prayer4 ,these aspects would be readily explained by the theory that ,zeus1 after having been the personal sky1 came to be thought a powerful being who dwelt in the sky1 if we did not find such beings worshipped where the sky is not yet adored1 as in ,australia4 ,much the same occurred if1 as ,m4 ,maspero points out1 in ,egypt the animals were worshipped first1 and then later the gods supposed to be present in the animals4 ,so the sky1 a personal sky1 was first adored1 later a god dwelling in the sky4 ,but it is less easy to show how this important change in opinion took place1 if it really occurred4 ,a philological theory of the causes which produced the change is set forth by ,mr4 ,keary in his book ,primitive ,belief4 ,in his opinion the sky was first worshipped as a vast non-personal phenomenon1 the bright thing7,dyaus74 ,but1 to adopt the language of ,mr4 ,max ,mueller1 who appears to hold the same views1 ,dyaus ceased to be an expressive predicate2 it became a traditional name299 it lost its radical meaning4 ,thus where a man had originally said1 ,it thunders1 or rather ,he thunders1 he came to say1 ,dyaus 7that is1 the sky7 thunders4 99 ,select ,essays1 ii4 #dai4 ,next ,dyaus1 or rather the ,greek form ,zeus1 almost lost its meaning of the sky1 and the true sense being partially obscured1 became a name supposed to indicate a person4 ,lastly the expression became ,zeus thunders1 ,zeus being regarded as a person1 because the old meaning of his name1 the sky1 was forgotten1 or almost forgotten4 ,the nomen 7name7 has become a numen 7god74 ,as ,mr4 ,keary puts it1 ,the god stands out as clear and thinkable in virtue of this name as any living friend can be4 ,the whole doctrine resolves itself into this1 a phenomenon originally 7according to the theory7 considered impersonal1 came to be looked on as personal1 because a word survived in colloquial expressions after it had lost1 or all but lost1 its original meaning4 ,as a result1 'all the changes and processes of the impersonal sky came to be spoken of as personal actions performed by a personal being1 ,zeus4 ,the record of these atmospheric processes on this theory is the legend of ,zeus4 ,whatever is irrational and abominable in the conduct of the god is explained as originally a simple statement of meteorological phenomena4 ,zeus weds his mother2 that must mean the rain descends on the earth1 from which it previously arose in vapour4 ,zeus weds his daughter1 that is1 the rain falls on the crop1 which grew up from the rainy embrace of sky and earth4 ,here then we have the philological theory of the personality and conduct of ,zeus4 ,to ourselves and those who have followed us the system will appear to reverse the known conditions of the working of the human mind among early peoples4 ,on the philological theory1 man first regards phenomena in our modern way as impersonal2 he then gives them personality as the result of a disease of language1 of a forgetfulness of the sense of words4 ,thus ,mr4 ,keary writes3 ,the idea of personality as apart from matter must have been growing more distinct when men could attribute personality to such an abstract phenomenon as the sky 4 ,where is the distinctness in a conception which produces such confusion8 ,we have seen that as the idea of personality becomes more distinct the range of its application becomes narrower1 not wider4 ,the savage1 it has been thought1 attributes personality to everything without exception4 ,as the idea of personality grows more distinct it necessarily becomes less extensive1 till we withdraw it from all but intelligent human beings4 ,thus we must look for some other explanation of the personality of ,zeus1 supposing his name to mean the sky4 ,this explanation we find in a survival of the savage mental habit of regarding all phenomena1 even the most abstract1 as persons4 ,our theory will receive confirmation from the character of the personality of ,zeus in his myth4 ,not only is he a person1 but in myth1 as distinct from religion1 he is a very savage person1 with all the powers of the medicine-man and all the passions of the barbarian4 ,why should this be so on the philological theory8 ,when we examine the legend of ,zeus1 we shall see which explanation best meets the difficulties of the problem4 ,but the reader must again be reminded that the ,zeus of myth1 in ,homer and elsewhere1 is a very different being from the ,zeus of religion of ,achilles's prayer1 from the ,zeus whom the ,athenians implored to rain on their fields1 and from the ,zeus who was the supreme being of the tragedians1 of the philosophers1 and of later ,greece4 ,the early career1 la jeunesse orageuse1 of ,zeus has been studied already4 ,the child of ,cronus and ,rhea1 countless places asserted their claim to be the scene of his birth1 though the ,cretan claim was most popular499 99 ,hesiod1 ,theog41 #dfh2 ,paus41 iv4 #cc1 #b4 ,in ,crete too was the grave of ,zeus3 a scandal to pious heathendom4 ,the euhemerists made this tomb a proof that ,zeus was a deified man4 ,preller takes it for an allegory of winter and the death of the god of storm1 who in winter is especially active4 ,zeus narrowly escaped being swallowed by his father1 and1 after expelling and mediatising that deity1 he changed his own wife1 ,metis1 into a fly1 swallowed her1 and was delivered out of his own head of ,athene1 of whom his wife had been pregnant4 ,he now became ruler of the world1 with his brother ,poseidon for viceroy1 so to speak1 of the waters1 and his brother ,hades for lord of the world of the dead4 ,like the earlier years of ,louis ,,xiv41 the earlier centuries of the existence of ,zeus were given up to a series of amours1 by which he1 like ,charles ,,ii41 became the father of many noble families4 ,his legitimate wife was his sister ,hera1 whom he seduced before wedlock without the knowledge of their dear parents1 says ,homer199 who neglects the myth that one of the dear parents ate his own progeny1 like him who makes his generation messes to gorge his appetite4 ,hera was a jealous wife1 and with good cause49999 ,the ,christian fathers calculated that he sowed his wild oats and persecuted mortal women with his affections through seventeen generations of men4 ,his amours with his mother and daughters1 with ,deo and ,persephone1 are the great scandals of ,clemens ,alexandrinus and ,arnobius4999999 ,zeus seldom made love in propria persona1 in all his meteorological pomp4 ,when he thus gratified ,semele she was burned to a cinder499999999 99 ,it is probable that this myth of the seduction of ,hera is of ,samian origin1 and was circulated to account for and justify the ,samian custom by which men seduced their loves first and celebrated the marriage afterwards 7,scholia on ,iliad1 xiv4 #bja74 ,others say that ,samos was the place where ,zeus betrayed ,hera1 whence it comes that the ,samians1 when they go a-wooing1 anticipate the wedding first in secret1 and then celebrate it openly4 ,yet another myth 7,iliad1 xiv4 #bie1 ,scholiast7 accounts for the hatred which ,zeus displayed to ,prometheus by the fable that1 before her wedding with ,zeus1 ,hera became the mother of ,prometheus by the giant ,eurymedon4 ,euphorion was the authority for this tale4 ,yet another version occurs in the legend of ,hephaestus4 ,see also ,schol41 ,theoc41 xv4 #fd4 9999 ,iliad1 xiv4 #cjg1 #cdj4 999999 ,arnobius1 ,adv4 ,nat41 v4 #i1 where the abominations described defy repetition4 ,the myth of a rock which became the mother of the offspring of ,zeus may recall the maternal flint of ,aztec legend and the vagaries of ,iroquois tradition4 ,compare ,clemens ,alex41 ,oxford1 #agai1 i4 #ac1 for the amours of ,zeus1 ,deo and ,persephone1 with their representations in the mysteries2 also ,arnob41 ,adv4 ,cent41 v4 #bj4 ,zeus adopted the shape of a serpent in his amour with his daughter4 ,an ancient ,tarentine sacred ditty is quoted as evidence1 ,taurus draconem genuit1 et taurum draco1 and certain repulsive performances with serpents in the mysteries are additional testimony4 99999999 ,apollodorus1 iii4 #d1 #c4 ,the amour with ,danae1 when ,zeus became a shower of gold1 might be interpreted as a myth of the yellow sunshine4 ,the amours of ,zeus under the disguise of various animal forms were much more usual1 and are familiar to all499 ,as ,cronus when in love metamorphosed himself into a stallion1 as ,prajapati pursued his own daughter in the shape of a roebuck1 so ,zeus became a serpent1 a bull1 a swan1 an eagle1 a dove19999 and1 to woo the daughter of ,cletor1 an ant4 ,similar disguises are adopted by the sorcerers among the ,algonkins for similar purposes4 ,when ,pund-jel1 in the ,australian myth of the ,pleiades1 was in love with a native girl1 he changed himself into one of those grubs in the bark of trees which the ,blacks think edible1 and succeeded as well as ,zeus did when he became an ant4999999 99 ,the mythologists1 as a rule1 like the heathen opponents of ,arnobius1 ,clemens and ,eusebius1 explain the amours of ,zeus as allegories of the fruitful union of heaven and earth1 of rain and grain4 ,preller also allows for the effects of human vanity1 noble families insisting on tracing themselves to gods4 ,on the whole1 says ,preller1 ,zeugung in der ,natur- religion und ,mythologie1 dasselbe ist was ,schopfung inden deistischen ,religionen 7i4 #aaj74 ,doubtless all these elements come into the legend2 the unions of ,zeus with ,deo and ,persephone especially have much the air of a nature-myth told in an exceedingly primitive and repulsive manner4 ,the amours in animal shape are explained in the text as in many cases survivals of the totemistic belief in descent from beasts1 sans phrase4 9999,lian41 ,hist ,vwr41 i4 #ae4 999999 ,dawson1 ,australian ,aborigines2 ,custom1 and ,myth1 p4 #abf4 ,it is not improbable that the metamorphosis of ,zeus into an ant is the result of a volks-etymologie which derived ,myrmidons from 7------71 an ant4 ,even in that case the conversion of the ant into an avatar of ,zeus would be an example of the process of gravitation or attraction1 whereby a great mythical name and personality attracts to itself floating fables499 ,the remark of ,clemens on this last extraordinary intrigue is suggestive4 ,the ,thessalians1 he says1 are reputed to worship ants because ,zeus took the semblance of an ant when he made the daughter of ,cletor mother of ,myrmidon4 ,where people worship any animal from whom they claim descent 7in this case through ,myrmidon1 the ancestor of the famed ,myrmidons71 we have an example of stiraight forward totemism4 ,to account for the adoration of the animal on the hypothesis that it was the incarnation of a god1 is the device which has been observed in ,egyptian as in ,samoan religion1 and in that of aboriginal ,indian tribes1 whose animal gods become saints when the ,brahmans get a turn at them49999 ,the most natural way of explaining such tales about the amours and animal metamorphoses of so great a god1 is to suggest that ,zeus inherited1999999 as it were1 legends of a lower character long current among separate families and in different localities4 ,in the same way1 where a stone had been worshipped1 the stone was1 in at least one instance1 dubbed with the name of ,zeus499999999 99 ,clemens1 p4 #hd4 9999 ,see ,mr4 ,h4 ,h4 ,risley on ,primitive ,marriage in ,bengal1 in ,astatic ,quarterly ,review1 ,june1 #ahhf4 999999 ,in ,pausanias's opinion ,cecrops first introduced the belief in ,zeus1 the most highest4 99999999 ,paus41 iii4 #ba1 l2 but the reading is doubtful4 ,the tradition of descent from this or that beast or plant has been shown to be most widely prevalent4 ,on the general establishment of a higher faith in a national deity1 these traditions1 it is presumed1 would not wholly disappear1 but would be absorbed into the local legend of the god4 ,the various beasts would become sacred to him1 as the sheep was sacred to ,hera in ,samos1 according to ,mandrobulus199 and images of the animals would congregate in his temple4 ,the amours of ,zeus1 then1 are probably traceable to the common habit of deriving noble descents from a god1 and in the genealogical narrative older totemistic and other local myths found a place49999 ,apart from his intrigues1 the youth of ,zeus was like that of some masquerading and wandering king1 such as ,james ,v4 in ,scotland4 ,though ,plato1 in the ,republic1 is unwilling that the young should be taught how the gods go about disguised as strangers1 this was their conduct in the myths4 ,thus we read of ,lycaon and his fifty sons1 whom ,zeus ,in their own house spied on1 and unawares ,watching at hand1 from his disguise arose1 ,and overset the table where they sat ,around their impious feast1 and slew them all4999999 ,clemens of ,alexandria99999999 contrasts the human festival of ,zeus among the ,ethiopians with the inhuman banquet offered to him by ,lycaon in ,arcadia49999999999 99 ,op4 ,clem4 ,alex41 i4 #cf4 9999 ,compare ,heyne1 ,observ4 in ,apollodor41 i4 #h1 #a4 999999 ,bridges1 ,prometheus the ,firegiver4 99999999 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,l #ca4 9999999999 ,paus41 viii4 #b1 l4 ,the permanence of ,arcadian human sacrifice has already been alluded to1 and it is confirmed by the superstition that whoever tasted the human portion in the mess sacrificed to ,zeus became a were-wolf1 resuming his original shape if for ten years he abstained from the flesh of men499 ,a very quaint story of the domestic troubles of ,zeus was current in ,plataea1 where it was related at the festival named ,daedala4 ,it was said that ,hera1 indignant at the amours of her lord1 retired to ,euboae4 ,zeus1 wishing to be reconciled to her1 sought the advice of ,cithaeron1 at that time king of ,plataea4 ,by his counsel the god celebrated a sham marriage with a wooden image1 dressed up to personate ,plataea1 daughter of ,asopus4 ,hera flew to the scene and tore the bridal veil1 when1 discovering the trick1 she laughed1 and was reconciled to her husband49999 ,probably this legend was told to explain some incident of ritual or custom in the feast of the ,daedala1 and it is certainly a more innocent myth than most that were commemorated in local mystery-plays4 99 ,the wolves connected with the worship of ,zeus1 like his rams1 goats1 and other animals1 are commonly explained as mythical names for elemental phenomena1 clouds and storms4 ,thus the ram's fleece1 7--------71 used in certain expiatory rites 7,hesych41 s4 v41 ,lobeck1 p4 #ahc71 is presumed by ,preller to be a symbol of the cloud4 ,in the same way his regis or goat-skin is the storm-wind or the thunder-cloud4 ,the opposite view will be found in ,professor ,robertson ,smith's article on ,sacrifice in ,encyc4 ,brit41 where the similar totemistic rites of the lower races are adduced4 ,the elemental theory is set forth by ,decharme1 ,mythologie de la ,grece ,antique 7,paris1 #ahgi71 p4 #af4 ,for the storm-wolf1 see ,preller1 i4 #aja4 ,it seems a little curious that the wolf1 which1 on the solar hypothesis1 was a brilliant beast connected with the worship of the sun-god1 ,apollo ,lycaeus1 becomes a cloud or storm-wolf when connected with ,zeus4 ,on the whole subject of the use of the skins of animals as clothing of the god or the ministrant1 see ,lobeck1 ,aglaoph41 pp4 #ahh-ahf1 and ,robertson ,smith1 op4 cit4 9999 ,paus41 ix4 #c1 #a4 ,it was not only when he was en bonne fortune that ,zeus adopted the guise of a bird or beast4 ,in the very ancient temple of ,hera near ,mycenae there was a great statue of the goddess1 of gold and ivory1 the work of ,polycletus1 and therefore comparatively modern4 ,in one hand the goddess held a pomegranate1 in the other a sceptre1 on which was perched a cuckoo1 like the ,latin woodpecker ,picus on his wooden post4 ,about the pomegranate there was a myth which ,pausanias declines to tell1 but he does record the myth of the cuckoo4 ,they say that when ,zeus loved the yet virgin ,hera1 he changed himself into a cuckoo1 which she pursued and caught to be her playmate4 ,pausanias admits that he did not believe this legend4 ,probably it was invented to account for the companionship of the cuckoo1 which1 like the cow1 was one of the sacred animals of ,hera4 ,myths of this class are probably later than the period in which we presume the divine relationships of gods and animals to have passed out of the totemistic into the ,samoan condition of belief4 ,the more general explanation is1 that the cuckoo1 as a symbol of the vernal season1 represents the heaven in its wooing of the earth4 ,on the whole1 as we have tried to show1 the symbolic element in myth is late1 and was meant to be explanatory of rites and usages whose original significance was forgotten4 ,it would be unfair to assume that a god was disrespectfully viewed by his earliest worshippers because aetiological1 genealogical1 and other myths1 crystallised into his legend4 ,an extremely wild legend of ,zeus was current among the ,galatae1 where ,pausanias expressly calls it a local myth1 differing from the ,lydian variant4 ,zeus in his sleep became1 by the earth1 father of ,attes1 ,va being both male and female in his nature4 ,agdistis was the local name of this enigmatic character1 whom the gods feared and mutilated4 ,from the blood grew up1 as in so many myths1 an almond tree4 ,the daughter of ,sangarius1 ,nana1 placed some of the fruit in her bosom1 and thereby became pregnant1 like the girl in the ,kalewala by the berry1 or the mother of ,huitzilopochtli1 in ,mexico1 by the floating feather4 ,the same set of ideas recurs in ,grimm's ,maerchen ,machandelhoom199 if we may suppose that in an older form the juniper tree and its berries aided the miraculous birth49999 ,it is customary to see in these wild myths a reflection of the ,phrygian religious tradition1 which leads up to the birth of ,atys1 who again is identified with ,adonis as a hero of the spring and the reviving year4 ,but the story has been introduced in this place as an example of the manner in which floating myths from all sources gravitate towards one great name and personality1 like that of ,zeus4 ,it would probably be erroneous to interpret these and many other myths in the vast legend of ,zeus1 as if they had originally and intentionally described the phenomena of the heavens4 ,they are1 more probably1 mere accretions round the figure of ,zeus conceived as a personal god1 a magnified non-natural man4999999 99 ,mrs4 ,hunt's translation1 i4 #ahg4 9999 ,for parallels to this myth in ,chinese1 ,aztec1 ,indian1 ,phrygian and other languages1 see ,le ,fils de la ,vierge1 by ,m4 ,h4 de ,charency1 ,havre1 #ahgi4 ,see also ,les ,deux ,freres in ,m4 ,maspero's ,contes ,egyptians 999999,as to the ,agdistis myth1 ,m4 de ,charency writes 7after quoting forms of the tale from all parts of the world71 ,this resemblance between different shapes of the same legend1 among nations separated by such expanses of land and sea1 may be brought forward as an important proof of the antiquity of the myth1 as well as of the distant date at which it began to be diffused4 ,another example of local accretion is the fable that ,zeus1 after carrying off ,ganymede to be his cupbearer1 made atonement to the royal family of ,troy by the present of a vine of gold fashioned by ,hephaestus499 ,the whole of the myth of ,callisto1 again1 whom ,zeus loved1 and who bore ,areas1 and later was changed into a bear1 and again into a star1 is clearly of local ,arcadian origin4 ,if the ,arcadians1 in very remote times1 traced their descent from a she-bear1 and if they also1 like other races1 recognised a bear in the constellation1 they would naturally mix up those fables later with the legend of the all-powerful ,zeus49999 99 ,scholia on ,odyssey1 x,l #eba2 ,iliad1 xx4 #bcd2 ,eurip41 ,orestes1 #acib1 and ,scholiast quoting the ,little ,iliad4 9999 ,compare ,c4 ,o4 ,mueller1 ,introduction to a ,scientific ,system of ,mythology1 ,london1 #ahhd1 pp4 #af1ag2 ,pausaniaa1 i #be1 #a1 viii4 #ce1 #g4 ,so far we have studied some of the details in the legend of ,zeus which did not conspicuously win their way into the national literature4 ,the object has been to notice a few of the myths which appear the most ancient1 and the most truly native and original4 ,these are the traditions preserved in mystery-plays1 tribal genealogies1 and temple legends1 the traditions surviving from the far off period of the village ,greeks4 ,it has already been argued1 in conformity with the opinion of ,c4 ,o4 ,mueller1 that these myths are most antique and thoroughly local4 ,any attempt to explain these myths in order1 such1 for instance1 as we now find them in the collection of ,apollodorus1 as a system of thought and knowledge1 must prove a fruitless task4 ,equally useless is it to account for them all as stories originally told to describe1 consciously or unconsciously1 or to explain any atmospheric and meteorological phenomena4 ,zeus is the bright sky2 granted1 but the men who told how he became an ant1 or a cuckoo1 or celebrated a sham wedding with a wooden image1 or offered ,troy a golden vine1 the work of ,hephaestus1 like other articles of jewellery1 were not thinking of the bright sky when they repeated the story4 ,they were merely strengthening some ancient family or tribal tradition by attaching it to the name of a great1 powerful1 personal being1 an immortal4 ,this being1 not the elemental force that was ,zeus1 not the power making for righteousness that is ,zeus1 not the pure spiritual ruler of the world1 the ,zeus of philosophy1 is the hero of the myths that have been investigated4 ,in the tales that actually won their way into national literature1 beginning with ,homer1 there is observable the singular tendency to combine1 in one figure1 the highest religious ideas with the fables of a capricious1 and often unjust and lustful supernatural being4 ,taking the myths first1 their contrast with the religious conception of ,zeus will be the more remarkable4 ,zeus is the king of all gods and father of some1 but he cannot keep his subjects and family always in order4 ,in the first book of the ,iliad1 ,achilles reminds his mother1 the sea-nymph ,thetis1 how she once rescued the son of ,cronus1 lord of the storm-clouds1 from shameful wreck1 when all other ,olympians would have bound him1 even ,hera1 and ,poseidon1 and ,pallas ,athene 4 ,thetis brought the hundred-handed ,briareus to the help of the outnumbered and over-mastered ,zeus4 ,then ,zeus1 according to the ,scholiast1 hung ,hera out of heaven in chains1 and gave ,apollo and ,poseidon for slaves to ,laomedon1 king of ,troy4 ,so lively was the recollection of this coup d'etat in ,olympus1 that ,hephaestus implores ,hera 7his mother in ,homer7 not to anger ,zeus1 lest ,i behold thee1 that art so dear1 chastised before mine eyes1 and then shall ,i not be able to save thee for all my sorrow499 ,he then reminds ,hera how ,zeus once tossed him out of heaven 7as the ,master of ,life tossed ,ataentsic in the ,iroquois myth71 and how he fell in ,lemnos1 and little life was left in me4 ,the passage is often interpreted as if the fall of ,hephaestus1 the fire-god1 were a myth of lightning2 but in ,homer assuredly the incident has become thoroughly personal1 and is told with much humour4 ,the offence of ,hera was the raising of a magic storm 7which she could do as well as any ,lapland witch7 and the wrecking of ,heracles on ,cos4 ,for this she was chained and hung out of heaven1 as on the occasion already described49999 99 ,iliad1 i4 #ehg4 9999 ,ibid41 #eij2 ,scholia1 xiv4 #bee4 ,the myth is derived from ,pherecydes4 ,the constant bickerings between ,hera and ,zeus in the ,iliad are merely the reflection in the upper ,olympian world of the wars and jealousies of men below4 ,ilios is at war with ,argos and ,mycenae1 therefore the chief protecting gods of each city take part in the strife4 ,this conception is connected with the heroic genealogies4 ,noble and royal families1 as in most countries1 feigned a descent from the gods4 ,it followed that ,zeus was a partisan of his children1 that is1 of the royal houses in the towns where he was the most favoured deity4 ,thus ,hera when she sided with ,mycenae had a double cause of anger1 and there is an easy answer to the question1 quo numine laeso8 ,she had her own townsmen's quarrel to abet1 and she had her jealousy to incite her the more2 for to become father of the human families ,zeus must have been faithless to her4 ,indeed1 in a passage 7possibly interpolated7 of the fourteenth ,iliad he acts as his own ,leporello1 and recites the list of his conquests4 ,the ,perseidae1 the ,heraclidae1 the ,pirithoidae1 with ,dionysus1 ,apollo and ,artemis spring from the amours there recounted499 ,moved by such passions1 ,hera urges on the ruin of ,troy1 and ,zeus accuses her of a cannibal hatred4 ,perchance wert thou to enter within the gates and long walls1 and devour ,priam raw1 and ,priam's sons1 and all the ,trojans1 then mightest thou assuage thine anger49999 ,that great stumbling-block of ,greek piety1 the battle in which the gods take part1999999 was explained as a physical allegory by the ,neo-,platonists499999999 ,it is in reality only a refraction of the wars of men1 a battle produced among the heavenly folk by men's battles1 as the earthly imitations of rain in the ,vedic ritual beget rain from the firmament4 ,the favouritism which ,zeus throughout shows to ,athene9999999999 is explained by that rude and ancient myth of her birth from his brain after he had swallowed her pregnant mother4999999999999 99 ,pherecydes is the authority for the treble night1 in which ,zeus persuaded the sun not to rise when he wooed ,alemena4 9999 ,see the whole passage1 ,iliad1 iv4 #afj4 999999 ,ibid41 v4 #che4 99999999 ,scholia1 ed4 ,dindorf1 vol iii42 ,ibid41 v4 #hhf4 9999999999,ibid41 v4 #hge4 999999999999 ,cf4 ,hymn to ,apollo ,pythius1 #acf4 ,but ,zeus cannot allow the wars of the gods to go on unreproved1 and99 he asserts his power1 and threatens to cast the offenders into ,tartarus1 as far beneath ,hades as heaven is high above earth4 ,here the supremacy of ,zeus is attested1 and he proposes to prove it by the sport called the tug of war4 ,he says1 ,fasten ye a chain of gold from heaven1 and all ye gods lay hold thereof1 and all goddesses1 yet could ye not drag from heaven to earth ,zeus1 the supreme counsellor1 not though ye strove sore4 ,but if once ,i were minded to drag with all my heart1 then ,i could hang gods and earth and sea to a pinnacle of ,olympus49999 ,the supremacy claimed here on the score of strength1 by so much ,i am beyond gods and men1 is elsewhere based on primogeniture1999999 though in ,hesiod ,zeus is the youngest of the sons of ,cronos4 ,but there is1 as usual in myth1 no consistent view1 and ,zeus cannot be called omnipotent4 ,not only is he subject to fate1 but his son ,heracles would have perished when he went to seek the hound of hell but for the aid of ,athene499999999 ,gratitude for his relief does not prevent ,zeus from threatening ,athene as well as ,hera with ,tartarus1 when they would thwart him in the interest of the ,achaeans4 ,hera is therefore obliged to subdue him by the aid of love and sleep1 in that famous and beautiful passage19999999999 which is so frankly anthropomorphic1 and was such a scandal to religious minds4999999999999 99 ,iliad1 viii4 ad init4 9999 ,m4 ,decharme regards this challenge to the tug of war as a very noble and sublime assertion of supreme sovereignty4 ,myth1 de la ,greece1 p4 #ai4 999999 ,iliad1 xv4 #aff4 99999999 ,ibid41 viii4 #cfi4 9999999999,ibid41 adv4 #afj-cej4 999999999999 ,schol4 ,iliad1 xiv4 #cdf2 ,dindorf1 vol4 iv4 ,in the ,scholiast's explanation the scene is an allegorical description of spring2 the wrath of ,hera is the remains of winter weather2 her bath represents the ,april showers2 when she busks her hair1 the new leaves on the boughs1 the high leafy tresses of the trees1 are intended1 and so forth4 ,not to analyse the whole divine plot of the ,iliad1 such is ,zeus in the mythical portions of the epic4 ,he is the father and master of gods and men1 and the strongest2 but he may be opposed1 he may be deceived and cajoled2 he is hot- tempered1 amorous1 luxurious1 by no means omnipotent or omniscient4 ,he cannot avert even from his children the doom that ,fate span into the threads at their birth2 he is no more omniscient than omnipotent1 and if he can affect the weather1 and bring storm and cloud1 so at will can the other deities1 and so can any sorcerer1 or ,jossakeed1 or ,biraark of the lower races4 ,in ,homeric religion1 as considered apart from myth1 in the religious thoughts of men at solemn moments of need1 or dread1 or prayer1 ,zeus holds a far other place4 ,all power over mortals is in his hands1 and is acknowledged with almost the fatalism of ,islam4 ,so meseems it pleaseth mighty ,zeus1 who hath laid low the head of many a city1 yea1 and shall lay low1 for his is the highest power499 ,it is ,zeus who gives sorrows to men19999 and he has1 in a mythical picture1 two jars by him full of evil and good1 which he deals to his children on earth4 ,in prayer999999 he is addressed as ,zeus1 most glorious1 most great1 veiled in the storm-cloud1 that dwelleth in the heaven4 ,he gives his sanction to the oath399999999 99 ,iliad1 ii4 #agg4 9999 ,ibid41 #cgh4 999999 ,ibid41 #djh4 99999999 ,ibid41 iii #bgg4 ,thou sun1 that seest all1 ,father ,zeus1 that rulest from ,ida1 most glorious1 most great1 and things1 and nearest all things1 and ye rivers1 and thou earth1 and ye that in the underworld punish men forsworn1 whosoever sweareth falsely1 be ye witnesses1 and watch over the faithful oath4 ,again it is said3 ,even if the ,olympian bring not forth the fulfilment 7of the oath7 at once1 yet doth he fulfil at the last1 and men make dear amends1 even with their own heads1 and their wives and little ones499 ,again1 ,father ,zeus will be no helper of liars 49999 ,as to the religious sentiment towards ,zeus of a truly devout man in that remote age1 ,homer has left us no doubt4 ,in ,eumaeus the swineherd of ,odysseus1 a man of noble birth stolen into slavery when a child1 ,homer has left a picture of true religion and undefiled4 ,eumaeus attributes everything that occurs to the will of the gods1 with the resignation of a child of ,islam or a ,scot of the ,solemn ,league and ,covenant4999999 ,from ,zeus are all strangers and beggars1 he says1 and believes that hospitality and charity are well pleasing in the sight of the ,olympian4 ,when he flourishes1 it is ,god that increaseth this work of mine whereat ,i abide4 ,he neither says ,zeus nor the gods1 but in this passage simply god4 ,verily the blessed gods love not froward deeds1 but they reverence justice and the righteous acts of men2 yet it is ,zeus that granteth a prey to the sea-robbers4 ,it is the gods that rear ,telemachus like a young sapling1 yet is it the gods who mar his wits within him when he sets forth on a perilous adventure4 ,it is to ,zeus ,cronion that the swineherd chiefly prays199999999 but he does not exclude the others from his supplication49999999999 99 ,iliad1 iv4 #afj4 9999 ,ibid41 iv4 #bcf4 999999 ,odyssey1 xiv4 passim1 99999999 ,ibid41 #djf4 9999999999 ,odyssey1 iv4 #dbc4 ,being a man of scrupulous piety1 when he slays a swine for supper1 he only sets aside a seventh portion for ,hermes and the nymphs who haunt the lonely uplands49999 ,yet his offering has no magical intent of constraining the immortals4 ,one thing ,god will give1 and another withhold1 even as he will1 for with him all things are possible4999999 ,such is a ,homeric ideal of piety1 and it would only gain force from contrast with the blasphemy of ,aias1 who said that in the god's despite he had escaped the great deep of the sea 499999999 9999 ,ibid41 xiv4 #dce4 999999 ,ibid41 #ddd1 #dde4 99999999 ,ibid41 iv4 #ejd4 ,the epics sufficiently prove that a noble religion may coexist with a wild and lawless mythology4 ,that ancient sentiment of the human heart which makes men listen to a human voice in the thunder and yearn for immortal friends and helpers1 lives its life little disturbed by the other impulse which inspires men when they come to tell stories and romances about the same transcendent beings4 ,as to the actual original form of the faith in ,zeus1 we can only make guesses4 ,to some it will appear that ,zeus was originally the clear bright expanse which was taken for an image or symbol of the infinite4 ,others will regard ,zeus as the bright sky1 but the bright sky conceived of in savage fashion1 as a being with human parts and passions1 a being with all the magical accomplishments of metamorphosis1 rain-making and the rest1 with which the medicine-man is credited4 ,a third set of mythologists1 remembering how gods and medicine-men have often interchangeable names1 and how1 for example1 the ,australian ,biraark1 who is thought to command the west wind1 is himself styled ,west ,wind1 will derive ,zeus from the ghost of some ancestral sorcerer named ,sky4 ,this euhemerism seems an exceedingly inadequate explanation of the origin of ,zeus4 ,in his moral aspect ,zeus again inherits the quality of that supernatural and moral watcher of man's deeds who is recognised 7as we have seen7 even by the most backward races1 and who1 for all we can tell1 is older than any beast-god or god of the natural elements4 ,thus1 whatever ,zeus was in his earliest origin1 he had become1 by the time we can study him in ritual1 poem or sacred chapter1 a complex of qualities and attributes1 spiritual1 moral1 elemental1 animal and human4 ,it is curious that1 on our theory1 the mythical ,zeus must have morally degenerated at a certain period as the ,zeus of religion more and more approached the rank of a pure and almost supreme deity4 ,on our hypothesis1 it was while ,greece was reaching a general national consciousness1 and becoming more than an aggregate of small local tribes1 that ,zeus attracted the worst elements of his myth4 ,in deposing or relegating to a lower rank a crowd of totems and fetishes and ancestral ghosts1 he inherited the legends of their exploits4 ,these were attached to him still more by the love of genealogies derived from the gods4 ,for each such pedigree an amour was inevitably invented1 and1 where totems had existed1 the god in this amour borrowed the old bestial form4 ,for example1 if a ,thessalian stock had believed in descent from an ant1 and wished to trace their pedigree to ,zeus1 they had merely to say1 ,zeus was that ant4 ,once more1 as ,zeus became supreme among the other deities of men in the patriarchal family condition1 those gods were grouped round him as members of his family1 his father1 mother1 brothers1 sisters1 wife1 mistresses and children4 ,here was a noble field in which the mythical fancy might run riot2 hence came stories of usurpations1 rebellions1 conjugal skirmishes and jealousies1 a whole world of incidents in which humour had free play4 ,nor would foreign influences be wanting4 ,a wandering ,greek1 recognising his ,zeus in a deity of ,phoenicia or ,babylon1 might bring home some alien myth which would take its place in the general legend1 with other myths imported along with foreign objects of art1 silver bowls and inlaid swords4 ,thus in all probability grew the legend of the ,zeus of myth1 certainly a deplorable legend1 while all the time the ,greek intellect was purifying itself and approaching the poetical1 moral and philosophical conception of the ,zeus of religion4 ,at last1 in the minds of the philosophically religious1 ,zeus became pure deity1 and the details of the legend were explained away by this or that system of allegory2 while in the minds of the sceptical1 ,zeus yielded his throne to the vortex of the ,aristophanic comedy4 ,thus ,zeus may have begun as a kindly supreme being2 then aetiological and totemistic myths may have accrued to his legend1 and1 finally1 philosophic and pious thought introduced a rational conception of his nature4 ,but myth lived on1 ritual lived on1 and human victims were slain on the altars of ,zeus till ,christianity was the established religion4 ,solet it be1 says ,pausanias1 as it hath been from the beginning4 ,the gods who fill the court of ,zeus and surround his throne are so numerous that a complete account of each would exceed the limits of our space4 ,the legend of ,zeus is typical1 on the whole1 of the manner in which the several mythical chapters grew about the figures of each of the deities4 ,some of these were originally1 it is probable1 natural forces or elemental phenomena1 conceived of at first as personal beings2 while1 later1 the personal earth or sun shaded off into the informing genius of the sun or earth1 and still later was almost freed from all connection with the primal elemental phenomenon or force4 ,in these processes of evolution it seems to have happened occasionally that the god shed1 like a shell or chrysalis1 his original form1 which continued to exist1 however1 as a deity of older family and inferior power4 ,by such processes1 at least1 it would not be difficult to explain the obvious fact that several gods have under-studies of their parts in the divine comedy4 ,it may be well to begin a review of the gods by examining those who were1 or may be supposed to have been1 originally forces or phenomena of ,nature4 ,,apollo4 ,this claim has been made for almost all the ,olympians1 but in some cases appears more plausible than in others4 ,for example1 ,apollo is regarded as a solar divinity1 and the modes in which he attained his detached and independent position as a brilliant anthropomorphic deity1 patron of art1 the lover of the nymphs1 the inspirer of prophecy1 may have been something in this fashion4 ,first the sun may have been regarded 7in the manner familiar to savage races7 as a personal being4 ,in ,homer he is still the god who sees and hears all things199 and who beholds and reveals the loves of ,ares and ,aphrodite4 ,this personal character of the sun is well illustrated in the ,homeric hymn to ,hyperion1 the sun that dwells on high1 where1 as ,mr4 ,max ,mueller says1 the words would seem to imply that the poet looked upon ,helios as a half-god1 almost as a hero1 who had once lived upon earth49999 ,it has already been shown that this mythical theory of the origin of the sun is met with among the ,aztecs and the ,bushmen4999999 ,in ,homer1 the sun1 ,helios ,hyperion1 though he sees and hears all things199999999 needs to be informed by one of the nymphs that the companions of ,odysseus have devoured his sacred cattle4 ,in the same way the supreme ,baiame of ,australia needs to ask questions of mortals4 ,apollo then speaks in the ,olympian assembly1 and threatens that if he is not avenged he will go down to ,hades and shine among the dead4 ,the sun is capable of marriage1 as in the ,bulgarian ,volkslied1 where he marries a peasant girl19999999999 and1 by ,perse1 he is the father of ,circe and ,a,eetes4999999999999 99 ,odyssey1 viii4 #bgj4 9999 ,selected ,essays1 i4 #fje1 note #a4 999999 ,nature ,myths1 antea4 99999999 ,iliad1 iii4 #bgg4 9999999999 ,dozon1 ,chansons ,bulgares4 999999999999 ,odyssey1 x4 #aci4 ,according to the early lyric poet ,stesichorus1 the sun sails over ocean in a golden cup or bowl4 ,then ,helios ,hyperionides went down into his golden cup to cross ,ocean-stream1 and come to the deeps of dark and sacred ,night1 to his mother1 and his wedded wife1 and his children dear4 ,this belief1 in more barbaric shape1 still survives in the ,greek islands499 ,the sun is still to them a giant1 like ,hyperion1 bloodthirsty when tinged with gold4 ,the common saying is that the sun 'when he seeks his kingdom' expects to find forty loaves prepared for him by his mother4444 ,woe to her if the loaves be not ready6 ,the sun eats his brothers1 sisters1 father and mother in his wrath49999 ,a well-known amour of ,helios was his intrigue with ,rhode by whom he had ,phaethon and his sisters4 ,the tragedians told how ,phaethon drove the chariot of the sun1 and upset it1 while his sisters were turned into poplar trees1 and their tears became amber4999999 99 ,bent's ,cyclades1 p4 #eg4 9999 ,stesichorus1 ,poetae ,lyrici ,graeci1 ,pomtow1 vol4 i4 p4 #adh2 qf4 also ,mimnermus1 op4 cit41i4 #gh4 999999 ,odyssey1 xvii4 #bjh2 ,scholiast4 ,the story is ridiculed by ,lucian1 ,de ,electro4 ,such were the myths about the personal sun1 the hero or demigod1 ,helios ,hyperion4 ,if we are to believe that ,apollo also is a solar deity1 it appears probable that he is a more advanced conception1 not of the sun as a person1 but of a being who represents the sun in the spiritual world1 and who exercises1 by an act of will1 the same influence as the actual sun possesses by virtue of his rays4 ,thus he brings pestilence on the ,achaeans in the first book of the ,iliad1 and his viewless shafts slay men suddenly1 as sunstroke does4 ,it is a pretty coincidence that a ,german scholar1 ,otfried ,mueller1 who had always opposed ,apollo's claim to be a sun-god1 was killed by a sunstroke at ,delphi4 ,the god avenged himself in his ancient home4 ,but if this deity was once merely the sun1 it may be said1 in the beautiful phrase of ,paul de ,st4 ,victor1 ,pareil a une statue qui surgit des flammes de son moule1 ,apollo se degage vite du soleil499 ,he becomes a god of manifold functions and attributes1 and it is necessary to exercise extreme caution in explaining any one myth of his legend as originally a myth of the sun49999 ,phoibos certainly means the brilliant or shining4 ,it is1 however1 unnecessary to hold that such epithets as ,lyceius1 ,lycius1 ,lycegenes indicate light1 and are not connected1 as the ancients1 except ,macrobius1 believed1 with the worship of the wolf4999999 ,the character of ,apollo as originally a sun-god is asserted on the strength not only of his names1 but of many of his attributes and his festivals4 ,it is pointed out that he is the deity who superintends the measurement of time499999999 ,the chief days in the year's reckoning1 the new and full moons and the seventh and twentieth days of the month1 also the beginning of the solar year1 are reckoned ,apolline4 ,that curious ritual of the ,daphnephoria1 familiar to many ,english people from ,sir ,frederick ,leighton's picture1 is believed to have symbolised the year4 ,proclus says that a staff of olive wood decorated with flowers supported a central ball of brass beneath which was a smaller ball1 and thence little globes were hung49999999999 99 ,homines et ,dieux1 p4 #aa4 9999 ,there is no agreement nor certainty about the etymology and original meaning of the name ,apollo4 ,see ,preller1 ,or4 ,myth41 i4 #ahi4 ,comparative philologists have not yet succeeded in finding the true etymology of ,apollo 7,max ,mueller1 ,selected ,essays1 i4 #dfg74 999999 ,compare ,zeus ,lyceius and his wolf-myths2 compare also ,roscher1 ,ausfukrliches ,lexikon1 p4 #dbc4 99999999 ,sonnengott als ,zeitordner1 ,roscher1 op4 cit41 p4 #dbc4 9999999999 ,cf4 ,photius1 ,bibl41#cba4 ,the greater ball means the sun1 the smaller the moon1 the tiny globes the stars and the #cfe laurel garlands used in the feast are understood to symbolise the days4 ,pausanias99 says that the ceremony was of extreme antiquity4 ,heracles had once been the youth who led the procession1 and the tripod which ,amphitryon dedicated for him was still to be seen at ,thebes in the second century of our era4 ,another proof of ,apollo's connection with the sun is derived from the cessation of his rites at ,delphi during the three winter months which were devoted to ,dionysus49999 ,the sacred birthday feasts of the god are also connected with the year's renewal4999999 ,once more1 his conflict with the great dragon1 the ,pytho1 is understood as a symbol of the victory of light and warmth over the darkness and cold of winter4 ,the discomfiture of a dragon by a god is familiar in the myth of the defeat of ,ahi or ,vritra by ,indra1 and it is a curious coincidence that ,apollo1 like ,indra1 fled in terror after slaying his opponent4 ,apollo1 according to the myth1 was purified of the guilt of the slaying 7a ceremony unknown to ,homer7 at ,tempe499999999 ,according to the myth1 the ,python was a snake which forbade access to the chasm whence rose the mysterious fumes of divination4 ,apollo slew the snake and usurped the oracle4 ,his murder of the serpent was more or less resented by the ,delphians of the time49999999999 99 i ix4 #aj1 #d4 9999 ,plutarch1 ,depa ,el4 ,delph41 #i4 999999 ,roscher1 op4 cit41 p4 #dbg4 99999999 ,proclus1 ,chresl1 ed4 ,gaisford1 p4 #chg2 ,homer1 ,hymn to ,apollo1 #abb1 #agh2 ,apollod41 i4 #d1 #c2 ,plutarch1 ,quaest4 ,groec41 #ab4 9999999999 ,apollod41 ,heyne1 ,observationes1 p4 #ai4 ,compare the ,scholiast on the argument to ,pindar's ,pythian odes4 ,the snake1 like the other animals1 frogs and lizards1 in ,andaman1 ,australian and ,iroquois myth1 had swallowed the waters before its murder499 ,whether the legend of the slaying of the ,python was or was not originally an allegory of the defeat of winter by sunlight1 it certainly at a very early period became mixed up with ancient legal ideas and local traditions4 ,it is almost as necessary for a young god or hero to slay monsters as for a young lady to be presented at court2 and we may hesitate to explain all these legends of an useful feat of courage as nature-myths4 ,in the ,homeric ,hymn to ,apollo ,pythius1 the monster is called ,dracaena1 the female form of drakon4 ,the ,drakos and his wife are still popular bogies in modern ,greek superstition and folk-song49999 99 ,preller1 i4 #aid4 9999 ,forchhammer takes the ,dracaena to be a violent winter torrent1 dried up by the sun's rays4 ,cf4 ,decharme1 ,myth4 ,orec41 p4 #ajj4 ,it is also conjectured that the snake is only the sacred serpent of the older oracle of the earth on the same site4 ,a,eschylus1 ,eumenides1 #b4 ,the monster is the fosterling of ,hera in the ,homeric hymn1 and the bane of flocks and herds4 ,she is somehow connected with the fable of the birth of the monster ,typhoeus1 son of ,hera without a father4 ,the ,homeric hymn derives ,pythius1 the name of the god1 from 7------71 rot1 the disdainful speech of ,apollo to the dead monster1 for there the pest rotted away beneath the beams of the sun4 ,the derivation is a volks-etymologie4 ,it is not clear whether the poet connected in his mind the sun and the god4 ,the local legend of the dragon-slaying was kept alive in men's minds at ,delphi by a mystery-play1 in which the encounter was represented in action4 ,in one version of the myth the slavery of ,apollo in the house of ,admetus was an expiation of the dragon's death499 ,through many of the versions runs the idea that the slaying of the serpent was a deed which required purification and almost apology4 ,if the serpent was really the deity of an elder faith1 this would be intelligible1 or1 if he had kinsfolk1 a serpent-tribe in the district1 we could understand it4 ,apollo's next act was to open a new spring of water1 as the local nymph was hostile and grudged him her own4 ,this was an inexplicable deed in a sun god1 whose business it is to dry up rather than to open water-springs4 ,he gave oracles out of the laurel of ,delphi1 as ,zeus out of the oaks of ,dodona49999 ,presently ,apollo changed himself into a huge dolphin1 and in this guise approached a ship of the ,cretan mariners4999999 ,he guided1 in his dolphin shape1 the vessel to ,crisa1 the port of ,delphi1 and then emerged splendid from the waters1 and filled his fane with light1 a sun-god indeed ,next1 assuming the shape of a man1 he revealed himself to the ,cretans1 and bade them worship him in his ,delphic seat as ,apollo ,delphinios1 the ,dolphin-,apollo4 99 ,eurip41 ,alcestis1 ,schol41 line #a4 9999 ,hymn1 #bae4 999999 ,op4 cit41 #bbj-bbe4 ,such is the ancient tale of the founding of the ,delphic oracle1 in which gods1 and beasts1 and men are mixed in archaic fashion4 ,it is open to students to regard the dolphin as only one of the many animals whose earlier worship is concentrated in ,apollo1 or to take the creature for the symbol of spring1 when seafaring becomes easier to mortals1 or to interpret the dolphin as the result of a volks-etymologie1 in which the name ,delphi 7meaning originally a hollow in the hills7 was connected with delphis1 the dolphin499 ,on the whole1 it seems impossible to get a clear view of ,apollo as a sun-god from a legend built out of so many varied materials of different dates as the myth of the slaying of the ,python and the founding of the ,delphic oracle4 ,nor does the tale of the birth of the god--les enfances ,apollon--yield much more certain information4 ,the most accessible and the oldest form of the birth-myth is preserved in the ,homeric hymn to the ,delian ,apollo1 a hymn intended for recital at the ,delian festival of the ,ionian people4 ,the hymn begins without any account of the amours of ,zeus and ,leto2 it is merely said that many lands refused to allow ,leto a place wherein to bring forth her offspring4 ,but barren ,delos listened to her prayer1 and for nine days ,leto was in labour1 surrounded by all the goddesses1 save jealous ,hera and ,eilithyia1 who presides over child-birth4 ,to her ,iris went with the promise of a golden necklet set with amber studs1 and ,eilithyia came down to the isle1 and ,leto1 grasping the trunk of a palm tree1 brought forth ,apollo and ,artemis49999 ,such is the narrative of the hymn1 in which some interpreters1 such as ,m4 ,decharme1 find a rich allegory of the birth of ,light4 ,leto is regarded as ,night or ,darkness1 though it is now admitted that this meaning cannot be found in the etymology of her name4999999 99 ,roscher1 ,lexikon2 ,preller1 i4 #bjh2 ,schol4 ad ,lycophr41 v4 #bjh4 9999 ,compare ,theognis1 #e-aj4 999999 ,preller1 i4 #aij1 note #d2 ,curtius1 ,gr4 ,,ae1 #abj4 ,m4 ,decharme presumes that the palm tree 7------7 originally meant the morning red1 by aid of which night gives birth to the sun1 and if the poet says the young god loves the mountain tops1 why1 so does the star of day4 ,the moon1 however1 does not usually arise simultaneously with the dawn1 as ,artemis was born with ,apollo4 ,it is vain1 in fact1 to look for minute touches of solar myth in the tale1 which rests on the womanly jealousy of ,hera1 and explains the existence of a great fane and feast of ,apollo1 not in one of the rich countries that refused his mother sanctuary1 but in a small barren and remote island499 ,among the wilder myths which grouped themselves round the figure of ,apollo was the fable that his mother ,leto was changed into a wolf4 ,the fable ran that ,leto1 in the shape of a wolf1 came in twelve days from the ,hyperboreans to ,delos49999 ,this may be explained as a volks-etymologie from the god's name1 ,lycegenes1 which is generally held to mean born of light4 ,but the presence of very many animals in the ,apollo legend and in his temples1 corresponding as it does to similar facts already observed in the religion of the lower races1 can scarcely be due to popular etymologies alone4 ,the ,dolphin-,apollo has already been remarked4 99 ,the ,french excavators in ,delos found the original unhewn stone on which1 in later days1 the statue of the anthropomorphic god was based4 9999 ,aristotle1 ,hist4 ,an41 vi #hf2 ,elian41 ,n4 ,a41 iv4 #d2 ,schol4 on ,apol4 ,rhod41 ii4 #ab ,there are many traces of connection between ,apollo and the wolf4 ,in ,athens there was the ,lyceum of ,apollo ,lukios1 ,wolf-,apollo1 which tradition connected with the primeval strife wherein ,a,egeus 7goat-man7 defeated ,lukios 7wolfman74 ,the ,lukian ,apollo was the deity of the defeated side1 as ,athene of the ,a,egis 7goat-skin7 was the deity of the victors499 ,the ,argives had an ,apollo of the same kind1 and the wolf was stamped on their coins49999 ,according to ,pausanias1 when ,danaus came seeking the kingship of ,argos1 the people hesitated between him and ,gelanor4 ,while they were in doubt1 a wolf attacked a bull1 and the ,argives determined that the bull should stand for ,gelanor1 the wolf for ,danaus4 ,the wolf won2 ,danaus was made king1 and in gratitude raised an altar to ,apollo ,lukios1 ,wolf-,apollo4 ,that is 7as friends of the totemic system would argue71 a man of the wolf-stock dedicated a shrine to the wolf-god4999999 ,in ,delphi the presence of a bronze image of a wolf was explained by the story that a wolf once revealed the place where stolen temple treasures were concealed4 ,the god's beast looked after the god's interest499999999 ,in many myths the children of ,apollo by mortal girls were exposed1 but fostered by wolves49999999999 ,in direct contradiction with ,pausanias1 but in accordance with a common rule of mythical interpretation1 ,sophocles999999999999 calls ,apollo the wolf-slayer4 99 ,paus41 i4 #ai1 #d4 9999 ,preller1 i4 #bjb1 note #c2 ,paus41 ii4 #ai1 #c4 999999 ,encyc4 ,brit41 s4 v4 ,sacrifice4 99999999 ,paus41 x4 #ad1 #d4 9999999999 ,ant4 ,lib41 #cj4 999999999999 ,electra1 #f41 #bbb ,it has very frequently happened that when animals were found closely connected with a god1 the ancients explained the fact indifferently by calling the deity the protector or the destroyer of the beasts in question4 ,thus1 in the case of ,apollo1 mice were held sacred and were fed in his temples in the ,troad and elsewhere1 the people of ,hamaxitus especially worshipping mice499 ,the god's name1 ,smintheus1 was understood to mean ,apollo of the ,mouse1 or ,mouse-,apollo 49999 ,but while ,apollo was thus at some places regarded as the patron of mice1 other narratives declared that he was adored as ,sminthian because from mice he had freed the country4 ,this would be a perfectly natural explanation if the vermin which had once been sacred became a pest in the eyes of later generations4999999 ,flies were in this manner connected with the services of ,apollo4 ,it has already been remarked that an ox was sacrificed to flies near the temple of ,apollo in ,leucas4 ,the sacrifice was explained as a device for inducing flies to settle in one spot1 and leave the rest of the coast clear4 ,this was an expensive1 and would prove a futile arrangement4 ,there was a statue of the ,locust-,apollo 7,parnopios7 in ,athena ,the story ran that it was dedicated after the god had banished a plague of locusts499999999 99 ,a,elian1 ,h4 ,a41 xii4 #f4 9999 ,strabo1 xiii4 #fjd4 999999 ,it is the explanation ,preller gives of the ,mouse-,apollo1 i4 #bjb4 99999999 ,paus41 i4 #bd1 #h2 ,strabo1 xiii4 #iab4 ,a most interesting view of the way in which pious heathens of a late age regarded ,apollo's menagerie may be got from ,plutarch's essay on the ,delphic responses4 ,it is the description of a visit to ,delphi4 ,in the hall of the ,corinthians the writer and his friends examine the sacred palm tree of bronze1 and the snakes and frogs in relief round the root of the tree4 ,why1 said they1 the palm tree is not a marsh plant1 and frogs are not a ,corinthian crest4 ,and indeed one would think ravens and swans1 and hawks and wolves1 and anything else than these reptiles would be agreeable to the god4 ,then one of the visitors1 ,serapion1 very learnedly showed that ,apollo was the sun1 and that the sun arises from water4 ,still slipping into the story your lightings up and your exhalations1 cried ,plutarch1 and chaffed him1 as one might chaff ,kuhn1 or ,schwartz1 or ,decharme1 about his elemental interpretations4 ,in fact1 the classical writers knew rather less than we do about the origin of many of their religious peculiarities4 ,in connection with sheep1 again1 ,apollo was worshipped as the ram ,apollo499 ,at the festival of the ,carneia a ram was his victim49999 ,these facts are commonly interpreted as significant of the god's care for shepherds and the pastoral life1 a memory of the days when ,apollo kept a mortal's sheep and was the hind of ,admetus of ,thessaly4 ,he had animal names derived from sheep and goats1 such as ,maloeis ,tragios4999999 ,the tale which made ,apollo the serf and shepherd of mortal men is as old as the ,iliad199999999 and is not easy to interpret1 whether as a nature-myth or a local legend4 ,laomedon1 one of ,apollo's masters1 not only refused him his wage1 but threatened to put him in chains and sell him to foreign folk across the sea1 and to crop his ears with the blade of bronze4 ,these legends may have brought some consolation to the hearts of free men enslaved4 ,a god had borne like calamities1 and could feel for their affliction4 99 ,karneios1 from 7,heyschius1 s4v471 a ram4 9999 ,theocritus1 ,idyll1 v4 #h;a 999999 ,preller1 i4 #bae1 note #a4 99999999 ii4 #gff4 xxi4 #ddh4 ,to return to the beasts of ,apollo1 in addition to dolphins1 mice1 rams and wolves1 he was constantly associated with lizards 7powerful totems in ,australia71 cicalas1 hawks1 swans1 ravens1 crows1 vultures1 all of which are1 by mythologists1 regarded as symbols of the sun-god1 in one or other capacity or function4 ,in the ,iliad199 ,apollo puts on the gear of a hawk1 and flits on hawk's wings down ,ida1 as the ,thlinkeet ,yehl does on the feathers of a crane or a raven4 99 xv4 #bhg4 ,the loves of ,apollo make up a long and romantic chapter in his legend4 ,they cannot all be so readily explained1 as are many of the loves of ,zeus1 by the desire to trace genealogical pedigrees to a god4 ,it is on this principle1 however1 that the birth of ,ion1 for example1 is to be interpreted4 ,the ideal eponymous hero of the ,ionian race was naturally feigned to be the son of the deity by whose fatherhood all ,ionians became brethren in ,apollo4 ,once more1 when a profession like that of medicine was in the hands of a clan conceiving themselves to be of one blood1 and when their common business was under the protection of ,apollo1 they inevitably traced their genealogy to the god4 ,thus the medical clan of the ,asclepiadae1 of which ,aristotle was a member1 derived their origin from ,asclepius or 7as the ,romans called him7 ,a,esculapius4 ,so far everything in this myth appears natural and rational1 granting the belief in the amours of an anthropomorphic god4 ,but the details of the story are full of that irrational element which is said to make mythology mythological4 ,in the third ,pythian ode ,pindar sings how ,apollo was the lover of ,coronis2 how she was faithless to him with a stranger4 ,pindar does not tell how the crow or the raven flew to ,apollo with the news1 and how the god cursed the crow1 which had previously been white1 that it should for ever be black4 ,then he called his sister1 ,artemis1 to slay the false nymph1 but snatched from her funeral pyre the babe ,asclepius1 his own begotten4 ,this myth1 which explains the colour of the crow as the result of an event and a divine curse1 is an example of the stage of thought already illustrated in the ,namaqua myth of ,heitsi ,eibib1 and the peculiarities which his curse attached to various animals4 ,there is also a ,bushman myth according to which certain blackbirds have white breasts1 because some women once tied pieces of white fat round their necks499 ,it is instructive to observe1 as the ,scholiast on ,pindar quotes ,artemon1 that ,pindar omits the incident of the crow as foolish and unworthy4 ,apollo1 according to the ode1 was himself aware1 in his omniscience1 of the frailty of ,coronis4 ,but ,hesiod1 a much earlier poet1 tells the story in the usual way1 with the curse of the crow1 and his consequent change of colour49999 ,the whole story1 in its most ancient shape1 and with the omissions suggested by the piety of a later age1 is an excellent example of the irrational element in ,greek myth1 of its resemblance to savage myth1 and of the tendency of more advanced thought to veil or leave out features revolting to pure religion4999999 99 ,bleek1 ,bushman ,folk-,lore2 ,pindar1 ,pyth41 iii1 with notes of the ,scholiast4 9999 ,pindar1 ,estienne1 ,geneva1 #aeii1 p4 #bai4 999999 ,for the various genealogies of ,asclepius and a discussion of the authenticity of the ,hesiodic fragments1 see ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 pp4 #fae1 #faf4 ,the connection of ,asclepius with the serpent was so close that he was received into ,roman religion in the form of a living snake1 while dogs were so intimately connected with his worship that ,panofka believed him to have been originally a dog-god 7,roscher1 p4 #fbi1 ,revue ,archeohgique74 ,in another myth ,apollo succeeds to the paternal honours of a totem4 ,the ,telmissians in ,lycia claimed descent from ,telmessus1 who was the child of an amour in which ,apollo assumed the form of a dog4 ,in this guise he lay with a daughter of ,antenor4 ,probably the ,lycians of ,telmissus originally derived their pedigree from a dog1 sans phrase and1 later1 made out that the dog was ,apollo metamorphosed4 ,this process of veiling a totem1 and explaining him away as a saint of the same name1 is common in modern ,india499 99 ,suidas1 ,his authority is ,dionysius of ,chalcis #bjj ,,bc1 ,see ,primitive ,marriage in ,bengal1 ,asiatic ,quarterly1 ,june1 #ahhf4 ,the other loves of ,apollo are numerous1 but it may be sufficient to have examined one such story in detail4 ,where the tale of the amour was not a necessary consequence of the genealogical tendency to connect clans with gods1 it was probably1 as ,roscher observes in the case of ,daphne1 an ,a,etiological myth4 ,many flowers and trees1 for example1 were nearly connected with the worship and ritual of ,apollo2 among these were notably the laurel1 cypress and hyacinth4 ,it is no longer possible to do more than conjecture why each of these plants was thus favoured1 though it is a plausible guess that the god attracted into his service various local tree-worships and plant-worships4 ,people would ask why the deity was associated with the flowers and boughs1 and the answer would be readily developed on the familiar lines of nature-myth4 ,the laurel is dear to the god because the laurel was once a girl whom he pursued with his love1 and who1 to escape his embraces1 became a tree4 ,the hyacinth and cypress were beautiful youths1 dear to ,apollo1 and accidentally slain by him in sport4 ,after their death they became flowers4 ,such myths of metamorphoses1 as has been shown1 are an universal growth of savage fancy1 and spring from the want of a sense of difference between men and things499 ,the legend of ,apollo has only been slightly sketched1 but it is obvious that many elements from many quarters enter into the sum of his myths and rites49999 ,if ,apollo was originally the sun-god1 it is certain that his influence on human life and society was as wide and beneficent as that of the sun itself4 ,he presides over health and medicine1 and over purity of body and soul4 ,he is the god of song1 and the hexameter1 which first resounded in his temples1 uttered its latest word in the melancholy music of the last oracle from ,delphi3-- ,say to the king that the beautiful fane hath fallen asunder1 ,phoebus no more hath a sheltering roof nor a sacred cell1 ,and the holy laurels are broken and wasted1 and hushed is the wonder ,of water that spake as it flowed from the deeps of the ,delphian well4 99 ,see ,nature-,myths1 antea4 ,schwartz1 as usual1 takes ,daphne to be connected1 not with the dawn1 but with lightning4 ,es ist der ,gewitter-baum4 ,der ,ursprung der ,mythologie1 ,berlin1 #ahfj1 pg4 #afj-afb4 9999 ,for the influence of ,apollo-worship on ,greek civilisation1 see ,curtius's ,history qf ,greece1 ,english transl41 vol4 i4 ,for a theory that ,apollo answers to ,mitra among the ,arians of ,iran1 see ,duncker's ,history of ,greece1 vol1 i4 #agc4 ,in his oracle he appears as the counsellor of men1 between men and ,zeus he is a kind of mediator 7like the son of ,baiame in ,australia1 or of ,puluga in the ,andaman isles71 tempering the austerity of justice with a yearning and kind compassion4 ,he sanctifies the pastoral life by his example1 and1 as one who had known bondage to a mortal1 his sympathy lightens the burden of the slave4 ,he is the guide of colonists1 he knows all the paths of earth and all the ways of the sea1 and leads wanderers far from ,greece into secure havens1 and settles them on fertile shores4 ,but he is also the god before whom the ,athenians first flogged and then burned their human scapegoats499 ,his example consecrated the abnormal post-,homeric vices of ,greece4 ,he is capable of metamorphosis into various beasts1 and his temple courts are thronged with images of frogs1 and mice1 and wolves1 and dogs1 and ravens1 over whose elder worship he throws his protection4 ,he is the god of sudden death2 he is amorous and revengeful4 ,the fair humanities of old religion boast no figure more beautiful2 yet he1 too1 bears the birthmarks of ancient creeds1 and there is a shadow that stains his legend and darkens the radiance of his glory4 99 ,at the ,thergelia4 ,see ,meursius1 ,graecia ,feriata4 ,,artemis4 ,if ,apollo soon disengages himself from the sun1 and appears as a deity chiefly remarkable for his moral and prophetic attributes1 ,artemis retains as few traces of any connection with the moon4 ,in the development of ,artemis may most clearly be distinguished1 says ,claus1 the progress of the human intellect from the early1 rude1 and1 as it were1 natural ideas1 to the fair and brilliant fancies of poets and sculptors499 99 ,de ,dianae ,antiguisstma apud ,graecos ,natura1 ,vratialaviae1 #ahha4 ,there is no goddess more beautiful1 pure and maidenly in the poetry of ,greece4 ,there she shines as the sister of ,apollo2 her chapels are in the wild wood2 she is the abbess of the forest nymphs1 chaste and fair1 the maiden of the precise life1 the friend of the virginal ,hippolytus2 always present1 even if unseen1 with the pure of heart499 ,she is like ,milton's lady in the revel route of the ,comus1 and among the riot of ,olympian lovers she alone1 with ,athene1 satisfies the ascetic longing for a proud remoteness and reserve4 ,but though it is thus that the poets dream of her1 from the author of the ,odyssey to ,euripides1 yet the local traditions and cults of ,artemis1 in many widely separated districts1 combine her worship and her legend with hideous cruelties1 with almost cannibal rites1 with relics of the wild worship of the beasts whom1 in her character as the goddess of the chase1 she preserves rather than protects4 ,to her human victims are sacrificed2 for her bears1 deer1 doves1 wolves1 all the tameless herds of the hills and forests are driven through the fire in ,achaea4 ,she is adored with bear-dances by the ,attic girls2 there is a gloomy ,chthonian or sepulchral element in her worship1 and she is even blended in ritual with a monstrous many-breasted divinity of ,oriental religion4 ,perhaps it is scarcely possible to separate now all the tangled skeins in the mixed conception of ,artemis1 or to lay the finger on the germinal conception of her nature4 ,dark1 says ,schreiber1 is the original conception1 obscure the meaning of the name of ,artemis49999 99 ,hippolytus1 ,eurip41 #gc-hg4 9999 ,roscher's ,lexikon1 s4 v4 ,it is certain that many tribal worships are blended in her legend and each of two or three widely different notions of her nature may be plausibly regarded as the most primitive4 ,in the attempt to reach the original notion of ,artemis1 philology offers her distracting aid and her competing etymologies4 ,what is the radical meaning of her name8 ,on this point ,claus99 has a long dissertation4 ,in his opinion ,artemis was originally 7as ,dione7 the wife1 not the daughter1 of ,zeus1 and he examines the names ,dione1 ,diana1 concluding that ,artemis1 ,dione and ,diana are essentially one1 and that ,diana is the feminine of ,janus 7,djanus71 corresponding to the ,greek4 ,as to the etymology of ,artemis1 ,curtis wisely professes himself uncertain49999 ,a crowd of hypotheses have been framed by more sanguine and less cautious etymologists4 ,artemis has been derived from safe1 unharmed1 the stainless maiden 4 ,goebel1#c suggests the root arpar or par1 to shake1 and makes ,artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter4 ,but this is confessedly conjectural4 ,the ,persian language has also been searched for the root of ,artemis1 which is compared with the first syllables in ,artaphernes1 ,artaxerxes1 ,artaxata1 and so forth4 ,it is concluded that ,artemis would simply mean the great goddess 4 ,claus again1 returning to his theory of ,artemis as originally the wife of ,zeus1 inclines to regard her as originally the earth1 the mighty mother499999999 99 ,roscher's ,lexikon1 s4 v41 p4 #g4 9999 ,etym4 ,or11 #eth ed41 p4 #eef4 999999 ,lexilogus1 i4 #eed4 99999999 ,for many other etymologies of ,artemis1 see ,roscher's ,lexikon1 p4 #eeh4 ,among these is she who cuts the air4 ,even the bear1 has occurred to inventive men4 ,as ,schreiber observes1 the philological guesses really throw no light on the nature of ,artemis4 ,welcker1 ,preller and ,lauer take her for the goddess of the midnight sky1 and the light of the night499 ,claus1 as we have seen1 is all for night1 not light2 for ,night is identical in conception with the earth--night being the shadow of earth1 a fact probably not known to the very early ,greeks4 ,claus1 however1 seems well inspired when he refuses to deduce all the many properties1 myths and attributes of ,artemis from lunar aspects and attributes4 ,the smallest grain of ingenuity will always suffice as the essential element in this mythological alchemy1 this transmutation of the facts of legend into so many presumed statements about any given natural force or phenomenon4 ,from all these general theories and vague hypotheses it is time to descend to facts1 and to the various local or tribal cults and myths of ,artemis4 ,her place in the artistic poetry1 which wrought on and purified those tales1 will then be considered4 ,this process is the converse of the method1 for example1 of ,m4 ,decharme4 ,he first accepts the queen and huntress1 chaste and fair1 of poetry1 and then explains her local myths and rituals as accidental corruptions of and foreign additions to that ideal4 ,the ,attic and ,arcadian legends of ,artemis are confessedly among the oldest49999 99 ,welcker1 ,oriechische ,gotterlehre1 i4 #efa1 ,gottingen1 #ahfg2 ,preller1 i4 #bci4 9999 ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 #ehj4 ,both in ,arcadia and ,attica1 the goddess is strangely connected with that animal worship1 and those tales of bestial metamorphosis1 which are the characteristic elements of myths and beliefs among the most backward races4 ,the ,arcadian myth of ,artemis and the she-bear is variously narrated4 ,according to ,pausanias1 ,lycaon1 king of ,arcadia1 had a daughter1 ,callisto1 who was loved by ,zeus4 ,hera1 in jealous wrath1 changed ,callisto into a she-bear2 and ,artemis1 to please ,hera1 shot the beast4 ,at this time the she-bear was pregnant with a child by ,zeus1 who sent ,hermes to save the babe1 ,areas1 just as ,dionysus was saved at the burning of ,semele and ,asclepius at the death of his mother1 whom ,apollo slew4 ,zeus then transformed ,callisto into a constellation1 the bear499 ,no more straightforward myth of descent from a beast 7for the ,arcadians claimed descent from ,areas1 the she-bear's son7 and of starry or bestial metamorphosis was ever told by ,cahrocs or ,kamilaroi4 ,another story ran that ,artemis herself1 in anger at the unchastity of ,callisto1 caused her to become a bear4 ,so the legend ran in a ,hesiodic poem1 according to the extract in ,eratosthenes49999 99 ,paus41 viii4 #c1 #e4 9999 ,o4 ,mueller1 ,engl4 transl41 p4 #ae2 ,catast41 i42 ,apollodor41 iii4 #hb2 ,hyginus1 #agf1 #agg4 ,a number of less important references are given in ,bachofen's ,der ,bar in den ,religionen des ,alterthums4 ,such is the ancient myth1 which ,otfried ,mueller endeavours to explain by the light of his lucid common sense1 without the assistance which we can now derive from anthropological research4 ,the nymph ,callisto1 in his opinion1 is a mere refraction from ,artemis herself1 under her ,arcadian and poetic name of ,calliste1 the most beautiful4 ,hard by the tumulus known as the grave of ,callisto was a shrine1 ,pausanias tells us1 of ,artemis ,calliste499 ,pamphos1 he adds1 was the first poet known to him who praised ,artemis by this title1 and he learned it from the ,arcadians4 ,mueller next remarks on the attributes of ,artemis in ,athens1 the ,artemis known as ,brauronia4 ,now1 says he1 we set out from this1 that the circumstance of the goddess who is served at ,brauron by she-bears having a friend and companion changed into a bear1 cannot possibly be a freak of chance1 but that this metamorphosis has its foundation in the fact that the animal was sacred to the goddess4 ,it will become probable that the animal actually was mythically identified with the goddess at an extremely remote period1 or1 at all events1 that the goddess succeeded to1 and threw her protection over1 an ancient worship of the animal4 ,passing then from ,arcadia1 where the friend of the goddess becomes a she-bear1 to ,brauron and ,munychia in ,attica1 we find that the local ,artemis there1 an ,artemis connected by legend with the fierce ,taurian goddess1 is served by young girls1 who imitate1 in dances1 the gait of bears1 who are called little bears1 apktoi1 and whose ministry is named aptcreia1 that is1 a playing the bear4 ,some have held that the girls once wore bear-skins49999 99 ,paus41 viii4 #c4 9999 ,claus1 op4 cit41 p4 #gf4 ,suchier1 ,de ,dian ,brauron1 p4 #cc4 ,the bearskin seems later to have been exchanged for a saffron raiment4 ,compare ,harpokration1 ,aristophanes1 ,lysistrata1 #fdf4 ,the ,scholiast on that passage collects legendary explanations1 setting forth that the rites were meant to appease the goddess for the slaying of a tame bear cf4 ,apostolius1 vii4 #aj4 ,mr4 ,parnell has collected all the lore in his work on the ,cults of the ,greek ,states4 ,familiar examples in ancient and classical times of this religious service by men in bestial guise are the wolf-dances of the ,hirpi or wolves1 and the use of the ram-skin in ,egypt and ,greece499 ,these ,brauronian rites point to a period when the goddess was herself a bear1 or when a bear-myth accrued to her legend1 and this inference is confirmed by the singular tradition that she was not only a bear1 but a bear who craved for human blood49999 99 ,servius4 ,jen4 i4 xi4 #ghe4 ,for a singular parallel in modern ,french folk-lore to the dance of the ,hirpi1 see ,mannhardt1 ,wald und ,feld ,qultus1 ii #hbd1 #hbe4 ,for the ram1 see ,herodotus1 ii4 #db4 ,in ,thebes the ram's skin was in the yearly festival flayed1 and placed on the statue of the god4 ,compare1 in the case of the buzzard1 ,bancroft1 iii4 #afh4 ,great care is taken in preserving the skin of the sacrificed totem1 the buzzard1 as it makes part of a sacred dress4 9999 ,apostolius1 viii4 #ai1 vii4 #aj1 quoted by ,o4 ,mueller 7cf4 ,welcker1 i4 #egc74 ,the connection between the ,arcadian ,artemis1 the ,artemis of ,brauron1 and the common rituals and creeds of totemistic worship is now1 perhaps1 undeniably apparent4 ,perhaps in all the legend and all the cult of the goddess there is no more archaic element than this4 ,the speech of the women in the ,lysistrata1 recalling the days of their childhood when they were bears1 takes us back to a remote past when the tribes settled at ,brauron were bear-worshippers1 and1 in all probability1 claimed to be of the bear stock or kindred4 ,their distant descendants still imitated the creature's movements in a sacred dance2 and the girls of ,periclean ,athens acted at that moment like the young men of the ,mandans or ,nootkas in their wolf-dance or buffalo-dance4 ,two questions remain unanswered3 how did a goddess of the name of ,artemis1 and with her wide and beneficent functions1 succeed to a cult so barbarous8 or how1 on the other hand1 did the cult of a ravening she-bear develop into the humane and pure religion of ,artemis8 ,here is a moment in mythical and religious evolution which almost escapes our inquiry4 ,we find1 in actual historical processes1 nothing more akin to it than the relation borne by the ,samoan gods to the various animals in which they are supposed to be manifest4 ,how did the complex theory of the nature of ,artemis arise8 what was its growth8 at what precise hour did it emancipate itself on the whole from the lower savage creeds8 or how was it developed out of their unpromising materials8 ,the science of mythology may perhaps never find a key to these obscure problems499 99 ,the symbolic explanation of ,bachofen1 ,claus and others is to the effect that the she-bear 7to take that case7 is a beast in which the maternal instinct is very strong1 and apparently that the she-bear1 deprived of her whelps1 is a fit symbol of a goddess notoriously virginal1 and without offspring4 ,the goddess of ,brauron1 succeeding probably to the cult of a she-bear1 called for human blood4 ,with human blood the ,artemis ,orthia of ,sparta was propitiated4 ,of this goddess and her rights ,pausanias tells a very remarkable story4 ,the image of the goddess1 he declares1 is barbarous2 which probably means that even among the archaic wooden idols of ,greece it seemed peculiarly savage in style4 ,astrabacus and ,alopecus 7the ass and the fox71 sons of ,agis1 are said to have found the idol in a bush1 and to have been struck mad at the sight of it4 ,those who sacrificed to the goddess fell to blows and slew each other2 a pestilence followed1 and it became clear that the goddess demanded human victims4 ,her altar must be drenched in the blood of men1 the victim being chosen by lot4 ,lycurgus got the credit of substituting the rite in which boys were flogged before the goddess to the effusion of blood for the older human sacrifices499 ,the ,taurian ,artemis1 adored with human sacrifice1 and her priestess1 ,iphigenia1 perhaps a form of the goddess1 are familiar examples of this sanguinary ritual49999 ,suchier is probably correct in denying that these sacrifices are of foreign origin4 ,they are closely interwoven with the oldest idols and oldest myths of the districts least open to foreign influence4 ,an ,achaean example is given by ,pausanias4999999 ,artemis was adored with the offering of a beautiful girl and boy4 ,not far from ,brauron1 at ,halae1 was a very ancient temple of ,artemis ,tauropolos1 in which blood was drawn from a man's throat by the edge of the sword1 clearly a modified survival of human sacrifice4 ,the whole connection of ,artemis with ,taurian rites has been examined by ,mueller199999999 in his ,orchomenos9999999999 ,horns grow from the shoulders of ,artemis ,tauropolos1 on the coins of ,amphipolis1 and on ,macedonian coins she rides on a bull4 ,according to ,decharme1999999999999 the ,taurian ,artemis1 with her hideous rites1 was confused1 by an accidental resemblance of names1 with this ,artemis ,tauropolos1 whose symbol was a bull1 and who 7whatever we may think of the symbolic hypothesis7 used bulls as her vehicle and wore bull's horns4 99 ,paus41 iii4 #h1af4 ,cf4 ,mueller1 ,dorians1 book ii4 chap4 #i1 #f4 ,pausanias1 viii4 #bc1 #a1 mentions a similar custom1 ordained by the ,delphian oracle1 the flogging of women at the feast of ,dionysus in ,alea of ,arcadia4 9999 ,cf4 ,mueller1 ,dorians1 it #i1 #f1 and ,claus1 op4 cit41 cap4 v4 999999 ,paus41 vii4 #ai4 99999999,op4 cit41 ii4 #i1 #f4 9999999999 ,ibid41 p4 #caa4 ,qf4 ,euripides1 ,iph4 ,taur41 #adbd1 and ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 p4 #efh4 999999999999 ,mythol4 de la ,grece1 p4 #acg4 ,mueller1 on the other hand199 believes the ,greeks found in ,tauria 7i4e41 ,lemnos7 a goddess with bloody rites1 whom they identified by reason of those very human sacrifices1 with their own ,artemis ,iphigenia4 ,their own worship of that deity bore so many marks of ancient barbarism that they were willing to consider the northern barbarians as its authors4 ,yet it is possible that the ,tauric ,artemis was no more derived from the ,taurians than ,artemis ,a,ethiopia from the ,a,ethiopians4 ,the nature of the famous ,diana of the ,ephesians1 or ,artemis of ,ephesus1 is probably quite distinct in origin from either the ,artemis of ,arcadia and ,attica or the deity of literary creeds4 ,as late as the time of ,tacitus9999 the ,ephesians maintained that ,leto's twins had been born in their territory4 ,the first which showed themselves in the senate were the ,ephesians1 declaring that ,diana and ,apollo were not born in the island ,delos1 as the common people did believe2 and there was in their country a river called ,cenchrius1 and a wood called ,ortegia1 where ,latona1 being great with child1 and leaning against an olive tree which is yet in that place1 brought forth these two gods1 and that by the commandment of the gods the wood was made sacred4999999 99 ,mythol4 de la ,grece1 ii4 #i1 #g4 9999 ,annals1 iii4 #fa4 999999 ,greenwey's ,tacitus1 #afbb4 ,this was a mere adaptation of the ,delian legend1 the olive 7in ,athens sacred to ,athene7 taking the place of the ,delian palm-tree4 ,the real ,artemis of ,ephesus1 the image that fell from heaven1 was an ,oriental survival4 ,nothing can be less ,greek in taste than her many-breasted idol1 which may be compared with the many-breasted goddess of the beer-producing maguey plant in ,mexico499 ,the wilder elements in the local rites and myths of ,diana are little if at all concerned with the goddess in her ,olympian aspect as the daughter of ,leto and sister of ,apollo4 ,it is from this lofty rank that she descends in the national epic to combat on the ,ilian plain among warring gods and men4 ,claus has attempted1 from a comparison of the epithets applied to ,artemis1 to show that the poets of the ,iliad and the ,odyssey take different views of her character4 ,in the ,iliad she is a goddess of tumult and passion2 in the ,odyssey1 a holy maiden with the gentle darts that deal sudden and painless death4 ,but in both poems she is a huntress1 and the death-dealing shafts are hers both in ,iliad and ,odyssey4 ,perhaps the apparent difference is due to nothing but the necessity for allotting her a part in that battle of the ,olympians which rages in the ,iliad4 ,thus ,hera in the ,iliad addresses her thus39999 ,how now6 art thou mad1 bold vixen1 to match thyself against me8 ,hard were it for thee to match my might1 bow-bearer though thou art1 since against women ,zeus made thee a lion1 and giveth thee to slay whomso of them thou wilt4 ,truly it is better on the mountains to slay wild beasts and deer than to fight with one that is mightier than thou4 99 ,for an alabaster statuette of the goddess1 see ,roscher's ,lexikon1 p4 #ehh 9999 ,iliad1 xxi4 #dha4 ,these taunts of ,hera1 who always detests the illegitimate children of ,zeus1 doubtless refer to the character of ,artemis as the goddess of childbirth4 ,here she becomes confused with ,ilithyia and with ,hecate2 but it is unnecessary to pursue the inquiry into these details499 ,like most of the ,olympians1 ,artemis was connected not only with beast-worship1 but with plant-worship4 ,she was known by the names ,daphnaea and ,cedreatis2 at ,ephesus not only the olive but the oak was sacred to her2 at ,delos she had her palm tree4 ,her idol was placed in or hung from the branches of these trees1 and it is not improbable that she succeeded to the honours either of a tree worshipped in itself and for itself1 or of the spirit or genius which was presumed to dwell in and inform it4 ,similar examples of one creed inheriting the holy things of its predecessor are common enough where either missionaries1 as in ,mexico and ,china1 or the early preachers of the gospel in ,brittany or ,scandinavia1 appropriated to ,christ the holy days of pagan deities and consecrated fetish stones with the mark of the cross4 ,unluckily1 we have no historical evidence as to the moment in which the ancient tribal totems and fetishes and sacrifices were placed under the protection of the various ,olympians1 in whose cult they survive1 like flies in amber4 ,but that this process did take place is the most obvious explanation of the rude factors in the religion of ,artemis1 as of ,apollo1 ,zeus or ,dionysus4 99 ,cf4 ,preller1 i4 #bef1 #beg4 ,bacchylides make ,hecate the daughter of deep-bosomed ,night4 7#dj74 ,the ,scholiast on the second idyll of ,theocritus1 in which the sorceress appeals to the magic of the moon1 makes her a daughter of ,zeus and ,demeter1 and identified with ,artemis4 ,here1 more clearly than elsewhere1 the ,artemis appears sub luce maligna1 under the wan uncertain light of the moon4 ,it was ever the tendency of ,greek thought to turn from the contemplation of dark and inscrutable things in the character of the gods and to endow them with the fairest attributes4 ,the primitive formless ,zoana give place to the ideal statues of gold and ivory4 ,the ,artemis to whom a fawn in a maiden's dress is sacrificed does not haunt the memory of ,euripides2 his ,artemis is fair and honourable1 pure and maidenly1 a goddess wandering in lonely places unbeholden of man4 ,it is thus1 if one may rhyme the speech of ,hippolytus1 that her votary addresses her3-- ,for thee soft crowns in thine untrampled mead ,i weave1 my lady1 and to thee ,i bear2 ,thither no shepherd drives his flocks to feed1 ,nor scythe of steel has ever laboured there2 ,nay1 through the spring among the blossoms fair ,the brown bee comes and goes1 and with good heed ,thy maiden1 ,reverence1 sweet streams doth lead ,about the grassy close that is her care6 ,souls only that are gracious and serene ,by gift of ,god1 in human lore unread1 ,may pluck these holy blooms and grasses green ,that now ,i wreathe for thine immortal head1 ,i who may walk with thee1 thyself unseen1 ,and by thy whispered voice am comforted4 ,in passages like this we find the truly natural religion1 the religion to which man's nature tends1 groaning and travailing till the goal is won1 ,but it is long in the winning2 the paths are rough2 humanity is led by a way that it knew not4 ,,dionysus4 ,among deities whose origin has been sought in the personification1 if not of the phenomena1 at least of the forces of ,nature1 ,dionysus is prominent499 ,he is regarded by many mythologists9999 as the spiritual form of the new vernal life1 the sap and pulse of vegetation and of the new-born year1 especially as manifest in the vine and the juice of the grape4 ,thus ,preller999999 looks on his mother1 ,semele1 as a personification of the pregnant soil in spring499999999 ,the name of ,semele is explained with the familiar diversity of conjecture4 ,whether the human intellect1 at the time of the first development of myth1 was capable of such abstract thought as is employed in the recognition of a deity presiding over the revival of earth-life or not1 and whether1 having attained to this abstraction1 men would go on to clothe it in all manner of animal and other symbolisms1 are questions which mythologists seem to take for granted4 ,the popular story of the birth of ,dionysus is well known4 99 ,it is needless to occupy space with the etymological guesses at the sense of the name ,dionysus4 ,greek1 ,sanskrit and ,assyrian have been tortured by the philologists1 but refuse to give up their secret1 and ,curtis does not even offer a conjecture 7,or4 ,etym41 #fji74 9999 ,preller1 i4 #edd4 999999 i4 #edf4 99999999 ,the birth of ,dionysus is recorded 7,iliad1 xiv4 #cbc2 ,hesiod1 ,theog41 #idj7 without the story of the death of ,semele1 which occurs in ,a,eschylus1 ,frg41 #bag-bah2 ,eurip41 ,bacchae1 i4 #c4 ,his mother1 ,semele1 desired to see ,zeus in all his glory1 as he appeared when he made love to ,hera4 ,having promised to grant all the nymph's requests1 ,zeus was constrained to approach her in thunder and lightning4 ,she was burned to death1 but the god rescued her unborn child and sowed him up in his own thigh4 ,in this wild narrative ,preller finds the wedlock of heaven and earth1 the first day that it thunders in ,march4 ,the thigh of ,zeus is to be interpreted as the cool moist clouds4 ,if1 on the other hand1 we may take ,dionysus himself to be the rain1 as ,kuhn does1 and explain the thigh of ,zeus by comparison with certain details in the soma sacrifice and the right thigh of ,indra1 as described in one of the ,brahmanas1 why then1 of course1 ,preller's explanation cannot be admitted499 99 ,kuhn1 ,herabkunft1 pp4 #aff1 #afg1 where it appears that the gods buy soma and place it on the right thigh of ,indra4 ,these examples show the difficulty1 or rather indicate the error1 of attempting to interpret all the details in any myth as so many statements about natural phenomena and natural forces4 ,such interpretations are necessarily conjectural4 ,certainly ,dionysus1 the god of orgies1 of wine1 of poetry1 became in later ,greek thought something very like the spiritual form of the vine1 and the patron of ,nature's moods of revelry4 ,but that he was originally conceived of thus1 or that this conception may be minutely traced through each incident of his legend1 cannot be scientifically established4 ,each mythologist1 as has been said before1 is1 in fact1 asking himself1 ,what meaning would ,i have had if ,i told this or that story of the god of the vine or the god of the year's renewal8 ,the imaginations in which the tale of the double birth of ,dionysus arose were so unlike the imagination of an erudite modern ,german that these guesses are absolutely baseless4 ,nay1 when we are told that the child was sheltered in his father's body1 and was actually brought to birth by the father1 we may be reminded1 like ,bachofen1 of that widespread savage custom1 the couvade4 ,from ,brazil to the ,basque country it has been common for the father to pretend to lie-in while the mother is in childbed2 the husband undergoes medical treatment1 in many cases being put to bed for days499 ,this custom1 world-wide1 as ,mr4 ,tylor calls it1 has been used by ,bachofen as the source of the myth of the double birth of ,dionysus4 ,though other explanations of the couvade have been given1 the most plausible theory represents it as a recognition of paternity by the father4 ,bachofen compares the ceremony by which1 when ,hera became reconciled to ,herakles1 she adopted him as her own through the legal fiction of his second birth4 ,the custom by which1 in old ,french marriage rites1 illegitimate children were legitimised by being brought to the altar under the veil of the bride is also in point49999 ,diodorus says that barbarians still practise the rite of adoption by a fictitious birth4 ,men who returned home safely after they were believed to be dead had to undergo a similar ceremony4999999 ,bachofen therefore explains the names and myths of the double-mothered ,dionysus as relics of the custom of the couvade1 and of the legal recognition of children by the father1 after a period of kinship through women only4 999999 ,tylor1 ,prim4 ,oult41 ,i #id2 ,early ,history of ,mankind1 p4 #bic4 9999 ,bachofen1 ,das ,mutterrecht1 ,stuttgart1 #ahfa1 p4 #bed4 999999 ,plutarch1 ,quaest4 ,rom41 #e4 ,this theory is put by ,lucian in his usual bantering manner4 ,poseidon wishes to enter the chamber of ,zeus1 but is refused admission by ,hermes4 ,is ,zeus en bonne fortune8 he asks4 ,no1 the reverse4 ,zeus has just had a baby4 ,a baby6 why there was nothing in his figure4446 ,perhaps the child was born from his head1 like ,athene8 ,not at all--his thigh2 the child is ,semele's4 ,wonderful ,god6 what varied accomplishments6 ,but who is ,semele8 ,a ,theban girl1 a daughter of ,cadmus1 much noticed by ,zeus4 ,and so he kindly was confined for her8 ,exactly6 ,so ,zeus is both father and mother of the child8 ,naturally6 ,and now ,i must go and make him comfortable499 99 ,dial4 ,deor41 xi4 ,we need not necessarily accept ,bachofen's view4 ,this learned author employed indeed a widely comparative method1 but he saw everything through certain mystic speculations of his own4 ,it may be deemed1 however1 that the authors of the myth of the double birth of ,dionysus were rather in the condition of men who practise the couvade than capable of such vast abstract ideas and such complicated symbolism as are required in the system of ,preller4 ,it is probable enough that the struggle between the two systems of kindred--maternal and paternal--has left its mark in ,greek mythology4 ,undeniably it is present in the ,eumenides of ,a,eschylus1 and perhaps it inspires the tales which represent ,hera and ,zeus as emulously producing offspring 7,athene and ,hephaestus7 without the aid of the opposite sex499 ,in any case1 ,dionysus1 ,semele's son1 the patron of the vine1 the conqueror of ,india1 is an enigmatic figure of dubious origin1 but less repulsive than ,dionysus ,zagreus4 ,even among the adventures of ,zeus the amour which resulted in the birth of ,dionysus ,zagreus was conspicuous4 ,jupiter ipse filiam incestavit1 natum hinc ,zagreum49999 ,persephone1 fleeing her hateful lover1 took the shape of a serpent1 and ,zeus became the male dragon4 ,the story is on a footing with the ,brahmanic myth of ,prajapati and his daughter as buck and doe4 ,the ,platonists explained the legend1 as usual1 by their absurd symbolism 4999999 ,the child of two serpents1 ,zagreus1 was born1 curious as it may seem1 with horns on his head4 ,zeus brought him up in secret1 but ,hera sent the ,titans to kill him4 ,according to ,clemens ,alexandrinus99999999 and other authorities1 the ,titans won his heart with toys1 including the bull-roarer or turn-dun of the ,australians499999999 ,his enemies1 also in ,australian fashion1 daubed themselves over with pipeclay4999999999999 ,by these hideous foes the child was torn to pieces1 though1 according to ,nonnus1 he changed himself into as many beasts as ,proteus by the ,nile1 or ,tamlane by the ,ettrick4 99 ,roscher's ,lexikon1 p4 #ajdf4 9999 ,lobeck1 ,aglaoph41 p4 #edg1 quoting ,callimachus and ,euphoric 999999 ,ibid41 p4 #eej4 99999999 ,admon41 p4 #aa2 ,nonnus1 xxiv4 #dc2 ap4 ,aglaoph41 p4 #eee4 9999999999 ,custom and ,myth1 p4 #ci4 999999999999,cf4 ,demosthenes1 ,pro4 ,or41 #cac2 ,lobeck1 pp4 #eef1 #fdf1 #gjj4 ,in his bull-shape1 ,zagreus was finally chopped up small1 cooked 7except the heart71 and eaten by the ,titans499 ,here we are naturally reminded of the dismemberment of ,osiris1 ,ymir1 ,purusha1 ,chokanipok and so many other gods and beasts in ,egypt1 ,india1 ,scandinavia and ,america4 ,this point must not be lost sight of in the controversy as to the origin and date of the story of ,dionysus ,zagreus4 ,nothing can be much more repulsive than these hideous incidents to the genius1 for example1 of ,homer4 ,he rarely tells anything worse about the gods than the tale of ,ares' imprisonment in the large bronze pot1 an event undignified1 indeed1 but not in the ferocious taste of the ,zagreus legend4 ,but it need not1 therefore1 be decided that the story of ,dionysus and the ,titans is later than ,homer because it is inconsistent with the tone of ,homeric mythology1 and because it is found in more recent authorities4 ,details like the use of the turn-dun in the ,dionysiac mysteries1 and the bodies of the celebrants daubed with clay1 have a primitive1 or at least savage1 appearance4 ,it was the opinion of ,lobeck that the ,orphic poems1 in which the legend first comes into literature1 were the work of ,onomacritus49999 ,on the other hand1 ,mueller argued that the myth was really archaic1 although it had passed through the hands of ,onomacritus4 ,on the strength of the boast of the ,delphian priests that they possessed the grave in which the fragments of the god were buried1 ,mueller believed that ,onomacritus received the story from ,delphi4999999 99 ,proclus in ,crat41 p4 #aae4 9999 ,aglaoph41 p4 #faf4 ,onomacritum architectum istius mythi4 999999 ,mueller's ,proleg41 ,english transl41 p4 #cai4 ,mueller writes1 ,the way in which these ,orphics went to work with ancient myths can be most distinctly seen in the mythus of the tearing asunder of ,bacchus1 which1 at all events1 passed through the hands of ,onomacritus1 an organiser of ,dionysian orgies1 according to ,pausanias1 an author of ,orphean poems also1 and therefore1 in all probability1 an ,orphic4 ,the words of ,pausanias are 7viii4 #cg1 #c71 ,onomacritus1 taking from ,homer the name of the ,titans1 established ,dionysiac orgies1 and represented the ,titans as the authors of the sorrows of the god4 ,now it is perhaps impossible to decide with certainty whether1 as ,lobeck held1 ,onomacritus adapted the myth1 and the ,delphians received it into their religion1 with rites purposely meant to resemble those of ,osiris in ,egypt1 or whether ,mueller more correctly maintains that ,onomacritus1 on the other hand1 brought an old temple mystery and sacred chapter into the light of literature4 ,but it may very plausibly be maintained that a myth so wild1 and so analogous in its most brutal details to the myths of many widely scattered races1 is more probably ancient than a fresh invention of a poet of the sixth century4 ,it is much more likely that ,greece1 whether at ,delphi or elsewhere1 possessed a legend common to races in distant continents1 than that ,onomacritus either invented the tale or borrowed it from ,egypt and settled it at ,delphi4 ,o4 ,mueller could not appeal to the crowd of tales of divine dismemberment in savage and civilised lands1 because with some he was unacquainted1 and others 7like the sacrifice of ,purusha1 the cutting up of ,omorca1 the rending of ,ymir7 do not seem to have occurred to his memory4 ,though the majority of these legends of divine dismemberment are connected with the making of the world1 yet in essentials they do resemble the tale of ,dionysus and the ,titans4 ,thus the balance of probability is in favour of the theory that the myth is really old1 and was borrowed1 not invented1 by ,onoma-critus499 ,that very shifty person may have made his own alterations in the narrative1 but it cannot be rash to say with ,o4 ,mueller1 ,if it has been supposed that he was the inventor of the entire fable1 which ,pausa-nias by no means asserts1 ,i must confess that ,i cannot bring myself to think so4 ,according to the notions of the ancients1 it must have been an unholy1 an accursed man who could1 from a mere caprice of his own1 represent the ever-young ,dionysus1 the god of joy1 as having been torn to pieces by the ,titans4 ,a reply to this might1 no doubt1 be sought in the passages describing the influx of new superstitions which are cited by ,lobeck49999 ,the ,greek comic poets especially derided these religious novelties1 which corresponded very closely to our ,esoteric ,buddhism and similar impostures4 ,but these new mysteries and trumpery cults of the decayed civilisation were things very different from the worship of ,dionysus ,zagreus and his established sacrifices of oxen in the secret penetralia of ,delphi4999999 99 ,lobeck1 ,aglaoph41 p4 #fga4 9999 ,aglaoph41 #fbe-fcj4 999999 ,lycophron1 #bjf1 and the ,scholiast4 ,it may be determined1 therefore1 that the tale and the mystery-play of ,dionysus and the ,titans are1 in essentials1 as old as the savage state of religion1 in which their analogues abound1 whether at ,delphi they were or were not of foreign origin1 and introduced in times comparatively recent4 ,the fables1 wherever they are found1 are accompanied by savage rites1 in which 7as in some ,african tribes when the chief is about to declare war7 living animals were torn asunder and eaten raw4 ,these horrors were a kind of representation of the sufferings of the god4 ,o4 ,mueller may well observe199 ,we can scarcely take these rites to be new usages and the offspring of a post-,homeric civilisation4 ,these remarks apply to the custom of nebrismus1 or tearing fawns to pieces and dancing about draped in the fawn-skins4 ,such rites were part of the ,bacchic worship1 and even broke out during a pagan revival in the time of ,valens1 when dogs were torn in shreds by the worshippers49999 ,whether the antiquity of the ,zagrean ritual and legend be admitted or not1 the problem as to their original significance remains4 ,although the majority of heathen rites of this kind were mystery-plays1 setting forth in action some story of divine adventure or misadventure1999999 yet ,lobeck imagines the story of ,zagreus and the ,titans to have been invented or adapted from the ,osiris legend1 as an account of the mystic performances themselves4 ,what the myth meant1 or what the furious actions of the celebrants intended1 it is only possible to conjecture4 99 ,lycophrony p4 #cbb4 9999 ,theodoretus1 ap4 ,lobeck1 p4 #fec4 ,observe the number of examples of daubing with clay in the mysteries here adduced by ,lobeck1 and compare the ,mandan tribes described by ,catlin in ,o-,kee-,pa1 ,londou1 #ahfg1 and by ,theal in ,kaffir ,folk-,lore4 999999 ,lactantius1 v4 #ai1ae2 ,ovid1 ,fasti1 iv4 #baa4 ,commonly it is alleged that the sufferings of ,dionysus are the ruin of the summer year at the hands of storm and winter1 while the revival of the child typifies the vernal resurrection2 or1 again1 the slain ,dionysus is the vintage4 ,the old ,english song tells how ,john ,barleycorn must die1 and how potently he came back to life and mastered his oppressors4 ,this notion1 too1 may be at the root of the passion of ,dionysus1 for the grapes suffer at least as many processes of torture as ,john ,barleycorn before they declare themselves in the shape of strong drink499 ,while ,preller talks about the tiefste ,erd-und ,naturschmerz typified in the ,zagrean ritual1 ,lobeck remarks that ,plato would be surprised if he could hear these drunken men's freaks decoratively described as ein erhabene ,naturdienst4 99 ,decharme1 ,mythologie de la ,grece1 p4 #dcg1 ,compare ,preller1 i4 #egb on tiefste ,naturschmerz1 and so forth4 ,lobeck looks on the wild acts1 the tearing of fawns and dogs1 the half-naked dances1 the gnawing of raw bleeding flesh1 as the natural expression of fierce untutored folk1 revelling in freedom1 leaping and shouting4 ,but the odd thing is that the most civilised of peoples should so long have retained the manners of ingenia inculta et indomita4 ,whatever the original significance of the ,dionysiac revels1 that significance was certainly expressed in a ferocious and barbaric fashion1 more worthy of ,australians than ,athenians4 ,on this view of the case it might perhaps be maintained that the germ of the myth is merely the sacrifice itself1 the barbaric and cruel dismembering of an animal victim1 which came to be identified with the god4 ,the sufferings of the victim would thus finally be transmuted into a legend about the passion of the deity4 ,the old ,greek explanation that the ritual was designed in imitation of what befel the god would need to be reversed4 ,the truth would be that the myth of what befel the god was borrowed from the actual torture of the victim with which the god was identified ,examples of this mystic habit of mind1 in which the slain beast1 the god1 and even the officiating celebrant were confused in thought with each other1 are sufficiently common in ritual499 99 ,as to the torch-dances of the ,maenads1 compare ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 p4 #ajda1 and ,mannhardt ,wald und ,feki ,kultits1 i4 #ecd1 for parallels in ,european folk-lore4 ,the sacrifices in the ritual of ,dionysus have a very marked character and here more1 commonly than in other ,hellenic cults1 the god and the victim are recognised as essentially the same4 ,the sacrifice1 in fact1 is a sacrament1 and in partaking of the victim the communicants eat their god4 ,this detail is so prominent that it has not escaped the notice even of mythologists who prefer to take an ideal view of myths and customs1 to regard them as symbols in a nature-worship originally pure4 ,thus ,m4 ,decharme says of the bull-feast in the ,dionysiac cult1 ,comme le taureau est un des formes de ,dionysos1 c'etait le corps du dieu dont se repaissaient les inities1 c'etait son sang dont ils s'abreuvaient dans ce banquet mystique4 ,now it was the peculiarity of the ,bac-chici who maintained these rites1 that1 as a rule1 they abstained from the flesh of animals altogether1 or at least their conduct took this shape when adopted into the ,orphic discipline499 ,this ritual1 therefore1 has points in common with the usages which appear also to have survived into the cult of the ram-god in ,egypt49999 ,the conclusion suggested is that where ,dionysus was adored with this sacrament of bull's flesh1 he had either been developed out of1 or had succeeded to1 the worship of a bull-totem1 and had inherited his characteristic ritual4 ,mr4 ,frazer1 however1 proposes quite a different solution4999999 ,ours is rendered plausible by the famous ,elean chant in which the god was thus addressed3 ,come1 hero ,dionysus1 come with the ,graces to thy holy house by the shores of the sea2 hasten with thy bull-foot4 ,then the chorus repeated1 ,goodly bull1 goodly bull499999999 ,m4 ,decharme publishes a cameo9999999999 in which the god is represented as a bull1 with the three ,graces standing on his neck1 and seven stars in the field4 ,m4 ,decharme decides that the stars are the ,pleiades1 the ,graces the rays of the vernal sun1 and ,dionysus as a bull the symbol of the vernal sun itself4 ,but all such symbolical explanations are apt to be mere private conjectures1 and they are of no avail in face of the ritual which1 on the other hypothesis1 is to be expected1 and is actually found1 in connection with the bull ,dionysus4 ,where ,dionysus is not absolutely called a bull1 he is addressed as the horned deity1 the bull-horned1 the horned child4999999999999 99 ,lobeck1 ,aglaoph41 i #bdd2 ,plato1 ,laws1 vi4 #ghb2 ,herodot1 ii4 #ha4 ,porphyry says that this also was the rule of ,pythagoras 7,vita ,pyth41 #afcj1 p4 #bb74 9999 ,herodot41 ii4 #db4 999999 ,golden ,bough1 vol4 ii4 99999999 ,plutarch1 ,qu4 ,or41 #c;d4 9999999999 ,op4 cit41 p4 #dca4 999999999999 ,clemens ,alex41 ,adhort1 ii4 #ae-ah2 ,nonnus1 vi4 #bfd2 ,diodorus1 iv4 #d4 #c4 #fd4 ,a still more curious incident of the ,dionysiac worship was the sacrifice of a booted calf1 a calf with cothurns on its feet499 ,the people of ,tenedos1 says ,a,elian1 used to tend their goodliest cow with great care1 to treat it1 when it calved1 like a woman in labour1 to put the calf in boots and sacrifice it1 and then to stone the sacrificer and drive him into the sea to expiate his crime4 ,in this ceremony1 as in the ,diipolia at ,athens1 the slain bull is1 as it were1 a member of the blood-kindred of the man who immolates him1 and who has to expiate the deed as if it were a murder49999 ,in this connection it is worth remarking that ,dionysus ,zagreus1 when1 according to the myth1 he was attacked by the ,titans1 tried to escape his enemies by assuming various forms4 ,it was in the guise of a bull that he was finally captured and rent asunder4 ,the custom of rending the living victims of his cult was carried so far that1 when ,pentheus disturbed his mysteries1 the king was torn piecemeal by the women of his own family4999999 ,the pious acquiescence of the author of the so-called ,theocritean idyll in this butchery is a curious example of the conservatism of religious sentiment4 ,the connection of ,dionysus with the bull in particular is attested by various ritual epithets1 such as the bull1 bull-born199999999 bull-horned1 and bull-browed49999999999 ,he was also worshipped with sacrifice of he-goats2 according to the popular explanation1 because the goat gnaws the vine1 and therefore is odious to the god4 99 ,a,elian41 ,h4 ,a4t xii4 #cd4 9999 ,o4 ,mueller1 ,proleg41 ,engl1 transl41 #cbb1 attributes the ,tenedos ,dionysus rites to the ,beotic ,achsean emigrants4 ,gf1 ,aglaoph41 #fgd-fgg4 999999 ,theocritus1 ,idyll1 xxvi4 99999999 ,pollux1 iv4 #hf4 9999999999 ,athenaus1 xi4 #dff1 a4 ,the truth is1 that animals1 as the old commentator on ,virgil remarks1 were sacrificed to the various gods1 aut per similitudinem aut per contrarietatem either because there was a community of nature between the deity and the beast1 or because the beast had once been sacred in a hostile clan or tribe499 ,the god derived some of his ritual names from the goat as well as from the bull ,according to one myth1 ,dionysus was changed into a kid by ,zeus1 to enable him to escape the jealousy of ,hera49999 ,it is a peculiarity1 says ,voigt1 of the ,dionysus ritual that the god is one of his offering4 ,but though the identity of the god and the victim is manifest1 the phenomenon is too common in religion to be called peculiar4999999 ,plutarch99999999 especially mentions that many of the ,greeks make statues of ,dionysus in the form of a bull4 ,dionysus was not only an animal-god1 or a god who absorbed in his rights and titles various elder forms of beast-worship4 ,trees also stood in the same relation to him4 ,as ,dendrites1 he is1 like ,artemis1 a tree-god1 and probably succeeded to the cult of certain sacred trees2 just as1 for example1 ,st4 ,bridget1 in ,ireland1 succeeded to the cult of the fire-goddess and to her ceremonial49999999999 99 ,cf4 ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 p4 #ajei2 ,robertson ,smith on ,sacrifice1 ,encyc4 ,brit4 9999 ,appolodorus1 iii4 #d1 #i4 999999 ,dionysos selber4 ,stier ,zicklein ist1 und als ,zagreus- kind selber1 den ,opfertod erleidet4 ,ap4 ,roscher1 p4 #ajei4 99999999 ,de ,is4 et ,os4 9999999999 ,elton1 ,origins of ,english ,history1 p4 #bhj1 and the authorities there quoted4 ,dionysus was even called the god in the tree199 reminding us of ,artemis ,dendritis1 and of the village gods which in ,india dwell in the peepul or the bo tree49999 ,thus ,pausanias999999 tells us that1 when ,pentheus went to spy on the ,dionysiac mysteries1 the women found him hidden in a tree1 and there and then tore him piecemeal4 ,according to a ,corinthian legend1 the ,delphic oracle bade them seek this tree and worship it with no less honour than the god 7,dionysus7 himself4 ,hence the wooden images of ,dionysus were made of that tree1 the fig tree1 non ex quovis ligno1 and the god had a ritual name1 ,the fig-tree ,dionysus4 ,in the idols the community of nature between the god and the fig tree was expressed and commemorated4 ,an unhewn stump of wood was the ,dionysus idol of the rustic people499999999 99 ,hesychius4 9999 ,cf4 ,roscher1 p4 #ajfb4 999999 ii4 #b1e4 99999999 ,max4 ,tyr41 #h1 #a4 ,certain antique elements in the ,dionysus cult have now been sketched2 we have seen the god in singularly close relations with animal and plant worship1 and have noted the very archaic character of certain features in his mysteries4 ,doubtless these things are older than the bright anthropomorphic ,dionysus of the poets--the beautiful young deity1 vine-crowned1 who rises from the sea to comfort ,ariadne in ,tintoretto's immortal picture4 ,at his highest1 at his best1 ,dionysus is the spirit not only of ,bacchic revel and of dramatic poetry1 but of youth1 health and gaiety4 ,even in this form he retains something tricksy and enigmatic1 the survival perhaps of earlier ideas2 or1 again1 it may be the result of a more or less conscious symbolism4 ,the god of the vine and of the juice of the vine maketh glad the heart of man2 but he also inspires the kind of metamorphosis which the popular speech alludes to when a person is said to be disguised in drink4 ,for this reason1 perhaps1 he is now represented in art as a grave and bearded man1 now as a manly youth1 and again as an effeminate lad of girlish loveliness4 ,the bearded type of the god is apparently the earlier2 the girlish type may possibly be the result merely of decadent art1 and its tendency to a sexless or bisexual prettiness499 ,turning from the ritual and local cults of the god1 which1 as has been shown1 probably retain the earlier elements in his composite nature1 and looking at his legend in the national literature of ,greece1 we find little that throws any light on the origin and primal conception of his character ,in the ,iliad ,dionysus is not one of the great gods whose politics sways ,olympus1 and whose diplomatic or martial interference is exercised in the leaguer of the ,achaeans or in the citadel of ,ilios4 ,the longest passage in which he is mentioned is ,iliad1 vi4 #acj1 a passage which clearly enough declares that the worship of ,dionysus1 or at least that certain of his rites were brought in from without1 and that his worshippers endured persecution4 ,diomedes1 encountering ,glaucus in battle1 refuses to fight him if he is a god in disguise4 ,nay1 moreover1 even ,dryas' son1 mighty ,lykourgos1 was not for long when he strove with heavenly gods2 he that erst chased through the goodly land of ,nysa the nursing mothers of frenzied ,dionysus2 and they all cast their wands upon the ground1 smitten with murderous ,lykourgos' ox-goad4 ,then ,dionysus fled1 and plunged beneath the salt sea-wave1 and ,thetis took him to her bosom1 affrighted1 for mighty trembling had seized him at his foe's rebuke4 ,but with ,lykourgos the gods that live at ease were wroth1 and ,kronos's son made him blind1 and he was not for long1 because he was hated of all the immortal gods4 99 ,see ,thraemer1 in ,roscher1 pp4 #ajij-aadc4 ,though ,dionysus is not directly spoken of as the wine-god here1 yet the gear of his attendants1 and his own title1 the frenzied1 seem to identify him with the deity of orgiastic frenzy4 ,as to ,nysa1 volumes might be written to little or no purpose on the learning connected with this obscure place-name1 so popular in the legend of ,dionysus4 ,it has been identified as a mountain in ,thrace1 in ,boeotia1 in ,arabia1 ,india1 ,libya and ,naxos1 as a town in ,caria or the ,caucasus1 and as an island in the ,nile4 ,the flight of ,dionysus into the sea may possibly recall the similar flight of ,agni in ,indian myth4 ,the ,odyssey only mentions ,dionysus in connection with ,ariadne1 whom ,artemis is said to have slain by reason of the witness of ,dionysus19999 and where the great golden urn of ,thetis is said to have been a present from the god4 ,the famous and beautiful hymn proves1 as indeed may be learned from ,hesiod1999999 that the god was already looked on as the patron of the vine4 99 xi4#cbe4 9999 xxiv4 #gd4 999999 ,works and ,days1 #fad4 ,when the pirates had seized the beautiful young man with the dark-blue eyes1 and had bound him in their ship1 he showed marvels among them1 changed into the shape of a bear1 and turned his captors into dolphins1 while wine welled up from the timbers of the vessel1 and vines and ivy trees wreathed themselves on the mast and about the rigging4 ,leaving aside the ,orphic poems1 which contain most of the facts in the legend of ,dionysus ,zagreus1 the ,bacchae of ,euripides is the chief classical record of ideas about the god4 ,dionysus was the patron of the drama1 which itself was an artistic development of the old rural songs and dances of his ,athenian festival4 ,in the ,bacchae1 then1 ,euripides had to honour the very patron of his art4 ,it must be said that his praise is but half-hearted4 ,a certain ironical spirit1 breaking out here and there 7as when old ,cadmus dances1 and shakes a grey head and a stiff knee7 into actual burlesque1 pervades the play4 ,tradition and myth doubtless retained some historical truth when they averred that the orgies of the god had been accepted with reluctance into state religion4 ,the tales about ,lycurgus and ,pentheus1 who persecuted the ,bacchae in ,thebes1 and was dismembered by his own mother in a divine madness1 are survivals of this old distrust of ,dionysus4 ,it was impossible for ,euripides1 a sceptic1 even in a sceptical age1 to approve sincerely of the god whom he was obliged to celebrate4 ,he falls back on queer etymological explanations of the birth of ,dionysus from the thigh of ,zeus4 ,this myth1 as ,cadmus very learnedly sets forth1 was the result of forgetfulness of the meaning of words1 was born of a ,volks-etymologie4 ,zeus gave a hostage to ,hera1 says ,cadmus1 and in process of time 7a very short time7 men forgot what they meant when they said this1 and supposed that ,dionysus had been sewnup in the thigh of his father499 ,the explanation is absurd1 but it shows how ,euripides could transfer the doubt and distrust of his own age1 and its attempt at a philological interpretation of myth1 to the remote heroic tunes4 ,throughout the play the character and conduct of the god1 and his hideous revenge on the people who reject his wild and cruel rites1 can only be justified because they are articles of faith4 ,the chorus may sing--,ah6 blessed he who dwelleth in happiness1 expert in the rites of the gods1 and so hallows his life1 fulfilling his soul with the spirit of ,dionysus1 revelling on the hills with charms of holy purity 49999 ,this was the interpretation which the religious mind thrust upon rites which in themselves were so barbarously obscene that they were feigned to have been brought by ,dionysus from the barbaric ,east1999999 and to be the invention of ,rhea1 an alien and orgiastic goddess499999999 ,the bull-horned1 snake-wreathed god19999999999 the god who1 when bound1 turns into a bull 7#fah72 who manifests himself as a bull to ,pentheus 7#ibj71 and is implored by the chorus to appear as bull1 or burning lion1 or many-headed snake 7#ajag-ai71 this god is the ancient barbarous deity of myth1 in manifest contrast with the artistic ,greek conception of him as a youth with clusters of golden hair1 and in his dark eyes the grace of ,aphrodite 7#bce1 #bcf74 99 ,bacchae1 #bia1 #bif4 9999 ,ibid41 #gc1 #gf4 999999 ,ibid41 #aj-bj4 99999999 ,ibid41 i4 #ei4 9999999999 ,ibid41 #ajj1 #aja4 ,the ,bacchae1 then1 expresses the sentiments of a moment which must often have occurred in ,greek religion4 ,the ,greek reverence accepts1 hallows and adorns an older faith1 which it feels to be repugnant and even alien1 but none the less recognises as human and inevitable4 ,from modern human nature the ancient orgiastic impulse of savage revelry has almost died away4 ,in ,greece it was dying1 but before it expired it sanctified and perpetuated itself by assuming a religious form1 by draping its naked limbs in the fawn-skin or the bull-skin of ,dionysus4 ,in precisely the same spirit ,christianity1 among the ,negroes of the ,southern ,states1 has been constrained to throw its mantle over what the race cannot discard4 ,the orgies have become camp-meetings2 the ,voodoo-dance is consecrated as the ,jerusalem jump4 ,in ,england the primitive impulse is but occasionally recognised at revivals4 ,this orgiastic impulse1 the impulse of ,australian corroboree and ,cherokee fetish-dances1 and of the dancing ,dervishes themselves1 occasionally seizes girls in modern ,greece4 ,they dance themselves to death on the hills1 and are said by the peasants to be victims of the ,nereids4 ,in the old classic world they would have been saluted as the nurses and companions of ,dionysus1 and their disease would have been hallowed by religion4 ,of that religion the bull-horned1 bull-eating1 cannibal ,dionysus was the deity2 and he was refined away into the youth with yellow-clustered curls1 and sleepy eyes1 and smiling lips1 the girlish youth of the art of ,praxiteles4 ,so we see him in surviving statues1 and seeing him1 forget his ghastly rites1 and his succession to the rites of goats1 and deer1 and bulls4 ,,athene4 ,among deities for whom an origin has been sought in the personification of elemental phenomena1 ,athene is remarkable4 ,perhaps no divine figure has caused more diverse speculations4 ,the study of her legend is rather valuable for the varieties of opinion which it illustrates than for any real contribution to actual knowledge which it supplies4 ,we can discover little1 if anything1 about the rise and development of the conception of ,athene4 ,her local myths and local sacra seem1 on the whole1 less barbaric than those of many other ,olympians4 ,but in comparing the conjectures of the learned1 one lesson comes out with astonishing clearness4 ,it is most perilous1 as this comparison demonstrates1 to guess at an origin of any god in natural phenomena1 and then to explain the details of the god's legend with exclusive reference to that fancied elemental origin4 ,as usual1 the oldest literary references to ,athene are found in the ,iliad and ,odyssey4 ,it were superfluous to collect and compare texts so numerous and so familiar4 ,athene appears in the ,iliad as a martial maiden1 daughter of ,zeus1 and1 apparently1 of ,zeus alone without female mate499 99 ,iliad1 v4 #hge1 #hhj4 ,this is stated explicitly in the ,homeric ,hymn to ,apollo1 where ,athene is said to have been born from the head of ,zeus 7,pindar1 ,olympic ,odes1 vii474 ,she is the patron of valour and the inspirer of counsel2 she arrests the hand of ,achilles when his sword is half drawn from the sheath in his quarrel with ,agamemnon2 she is the constant companion and protector of ,odysseus2 and though she is worshipped in the citadel of ,troy1 she is constant to the cause of the ,achaeans4 ,occasionally it is recorded of her that she assumed the shape of various birds2 a sea-bird and a swallow are among her metamorphoses2 and she could put on the form of any man she pleased2 for example1 of ,deiphobus499 ,it has often been observed that among the lower races the gods habitually appear in the form of animals4 ,entre ces facultes qui possedent les immortels1 l'une des plus frappantes est celle de se metamorphoser1 de prendre des apparences non seulement animales1 mais encore de se transformer en objets inanimes49999 ,of this faculty1 inherited from the savage stage of thought1 ,athene has her due share even in ,homer4 ,but in almost every other respect she is free from the heritage of barbarism1 and might very well be regarded as the ideal representative of wisdom1 valour and manfulness in man1 of purity1 courage and nobility in woman1 as in the ,phaeacian maid ,nausicae4 99 ,iliad1 xxii4 #bbg1 xvii4 #cea1 ,od4 iii4 #cgb4 v4 #cec2 ,iliad1 vii4 #ei4 9999 ,maury1 ,religion de la ,grece1 i4 #bef4 ,in ,hesiod1 as has already been shown1 the myth of the birth of ,athene retains the old barbaric stamp4 ,it is the peculiarity of the ,hesiodic poems to preserve the very features of religious narrative which ,homer disregards4 ,according to ,hesiod1 ,zeus1 the youngest child of child-swallowing ,cronus1 married ,metis after he had conquered and expelled his father4 ,now ,metis1 like other gods and goddesses1 had the power of transforming herself into any shape she pleased4 ,her husband learned that her child--for she was pregnant--would be greater than its father1 as in the case of the child of ,thetis4 ,zeus1 therefore1 persuaded ,metis to transform herself into a fly4 ,no sooner was the metamorphosis complete than he swallowed the fly1 and himself produced the child of ,metis out of his head499 ,the later philosophers explained this myth9999 by a variety of metaphysical interpretations1 in which the god is said to contain the all in himself1 and again to reproduce it4 ,any such ideas must have been alien to the inventors of a tale which1 as we have shown1 possesses many counterparts among the lowest and least ,platonic races4999999 ,c4 ,o4 ,mueller remarks plausibly that the figure of the swallowing is employed in imitation of still older legends1 such as those of ,africa and ,australia4 ,this leaves him free to imagine a philosophic explanation of the myth based on the word ,metis499999999 ,we may agree with ,mueller that the swallow-myth is extremely archaic in character1 as it is so common among the backward races4 ,as to the precise amount1 however1 of philosophic reflection and allegory which was present to the cosmogonic poet's mind when he used ,metis as the name of the being who could become a fly1 and so be swallowed by her husband1 it is impossible to speak with confidence4 ,very probably the poet meant to read a moral and speculative meaning into a barbaric maerchen surviving in religious tradition4 ,to the birth of ,athene from her father's head savage parallels are not lacking4 ,in the legends of the ,south ,pacific1 especially of ,mangaia1 ,tangaroa is fabled to have been born from the head of ,papa49999999999 99 ,hesiod1 ,theog41 #hhf1 and the ,scholiast 9999 ,lobeck1 i4 #fac1 note #b4 999999 ,see the ,cronus myth4 99999999 ,proleg4 ,engl4 transl41 p4 #cjh4 9999999999 ,gill1 ,myths and ,songs1 p4 #aj4 ,in the ,vafthrudismal 7#ca7 a maid and a man-child are born from under the armpits of a primeval gigantic being4 ,the remarks of ,lucian on miraculous birth have already been quoted499 ,with this mythical birth for a starting-point1 and relying on their private interpretations of the cognomina of the goddess1 of her sacra1 and of her actions in other parts of her legend1 the modern mythologists have built up their various theories4 ,athene is now the personification of wisdom1 now the dawn1 now the air or aether1 now the lightning as it leaps from the thunder-cloud2 and if she has not been recognised as the moon1 it is not for lack of opportunity49999 ,these explanations rest on the habit of twisting each detail of a divine legend into conformity with aspects of certain natural and elemental forces1 or they rely on etymological conjecture4 ,for example1 ,welcker999999 maintains that ,athene is a feminine personification of the upper air1 daughter of ,zeus1 the dweller in aether4 ,her name ,tritogenia is derived99999999 from an ancient word for water1 which1 like fire1 has its source in aether49999999999 ,welcker presses the title of the goddess1 ,glaucopis1 the grey-green-eyed1 into the service4 ,the heaven in ,attica oft ebenfalls wunderbar grun ist4999999999999 99 ,cf4 ,dionysus4 9999 ,welcker1 i4 #cje4 999999 ,griechische ,gotterlehre1 ,gottingen1 #aheg1 i4 #cjc4 99999999 ,op4 cit41 #caa4 9999999999 ,the ancients themselves were in doubt whether ,trito were the name of a river or mere1 or whether the ,cretan for the head was intended4 ,see ,odyssey1 ,butcher and ,lang1 note #aj1 p4 #dae4 999999999999 ,op4 cit41 i4 #cjc4 ,moreover1 there was a temple at ,methone of ,athene of the ,winds 7,anemotis71 which would be a better argument had there not been also temples of ,athene of the ,pathway1 ,athene of the ,ivy1 ,athene of the ,crag1 ,athene of the ,market-place1 ,athene of the ,trumpet1 and so forth4 ,moreover1 the olive tree is one of the sacred plants of ,athene4 ,now why should this be8 ,clearly1 thinks ,welcker1 because olive-oil gives light from a lamp1 and light also comes from aether499 ,athene also gives ,telemachus a fair wind in the ,odyssey1 and though any ,lapland witch could do as much1 this goes down to her account as a goddess of the air49999 99 ,op4 cit4 i4 #cah4 9999 ,mr4 ,ruskin's ,queen qf the ,air is full of similar ingenuities4 ,leaving ,welcker1 who has many equally plausible proofs to give1 and turning to ,mr4 ,max ,mueller1 we learn that ,athene was the dawn4 ,this theory is founded on the belief that ,athene ,ahana1 which ,mr4 ,max ,mueller regards as a ,sanskrit word for dawn4 ,phonetically there is not one word to be said against1 ,ahana ,athene1 and that the morning light offers the best starting-point for the later growth of ,athene has been proved1 ,i believe1 beyond the reach of doubt1 or even of cavil4 ,mr4 ,mueller adds that nothing really important could be brought forward against my equation ,ahana ,athene4 ,it is no part of our province here to decide between the conjectures of rival etymologists1 nor to pronounce on their relative merits4 ,but the world cannot be expected to be convinced by philological scholars before they have convinced each other4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller had not convinced ,benfey1 who offered another etymology of ,athene1 as the feminine of the ,zend ,thraetana athwyana1 an etymology of which ,mr4 ,mueller remarks that whoever will take the trouble to examine its phonetic foundation will be obliged in common honesty to confess that it is untenable499 ,meanwhile ,curtius9999 is neither for ,ahana and ,sanskrit and ,mr4 ,max ,mueller1 nor for ,benfey and ,zend4 ,he derives ,athene from the root aio1 whence perhaps comes ,athene1 the blooming one the maiden4 ,preller1 again1999999 finds the source of the name ,athene in aio1 whence aion1 the air1 or a flower4 ,he does not regard these etymologies as certain1 though he agrees with ,welcker that ,athene is the clear height of aether4 ,manifestly no one can be expected to accept as matter of faith an etymological solution which is rejected by philologists4 ,the more fashionable theory for the moment is that maintained some time since by ,lauer and ,schwartz1 and now by ,furtwangler in ,roscher's ,lexikon1 that ,athene is the cloud-goddess1 or the goddess of the lightning as it springs from the clouds499999999 ,as the lightning in mythology is often a serpent1 and as ,athene had her sacred serpent1 which might be ,erichthonios19999999999 99 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,october1 #ahhe1 pp4 #fcf1 #fci4 9999 ,gr4 ,et41 ,engl1 transl41 i4 #cjj4 999999 ,preller1 i4 #afa4 99999999 ,cf4 ,lauer1 ,system der ,oriesch4 ,myth41 ,berlin1 #ahec1 p4 #bbj2 ,schwartz ,ursprung der ,mythol1 ,berlin1 #ahfc1 p4 #ch4 9999999999 ,paus41 xxiv4 #g4 ,schwartz conjectures that the serpent is the lightning and ,athene the cloud4 ,a long list of equally cogent reasons for identifying ,athene with the lightning and the thunder-cloud has been compiled by ,furtwangler1 and deserves some attention4 ,the passage excellently illustrates the error of taking poetic details in authors as late as ,pindar for survivals of the absolute original form of an elemental myth4 ,furtwangler finds the proof of his opinion that ,athene is originally the goddess of the thunder-cloud and the lightning that leaps from it in the ,olympic ode499 ,by ,hephaistos' handicraft beneath the bronze-wrought axe from the crown of her father's head ,athene leapt to light1 and cried aloud an exceeding cry1 and heaven trembled at her coming1 and earth1 the mother4 ,the cry she gave is the thunderpeal2 the spear she carried is the lightning2 the aegis or goat-skin she wore is the cloud again1 though the cloud has just been the head of ,zeus49999 ,another proof of ,athene's connection with storm is the miracle she works when she sets a flame to fly from the head of ,diomede or of ,achilles1999999 or fleets from the sky like a meteor499999999 ,her possession1 on certain coins1 of the thunderbolts of ,zeus is another argument4 ,again1 as the ,trumpet-,athene she is connected with the thunder-peal1 though it seems more rational to account for her supposed invention of a military instrument by the mere fact that she is a warlike goddess4 ,but ,furtwangler explains her martial attributes as those of a thunder-goddess1 while ,preller finds it just as easy to explain her moral character as goddess of wisdom by her elemental character as goddess1 not at all of the cloud1 but of the clear sky49999999999 99 ,ode1 vii4 #ce1 ,myers4 9999 ,cf4 ,schwartz4 ,ursprung1 etc41 pp4 #fh1 #hc4 999999 ,iliad1 v4 #g1ah1bjc4 99999999 ,ibid1 iv4 #gd4 9999999999 ,preller1 i4 #ahc4 ,lastly1 as goddess of the heavenly clearness1 she is also goddess of spiritual clearness4 ,again1 ,as goddess of the cloudless heaven1 she is also goddess of health199 ,there could be no more instructive examples of the levity of conjecture than these1 in which two scholars interpret a myth with equal ease and freedom1 though they start from diametrically opposite conceptions4 ,let ,athene be lightning and cloud1 and all is plain to ,furtwangler4 ,let ,athene be cloudless sky1 and ,preller finds no difficulties4 ,athene as the goddess of woman's work as well as of man's1 ,athene ,ergane1 becomes clear to ,furtwangler as he thinks of the fleecy clouds4 ,probably the storm-goddess1 when she is not thundering1 is regarded as weaving the fleeces of the upper air4 ,hence the myth that ,arachne was once a woman1 changed by ,athene into a spider because she contended with her in spinning49999 99 ,preller1 i4 #agi4 9999 ,ovid1 ,metamorph41 vi4 #e-adf4 ,the metamorphosis of ,arachne is merely one of the half-playful aetiological myths of which we have seen examples all over the world4 ,the spider1 like the swallow1 the nightingale1 the dolphin1 the frog1 was once a human being1 metamorphosed by an angry deity4 ,as ,preller makes ,athene goddess of wisdom because she is goddess of clearness in the sky1 so ,furtwangler derives her intellectual attributes from her skill in weaving clouds4 ,it is tedious and unprofitable to examine these and similar exercises of facile ingenuity4 ,there is no proof that ,athene was ever a nature-goddess at all1 and if she was1 there is nothing to show what was her department of nature4 ,when we meet her in ,homer1 she is patroness of moral and physical excellence in man and woman4 ,manly virtue she typifies in her martial aspect1 the armed and warlike maid of ,zeus2 womanly excellence she protects in her capacity of ,ergane1 the toiler4 ,she is the companion and guardian of ,perseus no less than of ,odysseus499 ,the sacred animals of ,athene were the owl1 the snake 7which accompanies her effigy in ,athens1 and is a form of her foster-child ,erechtheus71 the cock19999 and the crow4999999 ,probably she had some connection with the goat1 which might not be sacrificed in her fane on the ,acropolis1 where she was settled by ,a,egeus 7goat-man 874 ,she wears the goat-skin1 aegis1 in art1 but this is usually regarded as another type of the storm-cloud499999999 99 ,pindar1 ,olymp41 x4 ad ,jin4 9999 ,paus41 vi4 #bfb4 999999 ,ibid41 iv4 #cd1 #f4 99999999 ,roscher1 in his ,lexikon1 s4v4 aegis1 with his arguments there4 ,compare1 on this subject of ,athene as the goddess of a goat-stock4 ,robertson ,smith on ,sacrifice in the ,encycl4 ,brit4 ,aphrodite4 ,athene's maiden character is stainless in story1 despite the brutal love of ,hephaestus4 ,this characteristic perhaps is another proof that she neither was in her origin nor became in men's minds one of the amorous deities of natural phenomena4 ,in any case1 it is well to maintain a sceptical attitude towards explanations of her myth1 which only agree in the determination to make ,athene a nature power at all costs1 and which differ destructively from each other as to whether she was dawn1 storm1 or clear heaven4 ,where opinions are so radically divided and so slenderly supported1 suspension of belief is natural and necessary4 ,no polytheism is likely to be without a goddess of love1 and love is the chief1 if not the original1 department of ,aphrodite in the ,greek ,olympus4 ,in the ,iliad and ,odyssey and the ,homeric ,hymn she is already the queen of desire1 with the beauty and the softness of the laughter-loving dame4 ,her cestus or girdle holds all the magic of passion1 and is borrowed even by ,hera when she wishes to win her fickle lord4 ,she disturbs the society of the gods by her famous amours with ,ares1 deceiving her husband1 ,hephaestus1 the lord of fire2 and she even stoops to the embraces of mortals1 as of ,anchises4 ,in the ,homeric poems the charm of ,golden ,aphrodite does not prevent the singer from hinting a quiet contempt for her softness and luxury4 ,but in this oldest ,greek literature the goddess is already thoroughly ,greek1 nor did later ages make any essential changes in her character4 ,concerning her birth ,homer and ,hesiod are not in the same tale2 for while ,homer makes her a daughter of ,zeus1 ,hesiod prefers1 as usual1 the more repulsive1 and probably older story1 which tells how she sprang from the sea-foam and the mutilated portions of ,cronus499 99 ,iliad1 v4 #cab2 ,theog41 #ahh-bjf4 ,but even in the ,hesiodic myth it is remarkable that the foam-born goddess first landed at ,cythera1 or again was born in wave-washed ,cyprus4 ,her ancient names--the ,cyprian and the ,cytherean--with her favoured seats in ,paphos1 ,idalia and the ,phoenician settlement of ,eryx in ,sicily1 combine with historical traditions to show that the ,greek ,aphrodite was1 to some extent1 of ,oriental character and origin4 ,it is probable1 or rather certain1 that even without foreign influence the polytheism of ,greece must have developed a deity of love1 as did the ,mexican and ,scandinavian polytheisms4 ,but it is equally certain that portions of the worship and elements in the myth of ,aphrodite are derived from the ritual and the legends of the ,oriental queen of heaven1 adored from old ,babylon to ,cyprus and on many other coasts and isles of the ,grecian seas4 ,the ,greeks themselves recognised ,asiatic influence4 ,pausanias speaks of the temple of heavenly ,aphrodite in ,cythera as the holiest and most ancient of all her shrines among the ,hellenes499 ,herodotus1 again1 calls the fane of the goddess in ,askalon of the ,philistines the oldest of all1 and the place whence her worship travelled to ,cyprus1 as the ,cyprians say1 and the ,phoenicians planted it in ,cythera1 being themselves emigrants from ,syria4 ,the ,semitic element in this ,greek goddess and her cult first demand attention4 ,among the ,semitic races with whose goddess of love ,aphrodite was thus connected the deity had many names4 ,she was regarded as at once the patroness of the moon1 and of fertility in plants beasts1 and women4 ,among the ,phoenicians her title is ,astarte among the ,assyrians she was ,istar2 among the ,syrians1 ,aschera2 in ,babylon1 ,mylitta49999 ,common practices in the ritual of the ,eastern and ,western goddesses were the licence of the temple-girls1 the sacrifices of animals supposed to be peculiarly amorous 7sparrows1 doves1 he-goats71 and1 above all1 the festivals and fasts for ,adonis4 99 ,paus41 ,hi4 #bh1 #a4 9999 ,so ,roscher1 ,ausfuhr4 ,lexik41 pp4 #cia1 #fdg4 ,see also ,astarte1 p4 #fef4 ,there can scarcely be a doubt that ,adonis--the young hunter beloved by ,aphrodite1 slain by the boar1 and mourned by his mistress--is a symbol of the young season1 the renouveau1 and of the spring vegetation1 ruined by the extreme heats1 and passing the rest of the year in the underworld4 ,adonis was already known to ,hesiod1 who called him1 with obvious meaning1 the son of ,phoenix and ,alphesiboea1 while ,pausanias attributed to him1 with equal significance1 ,assyrian descent499 ,the name of ,adonis is manifestly a form of the ,phoenician ,adon1 ,lord4 ,the nature of his worship among the ,greeks is most familiar from the fifteenth ,idyll of ,theocritus1 with its lively picture of dead ,adonis lying in state1 of the wailing for him by ,aphrodite1 of the little gardens of quickly-growing flowers which personified him1 and with the beautiful nuptial hymn for his resurrection and reunion to ,aphrodite4 ,similar rites were customary at ,athens49999 ,mannhardt gives the main points in the ritual of the ,adonis-feast thus3 ,the fresh vegetation is personified as a fair young man1 who in ritual is represented by a kind of idol1 and also by the plants of the ,adonis-gardens4 ,the youth comes in spring1 the bridegroom to the bride1 the vernal year is their honeymoon4 ,in the heat of summer the bridegroom perishes for the nonce1 and passes the winter in the land of the dead4 ,his burial is bewailed1 his resurrection is rejoiced in4 ,the occasions of the rite are spring and midsummer4 ,the idol and the plants are finally cast into the sea1 or into well-water4 99 ,apollod41 ,bibliothec1 iii4 #ad1 #d4 9999 ,aristoph41 ,lysistrata1 #chi2 ,mannhardt1 ,feld und ,wold ,kultus1 ii4 #bgf4 ,the union of the divine lovers is represented by pairing of men and maidens in bonds of a kindly sentimental sort1--the flowery bonds of valentines4 ,the ,oriental influence in all these rites has now been recognised2 it is perfectly attested both by the ,phoenican settlements1 whence ,aphrodite-worship spread1 and by the very name of her lover1 the spring4 ,but all this may probably be regarded as little more than the ,semitic colouring of a ritual and a belief which exist among ,indo-,european peoples1 quite apart from ,phoenican influence4 ,mannhardt traces the various points in the ,aphrodite cult already enumerated through the folk-lore of the ,german peasants4 ,the young lover1 the spring1 is the ,maikonig or ,laubmann2 his effigy is a clothed and crowned idol or puppet1 or the ,maibaum4 ,the figure is thrown into the water and bewailed in ,russia1 or buried or burned with lamentations499 ,he is wakened and kissed by a maiden1 who acts as the bride49999 ,finally1 we have the ,may-pairs1 a kind of valentines united in a nominal troth4 99 i4 #dah2 ii4 #bhg4 9999 i #dcf4 ,the probable conclusion seems to be that the ,adonis ritual expresses certain natural human ways of regarding the vernal year4 ,it is not unlikely that the ancestors of the ,greeks possessed these forms of folk-lore previous to their contact with the ,semitic races1 and their borrowing of the very marked ,semitic features in the festivals4 ,for the rest1 the concern of ,aphrodite with the passion of love in men and with general productiveness in nature is a commonplace of ,greek literature4 ,it would be waste of space to recount the numerous and familiar fables in which she inspires a happy or an ill-fated affection in gods or mortals4 ,like most other mythical figures1 ,aphrodite has been recognised by ,mr4 ,max ,mueller as the dawn2 but the suggestion has not been generally accepted499 ,if ,aphrodite retains any traces of an elemental origin1 they show chiefly in that part of her legend which is peculiarly ,semitic in colour4 ,for the rest1 though she1 like ,hermes1 gives good luck in general1 she is a recognised personification of passion and the queen of love4 99 ,roscher1 ,lexikon1 p4 #djf4 ,,hermes4 ,another child of ,zeus whose elemental origin and character have been much debated is ,hermes4 ,the meaning of the name9999 is confessedly obscure4 ,opinion1 then1 is divided about the elemental origin of ,hermes and the meaning of his name4 ,his character must be sought1 as usual1 in ancient poetic myth and in ritual and religion4 ,herodotus recognised his rites as extremely old1 for that is the meaning of his remark999999 that the ,athenians borrowed them from the ,pelasgians1 who are generally recognised as prehistoric ,greeks4 9999 ,preller1 i4 #cjg4 ,the name of ,hermes is connected by ,welcker 7,griesch4 ,got41 i4 #cdb7 with 7-----71 and he gives other examples of the ,a,eolic use of o for e4 ,compare ,curtius's ,greek ,etymology1 ,english translation1 #ahhf1 vol4 i4 p4 #dbj4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller1 on the other hand 7,lectures1 ii4 #dfh71 takes ,hermes to be the son of the ,dawn4 ,curtius reserves his opinion4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller recognises ,saramejas and ,hermes as deities of twilight4 ,preller 7i4 #cji7 takes him for a god of dark and gloaming4 999999 ,herod41 ii4 #fa4 ,in the rites spoken of1 the images of the god were in one notable point like well-known ,bushmen and ,admiralty ,island divine representations1 and like those of ,priapus499 ,in ,cyllene1 where ,hermes was a great resident god1 ,artemidorus9999 saw a representation of ,hermes which was merely a large phallus1 and ,pausanias beheld the same sacred object1 which was adored with peculiar reverence4999999 ,such was ,hermes in the ,elean region1 whence he derived his name1 ,cyllenian499999999 ,he was a god of the liberal shepherds1 conceived of in the rudest aspect1 perhaps as the patron of fruitfulness in their flocks4 ,manifestly he was most unlike the graceful swift messenger of the gods1 and guide of the ghosts of men outworn1 the giver of good fortune1 the lord of the crowded market-place1 the teacher of eloquence and of poetry1 who appears in the literary mythology of ,greece4 ,nor is there much in his ,pelasgian or his ,cyllenian form to suggest the elemental deity either of gloaming1 or of twilight1 or of the storm49999999999 99 ,can the obscene story of ,cicero 7,de ,nat4 ,deor41 iii4 #bb1 #ef7 be a repetition of the sacred chapter by which ,herodotus says the ,pelasgians explained the attribute of the image8 9999 ,artem41 i4 #de4 999999 ,paus41 vi4 #bf1 #c4 99999999 ,homeric ,hymns1 iii4 #b4 9999999999 ,but see ,welcker1 i4 #cdc1 for connection between his name and his pastoral functions4 ,but whether the pastoral ,hermes of the ,pelasgians was refined into the messenger-god of ,homer1 or whether the name and honours of that god were given to the rude ,priapean patron of the shepherds by way of bringing him into the ,olympic circle1 it seems impossible to ascertain4 ,these combinations lie far behind the ages of ,greece known to us in poetry and history4 ,the province of the god as a deity of flocks is thought to be attested by his favourite companion animal the ram1 which often stood beside him in works of art499 ,in one case1 where he is represented with a ram on his shoulder1 the legend explained that by carrying a ram round the walls he saved the city of ,tanagra from a pestilence49999 ,the ,arcadians also represented him carrying a ram under his arm4999999 ,as to the phallic ,hermae1 it is only certain that the ,athenian taste agreed with that of the ,admiralty ,islanders in selecting such unseemly images to stand beside every door4 ,but the connection of ,hermes with music 7he was the inventor of the lyre1 as the ,homeric ,hymn sets forth7 may be explained by the musical and poetical character of old ,greek shepherd life4 ,if we could set aside the various elemental theories of ,hermes as the storm-wind1 the twilight1 the child of dawn1 and the rest1 it would not be difficult to show that one moral conception is common to his character in many of its varied aspects4 ,he is the god of luck1 of prosperity1 of success1 of fortunate adventure4 ,this department of his activity is already recognised in ,homer4 ,he is giver of good luck499999999 ,he is ,hermes1 who giveth grace and glory to all the works of men4 ,hence comes his ,homeric name1 the luck-bringer4 ,the last cup at a feast is drunk to his honour for luck4 99 ,pausanias1 ii4 #h1 #d4 9999 ,for ,hermes1 god of herds and flocks1 see ,preller1 i4 #cbb-cbe4 999999 ,pausanias1 v4 #bg1 #e4 99999999 ,iliad1 xiv4 #dia2 ,od4 #ae1 #cai4 ,where we cry ,shares6 in a lucky find1 the ,greek cried ,hermes in common6 ,a godsend was 7------74 ,thus among rough shepherd folk the luck-bringing god displayed his activity chiefly in making fruitful the flocks1 but among city people he presided over the mart and the public assembly1 where he gave good fortune1 and over musical contests499 ,it is as the lucky god that ,hermes holds his fair wand of wealth and riches1 three-leafed and golden1 which wardeth off all evil9999 ,hermes has thus1 among his varied departments1 none better marked out than the department of luck1 a very wide and important province in early thought4 ,but while he stands in this relation to men1 to the gods he is the herald and messenger1 and1 in some undignified myths1 even the pander and accomplice4 ,in the ,homeric ,hymn this child of ,zeus and ,maia shows his versatile character by stealing the oxen of ,apollo1 and fashioning the lyre on the day of his birth4 ,the theft is sometimes explained as a solar myth2 the twilight steals the bright days of the sun-god4 ,but he could only steal them day by day1 whereas ,hermes lifts the cattle in an hour4999999 ,the surname of ,hermes1 is usually connected with the slaying of ,argus1 a supernatural being with many eyes1 set by ,hera to watch ,io1 the mistress of ,zeus499999999 99 ,see also ,preller1 i4 #cbf1 note #c4 9999 ,hymn1 #ebi4 ,see ,custom and ,myth1 ,the ,divining ,rod 4 999999 ,preller1 i4 #caf1 note #b2 ,welcker1 ,gr4 ,got1 i4 #cch1 and note #aa4 99999999 ,a,esch41 ,prom4 ,vinct1 #efh4 ,hermes lulled the creature to sleep with his music and cut off his head4 ,this myth yields a very natural explanation if ,hermes be the twilight of dawn1 and if ,argus be the many-eyed midnight heaven of stars watching ,io1 the moon4 ,if ,hermes be the storm-wind1 it seems just as easy to say that he kills ,argus by driving a cloud over the face of heaven4 ,in his capacity as the swift-winged messenger1 who1 in the ,odyssey1 crosses the great gulf of the sea1 and scarce brushes the brine with his feathers1 ,hermes might be explained1 by any one so minded1 either as lightning or wind4 ,neither hypothesis suits very well with his duties as guide of the ghosts1 whom he leads down darkling ways with his wand of gold499 ,in this capacity he and the ghosts were honoured at the ,athenian ,all-,souls' day1 in ,february49999 ,such are the chief mythic aspects of ,hermes4 ,he has many functions2 common to all of them is the power of bringing all to a happy end4 ,this resemblance to twilight1 which bringeth all things good1 as ,sappho sang1 may be welcome to interpreters who see in ,hermes a personification of twilight4 ,how ingeniously1 and even beautifully1 this crepuscular theory can be worked out1 and made to explain all the activities of ,hermes1 may be read in an essay of ,paul de ,st4 ,victor4999999 ,what is the dawn8 ,the passage from night to day4 ,hermes therefore is the god of all such fleet transitions1 blendings1 changes4 ,the messenger of the gods1 he flits before them1 a heavenly ambassador to mortals4 ,two light wings quiver on his rounded cap1 the vault of heaven in little4444 99 ,odyssey1 xxiv4 #a-ad4 9999 ,preller1 i4 #ccj1 and see the notes on the passage4 ,the ceremonies were also reminiscent of the ,deluge4 999999 ,les ,deux ,masques1 i4 #caf-cbf4 ,the highways cross and meet and increase the meetings of men2 so ,hermes1 the ceaseless voyager1 is their protecting genius4444 ,who should guide the ghosts down the darkling ways but the deity of the dusk2 sometimes he made love to fair ghostly maids whom he attended4 ,so easy is it to interpret all the functions of a god as reflections of elemental phenomena4 ,the origin of ,hermes remains obscure2 but he is1 in his poetical shape1 one of the most beautiful and human of the deities4 ,he has little commerce with the beasts2 we do not find him with many animal companions1 like ,apollo1 nor adored1 like ,dionysus1 with a ritual in which are remnants of animal-worship4 ,the darker things of his oldest phallic forms remain obscure in his legends1 concealed by beautiful fancies1 as the old wooden phallic figure1 the gift of ,cecrops1 which ,pausanias saw in ,athens1 was covered with myrtle boughs4 ,though he is occasionally in art represented with a beard1 he remains in the fancy as the ,odysseus met him1 ,hermes of the golden wand1 like unto a young man1 with the first down on his cheek1 when youth is loveliest4 ,,demeter4 ,the figure of ,demeter1 the mater dolorosa of paganism1 the sorrowing mother seated on the stone of lamentation1 is the most touching in ,greek mythology4 ,the beautiful marble statue found by ,mr4 ,newton at ,cnidos1 and now in the ,british ,museum1 has the sentiment and the expression of a ,madonna4 ,nowhere in ancient religion was human love1 regret1 hope and desiderium or wistful longing typified so clearly as in the myth and ritual of ,demeter4 ,she is severed from her daughter1 ,persephone1 who goes down among the dead1 but they are restored to each other in the joy of the spring's renewal4 ,the mysteries of ,eleusis1 which represented these events in a miracle-play1 were certainly understood by ,plato and ,pindar and ,a,eschylus to have a mystic and pathetic significance4 ,they shadowed forth the consolations that the soul has fancied for herself1 and gave promise of renewed and undisturbed existence in the society of all who have been dear on earth4 ,yet ,aristophanes1 in the ,frogs1 ventures even here to bring in his raillery1 and makes ,xanthias hint that the mystae1 the initiate1 smell of roast-pig4 ,no doubt they had been solemnly sacrificing1 and probably tasting the flesh of the pig1 the sacred animal of ,demeter1 whose bones1 with clay or marble figurines representing him1 are found in the holy soil of her temples4 ,thus even in the mystery of ,demeter the grotesque1 the barbaric element appears1 and it often declares itself in her legend and in her ritual4 ,a scientific study of ,demeter must endeavour to disentangle the two main factors in her myth and cult1 and to hold them apart4 ,for this purpose it is necessary to examine the development of the cult as far as it can be traced4 ,as to the name of the goddess1 for once there is agreement1 and even certainty4 ,it seems hardly to be disputed that ,demeter is ,greek1 and means mother-earth or earth the mother499 99 ,welcker1 ,oriech4 ,,qml1 i4 #che-chg2 ,preller1 i4 #fah1 note #b2 ,maury1 ,rel4 des ,grdes1 ,l #fi4 ,apparently ,a still means earth in ,albanian2 ,max ,mueller1 ,selected ,essays1 ii4 #dbh4 ,there is his mythological panacea4 ,mannhardt is all for ,corn-mother1 ,corn being nothing peculiarly ,hellenic or ,aryan in the adoration of earth4 ,a comparative study of earth-worship would prove it to be very widely diffused1 even among non-,european tribes4 ,the ,demeter cult1 however1 is distinct enough from the myth of ,gaea1 the ,earth1 considered as1 in conjunction with ,heaven1 the parent of the gods4 ,demeter is rather the fruitful soil regarded as a person than the elder ,titanic formless earth personified as ,gaea4 ,thus conceived as the foster-mother of life1 earth is worshipped in ,america by the ,shawnees and ,potawatomies as ,me-mk-kum-mik-o-kwi1 the mother of earth ,it will be shown that this goddess appears casually in a ,potawatomie legend1 which is merely a savage version of the sacred story of ,eleusis499 ,tacitus found that ,mother ,hertha was adored in ,germany with rites so mysterious that the slaves who took part in them were drowned4 ,whereof ariseth a secret terror and an holy ignorance what that should be which they only see who are a-perishing49999 ,it is curious that in the folk-lore of ,europe1 up to this century1 food-offerings to the earth were buried in ,germany and by ,gipsies2 for the same rite is practised by the ,potawatomies4999999 99 ,compare ,maury1 ,religions de la ,grece1 i4 #gb4 9999 ,germania1 #dj1 translation of #afbb4 999999 ,compare ,tylor1 ,prim4 ,cult1 ii4 #bgc1 with ,father ,de ,smet1 ,oregon ,missions1 ,new ,york1 #ahdg1 p4 #cea4 ,the ,mexican ,demeter1 ,centeotl1 is well known1 and ,acosta's account of religious ceremonies connected with harvest in ,mexico and ,peru might almost be taken for a description of the ,greek ,eiresione4 ,the god of agriculture among the ,tongan ,islanders has one very curious point of resemblance to ,demeter4 ,in the ,iliad 7v4 #eje7 we read that ,demeter presides over the fanning of the grain4 ,even as a wind carrieth the chaff about the sacred threshing-floors when men are winnowing1 what time golden ,demeter1 in rush of wind1 maketh division of grain and chaff44444 ,now the name of the god of wind1 and weather1 rain1 harvest and vegetation in general in the ,tongan ,islands is ,alo-,alo1 literally to fan499 ,one is reminded of ,joachim ,du ,bellay's poem1 ,to the ,winnowers of ,corn4 ,thus from all these widely diffused examples it is manifest that the idea of a divinity of earth1 considered as the mother of fruits1 and as powerful for good or harm in harvest-time1 is anything but peculiar to ,greece or to ,aryan peoples4 ,in her character as potent over this department of agriculture1 the ,greek goddess was named she of the rich threshing-floors1 of the corn heaps1 of the corn in the ear1 of the harvest-home1 of the sheaves1 of the fair fruits1 of the goodly gifts1 and so forth49999 99 ,mariner's ,tonga ,islands1 #ahbg1 ii4 #ajg4 ,the ,attic ,eiresioni may be studied in ,mannhardt1 ,wald und ,feld ,qultus1 it #cab1 and ,aztec and ,peruvian harvest rites of a similar character in ,custom and ,myth1 pp4 #ag-bj4 ,see also ,prim4 ,quit41 ii4 #cjf1 for other examples4 9999 ,welcker1 ii1 #dfh-dgj1 a collection of such titles4 ,in popular ,greek religion1 then1 ,demeter was chiefly regarded as the divinity of earth at seed-time and harvest4 ,perhaps none of the gods was worshipped in so many different cities and villages1 or possessed so large a number of shrines and rustic chapels4 ,there is a pleasant picture of such a chapel1 with its rural disorder1 in the ,golden ,ass of ,apuleius4 ,psyche1 in her search for ,cupid1 came to the temple and went in1 whereas behold she espied sheaves of corn lying on a heap1 blades with withered garlands1 and reeds of barley4 ,moreover1 she saw hooks1 scythes1 sickles and other instruments to reape1 but everie thing laide out of order1 and as it were cast in by the hands of labourers2 which when ,psyche saw she gathered up and put everything in order4 ,the chapel of ,demeter1 in short1 was a tool-house1 dignified perhaps with some rude statue and a little altar4 ,every village1 perhaps every villa1 would have some such shrine4 ,behind these observances1 and behind the harvest-homes and the rites--half ritual1 half folk-lore--which were expected to secure the fertility of the seed sown1 there lurked in the minds of priests and in the recesses of sanctuaries certain mystic and secret practices of adoration4 ,in these mysteries ,demeter was doubtless worshipped in her ,chthonian character as a goddess of earth1 powerful over those who are buried in her bosom1 over death and the dead4 ,in these hidden mysteries of her cult1 moreover1 survived ancient legends of the usual ugly sort1 tales of the amours of the goddess in bestial guise4 ,among such rites ,pausanias mentions1 at ,hermione of ,dryopian ,argolis1 the fete of ,chthonian ,demeter1 a summer festival4 ,the procession of men1 women1 boys and priests dragged a struggling heifer to the doors of the temple1 and thrust her in unbound4 ,within the fane she was butchered by four old women armed with sickles4 ,the doors were then opened1 and a second and third heifer were driven in and slain by the old women4 ,this marvel attends the sacrifice1 that all the heifers fall on the same side as the first that was slain4 ,there remains somewhat undivulged4 ,the things which they specially worship1 ,i know not1 nor any man1 neither native or foreigner1 but only the ancient women concerned in the rite499 ,in ,arcadia there was a temple of ,demeter1 whose priests boasted a connection with ,eleusis1 and professed to perform the mysteries in the ,eleusinian manner4 ,here stood two great stones1 with another over them1 probably 7if we may guess7 a prehistoric dolmen4 ,within the dolmen1 which was so revered that the neighbours swore their chief oath by it1 were kept certain sacred scriptures4 ,these were read aloud once a year to the initiated by a priest who covered his face with a mask of ,demeter4 ,at the same time he smote the earth with rods1 and called on the folk below the earth4 ,precisely the same practice1 smiting the earth with rods1 is employed by those who consult diviners among the ,zulus49999 ,the ,zulu woman having a spirit of divination says1 ,strike the ground for them 7the spirits74 ,see1 they say you came to inquire about something4 ,the custom of wearing a mask of the deity worshipped is common in the religions of animal-worship in ,egypt1 ,mexico1 the ,south ,seas and elsewhere4 ,the ,aztec celebrant1 we saw1 wore a mask made of the skin of the thigh of the human victim4 ,whether this ,arcadian ,demeter was represented with the head of a beast does not appear2 she had a mare's head in ,phigalia4 ,one common point between this ,demeter of the ,pheneatae and the ,eleusinian is her taboo on beans1 which are so strangely mystical a vegetable in ,greek and ,roman ritual4999999 99 ,paus41 li4 #hf4 9999 ,callaway1 ,izinyanga ,zokvbula1 p4 #cfb 999999 ,for a collection of passages see ,aglaophamus1 #bea-bed4 ,the ,black ,demeter of the ,phigalians in ,arcadia was another most archaic form of the goddess4 ,in ,phigalia the myth of the wrath and reconciliation of the goddess assumed a brutal and unfamiliar aspect4 ,the common legend1 universally known1 declares that ,demeter sorrowed for the enlevement of her daughter1 ,persephone1 by ,hades4 ,the ,phigalians added another cause2 the wandering ,demeter had assumed the form of a mare1 and was violently wooed by ,poseidon in the guise of a stallion499 99 ,the same story was told of ,cronus and ,philyra1 of ,agni and a cow in the ,satapatha ,brahmana 7,english translation1 i4 #cbf71 of ,saranyu1 daughter of ,tvashtri1 who fled in the form of a mare4 ,visvasvat1 in like manner1 assumed the shape of a horse1 and followed her4 ,from their intercourse sprang the two ,asvins4 ,see ,muir1 ,sanskrit ,texts1 v4 #bbg1 or ,rig- ,veda1 x4 #ag1 #a4 ,here we touch a very curious point4 ,erinnys was au ,arcadian cognomen of the ,demeter who was wedded as a mare 7,paus41 viii4 #be74 ,now1 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller says that ,erinnys is the ,vedic ,saranyu1 the ,dawn1 and we have seen that both ,demeter ,erinnys and ,saranyu were wooed and won in the form of mares 7,select ,essays1 i4 #dja1 #dib-fbb74 ,the curious thing is that1 having so valuable a proof in his hand as the common bestial amours of both ,saranyu and ,erinnys ,demeter1 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller does not produce it4 ,the ,scandinavian horse-loves of ,loki also recur to the memory4 ,prajapati's loves in the shape of a deer are familiar in the ,brahmanas4 ,if ,saranyu,erinnys1 and both,dawn1 then a dawn- myth has been imported into the legend of ,demeter1 whom nobody1 perhaps1 will call a dawn-goddess4 ,schwartz1 as usual1 makes the myth a storm-myth1 and ,demeter a goddess of storms 7,ursprwig der ,myth41 p4 #afd74 ,the goddess1 in wrath at this outrage1 attired herself in black mourning raiment1 and withdrew into a cave1 according to the ,phigalians1 and the fruits of the earth perished4 ,zeus learned from ,pan the place of ,demeter's retreat1 and sent to her the ,moerae or ,fates1 who persuaded her to abate her anger4 ,the cave became her holy place1 and there was set an early wooden xoanon1 or idol1 representing the goddess in the shape of a woman with the head and mane of a mare1 in memory of her involuntary intrigue in that shape4 ,serpents and other creatures were twined about her head1 and in one hand1 for a mystic reason undivulged1 she held a dolphin1 in the other a dove4 ,the wooden image was destroyed by fire1 and disasters fell on the ,phigalians4 ,onatas was then employed to make a bronze statue like the old idol1 wherof the fashion was revealed to him in a dream4 ,this restoration was made about the time of the ,persian war4 ,the sacrifices offered to this ,demeter were fruits1 grapes1 honey and uncarded wool2 whence it is clear that the black goddess was a true earth-mother1 and received the fruits of the earth and the flock4 ,the image by ,onatas had somewhat mysteriously disappeared before the days of ,pausanias499 99 ,paus41 viii4 #db4 ,compare viii4 #be1 #d1 for the horse ,arion1 whom ,demeter bore to ,poseidon4 ,even in her rude ,arcadian shape ,demeter is a goddess of the fruits of earth4 ,it is probable that her most archaic form survived from the ,pelasgian clays in remote mountainous regions4 ,indeed ,herodotus1 observing the resemblance between the ,osirian mysteries in ,egypt and the ,thesmophoria of ,demeter in ,greece1 boldly asserts that the ,thesmophoria were ,egyptian1 and were brought to the ,pelasgians from ,egypt 7ii4 #aga74 ,the ,pelasgians were driven out of ,peloponnesus by the ,dorians1 and the ,arcadians1 who were not expelled1 retained the rites4 ,as ,pelasgians also lingered long in ,attica1 ,herodotus recognised the ,thesmophoria as in origin ,egyptian4 ,in modern language this theory means that the ,thesmophoria were thought to be a rite of prehistoric antiquity older than the ,dorian invasion4 ,herodotus naturally explained resemblances in the myth and ritual of distant peoples as the result of borrowing1 usually from ,egypt1 an idea revived by ,m4 ,foucart4 ,these analogies1 however1 are more frequently produced by the working out of similar thoughts1 presenting themselves to minds similarly situated in a similar way4 ,the mysteries of ,demeter offer an excellent specimen of the process4 ,while the ,greeks1 not yet collected into cities1 lived in village settlements1 each village would possess its own feasts1 mysteries and medicine-dances1 as the ,red ,indians say1 appropriate to seedtime and harvest4 ,for various reasons1 certain of these local rites attained high importance in the development of ,greek civilisation ,the ,eleusinian performances1 for instance1 were adopted into the state ritual of a famous city1 ,athens1 and finally acquired a national status1 being open to all not disqualified ,hellenes4 ,in this development the old local ritual for the propitiation of ,demeter1 for the fertility of the seed sown1 and for the gratification of the dead ancestors1 was caught up into the religion of the state1 and was modified by advancing ideas of religion and morality4 ,but the local ,athenian mystery of the ,thesmophoria probably retained more of its primitive shape and purpose4 ,the ,thesmophoria was the feast of seed-time1 and ,demeter was adored by the women as the patroness of human as well as of universal fertility4 ,thus a certain jocund and licentious element was imparted to the rites1 which were not to be witnessed by men4 ,the ,demeter of the ,thesmophoria was she who introduced and patronised the 7------7 of marriage1 as ,homer says of ,odysseus and ,penelope499 ,what was done at the ,thesmophoria ,herodotus did not think fit to tell4 ,a scholiast on ,lucian's ,dialogues of ,courtesans let out the secret in a much later age4 ,he repeats the story of the swineherd ,eubuleus1 whose pigs were swallowed up by the earth when it opened to receive ,hades and ,persephone4 ,in honour and in memory of ,eubuleus1 pigs were thrown into the cavernof ,demeter4 ,then certain women brought up the decaying flesh of the dead pigs1 and placed it on the altar4 ,it was believed that to mix this flesh with the seed-corn secured abundance of harvest4 ,though the rite is magical in character1 perhaps the decaying flesh might act as manure1 and be of real service to the farmer4 ,afterwards images of pigs1 such as ,mr4 ,newton found in a hole in the holy plot of ,demeter at ,cnidos1 were restored to the place whence the flesh had been taken4 ,the practice was believed to make marriage fruitful2 its virtues were for the husband as well as for the husbandman49999 ,however the ,athenians got the rite1 whether they evolved it or adapted it from some ,pelasgian or other prehistoric people1 similar practices occur among the ,khonds in ,india and the ,pawnees in ,america4 ,the ,khonds sacrifice a pig and a human victim1 the ,pawnees a girl of a foreign tribe4 99 ,odyssey1 xxiii4 #bie4 9999 ,newton1 ,hulicarn41 plate iv4 pp4 #cca1 #cga-cia4 ,the fragments of flesh are not mixed with the seed-corn1 but buried on the borders of the fields499 ,the ancient1 perhaps ,pelasgian1 ritual of ,demeter had thus its savage features and its savage analogues4 ,more remarkable still is the ,pawnee version1 as we may call it1 of the ,eleusinia4 ,curiously1 the ,red ,indian myth which resembles that of ,demeter and ,persephone is not told about ,me-suk-kum-mik-o-kwi1 the ,red ,indian ,mother ,earth1 to whom offerings are made1 valuable objects being buried for her in brass kettles49999 ,the ,american tale is attached to the legend of ,manabozho and his brother ,chibiabos1 not to that of the ,earth ,mother and her daughter1 if in ,america she had a daughter4 ,the account of the ,pawnee mysteries and their origin is worth quoting in full1 as it is among the most remarkable of mythical coincidences4 ,if we decline to believe that ,pere ,de ,smet invented the tale for the mere purpose of mystifying mythologists1 we must1 apparently1 suppose that the coincidences are due to the similar workings of the human mind in the ,prairies as at ,eleusis4 ,we shall first give the ,red ,indian version4 ,it was confided to ,de ,smet1 as part of the general tradition of the ,pawnees1 by an old chief1 and was first published by ,de ,smet in his ,oregon ,mission999999 ,tanner speaks of the legend as one that the ,indians chant in their medicine-songs1 which record the sacred beliefs of the race499999999 99 ,de ,smet1 ,oregon ,missions1 p4 #cei2 ,mr4 ,russell's1 ,report in ,major ,campbell's ,personal ,narrative1 #ahfd1 pp4 #ee1 #aac4 9999 ,tanner's ,narrative1 #ahcj1 p4 #aae4 999999 ,new ,york1 #ahdg4 99999999 ,ibid41 ,new ,york1 #ahcj1 pp4 #aib1 #aic4 ,he adds that many of these songs are noted down1 by a method probably peculiar to the ,indians1 on birch-bark or small flat pieces of wood1 the ideas being conveyed by emblematical figures4 ,when it is remembered that the luck of the tribe depends on these songs and rites1 it will be admitted that they are probably of considerable antiquity1 and that the ,indians probably did not borrow the story about the origin of their ritual from some ,european conversant with the ,homeric hymn to ,demeter4 ,here follows the myth1 as borrowed 7without acknowledgment7 by ,schoolcraft from ,de ,smet3--99 ,the ,manitos 7powers or spirits7 were jealous of ,manabozho and ,chibiabos4 ,manabozho warned his brother never to be alone1 but one day he ventured on the frozen lake and was drowned by the ,manitos4 ,manabozho wailed along the shores4 ,he waged a war against all the ,manitos4444 ,he called on the dead body of his brother4 ,he put the whole country in dread by his lamentations4 ,he then besmeared his face with black1 and sat down six years to lament1 uttering the name of ,chibiabos4 ,the ,manitos consulted what to do to assuage his melancholy and his wrath4 ,the oldest and wisest of them1 who had had no hand in the death of ,chibiabos1 offered to undertake the task of reconciliation4 ,they built a sacred lodge close to that of ,manabozho1 and prepared a sumptuous feast4 ,they then assembled in order1 one behind the other1 each carrying under his arm a sack of the skin of some favourite animal1 as a beaver1 an otter1 or a lynx1 and filled with precious and curious medicines culled from all plants4 ,these they exhibited1 and invited him to the feast with pleasing words and ceremonies4 ,he immediately raised his head1 uncovered it1 and washed off his besmearments and mourning colours1 and then followed them4 ,they offered him a cup of liquor prepared from the choicest medicines1 at once as a propitiation and an initiatory rite4 ,he drank it at a single draught1 and found his melancholy departed4 ,they then commenced their dances and songs1 united with various ceremonies4 ,all danced1 all sang1 all acted with the utmost gravity1 with exactness of time1 motion and voice4 ,manabozho was cured2 he ate1 danced1 sang and smoked the sacred pipe4 99 ,schoolcraft1 ,l #cah4 ,in this manner the mysteries of the great medicine-dance were introduced4 ,the ,manitos now united their powers to bring ,chibiabos to life4 ,they did so1 and brought him to life1 but it was forbidden to enter the lodge4 ,they gave him1 through a chink1 a burning coal1 and told him to go and preside over the country of souls and reign over the land of the dead4 ,manabozho1 now retired from men1 commits the care of medicinal plants to ,misukumigakwa1 or the ,mother of the ,earth1 to whom he makes offerings4 ,in all this the resemblance to the legend of the ,homeric hymn to ,demeter is undeniable4 ,the hymn is too familiar to require a long analysis4 ,we read how ,demeter had a fair daughter1 ,persephone2 how the ,lord of the ,dead carried her off as she was gathering flowers2 how ,demeter sought her with burning torches2 and how the goddess came to ,eleusis and the house of ,celeus in the guise of an old wife4 ,there she dwelt in sorrow1 neither eating nor drinking1 till she tasted of a mixture of barley and water 7cyceon71 and was moved to smile by the mirth of ,iambe4 ,yet she still held apart in wrath from the society of the gods1 and still the earth bore not her fruits1 till the gods bade ,hermes restore ,persephone4 ,but ,persephone had tasted one pomegranate-seed in ,hades1 and therefore1 according to a world-wide belief1 she was under bonds to ,hades4 ,for only half the year does she return to earth2 yet by this ,demeter was comforted2 the soil bore fruits again1 and ,demeter showed forth to the chiefs of ,eleusis her sacred mysteries and the ritual of their performance499 ,the ,persephone myth is not in ,homer1 though in ,homer ,persephone is ,lady of the ,dead4 ,hesiod alludes to it in the ,theogony 7#iab-iad72 but the chief authority is the ,homeric hymn1 which ,matthaeus found 7#aggg7 in a farmyard at ,moscow4 ,inter pullos et porcos latuerat--the pigs of ,demeter had guarded the poem of her mysteries49999 ,as to the date and authorship of the hymn1 the learned differ in opinion4 ,probably most readers will regard it as a piece of poetry1 like the hymn to ,aphrodite1 rather than as a mystic chain of verse meant solely for hieratic purposes4 ,it is impossible to argue with safety that the ,eleusinian mysteries and legend were later than ,homer1 because ,homer does not allude to them4 99 ,the superstition about the food of the dead is found in ,new ,zealand1 ,melanesia1 ,scotland1 ,finland and among the ,ojibbeways4 ,compare ,wandering ,willie's tale in ,redgaunttet4 9999 ,ruhnken1 ap4 ,hignard1 ,les ,hymnes ,homeriques1 p4 #bib1 ,paris1 #ahfd4 ,he has no occasion to speak of them4 ,possibly the mysteries were1 in his time1 but the rites of a village or little town2 they attained celebrity owing to their adoption by ,athens1 and they ended by becoming the most famous national festival4 ,the meaning of the legend1 in its origin1 was probably no more than a propitiation of earth1 and a ceremony that imitated1 and so secured1 the return of spring and vegetation4 ,this early conception1 which we have found in ,america1 was easily combined with doctrines of the death and revival1 not of the year1 not of the seed sown1 but of the human soul4 ,these ideas were capable of endless illustration and amplification by priests2 and the mysteries1 by ,plato's time1 and even by ,pindar's1 were certainly understood to have a purifying influence on conduct and a favourable effect on the fortunes of the soul in the next world4 ,happy whosoever of mortal men has looked on these things2 but whoso hath had no part nor lot in this sacrament hath no equal fate when once he hath perished and passed within the pall of darkness499 ,of such rites we may believe that ,plato was thinking when he spoke of beholding apparitions innocent and simple1 and calm and happy1 as in a mystery9999 ,nor is it strange that1 when ,greeks were seeking for a sign1 and especially for some creed that might resist the new worship of ,christ1 ,plutarch and the ,neo-,platonic philosophers tried to cling to the promise of the mysteries of ,demeter4 99 ,homeric ,hymn1 #dhj-dhb4 9999 ,phaedrus1 #bfj4 ,they regarded her secret things as a dreamy shadow of that spectacle and that rite1 the spectacle and rite of the harmonious order of the universe1 some time to be revealed to the souls of the blessed499 ,it may not have been a drawback to the consolations of the hidden services that they made no appeal to the weary and wandering reason of the later heathens4 ,tired out with endless discourse on fate and free will1 gods and demons1 allegory and explanation1 they could repose on mere spectacles and ceremonies and pious ejaculations1 without any evidence or proof offered for the statements 4 ,indeed1 writers like ,plutarch show almost the temper of ,pascal1 trying to secure rest for their souls by a wise passiveness and pious contemplation1 and participation in sacraments not understood4 ,as to the origin of these sacraments1 we may believe1 with ,lobeck1 that it was no priestly system of mystic and esoteric teaching1 moral or physical4 ,it was but the medicine-dance of a very old ,greek tribal settlement1 perhaps from the first with an ethical element4 ,but from this1 thanks to the genius of ,hellas1 sprang all the beauty of the ,eleusinian ritual1 and all the consolation it offered the bereaved1 all the comfort it yielded to the weary and heavy laden49999 ,that the popular religious excitement caused by the mysteries and favoured by the darkness often produced scenes of lustful revelry1 may be probable enough4 ,revivals everywhere have this among other consequences4 ,but we may share ,lobeck's scepticism as to the wholesale charges of iniquity brought by the ,fathers4 99 ,plutarch1 ,de ,def4 ,orac4 xxii 9999 ,lobeck1 ,aglaoph41 #acc4 ,in spite of survivals and slanders1 the religion of ,demeter was among the most natural1 beautiful and touching of ,greek beliefs4 ,the wild element was not lacking2 but a pious contemporary of ,plato1 when he bathed in the sea with his pig before beholding the mystery-play1 probably made up his mind to blink the barbaric and licentious part of the performances4 ,,conclusion4 ,this brief review of ,greek divine myths does not of course aim at exhausting the subject4 ,we do not pretend to examine the legends of all the ,olympians4 ,but enough has been said to illustrate the method of interpretation1 and to give specimens of the method at work4 ,it has been seen that there is only agreement among philologists as to the origin and meaning of two out of nearly a dozen divine names4 ,zeus is admitted to be connected with ,dyaus1 and to have originally meant sky4 ,demeter is accepted as ,greek1 with the significance of ,mother ,earth4 ,but the meaning and the roots of ,athene1 ,apollo1 ,artemis1 ,hermes1 ,cronus1 ,aphrodite1 ,dionysus--we might add ,poseidon and ,hephaestus--are very far from being known4 ,nor is there much more general agreement as to the original elemental phenomena or elemental province held by all of these gods and goddesses4 ,the moon1 the wind1 the twilight1 the sun1 the growth and force of vegetation1 the dark1 the night1 the atmosphere1 have been shuffled and dealt most variously to the various deities by learned students of myth4 ,this complete diversity of opinion must be accepted as a part in the study4 ,the learned1 as a rule1 only agree in believing 7#a7 that the names hold the secret of the original meaning of the gods2 and 7#b7 that the gods are generally personifications of elements or of phenomena1 or have been evolved out of such personifications4 ,beyond this almost all is confusion1 doubt1 the twilight of the gods4 ,in this darkness there is nothing to surprise4 ,we are not wandering in a magical mist poured around us by the gods1 but in a fog which has natural causes4 ,first1 there is the untrustworthiness of attempts to analyse proper names4 ,with every proper name the etymological operation is by one degree more difficult than with an appellative4444 ,we have to deal with two unknown quantities1 origin and meaning2 whereas in appellatives we know the meaning and have only to hunt for the origin4 ,and of all proper names mythological names are the most difficult to interpret4 ,curtius has shown how many paths may be taken in the analysis of the name ,achilles4 ,the second part may be of the stem3 people1 or the stem3 stone4 ,does the first part of the word mean water 7cf4 aqua71 or is it equivalent to3 7bulwark or the people78 ,or is it akin to3 one who causes pain8 ,or is the3 prothetic8 and is 7it7 the root1 and does it mean clear-shining8 ,or is the word related to 7------71 and does it mean dark8 ,all these and other explanations are offered by the learned1 and are chosen by ,curtius to show the uncertainty and difficulty of the etymological process as applied to names in myth4 ,cornutus remarked long ago that the great antiquity of the name of ,athene made its etymology difficult4 ,difficult it remains499 ,whatever the science of language may accomplish in the future1 it is baffled for the present by the divine names of ,greece1 or by most of them1 and these the most important49999 99 ,cf4 ,curtius1 ,greek ,etym41 ,engl1 transl41 i4 #acg-aci4 9999 ,gruppe1 ,griech4 ,culte und ,mythtis1 p4 #afi1 selects ,iapetos1 ,kadmos1 ,kabeiros1 ,adonis1 ,baitylos1 ,typhon1 ,nysos 7in ,dionysos71 ,acheron1 ,kimmerians and ,gryps1 aa certainly ,phoenician4 ,but these are not the names of the high gods4 ,there is another reason for the obscurity of the topic besides the darkness in which the origin of the names has been wrapped by time4 ,the myths had been very long in circulation before we first meet them in ,homer and ,hesiod4 ,we know not whence the gods came4 ,perhaps some of them were the chief divine conceptions of various ,hellenic clans before the union of clans into states4 ,however this may be1 when we first encounter the gods in ,homer and ,hesiod1 they have been organised into a family1 with regular genealogies and relationships4 ,functions have been assigned to them1 and departments4 ,was ,hermes always the herald8 ,was ,hephaestus always the artisan8 ,was ,athene from the first the well-beloved daughter of ,zeus8 ,was ,apollo from the beginning the mediator with men by oracles8 ,who can reply8 ,we only know that the divine ministry has been thoroughly organised1 and departments assigned1 as in a cabinet1 before we meet the gods on ,olympus4 ,what they were in the ages before this organisation1 we can only conjecture4 ,some may have been adopted from clans whose chief deity they were4 ,if any one took all the ,samoan gods1 he could combine them into a family with due functions and gradations4 ,no one man did this1 we may believe1 for ,greece3 though ,herodotus thought it was done by ,homer and ,hesiod4 ,the process went on through centuries we know not of2 still less do we know what or where the gods were before the process began4 ,thus the obscurity in which the divine origins are hidden is natural and inevitable4 ,our attempt has been to examine certain birth-marks which the gods bear from that hidden antiquity1 relics of fur and fin and feather1 inherited from ancestral beasts like those which ruled ,egyptian1 ,american and ,australian religions4 ,we have also remarked the brilliant divinity of beautiful form which the gods at last attained1 in marble1 in gold1 in ivory and in the fancy of poets and sculptors4 ,here is the truly ,hellenic element1 here is the ideal--,athene arming1 ,hera with the girdle of ,aphrodite1 ,hermes with his wand1 ,apollo with the silver bow--to this the ,hellenic intellect attained2 this ideal it made more imperishable than bronze4 ,finally1 the lovely shapes of gods defecate to a pure transparency in the religion of ,aristotle and ,plutarch4 ,but the gods remain beautiful in their statues1 beautiful in the hymns of ,pindar and the plays of ,sophocles2 hideous1 often1 in temple myth1 and ancient xoanon1 and secret rite1 till they are all1 good and evil1 cast out by ,christianity4 ,the most brilliant civilisation of the world never expelled the old savage from its myth and its ritual4 ,the lowest savagery scarcely ever1 if ever1 wholly loses sight of a heavenly ,father4 ,in conclusion1 we may deprecate the charge of exclusivism4 ,the savage element is something1 nay1 is much1 in ,greek myth and ritual1 but it is not everything4 ,the truth1 grace and beauty of the myths are given by the clear spirit of ,hellas4 ,nor is all that may be deplored necessarily native4 ,we may well believe in borrowing from ,phoenicians1 who in turn may have borrowed from ,babylon4 ,examples of this process have occasionally been noted4 ,it will be urged by some students that the wild element was adopted from the religion of prehistoric races1 whom the ,greeks found in possession when first they seized the shores of the country4 ,this may be true in certain cases1 but historical evidence is not to be obtained4 ,we lose ourselves in theories of ,pelasgians and ,pre-,pelasgians1 and la ,grece avant les ,grecs4 ,in any case1 the argument that the more puzzling part of ,greek myth is a survival would not be affected4 ,borrowed1 or inherited1 or imitated1 certain of the stories and rites are savage in origin1 and the argument insists on no more as to that portion of ,greek mythology4 ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,,heroic ,,and ,,romantic ,,myths4 ,a new class of myths--,not explanatory--,popular tales--,heroic and romantic myths--7#a7 ,savage tales--7#b7 ,european ,contes-- 7#c7 ,heroic myths--,their origin--,diffusion--,history of their study--,grimm's theory--,aryan theory--,benfey's theory-- ,ancient ,egyptian stories examined--,wanderung's theorie-- ,conclusion4 ,the myths which have hitherto been examined possess1 for the most part1 one common feature4 ,all1 or almost all of them1 obviously aim at satisfying curiosity about the causes of things1 at supplying gaps in human knowledge4 ,the nature-myths account for various aspects of ,nature1 from the reed by1 the river-side that once was a fair maiden pursued by ,pan1 to the remotest star that was a mistress of ,zeus2 from the reason why the crow is black1 to the reason why the sun is darkened in eclipse4 ,the divine myths1 again1 are for the more part essays in the same direction4 ,they try to answer these questions3 ,who made things8 ,how did this world begin8 ,what are the powers1 felt to be greater than ourselves1 which regulate the order of events and control the destinies of men8 ,myths reply to all these questionings1 and the answers are always in accordance with that early nebulous condition of thought and reason where observation lapses into superstition1 religion into science1 science into fancy1 knowledge into fable4 ,in the same manner the myths which we do not treat of here--the myths of the origin of death1 of man's first possession of fire1 and of the nature of his home among the dead--are all tentative contributions to knowledge4 ,all seek to satisfy the eternal human desire to know4 ,whence came death8 man asks1 and the myths answer him with a story of ,pandora1 of ,maui1 of the moon and the hare1 or the bat and the tree4 ,how came fire to be a servant of ours8 ,the myths tell of ,prometheus the fire-stealer1 or of the fire-stealing wren1 or frog1 or coyote1 or cuttlefish4 ,what manner of life shall men live after death8 in what manner of home8 ,the myth answers with tales of ,pohjola1 of ,hades1 of ,amenti1 of all that1 in the ,australian black fellow's phrase1 lies beyond the ,rummut1 beyond the surf of the ,pacific1 beyond the stream of ,oceanus1 beyond the horizon of mortality4 ,to these myths1 and to the more mysterious legend of the ,flood1 we may return some other day4 ,for the present1 it must suffice to repeat that all these myths 7except1 perhaps1 the traditions of the ,deluge7 fill up gaps in early human knowledge1 and convey information as to matters outside of practical experience4 ,but there are classes of tales1 or maerchen1 or myths which1 as far as can be discovered1 have but little of the explanatory element4 ,though they have been interpreted as broken-down nature-myths1 the variety of the interpretations put upon them proves that1 at least1 their elemental meaning is dim and uncertain1 and makes it very dubious whether they ever had any such significance at all4 ,it is not denied here that some of these myths and tales may have been suggested by elemental and meteorological phenomena4 ,for example1 when we find almost everywhere among ,european peasants1 and among ,samoyeds and ,zulus1 as in ,greek heroic-myths of the ,jason cycle1 the story of the children who run away from a cannibal or murderous mother or step-mother1 we are reminded of certain nature-myths4 ,the stars are often said99 to be the children of the sun1 and to flee away at dawn1 lest he or their mother1 the moon1 should devour them4 ,this early observation may have started the story of flight from the cannibal parents1 and the legend may have been brought down from heaven to earth4 ,yet this were1 perhaps1 a far-fetched hypothesis of the origin of a tale which may readily have been born wherever human beings have a tendency 7as in ,north ,america and ,south ,africa7 to revert to cannibalism4 99 ,nature-,myths1 vol4 i p4 #acj4 ,the story is ,asterinos und ,pulja in ,von ,hahn's ,griech4 und ,alban4 ,marchen4 ,compare ,samojedische ,marchen1 ,castren1 ,varies1 uber die ,alt4 ,volk1 p4 #afd2 ,callaway1 ,uzembeni4 ,the peculiarity1 then1 of the myths which we propose to call ,heroic and ,romantic ,tales 7maerchen contes populaires71 is the absence1 as a rule1 of any obvious explanatory purpose4 ,they are romances or novels1 and if they do explain anything1 it is rather the origin or sanction of some human law or custom than the cause of any natural phenomenon that they expound4 ,the kind of traditional fictions here described as heroic and romantic may be divided into three main categories4 7#a7 ,first we have the popular tales of the lower and more backward races1 with whom may be reckoned1 for our present purpose1 the more remote and obscure peoples of ,america4 ,we find popular tales among the ,bushmen1 ,kaffirs1 ,zulus1 ,samoans1 ,maoris1 ,hurons1 ,samoyeds1 ,eskimos1 ,crees1 ,blackfeet and other so-called savage races4 ,we also find tales practically identical in character1 and often in plot and incident1 among such a people as the ,huarochiris1 a civilised race brought under the ,inca ,empire some three generations before the ,spanish conquest4 ,the characteristics of these tales are the presence of talking and magically helpful beasts2 the human powers and personal existence of even inanimate objects2 the miraculous accomplishments of the actors2 the introduction of beings of another race1 usually hostile2 the power of going to and returning from ,hades--always described in much the same imaginative manner4 ,the persons are sometimes anonymous1 sometimes are named while the name is not celebrated2 more frequently the tribal culture-hero1 demiurge1 or god is the leading character in these stories4 ,in accordance with the habits of savage fancy1 the chief person is often a beast1 such as ,ananzi1 the ,west ,african spider2 ,cagn1 the ,bushman grasshopper2 or ,michabo1 the ,algonkin white-hare4 ,animals frequently take parts assigned to men and women in ,european maerchen4 7#b7 ,in the second place1 we have the maerchen1 or contes1 or household tales of the modern ,european1 ,asiatic and ,indian peasantry1 the tales collected by the ,grimms1 by ,afanasief1 by ,von ,hahn1 by ,miss ,frere1 by ,miss ,maive ,stokes1 by ,m4 ,sebillot1 by ,campbell of ,islay1 and by so many others4 ,every reader of these delightful collections knows that the characteristics1 the machinery1 all that excites wonder1 are the same as in the savage heroic tales just described ,but it is a peculiarity of the popular tales of the peasantry that the places are seldom named2 the story is not localised1 and the characters are anonymous4 ,occasionally our ,lord and his saints appear1 and ,satan is pretty frequently present1 always to be defeated and disgraced2 but1 as a rule1 the hero is a boy1 a poor man a fiddler1 a soldier1 and so forth1 no names being given4 7#c7 ,thirdly1 we have in epic poetry and legend the romantic and heroic tales of the great civilised races1 or races which have proved capable of civilisation4 ,these are the ,indians1 the ,greeks1 ,romans1 ,celts1 ,scandinavians and ,germans4 ,these have won their way into the national literatures and the region of epic4 ,we find them in the ,odyssey1 the ,edda the ,celtic poems1 the ,ramayana1 and they even appear in the ,veda4 ,they occur in the legends and pedigrees of the royal heroes of ,greece and ,germany4 ,they attach themselves to the dim beginnings of actual history1 and to real personages like ,charlemagne4 ,they even invade the legends of the saints4 ,the characters are national heroes1 such as ,perseus1 ,jason1 ,a,edipus and ,olympian gods1 and holy men and women dear to the ,church1 and primal heroes of the ,north1 ,sigurd and ,signy4 ,their paths and places are not in dim fairyland1 but in the fields and on the shores we know--at ,roland's ,pass in the ,pyrenees1 on the enchanted ,colchian coast1 or among the blameless ,ethiopians1 or in ,thessaly1 or in ,argos4 ,now1 in all these three classes of romance1 savage fables1 rural maerchen1 ,greek or ,german epics1 the ideas and incidents are analogous1 and the very conduct of the plot is sometimes recognisably the same4 ,the moral ideas on which many of the maerchen1 sagas1 or epic myths turn are often identical4 ,everywhere we find doors or vessels which are not to be opened1 regulations for the conduct of husband and wife which are not to be broken2 everywhere we find helpful beasts1 birds and fishes2 everywhere we find legends proving that one cannot outwit his fate or evade the destiny prophesied for him4 ,the chief problems raised by these sagas and stories are--7#a7 ,how do they come to resemble each other so closely in all parts of the world8 7#b7 ,were they invented once for all1 and transmitted all across the world from some centre8 7#c7 ,what was that centre1 and what was the period and the process of transmission8 ,before examining the solutions of those problems1 certain considerations may be advanced4 ,the supernatural stuff of the stories1 the threads of the texture1 the belief in the life and personality of all things--in talking beasts and trees1 in magical powers1 in the possibility of visiting the diad--must1 on our theory as already set forth1 be found wherever men have either passed through savagery1 and retained-survivals of that intellectual condition1 or wherever they have borrowed or imitated such survivals4 ,by this means1 without further research1 we may account for the similarity of the stuff of heroic myths and marchen4 ,the stuff is the same as in nature myths and divine myths4 ,but how is the similarity of the arrangement of the incidents and ideas into plots to be accounted for8 ,the sagas1 epic myths1 and marchen do not appear to resemble each other everywhere 7as the nature-myths do71 because they are the same ideas applied to the explanation of the same set of natural facts4 ,the sagas1 epics and marchen seem to explain nothing1 but to be told1 in the first instance1 either to illustrate and enforce a moral1 or for the mere pleasure of imaginative narration4 ,we are thus left1 provisionally1 with the notion that occasionally the resemblance of plot and arrangement may be accidental4 ,in shaking the mental kaleidoscope1 which contains a given assortment of ideas1 analogous combinations may not impossibly be now and then produced everywhere4 ,or the story may have been invented once for all in one centre1 but at a period so incalculably remote that it has filtered1 in the exchanges and contacts of prehistoric life1 all over the world1 even to or from the ,western ,pacific and the lonely ,oceanic ,islands4 ,or1 once more1 the story may have had a centre in the ,old ,world1 say1 in ,india2 may have been carried to ,europe by oral tradition or in literary vehicles1 like the ,pantschatantra or the ,hitopadesa1 or by gypsies2 may have reached the sailors1 and trappers1 and miners of civilisation1 and may have been communicated by them 7in times subsequent to the discovery of ,america by ,columbus7 to the backward races of the world4 ,these are preliminary statements of possibilities1 and theories more or less based on those ideas are now to be examined4 ,the best plan may be to trace briefly the history of the study of popular tales4 ,as early as ,charles ,perrault's time 7#afif71 popular traditional tales had attracted some curiosity1 more or less scientific4 ,mademoiselle ,l',heritier1 the ,abbe ,villiers1 and even the writer of the dedication of ,perrault's ,contes to ,mademoiselle1 had expressed opinions as to the purposes for which they were first told1 and the time and place where they probably arose4 ,the ,troubadours1 the ,arabs1 and the fanciful invention of peasant nurses were vaguely talked of as possible first authors of the popular tales4 ,about the same time1 ,huet1 ,bishop of ,avranches1 had remarked that the ,hurons in ,north ,america amused their winter leisure with narratives in which beasts endowed with speech and reason were the chief characters4 ,little was done to secure the scientific satisfaction of curiosity about traditional folk-tales1 contes or marchen till the time when the brothers ,grimm collected the stories of ,hesse4 ,the ,grimms became aware that the stories were common to the peasant class in most ,european lands1 and that they were also known in ,india and the ,east4 ,as they went on collecting1 they learned that ,african and ,north ,american tribes also had their marchen1 not differing greatly in character from the stories familiar to ,german firesides4 ,already ,sir ,walter ,scott had observed1 in a note to the ,lady of the ,lake1 that a work of great interest might be compiled upon the origin of popular fiction1 and the transmission of similar tales from age to age1 and from country to country4 ,the mythology of one period would then appear to pass into the romance of the next1 and that into the nursery tales of subsequent ages4 ,this opinion has long been almost universal4 ,thus1 if the story of ,jason is found in ,greek myths1 and also1 with a difference1 in popular modern marchen1 the notion has been that the marchen is the last and youngest form1 the detritus of the myth4 ,now1 as the myth is only known from literary sources 7,homer1 ,mimnermus1 ,apollonius ,rhodius1 ,euripides1 and so on71 it must follow1 on this theory1 that the people had borrowed from the literature of the more cultivated classes4 ,as a matter of fact1 literature has borrowed far more from the people than the people have borrowed from literature1 though both processes have been at work in the course of history4 ,but the question of the relations of marchen to myths1 and of both to romance1 may be left unanswered for the moment4 ,more pressing questions are1 what is the origin1 and where the original home of the marchen or popular tales1 and how have they been so widely diffused all over the world8 ,the answers given to these questions have naturally been modified by the widening knowledge of the subject4 ,one answer seemed plausible when only the common character of ,european contes was known2 another was needed when the ,aryan peoples of the ,east were found to have the same stories2 another1 or a modification of the second1 was called for when marchen like those of ,europe were found among the ,negroes1 the ,indians of ,brazil1 the ancient ,huarochiri of ,peru1 the people of ,madagascar1 the ,samoyeds1 the ,samoans1 the ,dene ,hareskins of the extreme ,american ,north-west1 the ,zulus and ,kaffirs1 the ,bushmen1 the ,finns1 the ,japanese1 the ,arabs1 and the ,swahilis4 ,the ,grimms1 in the appendix to their ,household ,tales199 give a list of the stories with which they were acquainted4 ,out of ,europe they note first the literary collections of the ,east1 the ,thousand and ,one ,nights and the ,hitopadesa1 which1 with the ,book of ,sinda-bad1 and the ,pantschatantra1 and the ,katharit ,sagara1 contain almost all of the ,oriental tales that filtered into ,western literature through written translations4 ,the ,grimms had not our store of folk-tales recently collected from the lips of the ,aryan and non-,aryan natives of ,hindostan1 such as the works of ,miss ,maive ,stokes1 of ,miss ,frere1 of ,captain ,steel1 of ,mr4 ,lai ,behar ,day1 and the few ,santal stories4 ,but the ,grimms had some ,kalmuck stories49999 99 ,mrs4 ,hunt's translation1 ,london1 #ahhd4 9999 ,the relations of ,ssidi ,kur1 in ,bergmann's ,nomadische ,stretfereien1 vol4 i4 ,one or two ,chinese and ,japanese examples had fallen into their hands1 and all this as early as #ahbb4 ,in later years they picked up a ,malay story1 some ,bechuana tales1 ,koelle's ,kanuri or ,bornu stories1 ,schoolcraft's and ,james ,athearn ,jones's ,north ,american legends1 ,finnish1 ,esthonian and ,mongolian narratives1 and an increasing store of ,european contes4 ,the ,grimms were thus not unaware that the maerchen1 with their surprising resemblances of plot and incident1 had a circulation far beyond the limits of the ,ayran peoples4 ,they were specially struck1 as was natural1 by the reappearance of incidents analogous to those of the ,german contes 7such as ,machandelboom and the ,singing ,bone1 #dg1 #bh7 among the remote ,bechuanas of ,south ,africa4 ,they found1 too1 that in ,sierra ,leone beasts and birds play the chief parts in maerchen4 ,they have a much closer connection with humanity1444 nay1 they have even priests1 as the animals in ,guiana have peays or sorcerers of their own4 ,only the beasts of the country itself appear in the maerchen4 ,among these ,bornu legends they found several tales analogous to ,faithful ,john 7#f71 and to one in ,stra-parola's ,piacevoli ,notti 7,venice1 #aeej71 a story1 by the way1 which recurs among the ,santals1 an aboriginal tribe of ,india4 ,it is the tale of the man who knows the language of animals1 and is warned by them against telling secrets to women4 ,among the ,indians of ,north ,america ,grimm found the analogue of his tale 7#ahb7 of the ,elves' ,gifts1 which1 by the way1 also illustrates a proverb in ,japan4 ,finnish1 ,tartar and ,indian analogues were discovered in plenty4 ,such were ,grimm's materials2 much less abundant than ours1 indeed1 but sufficient to show him that the resemblance existing between the stories1 not only of nations widely removed from each other by time and distance1 but also between those which lie near together1 consists partly in the underlying idea and the delineation of particular characters1 and partly in the weaving together and unravelling of incidents4 ,how are these resemblances to be explained8 ,that is the question4 ,grimm's answer was1 as ours must still be1 only a suggestion4 ,there are situations so simple and natural that they reappear everywhere1 just like the isolated words which are produced in a nearly or entirely identical form in languages which have no connection with each other1 by the mere imitation of natural sounds4 ,thus to a certain1 but in ,grimm's opinion to a very limited extent1 the existence of similar situations in the marchen of the most widely separated peoples is the result of the common facts of human thought and sentiment4 ,to repeat a convenient illustration1 if we find talking and rational beasts and inanimate objects1 and the occurrence of metamorphosis and of magic1 and of cannibals and of ghosts 7as we do71 in the marchen as in the higher myths of all the world1 and if we also find certain curious human customs in the contes1 these resemblances may be explained as born of the same early condition of human fancy1 which regards all known things as personal and animated1 which believes in ghosts and magic1 while men also behave in accordance with customs now obsolete and forgotten in civilisation4 ,these common facts are the threads 7as we have said7 in the cloth of myth and marchen4 ,they were supplied by the universal early conditions of the prescientific human intellect2 ,thus the stuff of marchen is everywhere the same4 ,but why are the patterns--the situations1 and the arrangements1 and sequence of incidents--also remarkably similar in the contes of unrelated and unconnected tribes and races everywhere8 ,here the difficulty begins in earnest4 ,it is clearly not enough to force the analogy1 and reply that the patterns of early fabrics and the decorations of early weapons1 of pottery1 tattooing marks1 and so forth1 are also things universally human499 99 ,see ,custom and ,myth1 ,the ,art of ,savages1 p4 #bhh4 ,the close resemblances of undeveloped ,greek and ,mexican and other early artistic work are interesting1 but may be accounted for by similarity of materials1 of instruments1 of suggestions from natural objects1 and of inexperience in design4 ,the selections of similar situations and of similar patterns into which these are interwoven in maerchen1 by ,greeks1 ,huarochiris of ,peru1 and ,samoans or ,eskimos1 is much more puzzling to account for4 ,grimm gives some examples in which he thinks that the ideas1 and their collocations in the story1 can only have originally occurred to one mind1 once for all4 ,how is the wide distribution of such a story to be accounted for8 ,grimm first admits as rare exceptions the probability of a story's passing from one people to another1 and firmly rooting itself in foreign soil4 ,but such cases1 he says1 are one or two solitary exceptions1 whereas the diffusion of stories which1 in his opinion1 could only have been invented once for all is an extensive phenomenon4 ,he goes on to say1 ,we shall be asked where the outermost lines of common property in stories begin1 and how the lines of affinity are gradated4 ,his answer was not satisfactory even to himself1 and the additions to our knowledge have deprived it of any value4 ,the outermost lines are coterminous with those of the great race which is called ,indo-,germanic4 ,outside of the ,indo-,germanic1 or ,aryan race1 that is to say1 are found none of the maerchen which are discovered within the borders of that race4 ,but ,grimm knew very well himself that this was an erroneous belief4 ,we see with amazement in such of the stories of the ,negroes of ,bornu and the ,bechuanas 7a wandering tribe in ,south ,africa7 as we have become acquainted with an undeniable connection with the ,german ones1 while at the same time their peculiar composition distinguishes them from these4 ,so ,grimm1 though he found no decided resemblance in ,north ,american stories1 admitted that the boundaries of common property in marchen did include more than the ,indo-,germanic race4 ,bechuanas1 and ,negroes1 and ,finns1 as he adds1 and as ,sir ,george ,dasent saw199 are certainly within the fold4 99 ,popular ,tales from the ,norse1 #ahei1 pp4 liv41 lv4 ,there ,william ,grimm left the question in #ahef4 ,his tendency apparently was to explain the community of the marchen on the hypothesis that they were the original common store of the undivided ,aryan people1 carried abroad in the long wanderings of the race4 ,but he felt that the presence of the marchen among ,bechuanas1 ,negroes and ,finns was not thus to be explained4 ,at the same time he closed the doors against a theory of borrowing1 except in solitary exceptions1 and against the belief in frequent1 separate and independent evolution of the same story in various unconnected regions4 ,thus ,grimm states the question1 but does not pretend to have supplied its answer4 ,the solutions offered on the hypothesis that the marchen are exclusively ,aryan1 and that they are the detritus or youngest and latest forms of myths1 while these myths are concerned with the elemental phenomena of ,nature1 and arose out of the decay of language1 have been so frequently criticised that they need not long detain us499 ,the most recent review of the system is by ,m4 ,cosquin49999 ,in place of repeating objections which have been frequently urged by the present writer1 an abstract of ,m4 ,cosquin's reasons for differing from the ,aryan theory of ,von ,hahn may be given4 ,voh ,hahn was the collector and editor of stories from the modern ,greek1999999 and his work is scholarly and accomplished4 ,he drew up comparative tables showing the correspondence between ,greek and ,german maerchen on the one side1 and ,greek and ,teutonic epics and higher legends or sagas on the other4 ,he also attempted to classify the stories in a certain number of recurring formula or plots4 ,lin ,von ,hahn's opinion1 the stories were originally the myths of the undivided ,aryan people in its central ,asian home4 ,as the different branches scattered and separated1 they carried with them their common store of myths1 which were gradually worn down into the detritus of popular stories1 the youngest form of the myth4 ,the same theory appeared 7in #ahei7 in ,mr4 ,max ,muller's ,chips from a ,german ,workshop99999999 ,the undivided ,aryan people possessed1 in its mythological and proverbial phraseology1 the seeds or germs1 more or less developed1 which would nourish1 under any sky1 into very similar plants--that is1 the popular stories4 99 ,see our ,introduction to ,mrs4 ,hunt's translation of ,grimm's ,household ,tales4 9999 ,contes ,populaire de ,lorraine1 ,paris1 #ahhf1 pp4 i41 xv4 999999 ,grieschische und ,albanesische ,marchen1 #ahfd4 99999999 ,vol4 ii4 p4 #bbf4 ,against these ideas ,m4 ,cosquin argues that if the ,aryan people before its division preserved the myths only in their earliest germinal form1 it is incredible that1 when the separated branches had lost touch of each other1 the final shape of their myths1 the maerchen1 should have so closely resembled each other as they do4 ,the ,aryan theory 7as it may be called for the sake of brevity7 rejects1 as a rule1 the idea that tales can1 as a rule1 have been borrowed1 even by one ,aryan people from another499 ,nursery tales are generally the last things to be borrowed by one nation from another49999 ,then1 says ,m4 ,cosquin1 as the undivided ,aryan people had only the myths in their least developed state1 and as the existing peasantry have only the detritus of these myths--the maerchen--and as you say borrowing is out of the question1 how do you account for a coincidence like this8 ,in the ,punjaub1 among the ,bretons1 the ,albanians1 the modern ,greeks and the ,russians we find a conte in which a young man gets possession of a magical ring4 ,this ring is stolen from him1 and recovered by the aid of certain grateful beasts1 whom the young man has benefited4 ,his foe keeps the ring in his mouth1 but the grateful mouse1 insinuating his tail into the nose of the thief1 makes him sneeze1 and out comes the magical ring6 99 ,cox1 ,mythol4 of ,aryan ,nations1 i4 #aji4 9999 ,max ,mueller1 ,chips1 ii4 #baf4 ,common sense insists1 says ,m4 ,cosquin1 that this detail was invented once for all4 ,it must have first occurred1 not in a myth1 but in a conte or maerchen1 from which all the others alike proceed4 ,therefore1 if you wish the idea of the mouse and the ring and the sneeze to be a part of the store of the undivided ,aryans1 you must admit that they had contes1 maerchen1 popular stories1 what you call the detritus of myths1 as well as myths themselves1 before they left their cradle in ,central ,asia4 ,nos ancetres1 les peres des nations europeennes1 auraient1 de cette facon1 emporte dans leurs fourgons la collection complete de contes ,ibleus actuels4 ,in short1 if there was no borrowing1 myths have been reduced 7on the ,aryan theory7 to the condition of detritus1 to the diamond dust of mar-chen1 before the ,aryan people divided4 ,but this is contrary to the hypothesis4 ,m4 ,cosquin does not pause here4 ,the maerchen--mouse1 ring1 sneeze and all--is found among non-,aryan tribes1 the inhabitants of ,mardin in ,mesopotamia and the ,kariaines of ,birmanie499 ,well1 if there was no borrowing1 how did the non-,aryan peoples get the story8 99 ,cosquin1 i1 xi41 xii41 with his authorities in note #a4 ,m4 ,cosquin concludes that the theory he attacks is untenable1 and determines that1 after having been invented in this place or that1 which we must discover if we can1 the popular tales of the various ,european nations 7to mention these alone7 have spread all over the world from people to people by way of borrowing4 ,in arriving at this opinion1 ,m4 ,cosquin admits1 as is fair1 that the ,grimms1 not having our knowledge of non-,aryan maerchen 7,mongol1 ,syrian1 ,arab1 ,kabyle1 ,swahili1 ,annamite--he might have added very many more71 could not foresee all the objections to the theory of a store common to ,aryans alone4 ,were we constructing an elaborate treatise on maerchen1 it would be well in this place to discuss the ,aryan theory at greater length4 ,that theory turns on the belief that popular stories are the detritus of ,aryan myths4 ,it would be necessary then to discuss the philological hypothesis of the origin and nature of these original ,aryan myths themselves2 but to do so would lead us far from the study of mere popular tales499 ,leaving the ,aryan theory1 we turn to that supported by ,m4 ,cosquin himself--the theory1 as he says1 of ,benfey49999 ,inspired by ,benfey1 ,m4 ,cosquin says3 ,the method must be to take each type of story successively1 and to follow it1 if we can1 from age to age1 from people to2 people1 and see where this voyage of discovery will lead us4 ,now1 travelling thus from point to point1 often by different routes1 we always arrive at the same centre1 namely1 at ,india1 not the ,india of fabulous times1 but the ,india of actual history4 ,the theory of ,m4 ,cosquin is1 then1 that the popular stories of the world1 or rather the vast majority of them1 were invented in ,india1 and that they were carried from ,india1 during the historical period1 by various routes1 till they were scattered over all the races among whom they are found4 ,this is a venturesome theory1 and is admitted1 apparently1 to have its exceptions4 ,for example1 we possess ancient ,egyptian popular tales corresponding to those of the rest of the world1 but older by far than historical ,india1 from which1 according to ,m4 ,cosquin1 the stories set forth on their travels4999999 99 ,it has already been attempted in our ,custom and ,myth2 ,introduction to ,mrs4 ,hunt's ,grimm2 ,la ,mythologie1 and elsewhere4 9999 ,for ,m4 ,benfey's notions1 see ,bulletin de ,i' ,academie de ,saint ,petersburg1 ,september #d-af1 #ahei1 and ,pantschatantra1 ,leipzig1 #ahei4 999999 ,see ,m4 ,maspero's collection1 ,contes ,populaires de l',egypte ,ancienne1 ,paris1 #ahhb4 ,one of these ,egyptian tales1 ,the ,two ,brothers1 was actually written down on the existing manuscript in the time of ,rameses ,,ii41 some #adjj years before our era1 and many centuries before ,india had any known history4 ,no man can tell1 moreover1 how long it had existed before it was copied out by the scribe ,ennana4 ,now this tale1 according to ,m4 ,cosquin himself1 has points in common with maerchen from ,hesse1 ,hungary1 ,russia1 modern ,greece1 ,france1 ,norway1 ,lithuania1 ,hungary1 ,servia1 ,annam1 modern ,india1 and1 we may add1 with ,samoyed maerchen1 with ,hottentot marchen1 and with maerchen from an aboriginal people of ,india1 the ,santals4 ,we ask no more than this one maerchen of ancient ,egypt to upset the whole theory that ,india was the original home of the contes1 and that from historic ,india they have been carried by oral transmission1 and in literary vehicles1 all over the world4 ,first let us tell the story briefly1 and then examine its incidents each separately1 and set forth the consequences of that examination4 ,according to the story of ,the ,two ,brothers-- ,once upon a time there were two brothers2 ,anapou was the elder1 the younger was called ,bitiou4 ,anapou was married1 and ,bitiou lived with him as his servant4 ,when he drove the cattle to feed1 he heard what they said to each other1 and drove them where they told him the pasture was best4 ,one day his brother's wife saw him carrying a very heavy burden of grain1 and she fell in love with his force1 and said1 ,come and lie with me1 and ,i will make thee goodly raiment4 ,but he answered1 ,art thou not as my mother1 and my brother as a father to me8 ,speak to me thus no more1 and never will ,i tell any man what a word thou hast said4 ,then she cast dust on her head1 and went to her husband1 saying1 ,thy brother would have lain with me2 slay him or ,i die4 ,then the elder brother was like a panther of the south1 and he sharpened his knife1 and lay in wait behind the door4 ,and when the sun set1 ,bitiou came driving his cattle2 but the cow that walked before them all said to him1 ,there stands thine elder brother with his knife drawn to slay thee4 ,then he saw the feet of his brother under the door1 and he fled1 his brother following him2 and he cried to ,ra1 and ,ra heard him1 and between him and his brother made a great water flow full of crocodiles4 ,now in the morning the younger brother told the elder all the truth1 and he mutilated himself1 and cast it into the water1 and the calmar fish devoured it4 ,and he said1 ,i go to the ,valley of ,acacias 7possibly a mystic name for the next world71 and in an acacia tree ,i shall place my heart2 and if men cut the tree1 and my heart falls1 thou shalt seek it for seven years1 and lay it in a vessel of water4 ,then shall ,i live again and requite the evil that hath been done unto me4 ,and the sign that evil hath befallen me shall be when the cup of beer in thy hand is suddenly turbid and troubled4 ,then the elder brother cast dust on his head and besmeared his face1 and went home and slew his wicked wife4 ,now the younger brother dwelt in the ,valley of ,acacias1 and all the gods came by that way1 and they pitied his loneliness1 and ,chnum made for him a wife499 ,and the seven ,hathors came and prophesied1 saying1 ,she shall die an ill death and a violent4 ,and ,bitiou loved her1 and told her the secret of his life1 and that he should die when his heart fell from the acacia tree4 99 ,chnum is the artificer among the gods4 ,now1 a lock of the woman's hair fell into the river1 and it floated to the place where ,pharaoh's washermen were at work4 ,and the sweet lock perfumed all the raiment of ,pharaoh1 and the washermen knew not wherefore1 and they were rebuked4 ,then ,pharaoh's chief washerman went to the water and found the hair of the wife of ,bitiou2 and ,pharaoh's magicians went to him and said1 ,our lord1 thou must marry the woman from whose head this tress of hair hath floated hither4 ,and ,pharaoh hearkened unto them1 and he sent messengers even to the ,valley of ,acacias1 and they came unto the wife of ,bitiou4 ,and she said1 ,first you must slay my husband2 and she showed them the acacia tree1 and they out the flower that held the heart of ,bitiou1 and he died4 ,then it so befel that the brother of ,bitiou held in his hand a cup of beer1 and1 lo6 the beer was troubled4 ,and he said1 ,alas1 my brother6 and he sought his brother's heart1 and he found it in the berry of the acacia4 ,then he laid it in a cup of fresh water1 and ,bitiou drank of it1 and his heart went into his own place1 and lived again4 ,then said ,bitiou1 ,lo6 ,i shall become the bull1 even ,apis 7,hapi72 and they led him to the king1 and all men rejoiced that ,apis was found4 ,but the bull went into the chamber of the king's women1 and he spake to the woman that had been the wife of ,bitiou4 ,and she was afraid1 and said to ,pharaoh1 ,wilt thou swear to give me my heart's desire8 and he swore it with an oath4 ,and she said1 ,slay that bull that ,i may eat his liver4 ,then felt ,pharaoh sick for sorrow1 yet for his oath's sake he let slay the bull4 ,and there fell of his blood two quarts on either side of the son of ,pharaoh1 and thence grew two persea trees1 great and fair1 and offerings were made to the trees1 as they had been gods4 ,then the wife of ,pharaoh went forth in her chariot1 and the tree spake to her1 saying1 ,i am ,bitiou4 ,and she let cut down that tree1 and a chip leaped into her mouth1 and she conceived and bare a son4 ,and that child was ,bitiou2 and when he came to full age and was prince of that land1 he called together the councillors of the king1 and accused the woman1 and they slew her4 ,and he sent for his elder brother1 and made him a prince in the land of ,egypt4 ,we now propose to show1 not only that the incidents of this tale--far more ancient than historic ,india as it is--are common in the maerchen of many countries1 but that they are inextricably entangled and intertwisted with the chief plots of popular tales4 ,there are few of the main cycles of popular tales which do not contain1 as essential parts of their machinery1 one or more of the ideas and situations of this legend4 ,there is thus at least a presumption that these cycles of story may have been in existence in the reign of ,rameses ,,ii41 and for an indefinite period earlier2 while1 if they were not1 and if they are made of borrowed materials1 it may have been from the ,egypt of an unknown antiquity1 not from much later ,indian sources1 that they were adapted4 ,the incidents will now be analysed and compared with those of maerchen in general4 ,to this end let us examine the incidents in the ancient ,egyptian tale of ,the ,two ,brothers4 ,these incidents are3-- 7#a7 ,the spretae injuria formae of the wedded woman1 who1 having offered herself in vain to a man1 her brother-in-law1 accuses him of being her assailant4 ,this incident1 of course1 occurs in ,homer1 in the tale of ,bellerophon1 before we know anything of historic ,india4 ,this1 moreover1 seems one of the notions 7,m4 ,cosquin admits1 with ,benfey1 that there are such notions7 which are universally human1 and might be invented anywhere4 7#b7 ,the ,egyptian ,hippolytus is warned of his danger by his cow1 which speaks with human voice4 ,every one will recognise the ram which warns ,phrixus and ,helle in the ,jason legend499 ,in the ,albanian maerchen19999 a dog1 not a cow nor a ram1 gives warning of the danger4 ,animals1 in short1 often warn of danger by spoken messages1 as the fish does in the ,brahmanic deluge-myth1 and the dog in a deluge-myth from ,north ,america4 99 ,the authority cited by the scholiast 7,apoll4 ,rhod41 ,argon41 i4 #bef7 is ,hecatseus4 ,scholiast on ,iliad1 vii4 #hf1 quotes ,philostephanus4 9999 ,von ,hahn1 i4 #fe4 7#c7 ,the accused brother is pursued by his kinsman1 and about to be slain1 when ,ra1 at his prayer1 casts between him and the avenger a stream full of crocodiles4 ,this incident is at least not very unlike one of the most widely diffused of all incidents of story--the flight in which the runaways cause magical rivers or lakes suddenly to cut off the pursuer4 ,this narrative of the flight and the obstacles is found in ,scotch1 ,gaelic1 ,japanese 7no water obstacle71 ,zulu1 ,russian1 ,samoan1 and in ,the ,red ,horse of the ,delawares1 a story from ,dacotah1 as well as in ,india and elsewhere499 ,the difference is1 that in the ,egyptian conte1 as it has reached us in literary form1 the fugitive appeals to ,ra to help him1 instead of magically making a river by throwing water or a bottle behind him1 as is customary4 ,it may be conjectured that the substitution of divine intervention in response to prayer for magical self-help is the change made by a priestly scribe in the traditional version49999 99 ,see ,folk-,lore ,journal1 ,april1 #ahhf1 review of ,houston's ,popular ,stories1 for examples of the magic used in the flight4 9999 ,maspero1 ,contes1 p4 #ac1 note #a4 7#d7 ,next morning the brothers parley across the stream4 ,the younger first mutilates himself 7,atys7 then says he is going to the vale of the acacia1 according to ,m4 ,maspero probably a name for the other world4 ,meanwhile the younger brother will put his heart in a high acacia tree4 ,if the tree is cut down1 the elder brother must search for the heart1 and place it in a jar of water1 when the younger brother will revive4 ,here we have the idea which recurs in the ,samoyed marchen where the men lay aside their hearts1 in which are their separable lives4 ,as ,mr4 ,ralston says199 ,this heart-breaking episode occurs in the tales of many lands4 ,in the ,russian the story is ,koschchei the deathless1 whose death 7or life7 lies in an egg1 in a duck1 on a log1 in the ice49999 ,as ,mr4 ,ralston well remarks1 a very singular parallel to the revival of the ,egyptian brothers heart in water is the ,hottentot tale of a girl eaten by a lion4 ,her heart is extracted from the lion1 is placed in a calabash of milk1 and the girl comes to life again4999999 7#e7 ,the younger brother gives the elder a sign magical1 whereby he shall know how it fares with the heart4 ,when a cup of beer suddenly grows turbid1 then evil has befallen the heart4 ,this is merely one of the old sympathetic signs of story--the opal that darkens2 the comb of ,lemminkainen in the ,kalewala that drops blood when its owner is in danger2 the stick that the hero erects as he leaves home1 and which will fall when he is imperilled4 ,in ,australia the natives practise this magic with a stick1 round which they bind the hair of the distant person about whose condition they want to be informed499999999 ,this incident1 turning on the belief in sympathies1 might perhaps be regarded as universally human and capable of being invented anywhere4 99 ,russian ,folk-,tales1 #aji4 9999 ,in ,norse1 ,asbjornsen and ,moe1 #cf2 ,dasent1 #i4 ,gaelic1 ,campbell1 i4 #d1 p4 #ha4 ,indian1 ,punchkin1 ,old ,deccan ,days1 pp4 #ac-af4 ,samoyed1 ,castren1 ,ethnol4 ,varies liber die ,altaischen ,volker41 p4 #agd4 999999 ,bleek1 ,reynard the ,fox of ,south ,africa1 p4 #eg4 99999999 ,dawson1 ,australian ,aborigines1 p4 #cf1 #ahha4 ,the stick used is the throwing stick wherewith the spear is hurled17#f7 ,the elder brother goes home and kills his wife4 ,the gods pity the younger ,bitiou in the ,valley of ,acacias1 and make him a wife4 ,m4 ,cosquin has found in ,france the trait of the blood that boils in the glass when the person concerned is in danger4 7#g7 ,the three ,hathors come to her creation1 and prophesy for her a violent death4 ,for this incident compare ,perrault's ,the ,sleeping ,beauty and ,maury's work on ,les ,fees4 ,the spiritual midwives and prophetesses at the hour of birth are familiar in maerchen as ,fairies1 and ,fates1 and ,maerae4 7#h7 ,the river carries a tress of the hair of ,bitiou's wife to the feet of ,pharaoh's washermen2 the scent perfumes all the king's linen4 ,pharaoh falls in love with the woman from whose locks this tress has come4 ,for this incident compare ,cinderella4 ,in ,santal and ,indian maerchen a tress of hair takes the place of the glass-slipper1 and the amorous prince or princess will only marry the person from whose head the lock has come4 ,here ,m4 ,cosquin himself gives ,siamese1 ,mongol1 ,bengali 7,lai ,behar ,day1 p4 #hf71 and other examples of the lock of hair doing duty for the slipper with which the lover is smitten1 and by which he recognises his true love4 7#i7 ,the wife of ,bitiou reveals the secret of his heart4 ,the people of ,pharaoh cut down the acacia tree4 7#aj7 ,his brother reads in the turbid beer the death of ,bitiou4 ,he discovers the heart and life in a berry of the acacia4 ,it is superfluous to give modern parallels to the various transformations of the life of ,bitiou4 ,he becomes an ,apis bull1 and his faithless wife desires his death1 and wishes to eat his liver1 but his life goes on in other forms4 ,this is merely the familiar situation of the ass in ,peau d',ane 7the ass who clearly1 before ,perrault's time1 had been human74 ,demandez lui la peau de ce rare animal6 ,in most traditional versions of ,cinderella will be found examples of the beast1 once human1 slain by an enemy1 yet potent after death4 ,this beast takes the part given by ,perrault to the fairy godmother4 ,the idea is also familiar in ,grimm's ,machandelboom 7#dg71 and was found by ,casalis among the ,bechuanas4 7#aa7 ,the wicked wife obtains the bull ,apis's death by virtue of a hasty oath of ,pharaoh's 7,jephtha1 ,herodias74 7#ab7 ,the blood of the bull grows into two persea trees4 ,here ,m4 ,cosquin himself supplies parallels of blood turning into trees from ,hesse 7,wolf1 p4 #cid7 and from ,russian4 ,we may add the ancient ,lydian myth4 ,when the gods slew ,agdistis1 a drop of his blood became an almond tree1 the fruit of which made women pregnant499 99 ,pausanias1 vii4 #ag4 7#ac7 ,the persea tree is also cut down by the wicked wife of ,bitiou4 ,a chip from its boughs is swallowed by the wicked wife1 who conceives1 like ,margata in the ,kalewala1 and bears a son4 ,the story of ,agdistis1 just quoted1 is in point1 but the topic is of enormous range1 and the curious may consult ,le ,fils de ,vierge by ,m4 ,h4 ,de ,charencey4 ,compare also ,surya ,bay in ,old ,deccan ,days 7#f74 ,the final resurrection of ,surya ,bay is exactly like that in the ,hottentot tale already quoted4 ,surya is drowned by a jealous rival1 becomes a golden flower1 is burned1 becomes a mango2 one of the fruits falls into a calabash of milk1 and out of the calabash1 like the ,hottentot girl1 comes ,surya6 7#ad7 ,the son of the persea tree was ,bitiou1 born of his own faithless wife2 and when he grew up he had her put to death4 ,even a hasty examination of these incidents from old ,egypt proves that before ,india was heard of in history the people of the ,pharaohs possessed a large store of incidents perfectly familiar in modern marchen4 ,now1 if one single ,egyptian tale yields this rich supply1 it is an obvious presumption that the collection of an ,egyptian ,grimm might1 and probably would1 have furnished us with the majority of the situations common in popular tales4 ,m4 ,cosquin himself remarks that these ideas cannot be invented more than once 7,i4 lxvii474 ,the other ,egyptian contes1 as that of ,le ,prince ,predestine 7twentieth dynasty71 and the noted ,master ,thief of ,herodotus 7ii4 #aba71 are merely familiar marchen of the common type1 and have numerous well-known analogues4 ,from all these facts ,m4 ,cosquin draws no certain conclusions4 ,he asks3 ,did ,egypt borrow these tales from ,india1 or ,india from ,egypt8 ,and were there ,aryans in ,india in the time of ,rameses ,,ii48 ,these questions are beyond conjecture4 ,we know nothing of ,egyptian relations with prehistoric ,india4 ,we know not how many aeons the tale of ,the ,two ,brothers may have existed in ,egypt before ,ennana1 the head librarian1 wrote it out for ,pharaoh's treasurer1 ,qagabou4 ,what we do know is1 that if we find a large share of the whole stock of incident of popular tale fully developed in one single story long before ,india was historic1 it is perfectly vain to argue that all stories were imported from historic ,india4 ,it is impossible to maintain that the single centre whence the stories spread was not the ,india of fable1 but the ,india of history1 when we discover such abundance of story material in ,egypt before1 as far as is known1 ,india had even become the ,india of fable4 ,the topic is altogether too obscure for satisfactory argument4 ,certainly the maerchen were at home in ,egypt before we have even reason to believe that ,egypt and ,india were conscious of each other's existence4 ,the antiquity of maerchen by the ,nile-side touches geological time1 if we agree with ,m4 ,maspero that ,bitiou is a form of ,osiris1 that is1 that the ,osiris myth may have been developed out of the ,bitiou maerchen499 99 ,maspero1 op4 cit41 p4 #ag1 note #a4 ,the ,osiris myth is as old as the ,egypt we know1 and the story of ,bitiou may be either the detritus or the germ of the myth4 ,this gives it a dateless antiquity2 and with this maerchen the kindred and allied maerchen establish a claim to enormous age4 ,but it is quite impossible to say when these tales were first invented4 ,we cannot argue that the cradle of a story is the place where it first received literary form4 ,we know not whence the ,egyptians came to ,nile-side2 we know not whether they brought the story with them1 or found it among some nameless earlier people1 fugitives from ,kor1 perhaps1 or anywhere else4 ,we know not whether the remote ancestors of modern peoples1 ,african1 or ,european1 or ,asiatic1 who now possess forms of the tale1 borrowed it from a people more ancient than ,egypt1 or from ,egypt herself4 ,these questions are at present insoluble4 ,we only know for certain that1 when we find anywhere any one of the numerous incidents of the story of ,the ,two ,brothers1 we can be certain that their original home was not historic ,india4 ,there is also the presumption that1 if we knew more of the tales of ancient ,egypt1 we could as definitely refuse to regard historic ,india as the cradle of many other maerchen4 ,thus1 in opposition to the hypothesis of borrowing from ,india1 we reach some distinct and assured1 though negative1 truths4 #a4 ,so far as the ideas in ,the ,two ,brothers are representative of maerchen 7and these ideas are inextricably interwoven with some of the most typical legends71 historic ,india is certainly and demonstrably not the cradle of popular tales4 ,these are found far earlier already in the written literature of ,egypt4 #b4 ,as far as these ideas are representative of maerchen1 there is absolutely no evidence to show that maerchen sprang from ,india1 whether historical or prehistoric2 nor is any connection proved between ancient ,egypt and prehistoric ,india4 #c4 ,as far as maerchen are represented by the ideas in ,the ,two ,brothers and the ,predestined ,prince1 there is absolutely no evidence to show in what region or where they were originally invented4 ,the ,bellerophon story rests on a donnee in ,the ,two ,brothers2 the ,flight rests on another2 ,cinderella reposes on a third2 the giant with no heart in his body depends on a fourth2 the ,milk-,white ,dove on the same2 and these incidents occur in ,hottentot1 ,bechuana1 ,samoyed1 ,samoan1 as well as in ,greek1 ,scotch1 ,german1 ,gaelia ,now1 as all these incidents existed in ,egyptian marchen fourteen hundred years before ,christ1 they may have been dispersed without ,indian intervention4 ,one of the white raiders from the ,northern ,sea may have been made captive1 like the pseud-,odysseus1 in ,egypt2 may have heard the tales2 may have been ransomed1 and carried the story to ,greece or ,libya1 whence a ,greek got it4 ,southwards it may have passed up the ,nile to the ,great ,lakes1 and down the ,congo and ,zambesi1 and southward ever with the hordes of ,t',chaka's ancestors4 ,all these processes are possible and even probable1 but absolutely nothing is known for certain on the subject4 ,it is only as manifest as facts can be that all this might have occurred if the ,indian peninsula did not exist4 ,another objection to the hypothesis of distribution from historic ,india is the existence of sagas or epic legends corresponding to marchen in pre-,homeric ,greece4 ,the story of ,jason1 for example1 is in its essential features1 perhaps1 the most widely diffused of all499 ,the story of the return of the husband1 and of his difficult recognition by his wife1 the central idea of the ,odyssey1 is of wide distribution1 and the ,odyssey 7as ,fenelon makes the ghost of ,achilles tell ,homer in ,hades7 is un amas de contes de vieilles4 ,the ,cyclops1 the ,siren1 ,scylla1 and the rest19999 these tales did not reach ,greece from historic ,india at least1 and we have no reason for supposing that ,india before the dawn of history was their source4 99 ,custom and ,myth1 ,a ,far-,travelled ,tale 4 9999 ,gerland1 ,alt ,griechische ,marchen in der ,odyssee4 ,the reasons for which ,india has been regarded as a great centre and fountain-head of popular stories are1 on the other hand1 excellent1 if the theory is sufficiently limited4 ,the cause is vera causa4 ,marchen certainly did set out from mediaeval ,india1 and reached mediaeval ,europe and ,asia in abundance4 ,not to speak of oral communications in the great movements1 missions and migrations1 ,tartar1 crusading1 ,gypsy1 commercial and ,buddhistic--in all of which there must have been swopping of stories--it is certain that ,western literature was actually invaded by the contes which had won away into the literature of ,india499 ,these are facts beyond doubt1 but these facts must not be made the basis of too wide an inference4 ,though so many stories have demonstrably been borrowed from ,india in the historical period1 it is no less certain that many existed in ,europe before their introduction4 ,again1 as has been ably argued by a writer in the ,athenaeum 7,april #bc1 #ahhg71 the literary versions of the tales probably had but a limited influence on the popular narrators1 the village gossips and grandmothers4 ,thus no collection of published tales has ever been more popular than that of ,charles ,perrault1 which for many years has been published not only in cheap books1 but in cheaper broadsheets4 99 ,cosquin1 op4 cit41 i4 xv41 xxiv42 ,max ,mueller1 ,the ,migrations of ,fables1 ,selected ,essays1 vol4 ii41 ,appendix2 ,benfey1 ,pantschatantra2 ,comparetti1 ,introduction to ,book of ,sindibad1 ,english translation of the ,folk-,lore ,society4 ,yet ,m4 ,sebillot and other ,french collectors gather from the lips of peasants versions of ,cinderella1 for example1 quite unaffected by ,perrault's version1 and rich in archaic features1 such as the presence of a miracle-working beast instead of a fairy godmother4 ,that detail is found in ,kaffir1 and ,santhal1 and ,finnish1 as well as in ,celtic1 and ,portuguese1 and ,scottish variants1 and has been preserved in popular ,french traditions1 despite the influence of ,perrault4 ,in the same way1 ,m4 ,carnoy finds only the faintest traces of the influence of a collection so popular as the ,arabian ,nights4 ,the peasantry regard tales which they read in books as quite apart from their inherited store of legend499 99 ,sebillot's popular ,cendrillon is ,le ,taureau ,bleu in ,contes de la ,haute ,bretagne4 ,see also ,m4 ,carnoy's ,contes ,francais1 #ahhe1 p4 #i4 ,if printed literature has still so little power over popular tradition1 the manuscript literature of the ,middle ,ages must have had much less1 though sometimes contes from ,india were used as parables by preachers4 ,thus we must beware of over-estimating the effect of importation from ,india1 even where it distinctly existed4 ,even the versions that were brought in the ,middle ,ages by oral tradition must have encountered versions long settled in ,europe--versions which may have been current before any scribe of ,egypt perpetuated a legend on papyrus4 ,once more1 the ,indian theory has to account for the presence of tales in ,africa and ,america among populations which are not known to have had any contact with ,india at all4 ,where such examples are urged1 it is usual to say that the stories either do not really resemble our maerchen1 or are quite recent importations by ,europeans1 ,dutch1 ,french1 ,english and others499 ,here we are on ground where proof is difficult1 if not impossible4 ,assuredly ,french influence declares itself in certain narratives collected from the native tribes of ,north ,america4 ,on the other hand1 when the maerchen is interwoven with the national traditions and poetry of a remote people1 and with the myths by which they account to themselves for the natural features of their own country1 the hypothesis of recent borrowing from ,europeans appears insufficient4 ,a striking example is the song of ,siati 7a form of the ,jason myth7 among the people of ,samoa49999 ,even more remarkable is the presence of a crowd of familiar maerchen in the national traditions of the ,huarochiri1 a pre-,inca civilised race of ,southern ,peru4 ,these were published1 or at least collected and written down1 by ,francisco de ,avila1 a ,spanish priest1 about #afjh4 ,he remarks that these traditions are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of this province4999999 ,these traditions refer to certain prehistoric works of engineering or accidents of soil1 whereby the country was drained4 ,the ,huarochiri explained them by a series of maerchen about ,huthiacuri1 ,pariaca 7culture-heroes71 and about friendly animals which aided them in the familiar way4 ,in the same manner exactly the people of the ,marais of ,poitou have to account for the drainage of the country1 a work of the twelfth century4 99 ,cosquin1 op4 cit1 #a1 xix4 9999 ,turner's ,samoa1 p4 #ajb4 999999 ,rites of the ,incas4 ,hakluyt ,society4 ,the third document in the book4 ,the maerchen have been examined by me in ,the ,marriage of ,cupid and ,psyche1 p4 lxxii4 ,they attribute the old works to the local hero1 ,gargantua1 who drank up all the water499 ,no one supposes that this legend is borrowed from ,rabelais1 and it seems even more improbable that the ,huarochiri hastily borrowed maerchen from the ,spaniards1 and converted them before #afjj into national myths4 99 ,revue des ,traditions ,populaires1 ,april #be1ahhg1 p4 #ahf4 ,we have few opportunities of finding examples of remote ,american maerchen recorded so early as this1 and generally the hypothesis of recent borrowing from ,europeans1 or from ,negroes influenced by ,europeans1 is at least possible1 and it would be hard to prove a negative4 ,but the case of the ,huarochiri throws doubt on the hypothesis of recent borrowing as the invariable cause of the diffusion of maerchen in places beyond the reach of historic ,india4 ,the only way 7outside of direct evidence7 to prove borrowing would be to show that ideas and customs peculiarly ,indian 7for example7 occur in the maerchen of people destitute of these ideas4 ,but it would be hard to ask believers in the ,indian theory to exhibit such survivals4 ,in the first place1 if contes have been borrowed1 it seems that a new local colour was given to them almost at the moment of transference4 ,the ,zulu and ,kaffir maerchen are steeped in ,zulu and ,kaffir colour1 and the life they describe is rich in examples of rather peculiar native rites and ceremonies1 seldom if ever essential to the conduct of the tale4 ,thus1 if stories are adapted 7like ,french plays7 in the moment of borrowing1 it will be cruel to ask supporters of the ,indian theory for traces of ,indian traits and ideas in ,european maerchen4 ,again1 apart from special yet non-essential matters of etiquette 7such as the ceremonies with which certain kinsfolk are treated1 or the initiation of girls at the marriageable age71 the ideas and customs found in marchen are practically universal ,as has been shown1 the super-natural stuff--metamorphosis1 equality of man1 beasts and things1 magic and the like--is universal4 ,thus little remains that could be fixed on as especially the custom or idea of any one given people4 ,for instance1 in certain variants of ,puss in ,boots1 ,swahili1 ,avar1 ,neapolitan1 the beast-hero makes it a great point that1 when he dies1 he is to be honourably buried4 ,now what peoples give beasts honourable burial8 ,we know the cases of ancient ,egyptians1 ,samoans1 ,arabs and ,athenians 7in the case1 at least1 of the wolf71 and probably there are many more4 ,thus even so peculiar an idea or incident as this cannot be proved to belong to a definite region1 or to come from any one original centre499 99 ,see ,deulin1 ,gontes de ma ,mire l',oye1 and ,reinhold ,kohler in ,gonzenbach's ,siclianische ,marchen1 ,no4 #fe4 ,by the very nature of the case1 therefore1 it is difficult for ,m4 ,cosquin and other supporters of the ,indian theory to prove the existence of ,indian ideas in ,european marchen4 ,nor do they establish this point4 ,they urge that charity to beasts and the gratitude of beasts1 as contrasted with human lack of gratitude1 are ,indian1 and perhaps ,buddhist ideas4 ,thus the ,buddha gave his own living body to a famished tigress4 ,but so1 according to ,garcilasso1 were the subjects of the ,incas wont to do1 and they were not ,buddhists4 ,the beasts in marchen1 again1 are just as often1 or even more frequently1 helpful to men without any motive of gratitude2 nor would it be fair to argue that the notion of gratitude has dropped out1 because we find friendly beasts all the world over1 totems and manitous1 who have never been benefited by man4 ,the favours are all on the side of the totems4 ,it is needless to adduce again the evidence on this topic4 ,m4 ,cosquin adds that the belief in the equality and interchangeability of attributes and aspect between man and beast is une idee bien indienne1 and derived from the doctrine of metempsychosis1 qui efface la distinction entre l'homme et l'animal1 et qui en tout vivant voit un frere4 ,but it has been demonstrated that this belief in the equality and kinship not only of all animate1 but all inanimate nature1 is the very basis of ,australian1 ,zuni and all other philosophies of the backward races4 ,no idea can be less peculiar to ,india2 it is universal4 ,once more1 the belief that shape-shifting 7metamorphosis7 can be achieved by skin-shifting1 by donning or doffing the hide of a beast1 is no more peculiarly ,indian than the other conceptions4 ,benfey1 to be sure1 laid stress on this point299 but it is easy to produce examples of skin-shifting and consequent metamorphosis from ,roman1 ,north ,american1 ,old ,scandinavian1 ,thlinkeet1 ,slav and ,vogul ritual and myths49999 ,there remains only a trace of polygamy in ,european marchen to speak of specially ,indian influence4999999 ,but polygamy is not peculiar to ,india1 nor is monogamy a recent institution in ,europe4 99 ,pantschatantra1 ,i #bfe4 9999 ,marriage of ,cupid and ,psyche1 pp4 lx41 lxiv41 where examples and authorities are given4 999999 ,cosquin1 op4 cit1 i41 xxx4 ,thus each peculiarly ,indian idea supposed to be found in marchen proves to be practically universal4 ,so the whole ,indian hypothesis is attacked on every side4 ,contes are far older than historic ,india4 ,nothing raises even a presumption that they first arose in prehistoric ,india4 ,they are found in places where they could hardly have travelled from historic ,india4 ,their ideas are not peculiarly ,indian1 and though many reached ,europe and ,asia in literary form derived from ,india during the ,middle ,ages1 and were even used as parables in sermons1 yet the majority of ,european folk-tales have few traces of ,indian influence4 ,some examples of this influence1 as when the frame-work of an ,oriental collection has acquired popular circulation1 will be found in ,professor ,crane's interesting book1 ,italian ,popular ,tales1 pp4 #afh1 #cei4 ,but to admit this is very different from asserting that ,german ,hausmarchen are all derived from ,indian and ,arabian originals1 with necessary changes of costume and manners1 which is1 apparently1 the opinion of some students4 ,what remains to do is to confess ignorance of the original centre of the maerchen1 and inability to decide dogmatically which stories must have been invented only once for all1 and which may have come together by the mere blending of the universal elements of imagination4 ,it is only certain that no limit can be put to a story's power of flight per ora virum4 ,it may wander wherever merchants wander1 wherever captives are dragged1 wherever slaves are sold1 wherever the custom of exogamy commands the choice of alien wives4 ,thus the story flits through the who let race and over the whole world4 ,wherever human communication is or has been possible1 there the story may go1 and the space of time during which the courses of the sea and the paths of the land have been open to story is dateless and unknown4 ,here the story may dwindle to a fireside tale2 there it may become an epic in the mouth of ,homer or a novel in the hands of ,madame ,d',aulnoy or ,miss ,thackeray4 ,the savage makes the characters beasts or birds2 the epic poet or saga-man made them heroic kings1 or lovely1 baleful sorceresses1 daughters of the ,sun2 the ,french ,countess makes them princesses and countesses4 ,like its own heroes1 the popular story can assume every shape2 like some of them1 it has drunk the waters of immortality499 99 ,a curious essay by ,mr4 ,h4 ,e4 ,warner1 on ,the ,magical ,flight1 urges that there is no plot1 but only a fortuitous congeries of story-atoms 7,scribner's ,magazine1 ,june1 #ahhg74 ,there is a good deal to be said1 in this case1 for ,mr4 ,warner's conclusions4 ,,appendix ,a4 ,fontenelle's forgotten common sense ,in the opinion of ,aristotle1 most discoveries and inventions have been made time after time and forgotten again4 ,aristotle may not have been quite correct in this view2 and his remarks1 perhaps1 chiefly applied to politics1 in which every conceivable and inconceivable experiment has doubtless been attempted4 ,in a field of less general interest--namely1 the explanation of the absurdities of mythology--the true cause was discovered more than a hundred years ago by a man of great reputation1 and then was quietly forgotten4 ,why did the ancient peoples--above all1 the ,greeks--tell such extremely gross and irrational stories about their ,gods and heroes8 ,that is the riddle of the mythological ,sphinx4 ,it was answered briefly1 wittily and correctly by ,fontenelle2 and the answer was neglected1 and half a dozen learned but impossible theories have since come in and out of fashion4 ,only within the last ten years has ,fontenelle's idea been1 not resuscitated1 but rediscovered4 ,the followers of ,mr4 ,e4 ,b4 ,taylor1 ,mannhardt1 ,gaidoz1 and the rest1 do not seem to be aware that they are only repeating the notions of the nephew of ,corneille4 ,the ,academician's theory is stated in a short essay1 ,de l',origine des ,fables 7,o,euvres3 ,paris1 #ageh1 vol4 iii4 p4#bgj74 ,we have been so accustomed from childhood1 he says1 to the absurdities of ,greek myth1 that we have ceased to be aware that they are absurd4 ,why are the legends of men and beasts and ,gods so incredible and revolting8 ,why have we ceased to tell such tales8 ,the answer is1 that early men were in a state of almost inconceivable savagery and ignorance1 and that the ,greek myths are inherited from people in that condition4 ,look at the ,kaffirs and ,iroquois1 says ,fontenelle1 if you wish to know what early men were like2 and remember that even the ,iroquois and ,kaffirs are people with a long past1 with knowledge and culture 7politesse7 which the first men did not enjoy4 ,now the more ignorant a man is1 the more prodigies he supposes himself to behold4 ,thus the first narratives of the earliest men were full of monstrous things1 parce qu'ils etoient faits par des gens sujets a voir bien des choses qui n'etaient pas4 ,this condition answers1 in ,mr4 ,tylor's system1 to the confusion the savage makes between dreams and facts1 and to the hallucinations which beset him when he does not get his regular meals4 ,here1 then1 we have a groundwork of irresponsible fancy4 ,the next step is this3 even the rudest men are curious1 and ask the reason why of phenomena4 ,,ii y a eu de la philosophie meme dans ces siecles grossiers2 and this rude philosophy greatly contributed to the origin of myths 4 ,men looked for causes of things4 ',whence comes this river8' asked the reflective man of those ages--a queer philosopher1 yet one who might have been a ,descartes did he live to-day4 ,after long meditation1 he concluded that some one had always to keep filling the source whence the stream springs4 ,and whence came the water8 ,our philosopher did not consider so curiously4 ,he had evolved the myth of a water-nymph or naiad1 and there he stopped4 ,the characteristic of these mythical explanations--as of all philosophies1 past1 present and to come--was that they were limited by human experience4 ,early man's experience showed him that effects were produced by conscious1 sentient1 personal causes like himself4 ,he sprang to the conclusion that all hidden causes were also persons4 ,these persons are the dramatis personae of myth4 ,it was a person who caused thunder1 with a hammer or a mace2 or it was a bird whose wings produced the din4 ,from this rough philosophy which prevailed in the early ages were born the gods and goddesses--deities made not only in the likeness of man1 but of savage man as he1 in his ignorance and superstition1 conceived himself to be4 ,fontenelle might have added that those fancied personal causes who became gods were also fashioned in the likeness of the beasts1 whom early man regarded as his equals or superiors4 ,but he neglects this point4 ,he correctly remarks that the gods of myth appear immoral to us because they were devised by men whose morality was all unlike ours--who prized justice less than power1 especially 7he might have added7 magical power4 ,as morality ripened into self-consciousness1 the gods improved with the improvement of men2 and the gods known to ,cicero are much better than those known to ,homer1 because better philosophers have had a hand at their making4 ,moreover1 in the earliest speculations an imaginative and hair-brained philosophy explained all that seemed extraordinary in nature2 while the sphere of philosophy was filled by fanciful narratives about facts4 ,the constellations called the ,bears were accounted for as metamorphosed men and women4 ,indeed1 all the metamorphoses are the physical philosophy of these early times1 which accounted for every fact by what we now calletiological nature-myths4 ,even the peculiarities of birds and beasts were thus explained4 ,the partridge flies low because ,daedalus 7who had seen his son ,icarus perish through a lofty flight7 was changed into a partridge4 ,this habit of mind1 which finds a story for the solution of every problem1 survives1 ,fontenelle remarks1 in what we now call folk-lore--popular tradition4 ,thus1 the elder tree is said to have borne as good berries as the vine does till ,judas ,iscariot hanged himself from its branches4 ,this story must be later than ,christianity2 but it is precisely identical in character with those ancient metamorphoses which ,ovid collected4 ,the kind of fancy that produced these and other prodigious myths is not peculiar1 ,fontenelle maintains1 to ,eastern peoples4 ,it is common to all men1 at a certain mental stage--in the tropics or in the regions of eternal ice4 ,thus the world-wide similarities of myths are1 on the whole1 the consequence of a worldwide uniformity of intellectual development4 ,fontenelle hints at his proof of this theory4 ,he compares the myths of ,america with those of ,greece1 and shows that distance in space and difference of race do not hinder ,peruvians and ,athenians from being in the same tale4 ,for the ,greeks1 with all their intelligence1 did not1 in their beginnings1 think more rationally than the savages of ,america1 who were also1 apparently1 a rather primitive people 7assez nouveau74 ,he concludes that the ,americans might have become as sensible as the ,greeks if they had been allowed the leisure4 ,with an exception in the ,israelites1 ,fontenelle decides that all nations made the astounding part of their myths while they were savages1 and retained them from custom and religious conservatism4 ,but myths were also borrowed and interchanged between ,phoenicia1 ,egypt and ,greece4 ,further1 ,greek misunderstandings of the meanings of ,phoenician and other foreign words gave rise to myths4 ,finally1 myths were supposed to contain treasures of antique mysterious wisdom2 and mythology was explained by systems which themselves are only myths1 stories told by the learned to themselves and to the public4 ,it is not science to fill one's head with the follies of ,phoenicians and ,greeks1 but it is science to understand what led ,greeks and ,phoenicians to imagine these follies4 ,a better and briefer system of mythology could not be devised2 but the ,mr4 ,casaubons of this world have neglected it1 and even now it is beyond their comprehension4 ,,appendix ,b4 ,reply to ,objections ,in a work which perhaps inevitably contains much controversial matter1 it has seemed best to consign to an ,appendix the answers to objections against the method advocated4 ,by this means the attention is less directed from the matter in hand1 the exposition of the method itself4 ,we have announced our belief that a certain element in mythology is derived from the mental condition of savages4 ,to this it is replied1 with perfect truth1 that there are savages and savages2 that a vast number of shades of culture and of nascent or retrograding civilisation exist among the races to whom the term savage is commonly applied4 ,this is not only true1 but its truth is part of the very gist of our theory4 ,it is our contention that myth is sensibly affected by the varieties of culture which prevail among so-called savage tribes1 as they approach to or decline from the higher state of barbarism4 ,the anthropologist is1 or ought to be1 the last man to lump all savages together1 as if they were all on the same level of culture4 ,when we speak of the savage mental condition1 we mean the mental condition of all uncultivated races who still fail to draw any marked line between man and the animate or inanimate things in the world1 and who explain physical phenomena on a vague theory1 more or less consciously held1 that all nature is animated and endowed with human attributes4 ,this state of mind is nowhere absolutely extinct2 it prevails1 to a limited extent1 among untutored ,european peasantry1 and among the children of the educated classes4 ,but this intellectual condition is most marked and most powerful among the races which ascend from the condition of the ,australian ,murri and the ,bushmen1 up to the comparatively advanced ,maoris of ,new ,zealand and ,algonkins or ,zunis of ,north ,america4 ,these are the sorts of people who1 for our present purpose1 must be succinctly described as still in the savage condition of the imagination4 ,again1 it is constantly objected to our method that we have no knowledge of the past of races at present in the savage status4 ,the savage are as old as the civilised races1 and can as little be named primitive1 writes ,dr4 ,fairbairn499 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller complains with justice of authors who speak of the savage of to-day as if he had only just been sent into the world1 forgetting that1 as a living species1 he is probably not a day younger than ourselves49999 ,but ,mr4 ,max ,mueller has himself admitted all we want1 namely1 that savages or nomads represent an earlier stage of culture than even the ancient ,sanskrit-speaking ,aryans1 ,this follows from the learned writer's assertion that savage tongues1 ,kaffir and so forth1 are still in the childhood which ,hebrew and the most ancient ,sanskrit had long left behind them4999999 ,we see in them 7savage languages7 what we can no longer expect to see even in the most ancient ,sanskrit or ,hebrew4 ,we watch the childhood of language with all its childish pranks4 ,these pranks are the result of the very habits of savage thought which we regard as earlier than the most ancient ,sanskrit4 99 ,academy1 #bjth ,july1 #ahgh4 a 9999 ,hibb4 ,lect41 p4 #ff4 999999 ,lectures on ,science of ,language1 #bnd series1 p4 #da4 ,thus ,mr4 ,max ,mueller has admitted all that we need--admitted that savage language 7and therefore1 in his view1 savage thought7 is of an earlier stratum than1 for example1 the language of the ,vedas4 ,no more valuable concession could be made by a learned opponent4 ,objections of an opposite character1 however1 are pushed1 along with the statement that we have no knowledge of the past of savages4 ,savages were not always what they are now2 they may have degenerated from a higher condition2 their present myths may be the corruption of something purer and better2 above all1 savages are not primitive4 ,all this contention1 whatever its weight1 does not affect the thesis of the present argument4 ,it is quite true that we know nothing directly of the condition1 let us say1 of the ,australian tribes a thousand years ago except that it has left absolutely no material traces of higher culture4 ,but neither do we know anything directly about the condition of the ,indo-,european peoples five hundred years before ,philology fancies that she gets her earliest glimpse of them4 ,we must take people as we find them1 and must not place too much trust in our attempts to reconstruct their dark backward4 ,as to the past of savages1 it is admitted by most anthropologists that certain tribes have probably seen better days4 ,the ,fuegians and the ,bushmen and the ,digger ,indians were probably driven by stronger races out of seats comparatively happy and habits comparatively settled into their present homes and their present makeshift wretchedness499 99 ,the ,fuegiaus are not 7morally and socially7 so black as they have occasionally been painted4 ,but it is probable that they have seen better days4 ,if the possession of a language with1 apparently1 a very superfluous number of words is a proof of high civilisation in the past1 then the ,fuegians are degraded indeed4 ,but the finding of one piece of native pottery in an ,australian burial-mound would prove more than a wilderness of irregular verbs4 ,but while degeneration is admitted as an element in history1 there seems no tangible reason for believing that the highest state which ,bushmen1 ,fuegians1 or ,diggers ever attained1 and from which they can be thought to have fallen1 was higher than a rather more comfortable savagery4 ,there are ups and downs in savage as in civilised life1 and perhaps crowned races may degrade1 but we have no evidence to show that the ancestors of the ,diggers or the ,fuegians were a crowned race4 ,their descent has not been comparatively a very deep one2 their presumed former height was not very high4 ,as ,mr4 ,tylor observes1 ,so far as history is to be our criterion1 progression is primary and degradation secondary2 culture must be gained before it can be lost4 ,one thing about the past of savages we do know3 it must have been a long past1 and there must have been a period in it when the savage had even less of what ,aristotle calls 7------7 even less of the equipment and provision necessary for a noble life than he possesses at present4 ,his past must have been long1 because great length of time is required for the evolution of his exceedingly complex customs1 such as his marriage laws and his minute etiquette4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer has deduced from the multiplicity1 elaborateness and wide diffusion of ,australian marriage laws the inference that the ,australians were once more civilised than they are now1 and had once a kind of central government and police4 ,but to reason thus is to fail back on the old ,greek theory which for every traditional custom imagined an early legislative hero1 with a genius for devising laws1 and with power to secure their being obeyed4 ,the more generally accepted view of modern science is that law and custom are things slowly evolved under stress of human circumstances4 ,it is certain that the usual process is from the extreme complexity of savage to the clear simplicity of civilised rules of forbidden degrees4 ,wherever we see an advancing civilisation1 we see that it does not put on new1 complex and incomprehensible regulations1 but that it rather sloughs off the old1 complex and incomprehensible regulations bequeathed to it by savagery4 ,this process is especially manifest in the laws of forbidden degrees in marriage--laws whose complexity among the ,australians or ,north ,american ,indians might puzzle a mathematician1 and whose simplicity in a civilised country seems transparent even to a child4 ,but while the elaborateness and stringency of savage customary law point to a more1 and not a less barbarous past1 they also indicate a past of untold duration4 ,somewhere in that past also it is evident that the savage must have been even worse off materially than he is at present4 ,even now he can light a fire2 he has a bow1 or a boomerang1 or a blowpipe1 and has attained very considerable skill in using his own rough tools of flint and his weapons tipped with quartz4 ,now man was certainly not born in the possession of fire2 he did not come into the world with a bow or a boomerang in his hand1 nor with an instinct which taught him to barb his fishing-hooks4 ,these implements he had to learn to make and use1 and till he had learned to use them and make them his condition must necessarily have been more destitute of material equipment than that of any races known to us historically4 ,thus all that can be inferred about the past of savages is that it was of vast duration1 and that at one period man was more materially destitute1 and so far more struggling and forlorn1 than the ,murri of ,australia were when first discovered by ,europeans4 ,even then certain races may have had intellectual powers and potentialities beyond those of other races4 ,perhaps the first fathers of the white peoples of the ,north started with better brains and bodies than the first fathers of the ,veddahs of ,ceylon2 but they all started naked1 tool-less1 fire-less4 ,the only way of avoiding these conclusions is to hold-that men1 or some favoured races of man1 were created with civilised instincts and habits of thought1 and were miraculously provided with the first necessaries of life1 or were miraculously instructed to produce them without passing through slow stages of experiment1 invention and modification4 ,but we might as well assume1 with some early ,biblical commentators1 that the naked ,adam in ,paradise was miraculously clothed in a vesture of refulgent light4 ,against such beliefs we have only to say that they are without direct historical confirmation of any kind4 ,but if1 for the sake of argument1 we admit the belief that primitive man was miraculously endowed1 and was placed at once in a stage of simple and happy civilisation1 our thesis still remains unaffected4 ,dr4 ,fairbairn's saying has been quoted1 ,the savage are as old as the civilised races1 and can as little be called primitive4 ,but we do not wish to call savages primitive4 ,we have already said that savages have a far-stretching unknown history behind them1 and that 7except on the supposition of miraculous enlightenment followed by degradation7 their past must have been engaged in slowly evolving their rude arts1 their strange beliefs and their elaborate customs4 ,undeniably there is nothing primitive in a man who can use a boomerang1 and who must assign each separate joint of the kangaroo he kills to a separate member of his family circle1 while to some of those members he is forbidden by law to speak4 ,men were not born into the world with all these notions4 ,the lowest savage has sought out or inherited many inventions1 and cannot be called primitive4 ,but it never was part of our argument that savages are primitive4 ,our argument does not find it necessary to claim savagery as the state from which all men set forth4 ,about what was primitive1 as we have no historical information on the topic1 we express no opinion at all4 ,man may1 if any one likes to think so1 have appeared on earth in a state of perfection1 and may have degenerated from that condition4 ,some such opinion1 that purity and reasonableness are nearer the beginning than absurdity and unreasonableness1 appears to be held by ,mr4 ,max ,mueller1 who remarks1 ,i simply say that in the ,veda we have a nearer approach to a beginning1 and an intelligible beginning1 than in the wild invocations of ,hottentots or ,bushmen499 99 ,lectures on ,india4 ,would ,mr4 ,mueller add1 ,i simply say that in the arts and political society of the ,vedic age we have a nearer approach to a beginning than in the arts and society of ,hottentots and ,bushmen8 ,is the use of chariots1 horses1 ships--are kings1 walled cities1 agriculture1 the art of weaving1 and so forth1 all familiar to the ,vedic poets1 nearer the beginning of man's civilisation than the life of the naked or skin-clad hunter who has not yet learned to work the metals1 who acknowledges no king1 and has no certain abiding-place8 ,if not1 why is the religion of the civilised man nearer the beginning than that of the man who is not civilised8 ,we have already seen that1 in ,mr4 ,max ,muller's opinion1 his language is much farther from the beginning4 ,whatever the primitive condition of man may have been1 it is certain that savagery was a stage through which he and his institutions have passed1 or from which he has copiously borrowed4 ,he may have degenerated from perfection1 or from a humble kind of harmless simplicity1 into savagery4 ,he may have risen into savagery from a purely animal condition4 ,but however this may have been1 modern savages are at present in the savage condition1 and the ancestors of the civilised races passed through or borrowed from a similar savage condition4 ,as ,mr4 ,tylor says1 ,it is not necessary to inquire how the savage state first came to be upon the earth4 ,it is enough that1 by some means or other1 it has actually come into existence499 ,it is a stage through which all societies have passed1 or 7if that be contested7 a condition of things from which all societies have borrowed4 ,this view of the case has been well put by ,m4 ,darmesteter49999 99 ,prim4 ,cult41 i #cg4 9999 ,revue ,critique1 ,january1 #ahhd4 ,he is speaking of the history of religion4 ,if savages do not represent religion in its germ1 if they do not exemplify that vague and indefinite thing conventionally styled 'primitive religion1' at least they represent a stage through which all religions have passed4 ,the proof is that a very little research into civilised religions discovers a most striking similarity between the most essential elements of the civilised and the non-historic creeds4 ,proofs of this have been given when we examined the myths of ,greece4 ,we have next to criticise the attempts which have been made to discredit the evidence on which we rely for our knowledge of the intellectual constitution of the savage1 and of his religious ideas and his myths and legends4 ,if that evidence be valueless1 our whole theory is founded on the sand4 ,the difficulties in the way of obtaining trustworthy information about the ideas1 myths and mental processes of savages are not only proclaimed by opponents of the anthropological method1 but are frankly acknowledged by anthropologists themselves4 ,the task is laborious and delicate1 but not impossible4 ,anthropology has1 at all events1 the advantage of studying an actual undeniably existing state of things1 to sift the evidence as to that state of things1 to examine the opportunities1 the discretion1 and the honesty of the witnesses1 is part of the business of anthropology4 ,a science which was founded on an uncritical acceptance of all the reports of missionaries1 travellers1 traders1 and beach-combers1 would be worth nothing4 ,but1 as will be shown1 anthropology is fortunate in the possession of a touchstone1 like that1 as ,theocritus says1 wherewith the money-changers try gold1 lest perchance base metal pass for true4 ,the difficulties which beset travellers and missionaries in their description of the religious and intellectual life of savages have been catalogued by ,mr4 ,max ,muller4 ,as he is not likely to have omitted anything which tells against the evidence of missionaries and travellers1 we may adopt his statement in an abridged shape1 with criticisms1 and with additional illustrations of our own499 99 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #i ,first1 ,few men are quite proof against the fluctuations of public opinion4 ,thus1 in ,rousseau's time1 many travellers saw savages with the eyes ,rousseau--that is1 as models of a simple state of nature4 ,in the same way1 we may add1 modern educated travellers are apt to see savages in the light cast on them by ,mr4 ,tylor or ,sir ,john ,lubbock4 ,mr4 ,im ,thurn1 in ,guiana1 sees with ,mr4 ,tylor's eyes2 ,messrs4 ,fison and ,howitt1 among the ,kamilaroi in ,australia1 see with the eyes of ,mr4 ,lewis ,morgan1 author of ,systems of ,consanguinity4 ,very well2 we must allow for the bias in each case4 ,but what are we to say when the travellers who lived long before ,begnard report precisely the same facts of savage life as the witty ,frenchman who wrote that next to the ape1 the ,laplander is the animal nearest to man8 ,what are we to say when the mariner1 or beach-comber1 or ,indian interpreter1 who never heard of ,rousseau1 brings from ,canada or the ,marquesas ,islands a report of ideas or customs which the trained anthropologist finds in ,new ,guinea or the ,admiralty ,islands1 and with which the ,inca1 ,garcilasso de la ,vega1 was familiar in ,peru8 ,if the ,wesleyan missionary in ,south ,africa is in the same tale with the ,jesuit in ,paraguay or in ,china1 while the ,lutheran in ,kamtschatka brings the same intelligence as that which they contribute1 and all three are supported by the shipwrecked mariner in ,tonga and by the squatter in ,queensland1 as well as by the evidence1 from ancient times and lands1 of ,strabo1 ,diodorus and ,pausanias1 what then8 ,is it not clear that if pagan ,greeks1 ,jesuits and ,wesleyans1 squatters and anthropologists1 ,indian interpreters and the fathers of the ,christian ,church1 are all agreed in finding this idea or that practice in their own times and countries1 their evidence is at least unaffected by the fluctuations of public opinion8 ,this criterion of undesigned coincidence in evidence drawn from ,protestants1 ,catholics1 pagans1 sceptics1 from times classical1 mediaeval and modern1 from men learned and unlearned1 is the touchstone of anthropology4 ,it will be admitted that the consentient testimony of persons in every stage of belief and prejudice1 of ignorance and learning1 cannot agree1 as it does agree1 by virtue of some fluctuation of public opinion4 ,it is to be regretted that1 in ,mr4 ,max ,muller's description of the difficulties which beset the study of savage religious ideas1 he entirely omits to mention1 on the other side1 the corroboration which is derived from the undesigned coincidence of independent testimony4 ,this point is so important that it may be well to quote ,mr4 ,tylor's statement of the value of the anthropological criterion3-- ,it is a matter worthy of consideration that the accounts of similar phenomena of culture1 recurring in different parts of the world1 actually supply incidental proof of their own authenticity4 ,some years since a question which brings out this point was put to me by a great historian1 ,how can a statement as to customs1 myths1 beliefs1 etc41 of a savage tribe be treated as evidence where it depends on the testimony of some traveller or missionary who may be a superficial observer1 more or less ignorant of the native language1 a careless retailer of unsifted talk1 a man prejudiced1 or even wilfully deceitful8 ,this question is1 indeed1 one which every ethnographer ought to keep clearly and constantly before his mind4 ,of course he is bound to use his best judgment as to the trustworthiness of all authors he quotes1 and if possible to obtain several accounts to certify each point in each locality4 ,but it is over and above these measures of precaution that the test of recurrence comes in4 ,if two independent visitors to different countries1 say a mediaeval ,mohammedan in ,tartary and a modern ,englishman in ,dahomey1 or a ,jesuit missionary in ,brazil and a ,wesleyan in the ,fiji ,islands1 agree in describing some analogous art1 or rite1 or myth among the people they have visited1 it becomes difficult or impossible to set down such correspondence to accident or wilful fraud4 ,a story by a bushranger in ,australia may perhaps be objected to as a mistake or an invention2 but did a ,methodist minister in ,guinea conspire with him to cheat the public by telling the same story there8 ,the possibility of intentional or unintentional mystification is often barred by such a state of things as that a similar statement is made in two remote lands by two witnesses1 of whom ,a lived a century before ,b1 and ,b appears never to have heard of ,a4 ,how distant are the countries1 how wide apart the dates1 how different the creeds and characters of the observers in the catalogue of facts of civilisation1 needs no farther showing to any one who will even glance at the footnotes of the present work4 ,and the more odd the statement1 the less likely that several people in several places should have made it wrongly4 ,this being so1 it seems reasonable to judge that the statements are in the main truly given1 and that their close and regular coincidence is due to the cropping up of similar facts in various districts of culture4 ,now the most important facts of ethnography are vouched for in this way4 ,experience leads the student after a while to expect and find that the phenomena of culture1 as resulting from widely-acting similar causes1 should recur again and again in the world4 ,he even mistrusts isolated statements to which he knows of no parallel elsewhere1 and waits for their genuineness to be shown by corresponding accounts from the other side of the earth or the other end of history4 ,so strong indeed is the means of authentication1 that the ethnographer in his library may sometimes presume to decide not only whether a particular explorer is a shrewd and honest observer1 but also whether what he reports is conformable to the general rules of civilisation4 ,non quia1 sed quid4 ,it must be added1 as a rider to ,mr4 ,tylos remarks1 that anthropology is rapidly making the accumulation of fresh and trustworthy evidence more difficult than ever4 ,travellers and missionaries have begun to read anthropological books1 and their evidence is therefore much more likely to be biassed now by anthropological theories than it was of old4 ,when ,mr4 ,m',lennan wrote on totems in #ahfi199 he was able to say1 ,it is some compensation for the completeness of the accounts that we can thoroughly trust them1 as the totem has not till now got itself mixed up with speculations1 and accordingly the observers have been unbiassed4 ,but as anthropology is now more widely studied1 the naif evidence of ignorance and of surprise grows more and more difficult to obtain4 99 ,fortnightly ,review1 ,october #ahfi4 ,we may now assert that1 though the evidence of each separate witness may be influenced by fluctuations of opinion1 yet the consensus of their testimony1 when they are unanimous1 remains unshaken4 ,the same argument applies to the private inclination1 and prejudice1 and method of inquiry of each individual observer4 ,travellers in general1 and missionaries in particular1 are biassed in several distinct ways4 ,the missionary is sometimes anxious to prove that religion can only come by revelation1 and that certain tribes1 having received no revelation1 have no religion or religious myths at all4 ,sometimes the missionary1 on the other hand1 is anxious to demonstrate that the myths of his heathen flock are a corrupted version of the ,biblical narrative4 ,in the former case he neglects the study of savage myths2 in the latter he unconsciously accommodates what he hears to what he calls the truth4 ,in modern days the missionary often sees with the eyes of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,the traveller who is not a missionary may either have the same prejudices1 or he may be a sceptic about revealed religion4 ,in the latter case he is perhaps unconsciously moved to put burlesque versions of ,biblical stories into the mouths of his native informants1 or to represent the savages as ridiculing 7,dr4 ,moffat found that they did ridicule7 the ,scriptural traditions which he communicates to them4 ,yet again we must remember that the leading questions of a ,european inquirer may furnish a savage with a thread on which to string answers which the questions themselves have suggested4 ,have you ever had a great flood8 ,yes4 ,was any one saved8 ,the leading question starts the invention of the savage on a ,deluge-myth1 of which1 perhaps1 the idea has never before entered his mind4 ,the last is a source of error pointed out by ,mr4 ,codrington399 99 ,journal of ,anthrop4 ,inst1 ,february #ahha4 ,the questions of the ,european are a thread on which the ideas of the native precipitate themselves4 ,now1 as ,european inquirers are prone to ask much the same questions1 a people which1 like some ,celts and savages1 always answers yes1 will everywhere give much the same answers4 ,mr4 ,romilly1 in his book on the ,western ,pacific199 remarks1 ,in some parts of ,new ,britain1 if a stranger were to ask1 ',are there men with tails in the mountains8' he would probably be answered ',yes1' that being the answer which the new ,briton 7and the ,north ,briton1 too1 very often7 would imagine was expected of him1 and would be most likely to give satisfaction4 ,the train of thought in his mind would be something like this1 ',he must know that there are no such men1 but he cannot have asked so foolish a question without an object1 and therefore he wishes me to say ',yes6' ,of course the first ',yes' leads to many others1 and in a very short time everything is known about these tailed men1 and a full account of them is sent home4 ,what is true of tailed men applies to native answers about myths and customs when the questions are asked by persons who have not won the confidence of the people nor discovered their real beliefs by long and patient observation4 ,this must be borne in mind when missionaries tell us that savages believe in one supreme deity1 in a mediator1 and the like1 and it must be borne in mind when they tell us that savages have no supreme being at all4 ,always we must be wary6 ,a very pleasing example of inconsistency in reports about the same race may be found in a comparison of the account of the ,khonds in the thirteenth volume of the ,royal ,asiatic ,society with the account given by ,general ,campbell in his ,personal ,narrative1 ,the inquirer in the former case did not know the ,khond language1 and trusted to interpreters1 who were later expelled from the public service4 ,general ,campbell1 on the other hand1 believed himself to possess the confidence of the priests and chiefs1 and his description is quite different4 ,in cases of contradictions like these1 the anthropologist will do well to leave the subject alone1 unless he has very strong reasons for believing one or other of the contending witnesses4 99 ,the ,western ,pacific and ,new ,guinea1 ,london1 #ahhf1 pp4 #c-f4 9999 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #ib4 ,we have now considered the objections that may be urged against the bias of witnesses4 ,mr4 ,max ,mueller founds another objection on the absence of recognised authorities among savages499 ,this absence of authority is not always complete2 the ,maoris1 for example1 have traditional hymns of great authority and antiquity4 ,there are often sacred songs and customs 7preserved by the ,red ,indians in chants recorded by picture-writing on birch bark71 and there always is some teaching from the mothers to their children1 or in the ,mysteries4 ,all these1 but1 above all1 the almost immutable sacredness of custom1 are sources of evidence4 ,but1 of course1 the story of one savage informant may differ widely from that of his neighbour4 ,the first may be the black sheep of the tribe1 the next may be the saint of the district4 ,both would be considered by ,european travellers as unimpeachable authorities with regard to their religion4 ,this is too strongly stated4 ,even the inquiring squatter will repose more confidence in the reports about his religion of a black with a decent character1 or of a black who has only recently mixed with white men1 than in those of a rum-bibbing loafer about up-country stations or a black professional bowler on a colonial cricket-ground4 ,our best evidence is from linguists who have been initiated into the secret ,mysteries4 ,still more will missionaries and scholars like ,bleek1 ,hahn1 ,codrington1 ,castren1 ,gill1 ,callaway1 ,theal1 and the rest1 sift and compare the evidence of the most trustworthy native informants4 ,the merits of the travellers we have named as observers and scholars are freely acknowledged by ,mr4 ,max ,mueller himself4 ,to their statements1 also1 we can apply the criterion3 ,does ,bleek's report from the ,bushmen and ,hottentots confirm ,castren's from the ,finns8 ,does ,codrington in ,melanesia tell the same tale as ,gill in ,mangia or ,theal among the ,kaffirs8 ,are all confirmed by ,charlevoix1 and ,lafitau1 and ,brebeuf1 the old ,catholic apostles of the ,north ,american ,indians8 ,if this be so1 then we may presume that the inquirers have managed to extract true accounts from some of their native informants4 ,the object of the inquiry1 of course1 is to find out1 not what a few more educated and noble members of a tribe may think1 nor what some original speculative thinker among a lower race may have worked out for himself1 but to ascertain the general character of the ideas most popular and most widely prevalent among backward peoples4 ,a third objection is that the priests of savage tribes are not unimpeachable authorities4 ,it is pointed out that even ,christian clergy have their differences of opinion4 ,naturally we expect most shades of opinion where there is most knowledge and most liberty1 but the liberty of savage heterodoxy is very wide indeed4 ,we might almost say that 7as in the mythology of ,greece7 there is no orthodox mythical doctrine among savages4 ,but1 amidst minor diversities1 we have found many ideas which are universal both in savage and civilised myths4 ,quod semper1 quod ubique1 quod ab omnibus4 ,it is on this universal element of faith1 not on the discrepancies of local priests1 that we must fix our attention4 ,many a different town in ,greece showed the birthplace or tomb of this or that deity4 ,the essential point is that all agreed in declaring that the god was born or died4 ,once more--and this is a point of some importance when we are told that priests differ from each other in their statements--we must remember that these very differences are practically universal in all mythology1 even in that of civilised races4 ,thus1 if one savage authority declares that men came originally out of trees1 while his fellow-tribesman avers that the human race was created out of clay1 and a third witness maintains that his first ancestors emerged from a hole in the ground1 and a fourth stands to it that his stock is descended from a swan or a serpent1 and a fifth holds that humanity was evolved from other animal forms1 these savage statements appear contradictory4 ,but when we find 7as we do7 precisely the same sort of contradictions everywhere recurring among civilised peoples1 in ,greece1 ,india1 ,egypt1 as well as in ,africa1 ,america and ,australia1 there seems no longer any reason to distrust the various versions of the myth which are given by various priests or chiefs4 ,each witness is only telling the legend which he has heard and prefers1 and it is precisely the coexistence of all these separate monstrous beliefs which makes the enigma and the attraction of mythology4 ,in short1 the discrepancies of savage myths are not an argument against the authenticity of our information on the topic1 because the discrepancies themselves are repeated in civilised myth4 ,semper et ubique1 et ab omnibus4 ,to object to the presence of discrepant accounts is to object to mythology for being mythological4 ,another objection is derived from the unwillingness of savages to talk about religion1 and from the difficulty of understanding them when they do talk of it4 ,this hardly applies when ,europeans are initiated into savage ,mysteries4 ,we may add a fair example of the difficulty of learning about alien religions4 ,it is given by ,garcilasso de la ,vega1 son of an ,inca princess1 and a companion of ,pizarro499 99 ,garcilaaso de la ,vega1 ,royal ,commentaries1 vol1 i4 #abc4 ,the method that our ,spaniards adopted in writing their histories was to ask the ,indians in ,spanish touching the things they wanted to find out from them4 ,these1 from not having a clear knowledge of ancient things1 or from bad memories1 told them wrong1 or mixed up poetical fables with their replies4 ,and the worst of it was that neither party had more than a very imperfect knowledge of the language of the other1 so as to understand the inquiry and to reply to it4444 ,in this great confusion1 the priest or layman who asked the questions placed the meaning to them which was nearest to the desired answer1 or which was most like what the ,indian was understood to have said4 ,thus they interpreted according to their pleasure or prejudice1 and wrote things down as truths which the ,indians never dreamt of4 ,as an example of these comparisons1 ,garcilasso gives the discovery of the doctrine of the ,trinity among the people of ,peru4 ,a so-called ,icona was found answering to the ,father1 a ,son 7,racab7 and a ,holy ,spirit 7,estrua72 nor was the ,virgin lacking1 nor even ,st4 ,anne4 ,all these things are fictions of the ,spaniards4 ,but no sooner has ,garcilasso rebuked the ,spaniards and their method1 than he hastens to illustrate by his own example another difficulty that besets us in our search for evidence of myths4 ,he says1 as if it were a matter of certain fact1 that ,tlasolteute1 a kind of ,priapus1 god of lust1 and ,ometoctilti1 god of drunkenness1 and the god of murder1 and the others1 were the names of men and women whom the natives of that land worshipped as gods and goddesses4 ,thus ,garcilasso euhemerises audaciously1 as also does ,sahagun in his account of ,mexican religion4 ,we have no right to assume that gods of natural departments 7any more than ,dionysus and ,priapus and ,ares7 had once been real men and were deified1 on evidence like the statement of ,garcilassp4 ,he is giving his own euhemeristic guess as if it were matter of fact1 and this is a common custom with even the more intelligent of the early missionaries4 ,another example of the natural difficulty in studying the myths of savages may be taken from ,mr4 ,sproat's ,scenes of ,savage ,life 7#ahfh74 ,there is an honesty and candour in ,mr4 ,sproat's work which by itself seems to clear this witness1 at least1 of charges of haste or prejudice4 ,the religion of savages1 says this inquirer1 is a subject as to which a traveller might easily form erroneous opinions1 owing to the practical difficulty1 even to one skilled in the language1 of ascertaining the true nature of their superstitions4 ,this short chapter is the result of more than four years' inquiry1 made unremittingly1 under favourable circumstances4 ,there is a constant temptation1 from which the unbiassed observer cannot be quite free1 to fill up in one's mind1 without proper material1 the gap between what is known of the religion of the natives for certain1 and the larger less-known portion1 which can only be guessed at2 and ,i frequently found that1 under this temptation1 ,i was led on to form1 in my own mind1 a connected whole1 designed to coincide with some ingenious theory which ,i might wish to be true4 ,generally speaking1 it is necessary1 ,i think1 to view with suspicion any very regular account given by travellers of the religion of savages4 7,yet we have seen the absence of regularity1 the differences of opinion among priests1 objected to by ,mr4 ,max ,mueller as a proof of the untrustworthy nature of our evidence47 ,the real religious notions of savages cannot be separated from the vague and unformed1 as well as bestial and grotesque1 mythology with which they are intermixed4 ,the faint struggling efforts of our natures in so early or so little advanced a stage of moral and intellectual cultivation can produce only a medley of opinions and beliefs1 not to be dignified by the epithet religious1 which are held loosely by the people themselves1 and are neither very easily discovered nor explained4 ,when we came to civilised mythologies1 we found that they also are bestial and grotesque1 loosely held1 and a medley of opinions and beliefs 4 ,mr4 ,sproat was two years among the ,ahts1 with his mind constantly directed to the subject of their religious beliefs1 before he could discover that they had any such beliefs at all4 ,traders assured him that they had none4 ,he found that the ,ahts were fond of mystification and of sells2 and1 in short1 this inquirer1 living with the ,ahts like an ,aht1 discounted every sort of circumstance which could invalidate his statement of their myths499 99 ,pp4 #bjc-bje4 ,now1 when we find ,mr4 ,codrington taking the same precautions in ,melanesia1 and when his account of ,melanesian myths reads like a close copy of ,mr4 ,sproat's account of ,aht legends1 and when both are corroborated by the collections of ,bleek1 and ,hahn1 and ,gill1 and ,castren1 and ,eink1 in far distant corners of the world1 while the modern testimony of these scholarly men is in harmony with that of the old ,jesuit missionaries1 and of untaught adventurers who have lived for many years with savages1 surely it will be admitted that the difficulty of ascertaining savage opinion has been1 to a great extent1 overcome4 ,if all the evidence be wrong1 the coincidences of the witnesses with each other and of the savage myths they report with the myths of ,greeks and ,aryans of ,india will be no less than a miracle4 ,we have now examined the objections urged against a system founded on the comparative study of savage myths4 ,it cannot be said of us 7as it has been said of ,de ,brosses71 that whatever we find in the voyages of sailors and traders is welcome to us2 that we have a theory to defend1 and whatever seems to support it is sure to be true4 ,our evidence is based1 to a very great extent1 on the communications of missionaries who are acknowledged to be scholarly and sober men4 ,it is confirmed by other evidence1 ,catholic1 ,dissenting1 pagan1 scientific1 and by the reports of illiterate men1 unbiassed by science1 and little biassed by religion4 ,but we have not yet exhausted our evidence1 nor had recourse to our ultimate criterion4 ,that evidence1 that criterion1 is derived from the study of comparative institutions1 of comparative ritual1 of comparative law1 and of comparative customs4 ,in the widely diffused rites and institutions which express themselves in actual practice we have sure evidence for the ideas on which the customs are founded4 ,for example1 if a man pays away his wampum1 or his yams1 or his arrow-heads to a magician for professional services1 it follows that he does believe in magic4 ,if he puts to death a tribesman for the sin of marrying a woman to whom he was only akin by virtue of common descent from the same beast or plant1 it seems to follow that he does believe in descent from and kinship with plants and beasts4 ,if he buries food and valuable weapons with his dead1 it follows that he does1 or that his fathers did1 believe in the continued life of the dead4 ,at the very least1 in all three cases the man is acting on what must once have been actual beliefs1 even if the consequent practices be still in force only through custom1 after the real faith has dwindled away4 ,thus the belief1 past or present1 in certain opinions can be deduced from actual practices1 just as we may deduce from our own ,coronation ,service the fact that oil1 anointed on a man's head by a priest1 was once believed to have a mysterious efficacy1 or the fact that a certain rough block of red sand-stone was once supposed to have some kind of sacredness4 ,of all these sources of evidence1 none is more valuable than the testimony of ritual4 ,a moment's reflection will show that ritual1 among any people1 wild or civilised1 is not a thing easily altered4 ,if we take the savage1 his ritual consists mainly of the magical rites by which he hopes to constrain his gods to answer his prayers1 though he may also reveal to the neophyte ,our ,father4 ,if we examine the ,greeks1 we discover the same element in such rites as the ,attic ,thesmophoria1 the torch-dance of ,demeter1 the rainmaking on the ,arcadian ,mount ,lycaeus1 with many other examples4 ,meanwhile the old heathen ritual survives in ,europe as rural folklore1 and we can thus display a chain of evidence1 from savage magic to ,greek ritual1 with the folklore of ,germany1 ,france1 ,eussia and ,scotland for the link between these and our own time4 ,this is almost our best evidence for the ancient idea about gods and their service4 ,from the evidence of institutions1 then1 the evidence of reports may be supplemented4 ,the direct testimony1 as ,m4 ,darmesteter says1 heureusement peut-etre supplee par le temoignage indirect1 celui qui porte sur les usages1 les coutumes1 l'ordre exterieur de la vie1 everything that shows us religious faith embodied in action4 ,now these actions1 also1 are only attested by the reports of travellers1 missionaries and historians4 ,but it is comparatively easy to describe correctly what is done1 much more easy than to discover what is thought4 ,yet it will be found that the direct evidence of institutions corroborates the less direct evidence as to thought and opinion4 ,thus an uncommonly strong texture of testimony is woven by the coincidence of evidence1 direct and indirect1 ancient and modern1 of learned and unlearned men1 of ,catholics1 ,protestants1 pagans and sceptics4 ,what can be said against that evidence we have heard4 ,we have examined the objections based on the influence of public opinion on travellers1 on the absence of recognised authorities among savages1 on the discrepancies of the authorities who are recognised1 on the unwillingness of savages to talk of their religion1 and on the difficulty of understanding them when they do talk of it4 ,but after allowing for all these drawbacks 7as every anthropologist worthy of the name will1 in each case1 allow71 we have shown that there does remain a body of coincident evidence1 of authority1 now learned and critical1 now uncritical and unlearned1 which cannot be set aside as extremely untrustworthy4 ,this authority is accepted in questions of the evolution of art1 politics1 handicraft2 why not in questions of religion8 ,it is usually evidence given by men who did not see its tendency or know its value4 ,a chance word in the ,veda shows us that a savage point of marriage etiquette was known to the poet4 ,a sneer of ,theophrastus1 a denunciation of ,ezekiel1 an anecdote of ,herodotus1 reveal to us the practices of contemporary savages as they existed thousands of years ago among races savage or civilised4 ,a traveller's tale of ,melville or ,mandeville proves to be no mere yarn1 but completes the evidence for the existence in ,asia or the ,marquesas ,islands of belief and rites proved to occur in ,europe or ,india4 ,such is the nature of the evidence for savage ideas1 and for their survivals in civilisation2 and the amount of the evidence is best known to him who has to plod through tracts1 histories and missionary reports4