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 Division. . 
 
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THE 
 
 ENGLISH AND FOREIGN 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY. 
 
 VOLUME VI I. 
 
SBatTantS^ne ^xm 
 
 BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 EDINBUKGH AND LONDON 
 
OUTLINES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SPREAD OF THE UNIVERSAL 
 RELIGIONS. 
 
 By C. P.'^IELE, 
 
 DK. THEOL., PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS IN TH K 
 UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN. 
 
 5rranslatet( from i^z JButd^ 
 
 BY 
 
 J. ESTLIN CAEPENTEE, M.A. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JAMES E. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, 
 
 {Late TicJcnor d: Fields, and Fields, Osgood, <fc Co. ) 
 
 1877. 
 
TO 
 P. H. JV. 
 
 WITHOUT WHOSE AID 
 
 COULD NOT HAVE BEEN 
 A CCOMPLISHED. 
 
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 TO 
 
 THE ENGLISH EDITION. 
 
 What I give in this little book are outlines, pencil- 
 sketches, I might say, — nothing more. In the present 
 state of our knowledge about the ancient religions, this 
 only can be reasonably expected from the students of this 
 branch of science, this only can be attempted with some 
 hope of success. The time for writing an elaborate His- 
 tory of Eeligion, even of Eeligions, has not yet come. Not 
 a few special investigations must be instituted, not a few 
 difficult questions elucidated, before anything like this can 
 be done. But it is useful, even necessary, from time to 
 time to sum up the amount of certain knowledge, gathered 
 by the researches of several years, and to sketch, be it here 
 and there with an uncertain hand, the draught of what 
 may at some time become a living picture. This is what 
 I propose to do. The interest of what is called by the 
 unhappy name of Science of Eeligions, let us say of Hiero- 
 
vm 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 logy, is increasing every day. Now, I think there is great 
 danger that so young a science may lose itself in abstract 
 speculations, based on a few facts and a great many dubi- 
 ous or erroneous statements, or not based on any facts at 
 all. For the philosopher who wishes to avoid this danger, 
 for the theologian who desires to compare Mosaism and 
 Christianity with the other religions of the world, for the 
 specialist who devotes all his labours and all his time to 
 one single department of this vast science, for him who 
 studies the history of civilisation — none of whom have 
 leisure to go to the sources themselves, even for him who 
 intends to do so, but to whom the way is as yet unknown, 
 a general survey of the whole subject is needed, to serve 
 as a kind of guide or travelling-book on their journey 
 through the immense fairyland of human faith and hope. 
 My book is an attempt to supply what they want. In a 
 short paragraph-style I have written down my conclusions, 
 derived partly from the sources themselves, partly (for no 
 man can be at home everywhere) from the study of what 
 seemed to me the best authorities : and I have added some 
 explanatory remarks and bibliographical notices on the 
 literature of the subject — very short where such notices 
 could easily be found elsewhere, more extensive and as 
 complete as possible where nothing of the kind, so far as I 
 knew, yet existed. 
 
 I am the more anxious to state this character of my 
 work as one of my critics (my friend and colleague Dr. H. 
 Oort, in his interesting notice of my work in the Dutch 
 Eeview de Tyds^iecjd) seems to have wholly forgotten it. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 He sets up an ideal of a History of Eeligion, and then 
 tries my simple and modest outlines by that elevated 
 standard. Of course they are not able to fulfil sueh 
 great expectations, and they were not intended to 
 do so. 
 
 I know that even this slight sketch is incomplete, and 
 it is so on purpose. I have limited myself to the ancient 
 religions, those which embrace a tribe, a people, or a race, 
 or have grown into separate sects, and I have left out the 
 history of the universal religions, Buddhism, Christianity, 
 and Islam. Only the origin of these religions is men- 
 tioned, as they form a part of the history of the religions 
 out of which they sprang, and which culminate in them. 
 A thorough study of this more modern religious history 
 would have occupied me for several years, and would have 
 deferred the publication of my little book for a long time. 
 So I have narrated the History of Eeligion " till the spread 
 of the universal religions," of Buddhism in Eastern, Islam 
 in Western Asia, and of Christianity in the Eoman Empire. 
 As Buddhism only reigned supreme in Hindostan and 
 Dekhan now and then for a while, and was finally driven 
 out from both parts of the Indian peninsula, with the sole 
 exception of Ceylon, I could not break off the history of 
 Brahmanism at the foundation of the great rival church, 
 but had to relate what became of it in the centuries after 
 that event. I confess that this part of my sketch leaves 
 much to be desired, the sources being still very defective, 
 and the conclusions of Lassen, whom I have followed in 
 the main, being still very uncertain. Perhaps I may find 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 occasion some time to give a Letter and more trustworthy 
 account of tliis period. 
 
 N'ot only the universal religions, but even some ancient 
 religions are passed over altogether. I have not said a 
 word on the old Keltic and the national Japanese reli- 
 gions. This, too, is an intentional omission. What is 
 commonly regarded as the history of those two religions 
 seems to me so very dubious and vague that I preferred 
 to leave them out entirely rather than to be led astray 
 myself, or to propagate mere conjectures, which might 
 prove errors after all. 
 
 But though mere outlines, my history is one of reli- 
 gion, not of religions. The difference between the two 
 methods is explained in the Introduction. It is the same 
 history, but considered from a different point of view. 
 The first lies hidden in the last, but its object is to show 
 how that one great psychological phenomenon which we 
 call religion has developed and manifested itself in such 
 various shapes among the different races and peoples of 
 the world. By it we see that all religions, even those of 
 highly civilised nations, have gTOwn up from the same 
 simple germs, and by it, again, we learn the causes why 
 these germs have in some cases attained such a rich and 
 admirable development, and in others scarcely gTew at all. 
 Still I did not think it safe to found my history on an a 
 'priori philosophical basis. Dr. Oort is of opinion that I 
 ought to have started from a philosophical definition of re- 
 ligion. In this I do not agree with him. Such a definition, 
 quite different from that which I give in my first para- 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 graph, ought not to be the point of issue, but must be one 
 of the results of a history of religion. It forms one of the 
 principal elements of a philosophy of religion ; in a history 
 it would be out of place. 
 
 Lastly, I may add a few words on this English edition. 
 It is thoroughly revised and corrected. Some of these 
 corrections I owe to my friend and colleague Dr. H. Kern, 
 who knows all, or nearly all, about ancient India, and who 
 has made such a profound study of German mythology 
 (see his kind notice of my work in the Dutch Eeview 
 de, Gids). My own continued study of the religions of 
 Western Asia and Northern Africa has led to other correc- 
 tions and additions. 
 
 C. P. TIELE. 
 
 Lkiden, September 1877, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ... . . . i 
 
 « 
 
 1. Object of the History of Religion . - i 
 
 2. Fundamental Hypothesis of Development . 2 
 
 3. Order of the abstract Development of the Religious 
 
 Idea ...... 3 
 
 4. Genealogical connection and Historic Relations of 
 
 Religions . . . ... 4 
 
 5. Divisions of this History .... 5 
 
 t 
 
 6. Religion a universal Phenomenon ... 6 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Religion under the Control of Animism ... 7 
 
 I. Animism in its Influence on Religion in General . . 7 
 
 7. Religion of Savages the Remains of Earlier Religion 8 
 
 8. Animism ...... 9 
 
 9. Characteristics of Religions controlled by Animism 10 
 
 10. Place of Morality and Doctrine of Immortality . 11 
 
 II. Peculiar Developments of Animistio Religion among 
 
 different Races . . . . .12 
 
 11. Causes of Different Forms of Develojjment . 15 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 12. Influence of National Character 
 
 13. And of Locality and Occupation 
 
 14. Effects of the Mingling of Nations 
 
 15. Original Eeligions of America 
 
 16. The Peruvians and Mexicans 
 
 17. The Finns . 
 
 i>AOK 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 18 
 20 
 
 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Religion among the Chinese 
 
 1 8. Religion of the Old Chinese Empire 
 
 19. Doctrine of Continued Existence after Death 
 
 20. Absence of a Priestly Caste 
 
 21. Reforms of Kong-fu-tse 
 
 22. His Religious Doctrine 
 
 23. Religious Literature 
 
 24. Meng-tse 
 
 25. The Tao-sse 
 
 26. Lao-tse 
 
 27. Later "Writings of the Tao-sse 
 
 28. The Chinese and Egyptian Religions 
 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 Religion among the Hamites and Semites . 
 
 I. Religion among the Egyptians 
 
 29. Sources of our Knowledge . 
 
 30. Ancient Animistic Usages . 
 
 31. Polytheistic and Monotheistic Tendencies 
 
 32. Triumph of Light over Darkness . 
 
 33. Doctrine of Creation 
 
 34. Religion under the First Six Dynasties 
 
 39 
 
 39 
 
 44 
 
 45 
 46 
 
 47 
 49 
 50 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 35. Under the Middle Empire . 
 
 36. Conce^Dtion of Aniuu-Ra 
 
 37. Modifications under Influence of Greece . 
 
 38. African, Aryan, and Mesopotamian Elements 
 
 II. Religion among the Semites 
 
 a. The Two Streams of Development . , 
 
 39. Southern and Northern Semites 
 
 40. Primitive Arabian Religion 
 
 41. Contact of Northern Semites with the Akkadians 
 
 42. Religion of the Akkadians . 
 
 1). Religion among the Bcibylonians and Assyrians 
 
 43. Relation of Babylonians and Assyrians 
 
 44. Their Religion .... 
 
 45. Akkadian Origin of Astrology and Magic . 
 
 46. Different Developments of Religion 
 
 47. The Mesopotamian Semites reach a higher Stage 
 
 48. The Sabeaus .... 
 
 c. Religion among the West Seinitcs 
 
 49. Its Mesopotamian Origin 
 
 50. Sources of Cosmogony and Myths . 
 
 5 1 . Special Character of Phenician Religion . 
 
 52. The Religion of Israel 
 5 3. Growth of Yahvism 
 
 54. Adoption of Native Elements 
 
 55. The Prophets .... 
 
 56. National Character of their Monotheism . 
 
 57. Influence of Persia, Greece, and Rome 
 
 d. Islam . . • . . ... 
 
 58. Religion in Arabia before Mohammed 
 
 59. His early Career .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 52 
 54 
 55 
 57 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 63 
 65 
 67 
 
 69 
 
 71 
 
 73 
 
 75 
 76 
 
 78 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 81 
 83 
 84 
 
 84 
 86 
 
 88 
 88 
 90 
 
 91 
 
 92 
 94 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 60. His Conquests and Death . 
 
 61. The Five Pillars of Islam— the Unity of God 
 
 62. Gloomy Conceptions of the World 
 
 63. The Divine Mission of Mohammed 
 
 64. Theocratic Character of IsMmism . 
 
 65. Its Position among other Religions 
 
 PAGsr 
 95 
 97 
 
 99 
 100 
 
 lOI 
 
 102 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Keligion among the Indo-Germans, excluding the Greeks 
 
 AND Romans . . . . . .105 
 
 I. Tlie Ancient Lido-German Religion and the Aryan Re- 
 
 ligion proper , , . . . .105 
 
 66. Religion of the Ancient Indo-Germans , ^ 106 
 
 67. Formation of Separate Nations . - .108 
 
 68. The Aryan Religion .... 109 
 
 II. Religion among the Hindus . . . .110 
 
 a. The Vedic Religion . . . « .111 
 
 69. The Religion of the Rigveda - . .112 
 
 70. Indra and Agni . . . . .113 
 
 71. Different Forms of the Sun-God . . .114 
 
 72. Rise of the Brahmans . . . - 1 1 5 
 
 73. Ethical Character of the Vedic Religion , .116 
 
 b. Pre-Budhhistic Brahmanism, . . . .117 
 
 74. Stages in the History of Brahmanism - <■ 117 
 
 75. The Four Castes . . . . .119 
 
 76. Increasing Iniluence of the Brahmans . ,120 
 
 77. Religions Literature . • . .122 
 
 78. Need of a Supreme God . . , - 124 
 
 79. Sacrifices ...... 126 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xvii 
 
 80. Moral Ideal of the Brahman s 
 
 81. Their Social Ideal . . ... 
 
 c. The Conflict of Br(ihmanism with Buddhism 
 
 82. Origin of Buddhism .... 
 ^T,. Historical Foundation of the Legend of the Buddha 
 
 84. Eelation of Buddhism to Brahmanism 
 
 85. Spread of Buddhism . , . . 
 
 86. Its Decline ...... 
 
 87. The Jainas ...... 
 
 d. The Changes in Brdhmanism U7ider the Influence of its 
 
 Conflict with Buddhism 
 
 88. Necessity of Modifications in Brahmanism 
 
 89. Rise of Vishnu "Worship 
 
 90. Doctrine of the Avataras 
 
 91. Krishna Worship . 
 
 92. Vishnu as Eudra and Siva 
 
 93. Ganesa, Hari-harau, and the Trimiirti 
 
 94. The Puranas and the Two Great Epics 
 
 95. Doctrine of the Authority of the Veda 
 
 96. The Six Philosophical Systems 
 
 97. The Vaishnava and Saiva Sects .. 
 
 98. The Sakta Sects 
 
 II. Religion among the Er0.nian Nations — Jfazdeism 
 
 99. The Religion of Zarathustra 
 100. The Zend-Avesta and the Bundehesh 
 loi. Doctrine of Ahura Mazdao 
 
 102. The Amesha Spenta . , , 
 
 103. Mithra and Anahitu . , 
 
 104. The Yazatas .... 
 
 105. The Fravashis . , , r 
 
 PAGE 
 
 127 
 129 
 
 130 
 
 131 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 
 137 
 
 139 
 140 
 
 142 
 
 143 
 
 143 
 
 145 
 
 147 
 I49 
 
 152 
 
 153 
 
 154 
 155 
 157 
 15S 
 
 160 
 
 163 
 165 
 
 166 
 168 
 170 
 171 
 172 
 
XVlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 io6. Dualism of Parsism 
 
 107. Its Influence on "Worship and Life 
 
 108. Its Eschatology .... 
 
 109. Foreign Elements in later Zaratliustrianism 
 
 ly. Religion among the Wends or Zetto-Slavs 
 
 no. Position among the Indo- Germanic Religions 
 
 111. Doctrine of the Soul 
 
 112. Doctrine of Spirits among the Old Russians 
 
 113. Deities worshipped by Letts and Slavs 
 
 114. Relation between Man and the Higher Powers 
 
 V. Religion among the Germans 
 
 115. Superiority over that of the Wends 
 
 116. Its Cycle of Gods . 
 
 117. Odhinn, Th6rr, and Loki . 
 
 118. Ethical Character of Germanic Religion 
 
 119. The Drama of the World . 
 
 120. Doctrine of the Soul, and Cultus . 
 
 VAGB 
 
 173 
 
 175 
 176 
 
 177 
 
 179 
 179 
 181 
 182 
 184 
 186 
 
 188 
 188 
 190 
 192 
 194 
 
 195 
 198 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Religion among the Indo-Germans under the Influence 
 OP THE Semites and Hamites 
 
 I. Religion among the Greeks 
 
 121. The Religion of the Pelasgi 
 
 122. Causes of Development of Greek Religion 
 
 123. National and Foreign Elements . 
 
 124. Poetic Treatment of Nature-Myths 
 
 125. Civilisation of Asia Minor and Crete 
 
 126. The Homeric Theology 
 
 127. Approach to Monotheism . 
 
 128. Growing Connection of Morality and Religion 
 
 201 
 
 201 
 202 
 205 
 207 
 210 
 212 
 213 
 214 
 215 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 PACE 
 
 129. Influence of Delphi . , . .216 
 
 130. Position of tlie Delphic Priests . . .219 
 
 131. Decline of their Power . . . .221 
 
 132. Cultus of Dionysos and Athena . . .222 
 
 133. Effect of Poetry and Sculpture . . . 224 
 
 134. Sokrates and the Decline of Hellenic Religion . 225 
 
 II. Religion among the Romans .... 228 
 
 135. Personification of Abstract Ideas . . . 228 
 
 136. Continued Development of this Character , 231 
 
 1 37. Transition from Polydsemonism to Poly theism . 233 
 
 138. Fusion of Different Elements . . . 235 
 
 139. Importance of the Cultus .... 236 
 
 140. Jupiter Optimus Maximus . . . 240 
 
 141. Introduction of Foreign Deities . . 241 
 
 142. Decline of the State Religion . . • 243 
 
 143. The Deification of the Emperors . , . 246 
 
 144. Rise of Christianity . , , , 248 
 
INTEODFCTION. 
 
 Literature. — Of the older works on the general history 
 of religion, the following may still be named : Meiners, 
 Allgemeine Jcritische Geschichte der Religionen, 2 vols., 
 Hanover, 1806-7 (neither general nor critical): Benj. 
 Constant, De la Religion consideree dans sa source, ses 
 formes et ses develo])i)ements, 5 vols., Paris, 1824-31. The 
 doctrines of ancient religion are treated hy F. Creuzek, 
 Symbolik und Mythologie der alien Volker, 4 vols., with 
 Atlas, Leipzig and Darmstadt, 18 19-21, and F. C. Baur, 
 Symbolik und Mythologle, od. die Naturrel. des Alterthums, 
 2 vols., 3 parts, Stuttgart, 1824-25. (Both works are 
 now antiquated. Their speculations are for the most 
 part founded on very imperfect or incorrect data.) L. 
 NoACK, Mythol. und Offenbarung. Die Religion in ihreni 
 JFesen, Hirer geschicJitl. EntwicJcel., &c., 2 vols., Darm- 
 stadt, 1845, more systematic tlian historic. A. VON 
 CoLLN, Lehrh. der vorchristl. ReliglonsgescJdchfe, Lemgo 
 & Detmold, 1853, still useful in some parts. J. H. 
 ScHOLTEN, GescJiiedenis der Godsd. en JVijsbegeerte, Leiden, 
 1863. 0. Pfleiderer, Die Religion, ihr Wesen und Hire 
 Geschichte, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1869. Comp. also F. Max 
 MiJLLER, Chips from a German Workshop, vols. i. and ii., 
 London, 1867. 
 
 1. The history of religion is not content with describing 
 special religions {JiicrorjrapJiy), or with relating theii* vicis- 
 
2 HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 situdes and metamorphoses (the history of religions) ; its 
 aim is to show how religion, considered generally as the 
 relation between man and the superhuman powers in 
 which he believes, has developed in the course of ages 
 among different nations and races, and, through these, in 
 humanity at large. 
 
 The definition of religion as the relation between man 
 and the superhuman powers in which he beheves is by 
 no means philosophical, and leaves unanswered the ques- 
 tion of the essence of religion. The powders are designedly 
 not described as supersensual, as visible deities would 
 thus be excluded. They are superhuman, not always in 
 reality, but in the estimation of their worshippers. 
 
 2. The hypothesis of development, from which the his- 
 tory of religion sets out, does not determine whether all 
 religions were derived from one single prehistoric religion, 
 or whether different families of religions sprang from as 
 many separate forms, related in ideas, but independent 
 in origin — a process which is not improbable. But its 
 fundamental principle is that all changes and transforma- 
 tions in religions, whether they appear from a subjective 
 point of view to indicate decay or progress, are the results 
 of natural growth, and find in it their best explanation. 
 The history of religion unfolds the method in which this 
 development is determined by the character of nations 
 and races, as well as by the influence of the circumstances 
 surrounding them, and of special individuals, and it 
 exhibits the established laws by which this development 
 is controlled. Thus conceived, it is really history, and 
 not a morphologic arrangement of religions, based on an 
 arbitrary standard. ' 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 Compare J. I. Doedes, Be Toepasslng van de Out- 
 vikkelingstheorie niet aantehevelen voor de Geschiedenis der 
 Godsdiensten, Utrecht, 1874. On the opposite side, C. P. 
 TiELE, "De Ontwikkelingsgeschiedenis van den Gods- 
 dienst en de hypotheze waarvan zij uitgaat," Gids, 1874, 
 No. 6. In reply, J. I. Doedes, " Over de Ontwikkelings- 
 liypotheze in verband met de Geschiedenis der Godsdien- 
 sten;" Stemmen voor Waarheid en Vrede, 1874. Further, 0. 
 Pfleiderer, " Zur Frage nach Anfang und Entwickelung 
 der Keligion," Jahrbilcher fur Protest. Theologie, 1875, 
 Heft i. In reply, C. P. Tiele, "Over den Aanvang en 
 de Ontwikkeling van den Godsdienst. Een verAveer- 
 schrift," Theol Tijdschrift, 1875, p. 170, sqq. On the 
 laws which control the development of religion, see 
 C. P. Tiele, " Over de Wetten der Ontwikkeling van 
 den Godsdienst," Theol Tijdschrift, 1874, p. 225, sqq. 
 
 3. It is on various grounds probable that the earliest 
 religion, wliich has left but faint traces behind it, was 
 followed by a period in which Animism generally pre- 
 vailed. This stage, which is still represented by the so- 
 called Nature-reHgions, or rather by the polydsemonistic 
 magic tribal religions, early developed among civilised 
 nations into polytheistic national religions resting upon 
 a traditional doctrine. Not until a later period did poly- 
 theism give place here and there to nomistic religions, 
 or religious communities founded on a law or holy 
 scripture, and subduing polytheism more or less com- 
 pletely beneath pantheism or monotheism. These last, 
 again, contain the roots of the universal or world- 
 religions, which start from principles and maxims. Were 
 we to confine ourselves to a sketch of the abstract 
 development of the religious idea in humanity, we should 
 have to follow this order. 
 
y 
 
 4 HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 The polytheistic religions include most of the Indo- 
 Germanic and Semitic religions, the Egyptian, and some 
 others. The nomistic religions comprise Confucianism, 
 Taoism, the Mosaism of the eighth century B.C., and 
 the Judaism which sprang from it, Brahmanism, and 
 Mazdeism. The universal religions are Buddhism, 
 Christianity, and Mohammedanism. The pre-Islamic 
 religion of the Arabs was certainly not a nomistic 
 religion, but without Judaism, to say nothing of Chris- 
 tianity, Islam would never have been founded. 
 
 4. But in actually describing the general history of 
 religion, we are compelled to take into account, also, the 
 genealogical connection and historical relation of religions, 
 which gave rise to different streams of development, in- 
 dependent of each other, whose courses in many instances 
 afterwards met and joined. It is inexpedient, for the sake 
 of a systematic arrangement, to divide these historic groups. 
 
 By genealogical connection we mean the filiation of 
 religions, one of which has obviously proceeded from 
 the other, or both together from a third, whether 
 this be known to us historically or must be referred 
 to prehistoric times. Thus the Vedic and old Eranian 
 religions sprang from the Aryan, Confucianism and 
 Taoism from the ancient Chinese religion. Buddhism 
 from Brahmanism, &c. In the course of history, 
 moreover, religions which are not allied by descent 
 come into contact with each other, and if their mutual 
 influence leads to the adoption by one of them of 
 customs, ideas, and deities belonging to the other, they 
 are said to be historically related. This is the case, for 
 example, with the north Semitic religions in reference to 
 the Akkadian, with the Greek in reference to the north 
 Semitic, and with the Eoman in reference to the Greek. 
 
 / 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 5. For these reasons we divide our history in the fol- 
 lowinc^ manner : — 
 
 (i.) From the polydsemonistic magic tribal religions 
 of the present day we shall endeavour to become ac- 
 quainted with Animism, this being the form of religion 
 which must have preceded the religions known to us by 
 history, and served as their foundation. The example of 
 the more civilised American nations (Mexicans and Peru- 
 vians) and of the Finns will show us what an advanced 
 development may be attained under favourable circum- 
 stances by an animistic religion, even where it is left to 
 itself. This forms the transition to the proper liistory of 
 religion, which will be treated in the ensuing order : — 
 
 (2.) Eeligion among the Chinese : 
 
 (3.) Among the Egyptians, the Semites proper, and the 
 northern Semites or Mesopotamians, in connection with 
 whom the Akkadian religion, which dominates all the 
 north Semitic religions, will be discussed : 
 
 (4.) Among the Indo-Germans who came little, or not 
 at all, into contact with the Semites, the Aryans, Hindus, 
 Eranians, Letto-Slavs, and Germans : 
 
 (5.) Among the Indo-Germans in whose religion the 
 national elements were supplemented and blended with 
 others of north Semitic or Hamitic origin, viz., the 
 Greeks and Eomans. 
 
 The history of the internal development of the univer- 
 sal religions and their mutual comparison lie beyond our 
 plan ; they require separate study, and are too vast to be 
 included here. The ■ third division, however, will trace 
 the development of Islam out of the Semitic religion ; 
 the fourth, that of Buddhism from Brahmanism ; and the 
 
 / 
 
6 HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 fifth will indicate liow European Christianity arose out of 
 the fusion of Semitic and Indo-Germanic religions. 
 
 A description of the. so-called nature-religions, which 
 belongs to ethnology, is excluded from our design for 
 obvious reasons. They have no history ; and in the 
 historic chain they only serve to enable us to form, an 
 idea of the ancient prehistoric animistic religions of 
 which they are the remains, or, it may be said, the 
 ruins. It must suffice, therefore, to recount here a 
 few of their chief features. Of the Japanese no men- 
 tion is made, because the history of the present form 
 of their religion belongs to that of Buddhism, and the 
 investigation of the old national religion (designated by j 
 a Chinese name, Shinto, the way or doctrine of spirits, ^ 
 and perhaps itself derived from China) has not yet led 
 to any sufficiently satisfactory results. The latter remark 
 also holds good of the religion of the Kelts, which we 
 have also left out of consideration for the same reason. 
 
 6. The question whether religion is as old as the 
 human race, or whether it is the growth of a later stage, 
 is as little open to solution by historical research as 
 that of its origin and essence ; it can only be answered 
 by psychology, and is a purely philosophical inquiry. 
 The statement that there are nations or tribes which 
 possess no religion, rests either on inaccurate observation, 
 or on a confusion of ideas. JSTo tribe or nation has yet 
 been met with destitute of belief in any higher beings ; 
 and travellers who asserted their existence have been 
 afterwards refuted by the facts. It is legitimate, there- 
 fore, to call religion in its most general sense a universal 
 phenomenon of humanity. 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 RELIGION UNDER THE CONTROL OF ANIMISM. 
 
 I. 
 
 ANIMISM IN ITS INFLUENCE ON RELIGION IN GENERAL. 
 
 Literature. — Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2 vols., London, 
 187 1, and Researches into the Early History of Mankind, 
 London, 1865 ; Sir JoHN LuBBOCK, Origin of Civilisation, 
 London, 1874; Fritz Schultze, Der Fetischismus, ein 
 Beitrag zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte ; Theod. 
 Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvolker, vol. i., " Ueber die 
 Einheit des Menschengeschlechtes und den Naturzustand 
 des Menschen," Leipzig, 2d ed., 1877; OsCAR Peschel, 
 27ie Races of Man, translated from the German, London, 
 1876, a book of the highest importance, and written in 
 attractive style. Much useful material may be found in 
 Caspari, Die Urgeschichte der Menschheit mit Ruchicht avf 
 die natilrliche Entwlckelung des frilhesten Geisteslebeiis, 2 vols., 
 Leipzig, 1873, 2d ed. ibid., 1877, and in (Rabenhausen) 
 Isis, Der Mensch und die Welt, 4 vols., Hamburg, 1 863. The 
 notions of Georg Gerland, in his " Betrachtungen iiber 
 die Entwickelungs- und Urgeschichte der Menschheit," 
 in Anthropologische Beitrdge, i., Halie, 1875, are altogether 
 peculiar, often hypothetical, but not always to be re- 
 jected. Adolf Bastian, of whose numerous works we 
 only name under this head Der Mensch in der Geschichte, 
 3 vols., Leipzig, i860, and Beitrage zur verglcicJienden 
 
8 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 PsyclioJogie (" Die Seele und ihre Ersclieinungsweisen in 
 der Ethnographie "), Berlin, 1868, and whose ideas 
 deserve consideration, heaps up an ill-arranged mass 
 of examples, from all periods and nations, and nowhere 
 names a single authority, which almost prevents his 
 writings from being used. To this, however, his Besuch 
 an San Salvador makes a favourable exception. Compare 
 further M. C'arriere, Die Anfdnge der Cidtur und das 
 Oriental. Alterflium, 2d ed., 1872 ; L. F. A. Maury, La 
 Magie et VAstrologie dans VAntiquite et ait Moyen Age, Paris, 
 i860, and C. P. TiELE, De Plaats van de Godsdiensten der 
 Natuurvolhen in de Godsdienstgeschiedenis, Amsterdam, 1873. 
 
 7. The belief that the religions of savages, known to 
 Tis from the past or still existing, are the remains of the 
 religion which prevailed among mankind before the 
 earliest civilisation flonrished, and are thus best fitted to 
 give IIS an idea of it, rests on the following grounds : — 
 
 (i.) The most recent investigations indicate that the 
 general civilisation had then reached no higher stage 
 than that of the present savages, nay, it had not even 
 advanced so far ; and in such a civilisation no purer 
 religious beliefs, ideas, and usages are possible, than 
 those which we find among existing communities. 
 
 (2.) The civilised religions whose history ascends to 
 the remotest ages, such as the Egyptian, the Akkadian, 
 the Chinese, still show more clearly than later religions 
 the influence of animistic conceptions. 
 
 (3.) Almost the whole of the mythology and theology 
 of civilised nations may be traced, without arrangement 
 or co-ordination, and in forms that are undeveloped and 
 original rather than degenerate, in the traditions and 
 ideas of savages. 
 
ITS ANTIQUITY. 9 
 
 (4.) Lastly, the numerous traces of animistic spirit- 
 worship in higher rehgions are best explained as the 
 survival and revival of older elements. We must not, 
 however, forget that the present polydciemonistic religions 
 only imperfectly reproduce those of prehistoric times; 
 since even they have not stood still, but have to some 
 extent outgrown their earlier form, which has conse- 
 quently not been preserved unimpaired. 
 
 8. Animism is not itself a religion, but a sort of 
 primitive philosophy, which not only controls religion, 
 but rules the whole life of the natural man. It is the 
 belief in the existence of souls or spirits, of which only 
 the powerful — those on which man feels liimself depen- 
 dent, and before which he stands in awe — acquire the 
 rank of divine beings, and become objects of worship. 
 These spirits are conceived as moving freely through earth 
 and ah, and, either of their own accord, or because con- 
 jured by some spell, and thus under compulsion, appearing 
 to men {Spiritism). But they may also take up their 
 abode, either temporarily or permanently, in some object, 
 whether living or lifeless it matters not ; and this object, 
 as endowed with higher power, is then worshipped, or em- 
 ployed to protect mdividuals and communities {Fetishism). 
 
 Spiritism, essentially the same as what is now called 
 SpirituaUsm, must be carefully distinguished from 
 Fetishism, but can only rarely be separated from it. It 
 is difficult to determine which of the two appears first : 
 in history they are equally old. Fetishism comes from 
 feitip, agreeing not with fatum, chose f6e (De Brosses), but 
 with faditius, " endowed with magic power," from which 
 come the Old French faitis, and the Old English fefys, 
 
10 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 i.e., well-made, neat (Tylor). Botli are only different 
 aspects of the same thing, and to express their unity 
 I have chosen the word Animism, which is elsewiiere 
 generally employed to indicate what I call Spiritism. 
 The derivation of the two last terms is sufficiently plain. 
 
 9 The religions controlled by Animism are character- 
 ised, first of all, by a varied, confused, and indeterminate 
 doctrine, an unorganised polydsemonism, which does not, 
 however, exclude the belief in a supreme spirit, though 
 in practice this commonly bears but little fruit ; and in 
 the next place, by magic, which but rarely rises to real 
 worship. Yet, — or rather precisely from this cause, the 
 power possessed by the magicians and fetish priests is 
 by no means small, and in some cases they are even 
 organised into hierarchies. Moreover, among races the 
 most widely separated, the Negroes, Polynesians, and 
 Americans, there exist certain secret associations, types 
 of the later mysteries and sacred orders, which exercise a 
 most formidable influence. 
 
 Magic may be said to prevail where it is the aim of a 
 cultus not to worship the spirits, although homage may 
 also be offered to appease them, but to acquire power 
 over them by spells, and thus cripple their dreaded 
 influence. As higher conceptions are formed of the 
 divine beings, these enchantments give way to efforts to 
 propitiate them, or to calm their wrath. Among the 
 Brahmanic Hindus, however, the old conception may 
 still be traced in the well-known doctrine that it is 
 possible for man by violent and continuous penances to 
 force the devas into obedience to his will, and to strij) 
 them of their supremacy. The ta^as (literally, " fire," 
 *' heat," and thence the glow of self-renunciation and self- 
 
ITS CONNEXION WITH MAGIC. ii 
 
 chastisement) has here taken the place of magic, with 
 which it was at first confounded. It is a striking 
 example of the way in which a very primitive conception 
 has survived in an otherwise highly-developed religion. 
 
 Secret associations both of men and women exist 
 in great numbers among the Negroes. Among the 
 North American Indians the three secret societies Jossa- 
 kied, ]}.Ieda, and Wabeno, seem, like the Greek mys- 
 teries, to transmit a certain doctrine of immortalitv : 
 their members, at any rate, are regarded as born again. 
 See Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvdlker, iii. p. 215, 
 SG[q. The Areoi of Tahiti are of a peculiar constitution 
 — a body of distinguished men who preserve and propa- 
 gate the old traditions ; they are regarded already as 
 gods upon earth, and are supposed to be elevated above 
 all the laws of morality. See Gerland in Waitz, op. cit., 
 vi. pp. 363-369. 
 
 10. In the animistic religions fear is more powerful | ^ 
 than any other feeling, such as gratitude or trust. The 
 spirits and their worshippers are alilvc selfish. The evil 
 spirits receive, as a rule, more homage than the good, the 
 lower more than the higher, the local more than the 
 remote, the special more than the general. The allot- 
 ment of their rewards or punishments depends not on 
 men^s good or bad actions, but on the sacrifices and gifts 
 wliich are offered to them or withheld. With morality * 
 this rehgion has little or no connection, and the doctrine 
 of immortality consists almost entirely in the representa- 
 tion that the earthly life is continued elsewhere (theory 
 of continuance), while of the doctrine that men will / 
 receive hereafter according to their works (theory of 
 recompense), only the first beginnings are to be traced. 
 
12 ANIMISTIC RELIGION, 
 
 II. 
 
 PECULIAR DEVELOPMENTS OF ANIMISTIC RELIGION AMONG 
 
 DIFFERENT RACES. 
 
 Literature. — General sources : Th. \Yaitz, Anthro- 
 pologie der Naturvolker, vol. i., 2d ed., Leipzig, 1877; 
 vols, ii.-v. part i., Leipzig, 1860-65; vols. v. (part ii.) -vi., 
 continued by G-. Gerland, 1870-72, an indispensable 
 work, evincing great industry and clear-sightedness. 
 The data, including those relating to religion, are always 
 to be trusted ; not so constantly, the theories founded 
 on them by the writer. In this respect Waitz is far 
 surpassed by Gerland, especially in vol. vi. Fried. 
 MuLLER, Allgemeine Ethnographie, Vienna, 1873, very 
 brief, but generally to be trusted in everything con- 
 cerning religion. Peschel, Eaces of Man, London, 1876, 
 p. 245, sqq. 
 
 Separate races : — The Australians. Gerland-Waitz, 
 vi. pp. 706-829. George Grey, Journals of Two Expe- 
 ditions of Discovery in Nortli-Western and Western Australia^ 
 2 vols., London, 1841 ; cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 
 i. p. 320, sqq. 
 
 Papuans and Melanesians. Gerland-Waitz, vi* 
 pp. 516-705 ; see the literature, ihid., p. xix., sqq. A. 
 GOUDZWAARD, De Pajpoetva's ran de Geelvinkshaai, Schie- 
 dam, 1863. Van Boudijck Bastiaanse, Voyages Fails 
 dans les Moluques, a la Nouv. Guinee, &c., Paris, 1845. 
 
 Malays. Malays proper, Waitz, v. part i. ; Micro- 
 nesians and North- West Polynesians, ihid., v. part ii. ; 
 Polynesians, ihid., vi. pp. 1-5 14. Literature, ihid., v. 
 pp. xxvi-xxxiv ; and vi. pp. xix-xxii. OberlaNDER, 
 Die Inseln der Sudsee, Leipzig, 1871, gives a good sum- 
 
ITS DIFFERENT DE VELOPMENTS. 1 3 
 
 maiy. C. Schirren, BIq Wandersagm der Neuseeldnder 
 und der Mauimijthos, Riga, 1856 ; and Sir George Grey 
 (see above under Australians), Polynesian Mythology and 
 Ancient Traditional History of the Neiu Zealand Pace, 
 London, 1855 ; both works much to be recommended. 
 See also W. W. Gill, Myths and So?igs from the South 
 Pacific, with preface by Max Muller, London, 1876. 
 
 Negro Eaces and allied peo2)les. Waitz, vol. ii. ; 
 literature, ibid., pp. xvii-xxiv. A. Kaufmann, jSchil- 
 derungen aus Central Afrika, Brixen, 1862. An excellent 
 summary will be found in Ed. Schauenburg, Peiseii 
 in Central Afrika von Mungo Park his cmf Dr. Parth und 
 Dr. Vogel, 2 vols., 1859-65 ; while Vogel's travels are 
 described by H. Wagner, Schilderwig der Reisen und 
 Entdeckungen des Dr. Ed. Vogel, Leipzig, i860. W. Bos- 
 man, Nauwkeurige Beschrijving van de Guinese Goud- tand- 
 en slaveJcust, 2d ed., 1709; very instructive and charac- 
 teristic. J. Leigiiton Wilson, History and Condition of 
 JVestern Africa, Philadelphia, 1859, excellent. Much 
 useful material in Brodie Cruickshank, Eighteen Years 
 on the Gold Coast, London, 1853. Important for the 
 knowledge of the priestly hierarchy, T. E. BowDiTcn, 
 Mission to Ashantee, London, 18 19. J. B. Douville, 
 Voyage an Congo et dans VInterieur de VAfriqiie Equinoxiale, 
 3 vols., Paris, 1832, not to be trusted in the least. The 
 travels of Barth, Speke and Grant, and Sir Samuel Balcer, 
 contain very few notices of religion. Comp. also Cameron, 
 Across Africa, 2 vols., London, 1877. 
 
 On the Kaffirs, Hottentots, and Bosjesmans, the first 
 authority is the admirable work of G. Fritsch, Die 
 Eingehorenen Sild-Afrika's, ethnograijh. und anatom. heschrie- 
 hen, Breslau, 1872. E. Casalis, Les Bassoutos, Paris, 
 i860, attractive. 
 
 American Ptaces. Waitz, vols. iii. and iv. ; literature, 
 
14 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 ibid., iii. pp. xix-xxxii ; and iv. pp. vii, viii. The much- 
 used work of J. G. MuLLER, Geschichte der Amerikanischen 
 Urreligionen, Basel, 1855, contains abundance of material, 
 and ideas and explanations which are sometimes very 
 just; but the writer's abortive attempt to distinguish 
 everywhere a northern belief in ghosts or spirits from a 
 southern sun-worship, leads him occasionally to place the 
 facts in a false light. D. G-. Brinton, The Myths of the 
 Neiv JForld, New York, 1868, original, but one-sided. 
 The works of Brasseur de Bourbourg, Catlin, and 
 Schoolcraft (see the literature in Waitz, to which may 
 be added Catlin, A Religious Ceremony of the Mandans) 
 still deserve to be consulted. H. H. Bancroft, Tlie 
 Native Races of the Western States of America, 5 vols., 
 London, 1873-75. For Ethnology, see further, H. E. 
 LuDEWiG, Tlie Literature of American Aboriginal Lan- 
 guages, with additions by Turner, edited by N. True- 
 NER, London, 1857. 
 
 On the religion of the Finns, see M. Alex. Castren, 
 Vorlesungen iiber die Finnische Mythologie, aus dem Schwed. 
 mit Anmerkk. von A. Schiefner, St. Petersburg, 1853. 
 Id., Kleiner e Schriften, herausgegeben von Schiefner, St. 
 Petersburg, 1862 (containing an essay " Ueber die 
 Zauberkunst der Finnen," and also " Allgemeine Ueber- 
 sicht der Gotterlehre und der Magie der Finnen wahrend 
 des Heidenthums ";. Compare further, A. Schiefner, 
 Heldensagen der Minussinschen Tataren, rythm. bearbeitet, 
 St. Petersburg, 1859. The most complete edition of the 
 Kalevala is by El. Lonrott in 1849 (under the sanc- 
 tion of the University of Helsingfors. The second 
 edition contains 50 Runes, as against 32 in the first 
 edition of 1835); translated by A. Schiefner, Kalewala, 
 das National-Epos der Finnen, nach der 2ten Ausg. ins 
 Deutsche ilbertr., Helsingfors, 1852. 
 
ITS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT^. 15 
 
 11. The question of the relation in which the religions 
 of savages stand to the great historic families of religions, 
 has only just been opened ; and not till it has been 
 solved with some degree of certainty, will it be possible 
 for the separate nature-religions to take their proper 
 places in the history of religion. At present they only 
 serve to give some idea of the religions which preceded 
 those of civilised nations, and their description does not 
 belong to this place. But while animistic religion is, 
 in its nature, and even in its ideas and usages, with 
 slight modification everywhere the same, it is necessary 
 to point out the special causes which have led to its 
 development among different races in such different forms 
 and degrees. Of these the principal are ( i ) the different 
 characters of these races, (2) the nature of their home and 
 occupations, and (3) the historic relations in which some 
 of them stood to their neighbours. 
 
 The question of the relation of the religions of savages 
 to those of the great historic families of religions, amounts 
 briefly to this : — Are the former entirely independent, or 
 is there reason for regarding them as the backward and 
 imperfectly-developed members of larger groups, to which 
 the recognised families of religion (such as the Semitic or 
 Indo-Germanic) belong ? There is real agreement between 
 the civilisation and religion of the Negroes, and those of 
 the Egyptians. Similar correspondences exist between the 
 Red Indians and Turanians. The Polynesians and Indo- 
 Germans, also, exhibit so many points of contact, that 
 Bopp even endeavoured, however fruitlessly, to prove the 
 original unity of their languages. Gerland {Anthrojwlog. 
 Jjeitrdge, i. p. 396) has lately combined all the African 
 nations, Negroes, Bantu tribes (Kaffirs), Hottentots, 
 
l6 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 Berbers, Gallas, &c., together with Egyptians ar.d 
 Semites into one great race, which he names the Arabic- 
 African. Were this conjecture to be estabhshed, we 
 should have to incorporate all the African religions with 
 those of the Egyptians and Semites. "Without going so 
 far as this, E. Von Hartmann, Die Nigritier, vol. i., 1877, 
 endeavours to prove the unity of all the African races, 
 but he marks off the Semites from them very decidedly. 
 His demonstration rests at present chiefly on physical 
 grounds, but in the second volume, which has not yet 
 appeared, he promises to establish the unity of these 
 races in language and religion as well. But the inquiry 
 is still in its first stage, and it must be carried to much 
 more assured results before we may venture to make use 
 of it in the history of rehgion. 
 
 12. The joyous careless disposition of the sensual 
 Negro is reflected in his religion as clearly as the sombre 
 melancholy character of the American Indian in his. 
 If the latter is endowed with much more poetic feeling 
 than the former, whose mythology is of the poorest order, 
 and in this resembles that of the Semites, he is surpassed 
 by the poetic genius of the Polynesian, which displays 
 itself in his rich mythology. The great influence of 
 national character on religion is specially apparent among 
 peoples, which, though living in the same climate and 
 engaged in the same occu^^ations — like the Papuans, the 
 Melanesians, and Polynesians — stand at such different 
 stages of development : while the religion of the Americans, 
 on the other hand, though they are spread over a ^vhole 
 quarter of the globe, and diverge so widely in civilisation, 
 exhibits everywhere the same character, and is every- 
 where accompanied hy the same usages. 
 
ITS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTS. 17 
 
 13. The influence of the locality and the occupation 
 of the different peoples must also be taken into account. 
 Lowest in the scale stands the religion of the root- 
 digging Australians, who do, indeed, engage in hunting, 
 but show little skill in it, and that of the Bosjesmans, 
 who live largely by plunder. The religion of the Koikoin 
 or Hottentots, and of the Kaffirs, who are both for the 
 most part pastoral tribes, is mild, that of some of the 
 war-loving JSTegro tribes sanguinary and cruel; while 
 among those Negroes who are engaged chiefly in industry 
 and commerce, without neglecting cattle-breeding and 
 af^riculture, a much more humane and civilised worship 
 prevails, in which however the spirit of trade shows itself 
 in a certain cunning towards the spirits. The myths of 
 the Polynesians at once betray that they have sprung up 
 among a people of husbandmen and fishermen, and their 
 religious customs correspond entirely to the beneficent 
 nature which surrounds them. 
 
 14. Even at this point of development, the mingling, 
 or even simply the mutual intercourse of nations, brings 
 about a transfer of religious ideas and institutions from 
 the one to the other. The mixed race of the Melanesians 
 may still be distinguished in many respects from the 
 Polynesians, but they adopted the religion of the latter, 
 though in a very degraded form. The Abantu or Kaffirs, 
 who are very near to the Negroes, but are only distantly 
 related to the Koikoin or Hottentots, borrowed from the 
 latter various religious conceptions. 
 
 That the Melanesians derived their religion from the 
 
 Polynesians is denied by Gerland in Waitz, vi. p. 675. 
 
 The statement is not strictly accurate, but the Melanesians 
 7 B 
 
i8 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 are a mixed race of Polynesians and Papuans, among 
 whom the religion of the former maintained the ascendant 
 and was independently developed. Their supreme god 
 Ndengei is only a degenerate form of Tangaloa, the god 
 universally worshipped by the Polynesians, though the 
 Melanesians apply to him their own peculiar myths, which 
 are unknown to the Polynesians. From these they are 
 distinguished by their greater rudeness, and want of 
 poetic capacity, while on the other hand they are less 
 luxurious and unchaste. Their customs correspond much 
 more Avith those of the Papuans. 
 
 The religion of the Kaffirs bears a greater resem- 
 blance in character and conceptions to that of the 
 Hottentots than to that of the Negroes. The myth of 
 Unkulunkulu, "the great-grandfather," the Creator, does 
 not in fact differ from that related by the Hottentots of 
 their chief deity, the Moon-god Heitsi-eibib. The word 
 Utixo, moreover, the Kaffir designation of the highest 
 god, has been adopted from the Hottentots. 
 
 15. The original religions of America exhibit religious 
 Animism at every stage of development. In one and 
 the same race, whose religions possess everywhere the 
 same distinctive character, and have certain peculiar usages 
 in common, the richest variety of religious development 
 may be found. Among some tribes, such as the Shoshonee 
 and Comanches in North America, the Botokuds and Oto- 
 maks, the Pampas Indians, some of the Brazilian savages, 
 and the Terra-del-Puegians of South America, hardly any- 
 thing more than the first germs of a cultus is to be traced. 
 A higher stage has been reached by the tribes of the 
 north-west of North America, by the Caribbees of 
 Central America, and, among the closely-allied Hyper- 
 boreans, by the Esq^uimaux. But they are far surpassed 
 
AMONG THE AMERICANS. 
 
 19 
 
 by tlie savages of ISTortli America, on the east of the 
 Missomi, and the south of Canada. In mythology, 
 religion, and usages, these have attained about the same 
 point of development as the Polynesians ; their worship 
 is directed for the most part towards spirits of a lower 
 rank, especially towards those which they fear, yet they 
 all acknowledge a great Spirit, Creator of everything 
 which exists. The Natchez, a small tribe at the con- 
 fluence of the Mississippi and Eed Eiver, had even 
 founded a theocracy, based on sun-worship, and appear 
 to have exerted great influence by their religion on the 
 neighbouring tribes. 
 
 The character of the American with his sombre ear- 
 nestness, his sagacity and silence, his passionateness 
 combined with a self-mastery which expresses itself out- 
 wardly in gravity and at least apparent indifference, and 
 enables him to endure the most terrible torments with a 
 smile, is reflected in his religion. This is characterised by 
 severe self-tortures and bloody ceremonies, which do not 
 give way even before a higher civilisation. The myth 
 of the hero who is worshipped as the founder of this 
 civilisation (originally a sun-god) appears ahke among 
 savage tribes and among peoples already settled, and the 
 national heroes everywhere resemble one another. The 
 following usages may be regarded as universal: the use 
 of the steam-bath for producing ecstasy, the sacred game 
 at ball, and enchantment with a rattle. The most 
 widely-separated peoples retain the practice of drawing 
 blood out of certain parts of the body, which are regarded 
 as the seat of the soul, a custom which probably served 
 as a substitute for human sacrifices, and among the 
 Cherokces, Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians, baptism ac- 
 companies the naming of children. This large agreement 
 
20 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 renders tlie differences in development more remarkable, 
 especially when it is remembered that the nearest connec- 
 tions of the highly-civilised Aztecs in Mexico are the 
 Shoshonee and Comanches, tribes which stand "nearer 
 to the brutes than probably any other portion of the 
 human race" {Ee/port of the Comm. of Indian Affairs, 1854, 
 p. 209). 
 
 The great Spirit, who is pimus inter jpares, is unques- 
 tionably of native origin. 
 
 The religion of the Natchez is raised by its organisa- 
 tion alone above that of their neighbours, but it is no- 
 thing more than an organised Animism. The absolute 
 sovereign was the brother of the sun and high priest, 
 and to all fire, even to that which served for house- 
 hold purposes, but especially to that which was always 
 kept burning in the temple, a special sanctity was at- 
 tached. In this case also rehgious progress seems io 
 be connected with the introduction of agriculture. 
 
 16. The mingling of various races by migration and 
 conquest, the transition from the wandering life of 
 hunters and fishermen to the settled tasks of agriculture, 
 and the establishment of regular states, resulted among 
 the Muyscas or Cliibchas (of New Granada) and the 
 Mayas (of Central America, particularly Yucatan), but 
 above all among the Peruvians and Mexicans, in a great 
 advance, which did not leave religion behind; an ad- 
 vance which cannot be ascribed, as some WTiters have 
 endeavoured to prove, to the influence of foreign colonists. 
 The beings whom these nations vi^orship, are as yet 
 no gods in the strict sense, i.e., supernatural beings, 
 they are hardly more than spirits : they are, however, 
 the representatives of the higher powers and phenomena 
 
AMONG THE AMERICANS, 21 
 
 of nature. Their usages, also, their cultus and their 
 doctrine of immortality, are, in reality, animistic. Yet 
 in their conception of the higher powers, and in the 
 relation in which they imagmed themselves to stand 
 to them, it is impossible not to recognise the begin- 
 nings of a purer and more rational view. There were 
 even princes, both in Peru and Mexico, who ventured to 
 introduce important reforms, a sign of great activity of 
 thought. However imperfect their success may have 
 been at first, they would probably have become after a 
 time the bases of a new order of things, if the course of 
 the independent development of these nations had not 
 been checked by the Spanish conquest. The religions of 
 Mexico and Peru certainly reached, if they did not pass 
 beyond, the extreme limits of Animism. 
 
 That the Mexican and Peruvian civilisation owed its 
 origin to foreign colonists, has been asserted by many 
 writers. The fooHsh suppositions that the Ten Tribes 
 of Israel, or Welsh princes, or Phoonician merchants, 
 may have wandered off to America, deserve no refuta- 
 tion. More likeUhood attaches to the conjecture that 
 East Asiatics may have landed in Mexico. This was 
 suggested by Humboldt, Ansichten der Natur, i. p. 214. 
 From the Chinese work Nan-ssu, i.e., "History of the 
 South," De Guignes, Paravey, and Neumann inferred that 
 the Chinese were acquainted with America about 458 
 A.D. ; but this conclusion is disputed by Klaproth, Nou- 
 velles Annales des Voyages, 1831. All the material for the 
 discussion of the question is given by Ch. G. Leland, 
 Fusang ; or, The Discovery of America ly Chinese Buddhist 
 Priests in the Fifth Century, London, 1875. The state- 
 ments about this land Fusang, however, arc for the 
 
22 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 most part not applicable to America, while they are 
 altogether appropriate to Japan. The proofs adduced 
 by G. d'Eichthal, Mude sur les Origines Bouddiques de 
 la CivilisaUon Amiricaine, i® partie, 1865, are also ex- 
 tremely feeble. 
 
 The names by which these nations designate the gods 
 in general, teotl among the Mexicans, guacas among the 
 Peruvians, signify nothing more than spirits. These feed 
 on human flesh, and are drunken with blood, the human 
 sacrifices in Mexico being counted by thousands. The 
 mild deity of the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl, to whom no 
 human sacrifices were offered, forms an exception. Some 
 expressions have been supposed to indicate the beginnings 
 of monotheism, but they are extremely uncertain. But 
 it is remarkable that the sun-spirit was called simply 
 teotl, "the spirit" ])ar excellence. It is also said that 
 all the spirits die when he appears. The splendid ad- 
 dresses made, according to some writers, on solemn occa- 
 sions by official speakers, and which teach a fairly pure 
 morality, inspire no great confidence, especially when 
 it is reflected that the IMexican hieroglyphics are of a 
 very indefinite kind, and give scope for arbitrary ex- 
 planations. Attempts at reform, however, were not 
 wanting. Various noble princes, the Toltecs in Mexico, 
 Netzalcuatl in Tezcuco, and the Incas in Peru, attempted 
 to set limits at all events to the grossest licentiousness^ 
 and to human sacrifices. In 1440 A.D. the Inca Tupac 
 Yupanqui, at the consecration of a temple of the sun 
 at Cuzco, proclaimed a new deity, lUatici-Viracocha- 
 Pachacamac, to whom the sun-god was subordinated, and 
 he founded a temple to him at Callao containing no images, 
 in which no human sacrifices might be offered. A similar 
 advance was made by Netzalcuatl, prince of Tezcuco ; he 
 built a temple nine stories in height, which contained no 
 
AMONG THE FINNS. 2% 
 
 image and might be polluted by no blood, in honour of 
 the deity who, as cause of causes, was enthroned above 
 the nine heavens. But neither this deity, nor that of 
 the Inca, whose triple name is a combination of the 
 terms for the three vital principles thunder-cloud (i.e., the 
 hidden receptacle of the thunder), sea- foam (i.e., the fire 
 hidden in the waters), and the earth-soul, ever became 
 national gods, and the temple of the latter soon had its 
 images and horrible paintings. 
 
 17. Over a large extent of Asia and Europe the 
 Aryans, and perhaps also the Semites, were preceded 
 by Turanian peoples, and the oldest civilisation which 
 "we can trace was derived if not from them, at any rate 
 from a race very closely connected with them, of which 
 the Akkadians in Mesopotamia are the chief representa- 
 tives. Most of their religions have been supplanted by 
 Buddliism, Islam, or Christianity; but the remarkable 
 religion of the Finns, compared with that of the kindred 
 Siberian tribes and of the Tatars, proves how high a 
 development they were capable of attaining. Their 
 mythology and cultus were, it is true, completely under 
 the influence of the belief in magic, and they are thus 
 purely animistic. All the spirits which they worship, 
 even the highest, are nature-beings of more or less 
 might, but chiefly eminent for their magical power, and 
 rarely endowed with moral qualities — a sort of inde- 
 pendent patriarchs, differing in power, not in rank. High 
 above all the other spirits, how^ever, stands Ukko (the 
 old man, father, grandfather, the venerable), the Creator 
 (luoya) and deity (yumdla) ^ar excellence, the ancient one 
 in heaven, mightier than the mightiest enchanter, whose 
 
24 ANIMISTIC RELIGION. 
 
 aid is invoked by all heroes and spirits. Only one step 
 remained for the Einns to take in order to rise from 
 polydaemonism to polytheism. Their epic poems, col- 
 lected under the name of Kalevala, the snbject of which 
 is not a moral or national conflict, but simply the contest 
 of the powers of nature personified, affords proof of their 
 great poetic gifts. 
 
 The ethical element is almost entirely deficient. Even 
 in the representation of Ukko I have not succeeded in 
 discovering it. Evil spirits and good cry to him for 
 help, and he grants it, alike when the powers of darkness 
 are being resisted, and when the nine spirits which plague 
 mankind are born. He is the highest and mightiest of 
 the spirits, but not even the lesser are dependent on 
 him. 
 
 Yiimala, which signifies, according to Gastrin, " the 
 place of thunder," i.e., the sky (?), was originally, in his 
 opinion, the name of a distinct god of the sky. It is, 
 however, an appellative of the divine beings in general, 
 used parallel with luoya, but often employed to designate 
 the highest god, and subsequently applied to the god of 
 the Christians. 
 
 The worship of spirits (the chief of whom are called 
 Haltia) and the doctrine of immortality are not developed 
 any further among the Finns than among the Nature- 
 peoples. 
 
 The three great heroes of the Kalevala, Wainambinen, 
 Ilmarinen, and Lemminkainen, are certainly ancient 
 spirits of heaven, fire, and earth, and correspond to 
 Odhinn, Loki, and Hunir, the German triad of gods, 
 although the working out of their character and the 
 description of their deeds have a character entirely 
 their own. 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE 11. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 Literature. — General; J. E. E. Kauffer, Geschiclde 
 von Ost - Asien, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1858-60; id., Das 
 Chinesische Volk, Dresden, 1850. Gutzlaff, Geschichte 
 des Chines. Eeichs, herausgegeben von K. F. Neumann, 
 Stuttgart, 1847. A number of essays by J. H. Plath, 
 in the Sitzungslerklite der Baierischen Akademie, of which 
 the following deserve to be named here : " Chronol. 
 Grundlage der alten Chines. Geschichte,^' 1867, ii. i ; 
 " Ueber die Quellen der alten Chines. Geschichte," 1870, 
 i. i; "China vor 4000 Jahren," 1869, i. 2, 3, ii. i; 
 " Ueber Schule und Unterricht bei den alten Chinesen," 
 1868, ii. I. G. Pauthier, Chine, ou Description hisforique, 
 geographique, et litteraire, &c. ; id.. Chine moderne^ ou 
 DescrijJtion, &c., Paris, 1853. In The Origin of the 
 Chinese, London, 1868, J. Chalmers loses himself in 
 very hazardous conjectures. 
 
 Eeligion of the Old Empire. J. H. Plath, Die Reli- 
 gion und der Cultus der alten Chinesen, Miinchen, 1862, in 
 two parts, (i) Die Eeligion; (2) Der Cultus. Ed. Biot, 
 Le Tcheou-li, ou Rites des Tcheou, 2 vols., Paris, 185 1. 
 
 Confucianism. J. H. Plath, Confucius und seiner 
 Schiller Lehen und Lehren, (i.) Histor. Einleitung, Miinchen, 
 1867 ; (ii.) Lehen des Confucius, i., ibid., 1870 ; (iii.) Die 
 Schiller des Confucius^ ibid., 1873 ; (iv.) Sdmmtliche Aus- 
 sp'uche des Confucius und seinen Schillern, systematisch 
 geordnet, i., ibid., 1874. Absolutely indispensable, J. 
 
26 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 Legge, Tlie Chinese Classics, with a Translation, Critical 
 and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and cojyious Indexes, 
 Hongkong and London, 1861, and following years ; in 
 7 vols., of which there have appeared — vol. i., Life of 
 Confucius, and the first three classical books ; vol. ii., 
 the works of Mencius ; vol. iii., i. and ii., the Shu- 
 king ; vol. iv., i. and ii,, the Shi-king, and other 
 poetical pieces. Vols. i. and ii. have been published 
 without the text in a small edition, The Life and 
 Teachings of Confucius, third ed., London, 1872, and 
 the Life and Works of Mencius, ibid., 1875. The Liln-yu 
 has been translated into German by W. Schott, vol. i., 
 Halle, 1829; vol ii., Berlin, 1832. Pauthier, Les 
 Livres Sacres de V Orient, Paris, 1840, contains a trans- 
 lation of the Shu-king and of the classical books. Other 
 translations are enumerated in the Notices Bibliogra- 
 phiques, Pauthier, op. cit., p. xxviii, and in the history 
 of Kauffer named above, i. p. ZT)^ ^21-} ^^^ ii- P- 17. 
 As samples of the profane literature of the Confucianists 
 we may specify, D'Hervey de St. Denys, Le Li-sao, 
 L>oeme du t^^ siecle avant notre ere, Paris, 1870. Stanisl. 
 JuLiEN, Contes et Apologues Indiens suivis de Fables et de 
 Poesies Chinoises, 2 vols., Paris, i860. 
 
 Taoism. Lao tseu Tao te King, Le Litre de la Vole et de la 
 Vertu, trad. &c.^ ])ar Stajs^isl. Julien, Paris, 1842. Lad- 
 tsts Tad te King, uhersetzt u. s. iv. von V. VON Strauss, 
 Leipzig, 1870, follows Julien closely. Only an arbitrary 
 paraj)hrase will be found in Lao-tse Tdo-te-king, ilhers. und 
 erJddrt von E. voN Planckner, Leipzig, 1870. Le Livre 
 des Pecomjjenses et des Peines, trad, par A. Remusat, Paris, 
 1 8 16. A. Pfizmaier, Die Ldsung der Leichname und 
 Schiverter, ein Beitr. zur Kenntniss des Taoglaubens, Vienna, 
 1870 ; id., Die Taolehre von den icahren Menschen und den 
 Unsterllichen, ibid., 1870. W. Rotermuxd, Die Ethih 
 
IN THE OLD EMPIRE. 27 
 
 Zao-tse's mit hesonderer Beziignahme aiif der Buddhistischen 
 Moral, Gotha, 1874. 
 
 18. The religion of the ohl Chinese Empire, as it 
 existed certainly from the twelfth century B.C., and pro- 
 bably at a much earlier period, is best described as a 
 purified and organised worship of spirits, with a pre- 
 dominant fetishist tendency, combined into a system 
 before it was possible for a regular mythology to de- 
 velop out of it. The sole objects of worship are the 
 spirits (shin), which are divided into heavenly, earthly, and 
 human, and, as a rule, are still closely connected with the 
 objects of nature. Heaven {TMmi), who, when conceived 
 as a personal being, is called the supreme emperor {Shang- 
 ti), stands at the head, and in co-operation with the earth 
 has produced everything. His will is fate, and he 
 rewards and punishes. He is one; but he has five 
 emperors beside him, and an innumerable midtitude of 
 spirits beneath him, among which those of the sun, 
 moon, stars, and constellations are pre-eminent. The 
 spirit of the earth {Heu-tlmo), though not sharply per- 
 sonified, is for the most part conceived as of female 
 nature. The spirits of the mountains, streams, &c., 
 belong to her realm. Besides these, the spirits are with- 
 out number. They are perceived, but are neither heard 
 nor seen, though they reside in visible objects, and for 
 the most part assume the forms of animals. It may be 
 regarded as a great advance that there is no mention of 
 essentially evil spirits, that all spmts are exalted 
 servants of Shang-ti, and in their intercourse with men 
 esteem moral qualities above everything else. 
 
 y 
 
 v^ 
 
J 
 
 28 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE, 
 
 The twelfth century B.C. is the era of the establish- 
 ment of the Tshow dynasty, whose cultus we know from 
 the book Tshow-li. Plath objects to the conception of 
 the joint working of heaven and earth as a marriage, 
 and describes the earth as a male feudal prince. But 
 the great power which they exert is called " generation " 
 (seng), and in the Yi-ldng they are frequently repre- 
 sented as husband and wife, as father and mother. 
 The same idea occurs also in the Shu-Jcing. See the 
 passages cited by Plath himself, Bel. der alien Chinesen, 
 pp. s6-^S and 73. To treat this as a type of parental 
 care is inappropriate. The two original principles Yang 
 and Yin, which Plath regards as the fruit of later 
 philosophical reflection, make their appearance as early 
 as 1 100 B.C. in the Tshow-li, op. cit, vii. 3, and ix. 10, 11 ; 
 and in the same work it is not the chief vassal of the 
 empire, but the principal wife of the emperor who is 
 named after the earth. The old and generally diffused 
 myth of the marriage between heaven and earth certainly 
 lies at the foundation of Chinese mythology also, though 
 the philosophers afterwards disguised it past recognition. 
 
 19. The doctrine of continued existence after death 
 [among the Chinese entirely accords with that of the 
 Katnre-peoples. Man has two souls, one of which 
 ascends after death to heaven, while the other descends 
 into the earth, after vain attempts have been made to 
 recall them both. Of the doctrine of retribution no 
 certain traces are to be found, but we do find the idea that 
 it is possible by sacrificing life to save a sick person. 
 The souls of ancestors were worshipped with great pomp 
 and earnestness, and were, it was supposed, present at tho 
 sacrifices. 
 
IN THE OLD EMPIRE. 29 
 
 Though no distinct traces of the doctrine of retribu- 
 tion after death can be discovered among the ancient 
 Chinese, it must be remembered in this connection 
 that all the books -which are the sources of our 
 knowledge of their religion before Kong-tse, have passed 
 through the hands either of himself or his followers, 
 and he always refused to express an opinion on souls and! 
 their destiny. The doctrine of retribution w^as held by 
 the sect of the Tao-sse, and reached among them a very' 
 elaborate form, so that it maybe regarded as probable that 
 it was not unknown to the religion of the old empire. 
 
 20. The Chinese are remarkable for the complete 
 absence of a priestly caste. Their worship, which was 
 regulated down to its minute details, was entirely a civil 
 fimction. It was placed under the control of one of the 
 six ministers who directed all the officials connected with 
 religion, including the musicians and dancers. To Tliian, 
 the spirit of heaven, only the emperor might sacrifice ; to 
 the spirits of the earth and the fruits of the land, only 
 tlie emperor and the feudal princes ; to the five house 
 spirits, only the high officials, and so on in strict order.; 
 Of the sacrifices, which originally included also human j 
 victims, that part was presented which was regarded as 
 the seat of the soul or of life. The greater number of the ' 
 temples were consecrated to the dead, while the emperor 
 himself performed his sacrifices under the open sky. 
 Prayer, even when addressed to Thian, was permitted 
 to all, but at the court, regular officials were appointed 
 for the purpose. Even the magicians, soothsayers, and 
 spirit-charmers, though numbered among the state func- 
 tionaries, formed no priestly order. Great value, how- 
 
30 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE, 
 
 ever, was attached to the oracles procured by their in- 
 strumentality, especially to those obtained by means of 
 the plant Shi, and by the burning of furrows on a tortoise- 
 shell {pu). 
 
 The most important source of our knowledge of the 
 early worship of the Chinese is the book TsJww-li, written 
 in the twelfth century B.C. by TsJiow-hmg, brother of the 
 founder of the Tshow dynasty. From his family, six 
 centuries later, came Kong-tse. 
 
 21. A reform of this religion was carried out in the 
 
 ■ [sixth century B.C. by Kong-fu-tse (Master Kong, Con- 
 
 Ifucius), though he himself did not wish to be regarded as 
 
 / I doing anything more than transmit and preserve the 
 
 'doctrine of the Ancients. Born in 550 (or 551) B.C. in 
 
 the principality of Lu, of a distinguished family, he began 
 
 at the age of two-and-twenty years to give instruction as 
 
 a teacher or sage. Labouring sometimes as an official, 
 
 and once appointed to a high civil post, but for the most 
 
 part living without ofdce, and often compelled by the 
 
 disturbances in his native country to go into exile, he saw 
 
 himself always surrounded by a large number of disciples, 
 
 consulted by the most eminent personages, and highly 
 
 honoured even during his life. He died in the year 478. 
 
 Kong-tse' had a high sense of his calling, and attached 
 great value to purity of morals, though he detested the 
 life of the hermit. Accused without cause of insincerity, 
 he hated all false show, but he was inordinately puncti- 
 lious about all forms, and perhaps not wholly free from 
 superstition. If he thus appears somewhat narrow- 
 minded, whoever judges him by the age in which he lived 
 and the nation to which he belonged, notes the powerful 
 
 J 
 
CONFUCIANISM. 31 
 
 impression wliicli lie made -upon friends and foes, and 
 observes, above all, liis intercourse witli Ms disciples, will 
 recognise in him a man of rare qualities, endowed witli a 
 noble heart and a penetrating spirit. 
 
 22. The religious doctrine of Kong-tse is ethical_natu- 
 ralism, founded on the state religion of the Tshow. He 
 engaged in supernatural questions with as much reluctance 
 as in practical affairs, and expressed himself very cautiously 
 and doubtfully on religious points. Even of heaven he 
 preferred not to speak as a personal being, but he quoted its 
 example as the preserver of order, and he would allude to 
 its commands, ordinances, and purposes. But the actions 
 of men also help to determine their destiny. The doctrine 
 that good and evil are rewarded on earth by prosperity 
 and adversity was firmly maintained by him. To prayer 
 he ascribed no great value. He did not believe in direct 
 revelations, and he regarded forebodings and presentiments 
 simply as warnings. Eather than express an opinion on 
 the nature of spnits and souls, he insisted that they should 
 be worshipped faithfully and the old usages maintained ; 
 but he laid the greatest stress on reverence, and urged that 
 the spirits should not be served in barbarous fashion, and 
 that, in times of scarcity, for instance, honour should not 
 be paid to the dead at the expense of the living. 
 
 I speak of the state-religion of the Tshow, having in 
 view the book named Tshow-ii already quoted, which 
 appears to have established a new order of things, and 
 with the prescriptions of which Kong-tse always perfectly 
 , accords. That this book does not reproduce the old 
 popular religion, and that Kong-tse only retained a portion 
 of the earlier doctrines of his nation, will become apparent 
 
 y 
 
32 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 by and by, on the consideration of Taoism. In ancient 
 times he was always worshipped next to Tshow, which 
 proves that the connection between their reforms con- 
 tinued to be felt. 
 
 23. Kong-tse devoted much attention to religions 
 literature. He studied zealously the Yi-Jdng, an ob- 
 scure book of magic. The Shu-hing, an historical work, 
 was perhaps recast by himself, it is certainly written in 
 his spirit. The Shi-hing is a collection of songs chosen 
 by him out of a large number, from which all mytho- 
 logical expressions have probably been eliminated. The 
 Li-ki, a ritual work, was enlarged by him. These books, 
 with the addition of a chronicle written entirely by him, 
 entitled Tshiln tsiew, and not of a religious nature, con- 
 stitute the five KingSj regarded by the followers of Kong- 
 fu-tse as the canonical books. In the Liln-Yil ("Arranged 
 Conversations ; " Legge, " Analects ") the remarkable utter- 
 ances of the Master addressed to his followers were 
 collected by his disciples' disciples. Others attempted 
 in the Ta-Mo ("the Great Instruction;" Legge, "the 
 Great Learning ") and the Tshung-yung (" the Doctrine of 
 the Mean") to supply a philosophical basis for his 
 doctrine. These works form three of the four Shu, or 
 classical books. The foiu"th, comprising the works of 
 the sage Meng-tse (§ 24), was added to the collection 
 at a much later period. 
 
 Yi-ldng signifies "Book of Changes." Shu means 
 writings, and the Shu-hing is regarded as the Book of books. 
 It is commonly assumed that this work was put into its 
 present form by Kong-tse, or at any rate modified by 
 him in accordance with his views, but this is questioned 
 
ME NCI us. 33 
 
 by Legge. It is certain that it has been revised by some 
 one belonging to his school. This is plain from a com- 
 parison of it with the so-called Bamboo-books found in 
 the grave of King Seang of AYei, who died in 295 B.C. ; 
 these books contain a dry chronicle, with numerous 
 fabulous additions, giving a totally different representa- 
 tion of the history. The object of the Shu-Jdng is not so 
 much to narrate a history, as to impart moral and poli- 
 tical instruction, based on historical facts. Shi are poems, 
 of which the Shi-Ung contains about three hundred, chosen 
 out of several thousand. The source of the Li-hi {" rituum 
 commemoratio ") is the Tshow-U. Tshun-tsieiv, signifying 
 " Spring- Autumn," is a chronicle of the principality 
 of Lu from the year 723 to 479 B.C. The Ta-hio is 
 ascribed to the sage Tsang-sin, or his disciples, or also, 
 like the Tshung-yung, to Kong-tse's grandson Tsze-sse. 
 
 From the word Shu, ^' writings," is derived the term 
 Shu-Jdao, the name of the doctrine or sect of Kong-tse. 
 
 24. Immediately after Kong-tse's death, a temple w^as 
 erected to liim by the Prince of Lu, and his worship, 
 though not yet recognised on the part of the Govern- 
 ment, at first increased. Towards the commencement of 
 the fourth century B.C., during the serious disturbances 
 which led to the fall of the Tshow dynasty, new doctrines 
 of all kinds arose. These threatened to undermine the 
 authority of the Master. This tendency was resisted 
 with great emphasis by the learned Meng-tse (Mencius, 
 371-288 B.C.) In his teaching, which was principally 
 political and moral, or, more accurately, perhaps, anthro- 
 pological, the religious element retires still further into 
 the background than in that of Kong-tse. Less modest 
 and disinterested, he was more independent in character, 
 
 7 C 
 
34 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 and a more powerful reason er. By Ms instruction and 
 writiugs lie acquired great influence, triumphing over all 
 the opponents of Kong-tse, who was in his eyes the most 
 eminent of men. It is probably owing to his labours 
 that even the great persecution under the Ts'in dynasty 
 (212 B.C.), and the favour displayed by some emperors of 
 the Han dynasty (after 201 B.C.) towards the followers 
 of Lao-tse (§ 26), did not succeed in eradicating Confu- 
 cianism. From the year 57 of our era the worship of 
 Kong-tse by the side of Tshow was practised by the 
 emperors themselves as well as in all the schools ; and 
 since the seventh century Kong-tse has been worshipped 
 alone. For the great majority of the Chinese he is the 
 ideal of humanity, which even the adherents of other 
 systems may not despise. 
 
 The persecution, begun in 212 B.C., lasted only a short 
 time; but it seems to have been very severe. Orders 
 were issued for the burning of all the canonical books 
 with the exception of the Yi-king, and on one occasion, 
 even, four hundred and sixty literati were buried alive 
 in pits. The persecutor was the founder of the Ts'in 
 dynasty himself, called Hoang-ti, like the great Emperor 
 so much revered by the Taoists. It was he who replaced the 
 feudal system by a more centralising government ; he was 
 the first proper Emperor of China, and he was checked in 
 his reforms by the opposition of the Confucian sages, 
 who stood up for the old institutions. The occasion of 
 the persecution was political rather than religious, 
 although between these two spheres no sharp distinc- 
 tion can be made in China. The stern emperor, how- 
 ever, died within three years, and his dynasty also was 
 soon replaced by that of the Han. Confucianism was ex- 
 
THE TAO-SSE. 35 
 
 posed to more danger through the many new doctrines, 
 alike those of the pessimist Yang-tslm^ and those of Mih- 
 teih, the preacher of universal love, and others, which 
 found acceptance with many. They were obstinately 
 resisted by Meng-tse. 
 
 25. The humane but prosaic Confucianism might satisfy 
 the majority of cultivated Chinese, but it did not meet 
 all wants. This not only becomes apparent at a later date 
 through the introduction of Buddhism, but it is also clearly 
 proved by the permanence of the ancient sect of the 
 Tao-sse, which constantly endeavoured to vie with the 
 ruling religion. This rehgious community represents 
 rather the spiritist side of Animism. As a religious 
 tendency it existed from the earliest times, and even tried 
 to derive its origin from the ancient Emperor Hoang-ti, 
 whose name is erased from the canonical books of the 
 Confucians. It owed its rise as an association, however, 
 to the necessity of offering vigorous resistance to the 
 teaching of Kong-tse, and to the influence of the teach- 
 ing of his great rival Lao-tse, whom it reveres as its 
 sauit. It enjoyed the temporary favour of some 
 emperors, and it is even now very widely diffused. But 
 it did not succeed in gaining the ascendency in the 
 empire, or in making its way among the ranks of learn- 
 ing and distinction. The cultivated Chinese now regard 
 it with unmixed contempt. 
 
 Although the history of Hoang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, 
 is obscured by all kinds of myths, so that we might 
 be disposed to consider him as a mythical being, 
 the majority of Sinologues regard him as an historical 
 personage. In fact, similar myths are related of per- 
 
36 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 sons indisputably historic, such as Lao-tse himself. The 
 Bamboo-books supply many details about him; in the 
 Shu-king his name is designedly omitted. He was 
 connected with Lao in the same way as Tshow with 
 Kono-. Taoism is even called " the doctrine " or " the 
 service of Hoang-Lao." 
 
 / 26. Lao-tse, born in the principality of Thsu, 604 
 B.C., was highly renowned even in his lifetime as a pro- 
 found philosopher. Kong-tse visited him in order to 
 consult him as an older and celebrated sage, and esteemed 
 him highly, but the tendency of Lao w^as entirely different 
 from his own, leading to mystic reflection and the con- 
 templative life. Not much is known of his history, 
 but the story of his journey to India must be rejected as 
 unworthy of belief He wrote the famous Tao-te-King, 
 which became the most sacred book of the sect, although 
 its adherents, at any rate at the present day, certainly do 
 not understand it. Tao^ a term in use with Kong-tse's 
 followers also, and employed by the Chinese Buddhists in 
 the sense of wisdom or higher enlightenment (hodJii), 
 possesses among the Tao-sse, who derive their name from 
 it, a mystic significance, and is even worshipped by them 
 as a divine being. Lao-tse distinguishes in his book 
 between the nameless, supreme Tao, which is the ultimate 
 source, and the Tao which -can be named, and is the mother 
 of everything. To this, and to the power or virtue pro- 
 ceeding from it (te= virtus), the highest worship, according 
 to him, is due, and in this does the sage find his ideal. 
 To withdraw entirely into himself and free himself from 
 the constraints of sense, in order, thus, without action or 
 \i speech, to exercise a blessed power, must be his aim. 
 
THE TAO-SSE. 37 
 
 This is the best philosophy of life and the best policy. The 
 often obscure system developed in the Tao-U-King is purely 
 Chinese, and is incorrectly derived from the influence of 
 Indian philosophy, with which it agrees rather in form 
 than in spirit. From the Buddhist doctrine it is essentially 
 different. It is marked by a morbid asceticism, and takes 
 up an attitude of hostility towards civilisation and pro- ^' 
 gress, but it is distinguished by a pure and sometimes 
 very elevated morality. 
 
 It is altogether erroneous to regard Tao, with Remusat, 
 as the primeval Reason, the "koyog, and worse still to call the 
 Tao-sse the Chinese rationalists. This character fits them 
 least of all, and they do their utmost to be as unreason- 
 able as possible. The name would be much more appro- 
 priate to their opponents. The ordinary meaning of the 
 word is " way," in the literal and the metaphorical sense, 
 but always " the chief way." In the mysticism of Lao the 
 term is applied to the supreme cause, the way or passage 
 through which everything enters into life, and at the 
 same time to the way of the highest perfection. 
 
 27. The later writings of the Tao-sse, among which 
 the Book of Rewards and Punishments occupies a pro- 
 minent place, show that they did not maintain this 
 morality at the same elevation, but gradually lost them- 
 selves in confused mysticism and an unreasoning belief 
 in miracles. To gaiu long life and immortality by means ^ \ 
 of self-chastisement, prayer, and watching, as well as by 
 the use of certain charms, was their highest endeavour. 
 But many remains of the ancient Chinese mythology, 
 banished by Kong-tse, and transformed by Lao-tse into 
 
38 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE. 
 
 philosopMcal reflections, were preserved nearly unaltered 
 in tlieir dogmas. 
 
 28. The ancient Cliinese religion, wliicli, with vast 
 differences in character, stands at the same point of 
 development as the Egyptian, in some respects took a 
 higher flight than the latter. By Tshow and Kong-tse 
 it was purified from many superstitions, which in Egypt 
 lasted till the fall of the Empire. The feudal system, as it 
 prevailed in China, amid all its faults possessed one virtue, 
 in that it permitted a much more independent develop- 
 ment of personality and a freer influence on the part of 
 the sages, than the theocratic ahsolutism which in Egypt 
 crippled all intellectual movement. 
 
 When the feudal system in China was obliged to give 
 way before another form of government, the two sects 
 were too firmly rooted to be involved in the ruin of the 
 old polity, yet they proved too purely national for either 
 of them to become a universal religion. It was only when 
 Chinese civilisation made its way complete, as in Corea 
 and Japan, that the Chinese religion, especially the doctrine 
 and worship of Kong-tse, was adopted with it. 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE HAMITES AND SEMITES. 
 
 1. 
 
 Compare F. Lenormant, Les Premieres Civilisations, torn. 
 " Archseol. pr6historique," Egypte 5 torn, ii., " Chald^e et 
 Assyrie, Phenicie," Paris, 1874. G. Eawlinson, The 
 Five Gh^eat Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, 3 vols. 
 (3d edition), London, 1873. Oppert, Memoire sur Us 
 Rapports de VJ^gypte et de VAssijrie dans V Antiquite, Paris, 
 1869, "Progres des Etudes relatives a I'figypte et ^ 
 rOrient." :^tudes ^gypt, par E. de Rougi^; DecUffr. des 
 jScrit. cuneif., par De Saulcy ; :^tudes Semitiques, par 
 MuNKj Langue et Litt. Arab., par Reynaud, &c., 1867. 
 Transactt. of the Soc. of Bihl. Archceology, London, 18^2, sqq. 
 P. Pierret, Melanges d'Archml £gypt. et Assyr. (in con- 
 tinuation of De Rouge's Recueil de Travaux, &c., of which 
 one part appeared in 1870), Paris, 1872, sqq. Lepsius' 
 Zeitschr'ift (see below) also contains Assyrian studies. 
 
 I. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Literature. — A. General Works. — The great collections 
 of plates after the monuments, inscriptions, and ancient 
 texts, such as those of Champollion, Rosellini, Leemans, 
 Lepsius, Sharpe, Diimichen, Mariette, Pleyte, are only 
 accessible to those who are familiar with the writing and 
 language of the Egyptians. An accurate general survey 
 of the history of the decipherment of hieroglyphics and 
 of Egyptian literature is given by J. P. I^Jahaffy, Pro- 
 
40 RELIGION AMONG HAMITES AND SEMITES. 
 
 legomena to Ancient History, London, 187 1. Compare 
 Champollion le jexjne, Precis du Systeme hieroglypJiique 
 des Anciens £gyptiens, 2d ed., with a vol. of plates, Paris, 
 1828, systematised in his Grammaire £gyptienne. Hoi-apol- 
 linis Niloi Eieroglyphica, ed. C. Leemans, Amsterdam, 
 1835. Strongly to be recommended, H. Brugsch, Eiero- 
 glypli. Grammatih zum Nutzen der studirenden Jugend, 
 Leipzig, 1872. A useful Egyptian Grammar has been 
 published by P. le Page Eenoue," London, 1875. Un- 
 finished, E. de Eouge, Chrestomathie jSgyjMenne, Ahrege 
 grammatical, fasc. i, Paris, 1867; fasc. 2, 1868. H. 
 Brugsch, Hieroglyph. - demotisches Worterhuch, 4 Bde., 
 Leipzig, 1867-68. C. C. J. Bunse^, Aegyptens Stelle in 
 der JFeUgeschichte, 6 vols.: i.-iii., Hamburg, 1844-45; 
 iv.-vi., Gotha, 1856-57. Of the English translation, 
 Egypt's Place in Universal History, vols. i.-v., London, 
 1848-67, the fifth volume, translated by C. H. Cottrel, is 
 indispensable; it contains numerous additions by S. Birch, 
 among them being a Translation of the Boole of the Dead, 
 a Dictionary of Hieroglyphics, and a Grammar. Sir G. 
 Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 
 ist series, 3 vols., London, 1837 (2d ed. of vol. i., 1842) ; 
 2d series, 2 vols., with one vol. of plates, London, 1841. 
 Valuable contributions will be found in the Eevue ArcMo- 
 logique, and in the Zeitschrift fiir Aegypt. Sprache und Alter- 
 thumsTcunde, edited by Lepsius and Brugsch, Leipzig, 
 1863, 5^^. The following catalogues may be consulted 
 with profit : C. Leemans, Description Raisonnee des Monu- 
 mens J^gyptiens du Musee d'Antiquites des Pays-lasd Leide, 
 Leiden, 1840. E. DE RouGE, Notice des Monuments 
 £gyptiens du Musee du Louvre (i^® ^d., 1849), S^^ ^^-y Paris, 
 1869. H. Brugsch, Uehersetz. und Erkldr. Aegypt. DenJc- 
 mdler des Mus. zu Berlin, Berlin, 1850. Th. Deveria, 
 Notice des Antiquites ]Sgypt. diLMuste deLyon, Lyons, 1857. 
 
AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 41 
 
 A. Mariette-Bey, Notice des Frincij)aux Monuments du 
 Musee ct Boulaq, Paris, 1869. Th. Deveria, Catal. des 
 Manuscr. ^gypt. au Musee i^gy])t. du Louvre, Paris, 1874. 
 
 B. Travels. — Champollion, Lettres Sorites d'£gypte 
 et de Nuhie en 1828 et 1829, Paris, 1833. Compare the 
 same author's Notices Descriptives conformes aux Manuscr. 
 Autogr., Paris, 1844. E. Lepsius, Brief e aus Aegi/j^ten, 
 Berlin, 1852. W. Ge^tz, Briefe aus Aegypt. und Nub,, 
 Berlin, 1853. H. Brugsch, Beiseherichte aus Aegypten, 
 Leipzig, 1855. G. A. Hoskins, A Winter in Upper and 
 Lower Egypt, London, 1863. J. J. Ampere, Voyage 
 en Egypte et Nuhie, Paris, 1867. A. Mariette-Bey, 
 Itineraire de la Eaute-^gypte, Alexandrie, 1872. H. 
 Brugsch, JFanderung nach den Tilrlcis-Minen und der Sinai- 
 EalUnsel, 2d ed., Leipzig, 1868. 
 
 C. History. — R. Lepsius, Kdnigshuch, Berlin, 1858. 
 H. Brugsch, Histoire d' Egypte des les Premiers temps de 
 son -existence jusqii'ct nos jours, i™ partie (to Nectanebos), 
 Leipzig, 1859; 2^^ ed., i^® partie (to the end of the seven- 
 teenth dynasty), Leipzig, 1875. A complete German edi- 
 tion by the author has appeared, 1877. It contains some 
 additions and corrections, but the proper names are 
 given in transcription only. E. DE EouGE, Eecherches 
 sur les Monuments quJon pent attrihuer aux six premieres 
 Dynasties,'Psins,iS66. Lepsius, "UeberdiezwolfteAegypt. 
 Konigsdynastie " {Akad. der Wiss., Berl., Jan, 5, 1852). 
 F. Chabas, Les Pasteurs en Egypte, Amsterdam, 1868. 
 Id., Eecherches pour servir a V Histoire de la XI X^ Eyn., 
 Chalons et Paris, 1873. M. BiJDiNGER, Zur Aegijptische 
 Forschung Herodots, Vienna, 1873. S. Sharps, History of 
 Egypt, 2 vols., 6th ed., London, 1876, must be used with 
 caution in regard to Egyptian religion. Compare M. 
 DuNCKER, Geschichte des Alterthums, vol. i. F. Lenor- 
 MANT, Manual of the Ancient History of the East, London, 
 
42 RELIGION AMONG HAMITES AND SEMITES. 
 
 1869, vol. i. Philip Smith, The Ancient History of the 
 East, London, 187 1, vol. i. G. Maspero, Eistoire An- 
 cienne des Peuples cle V Orient, 2*® ^d., Paris, 1876. 
 
 On Chronology. — E. Lepsius, Einleit. zur Chronol. der 
 Aegypt., Berlin, 1848. J. Lieblein, Aegypt Chronol., 
 Christiania, 1863. F. J. C. Mayer, A egyj^tens Vorzeit und 
 Chronol., Bonn, 1862. J. Dumichen, Die erste sichere 
 Angdbe iiher die Regierungszeit eines Aegypt. Konigs aus dem 
 alien Eeich, Leipzig, 1874. Unsatisfactory, C. PlAZZi 
 Smith, On the Antiquity of Intellect. Man, Edinburgh, 1868. 
 
 D. Texts with translation, and translated texts. — R. 
 Lepsius, Das Todtenhuch der Aegypter, nach dem hierogl. 
 Pap. in Turin, Leipzig, 1842; translated by Birch in 
 Bunsen's Egypfs Place, &c., see above ; by Brugsch in 
 the Zeitschr. filr Aegypt. Sprache, 1872, sqq. (not yet 
 finished) ; and quite erroneously by G. Seyefarth in 
 Theol. Schriften der alten Aegypter, Gotha, 1855. Compare 
 Pleyte, £ti(des ^gyptologigues, Leiden, 1866, sgq. EuG. 
 Lefebure, Traduction compares des Eymnes au Soleil 
 compos, le xrf' chapitre du Bit. fun. £gypf., Paris, 1868. 
 Lepsius, Aelteste Texte des Todtenhuchs nach SarJcofagen 
 des altaegypt. Peichs, Berlin, 1867. E. Cilaba.^, Le Papy- 
 rus magique Harris, publ. et trad., Chalons, i860. Id., 
 Melanges ^gyptologiques, 1^-3® serie, Chalons et Paris. 
 1862, sqq. Id., Le Calendrier des Jours fastes et nefastes 
 (Pap. Saltier IV.), trad, compl., ibid., no date. G. Maspero, 
 Essai sur Tinscript. dedic. du temple dAhydos, Paris, 1867. 
 Id., Hymne au Nil, pull, et trad., Paris, 1868. Pecords of 
 the Past, vols. ii. and iv., containing Egyptian texts, 
 London, 1874-75. C. AY. Goodwin, The Story of Saneha, 
 an Egypt. Tale, transl. from the hieratic Text, London, 
 1866. W. Pleyte, " Een lofzang aan Ptah " (Evangelie- 
 spiegel, and " De Yeldslag van Ramses den Groote 
 tegen de Cheta," Theol. Tijdschr., 1869, p. 221, sqq. 
 
AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 43 
 
 Louis Menard, Hermes Trismcgisfe, trad, compl., Paris, 
 1S66. 
 
 E. Religion. — C. P. Tiele, Vergcl. GescJdedenis der 
 Egy^t. en Mesopot Godsdd., Amsterdam, 1869-72 ; first 
 boolv, Egypte. Champollion'S Pantheon ^gyptien remains 
 unfinished. Plutarch, Ueher Isis und Osiris, edited by G. 
 Parthey, Berlin. Lepsius, Ueher den ersten Aegypf. 
 GotterJcreis und seine geschichtUch-mythologische Entstehung, 
 Berlin, 1851. Id., Ueher die Goiter der vier Elemenfe hei 
 den Aegypf., Berlin, 1856. Pleyte, Lettre sur qiielques 
 monuments relatifs au dleu Set, Leiden, 1863. Id., Set dans 
 la hargue du Soleil, ibid., 1865. Ed. Meyer, Set-Typhon, 
 cine relig.-geschichtl. Studie, Leipzig, 1875. Brugsch, Die 
 Sage von der geflugelten Sonnenscheihe, Gottingen, 1870. 
 (Comp. E. Naville, Textes relatifs au Mythe d'Horos dans 
 le temple d'Edfou, Geneva and Basle, 1870.) Sir Ch. 
 Nicholson, " On the Disk- Worshippers of Memphis," in 
 the Transactt. of the Boy. Soc. of Literature, 2d ser. vol. ix. 
 pt. ii. p. 197, sqq. M. Uhlemann, Das Todtengericht hei 
 den alten Aegyp>tern, Berlin, 1854. P. Pierret, Le Dogme 
 de la Resurrection chez les anciens £gyptiens, Paris, no date. 
 G. Parthey, Das Orakel und die Oase des Ammon, Berlin, 
 1862. EuG. Plew, De Sarapide, Koningsberg, 1868. 
 Brugsch, Die AdonisTdage und das Linoslied, Berlin, 1852. 
 DUMICHEN, Ueher die Tempel und Grdher im alten Aegypt., 
 Strassburg, 1872. Id., Bauurkunde der Tempel-anlagen 
 von Dendera, Leipzig, 1865. Id., Der Aegypt. Felsentempel 
 von AhiirSimhel, Berlin, 1869. Brugsch, Die Aegypf. 
 Grdhenvelt, Leipzig, 1868. The treatise of 0. Beaure- 
 gard, Les Dlvinites J^gyptiennes, Paris, 1866, must be 
 regarded as a complete failure. 
 
 F. Egyptian Religion in relation to other religions. — 
 Pleyte, La Religion des Pre-Israelites, Recherches stir le 
 Dieu Scih, Utrecht, 1862. W. G. Brill, Israel enJ^gypte^ 
 
44 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Utreclit, 1857. Uhlemann, Israeliten mid Hylcsos in 
 Aegijijt., LeijDzig, 1856. F. J. Lauth, Moses der Ehrder, 
 nach Aegy;pt. Papyrus-Urkunden, Munich^ 1868. A. Eisen- 
 LOHR, Der grosse Papyrus Harris, ein Zeugniss fiir die 
 Mosdische PieUgionsstiftung enthaUend, Leipzig, 1872. (The 
 results in all these treatises are still very uncertain.) G-. 
 Ebers, Aegypten und die Bilcher Moseys, vol. i. (publica- 
 tion not continued), Leipzig, 1868, thoroughly scientific. 
 Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology and Egypt. Christianity, Lon- 
 don, 1863, deficient in its treatment of the ancient 
 Egyptian religion, yet not without value for the rela- 
 tion of its later forms to Christianity. E. Eoth, Die 
 Aegypt. und Zoroastr. Glaubenslehre als die dltesten Quellen 
 miserer speculativen Ideen (the first part of the Geschichte 
 unser. Ahendl. Philosophie), Mannheim, 1862, rendered use- 
 less, in spite of its learning, by wrong method. It has 
 been imitated and outdone by J. Braun, Natur geschichte 
 der Sage, BucJcfilhrwig alter relig. Ideen u.s.w. auf ihren 
 gemcinsamen Stammhaum, two vols., Munich, 1864. 
 
 29. Among the sources of our knowledge of the ancient 
 Egyptian religion, the first and principal place belongs to 
 V the so - called Book of the Dead, or " Book of the 
 
 going forth on the Bay," a collection of texts partly 
 ancient, and partly of later date, intended by their magic 
 power to secure the victory for the soul on its journey 
 to the abodes of eternity. To the same class belong 
 certain magic papyri, exce]3t that these were to serve 
 in the contest against evil spirits upon earth. All 
 these books, on which fresh light is being constantly 
 thrown, are inexhaustible mines for Egyptian mythology. 
 Eurther, both these and others include religious liymins of 
 the Kighest importance. The historical and literary works, 
 
ANIMISTIC USAGES. 45 
 
 also, the nnmerons inscriptions on temples, tombs, and 
 otlier monuments, contain not a little bearing on re- 
 ligion. Tbougli miicb. yet remains to be investigated 
 and explained, all this material, when compared with the 
 statements of the Greeks, enables ns to form a very 
 fair conception of the belief and the worship of the ancient 
 Egyptians. The history of this religion, however, can 
 only be sketched in its main outlines. 
 
 30. In Egypt the old elements were not replaced by 
 those of later growth, but always remained standing by 
 their side. Thus through every period of Egyptian 
 history we find different usages of animistic origin 
 retained, though perhaps with changed significance, along 
 with very elevated religious ideas, which are by no means 
 in accord with them. Among these may be ranked the 
 cultus of the dead, the deification of the kings, and the \/ 
 worship of animals, which reached the same height among 
 no other people. The dead were worshipped in sepul- 
 chral chapels and temples ; the kings, even in their life- 
 time, were regarded as the deity upon earth ; and certain 
 animals, among which the sacred bulls occupied the most 
 prominent place, originally no doubt worshipped as 
 fetishes, received homage as the incarnations of a liigher 
 being. Eetishism also was the root of the custom by 
 which the innermost sanctuary of the temple contained 
 no image, but only a symbol of the chief god. That the 
 Eg}^:)tian religion, like the Chinese, was originally nothing 
 but an organised animism, is proved by the institutions of 
 worship. Here, too, existed no exclusive priestly caste. 
 Descendants sacrificed to their ancestors, the officers of 
 state to the special local divinities, the king to the deities 
 
46 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 of the whole country. Not till later did an order of 
 scribes and a regular priesthood arise, and even these as 
 a rule were not hereditary. 
 
 Tiie worship of animals is said to have been introduced 
 by Kaiechos (Kakau, of the second dynasty) ; but if this 
 statement deserves any credit, and is not founded on his 
 name, which may signify " the bulls," it can only be re- 
 ferred to an official recognition of the animal- worship as 
 a state institution. Such usages cannot be imposed by 
 authority : they grow up among the people. The bull- 
 gods chiefly honoured were the black Apis {Ha^n, to be 
 distinguished from the Nile-god Hdjn) of Memphis, and 
 the white or yellow Mnevis {Mena) of Heliopolis. Of the 
 first, Chamus, son of Kamses II., the builder of the 
 Serapeum, was an ardent worshipper. Even centuries 
 later the people were so deeply attached to this cultus 
 that the gift of a new Apis by Darius Hystaspes reconciled 
 them for a time to the hated Persian rule. 
 
 The absence of an image in the inmost sanctuary of the 
 temple, sometimes regarded as an evidence of a certain 
 spirituality, is only a proof of the devotion of the 
 Egyptians to ancient customs. There were images every- 
 where, but in the naos only the ancient fetish, dead or 
 living, now perhaps, though this cannot be affirmed with 
 certainty, regarded as a symbol. 
 
 31. It is altogether erroneous to regard the Egyptian 
 "^ religion as the polytheistic degeneration of a prehistoric 
 monotheism. It was polytheistic from the beginning, but 
 it developed in two entkely opposite directions. On the 
 one hand, the world of gods, through the addition of 
 the local religions and the adoption of foreign deities, 
 grew richer and richer. On the other hand, a gradual 
 
TRIUMPH OF LIGHT AND LIFE, 47 
 
 and tentative approacli was made to monotlieism, without 
 attaining clear and unequivocal expression of it. The 
 scribes harmonised the two, by representing the plurality 
 of deities as the manifestations of the one uncreated liidden 
 god — as his members, created by himself. 
 
 32. The Egjrptian mythology reproduces in varying 
 forms two leading ideas. The first is the behef in 
 the triumph of light over darkness, and of life over 
 death. This is exhibited by the sun-myths. The 
 victory of light, conceived for the most part physi- 
 cally, is represented in the conflict of Ea, the god of 
 Heliopolis (An) and the cliief god of Egypt, with 
 the serpent Apap. The triumph of life over death is 
 rather the subject of the myth of Osiris, the other chief 
 god of the empire, specially worship23ed in Thinis-Abydos, 
 Osiris, slain by his brother Set — lamented by his wife and 
 sister Isis and ISTephthys — endowed by Thut, the god of 
 science and literature, with the j)ower of the word — is 
 avenged by his son Horos, and, while himself reigning in 
 the kingdom of the Dead, lives again in him on earth. 
 This mythic representation of the death and reawakening 
 of the life of nature which was observed in the succession 
 of day and night and of the seasons, was very early, and ^ 
 more closely than the myth of Ea, brought into connec- 
 tion v/ith the doctrine of the resurrection. Each man, at 
 his death, became identified with Osiris. As with the 
 body of the god, his also was mourned, embalmed, and 
 buried. As the soul of the god shmes in Orion in the 
 sky, so that of the departed lives likewise among the stare. 
 As the shade of the one conquers in the world of the 
 
48 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Dead, so that of tlie otlier sustains there a series of trials 
 in order at last to pass in and out freely with the god of 
 light, and be united with him for ever. 
 
 The belief in the victory of light and life was ex- 
 pressed in the very name, nuteru, " those who renew them- 
 selves," which is the general designation of the gods, and 
 in the constantly recurring triads of father, mother, and 
 son. That the son is no other than the father himself 
 alive once more, appears from the formula, " husband 
 of his mother {ka mut-f)" which is applied to several 
 Egyptian deities. 
 
 Though certainly regarded originally as independent 
 gods, the other chief gods of Heliopolis must be viewed 
 as forms of K^. Such were the visible Harmachis {Rd 
 Harmachuti, Ra-Horos on the two horizons), the hidden 
 Turn (A turn, the nightly sun-god), Chepra, the creator, 
 *' he who continually renews himself," symbolised by a 
 beetle. Less closely connected with him was his ally 
 Shu, of whom two varying representations exist, founded 
 on two different meanings of his name. As the " out- 
 spread " or ^' out-stretching," he is the god of the sky -, as 
 the " consuming," he is the god of the scorching heat of 
 the sun. 
 
 The meaning of the names of Osiris {Asar, Asiri), Set 
 {Set or SiUi), and Thut (Thuti) is uncertain. The two 
 first are the two hostile sun-gods, whom we find among 
 the Semites. The last was once a moon-god, and then 
 became the god of numbers, of weights and measures, and 
 subsequently of literature and science. Isis (As) is the 
 . " ancient," the " venerable," or better, the " exalted ; " 
 Nephthys {NeU-ha) the " mistress of the house," goddess 
 of the underworld. Horos {Her, the "uppermost," "he 
 who is above ") is the god of the sun by daj^, and has a 
 
DOCTRINE OF CREATION, 49 
 
 number of forms. It would seem that it was not till the 
 myth of Osiris was so closely united with the belief in 
 the resurrection, that Anubis (Anup or Anjm), the con- 
 ductor of souls, was taken into it. In the oldest tombs 
 it is with his image that we generally meet, and not 
 with that of Osiris, as at a later date. 
 
 33. The other leading idea is that of creation by 
 the supreme uncreated god with his assistant spirits, of 
 which the eight personified cosmic powers are the chief. 
 The work of creation is ascribed, indeed, to all the 
 principal deities, but especially to the gods of fire and 
 the element of moisture. At the head of the first 
 stands Ptah, the god of Memphis, who himself personi- 
 fies the cosmic fire, as the soul of the universe ; just 
 as his " great beloved " Sechet represents its destroying 
 and purifying power, and Neith of Sais — often united with 
 him — its mysterious hidden operation, while his form Bes 
 with his consort Bast symbolise its beneficent warmth and 
 cheering glow. That Chnum the architect, god of the 
 waters — originally the wind which moves and fertilises 
 them — and consequently the soul of the universe, and 
 Hapi the Nile-god, should also be regarded as creative 
 deities, needs no further explanation. 
 
 The eight cosmic powers {Sesmenu or Sesennu, from 
 whom the city of Thut, Hermopolis, derived its Egyptian 
 name), always united with Tlmt, but nevertheless to be 
 distinguished from his seven assistants, constitute four 
 pairs : Nun and Nunt, the celestial ocean, the abyss ; 
 Ileh and Held, time (without end) ; Kek and KeU, dark- 
 ness ; Neni and Nenii, breath, spirit, or wind. These are 
 
 the four personifications of the ideas embodied in the well- 
 ' D 
 
50 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 known doctrines of creation, " In endless duration " (or 
 " in the beginning ") " was darkness on the abyss, and the 
 waters of the primeval ocean were moved by the wind, 
 the breath of the deity," cf. Gen. i. The myth, if not 
 adopted from Semites, is clearly another form of the 
 later Semitic representation. 
 
 Ptah (from patclhu) signifies " former," " sculptor," an 
 appropriate name for the god of fire. Sechet, a name 
 generally transcribed Pacht (Pechet), denotes " kindling 
 fire " (causative of diet, " flame ") ; Pechet is " the de- 
 vourer," especially the lion. Neith (Net or Nit) is the 
 Egyptian virgin mother, yet in a purely cosmogonic- 
 theological sense. Bes is the ascending flame ; he has a 
 twofold nature as god of joy, music, and dancing, and as 
 warrior. His consort Bast, the beneflcent, is the gentle 
 counterpart of the violent Sechet. 
 
 Chnum is the deity who was formerly, under the name 
 of Kneph, regarded by some scholars as the supreme god 
 of the Egyptian pantheon. He is one of the oldest gods, 
 and his worship remained very sensual. By his side 
 stand Sati, the generative power, and AmiJca, "the em- 
 bracing." These three personify the wind, flowing water, 
 and the earth. 
 
 34. It is not surprising that in the earliest history of 
 Egyptian religion much still remains obscure. When, 
 however, we note that the Egyptians themselves called 
 the prehistoric period the age of the Horus-followers, 
 and that there was no place of importance which had not 
 its Horus and its Hathor, we are justified in concluding 
 that the chief gods adored above all others in the earliest 
 period were these two gods of the light of heaven. 
 
 Under the first six dynasties, besides Osiris and Ea 
 Ptah of Memphis was chiefly worshipped, as the deity 
 
ITS EARL Y PHASES. 5 i 
 
 wlio effected the iinioii of the two divisions of the king- 
 dom under one sceptre. It was probably in this period 
 that the cultns of animals was raised to a state institution. 
 The deification of the kings was carried, in the days of 
 the builders of the pyramids, to the greatest extreme ; 
 and the three worships, of Osiris, Ea, and Ptah, were 
 blended, perhaps imperceptibly, together. Such are the 
 gradual stages of ascent from the visible gods to the higher 
 and invisible. The simplicity of the tombs in this period 
 is worthy of note. Earely are the gods represented in 
 them ; and though the deceased already bear religious 
 titles, the walls of the sepulchral chapels exliibit only 
 the scantiest allusions to theological subjects. Eeligious 
 feeling appears to have been vivid and deep, but the 
 power of priests and scribes was certainly still small. 
 
 " Horus-followers " or " Horus-worshippers " seems the 
 best translation of the often-recurrins; Har-sliesu. The 
 name Horus has been already explained. In later times 
 this name also was employed as a general designation for 
 the deity : was it so originally ? It is not improbable. 
 Hathor (Hathar) would signify literally " the house of 
 Horus ; " but she is without doubt the same as the 
 Assyrian Istar, the Phenician Ashtoreth (c/. the South 
 Arabian A^htar), and the only question is on which side 
 lies the priority. Is the Egyptian Hathar a corrup- 
 tion of Istar, or the reverse ? This point deserves further 
 investigation. The great antiquity, however, to which the 
 cultus of Hathor may be traced in Egypt, long before the 
 time when there was any possibihty of Semitic influence, 
 renders only two interpretations tenable — eitlier that 
 Istar is the Egyptian Hathor in Semitic guise, or that 
 both are forms, modified in accordance with varying 
 
52 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 national genius, of a goddess originally invoked under a 
 similar name by the common forefathers of the Hamites 
 and Semites. 
 
 35. The gods worshipped under the Middle Empire 
 (the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Dynasties) correspond 
 altogether to the character of the period, which was dis- 
 tinguished both by conquests and by the flourishing con- 
 dition of agriculture and the arts of peace. Now that 
 the centre of gravity of the kingdom was transferred from 
 Memphis in Lower Egypt to the Thebais in Upper Egypt, 
 the gods of this latter region, as so often happened in 
 antiquity, were elevated to the highest rank. The 
 principal deities are Munt, the god of war ; Chem or 
 Min, the god of fertility and agriculture, with whom must 
 also be named, even at this early period, Amun, the god of 
 the city of Thebes, as yet 'but slightly different from Chem, 
 and far from being the great king of the gods, which he 
 was only destined to become in later years. These three 
 are in fact only different forms of the same divine being. 
 It is not surprising that in an age so rich as this in the 
 products of industry, Ptah, the former, and Chnum, the 
 architect, were the objects of special veneration ; and it is 
 equally natural that a prince of the Thirteenth Dynasty, 
 to whom Egypt owed a new canal system, and who by this 
 means added a whole j)rovince to his dominions, should be 
 zealously devoted to the Nile-god Sebak, god of the water 
 Y/hicli at once served for drinking and fertilised the land. 
 Thus do the forms of religion undergo modification with the 
 progress of civilisation. The kings of this period promote 
 external religion, but as uncontrolled masters and not as 
 yielding obedience to priests. Their inscriptions exhibit an 
 
UNDER THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. 53 
 
 ethical tone. Literature is mostly secular, but the scribes 
 are already beginning to apply themselves to the ex- 
 planation of ancient texts. The tombs of this period 
 indicate as yet no great develoj)ment of the belief in 
 immortality. It is brought, indeed, into closer connec- 
 tion with religion than under the Old Empire, but the 
 future life is still regarded only as the continuation of the 
 present, \yithout reference to the doctrine of retribution. 
 
 If the history of Egypt is divided into two parts, the 
 Middle Empire must be classed along with the Old. It 
 forms the transition between the Old and the New. 
 
 That Min (also named Chem, " the ruler "), whose 
 chief temple was at Koptos, Munt of HermonthiS; and 
 Amun of Thebes, are essentially the same, appears (among 
 other reasons) from their names, which are all derived 
 from the same root, and originally indicated their cha- 
 racter as gods of fertility. Chem is often named simply 
 Amun-Ra. Subsequently, the meaning of the name Amun 
 was modified. 
 
 Sebak, who was probably derived from Ethiopia, was 
 no god of evil. This character was not ascribed to him 
 till later, through a confusion with Set, to whom likewise 
 the crocodile belonged. Sebak is the god of the inunda- 
 tion, and is sometimes interchanged with Hapi. The 
 crocodile was his body, since it was asserted to deposit 
 its eggs every year just at the limit to which the inun- 
 dation would that year extend. 
 
 36. Of the religious condition of the Egyptians under 
 the sway of the Arab Shepherd-Princes (the Hyksos) we 
 know notliing. The conquerors had combined the reli- 
 gion of Lower Egypt with their own, and worshipped Set 
 whom they named Sutech, together perhaps with Ptah. 
 
54 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 One of thera even proposed to the contemporary The"ban 
 king, to elevate Sutecli and Amnn-Ea to be the sole gods 
 of Egypt. After their fall Amun-Ea of Thebes became 
 the chief god, to whom all the others were subordinated, 
 and after whose type the rest of the chief gods were 
 transformed. An attempt made by Amnn-hotep IV. 
 (Chunaten) to substitute the exclusive worship of Aten- 
 Ea, the sun-disc, for that of Amun-Ea, had no permanent 
 success. After his death the whole pantheon, with 
 Amun-Ea at its head, was speedily restored. 
 
 Amun-Ea, the hidden creator, has now become the 
 kins: of the cjods, and the lord of the thrones of the 
 world. In him the Egyptians expressed the most compre- 
 hensive and consequently the highest and most elevated 
 religious conception which they were in a position to 
 form. He unites in himself the nature of Min or Chem, 
 the god of fruitfulness, and of the war-god Munt, but he 
 possesses, besides, the characteristic qualities of all the 
 principal deities. Sun-god and Nile-god, lord of the 
 visible and the invisible worlds, he was the mysterious 
 soul of the universe which reveals itself in light. His 
 consort. Mat, " the mother," and Chonsu, his son, had the 
 same composite character. 
 
 Among the many shapes peopling this world of deities, 
 which was enriched just at this time with a number of 
 strange forms, an endeavour was now made to introduce 
 a certain order, whilst a monotheistic tendency was 
 clearly gaining strength. The doctrine of immortality, 
 now under the control of the dogma of retribution, becomes 
 the centre of religion. Magic rises rapidly in importance, 
 the influence and power of the priests increasing along 
 
ITS DECLINE. 55 
 
 with it ; and the priests make themselves more and more 
 independent, and finally occupy the place of the king. 
 The high priest of Thebes seizes the sovereign power, 
 and himself founds a dynasty. 
 
 The name Sutech, apphed to Set, seems to me an attempt 
 to reproduce in Egyptian form the Semitic divine name, 
 §edeq, " the righteous." At any rate, if the form Sutech 
 is older, the reason why the Arabians made choice of this 
 particular Egyptian god as their own, must be sought in 
 the resemblance of this name to Sedeq. 
 
 Amun is, properly speaking, not the name of the 
 Theban chief god, but the abbreviation of the formula, 
 "He whose name is hidden" (Brugsch, Worterh., p. 71). 
 Ra signifies " creator." As well as with the gods already 
 named, he is chiefly identified with Chnum, and qualities 
 of Ptah, Shu, Tum, Osiris, and others, are transferred to 
 him. Mat, " the mother," is really a sort of abstraction 
 of all Egyptian mother-goddesses, that is, the chief god- 
 desses of the country. For this reason her worship was 
 less actively pursued. Chonsu, whose name has not yet 
 been explained, received so much the more homage. He 
 seems to have been originally a moon-god. 
 
 37. The last period of Egyptian religion bears marks 
 of profound decline. Lower Egypt throws off the yoke 
 of the priest-kings of Thebes, who retreat to Ethiopia 
 (Meroe). To this region, and also to the oasis of Ammon, 
 they carry Egyptian civilisation and the worship of 
 Amun ; but they continually attempt, and occasionally 
 for a time with success, to re-establish their authority, 
 and with it the orthodox faith, over Egypt. The reign 
 of the Saitic princes is a period of restoration. But the 
 country is for the most part the prey of foreign conquerors 
 
56 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS, 
 
 — Assyrians, Persians, and Greeks, whom the people 
 only resist when they pay no reverence to the national 
 religion. This religion lives on for centuries, but it sub- 
 sists only upon the past. It undergoes, however, some 
 modifications, which must be ascribed in part to the in- 
 fluence of the Greek spirit, and in part, perhaps at an 
 earlier date, to that of the Persian. Thus it may have 
 been the Persian type which imparted its ethical signifi- 
 cance to the contest between Osiris and Set, until the 
 latter, as a deity morally evil, was driven out of the 
 pantheon. The Hathar of this period, whose splendid 
 temple at Dendera was restored under the care of the 
 Ptolemies, has not a few features in common with the 
 Greek Aphrodite. One of these princes brought the 
 Semitic god Serapis, already worshipped by many Greeks, 
 to Egypt, where his worship was fused with that of 
 Osiris- Apis. One circumstance in particular is a certain 
 sign of decline, viz., that the goddesses now occupy a 
 much higher position than the gods. At last, the equili- 
 brium between the local worships is entirely broken ; and 
 of the remarkable Egyptian civilisation there remains 
 nothing but monuments which are only destined once 
 more to yield up their meaning when fifteen centuries 
 have passed away. 
 
 The conflict of the Ethiopian priest-princes, such as 
 Pianchi Meriamun, Sabako, Tahraka, with the North 
 Egyptian dynasties which had subjugated Upper Egypt, 
 was in part national, that of Ham with Shem, but in 
 part, and indeed chiefly, religious. Thebes was always 
 ready to receive them ; nay, the prophets of this city 
 invited Tahraka to advance as their liberator (De Koug6, 
 
ITS DECLINE. 57 
 
 Mel. d'Ao'cheolf i. p. 11, sqq.), while he declared that he 
 fought against the blasphemers of Amun-Ea (Prisse, 
 Monum., pi. xxxi. a.) to deliver the god (ibid,, pi. xxxii. 
 d.) They were, however, driven out ; and in Ethiopia 
 itself Egyptian civilisation sank lower and lower, till 
 beneath native additions the worship of Amun was no 
 longer to be recognised. 
 
 Under the Saitic kings (Necho, Psamtik, Araasis) art 
 flourished, and the chief objects of worship were Ptah 
 and Neith. Homage was still paid to the Theban triad 
 at Silsilis ; but Thebes itself had fallen into such deep 
 decline that one of its principal temples was already 
 employed as a burial-place. 
 
 Darius Hystaspis was the only king who adopted a 
 policy of reconciliation. Kambyses attempted the same 
 course before his defeats. For their want of respect for 
 the mysteries, Xerxes and his son were driven out of 
 the palace at Sais (Brugsch, Zeitschr., 187 1, i, sqq.) This 
 intolerance resulted in the fall of the Persian supremacy 
 in Egypt. The Ptolemies acted with much more pru- 
 dence. 
 
 It is uncertain whether it was the first or the second 
 Ptolemy who introduced the god Serapis from Sinope in 
 Asia Minor. Plew (op. cit.) regards the deity as of Baby- 
 lonian origin. The name signifies " serpent," and is the 
 same as that of the Hebrew Seraphim. As the name can 
 only be explained from the Indo-Germanic (serpens), the 
 god was probably derived by the Semites from the 
 Aryans. 
 
 By the edict of Theodosius, 381 A.D., the Egyptian 
 religion was abolished. 
 
 38. It is not yet possible to enumerate with certainty 
 all the elements which co-operated to lift the Egyptian 
 
58 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 religion out of Animism and place it on so lofty an emi- 
 nence. African usages, such as circumcision, may be 
 observed in it ; the myth of the sun-god Ea has an 
 Aryan character; and even the language contains not 
 a few Aryan roots. The myths of Osiris, Amun, and 
 Plathor, the cosmogony, and a number of customs, exhibit 
 a large accordance with conceptions and practices like 
 those which grew up in Mesopotamia out of the blending 
 of the Semitic religion with that of the original inhabit- 
 ants of the country, the Akkadians. The influence of the 
 Semites in Egypt increases century by century, and the 
 Semitic pushes the national element more and more into 
 the background. Conversely, however, the Egyptian 
 religion exerts a preponderating influence on the Canaan- 
 ite races, though less upon the Hebrews than on the 
 Phenicians. First by their means, and then directly, it 
 reached the Greeks, made its way finally through the 
 whole Eoman Empire, and even furnished to Eoman 
 Catholic Christendom the germs of the worship of the 
 Virgin, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and 
 the type of its theocracy. 
 
 The Semitic gods of light and fire contend with con- 
 suming and destroying sun-gods, as Osiris does with Set. 
 Ea, hke the Aryan gods of hght, fights with the powers 
 of darkness. 
 
 Parallehsms between Egyptian and Mesopotamian 
 myths may be seen in (i) the abyss, from which every- 
 thing proceeds, Egyptian tviau, Assyr. tihavti; (2) Osiris, 
 Egypt. Asar, and Assyr. Asar, the under-world ; (3) 
 Isis, Egypt. As, Asf, and Assyr. Asa, Asat, also As, a 
 surname of Istar, Accacl. Isi, the earth ; (4) Ilathar nehe- 
 
ITS VARIOUS ELEMENTS. 59 
 
 mau = ^Qm\t. AsMoreth ndamah; (5) the doctrines of the 
 god who is husband of his mother, and the god who is 
 self-created, appear both in Egypt and in Babylonia, &c. 
 The names of Thut and Nabu possess no resemblance, 
 but their myths and their attributes are in remarkable 
 a2;reement. 
 
 Astarte, Qadesh, Qen, Eeshpu, Anith, and Tanith 
 were introduced into Egypt at a later period. 
 
( 6o ) 
 
 II. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 A. The Two Streams of Development. 
 
 Literature. — E. Eenan, Histoire generale ef systeme com- 
 pare des langues Semitiques, ist part, 2d ed., Paris, 1858. 
 Id., Nouvelles considerations sur le caractere general des pennies 
 Semitiques et en particulier sur leur tendance au mo7iothelsme, 
 Paris, 1859. (Criticised by C. P. Tiele, " De Oorsprong 
 van het Monotheisme bij de Israelieten," Gids, Feb. 1862. 
 From the supernatural standpoint, E. F. Grau, Semiten 
 imd Indogermanen in Hirer Beziehung zu Religion und 
 Wissenschaft, Stuttgart, 1864. Totally different, J. G. 
 MiJLLER, Die Semiten in ihrem Verhdltniss zu Chamiten und 
 Japhetiten, Basel, 1872.) Eenan, De la part des peuples 
 Semitiques dans l' histoire de la civilisation, 5th ed,, Paris, 
 1867. A sharp distinction is made between Indo-Germans 
 and Semites by Fried. Muller, Indogermanisch und 
 Semitisch, Vienna, 1870, although in his Allgem. Ethno- 
 graphie, p. 437, sqq., he places them, together with the 
 Basques and Caucasians, in the family occupying the 
 *' Mediterranean Lands." D. Chwolson, Die Semit. Vol- 
 her ; Versuch einer Charakteristik, Berlin, 1872. See above 
 all, E. ScHRADER, " Die Abstammung der Chaldaer und 
 die TJrsitze der Semiten," in Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Mor gen- 
 land. Gesellsch., xxvii., 1873, H^^* iii- P- 397? ^9R' 
 
 On the ancient Arabian religion, Caussin de Perceval, 
 Essai sur VHistoire des Arabes avant I'Islamisme, 3 parts, 
 Paris, 1847. L. Krehl, Ueber die Religion der Forislami- 
 schen Araher, Leipzig, 1863. Osiander, " Studien Uber 
 
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 6i 
 
 die Vorisl. Relig, der Araber," Zeitschr. der D. M. 6?., 
 
 1853. 
 On the Akkadian civilisation and religion see the works 
 
 on Assyriology named further on. The following deal 
 exclusively with the Akkadian language : F. Lenormant, 
 JiJtudes Accadiennes, vol. i. ist part, " Introduction gram- 
 maticale;" 2d part, "Restitution des Paradigmes ; " 3d 
 part, "Repertoire des caracteres:" vol. ii., " Choix de 
 textes avec traductions interlin." (Lettres Assyriologiques, 
 2d series), Paris, 1873-74. Id., La Magie chez les Chaldeens 
 et les origines Accadiennes, Paris, 1874, and Etudes sur quel- 
 ques Parties des Sijllabaires cuneif., Paris, 1876. The exist- 
 ence of the Akkadian language is denied by J. Halevy, 
 " Observations critiques sur les pretendus Touraniens de 
 la Babylonie," in Journ. Asiat., Juin 1874. Completely 
 refuted (except on the point of the Turanian origin of the 
 Akkadians) by F. Lenormant, La Langue pimitive de la 
 Chaldee et les idiomes Touraniens, and by E. Schrader, 
 "Ist das Akkad. der Keilinschriften eine Sprache oder 
 eine Schrift ?" in the Zeitschr. der D. M. G., xxix. i. 1875. 
 On cuneiform writing in general, L. DE RoSNY, Les 
 £critures Figuratives et Hieroglyphiques, Paris, i860. J. 
 Menant, Zes Noms projjres Assyriens, Paris, 1861. Id., 
 Les ^critures Cuneif orrnes, Paris, 1864. P. Glaize, Les 
 Inscriptions Cuneif. et les Travaux de M. Oppert, Metz, Paris, 
 1867. J. M^nant, Le Syllabaire Assyrien, ist part, 1869, 
 2d part, 1873. George Smith, The Phonetic Values of 
 the Cuneiform Characters, London, 187 1. Of the highest 
 value, E. Schrader, " Die Basis der Entzifferung der 
 Assyrisch-Babylonischen Keilinschriften," in Zeitschr. der 
 D. M. G., xxiii. iii. 1869. 
 
 39. Among the Semites, T\'ho are closely connected with 
 the Hamites, but are also, in the opinion of many scholars, 
 
62 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES, 
 
 more or less closely connected with the Inclo- Germanic 
 races, two streams of development may be clearly distin- 
 guished, alike in language and in religion, which may be 
 designated as the Southern and the [N'orthern. The 
 common though not the most ancient home of the whole 
 race was probably in the northern and central regions of 
 Arabia. It must, however, have been abandoned at an 
 early period by all the Semitic peoples, with the excep- 
 tion of the Arabs, who spread over the whole peninsula, 
 and the Ethiopians, who subsequently crossed over to 
 Africa. These form the group of the Southern Semites. 
 With the exception of the Sabeans or Himyarites (see 
 § 46), the Arabs, through the position of their country, 
 remained the longest excluded from intercourse with 
 civilised nations. From this cause they preserved the gen- 
 uine Semitic family character and the national religion in 
 their purest forms. It is from the little that we know 
 of the latter that we must gather what was the nature 
 of Semitic religion in its original simplicity. To the 
 Northern Semites belong the Babylonians and Assyrians, 
 the Arameans, Canaanites, Phenicians, and Israehtes. 
 Their amalgamation with the oldest civilised inhabitants 
 of Mesopotamia produced important modifications in 
 their religion, which developed with greater speed and 
 richness. The study of religion among the Semites is of 
 the highest consequence, because two of the three universal 
 religions, Christianity and Islam, proceeded from them. 
 
 That all the Semites once dwelt together in Northern 
 Arabia, and that the Arabs preserved the Semitic charac- 
 ter in the purest form, appears to me to have been 
 convincingly proved by Schrader in the essay already 
 
PRIMITIVE ARABIAN RELIGION, 63 
 
 cited. Against his main thesis, at any rate, there is little 
 objection to be raised, however we may differ from him 
 in detail. The vast difference in civilisation and relidon 
 existing between Northern and Southern Semites can be 
 explained in no other way. Whether their original home 
 is to be sought, as most scholars suppose, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of that of the Indo-Germans, or as Gerland 
 {Anthropol. JBeitr., p. 396, sqq.) maintains, in Africa, is a 
 question which requires further investigation, but the 
 answer to it is of only secondary importance for our 
 present purpose. 
 
 40. The ancient religion of the Arabs rises little 
 liiglier than animistic polydsemonism. It is a collection 
 of tribal religions standing side by side, only loosely 
 united, though there are traces of a once closer con- 
 nection. The names Ilah and Shamsh, the sun-god, 
 occur among all the Semitic peoples ; Allat, or Alilat and 
 Al'Uzza, as well as the triad of moon-goddesses to which 
 these last belong, are common to several, and the deities 
 which bear them are reckoned among the chief. The 
 names of the remainmg Arab gods do not reappear among 
 the other Semites. Sun-worship was practised by all 
 the tribes, and the stars also, particularly the Pleiades 
 {Turayyd), were the objects of special homage, but there 
 was no cultus of the planets as such, a fact which indi- 
 cates that astronomy was but little developed. This cul- 
 tus was in truth scarcely much more than Fetishism ; and 
 their worship of trees, and especially of stones and moun- 
 tains, which w^ere regarded as occupied by souls, belongs 
 to precisely the same order, just as spiritism expressed 
 itself also among them in the worship of ancestors. The 
 
64 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 image-worship which prevailed among them at the time 
 of Mohammed, was introduced, according to the Arabic 
 writers, at a later period from Syria or Mesopotamia. It 
 may very easily, however, have sprmig out of the worship 
 of stones. The few human sacrifices which they offered 
 appear to have been of another kind from those which the 
 iNTorthern Semites borrowed from the Akkadians. The 
 sanctuaries of the various spirits and fetishes had their 
 own hereditary ministers, who, however, formed no priestly 
 caste ; but the Seers were generally regarded with great 
 reverence, and were much consulted. But among the 
 Arabs these last never became priests, as was the case 
 among other Semites. 
 
 In that which constitutes the distinctive characteristic of 
 a religion, the relation conceived to exist between man and 
 the deity, they agreed entirely with their kindred. They, 
 likewise, stood towards God as the servant i^cibd) towards 
 his master. 
 
 Ila\ Assyr. //«, Hebr. and Canaanite, m. The later 
 Allah is a contraction of al-ildh. Sprenger, Leben und 
 Lehre des Mohammad, i. p. 286, sqq., regards Allah as 
 made up of Idh, " mirage," " shining," with the article 
 al, and thus as different from Hah. 
 
 Thethree moon-goddesses — Allat,the light moon ; Man^t, 
 the dark moon; and Al'Uzza, the union of the two — re- 
 appear among the Babylonians and Assyrians with partially- 
 altered names. Some of the planets, such as Jupiter and 
 Venus, the greater and the lesser fortune, were worshipped 
 by the Arabs as by all Semites, but their movements were 
 not distin2;uished from those of the fixed stars. The 
 sacred number S3ven, applied among the Northern Semites 
 to the five planets with the sun and moon, was derived 
 
PRIMITIVE ARABIAN RELIGION. 65 
 
 among the Southern Semites from the Pleiades, to winch, 
 together with the Hyades (Aldabaran) and Sirius, they 
 paid special veneration. 
 
 Very noteworthy is the absence of the chief myth of 
 the Northern Semites, the so-called Adonis myth, among 
 the Arabs. Krehl (op. cit.) and F. Lenormant [Lettres 
 Assyriol., ii. p. 241) have supposed that traces of it are, 
 nevertheless, to be found among them also, but upon 
 very insufficient grounds. 
 
 The only human sacrifices which are known with 
 certainty to have existed among them, accord with 
 those of savages. This was the offering of little girls 
 at Mekka, against which Hanyf Zaid vigorously con- 
 tended. See Sprenger, Lelen unci Lehre des Mohammad^ 
 i. p. 120. The service of the idols was limited to particu- 
 lar families. The seers of the highest rank were called 
 Kahin, the same Avord as the Hebrew Kohen, priest. This 
 last meaning, which the word never acquired among the 
 Arabs, is regarded by Sprenger, i. p. 255, as the derivative ; 
 but other scholars (Fleischer, Von Kremer, Cheyne) 
 declare this to be incorrect. 
 
 41. The ISTortliern Semites advanced far beyond this 
 standpoint. For this they were indebted without doubt 
 to a longer or shorter sojourn in Mesopotamia, to which 
 their own traditions point, and from which the majority 
 of tliem again migrated to the north-west. In Mesopo- 
 tamia they found an ancient non-Semitic civilisation, which 
 had a decisive influence on their development. Tliis 
 civilisation belonged to a people classed by some with 
 the Turanians, certainly related to the Elamites and non- 
 Aryan Medes, and generally called Akkadians. They were 
 
 the fathers of astronomy, the first beginnings of which dc- 
 
 £4 
 
66 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 veloped tliemselves among them out of astrology, and the 
 inventors of cuneiform writing, which was adopted from 
 them by various other nations, and was employed by 
 them not only for royal inscriptions, but also for daily 
 use, and for the record of a rich, scientific, historic, poetic, 
 and religious literature, which has been recovered partly in 
 the original texts and partly in Assyrian translations. 
 
 For the Phenician tradition, see Herod., vii. 89 ; Strabo, 
 vii. 98, &c. According to the Hebrew, Abrain came from 
 IJr-Kasdim, the present Mugheir in Southern Chaldea. 
 Cf. the author's Vergelijk. Geschied. der Egypt, en MesojK)f. 
 Godsdd., p. 426, sqq. See, however, § 52, further on. 
 
 The name Turanian is here used to designate the so- 
 called Ural-Altaic race, of which the Mongols, Turks, 
 Magyars, Finns, and Samoyedes are the chief branches. 
 Many scholars, among whom is Schrader, have expressed 
 doubts whether the Akkadians are rightly classed with 
 these, as Lenormant proposes. That they are closely 
 related, however, with these peoples, and must cer- 
 tainly be placed among the " Mongoloid races " of 
 Peschel, appears both from their language and their 
 religion. They assuredly belong to the same race with 
 the Elamites and non-Aryan Medes. They are generally 
 called Akkadians on the supposition that in the constantly- 
 occurring formula " king " or " land " '■ of the Sumirs 
 and Akkadians," the Semitic population is designated by 
 the first name, the non-Semitic by the second ; J. Op- 
 pert (Journ. Asiat., 1875, v. ^j P- 272, s^g*.) maintains that 
 the reverse is the truth. F. Delitzsch, also, in Smith's 
 Chald. Genesis, ilbersetzt von H. Delitzsch, p. 291, 5^., 
 proves on other grounds that the name Sumirs denotes 
 the pre^Semitic population of Babylonia. The question 
 is of subordinate importance. 
 
THE RELIGION OF THE AKKADIANS. 67 
 
 Specimens of their astronomical knowledge may 1)0 
 found in the tablets published by A. H. Sayce in the 
 Transactions of the Soc. of Bihl. Archceol, iii. i. 1874, pp. 
 145-339. (Translation alone in Becords of the Past, vol. i. 
 
 p. 151, sqc[.) 
 
 The cuneiform character is, like the Chinese, the modi- 
 fication of a hieratic character, of Avhich a few characters 
 still remain, and which in its turn must have arisen out 
 of hieroglyphics. The two facts, that these have entirely 
 disappeared, and that even on the oldest monuments the 
 hieratic character only occurs here and there, prove the 
 high antiquity of the Akkadian civilisation. The cunei- 
 form character is also found among the Elamites, the non- 
 Aryan Modes, and Armenians (Alarodians), and among 
 the Persians, among whom, however, it was altogether 
 modified. It is certain that both the last-named nations, 
 and probable that the two first also, derived it from the 
 Akkadians. 
 
 42. The religion of the Akkadians was the type of the 
 richest and most complete development of the exclusive 
 worship of the spirits and elements of nature. The 
 host of spirits was innumerable. They were ranged in 
 classes, and even the highest deities were classed with 
 them. The ranks of these last included Ana, the highest 
 heaven regarded as a divine being; Mulge and Ninge, 
 the lord and lady of the hidden heaven beneath the earth, 
 the abyss; and Ea or Hea, the god of the atmosj)liere and 
 of moisture, with his consort Dav-Kina, the lady of the 
 earth. To this supreme triad corresponded a lower 
 group, consisting of the moon-god Uru-ki, the sun-god 
 Ud, and the wind-god Im. Nindar or Ninib, the lord of 
 generation, the son of Mulge, was the god of the nightly 
 
68 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 or liidden sun, the Mesopotamian Herakles, a T^ar-god 
 like ISTirgal, wlio finds a nearer representative in Mars. 
 Mediating between Hea and mankind, in whicli capacity 
 he was regarded as the benefactor of the latter, stood 
 Amar-ntuki, the brightness of the sun, the great god of 
 the city of Babylon. The system further included a 
 goddess who corresponds to the Semitic Istar, and bears 
 the hitherto-unexplained name Sukus. Fu^e played an 
 important part among the Akkadians, and their worship 
 consisted, though not exclusively, of magic. For it was 
 chiefly concerned with combatiug the evil spirits, which 
 were set in sharp dualistic contrast with the good. This 
 conflict had, however, a very subordinate ethical signifi- 
 cance ; and the underworld, also, it would seem, was not 
 yet, in the theology of the Akkadians, a place of recom- 
 pense ; but all encountered there the same destiny. The 
 war of the gods of light with the powers of darkness had 
 already furnished material for a rich epic literature, from 
 which some important productions have been brought 
 to light in Assjrrian translations. The great importance 
 of the investigation of this religion lies chiefly in the 
 fact that it exercised so powerful an influence on the 
 Semitic religion, and indirectly on that of the nations 
 of the West. 
 
 The name of the highest class of spirits [Anab, abbre- 
 viated to Ana, An), almost equivalent to gods, seems to 
 be derived from that of the heaven-god ; at any rate it 
 entirely accords with it. Ea or Hea signifies "the 
 house," " the abode." The triad of deities corresponds 
 with the three worlds into which the Akkadians divided 
 the universe. 
 
AMONG THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 69 
 
 The moon-god also bears various otlier names, sucli as 
 Aku (perhaps from oka, to "lift up," to "exalt") ; Eim- 
 zuna, " lord of growth " (the crescent moon), &c. ; 
 Uru-ki signifies " overlooker or protector of the earth ; " 
 Ud means "light;" and Im or Iv, "wind," "storm." 
 Nir-gal (although the name as it is spelled could only 
 signify " great-foot ") signifies " great prince," and the 
 full form of the name Nir-unu-gal, certainly means 
 "prince of the great abode," by which the underworld 
 is probably denoted. See West. Asian Inscrr., ii. 59 rev., 
 1. 37, cl and e. The ingenious conjectures of Delitzsch, 
 Chald. Genesis, p. 274, are therefore unnecessary. Amar- 
 utuki, literally, " brightness with the sun," " light which 
 accompanies the sun " {ud), is exactly the fitting medi- 
 ator between God and men. As such, he is called Silik- 
 mulu-chi, " He who ordains good (chi) for men (midu) " ; 
 in the Akkadian texts he is designated almost exclusively 
 by this epithet. 
 
 B. Religion among the Babylonians and Assyrians. 
 
 Literature. — Language. — Grammars by Menant, 1868, 
 and Sayce, 1875 ; Comparative Grammar by Sayce, 1872. 
 Assyrian Dictionary by E. NoRRlS, parts i.-iii. 1868-72, 
 the best refutation of Hitzig's doubts in his Siwache 
 und Sjorachen Assyriens, Leipzig, 187 1. See in reply E. 
 SCHRADER " Die Assyr.-Babyl. Keilinschriften," in the 
 Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenl. Gescllsch., xxiv. i. and ii. 
 1872. Texts : without translation, Eawlinson, NoRRis, 
 and Smith, JFest. Asian Inscrr., and Lenorsiant, Choix, 
 &c. ; with translation, Oppert et MjSnant, Les Pastes de 
 Sargon (" Grande Inscr. des Salles du Palais de Khorsa- 
 bad "), Paris, 1863. Menant, Inscrr. des Revers de Plaques 
 du Palais de Khorsahad, Paris, 1865. Id., Inscriptions 
 de Ilammourahi, Roi de Bahylonc (defective), Paris, 1863. 
 
70 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 George Smith, History of Assiirhanipal, London, 187 1. 
 
 E. SCHRADER, Die HoUenfahrt der Istar, nebst Prohen Assyr. 
 Lyrih, Giessen, 1874; also in his treatise Die Keilin- 
 scJiri/fen und das Alte Testament, Giessen, 1872. Trans- 
 lated texts in Records of the Past, vols. i. and iii. Essays 
 on the inscriptions (including the Himyaritic) by Lenor- 
 MANT, Lettres Assyriologiques et ^jjigrajMques, vols. i. and 
 ii., Paris, 1871-72. 
 
 Archceolofjy. — Besides the larger collections of plates 
 after the monuments by Botta, Layard, &c., and 
 Oppert's Expedition en Mesopotamie, 2 parts, the following 
 are of most importance for consultation : Layard, Nineveh 
 and its Remains, London, 1848, and Discoveries among the 
 Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1853. Compare 
 L. F. Janssen, Over de ontdekkingen van Nineveh, Utrecht, 
 1850. F. FiNZi, Ricerche per lo studio delV Antichita 
 assira, Turin, 1872. George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries ; 
 an Account of Explorations in 1873-74, London, 1875. 
 
 History. — J. Kruger, Geschichte der Assyrier und 
 Iranier, vom 13'^" Us zum 5'^** Jahrh. v. C, Frankfort, 
 1856 (wholly untrustworthy). Rawlinson, Oidlines 
 of Assyrian History, from the Inscriptions of Nineveh, 
 . London, 1852. J. Oppert, Histoire des Empires de Chaldee 
 et d'Assyrie d'apres les Monuments, Versailles, 1865. W. 
 Wattenbach, Nineveh und Babylon, Heidelberg, 1868. 
 
 F. Lenormant, Manual of the Ancient History of the 
 East, vol. i., London, 1869. J. Mi^nant, Annales des 
 Rois d'Assijrie, Paris, 1874. Id., Annales des Rois de 
 Bahylone, ibid., 1875. G. Smith, Assyria from the Earliest 
 Times to the Fall of Nineveh, London (1875). Compare 
 F. JuSTi, Ausland, No. 30. 
 
 Religion. — F. Munter, Religion der Bahylonier, Copen- 
 liagen, 1827. E. HiNCKS, On the Assyrian Mythology, 
 Dublin, 1855 {Transactions of the Roy. Irish Acad., Nov. 
 
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 71 
 
 1854, vol. xxiii.) TiELE, Vergelijk. Geschiedenis van de 
 Egijpt. en Meso;pot. Godsdiensten, 2" stuk., Amsterdam, 1870. 
 F. Lenoriniant, Essai de Commentaire des Fragm. Cosmogon. 
 de Berose, Paris, 1872. Id., La Legendede Semiramis,ihid., 
 1873 (Acad, de Belglque, 8™* Janv. 1872). Id., Le Deluge 
 et VJ^popee Bahylonienne (Extr. du Correspondant), Paris, 
 1873. (Compare G. Smith, Chaldean Account of the Deluge, 
 two photographs, with transhation and text, London, 
 1872.) Id., La Divincdion et la Science des Presages chez les 
 Chaldeens, Paris, 1875. Oppert, L'lmmortalite de VAme 
 chez les Chaldeens {Annates de Philosophie Chreiienne, 1874), 
 Paris, 1875. G. Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis, 
 London, 1875. (Li accordance with the writer's own 
 warning, his results, which are only provisional, mnst be 
 used with caution. Compare A. H. Sayce, Academy, ist 
 Jan. 1876.) German translation by H. Delitzsch, with 
 annotations and additions by Fried. Delitzsch, Leipzig, 
 1867. 
 
 On the Sabeans, see the works cited in my Vergelijk. 
 Geschied., p. 400, sqq. Hali^VY has since discovered and 
 published several more texts. See Lenormant's Lettres 
 Assyriol, ii., and the journals already referred to, passim. 
 
 43. Out of the amalgamation of Akkadians and Semites 
 arose the Chaldean people, generally called Babylonians, 
 after their most famous city and its province. The 
 Assyrians, who derived their name from their ancient 
 capital and their god Asur, were a Chaldean colony, 
 which had established itself at an early period in the 
 north of the land of the Two Ptivers, and there gradu- 
 ally grew to a powerful monarchy. The two nations 
 differed but slightly in language and religion ; the differ- 
 ence was greater in civilication and character. In arts 
 
72 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 and sciences tlie Babylonians were tlie predecessors and 
 masters of the Assyrians, but their empire appears to have 
 been rather a feudal theocracy than a compact monarchy, 
 in which two states. Babylonia proper (Kardunyas ?) and 
 Chaldea (Kaldu) on the Persian Gulf, took the lead. 
 Involved in endless wars with Assyria, which had in the 
 meantime become independent, it grew weaker and 
 weaker, and was at last comj)letely conquered. But the 
 humiliated Babylon avenged itself. ISTabupalusur (Nabo- 
 23olassar), allied with the Medes, laid Mneveh in ruins, 
 and founded the new- Babylonian empire, which derived 
 its greatest glory from his son Nabu-kudur-usur (JSTebu- 
 kadresar), and through him ruled for a time the civilised 
 world. Maruduk and Nabu, the local deities of Babylon, 
 whose worship, however, had also spread long before into 
 Assyria, now occupied the place at the head of the world 
 of gods, which had been so long held by the cliief god of 
 the Assjrrians, whose name now disappears entirely — a 
 change exactly analogous to that which took place in 
 
 gypt. 
 
 The Babylonians were the teachers of the Assyrians, 
 as the Akkadians had before taught them. The library 
 of Sargina I. (placed conjecturally about 2000 B.C.) con- 
 sisted, according to what we know of it through Asur- 
 banipal, of a collection of texts, partly in Akkadian and 
 partly translated from Akkadian. Extensive ruins bear 
 witness to the great power of the oldest kings, and 
 choicely-cut seals indicate the advance of art in early 
 times. As artists, however, the Assyrians stood higher. 
 
 Nabupalusur was an Assj-rian general, who, after 
 having put down a rising in Chaldea, was appointed 
 viceroy of Babylon. 
 
 V 
 
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 73 
 
 44. Tlie religion of the Babylonians and Ass^Tians, 
 liitherto known only imperfectly from the statements of 
 the ancients and the fragments of Berosus, has received 
 new liglit through the decipherment of the cuneiform 
 character. This has rendered the actual sources them- 
 selves accessible, and the monuments prove conclusively 
 that the Mesopotamian Semites adopted the religion of 
 the original occupants of the country almost enthely, and 
 fused it with their ov/n. 
 
 All the principal gods of the Akkadians reappear in 
 the Babylonio-Assyrian pantheon, the original names 
 being sometimes preserved, sometimes partially modified 
 in accordance with Semitic idiom, and sometimes trans- 
 lated. Old-Semitic deities to which counterparts were 
 found among the Akkadians, were amalgamated with the 
 latter. Among these may be named Samas, the sun-god, 
 among the Semites <friginally a goddess ; Sin, the moon- 
 god ; and Nabu, the prophet, the god of revelation, of let- 
 ters and arts. Others were simj)ly placed by the side of 
 the corresponding Akkadian deities, the three Semitic 
 moon-goddesses, for example, unknown to the Akkadians, 
 being set beside Sin, perhaps also Dagau, the god of 
 fertility, beside Bel of the underworld. The origin of 
 Istar lies in obscurity, but she likewise, though under 
 another name, existed already as an Akkadian goddess, 
 who played an important part in the old mythology. For 
 the Akkadian generic names of the gods a Semitic 
 
 A 
 
 parallel was found in Ilu (El), who at a later date, like 
 the supreme Bel, was sometimes placed at the head of all. 
 The Assyrians assigned this elevated position to their 
 national god Asur. 
 
74 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 Hea and Nirgal passed almost without any change from 
 the Akkadian system into the Semitic. Nisruk is prob- 
 ably, and Salmanu is certainly, a Semitic surname of Hea. 
 Ana, the heaven-god, becomes Anu, " the hidden, "Amar- 
 utuki is contracted into Mo,rduk. The transformation of 
 Nindar, the god of the solar fire and of generation, into 
 Adar, "the shining," ''the exalted," would exhibit a 
 greater change if this reading, which is almost universally 
 adopted, were at all certain. The Semites named him 
 Samdan. The Semitic pronunciation of Yam or Yiv is 
 uncertain ; it is possibly Yav, according to others, Bin ; 
 the name which he bore among the Semites was Ramanu. 
 Mul-ge and Nin-ge were translated into Bel and Belit 
 iihavit, but the old characters were left unchanged. Sin 
 and Nabu occur, apparently, in Sinai and Nebo, in North 
 Arabia, and seem accordingly to be Semitic deities : 
 their names have neither the sound nor the meaning of 
 the corresponding Akkadian gods ; they perhaps arose 
 jnder Egyptian influence (Aah and Thut). This is also 
 true of Istar, whose worship, but little practised in Baby- 
 lonia, was much more developed in Assyria, and who is 
 certainly the same as Hathor. The agreement with the 
 Bactrian glare, " star " (dialectic igtar), on which I still 
 laid stress in m}'' Vergelijk. Geschied., p. 348, seems to be 
 accidental. 
 
 For the sign AN the Assyrians read Tlu, alike when it 
 was employed for the Akkadian generic name of the gods, 
 Ana or Anah, or for the name of the supreme god Dingir 
 (in the full form Dingira and Dingiri). The correctness of 
 the latter reading is doubted by Oppert without adequate 
 grounds. See Syllabary, p. 14, Transactions Soc. Bihl. 
 ArchceoL, iii. 2, p. 508, and Norris, Assyrian Dictionary^ 
 8. V. An. 
 
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS, 75 
 
 45. Star- worship was not unknown to the Semites, 
 but the highly-developed astrology and magic which we 
 find among the Babylonians and Assyrians were derived 
 from the Akkadians, and the more easily because their 
 own religion was not wanting in points of connection. Of 
 Akkadian origin also was the regularly-organised priest- 
 ]iood, to whose learning and moral influence the triumph of 
 the religion of the conquered nation over that of the con- 
 (juerors must certainly be in the first place ascribed. The 
 Babylonians, moreover, built their temples on the model 
 furnished by their instructors, namely, in the form of ter- 
 raced pyramids such as were erected also in Elam and 
 among the oldest inhabitants of Media and India, to 
 Vvdiich class belonejed the famous tower of Babel. In 
 Assyria temples were also built on another plan. 
 
 The majority of the Assyrian priestly titles are pure 
 Akkadian, Sakan and Sakannahku, the " high priest ; " 
 Pft/esf, the "vicar" or " heutenant of the gods;" Emga 
 (Uterally, " the illustrious," " the glorious "), " the 
 Magian," &c. 
 
 The principal sanctuaries everywhere were terraced tem- 
 ples of this kind, representations of the mountain of the 
 gods in the north, i.e., of the heavenly spheres. The number 
 of terraces varied, being either three, as at Ur, after the 
 second triad of gods or the three worlds ; or five, as at 
 Kalach, after the five planets ; or seven, as at Barzipa (near 
 Babylon), at Chorsabad (Dur-Saryukin), and elsewhere, 
 after the five planets with the sun and moon. The terraces, 
 like those also at Ecbatana in Media, were of different 
 colours. At the top stood a square chapel, containing 
 an image. The opinion of Lenorraant, that the Assyrian 
 ZlkuratSf as these structures were called, served not as 
 
76 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 temples, but for tlie observation of the stars, is contra- 
 dicted by an inscription of the Assyrian king Raman-nirari, 
 in which he says of the god Nabu that he dwells in the 
 temple of Bit-Zida in the midst of Kalach, and this was a 
 terraced temple. See West. As. Inscrr., i. pi. 35, No. 2. 
 
 46. Our sources do not yet enable us to trace the 
 internal development of the Babylonio-Assyrian religion, 
 although it is possible to point out which were the domi- 
 nant gods in each of the three great periods of its his- 
 tory. Even while it was subject to Assyria, Babylon 
 remained the religious centre, the holy city j:'ar excellence ; 
 and whatever hostility might exist between the monarchs 
 of the tw^o provinces, the gods of the city, so far as they 
 were still unknown to the Assyrians, were readily ac- 
 cepted by them, and received equal honour with their 
 own highest deities. Outwardly, there was no more 
 difference between their religion and the Babylonian 
 than might be expected to result from their early migra- 
 tion to the north. Inwardly, however, there w^ere varie- 
 ties of development in the tw^o kindred nations, because 
 the Assyrians, with their rougher climate and on their 
 barren soil, grew into a race quite unlike the highly- 
 civilised but somewhat effeminate Babylonians who were 
 bathed in abundance. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that of the two chief 
 sacrifices which their religion prescribed, and which were 
 probably both practised among the Akkadians, the sacri- 
 fice of chastity was more in vogue in Babylon, and 
 human sacrifices prevailed among the Assyrians. By 
 the latter people the gods of war. by the former those 
 of knowledge and civilisation, were the most zealously 
 
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 77 
 
 served. The same deity who was feared at Nineveh and 
 Kalach especially on account of the destructive violence 
 of his storms, Eamanu (Yav), the god of wind and spirit, 
 was chiefly worshipped at Babylon as the god of under- 
 standing. In short, the Babylonian religion, being that of 
 a people principally devoted to agriculture, industry, and 
 learning, was distinguished by its luxurious character 
 and influential hierarchy ; the Assyrian, on the other 
 hand, as that of a war-loving, conquering nation, by 
 rude conceptions and cruel usages. 
 
 In the oldest times Ur, Uriich, Agane, and other cities 
 were the principal royal residences of Chaldea. The 
 greatness of Babylon, at any rate, as a Semitic city, does 
 not begin till the reign of the famous ' Hammuragas, who 
 established his residence there, probably in the eighteenth 
 century B.C., and erected the great temple to Marduk. 
 Neither this god nor Nabu appears on older Babylonian 
 monuments, and for centuries after they are not found 
 among the chief Assyrian gods, not even in the list of 
 them given by Tuklat-palasar, 1 130 B.C. It is not till 882 
 and 857 B.C. that they are named among the twelve 
 or thirteen chief gods of Asurnazirpal and Salmanasar, 
 and from that time onwards they were worshipped by the 
 Assyrians with quite as much enthusiasm as by the Baby- 
 lonians, especiahy after the marriage, about 800 B.C., of 
 an Assyrian sovereign with a Babylonian princess. The 
 kings of Assyria often off'ered sacrifices in the temples of 
 Babylon, Barzippa, and other Chaldean cities. 
 
 The difference which we have noted in religious de- 
 velopment between the two nations, must not, tlierefore, 
 be conceived too sharply. It is only a matter of degree. 
 Assur was constantly endeavouring to tread in the foot- 
 
78 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 steps of Babylon. The luxurious worship of the Chal- 
 deans proved full of attraction for the Assyrians, and 
 Nineveh became a centre of it as early as the thirteenth 
 century B.C., alternating after the tenth century with 
 Kalach. The last but one of the Assyrian kings, Asur- 
 banipal, was a protector of civilisation, science, and 
 letters. 
 
 47. Largely, however, as the Mesopotamian Semites 
 borrowed from their predecessors, their religion reached a 
 really higher stage. What they adopted, they developed ; 
 and on all foreign elements they impressed the stamp of 
 their own spirit. The natnre-beings wdiom they invoked 
 in imitation of the Akkadians, became among them real 
 gods, raised above nature and ruling it, as they had never 
 done before. Above the highest triads they placed a god 
 whose commands all the others reverenced, as the head 
 of an unlimited theocracy. If magic and augury re- 
 mained prominent constituents of their ceremonial reli- 
 gion, they practised besides a real worship, and gave 
 utterance to a vivid sense of sin, a deep feeling of man's 
 dependence, even of his nothingness before God, in prayers 
 and hymns hardly less fervent than those of the pious 
 souls of Israel. 
 
 Such a supreme god was Bilu-Bili, " the Lord of Lords," 
 at Babylon, and Asur in Assyria, both being sometimes 
 called briefly llu, " god." The Akkadian Dingira, with 
 whom he was identified, appears in general not to have 
 occupied so high a position. The prefect of Kalach, under 
 King Eaman-nirari, even says in an inscription, "Put 
 your trust in Nabu, and trust in no other god ! " 
 
 Examples of Assyrian prayers and hymns may be 
 
THE S A BEANS. 79 
 
 found in my VergeUjk. Geschied., p. 391, sqq., and in 
 Sclirader, Die Hbllenfahrt der Isfar, Nos. 2-9. 
 
 48. In tlie religion of the Sabeans of South Arabia, 
 made known to us by the decipherment of the Himyaritic 
 inscriptions, by the side of the national gods of a genuinely 
 Arabic character — such as the principal god Al-makah 
 (" the god who hearkens "), the female sun-deity Shamsh, 
 and others — we meet with a number of purely Babylonio- 
 Assyrian gods, but always under tlieir Semitic names or 
 surnames. Among these are included the supreme Bel, 
 the moon-god Sin, the goddess Istar in two forms, the 
 male A^Atar and the female A^Ataret, and Sundan, Avhich 
 can only be the Assyrian name of Nindar. These 
 instances of agreement, to which must be added others in 
 the territory of art, may not be invoked as proof that 
 the religion of the Sabeans is a branch of the Assyrian, 
 but receive their best explanation from commercial rela- 
 tions between Chaldea and South Arabia, which were 
 already at an early period, as is well known, exceedingly 
 active. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the Himyaritic inscrip- 
 tions with which we are acquainted are all of a relatively 
 late date, from the first centuries of our era. Whether 
 the South Arabic god Nasr, the " eagle," is a modification 
 of Nisruk, as Hea was surnamed, is uncertain, and appears 
 to me doubtful. 
 
 C. Religion among the JFest Semites. 
 
 Literature. — On the Pheuicians, see the Inscriptions 
 edited and translated by Hamaker (antiquated), Gesenius 
 
8o RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 {Monumenta Phcen.), Eenan {Mission en Phenic), De 
 Vogue {Inscrr. Semil), Meier {ErUdrung Phceniz. Sprach- 
 denJcrnale, i860, and Ueher die Nabat. Inschrr., 1863, 
 neither of tliem deserving of much confidence), and others. 
 M. A. Levy, PhdniziscJie Studien, 4 parts, Breslau, 1856- 
 70 (the first part containing a translation of the great 
 Siclonian inscription), indispensable. Id., Siegel und Gem- 
 men mit Aram. Phoniz., &c., Inschriften, ibid., 1869. On 
 the great Sidonian inscription, K. Schlottmann, Die 
 Insclirift Eshmunazars Kon. der Sidonier, Hsiile, 1868, and 
 the literature on the subject, ibid., p. 9, sqq. The essay 
 by H. EwALD, in the AhJiandl der Konigl Gesellsch. der 
 Wissenschaften in Gotting., 1856, leaves much to be desired. 
 See further De Vogue, Melanges d'Archceol. Orient., Paris, 
 1868. 
 
 On Sanchoniathon, BuNSEN, Egijpfs Place, &c., v. p. 793, 
 sqq. EwALD, Ahhandl. uber die Phbn. Ansiclit von der 
 Weltschopfung und der geschichtl. Werth Sanchon. , Gottingen, 
 185 1. Eenan, " Memoire sur I'Origine et le Caract. V^rit. 
 de r Hist. Ph^n. de Sanch.," Mem. Acad. Inscr. et Beliefs 
 Lettres, xxiii. 1858, p. 241, sqq. W. W. Graf Baudissin, 
 "Ueber die Relig. Geschichtl. Werth der Phonic. 
 Geschichte Sanch oniathon's " in the Studien, cited below, 
 pp. 1-46. SancJioniathon^s Ur geschichte der Phonic., by 
 Wagenfeld, Hanover, 1836, is a literary fraud. 
 
 The treatise of F. C. Movers, Die Phdnizier, vol. i., 
 Untersuchungen iiber die Religion, und die Gotiheiten der 
 Phon., Bonn, 1841, vol. ii., Das Phoniz. Alterth., 3 parts, 
 Berlin, 1849-56, and his article "Phoenizien" in Ersch 
 and Gruber's Allg. Encyclopaedic, xxiv. pp. 319-443, 
 must still be consulted, in spite of his adventurous 
 hypotheses. On the Pheuician i-eligion, see farther 
 Hunter's Religion der Karthager, and Der Tcmpel der 
 Himmlischen Goitin zu Paphos, Copenhagen, 1824. C. P. 
 
THE WEST SEMITES. Rr 
 
 TiELE, VergeUjk. Gesch., p. 415, sqq. Al. Muller, 
 "Astarte" {Sitzungs Berkhte der TFiener Alcad., A])vi\ 10, 
 1S61), and " Esmun " (ibid., February 24, 1864). 
 
 It is unnecessary to give a list here of the extensive 
 literature on the ancient history and religion of Israel, 
 which may easily be found elsewhere. Of the recent 
 works on Hebrew mythology and polytheism, I name 
 only H. OoRT, Be Dienst der Baalim onder Israel, Haar- 
 lem, 1864. Id., Ilet Menschenoffer in Israel, ibid., 1865. 
 A. Bernstein, The Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, transl. from the German, London (no date). 
 "VV. G. Com. de Baudissin, Jahve et Moloch, sive de ratione 
 inter Beum Israeliiarum et Molochum intercedente, Leipzig, 
 1874. Id., Studien zur Semit. Eeligionsgesch.j part i., Leip- 
 zig, 1876. I. GoLDZiHER, Mythology among the Hebrews, 
 transl. by Russell Martineau, M.A., London, 1877. M. 
 SCHULTZE, Handbuch der Ebrdischen Mythologie, Nord- 
 hausen, 1876, full of the most hazardous conjectures and 
 the wildest combinations. 
 
 49. The religion of the Western branch of the 
 Northern Semites, the Arameans, Canaanites, and Phe- 
 nicians, bore quite a different relation to the Babylonio- 
 Assyrian from that of the Sabeans. They did indeed 
 occasionally adopt, even in historical eras, the worship 
 of one or another deity from the Assyrians, but the 
 resemblances between their mythology and the Meso- 
 potamian date from preliistoric times, and confirm the 
 tradition that they themselves also once dwelt in the land 
 of the Two Elvers. They must have quitted it before 
 the fusion of the religious system of the Akkadians with 
 the Semitic was so complete, as we already find it among 
 the early Babylonians. At any rate, neither the two 
 
 7 F 
 
82 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 triads nor the Akkadian deities belonging to tliem, 
 neither Samdan nor Marduk, occur among tliem. Only 
 of the worship of Sin and Nabu do any clear traces 
 present themselves around and in Canaan ; but these 
 deities appear to have been abeady the property of the 
 Semites before their entry into Mesopotamia. The names 
 Ba'al and Ba'alith, however, applied to their principal 
 gods, 'Ashtoreth, perhaps also Asher and Ashera and 
 'Anath, can only have been brought by Canaanites 
 and Phenicians from Chaldea. 
 
 That Ea'al and Ba'alith were generic names of the prin- 
 cipal deities, or rather simple epithets, only occasionally 
 applied in later times for brevity to a particular god, has 
 been proved, in my judgment, in my Yergelijk. Geschied., 
 pp. 452-458. I have, indeed, seen it denied (for ex- 
 ample, by Graf Baudissin in his JaJive et Moloch, p. 35), 
 but not refuted. I observe with satisfaction that Dr. 
 Matthes, in his article " Mythen in het O.T." in the 
 Theol. Tijdschr., 1877, No. ii., accords with my views. 
 Further investisration has confirmed me in this belief. 
 Schrader's correct observation that the Babylonian Bel 
 and the Plienician Ba'al are not identical, I would 
 rather express by saying that the principal deities of 
 the Babylonians and Phenicians do not correspond, 
 except in the circumstance that they both of them bore 
 the title of Bel-Ba'al, *' Lord." 
 
 'Ashtoreth is no other than Istar with a feminine 
 termination, in accordance with the Plienician idiom. 
 Asher and Ashera correspond tolerably well with the 
 Assyrian Asir and Asirat, the first being probably the 
 original form of the name of the god Asur (the " pro- 
 pitious," the '' giver of prosperity "), and the second a 
 
THE CANAANITES AND PHENICIANS. Z:^ 
 
 surname of Istar. But I do not offer this as more tlinn 
 a conjecture. 
 
 50. The same remarks hold good in still higher mea- 
 sure of their cosmogony, and of many of their myths. 
 Myths such as those of the fighting and dying sun-god 
 (Melqarth, Samson), of the spring-god who lilvewise dies 
 (Adonis, Tammuz), their legends of Paradise and the Flood, 
 and several other of their ideas and usages, were all Ak- 
 kadian in origin, and could only have attained their 
 Semitic form in Mesopotamia. From the Akkadians, in 
 like manner, were probably derived the cruel and unchaste 
 forms of worship which distinguished them from the other 
 Semites, as well as the consecration of the seventh day as 
 a Sabbath or day of rest, the institution of which cannot 
 therefore be ascribed to Moses. 
 
 On the mytli of Samson, which was applied in Phenicia 
 both to Melqarth and to Eshmun, see Kuenen, The Beli- 
 gion of Israel, i. p. 307. Schwartz, Sonne, Mond und 
 Sterne, pp. 130, sq(i., 221, sqq. Steinthal, in the Zeitschr. 
 ftir Volkerpsych. und S^rachivissensch., ii., p. 129, sqq., 
 translated in the appendix to Goldziher's Mythology 
 among the Hebrews, p. 392, sqq. Meyboom, Eaadselachtige 
 Verhalen, and Godsd. der Noormannen, p. 270. The god 
 is no other than the Assyro-Akkadian Herakles, Nindar, 
 or Samdan, the dead sun-god, represented as a giant 
 who strangles a lion. The Adonis myth, also, in which 
 the youthful god of the spring, the beloved of Istar, 
 dies, and is mourned by her, has now been discovered 
 in the Akkado-Babylonian epos. See Lenormant, Le 
 Deluge, pp. 25, 29. G. Smith, Daily Telegrajyh, Sept. 
 20, 1873. Schrader, in the Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Mor- 
 genldnd. Gesellsch., xxvii. p. 424, is of opinion that even 
 
84 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES, 
 
 the name Tammuz was not unknown in Mesopotamia. 
 This view is also shared by Lenormant. 
 
 That the Sabbath, the rest-day, on the seventh day of 
 the week, passed to the Semites from the Alvkadians, was 
 conjectured by Oppert and Schrader, and has now been 
 proved from the texts by Sayce, Academy^ Nov. 27, 1875, 
 p. 554, c/. Trans. Soc. Bihl. ArchceoL, 1874, p. 207. In 
 the JFest Asian Inscrr., ii. 32, 16, the very word sa- 
 hatiiv occurs in a vocabulary, with the explanation, " a 
 day of rest for the heart." 
 
 51. The development of this religion among the Phe- 
 nicians possessed a special character of its own. An 
 industrial, seafaring, and commercial people, they gave a 
 national form to the Mesopotamian myths, and moulded 
 the god Eshmun with the Kabiri, and Ba'al 'Hamman, the 
 god of the solar fire, with his consort Tanith, into the 
 representatives and propagators of Phenician civilisation. 
 In many respects their theology agrees with that of the 
 Israelites. In later times they seem to have been com- 
 pletely dominated by Egyptian influence, and, in their 
 eagerness to imitate the Hamitic civilisation, to have 
 brought even their religion, at any rate externally, into 
 concord with it. 
 
 Perhaps even Eshmun and the Kabiri were derived 
 from Egypt. These last I formerly regarded erroneously 
 as the gods of the seven planets. They rather corre- 
 spond with the seven helpers of the creative deities Ptah 
 and Chnum, with whose functions we have become better 
 acquainted through monuments recently deciphered. 
 Asmunu, however, occurs in the Babylonian inscriptions. 
 
 52. The culminating - point of the religion of the 
 
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. S5 
 
 iN'ortliern Semites was readied in that of Israel. Diirinn; 
 the tliirteenth century before Christ a considerable por- 
 tion of Canaan was gradually conquered by this small 
 nation. They entered the country on different sides, 
 possessing a religion of extreme simplicity, though not 
 monotheistic. It did not differ in character from the 
 Arabian, and approached most nearly, it would seem, to 
 that of the Qenites. Their ancient national god bore 
 the name of El-Shaddai, but it is not without reason that 
 their great leader Moses is supposed to have established 
 in its place before this period the worship of Yahveh. 
 To him also was ascribed the composition of a funda- 
 mental religious and moral law, the so-called Ten Words. 
 Undoubtedly this deity, by whatever name they may have 
 designated him, was the dreadful and stern god of the 
 thunder, whose character corresponded to the nature 
 which surrounded them and the life which they led. 
 
 The history of the development of the Israente rehgiou 
 requires to be studied independently. I state here only 
 what is necessary to bring out clearly the relation in 
 which it stands to kindred forms of worship. Moreover, 
 the brief summary here presented needs no detailed 
 explanation, since ample expositions of the subject will be 
 found in Kuenen's Religion of Israel, my own Vergelijkende 
 Geschiedenis, and other recent works. 
 
 The latest discoveries in the field of ancient Babylonian 
 literature give rise to the question whether the traditions 
 of the Israelites about their origin really belonged to 
 them, or whether they appropriated them from the 
 Canaanites. Does the tradition of Abraham's migration 
 from Ur of the Chaldees, and of the sojourn of the 
 patriarchs in Canaan and Egypt, really furnish us with 
 
86 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 a preliminary history of the Israelites wrapped up in 
 leo;ends, or did thev find it in existence in Canaan and 
 adopt it? In other words, were the tribes of Israel 
 originally a branch of the Northern Semites, or were 
 they a branch of the Southern Semites related to the 
 Ishmaelites, who only mingled with the Northern Semites 
 when settled in their new abode, and there became 
 acquainted with the civilisation brought by their kinsmen 
 from Mesopotamia % Before these questions are solved 
 by further inquiry, all that we can say with certainty of 
 the origin of the Israehtes is that they belong to the 
 Semitic race, and I have therefore been purposely silent 
 on the subject in the text. 
 
 53. This religion they did not abandon in their new 
 fatherland, although it was really sometimes in danger 
 of being supplanted. At first the Israelites, or those of 
 them, at least, who had settled on the west of the Jordan, 
 placed their national god Yahveh by the side of the 
 Canaanite deity of the country, whom they called briefly 
 " the Baal," and whom most of them, after they had 
 renounced their wandering shepherd-life and begun to 
 devote themselves to agriculture, worsliipped together 
 with Ashera, the goddess of fertility, and other native 
 deities. As the god of the conquerors, however, Yahveh 
 was still commonly placed above the others. Even his 
 ardent worshippers, such as some of the judges, and 
 especially Samuel, only maintained his supremacy; and 
 such zealous champions of Yahvism as Saul and David 
 named their children after the Baal Solomon, who erected 
 a splendid temple for Yahveh in his capital, saw no harm 
 in building sanctuaries for other gods as well, which was 
 regarded as a sin, indeed, by the later historians, but cer- 
 
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. 87 
 
 tainly not by his coutemporaries. The Baal against 
 which the stem Elijah contended so vigorously in the 
 kingdom of Israel, was not the deity of the country; it 
 was the Phenician Baal, introduced by the wife of Ahab, 
 the Sidonian princess Jezebel. Elijah's disciple Elisha, 
 and his follower Jehu, rooted out this foreign cultus with 
 violence, but did not interfere with that of the native 
 Ashera. 
 
 54. In the meantime, largely through the instrumen- 
 tality, it would seem, of the prophetic schools, the stricter 
 Yahvism had quietly, and even imperceptibly to itself, 
 adopted a number of elements from the native religion, and 
 brought them into harmony with its spirit and require- 
 ments. This appears especially in the cosmogony, the 
 narratives of Paradise, of the Deluge, and others, the myth 
 of Samson, the legend of the patriarch Jacob-Israel — 
 particularly in that of his quarrel with his brother Esau, 
 who plays a similar part in Phenician mythology, and 
 is also named in the Assyrian inscriptions — and more of 
 the same kind. To the conception of Yaliveh, also, as the 
 dreadful god of the desert, there were slowly added various 
 traits borrowed from that of the beneficent Baal, the god 
 of blessing and abundance. By this process the represen- 
 tation of Yahveh was gradually softened, without, how- 
 ever, losing its original character. There was now no 
 longer any reason for supplementing his worship w^ith that 
 of the Canaanite god of agriculture ; Yahveli was now 
 sufficiently like the latter to be able, even alone, to 
 satisfy the wants of the nation when it was civilised and 
 settled. 
 
88 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 K>h. This gradual modification of the conception of 
 deity paved the way for the reforming work of the 
 great prophets, who began in the eighth century before 
 Christ to insist on the exclusive worship of Yahveh. 
 rsj To attain this end, they contended not only against the 
 cruel worship of the god of fire, called by the Israelites 
 briefly " the Molek," to whom in the Assjrrian period, 
 following probably the example of their neighbours, they 
 sacrificed children and men, but also against the cultus 
 of the native Baal, and even against the purely national 
 worship dedicated to the sun, moon, and stars, to which 
 not a few of the Israelites had always remained faithful. 
 Some kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, devoted them- 
 selves to carrying out their doctrine ; other princes, how- 
 ever, supported by the majority of the people, maintained 
 the old and the new nature-gods. It was not till the 
 establishment of a priestly state by the small section of 
 the nation who returned to the fatherland after the cap- 
 tivity, that Yahveh was recognised as the only god, and 
 there was no further mention of any Baal or Molek. 
 
 Molek is the old Akkadian fii-e-god, who was blended 
 in Assyria partly with Anu, partly with Adar, and was 
 worshipped in the same fashion by Phenicians, Moa- 
 bites, Ammonites, and other kindred tribes. It is uncer- 
 tain whether the prominence which his worship acquired 
 in Israel after the ninth century, must be ascribed to 
 Assyrian influence or to local causes. 
 
 hQ. The prophets, however, were not only the teachers of 
 their people, but also the interpreters of whatever passed 
 in the inmost heart of the nation. The monothsism which 
 
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. 89 
 
 was the last and ripest fruit of the preaching of the pro- 
 phets before the captivity, grew slowly, and remained, 
 besides, purely national. Out of the conception of Yah- 
 veh's supremacy over the other gods of the country 
 sprang the idea of his sole lordship over Israel. Beyond 
 this idea the first prophets of the reformed Mosaism 
 made no great advance. Even the Book of Deuteronomy, 
 which is written entirely in their spirit, still assigns to 
 each people a deity of its own, while the Most High 
 retams Israel for himself It is not till Jeremiah that 
 utterance is given to the thought that Yahveh is the 
 eternal God, besides whom there exists no other, and 
 in contrast with whom the other gods are nothing but 
 emptiness, and the Babylonian Isaiah, with more emphasis 
 and genius, develops the same conception. The pan- 
 theistic monotheism of the Aryans, which regards all 
 deities simply as names of the One, the All-embracing 
 and Infinite, remained unknown to them ; and to the 
 universalist monotheism of the Gospel, which has entirely 
 broken down the bounds of nationality, not even the 
 noblest of them was able to rise. The great value of the 
 preachmg of the prophets lies in its ethical character, 
 and in the pure and elevated representation which it 
 gave of their Yahveh. But even this conception of deity 
 is still one-sided, and their universalism contmues par- 
 ticularist. What they opposed to the religions of other 
 nations was not a universal religion, but simply their 
 own national religion, and they expected that every one 
 would be converted to it, and woid.d recognise the sole 
 supremacy of their national god. This expectation is the 
 highest expression of the theocratic belief which rules the 
 
90 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 whole Semitic life, the conclusion to which the reflective 
 mind was necessarily impelled by progressive develop- 
 ment, when it had once adopted as its point of departure 
 the idea of the unlimited sovereignty of a God in contrast 
 with whom man is nothing more than a slave. 
 
 57. This prophetic movement gave rise to a religious 
 sect, or nomistic religion, the foundations of which were 
 firmly laid before the captivity by the code prepared 
 under Josiah, and during the captivity and after it by 
 Ezekiel and the priestly legislation, and which was organ- 
 ised, chiefly by Ezra, as a priestly community. Out of 
 the Mosaism of the prophets grew Judaism. Superficially 
 considered, the period of Israelite religious history which 
 now ensued, appears an era not of progress but of ex- 
 clusion and petrifaction. In reality this is not the 
 case. The Jewish mind took into itself new elements, 
 which worked and fermented in silence till they produced 
 a nobler thought. Before the gaze of Israel opened 
 a world hitherto unknown. It came into contact 
 with the Indo-Germans, first with the Persians, then with 
 the Greeks, and lastly with the Eomans. Parsism at- 
 tracted them by its ethical tendency, though they could 
 make no terms with the dualism on which it rested, the 
 doctrine of two Creators, one good and one evil ; it even 
 seems that the great prophet of the captivity denounced 
 it (Isa. xlv. 7). But the prominence and the large de- 
 velopment attained among them after the captivity 
 by the doctrine of good and evil angels, can only be 
 ascribed to Persian influence, and Persian representations 
 may be recognised no less clearly in their eschatology. 
 
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. 91 
 
 The Greek polytheism, which it was sought to force 
 upon them with violence, they resisted obstinately 
 and successfully, and the Eomans they hated. But 
 Greek humanism and Greek philosophy made their way 
 unobserved even among them, and the struggle with the 
 universal sovereignty of Eome caused their ancient ideal, 
 the kingdom of God, the universal sovereignty of the only 
 true God, to awake with new power. Out of the mutual 
 co-operation of these factors, the union of Israelite piety 
 with Persian morality, Greek humanism, and a universal- 
 ism vying with that of Eome — in other words, out of the 
 alliance of the Semitic with the Indo-Germanic mind — 
 arose the mighty universal religion which reconciles them 
 l)oth, and has nowhere found so many adherents and 
 reached so high a development as among the Indo-Ger- 
 manic nations of Europe. 
 
 On the debts of Judaism to Parsism, see Kuenen's 
 Beligion of Israel, vol. iii. pp. 1-44. A. Kohut, '^ Ueber 
 die jiidische Aiigelologie und Damonologie in ihrer Ab- 
 hangigkeit vom Parsismus," in Alhandl. far die Kunde des 
 Morgenl., iv. 3. Id., " Was hat die Talmud. Eschatologie 
 aus dem Parsismais auf2;enommen 1 " in the Zeitschr. der 
 Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch., xxi. vi. pp. 552-591. 
 
 D. Isldm. 
 
 Literature. — Translations of the Qordn, by Wahl, 
 Halle, 1848; Sale, London, 1836; Kasimirski, with 
 introduction by Pauthier, Paris, 1 840 ; Ullmann, Cre- 
 feld, 1840; EoDWELL, London, 2d ed. (chronologically 
 arranged, but very hypothetical). Some of these transla- 
 tions reproduced in Dutch by S. Keyzer, Haarlem, i860. 
 
92 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 Cf. Th. Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns, Gottingen, iS6o. 
 Gr. K. Niemann, Be Kordn, Eotterdam, 1864. G. Weil, 
 Muhamed der Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre, 1843, ^^^ 
 Gesck der Islam. Volker von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des Sul- 
 tans Selim, Stuttgart, 1866. Sir W. Ml^ir, The Life 
 of Mahomet and History of Islam, 4 vols., London, 1858- 
 61. A. Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des Moham- 
 mad, 3 vols., Berlin, 1861-65. E. DozY, Het Islamisme, 
 Haarlem, 1863, and De Israeliten te Mekka van Davids 
 iijd tot in de 5® eeuw onzer tijdrekening, ibid., 1864. 
 
 G. K. Niemann, Inleiding tot de kennis van den Islam, 
 Eotterdam, 186 1. A. VON Kremer, Geschichte der herrsch- 
 enden Ideen des Islams, Leipzig, 1868; Culturgeschicht- 
 liche Streifzilge axif dem Gebiefe des Islams, ibid., 1873; 
 and Cultur geschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, 2 vols. 
 Vienna, 1875-77. On Islam in India, Garcin de Tassv, 
 H Islamisme cVapres le Goran, &c., Paris, 1874. 
 
 58. The purely Semitic universal religion is Islamism, 
 whicb fost arose in Arabia six hundred years after Christ. 
 Some tribes had already abandoned their ancestral re- 
 ligion for Christianity in its Jewish or Ebionitish form, 
 and the Jews also had made a number of converts. But 
 neither the one nor the other religion had any great 
 attraction for the Arabs ; the one was too exclusively 
 national, the other too dogmatic. Yet they imperceptibly 
 brought about a modification of the religious conceptions, 
 at least of the more advanced. There were poets before 
 Mohammed who already displayed a deep conviction of 
 the unity of God, and of man's responsibility towards 
 him. A definite sect, even, had been formed, the Hanyf- 
 ites, who rejected both Judaism and Christianity, and 
 preached a very simple practical monotheistic doc- 
 
THE RISE OF ISLAM. 93 
 
 trine, wliicli tliey probably already designated Islam. 
 Tbe ancient Fetishism was still kept up simply by liabit, 
 and by the personal interest of tribes or families, but few 
 retained any belief in their idols. Even for those who 
 still remained faithful to the national gods, Allah was the , 
 Sheikh of the spirits (Jinn), and these were his daughters; 
 nay, the worship of the fetishes was even justified by the 
 assertion that they were invoked only as mediators witli 
 Allah. Meanwhile the chief god possessed neither tem- 
 ples nor priests ; of the sacrifices he received the worst 
 part, and only in extraordinary circumstances did men 
 pass by the gods who stood nearer to man, in order to 
 seek a refuge with him. The seers ('Arraf) and the 
 soothsaying priests {Kdhin) had lost a great deal of their 
 credit, religion was in deep decline, and a number of 
 phenomena indicated that the need of a better was 
 awakened. 
 
 Judaism and Christianity had given currency to the 
 doctrines of one God, and of retribution, as well as to 
 the ideas of a revelation and the moral government of 
 the world. 
 
 The Hanyfites are commonly regarded as a sect which 
 arose under the influence of the above-named religions. 
 The name hanyf, ''heretic," "unbeliever," may in that 
 case have been given to them by Christians and Jews, 
 because their belief was freer and also mingled with 
 heathen errors. This is the view of Sprenger, i. 67. 
 Dozy, in the Israeliten te Mekka, has defended the opinion 
 that the Hanyfites were a remnant of the Israelites, who 
 first made their way to Arabia in the time of David, 
 and subsec^uently after the destruction of Jerusalem by 
 Nebukadresar. Their doctrine, which they called DU 
 
94 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 Ibrahim, would in that case be, not " the belief of 
 Abraham," but "the belief of the Hebrews," and the so- 
 called heathen traditions and usages at Mekka which 
 Mohammed adopted, would be originally derived from 
 the Israelites. 
 
 Islam (nom. verb.) signifies "submission," "surrender" 
 to God. The professors of the doctrine took the name of 
 Moslim (partic), " the believer," " one who is blindly 
 obedient to all God's commands " (Sprenger, i. 69 ; Dozy, 
 Islamisme, 26). 
 
 Jinn, derived by Sprenger, i. 221, from a root meaning 
 "to cover," "to veil," is erroneously explained by him as 
 the "darkening of the mind." If the derivation is cor- 
 rect, the word must have been applied to the spirits, as 
 the hidden and invisible, or to the fetishes, as the out- 
 ward abodes of the spirits. 
 
 59. To constitute Hanyfism into a religion, a fixed 
 doctrine, an organised worship, and a divine sanction 
 were needed. These were provided by Mohammed. Born 
 at Mekka in the year 571 A.D., of a family of distinction 
 though of no great power, he was left an orphan at an 
 early age, and was adopted by relatives. For a long time 
 he was obliged to seek his maintenance in a lowly calling, 
 till he became the third husband of a rich widow, Khadijah, 
 to whom he continued most closely attached till her 
 death. It was not till he had reached the age of forty 
 years that visions and ecstasies, the result of a sickly 
 system and protracted religious meditations in gloomy 
 solitude, brought him to the conviction that he was either 
 insane or a messenger of God. The latter thought gained 
 the victory. He felt himself called by God himself to be 
 the prophet of the strictest monotheism, and he hesitated 
 
MOHAMMED. 95 
 
 not to obey tlie call. At first lie found little belief out- 
 side tlie circle of liis own family. Yet he bad a power- 
 ful support in bis wife, and in some friends of position. 
 Among tbese last tbe foremost place is due to tbe intel- 
 ligent and discerning Abu-bekr, and tbe courageous and 
 elastic Omar, two men witbout wbom Islam could never 
 have triumphed. At Mekka, tbe preaching of Mohammed, 
 whatever were tbe temporal or tbe eternal penalties with 
 which be threatened tbe unbelievers, produced little other 
 effect than ridicule and insult against himseK and tbe 
 persecution of his unprotected adherents. Twice were 
 liis followers obliged to retreat to Abyssinia, and when be 
 recalled an utterance in favour of the ancient idolatry 
 which had been extorted from him, the exasperation 
 against him reached its height. He did not therefore 
 hesitate long to comply with the invitation of the most 
 vehement enemies of tbe people of Mekka, tbe inhabitants 
 of Medina, who swore fidelity to him, and he fled thither 
 with a number of his friends. This flight (tbe Hijra, 
 622—623 A.D.), is regarded by tbe Moslims as tbe first 
 triumph of their faith, and is tbe starting-point of their 
 chronology. 
 
 60. Tbe favourable circumstances which surrounded 
 Mohammed at Medina operated unfavourably upon his 
 character. Beneath opposition and persecution he bad 
 displayed tbe courage of his conviction, but when be bad 
 once gained the mastery, tbe Prophet became an arbitrary 
 tyrant, who gave the rein freely to all his passions. His 
 vengefulness was felt by the Jews, who would not enrol 
 themselves among his followers, and by those who bad 
 
96 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 tlie misfortune to injure him. After the death of 
 Khadijah he began to keep a harem, to which he went 
 on adding new wives, among them even the lawful wife 
 of his adopted son. The scandal which such acts 
 caused even among the faithful, was allayed by revela- 
 tions received just as they were required, which can 
 hardly be ascribed simply to self-deception, and must 
 have been produced with intentional deceit. At Medma 
 Mohammed instituted public worship, but he appears 
 never to have lost sight of his great object, to make 
 Alekka, already the centre of the national religion, the 
 centre of his own religion. He preached the holy war, 
 which was, however, mspired quite as much by desire of 
 revenge and plunder, as by policy and fanaticism. After 
 lighting against the Mekkans with varying success, he 
 demanded permission to take part with his followers 
 in the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, and his request was 
 granted under certain conditions. Not satisfied, however, 
 with this, he violates the armistice, advances in the year 
 630 with a very considerable army against his native 
 city, obtains possession of it by treachery, destroys the 
 idols in the Ka'ba, forces the worship there practised into 
 conformity with his own doctrine, and thus transforms 
 the city which had rejected him into the chief seat, and its 
 ancient temple into the principal sanctuary, of the true 
 faith. All the Arab tribes now submitted, at any rate 
 outwardly and simply out of fear, to Islam, although the 
 general rising after the death of the Prophet proves how 
 superficial was their conversion. The idea of even uni- 
 versal dominion began to be entertained. Shortly after 
 the pilgrimage to Mekka, Mohammed had already sent 
 
MOHAMMED. 97 
 
 letters to different princes, even to the Eoman emperor and 
 the Persian king, demanding their submission ; soon he 
 despatched small armies beyond the boundaries, sometimes 
 with considerable success, and he planned more and more 
 distant expeditions. But the end approached with swift 
 strides, and he felt that his task was finished. After a 
 few days' illness, he collected all his strength to address 
 the faithful in the Mosque once more, returned home 
 exhausted, and died the same day, June 8th, 632, on the 
 breast of his favourite wife, Ayesha, daughter of Abu- 
 bekr, amid pious aspirations and in the firm hope of im- 
 mortality. 
 
 61. The five pillars of Islam, of which the founda- 
 tions were laid in the teaching of Mohammed himself, 
 are as follows : ( i ) the acceptance of the two great 
 dogmas ; (2) prayer, regarded rather as an outward 
 religious action than as an impidse of the heart, all its 
 forms therefore being regulated with precision; (3) alms- 
 giving ; (4) fasting, kept strictly in the month of Eama- 
 dhan from sunrise to sunset; (5) the pilgrimage to 
 Mekka, wliich every free adult was bound to perform once 
 in his life. The first of the two great dogmas is the 
 doctrine of the unity of God, of whose existence the 
 Prophet continually adduced proofs, but of whose nature 
 he never attempted, or was not in a position, to form a 
 pure conception. The Qoran is marked by a strong- 
 anthropomorphism, and well-attested traditions ascribe 
 to Mohammed the assertion that he had seen the deity 
 in human form, (lod is almighty and all-knowing, but 
 
 terrible in his wrath : he rewards and punishes arbitra- 
 ^ G 
 
 y 
 
98 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 rily ; lie hardens tlie hearts of those whom he destines 
 to destruction ; and every one, therefore, must tremble 
 before the fires of his hell. He requires men to sur- 
 render themselves to him with servile submission, yet 
 not even then are they always sure of his grace. Such 
 a representation of the deity naturally leads to the 
 doctrine of unconditional predestination, and this was, 
 accordingly, also taught by Mohammed ; but he was too 
 impulsive, and too little of a thinker, not to be untrue 
 to it sometimes. Moreover, the strictness of his mono- 
 theism did not prevent him from admitting the jinns ox 
 spirits into his system ; but he transformed them, in imi- 
 tation of the Jews, into good and evil spirits, angels and 
 devils, the latter of whom, however, were, in his view, 
 capable of conversion. 
 
 Mohammed was very zealous in prayer and fasting, 
 and spent whole nights in prayer with his disciples. 
 Great value was ascribed to the invocation of the name 
 of God {dzikr), not only mentally but aloud. All the 
 ceremonies to be observed in connection with prayer, the 
 lustrations, gestures, and genuflections, were arranged by 
 the Prophet himself. Much value attached to their 
 public performance. This duty was observed by 'Omar 
 even in the days of the persecution. Sprenger, i. pp. 
 318, sqq., 324, sciq.; comp. ii. p. 132. 
 
 The god of Mohammed stands no higher than the 
 common Semitic ideal of morality. He is an arbitrary, 
 vengeful, bloodthirsty tyrant, whose sombre traits are 
 only rarely relieved by one of the brighter touches by 
 which the Jewish prophets succeeded in throwing a kindly 
 glow over the image of their Yahveh. Mohammed did 
 not shrink from speaking even of Allah's cunning. In 
 
ISLAM. 99 
 
 the Qoran, sxir. 8, 30, he is called the craftiest of the 
 forgers of devices, who, by his own wiles, puts to shame 
 those of unbelievers. 
 
 For the chief of the evil spirits, Mohammed even pre- 
 served the Hebrew name Satan, as well as the Christian 
 name Iblis {Diabolos). 
 
 62. "VVitli this gloomy conception of deity corresponds 
 the view taken by Islam of the world. The Qoran gives 
 very frequent utterance to the idea that our earthly life 
 lias little value, and is but a passing game, while old 
 traditions ascribe to Mohammed sayings in which the 
 world is compared with all kinds of worthless objects. 
 The door was tbus opened for the severe asceticism in 
 which the Moslims were soon to rival Christians and 
 Buddhists. The misery of this world w^as only surpassed 
 by the unspeakable pains of hell, wdiicli w^ere depicted 
 with the blackest colours. But with joyous expectation 
 men might look to heaven, where in beautiful gardens, 
 clothed wdth sj^lendid garments, and surrounded by black- 
 eyed girls, the blessed would drink the precious unintoxi- 
 cating w^ine of paradise. The union of gloomy contempt 
 for the world w^ith luxurious sensuality is a characteristic 
 of all Semitic religions, to which only Mosaic prophetism 
 offers a favourable exception. 
 
 According to tradition, Mohammed compared the world 
 to a sheep cast away by its owner, nay, even to a dung- 
 heap with rotting bones. For unbelievers only is it a 
 paradise. 
 
 While his doctrine looked for joy to the future only, 
 the Prophet, with questionable consistency, contrived to 
 secure here on earth a foretaste of the sensual bliss of 
 
 / 
 
 • 
 
loo RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 heaven, a proceeding in which many believers have 
 zealously imitated him. 
 
 y 63. Besides his faith in the unity of God, the Moslim 
 must believe in the divine mission of Mohammed. This 
 is the second main dogma. God has made known his 
 will by thousands of prophets, one after another, of whom 
 Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are the most 
 eminent, while Mohammed is the last and greatest. God 
 revealed himself in different ways ; to Mohammed, how- 
 ever, for the most part through the angel Gabriel. The 
 violent attacks of his chronic disease were regarded by 
 him as divine inspirations, but not till his return to con- 
 sciousness did he give utterance to any words. At first 
 he undoubtedly believed with complete smcerity in the 
 reality of these relations ; afterwards, however, in the 
 days of his power, they often came just at the right 
 moment to justify him, to remove some scandal, or enable 
 him to attain some definite end. Frequently they con- 
 flicted with each other, and the later were employed to 
 modify or revoke the earlier. The conception w^as entirely 
 mechanical. But they were always blindly believed and 
 obeyed by his followers. Eecorded in part during his 
 life, and in part preserved by memory, they were not 
 collected until after his death. This collection, fixed once 
 for all, bears the name of Qoran, and is regarded by the 
 orthodox as the uncreated word of God, though they also 
 attach great authority to tradition (Sonna). 
 
 The modes of revelation also included dreams, such as 
 that of Mohammed's journey to Jerusalem by night, and 
 of his ascension to heaven. The symptoms of his disease 
 
ISLAM. 10 1 
 
 have led many to regard it as. epilepsy, but Spreiiger con- 
 siders it to have been hysteria muscularis. The angel 
 Gabriel is a product of his imagination, not an unknown 
 impostor, as Weil supposes. The form in which the 
 Prophet himself cast his revelations was a rhymed prose, 
 without any poetic value, but not free from rhetorical 
 bombast. 
 
 When his numerous harem and his marriage with the 
 wife of his adopted son gave general offence, he imme- 
 diately provided divine revelations to justify himself. 
 When severe vigils, enjoined by God, exhausted him too 
 seriously, came a new command, kept secret all that while 
 by God, to mitigate the old order ; and when Mohammed, 
 after having refrained from contending against the idols, 
 began to oppose them with great energy, it was said that 
 God had not desired him to do so until then. 
 
 The revelations were called Qonin (to " read," to 
 " explain "), or Sdra (" line of a book," " chapter "). 
 After they were collected, the first name became .the 
 title of the whole, while the second was used to designate 
 particular revelations. Both Avords are of Hebrew origin. 
 The first collection was made by Mohammed's secretary, 
 Zaid ibn Th^bit, by order of Abu-bekr and 'Omar, and 
 for their use. The second proceeded afterwards from the 
 same hand, in conjunction with some others. All tlie 
 texts not inserted in it were then destroyed. 
 
 64. The religion founded by Mohammed is exclusively 
 Semitic, for in doctrine and organisation it is purely 
 theocratic. God is the sole, absolute, and arbitrary 
 sovereign, standing in an attitude of hostility against the 
 world, revealing himself mechanically by his prophets, and 
 especially by the last of them, to whose words and com- 
 
I02 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 mands all must blindly submit. Mohammed himself, also, 
 was both in his virtues and his vices a genuine Semite. 
 His teaching contained nothing original ; the whole of his 
 preaching had been already put forth before him, and was 
 adopted by him from Judaism, from Eastern Christianity, 
 and from Hanyfism, and at first he even designated 
 himself a Hanyf. Even the idea of his prophetic calling 
 he borrowed from the Jews. His visions were the result 
 of his sickly condition. His preaching was not, however, 
 merely an imitation of others, but the result of the over- 
 powering impression which the religion of the Jews and 
 their spiritual kindred made upon his mind, and which 
 impelled him to oppose the worship of idols, and proclaim 
 monotheism. He believed in his calling, accepted it 
 from conviction, and on account of it for a long tmie 
 courageously bore ridicule and abuse. 
 
 Before Mohammed, his older contemporary Zaid ibn 
 *Amr, a Hanyf, had vigorously opposed the idolatry of 
 the Mekkans. Mohammed was acquainted mth him, 
 and was certainly much indebted to him. See Dozy, 
 Id. J p. 14; Sprenger, i. p. 119, sqq^. Another view is 
 taken by Noldeke, Gescli. des Qor., p. 14. The influence 
 also of the Christians upon the Prophet must have been 
 considerable (Sprenger, ii. p. 180, sq^ii.) Waraka, the 
 nephew of Khadijah, was a Christian, and was even 
 canonised by Mohammed (Sprenger, i. p. 124, sqfi.) 
 
 Qd. The history of the subsequent development of 
 Islamism lies beyond our compass. It must, however, be 
 observed that the death of the Pro^^het was followed 
 immediately by a great defection through the whole of 
 Arabia, which was only suppressed by violence, and that 
 
ISLAM. 103 
 
 the mastery soon came into tlie hands of the party which 
 had the most vehemently opposed Mohammed durmg his 
 lifetime. In its doctrines, especially in its conception 
 of God, and above all in its moral value, Islam is far 
 inferior not only to Christianity, but also to Mosaism and 
 to Judaism. But over the degraded forms of these 
 religions, which prevailed in Arabia and other Eastern 
 countries, it deserves the preference. The elements 
 which qualified it, in distinction from Judaism, to become 
 a universal religion, lay, first of all, in its freedom from 
 the bonds of a particular nationality, and next, in the 
 ease with wliich it could be summed up in two simple 
 doctrines. What Buddhism possessed in the doctrine of 
 Nirvana, and Christianity ui the preaching of love, Islam . 
 found in the formula — " There is no God but God, and 
 Mohammed is his prophet." Its triumph in Arabia was 
 due to political considerations, and to the absence of any- 
 thing better to occupy the field. The way for its diffusion 
 beyond was paved by arms, and the pecuniary and civil 
 privileges conferred on believers among vanquished 
 peoples, secured for it a multitude of adherents. True 
 and zealous followers it found only among nations of 
 imperfect development, such as the superficial Christians 
 of Egypt, North Africa, and Spain, among the Berbers, 
 Negroes, Malays, and Turks. In Persia and India it only 
 conquered by force. The Persians were always regarded 
 as heretics, and the Mohammedan are, for the most part, 
 distinguished from the Brahmanical Hindus only by a 
 few forms. Founded among a people which developed 
 late, it is the youngest and also the lowest of the universal 
 religions. Only for a short time, under the stimulus of 
 
I04 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES. 
 
 favouring circumstances, and in conflict with its own 
 principles, did it call forth a higher civilisation. When 
 carried out with due strictness it brings all civilisation to 
 nothing. 
 
 Monotheism in itself, when the one God does not 
 combine everything that is divine, and the conception of 
 deity is one-sided and Hmited, by no means possesses 
 the great value commonly ascribed to it. 
 
 As a universal religion, Islam did not grow out of the 
 Arabian polydsemonism, but, like Christianity and Bud- 
 dhism, out of a nomistic religion. 
 
( 105 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS, EXCLUD- 
 ING THE GREEKS AND ROMANS, 
 
 I. 
 
 THE ANCIENT INDO-GERMAN EELIGION AND THE ARYAN 
 
 RELIGION PROPER. 
 
 Literature. — Lieut.-Col. Vans Kennedy, Researches into 
 the Nature and Affinity of Ancient Hindu Mythology, 
 London, 1831. R. Roth, ''Die hochsten Gotter der 
 Arisclien Vulker," in Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenldnd. 
 GeseUsck, vi., 1852, p. 67, sqq. A. PiCTET, Les Origines 
 Indo-Euro;p6ennes, ou les Aryas Primitifs, 2 vols., Paris, 
 1859-63, now antiquated in some parts. M. Muller, 
 Lectures on the Science of Language, 2 vols., especially lects. 
 viii.-xii. of the second vol., London, 6th ed., 1873. G. 
 W. Cox, The Mythology of the Aryan Nations, 2 vols., 
 London, 1870. A. DE Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, 
 . or the Legends of Animals, 2 vols., London, 1872. A. 
 KuHN, Die Hcrdbkunft des Feuers und des Gotter-tranks, 
 Berlin, 1859. L. Myriantheus, Die Agvins oder die 
 Arischen DiosJcuren, Munich, 1876. G. Schoebel, Re- 
 cherches sur la Religion p'emihre de la Race Indo-Iraniennef 
 Paris, 1872; and K. M. Banerjea, The Aryan Witness, 
 or the Testimony of Aryan Scriptures in corrohoration of . . . 
 Christian Doctrine, Calcutta, 1875, both written under the 
 influence of a theological system, and largely hypothetical. 
 
io6 RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS. 
 
 P. AsMUS, Die Indo-Germanisclie Religion in den Hcm/pt- 
 jmnJcten Hirer Entwickelung, vol. i. Halle, 1875, vol. ii. 
 (part ist), 1877. 
 
 QQ. Comparative mythology has proved that all 
 Indo-Germans, or Aryans in the broadest sense, including 
 the Indians, Persians, Wends or Letto-Slavs, Germans, 
 Greeks, Ptomans, and Kelts, once possessed not only the 
 same language, but also the same religion. This religion 
 cannot have differed much in character from the Indo- 
 Germanic religions known to us from historic times. It 
 is certain that they named their gods " the heavenly," 
 or the " shining ones," (deva, deus, tivar), a name which 
 was preserved among the Indians, Eomans, Scandinavians, 
 and Letto-Slavs, and probably also among the Greeks {Oeoi), 
 bemg replaced among the remaining races by other desig- 
 nations, and employed by the Persians in an unfavourable 
 sense. Their principal god, or, at any rate, the object of 
 their highest worship, was the heaven-father (I)yaus-pita7\ 
 Zev^ irarrip, Jupiter). Among the Greeks and Eomans 
 he was maintained in his supremacy ; among the Indians 
 he was, to some extent, supplanted by other deities, though 
 even among them he always remained the father of the 
 highest gods ; but among the Germans (Zio, Tyi^ he was 
 entirely changed in character. By his side was then 
 worshijDped another heaven god ( Varuna, Ouranos), perhaps 
 a deity of the nightly sky, and probably of higher rank, of 
 whom the Greeks retained only a faint recollection, though 
 the Indians continued at first to stand in great awe of him. 
 In the tempests and thunderstorms they saw, as the 
 correspondence of myths proves, the contest of the gods 
 of light against the powers of darkness, and they already 
 
ITS EARLY FORM. 107 
 
 recognised and worshipped a fire-god, the friend of men, 
 who stole fire from heaven. A female deity was regarded 
 as the mediator or messenger between men and gods 
 {Ila, Ida, Ira), or between gods and men (Iris). The 
 sim-god (SilrT/a, Hvare, "H\lo^^ Sol) likewise, and the 
 dawn-goddess (Uslias, "jEfw9, Aurora), were probably 
 objects of adoration. We are not at liberty, therefore, to 
 ascribe to them a kind of monotheism or henotheism at 
 so early a period. It is even very doubtful whether 
 their religion may be rightly called polytheism, or 
 whether it was really more than a very advanced 
 polydsemonism. The stage of development which they 
 had reached, can in any case only be matter for conjec- 
 ture, and does not admit of exact determination. 
 
 I keep the ngly but established designation " Indo- 
 Germans," to distinguish the race from the Aryans proper, 
 who were the ancestors of the Indians and Persians. 
 The name Indo-Europeans is to be rejected on every 
 account. The name Aryans may also be applied to the 
 whole race, and the Indo-Persians may then be called 
 East-Aryans. The name Indo-Germans indicates the 
 two peoples between whom all the others belonging to 
 the race are scattered. 
 
 The connection of the Greek hoc, also, with deva, is 
 disputed by G. Buhler in Orient und Occident, i. p. 508, 
 sqq., by G. Curtius, and others. 
 
 Vanina signifies "the coverer," or the "surrounder." 
 As he becomes later on the god of the ocean, he may 
 originally have been the special ruler of the heaven-ocean, 
 like Hea in Mesopotamia. 
 
 On the theft of fire and the acfreement of Framdtha 
 and Prometheus, of the Bhrgu's Avith the Fhkgians (light- 
 
io8 RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS. 
 
 nings), and of Bhuranyu with Fhoroneus, see the work of 
 Kuhn cited above. 
 
 The opinion that the Indo-Germanic races began with 
 monotheism or henotheism, is defended by Max MUller, 
 Introduction to the Science of Religion, London, 1873, p. 
 170, sqq^. See on the other side my essay in De Gids, 
 187 1, No. I, translated into German, Max Muller und Fr. 
 \J Schultze liter ein ProUem der Religions - JFissensckaft, 
 Leipzig, 187 1. 
 
 67. At a very early date the Indo- Germans fell apart 
 into a number of nations, which, one after another, quitted 
 their common home, and settled, some in Asia, and some in 
 Europe. They were not at first separated into the nations 
 which afterwards became independent, but formed groups 
 like the Indians and Persians (to whom the Slavs or 
 Wends remained attached the longest), the Teutons and 
 Scandinavians, or the Greeks, Eomans, and Kelts. Of this 
 the agreement of their religions affords evidence, besides 
 the indications of language and history. The Indians 
 and Persians must have remained the longest united as 
 
 A 
 
 one people, under the name of the Aryans. Prom the 
 Aryan religion proceeded, on the one hand, the Yedic 
 religion, the parent of Brahmanism and Buddhism, and 
 on the other, — though certainly not by immediate descent, 
 — the Mazdeism of the Bactrians and Persians. 
 
 Arya (from ari, " devoted," " faithfully attached ") is 
 explained by some scholars (Bohthlingk-Eoth, Worterh. 
 sub voc, Grassmann, JForterb. zum Rig Veda, sub voc.) as 
 " faithful," "attached," " devoted," les fideles ; by others 
 (Benfey, Diet. sub. voc, Bopp, Gloss.) as ''honourable," 
 "noble." It is a general national name of the same kind 
 
THE ARYAN RELIGION. 109 
 
 as Teutons and Slavs, including within it the idea of the 
 entire body of free men, and employed by a conquering 
 nation to distinguish themselves from their neighbours. 
 
 68. The Aryan religion is known to us from mutual 
 comparison of the Indian and Persian religions. The 
 elements they possess in common must once have been 
 the joint proj)erty of both. The Aryans, like the Indo- 
 Germans, were polytheists. This is proved by a great 
 number of names of deities and semi-deities, which re- 
 mained in use among both Indians and Persians. Among 
 them Varicna, Mitra, and Aryaman, occupied the highest 
 rank, though in Mazdeism the first of these was replaced 
 by Ahura Mazda. Varuna, the heaven-god, and Mitra, 
 the light-god, were very severe, and were especially 
 dreaded by liars and cheats. Aryaman, the companion 
 and bosom friend, who presided over the contracting of 
 marriage, probably a fertilising sun-god, was a more kindly 
 being. With Imn was connected Bhaga {Baglia)^ the 
 assigner of destinies, whose name became at an early date 
 a general designation of the gods among the Persians and 
 Slavs. Next to the Devas, who were afterwards degraded 
 in Eran by the Zarathustrian reformation to the rank of 
 evil spirits, the dsicras (dhuras), " the living ones," or 
 " spirits," were worshipped as chief gods. The most 
 striking characteristics of this period, however, seem to 
 have been the great development of the worship of fire, 
 combined with magic, and the mtroduction of the drink 
 of immortality (soma, haoma) at sacrifices as well as into 
 mythology. There is reason to believe that both usages 
 were adopted from a non- Aryan race, since they were 
 
no RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS, 
 
 familiar to the original inhabitants of Mesopotamia and 
 Media, and do not occur in this form among the other 
 Indo-Germanic races, though they also found points of 
 attachment to similar genuinely Indo-Germanic myths. 
 
 The worship of fire and the ideas and customs con- 
 nected with the drink of immortahty, prevalent amoDg 
 Indians and Persians, differ entirely from the usages ot 
 kindred races, and exhibit much more agreement with 
 those of the oldest inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and pro- 
 bably also of Media. Soma (Haoma) is a word belonging 
 to the Aryan period, as it does not occur among the other 
 Indo-Germans. I am only able to explain this pheno- 
 menon by the influence upon the Aryans of the peoples 
 already named. 
 
 n. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 General Worlcs. — J. Gildemeister, Bibliothecce Sanscritce 
 Specimen, Bonn, 1847. Th. Benfey, " Indien" in Ersch 
 and Gruber's Allg. EncyUo^pddie, sect. ii. part xvii., Leipzig, 
 1840. On the Literature of India, A. Weber, Acade- 
 mische Vorlesungen uber Indische LiteraturgescJdchte, Berlin, 
 1852; Id., Indische Skizzen, BerHn, 1857; Id., Indische 
 Streifen, vol. i. " Zerstreute kleinere Abhandlungen," vol. 
 ii. " Kritisch-bibliographische Streifen," Berlin, 1868-69, 
 Cf his Indische Studien, Zeitschr. filr die Kunde des Indisch. 
 AUerthums, since 1849. ^^- Muller, A History of Ancient 
 Sanskrit Literature so far as it Illustrates the Primitive Reli- 
 gion of the Brahmans, London, 1859. Monier Williams, 
 Indian Wisdom, or Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, 
 and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus, London, 1S75. 
 
 On the History of India. — Ch. Lassen, Indische Alter- 
 
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. m 
 
 thumsJcunde, 4 vols., Bonn, 1847-61, 2ded. of vol. i. 1S66, 
 and of vol. ii. 1874. J. Talboys Wheeler, The History 
 of India, vols, i.-iii., London, 1867, &c. J. MuiR. 
 Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the 
 Teojfle of India, their Beligion and Institutions, vol. i., 
 " Origin of Caste,'" 2d ed., London, 1868 ; vol. ii., " Origin 
 of the Hindus," 2d ed., 1871; vol. iii., "The Vedas, 
 Opinions on their Origin," &c., 2d ed., 1868 ; vol. iv. 
 *' Comparison of Vedic with later Representations of the 
 principal Indian Deities," 2d ed., 1873; vol. v. "Cosmo- 
 gony, Mythology, Eeligious Ideas, tfec, in the Vedic Age," 
 1870. Popidar. — Mrs. Manning, Ancient and Medimval 
 India, 2 vols., London, 1869. 
 
 On Religion, — H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, 
 3 vols., London, 1837, 2d ed., with Life of the Author by 
 his son, T. E. C, 3 vols., ibid., 1873. H. H. Wilson, 
 Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, 2 vols., edited by R. 
 Rost, London, 1862. P. Wurm, Gesch. der Indisch. Reli- 
 gion, in Umriss, Basel, 1874. S. Johnson, Oriental Reli- 
 gions and their Relation to Universal Religion, i. " India," 
 London and Boston, 1873. J. Robson, Hinduism and its 
 Relations to Christianity, Edinburgh, 1874. Cf. also the 
 journals, — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London 
 and of that of Calcutta, Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenldnd. 
 Gesellsch., Benfey's Orient und Occident, the Rivista Orientate 
 of A. de Gubernatis, &c., and Max Duncker's Geschichte 
 des Alterthums, vol. ii. 
 
 A. The Vedic Religion. 
 
 Literature. — Editions of the oldest Veda : F. Rosen, 
 Rigveda-Sanhita, lib. prim. Sanscr. et Lat., London, 1838. 
 j\L MuLLER, Rigveda Sanhitd, with the commentary of 
 Sayana, London, 1849, and foil., smaller edition in Pada 
 and Sanhita text, 2 vols., London, 1873. Til. AUERECHT, 
 
112 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 Die Hymnen des Pdgveda, in Eoman character, 2 vols., 
 Berlin, i86t, 2d ed., 1877. A. DE Gubernatis, I^riml 
 Venti Inni del Rigveda, ripuhbl., trad, e annot., Firenze, 
 1865. 
 
 Translations. — M. JMuller, Bigveda Sanhita, translated 
 and explained, vol i., " Hymns to the Maruts," London, 
 1869 (no further volumes have appeared, but a complete 
 translation is promised). K. Geldner, A. Kagi, and R. 
 Roth, Siebenzlg Lieder des RV. ubersetzt, Tiibingen, 1875. 
 A. LUDWIG, Der Rigveda, zum ersten male vollstdndig ins 
 Deutsche Ubersetzt mit Comment, und Einleitung, vol. i., 
 Prague, 1876. H. Grassmann (author of the Worter- 
 luch zum Rigveda,) Rigveda ubersetzt mit hit. und erldut. 
 Anmerlck, vol. i., parts i.-iv., Leipzig, 1876-77. The 
 translation of Langlois cannot be trusted. That of 
 Wilson only reproduces the commentary of Sayana. H. T. 
 Colebrooke, " On the Vedas or Sacred Writings of the 
 Hindus," in Asiatic Researches, vol. viii., Calcutta, 1805, 
 pp. 369-476, and in Miscellaneous Essays (see above). 
 R. Roth, Zur Litteratur und Gesch. des Weda, Stuttgart, 
 1846. E. BuRNOUF, Essai sur le Veda, Paris, 1863. 
 IST. L. Westergaard, Ueber den dltesten Zeiiraum der Ind. 
 Gesch., mit Rucksichf auf der Litteratur, Breslau, 1862. F. 
 Neve, Essai sur le Mijthe des Ribhavas, Paris, 1857. A. 
 DE Gubernatis, La Vita ed i Mirac. del Dio Indra nel RV., 
 Firenza, 1866. A. LuDWiG, Die Philosoj^h. und Religios. 
 Anschauungen des Veda in ihrer Entwichlung, Prague, 
 1875. 
 
 69. After the separation of the Eranian and Indian 
 peoples, the Hindus established themselves in the land of 
 the seven rivers, at the months of the Indns, vrhence 
 their western neighbours called them Hapta Hindu, Sapta 
 Sindlidvas (now the Panjcib, PancJianada, the five rivers). 
 
THE VEDIC RELIGION. 113 
 
 There the old Aryan religion gave way before the in- 
 dependent development of the Vedic religion, so called 
 because it is only known to ns through the Veda far 
 excellence, the Rigveda. It corresponds- with the toler- 
 ably advanced civilisation which the Hindus had already 
 attained. If in its doctrine of spirits and worship of 
 ancestors, as well as in the childlike nature of some 
 of its ideas, it still exhibits the survivals of an earlier 
 animistic conception, it has on the whole outgrown its 
 influence. The Devas, originally nothing more than the 
 phenomena and powers of the shining heaven, conceived 
 as persons, children of Dyaus, the heaven-god, and Pritliivi, 
 the earth-goddess, are no longer simple powers of nature, 
 but to some extent, at least, beings endowed with moral 
 qualities, raised above nature, creators and governors of 
 the world. An idea of deity, which evinces great pro- 
 gress in thought, is applied to the chief gods, so that each 
 in turn is honoured by his worshippers as the highest. 
 
 70. Among all these gods, however, Indra and Agni 
 were the principal objects of praise. Indra vritrahan, 
 the slayer of the foe, is the god who in the thunderstorm 
 defeats the cloud-serpent Ahi, and thus makes the fer- 
 tilising rain pour down upon the earth. In this conflict 
 he is surrounded by the Maruts or storm-gods, led by 
 Eudra ; or Vayu, the wind-god, stands by his side. He 
 is also frequently united with Vishnu, the god of the 
 solar disc. At a later period his two comrades, Eudra 
 and Vishnu, were destined entirely to overshadow him. 
 Agni, as god of fire {ignis, Slav, orjni), is the soul and 
 
 origin of the universe, the mediator between men and 
 
 n 
 
 7 
 
114 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS, 
 
 gods, lord of spells and of prayer. If Indra was ratlier 
 the god of princes and soldiers, Agni was the special god 
 of the priests. The worship paid to Soma, the god of the 
 drink of immortality, to whom even a whole book of the 
 Rigveda is consecrated, was little inferior. 
 
 There are passages in the Veda which justify the con- 
 jecture that Indra and the Maruts were at first rivals, 
 and were not united until later. See RY. i. 165. 
 
 Brahmanasjpati is the lord of spells, and JBrihaspatl the 
 lord of prayer. Both are surnames or forms of Agni. 
 Another very ancient fire-god is the heavenly carpenter 
 Tvashtri. 
 
 Almost all the 114 hymns of the ninth Mandala of the 
 EV. are addressed to Soma. 
 
 71- That the sun-god should occupy a prominent 
 place among the Devas or light-gods, was natural. He 
 may still be traced in a number of gods and demigods. 
 But the proper sun-god of the Vedic j^eriod appears in 
 three forms, Surya, " the shining one," Puslian, " he vfho 
 makes all things grow," and Savitri, " the vivifyuig." He 
 was also named briefly Aditya, as son of Aditi, originally, 
 we may suppose, the goddess of the twilight. Aditi, 
 raised to the rank of universal mother, is also regarded, 
 however, as the mother of various other gods, and even 
 of the highest. The chief of these Adityas is the old 
 Aryan Yaruna, who maintains duriag this period likewise 
 his significance as the Asura j^xxr excellence, and whose 
 dreadful anger the sinner endeavours to appease by 
 fervid prayers and by sacrifices. Mitra also is stiU wor- 
 shipped, but he seldom occurs alone, and he is generally 
 
THE VEDIC RELIGION. 115 
 
 united with Yaruna. Besides these two, and Savitri, 
 whom we have already named, the old Aryan deities 
 Aryaman and Bagha, and the Vedic gods DahsJia, " the 
 power," and Amsa, " the sharer," were also reckoned 
 among the Adityas, to whom Surya was sometimes added 
 as the eighth. At a later period their number rose to 
 twelve. Some gods, like the Asvins, the heavenly 
 physicians, are so completely raised to the rank of 
 rational beings, with human passions and emotions, that 
 it is hard to say what were the natural phenomena with 
 which they were once connected. The goddesses are 
 still kept in the background, which is a proof of youthful 
 and vigorous religious life. The dawn-goddess Uslias, 
 to whom hymns of extreme beauty are dedicated, the 
 river-goddess Sarasvat'i, who was afterwards fused with 
 Vdcli, the goddess of language, and Sraddhd, the personi- 
 fication of faith, deserve to be specially named. The 
 more abstract divine figures, and the beginnings of a 
 monotheistic or pantheistic creed, which are found in 
 some of the hymns of the Rigveda, probably belong to 
 a later period. 
 
 Sarasvatt, " the rich in water," by whom there some- 
 times stands a male Sarasvat, is probably an old Aryan 
 water-goddess, a conjecture supported by the Eaktrian 
 Haraqaiti and the Persian Harauvati {Arachoios, AracJiosia), 
 and not the deified river-nymph, whether of the Indus, 
 to which her name was perhaps first applied, or of the 
 small river which also subsequently bore it. In the Rig- 
 veda she is also the goddess of the piety which utters 
 itself in prayers and hymns. 
 
 72. It cannot be doubted that the ancient Aryan 
 
ii5 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 people at tliis early date also had tlieir own priests, who 
 were very likely called, as was afterwards the case in Bak- 
 tria, atharvanSy or priests of fire. In the Rigveda they bear 
 other names, especially that of hraliman, which appears 
 to have originally meant nothing more than a " singer of 
 sacred songs," but soon came to designate a religious 
 functionary. Sometimes, though rarely, the word is used 
 to designate a regular priestly order. The office even 
 seems to have become hereditary ; at any rate, the older 
 hymns contain occasional references to a hrdlimana or 
 Brahman's son, and in the later hymns these are more 
 numerous. The Brahmans were regarded, though not 
 universally, with high honour, and the poets especially 
 might count on rich rewards. Their claims and preten- 
 sions rose higher and higher, but they did not yet form 
 an exclusive caste, for kings and kings* sons are also 
 designated as sacred singers, and performed priestly 
 functions, though, like many of the nobles also, they 
 generally had their house-priests {imrohita). 
 
 Brahman, from the neuter hrahma, a prayer or hymn, 
 seems to have been in early times a synonym for Jcavi, 
 rishi, and other similar words. On the derivation and 
 original meaning of the word see M. Hang, Ueher die 
 Urspriingl. Bedeutung des IVortes Brahma, Miinch., 1868, 
 and Brahma wid die Brahmanen, ibid., 187 1, the con- 
 clusions of which, however, cannot all be accepted with- 
 out further inquiry. 
 
 73. Morality and religion were already closely con- 
 nected. The gods ruled over the moral as well as over 
 the natural order. Some of the hymns, especially those 
 
I 
 
 J 
 
 THE VEDIC RELIGION, 117 
 
 addressed to Yaruna, are marked by a deep sense of guilt, 
 and the miglity Indra must be approached in faith (srai). 
 Tlie doctrine of immortality also indicates the ethical 
 character of the Vedic religion. The ideas of the Yedic 
 Hindus about ancestors and their worship were exactly 
 'the same as those of savages, and their representations 
 of future bliss were still very sensuous, but they looked \/ 
 for requital of their actions after death. The oldest songs, 
 however, say but little of immortality. Of the doctrine 
 of the transmigration of the soul, the entire Rigveda ex- 
 hibits not a single trace. 
 
 B. — Pre-Bucldhistic Brdhm anism. 
 
 Literature. — Editions of the later Vedas. Th. Benfey, 
 Die Hymnen des Sdma-Veda (with translation), Leipzig, 
 1848. A. Weber, The JFliite Yajur-Veda, Berlin, 1849, 
 &c. E. Roth and W. D. Whitney, Atharva-Veda San- 
 hitd, 2 vols., Berlin, 1855. The Aitareya Brd1ima7ia (of the 
 Rigveda), edited by M. Haug, 2 vols, (with translation), 
 Bombay, 1863. Translations from the Safa,patha BrAli- 
 mana in MuiR's Sanskrit Texts, passim, and Weber's 
 Indische Streifen, vol. i. GrhyasMrdni, Indische Hausregeln, 
 SansJcr. und Deutsch, von A. F. Stenzler, I. Asvalayana, 2 
 vols., Leipzig, 1 865. Manava-dharmasastra ; Lois de Manou^ 
 trad, jpar A. Loiseleur Deslongohamps, Paris, 1833. 
 Cf. Ydjnavalkyadharmasdstram, Ydjn.^s Gesetzhuch, SansJcr. 
 und Deutsch von A. F. Stenzler, Berlin and London, 1849. 
 C. Schoebel, £tude sur le Rituel du Eesped Social dans 
 I'J^tat Brahman, Paris, 1870. H. Kern, Indische Tlieorieen 
 over de Standenverdeellng, Amsterdam, 1871. 
 
 74. With the diffusion of the Hindu- Aryans over the 
 region south-east of the Seven Rivers, and their settle- 
 
ii8 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 ment on tlie banks of tlie Ganges and Yamuna, their / 
 religion enters upon a new era. The Yedic religion gives 
 birth to Brahmanism or the hierarchy of the Brahmans. 
 The fresh originality of the Yedic age, though not at 
 first entirely extinct, for the most part disappears. A 
 number of hymns, occurring chiefly in the later books of 
 the Rigveda, were certainly not composed till the first 
 portion of this period, and tolerably far down in it too ; 
 but they no longer breathe the same spirit as the earlier, 
 and the chief concern was the collection, arrangement, 
 and interpretation of the hymns handed down by tradi- 
 tion, of which the true meaning was but rarely grasped. 
 It is not possible to determine with certainty in what 
 century Brahmanism arose. If, however, as is most 
 probable, Buddhism was founded in the fourth and 
 third centuries before our era, the growth of Brahmanism 
 cannot have begun much later than the eighth century 
 B.C., and perhaps we ought, with some scholars, to carry 
 it considerably further back. The history of Brahmanism 
 falls properly into three periods — the pre-Buddhistic ; that 
 of its conflict with Buddhism ; and that which follows its 
 victory over Buddhism ; but the last two are too closely 
 connected to admit of sharp distinction from each other. 
 We have, therefore, to trace, first of all, the origin, esta- 
 blishment, and internal development of Brahmanism, as a 
 national and purely Aryan sect, in contrast with the non- 
 Aryan religion and morals of the older occupants of the 
 country; and next, its contest with Buddhism and other 
 heresies, over which it triumphed, though not till after 
 it had enlarged its own boundaries, adopted much that 
 was not Aryan, and entirely transformed itself into a 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 119 
 
 religious communion, the character of which was no longer 
 exclusively national. 
 
 On the date of the foundation of Buddhism, see belo\\^, 
 §85. 
 
 75- The Brahmanic religion is entirely under the con- 
 trol of what Europeans call the caste system. Between 
 ranks and castes there is an essential difference. Caste is 
 rank v^ith sharp impassable boundaries, which admit no 
 one who is not born within them. The four Indian castes 
 appear as ranks, with different though corresponding 
 names, in Baktria also, as well as in Europe in the 
 middle ages, and wherever society stands at the same 
 stage of development. Castes, at any rate with the same 
 rigid separation, are found nowhere but in India. There 
 they were originally four in number, three being Aryan, 
 viz., that of the Brahmans, i.e., the learned ; that of the 
 Eajanyas or Kshattriyas, i.e., the princes and warriors ; 
 and that of the Vaisyas, i.e., the commonalty, the people 
 (vis), and one being non- Aryan, viz., the Sudras, i.e., the 
 natives, who served the Aryans, and especially the 
 Brahmans, as slaves. The general name which they bore 
 enables us to conjecture how they arose. They were 
 called Varna, which denotes both " kind " and " colour." 
 This term at first simply indicated the difference between 
 the whiter Aryans and the dark- coloured natives whom 
 they subjugated, and with whom, as though belonging to a 
 different kind, they would hold no intercourse. When 
 settled ways and agriculture had replaced their wandcrmg 
 shepherd-life, the warriors began to keep themselves 
 strictly apart from the working-class, and the learned ivl 
 
120 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS, 
 
 the same way separated themselves from both warriors 
 and workers ; and although they were all counted mem- 
 bers of the religious community, the idea of varna colour, 
 or kind, was also transferred to them. Thus arose the 
 doctrine, already expressed in a later hymn of the Rig- 
 veda, that not only the two races, hut also the four ranks, 
 w^ere of different origin, and had been separately created. 
 
 Differences of opinion exist about the antiquit}'- of the 
 castes. See the essays already referred to : Kern, Ind. Theo- 
 rieen over de Standenverdeeling, and Hang, Brahma und die 
 Brahmanen, and, on the other side, Muir's Sanskrit Texts, ii. 
 p. 454, 5^2- I adopt the vievr of those who regard the four 
 ranks as ancient, at any rate as a natural division of society 
 at a definite stage of its development, while they consider 
 the castes proper as purely Indian. 
 
 The members of the three highest castes are all of them 
 dvijas or twice-born, but not so the Sudras. 
 
 The hymn of the Rik, in which the four castes proceed 
 out of four parts of Purusha's body, is the well-known 
 Furusha-silUa, x. 90. 
 
 76. Tlie same causes, combined with the circumstance 
 that writing was unknown, or at any rate was not gene- 
 rally employed for literary purposes, contributed to give 
 increasing influence to the Brahmans. Subject at first to 
 the princes and nobles, and dependent on them, they 
 began by insinuating themselves into their favour, and 
 representing it as a religious duty to show protection and 
 liberality towards them. Meanwhile they endeavoured 
 to make themselves indispensable to them, gradually 
 acquired the sole right to conduct public worship, made 
 themselves masters of instruction and of the most influ- 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BR HMANISM. 121 
 
 ential civil offices, and set themselves up as the exclusive 
 guardians and interpreters of revelation {sruti) and tra- 
 dition {smriti), in vii'tue of possessing a higher knowledge, 
 which the mass of the people did not comprehend. They 
 had frequently, however, to encounter grave resistance 
 from the princes. Sometimes they were compelled to 
 acknowledge the spiritual superiority of a rajanya ; on 
 some occasions they were unable even to withhold from 
 him the dignity of Brahman; generally, however, they 
 contrived, either by assumption and arrogance, or by 
 cunning, to attain their end. 
 
 On the introduction of the art of writing, see M. 
 MiiUer, Sanskrit Literature, p. 500, sqq., Westergaard, 
 Aeltest. Zeitraum, &c., p. 30, sqq. Nearchus (325 B.C.) and 
 Megasthenes (300 B.C.) both state that the Indians did 
 not write their laws, but the latter speaks of inscriptions 
 upon mile-stones, and the former mentions letters written 
 on cotton. From this it is evident that writing, probably 
 of Phoenician origin, was known in India before the third 
 century B.C., but -was applied only rarely, if at all, to 
 literature. The oldest known inscriptions, those of 
 Asoka, may be placed about 250 B.C. 
 
 Among the princes whose intellectual superiority is 
 recognised by the Brahmans, Janaka, the Prince of Videha, 
 occupies the foremost place. As early as the Satajxitha 
 Brdhmana (xi. 6, 2, i), it is related how he reduced a 
 party of four Brahmans, among whom was the famous 
 Yajnavalkya, ad terminos non loqui. Another king, 
 Ajatasatru of Kasi, did something similar, and men 
 shouted after him, as he himself complained, " Janaka ! 
 Janaka ! " See these and other examples in Muir's 
 Sanskrit Texts^ i. p. 427, sqq., and Westergaard, ojy. cif., 
 pp. 13-16. 
 
122 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 *T1. The character of the religion of this period is 
 revealed by what we may call its religions literature. 
 By far the greater number of the works belonging to it 
 were composed with a view to the sacrificial service. 
 Together they constitute the Yeda, the sacred knowledge, 
 or the four Vedas. Of these, it was necessary that the 
 Hymn-Yeda {Rig- Veda) should be known by the reciting 
 priest (Jiotri), the Chant- Veda (Scirna- Veda) by the sing- 
 ing priest (icdffdtri), and the sacrificial-formula- Veda 
 {Yajitr-Veda) by the officiating priest (adhvaryu). The 
 Atharva-Veda was not recognised until later, and was 
 assigned to the presiding and supervising priest, who was, 
 however, required to know much more than this. The 
 Yajur-Veda was divided, after two rival schools, into the 
 " White " and the " Black." 
 
 Each of these Vedas had its Sahhitd or collection of 
 hymns, of which only two, those of the Rik and of the 
 Atharvan, deserve this name. That of the Sama-Veda 
 contains, with two exceptions, only Rik verses, arranged 
 in the order in which they were sung at the sacrifice. 
 Those of the two Yajur- Vedas {Taittiriya- and Vdjadaneyi- 
 SanJdtd) are simply a portion of, and selection from, 
 the Brahmanas of the Adhvaryu priests, drawn up for 
 the purpose of giving them a Sanhita of their own, though 
 they had no need of one. The two first collections con- 
 tain some very ancient and remarkable remains from a 
 previous period, but poems of the Brahmanic age were not 
 excluded from the Rig- Veda, and in the Atharva-Veda 
 are very numerous. 
 
 Further, to each Veda belong different Brahmanas, 
 treatises of ritual and theology, afterwards supplanted 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BR. HMANISM. 123 
 
 by the Aranyalvas (" forest treatises "), and the connected 
 Uj^anishads (" confidential communications "), theological- 
 philosophical treatises, prepared more especially for the 
 use of the hermits. The Brahmanas contain here and 
 there occasional elevated thoughts, and not a few 
 antique traditions of the highest importance, but they are 
 in other respects marked by narrow formalism, childish 
 mysticism, and superstitious talk about all kinds of trifles, 
 such as may be expected where a pedantic and power- 
 loving priesthood is invested with unlimited spiritual 
 authority. 
 
 Finally, each Veda had its siUras (" threads "), short 
 compact guides for public and domestic sacrifices, and the 
 knowledge of the laws. 
 
 All these books were handed down orally, and each 
 school (char ana) had its own text (sciklid), both of 
 Sanhitas and of Brahmanas. Even when the art of 
 writing was already known, it was regarded as a grave 
 sin to write them down. 
 
 The preceding section deals only with the religious 
 writings of this period. That it was not deficient (also) 
 in other literary productions, such as epic narratives, 
 poems, &c., is certain; but these have perished, or have 
 been in part interwoven and remodelled in later works of 
 this kind. The Rig- Veda also contains hymns of a non- 
 religious character. 
 
 The schism in the school of the Yajur-Veda, among 
 the Adhvaryus, is attributed, not without reason, to 
 Yajnavalkya, to whom, therefore, the white Yajusli owes 
 its origin. He or his school extracted the poetical quota- 
 tions which occurred in the Brahmana, and collected them 
 into a Saiihita, wdience some scholars {e.g., Max JMiiller) 
 
124 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 explain the name '' White Yajush " (sukla). This would 
 then mean "the cleared," "the purified." Thereupon, 
 the representatives of the old school, in order that they 
 also might have a Sanhita, simply affixed this by no 
 means appropriate title to the first portion of their 
 Brahmana. 
 
 Of the existing Upanishads only a few belong to this 
 period ; the rest are of later date. 
 
 Following these three kinds of works (Vedas, Brah- 
 manas, and Siitras), Max Miiller has incorrectly divided 
 this age into three sharply defined periods, and on this 
 division has founded his history of ancient Sanskrit 
 literature. Westergaard falls into another extreme, in 
 actually placing the Stitras before the Brahmanas. It is 
 certain that the composition of Sutras and Upanishads 
 continued when the Vedic Saiihitas were alreadv closed, 
 and no new Brahmanas were composed. Brahmanas only 
 satisfied the requirements of the time when a trifling 
 theology was in the ascendant. 
 
 The dread of the reduction of the sacred Scripture to 
 writing may have had its ground in the fear of seeing it 
 fall into unqualified hands, and at the same time in deep 
 reverence for the divine word, which would be thereby 
 polluted. 
 
 78. In the doctrine of the gods Brahmanism made 
 but little change. This was the natural result of the 
 recognition of the Vedas as a book of revelation, and of the 
 prominence of sacrifice, in which the Yedic gods always 
 occupied the highest place. The Brahmans simply at- 
 tempted to arrange the Vedic gods, whether by the three 
 worlds, earth, air, and sky, or by the nature of the deities, 
 so that, for instance, Indra was the king, Agni the priest, 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 125 
 
 cr by some other standard. The Asuras, however, who 
 had been in earlier times the chief of the gods, and in the 
 beginning of this period were still placed along with the 
 Devas, were lowered, perhaps in consequence of their 
 resemblance to the gods of the old hostile occupants of 
 the country, to the rank of evil spirits. The reverence 
 for the Devas also perceptibly diminished as the Brahmans 
 placed themselves on their level, and the hermits espe- 
 cially, who did penance, regarded themselves as superior 
 to them in power and dignity. The only exception was 
 in favour of Eudra, the violent storm-god, whose vforship 
 increased considerably in this period, and served as one of 
 the foundations of the later Siva- worship ; he had not 
 yet, however, become the chief god. ]\Ien felt, however, 
 the need of such a supreme god as the maker and ruler 
 of tlie universe, and this need could only be imperfectly 
 satisfied by the creations of the Vedic Rishis. Another 
 plan, therefore, was adopted. At first, and this apj)ears 
 even in the later Vedic hymns, some of the surnames of 
 the ancient gods, in particular of the fire-god Agni, were 
 endowed with a separate existence, or such a god under 
 one of these surnames ( VisvaJcarman, " the maker of all 
 things," Brahmanaspatiy " the lord of spells, or of prayer," 
 Prajapati, " the lord of creatures ") was regarded as the 
 creator and lord of the world. From these speculation 
 ascended to the Bralima, the magic power hidden in the 
 sacred word and in prayer (and as such the special in- 
 heritance of the priests), and regarded this as the imper- 
 sonal, self- existent {svayairiblm), supreme cause of the 
 universe. This brahma, though always neuter in the 
 Brahmanas, soon became, in a certain sense, personified ; 
 
 X 
 
126 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 and finally, as the male Bralima, was exalted to be the 
 all-ruling personal deity, without ever becoming a true 
 national god. 
 
 To the three worlds, earth, air, and sky, correspond 
 the three chief gods Agni, Indra united with Yayu or 
 Yishnu, and Surya. Besides the name Visvakarman, 
 &c., the name Hiranyagarhlm, "the golden world-egg," 
 was also used to desimate the sun fire-sod as creator. 
 Kasyapa, also, in the later tradition a famous sage, must 
 be regarded as a universal creator and sun-god of the 
 same kind. 
 
 79. In spite of the supreme power of the Brahmans, 
 the right of the head of the family to offer the family 
 sacrifices remained unimpaired. But at the public sacri- 
 fices, with the arrangements and symbolism of which we 
 are still but imperfectly acquainted, the usages and cere- 
 monies became more and more elaborate and involved, 
 requiring a constant increase in the number of minis- 
 trants, all of whom were of necessity Brahmans. The 
 sacrifiCial ceremonial at the consecration of a Idng [raja- 
 suya), the very common horse-sacrifice {asvamedlia), the 
 proper human sacrifice {purusTiamedlia), and the general 
 sacrifice (sarvamedha), were the most important. At 
 these four sacrifices, human victims were really offered 
 in ancient times, but as manners grew more gentle, 
 this practice began to decline, and at an early date, 
 though not with universal approval, fell into disuse. The 
 idea was even expressed that all sacrifices of blood were 
 unnecessary, though they still prevailed for a long while 
 after this period. 
 
 At length men grew weary of pondering on the mean- 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 127 
 
 ing of sacrificial actions and quarrelling over points of 
 theology ; and wliile some, with more practical aims, 
 and contented, therefore, with short Sutras, neglected the 
 study of the Brfdimanas, others sought in the Aranyakas 
 and the oldest Upanishads satisfaction for their craving 
 for mystic contemplation and philosophical reflection, 
 and occupied themselves by preference with the ques- 
 tions of the origin of the universe, the nature of the 
 deity and of the soul, the relation of spirit and matter, 
 and other problems of the same kind. These were the 
 beginnings from which Hindu philosophy was afterwards 
 developed. 
 
 The commutation of the old human sacrifice by a sub- 
 stitute is certainly alluded to in the legend of Sunalisepa, 
 quoted from the Aitareya Brdhmam by M. Miiller, Sanshr. 
 Literature, Append., p. 573, sc[q., cf. pp. 408-416. It has 
 some correspondence with that of Abraham and Isaac. 
 The superfluous nature of all sacrifices of blood is taught 
 in the Aitar. Brdhm., vi. 8, see M. Miiller, op. cit., p. 420, 
 and in the Sataj). Brdhm. i, 2, 3, 6, cf. Weber, Ind.Streifen, 
 i. p. 55, in an important essay which deserves to be con- 
 sulted on the subject. 
 
 80, The moral and social ideal of the Brahmans is 
 known to us from the so-called lawbook of Mann, the 
 main features of which are pre-Buddhistic. Theu^ moral 
 teaching stands relatively very high, though it has not 
 risen above eudaemonism. With much that is genuinely 
 humane, it contains much that is arbitrary and unnatural, 
 and resembles all the laws of antiquity in placing moral 
 purity on a line with the prescriptions of sacerdotalism 
 and magic. 
 
128 , RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS, 
 
 \/ Purified by various ceremonies from the stains of birtli, 
 the Arya, invested with the consecrated cord and girdle, 
 enters as a disciple of the Brahmans on the first stage of 
 his training, and after completing his course, he cele- 
 brates, by the offering of his first sacrifice, the feast of 
 his new birth. He then becomes a householder {grilia- 
 pati), and after having discharged his duties in this capa- 
 city, he hands over to his son, who has in the meantime 
 himself attained the same position, the care of all belong- 
 ing to him, and retires into the forest to pass his days 
 undisturbed in religious works and silent meditations. 
 The his^hest ideal that a man can reach on earth is to 
 become a yati (self-conqueror) or sannydsi (self-renouncer). 
 The latter offers no more sacrifices, he is raised above the 
 things of the world and of sense, and devotes himself 
 exclusively to the contemplative life. Such is the way 
 to final deliverance (moksha) from the bonds of sensual 
 existence. 
 
 The majority of men, however, do not as yet attain 
 this goal. The wicked and the impious are condemned 
 to hell, and there suffer dreadful torments. Those who 
 have faithfully discharged their religious duties are re- 
 warded with heaven, and become Dcvas. Every one, how- 
 ever, who has not yet obtained deliverance must be bom 
 again on earth, in the shape of a plant, an animal, or a 
 man of lower or higher rank, in proportion to the number 
 of his sins. This process continues until he has reached 
 the highest stage of self-abandonment and contemplation 
 (tapas), when, freed from every tiling material, he sinks 
 away into the soul of the universe and is united with it. 
 This dogma, improperly called that of the transmigration 
 
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 1:9 
 
 of the soul, is unknown to tlie oldest Vedic books, but it 
 was current before Buddhism, as it is the foundation of 
 the Buddhist doctrine of deliverance. 
 
 On the age of the Manavadharmasdsira there is great 
 difference of opinion. ]\Iax ]\Iiiller, Sanshrit Literature, 
 p. 62, sqq., combats the view of Sir W. Jones, who 
 thought that the law-book could not have been drawn up 
 later than 800 B.C. A. Barth, Rev. Critique, 1875, No. 48, 
 considers even 500 B.C., as proposed by Monier AViUiams 
 and others, too early. That those passages which refer 
 to a much later time are interpolations, is conceded by 
 all. The main contents of the work may be safely brought 
 down towards the close of the pre-Buddhist period. 
 
 For our purpose it is to a certain extent unimportant 
 whether it was ever actually applied in its entirety as a 
 law. It is sufficient that it exhibits to us the ideal of tl^e 
 
 "^jrahmans. 
 
 jji 
 
 81. The social ideal of the Brahmans is the unlimited 
 
 power of the hierarchy and the strict separation of castes. 
 
 At the end of this period, .owing to mixed marriages and 
 
 other causes, the old castes were increased by a number 
 
 of half-pure and impure castes. Various useful callings 
 
 were thus branded as sinful, and men were prevented 
 
 from withdrawing even from shameful occupations to 
 
 which birth condemned them. The highest claims were 
 
 made by the law-book on the Brahmans, but they also 
 
 received from it the most extravagant privileges, and it 
 
 provided that the unlimited authority of the kings should 
 
 be placed at their service. Woman was kept in complete 
 
 dependence, the Sudra was despised, and those who stood 
 
 outside the community {Chdnddlas, SvajpdJcas) were doomed 
 ' I 
 
ISO RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 to a life of the greatest misery, and were esteemed no 
 higlier than sacrificial animals. Such a position could 
 not be long endured, and this serves to explain not only 
 the rise of Buddhism, but also its rapid diffusion, and the 
 radical revolution which it brought about. 
 
 C. The Conflict of Brdhmanism ivith Buddhism. 
 
 Literature. — Among editions of Pali texts, the following 
 are the most important : the Mahawansa, edited by Hon. 
 G. TuRNOUR, Colombo, 1837. Bhamma-pada, ed. by V. 
 Fausboll, Copenhagen, 1855. The Upasampadd-Kamma- 
 vdcJia and Pdtimokkha, by J. F. Dickson in the Journ. Bioy. 
 As. Soc, 1873 ^^^ 1875. KhuddaJca-Pdtha, ibid., 1869, 
 by E. C. Childers. The JdtaJca Commentary, by Faus- 
 boll, vol. i., pt. i., London, 1875. ^^I^^ Suttas Palis, ed. 
 by Grimblot, with translations by Burnouf and 
 GoGERLY, Paris, 1876. Mahd Parinihhdna Sutta, by 
 Childers, Journ. Boy. As. Soc, 1874 and 1876. 
 
 E. Burnouf, Introduction a VHistoire du Buddhisme Indien 
 (1844), 2d ed., Paris, 1876. Id., Be Lotus de la Bonne Boi 
 {trad, du Saddharma Pundartha), Paris, 1852. C. F. 
 KoPPEN, Die Beligion des Buddha und ihre Entstehung, Berlin, 
 1 85 7. Id. , Die Lamaische Hierarchic und Kirche, ibid., 1859. 
 Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, Be Bouddha et sa Beligion, 
 2d ed., Paris, 1862. W. Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, 
 Seine Dogmen, Gesch. und Biferatur, i860 (translated into 
 French by La Comme, Paris, 1865). A. Schiefner, 
 Tdrandtha's Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien, aus dem 
 Tibet., St. Petersburg, 1869. K. Spence Hardy, A 
 Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development, translated 
 from Singhalese MSS., London, i860. Id., Eastern Mona- 
 chism, compiled from Singhalese MSS., London, i860. 
 Id., The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists compared 
 with History and Science, London, 1866. Histoire du 
 
BUDDHISM. 131 
 
 Bouddha Sakya 3Iouni, trad, du Tihetain -par Ph. Ed. 
 FOUCAUX, Paris, 1868. Lalita Vistara, Erzalung von dem 
 Leben und der Lere des Cdhja Slmha, ubersetzt von S. Lef- 
 MANN, part i., Berlin, 1874. Foe Icoue hi, ou Relation des 
 Royaumes Bouddhiques par Chi) Fa Hian, trad, par A. 
 Eemusat, Paris, 1836. Stanisl. Julien, Voyages des 
 Filer ins Bouddhistes, vol. i. ; " Vie de Hiouen Tlisang," 
 vols. ii. and iii. ; " M^moires sur les Contr6es Occi- 
 dentales, par Hiouen Thsang,'' Paris, 1853-58. L. 
 Peer, Etudes Bouddhigiies, ire S^rie, Paris, 1870. Id., 
 J^tudes Bouddh. L'Ami de la Vertu et VAmitie de la VertUj 
 Paris, 1873. H. Kern, Over de jaartelling der zuidelijke 
 Buddhisten en de GedenkstuJcken van A^oJca den Buddhist, 
 Amsterdam, 1873. ^. Sen ART, Fssai sur la Legends du 
 Buddha, son Caractere et ses Origines, Paris, 1875. Popu- 
 lar, C. D. B. Mills, The Indian Saint, or Buddha and 
 Buddhism, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1876. T. W. 
 Ehys Davids, Buddhism, a Sketch of the Life and Teachings 
 of Gautama Buddha, London, 1877. 
 
 On the question of Nirvana see J. F. Obry, Du Nirvana 
 Bouddhique, Paris, 1863 ; E. 0. Childers, Dictionary of 
 the Pali Language, s. voc. Nibhdnam, and the authorities 
 cited by these writers ; and T. W. Ehys Davids, Contem- 
 porary Review, January 1877, on "The Buddhist Doctrine 
 of Nirvana," &c. 
 
 On the Jainas : J. Stevenson, The Kalpa SMra and 
 Nana Tatva, translated from the Mdgadhi, London, 1848. 
 A. Weber, "Ein Fragment des Bhagavati," Ahad. der 
 Wissensch., Berlin, 26th October 1865, and 12th July and 
 25th October 1866. S. J. Warren, Over de Godsdienstigc 
 en TFijsgeerige Begrippender Jaina's, Zwolle, 1875. 
 
 82. Buddhism, which was to prove so dangerous an 
 enemy to Brahmanism, seems not to be much older than 
 
132 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 tlie fourtli century before our era. Its founder, who was 
 called Siddharta, according to tradition, though commonly 
 named the Buddha or " enlightened," the " sage " or the 
 " lion " " of the tribe of Sakya " (Sakya-muni, Sakya 
 Simha), and also designated by many other titles of 
 honour, lived and worked probably in the second half of 
 the fifth century B.C., but the legends which have sur- 
 rounded his career have completely hidden it from our 
 view. The chief features of this legendary history are 
 as follows : — In order to deliver the world from the 
 misery beneath which it sighs, the sage descends from 
 heaven, where he occupies the highest rank among the 
 gods, to earth. Here he was miraculously conceived in 
 the womb of Maya (" illusion "), the wife of the Sakya 
 king Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, in Ayodhya (Oude), 
 and there he was born in an equally extraordinary 
 manner. Educated as a prince, and excelling in know- 
 ledge and ability of every kind, he early betrays an 
 inclination to a contemplative life, which is strenuously 
 resisted by his father, who supposes that he has over- 
 come it by inducing his son to marry. He contrives, 
 however, to flee from the luxurious court, and to reach 
 Eajagriha, the capital of Magadha. There he becomes a 
 disciple of the most famous Brahmans, devotes himself to 
 the severest mortifications, triumphs over the repeated 
 temptations of the god of love and death, Mara, but 
 remains inwardly dissatisfied. He then abandons asceti- 
 cism, and endeavours by means of calm and intent con- 
 templation to penetrate to the deepest insight (hocllii), 
 and thus to gain deliverance from the miseries of exist- 
 ence. At Gaya, a little village in Magadha, under the 
 
BUDDHISM. 133 
 
 shadow of tlie sacred fig-tree (bodlii-tree), seated on the 
 throne of knowledge (lodlii-manda), he actually attains 
 the dignity of Buddha. Upon this he begins to preach, 
 first at Benares (Vdrandsi) and subsequently all through 
 India ; multitudes without number, including not a few 
 princes and Brahmans, and the Buddha's own family, are 
 converted, and even women are admitted to discipleship. 
 After triumphing over every obstacle, he is doomed to 
 witness, by the desolation of his native city, the ruin of 
 his whole race, and at last, at the age of eighty years, he 
 dies, or rather enters into Nirvana. No fire can burn his 
 corpse, but it is consumed at last by tlie glow of his own 
 piety, and his bones are collected out of the ashes by his 
 disciples as precious relics, and deposited in eight Stupas. 
 
 The dates assigned to Buddha's death vary widely. 
 That of the Southern church has been most generally 
 accepted, according to which the attainment of Nirvana 
 falls in 543 B.C. Westergaard, Buddha's Todesjahr, p. 95, 
 sqq., places it 368-370, with which result A. Weber, 
 Indische Streifen, ii. 216, agrees. Kern, Jaartelling der 
 Zuid. Biiddh., p. i, sqq., assigns Buddha's entrance into 
 Nirvana to ^SS B.C., and T. W. Rhys Davids, Academy, 
 25th April 1874, fixes it about 410. 
 
 S^nart, Bssai sur la Begende du Buddha, endeavours to 
 prove that the whole story of the Buddha is a legend, 
 composed of the ordinary elements of a solar myth, and 
 that we are no longer in a position to extract from it the 
 kernel of historic truth. He is, no doubt, right to a cer- 
 tain extent ; further investigation must determine whether 
 his conclusion is not too decidedly negative. He does 
 not, however, like Wilson, deny the existence of the 
 Buddha. The narratives of birth and childhood, inde- 
 
134 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 pendently of their supernPutural character, are doubtful 
 in the highest degree. Maya is a purely mythical being, 
 and Kapilavastu an altogether unknown city, while its 
 name suggests that of Kapila, the reputed founder of the 
 Sankhya philosophy, which has so many points of agree- 
 ment with the later Buddhist teaching. The other places 
 named in the legend are familiar enough, E^jagriha, 
 at that time a resort of sages and hermits, Y^ranasi 
 (Benares), which continues the holy city to this day, and 
 Gaya (Buddhagaya), where the bodhi-tree beneath which 
 Buddha sat is still pointed out. This is, however, no 
 guarantee for the historical character of the stories con- 
 nected with these places. 
 
 83. Whether the Buddha was really the son of a king 
 or not, it may be regarded as certain that he did not belong 
 to the caste of the Brahmans. There is equally little 
 reason for doubting that he sought for peace first of all 
 among the Brahmans, then in solitary penance, — ^yet in 
 both instances in vain, — and attained it only by that con- 
 templation absorbing the soul, which became the charac- 
 teristic of his followers. His wandering life in the garb 
 of a mendicant, his preaching that all who followed him 
 in this might be delivered from sickness, pain, old age, 
 and death, and should strive after Nirvana as the highest 
 goal, the great impression w^hich this doctrine made on 
 men of all classes, if not through the whole of India, yet 
 according to the oldest tradition, in particular districts, the 
 opposition which he encountered from many, the loyal 
 devotion of his disciple Ananda, the few details related 
 of his death — all this cannot belong to the realm of 
 fiction. And this suffices to show us in the Buddha a 
 
BUDDHISM. 1 7: 
 
 J3 
 
 man, wlio, whatever may have been the value of his 
 philosophy of life, out of genuine conviction and pity for 
 his fellowmen, chose a life of self-denial and renuncia- 
 tion to realise a great idea and promote the universal 
 salvation. 
 
 Even though we should be obhged to concede tliat the 
 whole course of Buddha's Kfe is borrowed from the weU- 
 known myth of the sun-god, and that the majority of the 
 details of his legend find their explanation in this myth, 
 it will still be impossible to derive the traits we have 
 enumerated from this source. 
 
 84. Buddhism, though it is a reaction against the 
 Brahmanic hierarchy, is, in fact, an outgrowth of Brah- 
 manism. It rests upon the so-called dogma of the trans- 
 migration of the soul, and the Buddhist, like the 
 Brahman, seeks for deliverance from the endless succes- 
 sion of re-births. But it pronounces the Brahmanic 
 penances and abstinence inadequate to accomplish this, 
 and aims at attaining, not union with the universal 
 spirit, but Nirvana, non-existence. Without denying the 
 existence of the devas, at any rate at first, it places each 
 Buddha, as the Brahmans ranked every ascetic, above 
 them, but it goes a step further, and makes even the 
 supreme Brahma subordinate to a perfect saint. It 
 differed from Brahmanism, as primitive Christianity 
 differed from the Jewish hierarchy, by rejecting outward 
 works or theological knowledge as marks of holiness, and 
 seeking it ia gentleness, in purity of heart and life, in 
 mercy and self-denying love for a neighbour. Above all, 
 it is distinguished by its relation to castes. The Buddha 
 
 / 
 
136 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS, 
 
 comes neither to oppose tliem, nor to level everytliing. 
 On the other hand, he adopts the doctrine that men are 
 born in lower or higher castes, determined by their sins 
 or good works in a former existence, but he teaches, at 
 / the same time that, by a life of purity and love, by 
 becoming a spiritual man, every one may attain at once 
 the highest salvation. Caste makes no difference to him ; 
 he looks for the man, even in the Chandala • the miseries 
 of existence beset all alike, and his law is a law of grace 
 for all. The Buddhist teaching is, therefore, quite popular 
 in its character, its instrument is preaching rather than 
 instruction, it is not esoteric like the Brahmanic, or in- 
 tended only for individuals. And while the piety of the 
 Brahman aimed at selfishly securing his own redemp- 
 tion, the Buddhist cannot attain salvation without regard 
 to the well-being of all his fellow creatures. The ideal 
 of the first is a hermit striving to save himself, the 
 ideal of the second a monk, enrolled in a brotherhood, 
 striving to save others. Buddhism, in fact, rejected the 
 authority of the Yeda, the whole dogmatic system of 
 the Brahmans, their worship, penance, and hierarchy, and 
 simply substituted for them a higher moral teacliing. It 
 was a purely ethical revolution ; but it would certainly 
 have succumbed beneath tins one-sided tendency, had it 
 not in the course of time taken up into itself, under 
 another shape, much of what it had first opposed. 
 
 s/ 
 
 There are two degrees of Nirvana, one consisting of 
 the complete sanctification by which a man became an 
 Arhat, or "venerable person," and the other being the 
 annihilation of all existence, for which the Arhat strives, 
 and which he cannot attain until death. The first of 
 
BUDDHISM. 137 
 
 these is called in Pali savii^ddisescmilhdnamy — i.e., " the 
 annihilation of everything except the five hhandhas 
 (skandhas) or qualities of being ; " sometimes also Jcile- 
 sanibhdnam, the " extinction of passion." The second is 
 described as anupddisesanihhdnam or Jchandanibhdnarn, 
 "extinction of being." Thus Childers correctly, loco cit. 
 
 The sketch which we have presented of the relation of 
 the Buddha to the caste-system, is, of course, founded on 
 the picture of him drawn by his followers. It is possible 
 that this conception belonged to him originally, but it 
 may also have been an inference from his teaching. 
 
 Primitive Buddhism ignored religion. It was only 
 when in opposition to its first principles, it had made its 
 founder its god, and had thus really become a religion, 
 that the way was open for its general acceptance. 
 
 85. The real history of Buddhism does not begin till 
 the middle of the third century before our era. Of 
 the first century of its existence we know nothing with 
 certainty. It appears to have developed silently but 
 steadily. Monasteries were founded, and sects were 
 formed. If it had been the original idea of the Master to 
 turn all men into clergy, that is, into mendicant monks, 
 practical reasons, of course, soon rendered it necessary to 
 admit lay brothers and sisters by their side, who were 
 bound only to fulfil the moral law. The foundations of 
 the discipline (yinaya) and of the law or belief (clharma) 
 were laid ; even metaphysical problems (abhidharma) 
 were already to some extent discussed. But in the 
 middle of the third century B.C., a great change took 
 place. The expedition of Alexander the Great had 
 brought the Hindus into contact with the Greeks. His 
 rival Chandragupta, following his example, founded a 
 
138 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 miglitier empire than India had ever known before, and, 
 perhaps, favoured Buddhism. Further advance was made 
 by his grandson Asoka, who even became a convert to the 
 new faith, and raised it to the position of the state religion. 
 His numerous inscriptions show us that the Buddhism of 
 this period was still exceedingly simple, and they prove 
 that it had not yet assumed an attitude of hostihty towards 
 the Brahmans. The royal protection naturally brought 
 a multitude of converts, especially Brahmans and hermits, 
 who were admitted into the monasteries without instruc- 
 tion in the law and without ordination. The heresy, the 
 laxity of discipline, and the neglect of ordinances, which 
 resulted from these circumstances, rendeed a tribunal for 
 the trial of heretics indispensable, and a council desirable. 
 A council was therefore held under the presidency of 
 Maudgaliputra (Moggaliputto), which, after fixing the 
 canon, resolved on a vigorous effort to spread the true 
 doctrine. Missionaries were now despatched to all parts 
 of the j)eninsula, and even to Kashmir and Gandhara, 
 west of the Indus. Mahendra, the king's own son, went 
 to Ceylon, and there founded the Southern Buddhist 
 church, which was destined to remain so much purer 
 than the ISTorthern, and was at a later date to carry 
 Buddhism to Burma and Siam. While the dynasty of 
 Chandragupta was on the throne (tiU 178 B.C.), Buddhism 
 enjoyed golden days in India. But under King Push- 
 pamitra, the founder of a new dynasty, a violent persecu- 
 tion was commenced, at the instigation of the Brahmans, 
 against the followers of Sakya-muni, so that it became 
 necessary to hold the next council — which followed 
 within two hundred years, and at which the hierarchic 
 
BUDDHISM. 
 
 139 
 
 and contemplative school of tlie Great Passage {Malid- 
 yana) was recognised as orthodox — in Kashmir, under 
 the protection of the non-Hindu king Kanishka. The 
 period of conflict now began. 
 
 According to the Buddhist reckoning the council which 
 met under Asoka was the third. The second, said to 
 have been held a hundred years earlier under a certain 
 king Kal^soka, is as little historic as that prince himself. 
 The convocation of the first council, also, by Ajatasatru 
 near E^jagriha, is open to serious doubts. 
 
 Yinaya, Dharma, and Abhidharma, together constitute 
 the Tripitaka (TijjitaJcani), " the three Baskets," the com- 
 plete Holy Scriptures. The rise of metaphysical discus- 
 sion before the time of Asoka is proved by the fact that 
 in one of his inscriptions he cites an Abhidharma of Chari- 
 putta. 
 
 The dynasty of Chandragupta was called the Maurya, 
 and that of Pushpamitra, the Sunga. 
 
 86. The struggle lasted long, and the Brahmans and 
 the Buddhists gained by turns the upper hand. Till the 
 fourth century A.D., the latter seem to have been in the 
 majority. But in the two following centuries, they 
 rapidly declined. In many places still occupied, at the 
 time of the Chinese traveller Pa Hian (400 a.d.) by Bud- 
 dhist temples, towers, and monasteries, his fellow-country- 
 man Hiouen Thsang, in the first half of the seventh cen- 
 tury, found nothing but ruins, or Brahmanic sanctuaries. 
 Under the protection of the powerful King Siladitya, 
 about this period. Buddhism revived once more for a time, 
 and a great council, even, was held at which the Chinese 
 pilgrim played a distinguished part. ISTot long after- 
 
I40 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 wards it encountered a violent opponent in the celebrated 
 teacher of the Mimansa school, Kumarila-Bhatta, and 
 later still in the great enemy of all heresies, the orthodox 
 Sankaracharya, who was born in 788 A.D. It is com- 
 monly supposed that the Buddhists were the victims in 
 India of bloody persecutions and were exterminated with 
 violence, but of this supposed fact no satisfactory proofs 
 are forthcoming. On the contrary, Buddhism appears 
 to have pined away slowly. It continued to exist 
 for some centuries in some of the remoter districts. 
 In Kashmir it held its ground at all events till 1102, 
 and in the modern Bengal certainly down to 1036, while 
 it has continued in Nepal till the present day. The 
 majority of believers who remained faithful fled to 
 foreign lands, amongst others to Java, and spread their 
 faith there. Others passed into the sect of the Jainas 
 which was not exposed to persecution. 
 
 87. The sect of the Jainas derived its name from its 
 veneration of Jinas or eminent ascetics, vv^ho had con- 
 quered all the desires of sense, and thus raised themselves 
 above the gods, Mahavira being the most celebrated 
 among them. It is very closely related to Buddhism, 
 and in Sanskrit literature is hardly to be distinguished 
 from it. While some scholars regard it as a Buddhist 
 sect, others believe it to have been founded before 
 Buddhism ; it is at any rate certain that it existed in 
 the sixth century of our era. Its sacred books, the most 
 important of which, called the Kalpa-Sutra, was T\T:itten 
 in the same century, are composed in a dialect belonging 
 to the district in wliich Buddhism took its rise (the 
 
THE JAINAS, 141 
 
 Ardliam&gadlii). Its origin lies hidden in obscurity, but 
 it is not improbable that it proceeded from a compromise 
 between Buddliism and Brahmanism in the first centuries 
 after Christ. 
 
 The Jainas are divided into two bodies, those dressed 
 in white robes {Svetdmharct) and the naked {pigamhara, 
 literally "persons robed in air"), the latter of whom, 
 however, only lay aside their dress at meals. Like the / 
 Buddhists, they look to Nirvana as their goal, they treat 
 the devas as inferior beings liable to rebirth, they divide 
 themselves into clergy and laymen, they reduce their law 
 to a few leading commands, they impose confession on 
 the believer as the preliminary to obtaining priestly abso- 
 lution, and every year they keep a solemn fast {paryu- 
 sliana). They have, however, a great aversion to the 
 Buddhist worship of relics. In their worship of the 
 greater number of the Hindu gods, especially of the three 
 principal deities of this era and of Ganesa, in their main- 
 tenance of a certain division of castes, and even in their 
 application of the name Brahmans to their priests in 
 Western India, they were not essentially different from 
 the Buddhists, for much the same usages prevailed among 
 them also. The doctrines set forth in their holy Scrip- 
 tures differ in many respects from both the Brahmanic 
 and the Buddhist systems. The toleration extended to 
 them by the Brahmans even though they were regarded 
 as heretics, led large numbers of Buddhists to take refuge 
 in their community in the days of the persecution. 
 
 Jina, " the conquering," is also one of the commonest 
 surnames of the Buddha. According to the Jainas, 
 Gautama (Buddha) was a disciple of their great saint, 
 
142 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 Maliavira. They are mentioned in 587 A.D. by Yara- 
 hamihira. 
 
 The clergy or monks are called Sddhus or Yatis, the 
 laymen SrdvaJcas, " hearers." The five (or ten) chief com- 
 mandments of the Jainas and those of the Buddhists 
 exhibit very close agreement. Their great fast, or period 
 of silent meditation, in the rainy season, Paryushana or 
 Pajjusan, does not differ much from the Buddhist vassa 
 (varsha) or rainy season, in whicli the followers of Buddha 
 also were accustomed to abstain from travelling, and to 
 stay in some remote spot absorbed in contemplation. 
 
 J). The Changes in Brdhmanism under the Influence of its Conflict 
 
 with Buddhism. 
 
 Literature. — For a list of editions and translations of 
 the Rdmdyana and Mahdhhdrata up to 1847, see Gilde- 
 meister's Bibliothec. Sanscr. Specimen, pp. 29-53. Since 
 that date, the edition by GORRESIO has been finished, 
 and a complete translation of both epics by Hipp. Fauche 
 has appeared. The Kamayana has also been translated 
 by Griffiths. 
 
 Portions of the poems have been translated by Theod. 
 Pavie, and subsequently by Ph. Ed. Foucaux, Le Mahd- 
 hhdrata, onze episodes, Paris, 1862. Of the Bhagavad-Gttd, 
 the most recent translations are those by Em. Burnouf 
 (Nancy and Paris, 186 1), and F. Lorinser, Die Bhag.-Gita, 
 uhersetzt und erldutert, Breslau, 1869. The latter work has 
 been severely criticised by K. T. Telang, Bhagavad-Gttd, 
 translated, with Notes and an Introductory Essay, Bombay, 
 1875. Cf. A. DE Gubernatis, Studie sulV Epopea 
 Indiana, Firenze (no date). 
 
 For the Puranas, see GiLDEMEiSTER, op. a7., pp. 54-60. 
 The most important translations are those of the Bhdg- 
 avata-Purdna, by EuG. Burnouf, Paris, 1 840, and follow- 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 143 
 
 ing years, and of the Vislmi-Purdna, by H. H. Wilson, 
 London, 1840, re-edited in the complete collection of 
 Wilson's works by Dr. Fitzedward Hall, 4 vols., London, 
 Trubner <fe Co., 1865 and foil. 
 
 88. The Brahmans perceived that it was not enough 
 simply to exterminate their dangerous rival, they must 
 also endeavour to provide for the wants which Buddhism 
 had satisfied. To give up their doctrinal system and their 
 hierarchy, to make their esoteric teaching the common 
 property of all, to let go the authority of the Yeda — 
 this was impossible for them, without destroying their 
 order. But it was possible for them to modify that 
 system, to supply a new basis for their hierarchy, to com- 
 bine their own doctrine with the prevailing popular 
 belief, and by setting the claims of orthodoxy very low, 
 to gain allies out of various sects. These methods were 
 applied by them in the days of the ascendency of 
 Buddhism with such success that its power declined more 
 and more, and persecution and violence seem to have 
 been superfluous, if they were practised at all. 
 
 89. The first thing needed for this purpose was a 
 popular conception of deity. Neither the somewhat 
 abstract gods of the latest Rik-hymns, nor their own 
 Brahma (masc), and least of all the impersonal — or at 
 any rate neuter — Brahma, could fulfil this requisite, 
 for not one of them had become a god of the people. 
 Such a deity they found in Vishnu, the worship of whom 
 seems to have increased considerably in the last four 
 centuries B.C. In the old-Vedic time Vishnu was a god 
 of subordinate importance, generally connected with Indi'a, 
 
144 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 and seldom celebrated "by himself. He was a sun-god, 
 who traversed the whole world in three steps, but heivas 
 thrown almost entirely into the shade by Surya and 
 Savitri. He did not rise much higher in the Brahmana 
 period, at least among the Brahmans and Kshattriyas. 
 I^ow, however, he is ranked among the twelve Adityas, 
 and is soon elevated to be the supreme god. In this 
 capacity the names and forms of Prajapati, Brahma, and 
 other creative deities, are transferred to him. By the 
 infinite world-serpent {seslia or ananta) he is drawn over 
 the waves of the primeval ocean, or by the sun-bird 
 Garuda through the sky, or he appears in human form 
 Vs^ith four hands, three of which carry a shell, a dart, and 
 a club. In his heaven, Vaikuntha, his consort Lakshmi 
 or Sri, the goddess of love and beauty, of fruitfulness and 
 marriage, dwells by his side ; to her the cow was dedicated, 
 and her symbol was the lotus flower. 
 
 The slight estimation in which Vishnu was held by the 
 Brahmans, even as late as the end of the BrMimanic 
 period, may be inferred from the fact that in the laws of 
 Manu he stands no higher than in the Veda, and that 
 Yaska, 400 B.C., still places him in the second rank. It 
 has even been conjectured (Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. p. 165, 
 sqq., ixndjMSsim; Lassen, /wcZ. Alterth., i. p. 488, sqq., 2ded., 
 i. p. 586, sqq.), that in the oldest versions of the epics, 
 which were certainly especially current among the 
 Kshattriyas and reflected their belief, he had not as yet 
 attained the eminent place assigned to him in the later 
 redactions of the poems. 
 
 Garuda or Garutmat, who appears already in the Rig- 
 veda as a divine sun-bird, and is also enumerated in the 
 oldest Buddhist Sutras among the lesser gods, was for- 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 145 
 
 merly connected with Indra. How he was transferred 
 from the cultus of this deity to that of Vishnu, is related 
 in the Mahdhhdr. 5, 104, vs. 3674, sqq. 
 
 90. Of the Yishnii worship the doctrine of the 
 avatar as or incarnations (literally, " descents "), is charac- 
 teristic. Just as the Buddha becomes man whenever the 
 world needs to be redeemed from misery, Vishnu also, if 
 danger threatens the devas or their worshippers, assumes 
 one form or another to bring them deliverance. The 
 number of these avataras was not at first strictly defined, 
 and kept mounting higher and higher. Among the 
 oldest of them is the " dwarf-incarnation " (vdmandvatdra) 
 borrowed from Vishnu's own sun-myth : then he appears 
 as the fish who saves Manu at the deluge {matsy avatar a), 
 as the tortoise who, at the churning of the heavenly 
 ocean (i.e., at the creation), supports the earth (kurmd- 
 vatdra), and as the boar which restores it to equilibrium 
 w^hen it has sunk into the under world (vardhdvatdra), — 
 three sun-myths which were first applied to Brahma as 
 creator, and were transferred from him to Vishnu. "With 
 the last of these myths is connected that of the " man- 
 lion" (nrsimJidvatdra), under wdiich shape Vishnu freed 
 the world from the sway of a demon-king. Besides this 
 the doctrine of the avataras afforded an opportunity of 
 identifying him with favourite heroes of tradition, who w^ere 
 probably once deities. Such were Eamachandra, who, 
 like Buddhism, extended his conquests to Ceylon ; Para- 
 surama, the " axe-Eama," an ancient deity of fire and 
 lightning, whom the Brahmans raised to be their hero as 
 the slayer of all the Kshattriyas ; and Krishna the 
 
 hidden sun-god of the night, always connected in the 
 r K 
 
145 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 Epos with the light Arjuna, the visible sun-god, and 
 whose inyth forms a counterpart of the legend of Buddha, 
 though they are as far apart as the poles in character. 
 In later times Vishnu was also connected with several 
 other divine beings. 
 
 The myth of Vishnu as a dwarf is to be found as early 
 as the Satapatha Brdhmaim (see Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. p. 
 12 2, scic[.) It is noteworthy that in this version Vishnu 
 does not assume the form of a dwarf, but actually is a 
 dwarf. The only use there made of the myth by the 
 Brahmans is to attach to it their theory of sacrifice. It 
 is highly instruofcive to compare their representation with 
 the much more original story in the Rdmdyana (i. 32, 2, 
 5^5'.), and with the form in the Bhdgav. Purdna (viii. 15, i, 
 sqq.), which has been in many respects modified, where 
 Vishnu only needs two steps to traverse earth and 
 heaven, and the Asura prince Bah, whom he dethrones, is 
 placed in a very favourable light. 
 
 Some of the avataras appear to have been borrowed 
 from the mythology of non-Hindu inhabitants of India. 
 Lassen, Ind. Alterth., iv. p. 583, conjectured that this was 
 the case with the dwarf. The man-lion also appears to 
 me to belong to a system different from the Hindu. The 
 boar is also a form of the sun-god in the Zend-Avesta. 
 Eama-chandra, like Krishna, is a god of night ; his name 
 connects him both with the night (rdma, " night," " rest," 
 " dark,") and with the moon (chandra). His spouse is Sita, 
 " the furrow," the ploughed earth, which, according to a 
 representation common in antiquity, was fertilised by the 
 moon and by the dew descending from it, or the night 
 wind sent by it (in the Zend-Avesta, Eaman is the genius 
 of the air [Vayu, the Sanskr. Vayu], who gives taste to 
 food). That Parasu-Rdma is a god of the solar fire admits 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 147 
 
 of no doubt. He springs from the Brahman race of the 
 Bhrigus (lightning), his father's name is Jamadagni, " the 
 burning fire." Like all gods of solar fire he is the nightly 
 or hidden one, and accordingly he slays Arjuna, the bright 
 god of day. Out of this the myth of the Kshattriya-slayer 
 developed itself spontaneously. In the myth of Krishna, 
 on the other hand, the two sun-gods are friendly, the old 
 pair of deities Vishnu and Indra in a new shape. 
 
 91. In the cultus of Krishna the worship of Vishnu 
 reaches its climax. Traces of Krishna-worship indeed 
 make their appearance at an early date ; but not till he 
 was regarded as an avatara of Vishnu, especially in the 
 form of Narayana, who had previously been identified 
 with Brahma, did it spread through the whole land. In 
 the Epos he is represented as a demi-god, who distin- 
 guished himself by his heroic deeds, his higher know- 
 ledge, and his miraculous power, while later on he took 
 the rank of the highest god. The Brahmanic theosophists 
 make him a disciple of the Brahmans, who devotes him- 
 self to mystic meditations, and thus in the Bhagavad- 
 Gita he appears as the preacher of an ethical-pantheistic 
 doctrine, and proclaims himself as the Supreme Being 
 and the Eedeemer. At a later date, viz., in the Gita- 
 govinda, special prominence was given to the legends of 
 his miraculous birth, his intercourse with the shepherds, 
 and his luxurious life with the shepherdesses, the remem- 
 brance of which was celebrated by special religious 
 festivals. 
 
 When Buddhism had ceased to be dangerous to the 
 Brahmans, the Buddha himself was included among the 
 atavaras of Vishnu, and the sect of the Bauddha- 
 
143 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 Vaislinavas arose, which attempted to fuse the two sys- 
 tems together. 
 
 At the end of this age (Kaliyuga) Vishnu is to appear 
 as Kalldn, to root out all wickedness. 
 
 In all his incarnations Vishnu is a god of salvation 
 and beneficence, and as a human being he is in no way 
 inferior to the Buddha in gentleness, humanity, and self- 
 denial, of which the Brahmans had many striking ex- 
 amples to present. To this Parasurama forms the only 
 exception, but it is probable that the Brahmans did not 
 connect this form with him till they felt themselves 
 strong enough to re-establish their authority again, if 
 need be, by force. 
 
 If the Indian Herakles, of whom Megasthenes speaks, 
 is really Krishna, as Lassen affirms {Ind. Alterth., i. p. 
 647), the worship of Krishna must have become tolerably 
 general by 300 B.C. But the identification leaves much 
 to be desired. The name occurs in an inscription dating 
 probably from the beginning of our era (Bayley, Journ. 
 As. Soc. Bengal, 1854, cf. Weber, Zeitschr. der DeutscTi. 
 Morgenl. GeseUsch., ix. p. 631). The figure and the myth 
 of Krishna are certainly of great antiquity, though it 
 was not till later times that his cultus spread over the 
 whole of India. 
 
 Nara and Narayana also are ancient gods. Their 
 names signify " man " and " son of man " (Bohtlingk and 
 Eoth, Worterh. Bopp explains Narayana otherwise, " he 
 who goes through the waters "), and are doubtless con- 
 nected with Nereus and the Nereids. They correspond 
 with Arjuna and Krishna, Indra and Vishnu. In the 
 Brahmanic period, even as late as in the laws of Manu, 
 Nc^rayana is a surname of Brahma. 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 149 
 
 The legends of the Gita-govinda are not of more 
 recent growth than the stories about Krishna in the epics, 
 though they were not adopted into the Brahmanic sj'stem 
 until later. They belong, on the contrary, to the oldest 
 myths of the Aryan race. The representation of the god 
 as a disciple of the Br^hmans, which we meet with in the 
 Chandogya-Upanishad, is, however, much more modern. 
 
 In the teachings of the Bhagavat-Gita, Lorinser be- 
 lieves he can detect citations from the New Testament, 
 and the stories of Krishna's birth and childhood appear 
 to Weber to exhibit traces of Christian influence. They 
 are, in my judgment, very doubtful. The works of 
 Lorinser and Telang have been cited above. Comp. A. 
 Weber, "Ueber die Krishnajaum^shtami" (Krishna's Ge- 
 burtsfest) in Ahhandll. der Kmigl. Akademie der Wissensch. 
 in Berlin^ 1867. The views of Lorinser and Weber are 
 shared by F. Neve, Des Elements Strangers du Mythe et du 
 Culte de Krichna, Paris, 1876. On the whole question 
 see 0. P. Tiele, " Christus en Krishna,'^ in the Theolog. 
 Tijdschr., 1877, No. i. p. 67,, sqg. Senart is of opinion 
 that the Krishna-myth served as the type for the legend 
 of Buddha. Even if that is correct, it still remains true 
 that the Brahmans took up the old popular representa- 
 tions which had been first adopted by the Buddhists, 
 modified their form, and then employed them again as 
 weapons against their opponents. 
 
 The significance of the future Buddha, Kalkin, whose 
 name if translated would mean " contagion/' " falsehood,'' 
 is still very enigmatical. 
 
 92. At the same time with Yishnu, perhaps even 
 before him, Eudra also, whose worship had made such 
 advances in the previous period (see § 78), was raised, 
 under his euphemistic name of Siva, to the position of 
 
ISO RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 supreme deity {Mahdcleva). His character is not to "be 
 reproduced in a single word. As Eudra Ms nature is 
 violent and dreadful ; he lives in the wilderness on the 
 loftiest mountains ; in asceticism, and, therefore, in power, 
 he surpasses all other beings. But at the same time he 
 is a god of fruitfulness, and thence the creator ; and he 
 is from this time, therefore, generally worshipped under 
 the symbol of the power of propagation, the lingam. 
 It is not without reason that it has been supposed that 
 this symbol is not of Aryan origin, and that the Siva of 
 this period has arisen out of the fusion of Agni-Eudra 
 with a native deity. Certainly both the representation of 
 his person and the character of his cultus are thoroughly 
 unbrahmanic, various foreign elements, such as the worship 
 of serpents and spirits (bhutas) being connected with his 
 worship. He was particularly popular in the mountain 
 districts of the north and in the Dekhan, and the Brahmans 
 saw in Sivaism a welcome ally against Buddhism. 
 
 The consort of Siva, who combines in her person the 
 same conflicting characteristics, who is marked out by 
 her self-renouncing piety (tapas) as an ancient fire-goddess, 
 and by her relation to Sarasvati, the goddess of the waters 
 and of knowledge, as a goddess of mountains and streams, 
 was invoked alike under the ancient names Ambika and 
 Uma, the " mother " and the " protectress," as well as by 
 the titles Kali, the " black one," and Durga, the " terrible." 
 As Kali-Durga she is the goddess of death, horrible in 
 shape, and worshipped with bloody sacrifices. In the 
 pantheon and in the cultus she takes a much more pro- 
 minent place than all the other goddesses, whose quali- 
 ties and names were transferred to her; and she was 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 151 
 
 even connected with Krishna and as Devimahatmya (" the 
 majesty of the goddess ") with Vishnu. 
 
 Siva means " the gracious," one of the euphemisms by 
 which it was endeavoured to appease dreaded deities, in 
 sound somewhat resembhng his characteristic name, 
 Sarva, the " destroyer," the "wrathful" The epics rehite 
 how the supreme gods, Vishnu and Krishna on the one side, 
 and Mah^deva on the other, vied with each other in their 
 comphments. All these passages in which they recipro- 
 cally glorify each other are, of course, interpolations. But 
 the worship of Mah^deva as the supreme god must be the 
 oldest. Passages, however, are not wanting which show 
 that his cultus was not introduced till after the first 
 period of Brahmanism, and then not without resistance. 
 The Lingam is certainly not a symbol of ancient Brah- 
 manism, and Sisnadevas (phallus-gods) are opposed in 
 the Vedas and excluded from pure sacrifices. He was 
 regarded both as destroyer and creator, inasmuch as he 
 was both storm-god and fire-god, and his union with Agni 
 may have served as the point of attachment for the 
 Brahmans. I conjecture that Siva or Sarva was not 
 original, but was derived from his consort Durga, whose 
 attributes were transferred to Agni-Rudra, when she was 
 united with him. It is in this sense that we desimate 
 him a native deity, which cannot be absolutely proved, 
 and is still doubted by many scholars, but is sufficiently 
 clear from the n on -Aryan character of his cultus. 
 
 Tn the case of his spouse we must distinguish with the 
 same care between the mountain goddess Parvatl or 
 Haimavati, the ancient mother-goddess Um^ or Ambik^, 
 and Kali, Karali or Durg^, who is certainly not of Aryan 
 origin. In the last who, properly speaking, has no con- 
 sort, we may recognise the goddess of death and of the 
 
152 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 under-world, who is found both among the oldest inha- 
 bitants of Central Asia and among the Malays. As the 
 spouse of Mahadeva she is, however, the goddess "par ex- 
 celhnce {Devi), and all the goddesses, therefore, and not 
 only Sarasvati (who was connected with P^rvati) and 
 Nirriti (the goddess of evil, resembling Durga in character), 
 but even Maya, Sri (spouse of Vishnu), Savitii, and others, 
 might be identified with her. 
 
 93. Among the gods adopted during this period into 
 the Brahmanic system, Ganesa, the god of arts and wis- 
 dom, occupies the principal place. The greatest difficulty 
 was to find room in the same system for all the three 
 chief gods whose worshippers were for the most part 
 hostile to each other. The endeavours to fill up the 
 gulf between the rivals may be speedily traced in dif- 
 ferent mythic narratives of their reconciliation. The first 
 expedient was simply to place the three side by side, and 
 ascribe the same rights to each of them. Generally, how- 
 ever, two of them had to submit to be subordinated to the 
 third. Or Yishnu and Siva were united into one person, 
 IIari-ha7mc,wliovfSiS then united with Brahma and regarded 
 as the chief god. Last of all arose the doctrine of the 
 Trimurti, according to which the three gods were repre- 
 sented as so many forms or revelations of one supreme 
 deity in his threefold activity as creator, sustainer, and 
 destroyer. Among the people, however, this doctrine 
 made little way. Moreover, it appears not only to have 
 arisen in the South of India, but to have been confined 
 exclusively to that portion of the Peninsula. 
 
 Besides the worship of Ganesa, practised by his parti- 
 cular sect, the Gdnajjatyas, we meet in this period with 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAhMANISM. 153 
 
 that of STcanda Kdrtilceya^ tlie god of war, and of Kdma, 
 the god of love. 
 
 The union of Hari {i.e., Vishnu) and Hara (Siva) had 
 its counterpart in the fusion of the male and female deity 
 also into one under the name Ardhanart. All this indi- 
 cates a strong tendency to monotheism. 
 
 The first appearance of the Trimurti is in the 14th 
 century A.D,, but the idea that the supreme being exer- 
 cises by turns one of the three functions already specified, 
 is of great antiquity. The application of this conception 
 to Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, is entirely arbitrary, the two 
 latter, for example, being creators no less than the first. 
 
 94. It is characteristic of this period that it gave rise 
 to a new sacred literature, totally different in character 
 from the Brahmanic. But the Brahmans perceived very 
 clearly that the rich literature of the Buddhists, if its 
 influence was to be rendered harmless, needed something 
 to counterbalance it. With this view, the eighteen 
 Puranas which still exist, and a similar number of 
 Upapui'anas, were composed : by the members of the 
 sects they were placed on the same footing as the Vedas, 
 and regarded as of great antiquity ; none of them, how- 
 ever, were written till after the eighth centmy a.d., 
 and the majority even are much later. Their object is 
 nothing less than to give a history of the universe since 
 its origin, and they are concerned not only with theology, 
 but with all departments of loiowledge. 
 
 At the same time, the two great epics, the Maha- 
 bharata and the Eamayana, in which the ancient gods, 
 already completely transformed into heroes, lived and 
 moved as human beings on the earth, — or rather, in which 
 the old myths were blended with some great historic 
 
154 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 events into an epic narrative, — were modified and inter- 
 polated by tlie worshippers of Yislinu and Siva, to make 
 them the veliicles of their particular theology. 
 
 Parana signifies ''ancient tradition;" the Uj?aioiirdnas 
 are the By-Puranas, and are of less importance. Both 
 perhaps contain some elements of older Puranas now 
 lost, hut they differ totally in spirit and contents from 
 the character of these works, as we infer it by descrip- 
 tion. Following the number of the great gods, they are 
 divided into three groups of six ; but the six, which are 
 devoted to the glorification of Brahma, while they con- 
 tain a number of legends about him, chiefly insist on the 
 worship of Siva, and especially of Vishnu. 
 
 In the older parts of the epic poems, the principal 
 heroes and heroines are only compared with the chief 
 gods and goddesses. In passages subsequently inserted 
 they are elevated into their avatdras. Ever and anon the 
 opportunity is seized to thrust in a panegyric on Yishnu 
 or Siva, or to furnish a proof of their supreme power. 
 It is often very easy to separate these additions from the 
 original text, which must have been in existence before 
 the year 300 B.C. It was a master-stroke of the BrMimans 
 to make these epics, which seem to have been originally 
 the peculiar literature of the Kshattriyas, available for 
 their purpose. 
 
 95. Meanwhile, the Brahmans surrendered nothing of 
 their claims and privileges. To prevent the people from 
 escaping from their control, they lowered themselves to 
 them, but they were always careful to make it appear 
 what deep reverence was ever paid, even by the 
 highest gods, to a member of their caste. They likewise 
 remained faithful to their over-estimate of knowledge 
 
 y 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 155 
 
 (Jndna) as a means of deliverance. Tliey therefore 
 opposed the doctrine of S^ndilya, which substituted piety 
 (hliakti) and love to God for knowledge, and vigorously 
 maintained the authority and infallibility of the Yeda, 
 which they now even declared to be eternal and un- 
 created. Practically, however, they made concessions 
 upon this point, and regarded as orthodox every school or 
 sect which acknowledged the authority of the Veda, even 
 though it denied its eternity. 
 
 The dispute about the eternity of the Veda is highly 
 instructive, especially when the Brahmanic doctrine of 
 revelation is compared with the teachings of Christian 
 and Mohammedan theologians on the inspiration of the 
 Bible and the Qoran. In subtlety and absurdity it far 
 transcends anything which either of the latter have ever 
 devised. / 
 
 It was simply the recognition of the authority of the 
 Veda that secured even for the Ny^ya and the atheistic 
 . Sankhya philosophy the credit of orthodoxy by the side 
 of the orthodox Vedanta. 
 
 96. Of the six so-called philosophical systems, only 
 three properly answer to this description. The Vedanta^ 
 the " end of the Veda," is purely pantheistic and monistic, 
 and is connected (as Uttara-mimdmsd, "later considera- 
 tion") with the proper or older Mimamsa (Piirva- 
 nvtmdmsa), a more ritualistic system. The Nydya (" rule," 
 " maxim ") is occupied with the method of philosophical 
 inquiry, and the Vaiseshika (from viscsha, " difference," 
 " attribute ") which is connected with it, applies the 
 method to nature. Analytical in their principles, they 
 are diametrically opposed to the synthetic Sdnkhya 
 
156 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 (" reasoning," " synthesis ") a dualistic and atheistic sys- 
 tem, which exercised very great influence not only upon 
 thought hut also on religion. The practical side of this 
 system is represented hy the Yoga philosophy, which is 
 distinguished from the Sankhya by its decided theism, 
 and undertakes to show how, by concentrating the mind 
 in profound reflection, it is possible to attain union with 
 the divine principle, while its professors surpass in self- 
 torture all the ascetics of the world. The so-called 
 founders of these schools are for the most part mythical 
 persons. Beneath the systems wliich bear their name, we 
 may discern clearly the animistic view of the universe. 
 In the doctrine of the independent existence of the soul, 
 and the inferences to be drawn from it, they all agree. 
 
 The Vedanta, the Sankhya, and the ISTyaya, are the only 
 schools that possess any of the characteristics of philo- 
 sophical systems, and even they only deserve this desig- 
 nation in a limited sense, as the object of them all is not 
 the search for truth, but the redemption of men. 
 
 The PHrva-mimams^ is founded on the Brahmanas, 
 but the Vedanta, on the other hand, on the Upanishads, 
 which suffices to indicate their respective characters. On 
 this system, and on ^^ankara, the famous champion of 
 orthodoxy, see A. Braining, Bijdrage tot de Kennis van den 
 Veddnta, Leiden, 1871. 
 
 The animistic character of these systems appears in 
 the fundamental conceptions which they all possess in 
 common. As the union of body and soul (which, like the 
 substance of the universe, is eternal) is the cause of all 
 misery, deliverance consists in the complete separation of 
 the soul from the body, and it is to this goal that the 
 different systems are intended to lead. 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAhMANISM. 157 
 
 The reputed founders of the Vaiseshikas, Sanhhya, and 
 Vedanta schools are certainly mythic beings, — Kanada 
 (the " atom-eater "), Kapila (the " yellow "), and Vyasa 
 (" extension," " separation ") ; probably also Gotama, the 
 supposed founder of the Nyaya, is of the same order. 
 Jaimini, the founder of the Ptlrva-mim^ms^^ may very 
 well be regarded as a historical personage, and Patanjali, 
 the father of the Yoga, is certainly so. 
 
 97. As soon as Buddliism was overcome and driven 
 out, the sects which had only been united by the pre- 
 sence of danger, burst through this artificial union, and 
 were again separated. Vishnu was once more worshipped 
 by the Vaishnavas, Siva by the Saivas, as the supreme 
 deity, and each body split into a number of smaller 
 communities, to wliich new ones were perpetually being 
 added. The most famous of the later Yaishnava sects 
 are those founded in the twelfth century by Eamanuja 
 in Southern India, and sometime afterwards by Eama- 
 nanda. The first of these is distinguished by great strict- 
 ness, and the avoidance of all profane persons ; while to 
 this the second is in many respects diametrically opposed, 
 though its founder Eam^nanda was originally one of the 
 followers of Eamanuja. Expelled because he had eaten 
 with unconsecrated persons, he abstained from imposing 
 on the disciples whom he gathered round him, any com- 
 mands of ceremonial purity, and even taught that the 
 clergy ought to reject all forms of worship. From a 
 disciple of Eamananda came, further, the sect of the 
 Kabirpanthi, from whose waitings the famous ISTanak 
 Shah, the founder of the religious community of the 
 Sikhs {l^isJiya), derived a large portion of his doctrine. 
 
158 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS. 
 
 The Kabirpantlii hardly belong to Vishnuism any longer, 
 though they are counted among its adherents, but they 
 have adopted many elements of Mohammedanism, and 
 are zealous Monotheists. Like the followers of Rama- 
 nanda, they employ the vernacular. The repugnance to 
 animal sacrifices is shared by all these communities, and 
 they are all alike open to members of every caste. 
 
 The Saiva sects are composed chiefly of clergy or 
 monks, living in solitude, or united in fraternities. Siva 
 is their god, as the protector and the example of self- 
 denying penitents. They have now, however, for the 
 most part degenerated into mere jugglers, and no longer 
 enjoy much respect. 
 
 The doctrine of the followers of Eamanuja accords, in 
 many respects, with the Vedanta. Vishnu is in their 
 view the same as Brahm^. The adherents of Ramananda 
 worship Vishnu as Rama or Sit^-Rama. K4bir is cer- 
 tainly a fictitious name for the unknown founder of the 
 community of the Kabirpanthi. Much as the author of 
 their sacred books may have derived from the teachings 
 of the Mohammedans, he was certainly far better ac- 
 quainted with the Hindu writings than with the Tslamitic, 
 and he must, therefore, have been a Hindu. A complete 
 translation of the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the 
 Sikhs, has been recently published by Dr. E. Trumpp, 
 London, 1877. Comp. also his Festrede, Ndnak, der 
 Stifter der Sikh-Beligion, Munich, 1876. 
 
 98. The deep decay of Brahmanism is evinced by the 
 rise and spread of the Sakta-sects, who worship the per- 
 sonified power of the three great gods as female beings. 
 
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAhMANISM. 159 
 
 Though these bodies have some points of affinity with the 
 other sects, they constitute really a return to representa- 
 tions and usages belonging to a lower stage of religious 
 development. They are divided into two groups, those 
 of the right hand (J)ahsliindclidr'i), and those of the left 
 hand {Vdmdcliciri), of whom the first follow a stricter 
 ritual, while the second are characterised by magie cere- 
 monies and disgusting licentiousness. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, they merge in each other. The rise and spread of 
 these sects affords an example of the revival of ancient 
 elements as soon as the bonds of the hierarchy are 
 weakened, and the chain of purified tradition is 
 broken. 
 
 Meanwhile, under the influence of Islam and Chris- 
 tianity, a number of mixed sects have arisen, such as that 
 of Nanak Shah already named, and the later Brahmo- 
 samaj, which is perhaps destined to give a new direction 
 to Brahmanism. 
 
 To the wives of the three great gods, Durga, Lakshmi, 
 and Sarasvati or Savitri, Radha, the spouse of Krishna, 
 must also be added, who is indeed regarded by some sects 
 as the chief goddess. 
 
 It is impossible to mistake the striking correspondence 
 between the worship of the Saktis and the primeval 
 nature-worship of the pre-Aryans and pre-Semites, in 
 which the great mother-goddess is the supreme object of 
 worship, and which has left so many traces behind it 
 through the whole of Asia. The Dakshinachari and 
 YamS^chari flow into each other, among other places, at 
 Calcutta. At any rate, the sect of the Eight-hand estab- 
 lished there follows to some extent the ritual of the Left- 
 hand. On this subject compare Pratd^achandra Gosha, 
 
i6o RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 Durgd pitjd, with notes and illustrations, announced in tho 
 Theol Tijdschr. 1872, p. 344, sqq. 
 
 The sect of the Brahmo-samaj founded in 1830 by 
 Ram Mohun Roy, and reformed in a liberal spirit in our 
 own time by Keshab Chander Sen, recognises the moral 
 grandeur of Jesus, and the truth of the fundamental 
 Christian principles, but does not absolutely abandon the 
 Hindi! tradition. It aims at a religion consisting in the 
 worship of God as the loving Father of all men, and re- 
 sulting in brotherly love to all. Whether it is destined 
 to exercise any great influence in the future, cannot as 
 yet be determined. 
 
 III. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIAN (PERSIAN) NATIONS. 
 
 MAZDEISM. 
 
 Literature. — General and historical works : F. Spiegel, 
 Erdnische Alterthumshmde, i. Geogr., Ethnogr., iind alt. 
 Geschichte, Leipzig, 187 1, ii. Religion, GescJiichte his zum 
 Tode Alexanders des Gi'ossen, ihid., 1873. 1'^^® third and 
 last vol. is in the press. Id., Arische Studien, i. Leipzig, 
 1874. F. MiJLLER, Zend Studien, i. and ii., Vienna, 1863. 
 Flathe, Art. " Perser, Geschichte " in Ersch and Gruber's 
 Allg. Encydopddie, sect. iii. vol. xvii. pp. 370-434. 
 Lassen, Aeltere Geograjjhie, ibid., pp. 435-443. Spiegel, 
 Erdn, Beitr. zur Kenntniss des Landes und seiner Geschichte, 
 Berlin, 1863. F. JUSTI, Beitrdge zur alten Geogr. Per- 
 siens, i. Marburg, 1869, ii. ibid., 1870 (Universitats Fest- 
 schrift). — Sacred Literature. Editions of the Zend-Avesta 
 by Spiegel (with Huzvaresh-translation), Leipzig and 
 
MAZ DEISM. i6i 
 
 Vienna, 1851, and following years, and by Westergaard, 
 Copenhagen, 1 85 2-54. Of the Fendiddd Sdde, by H. 
 BrocivHAUS, Leipzig, 1850. Of the Bundehesh, with 
 transcription, translation, and glossary, by F. JusTi, 
 Leipzig, 1868. Latest editions of the Persian cuneiform 
 inscriptions, Spiegel, Die Altjyers. Keilinschriften, im 
 Grundtext mit Uehersetz., Gramm., und Glossar, Leipzig, 
 1862 : C. Kossowicz, Inscriptiones Palaeo - Fersicae 
 Achaemenidarum, ed. et expl., PetropoL, 1872. The Ardd- 
 Vtrdf Ndmalc, with translation, &c., by M. Haug and 
 E. W. West, Bombay and London, 1872. Further, M. 
 Haug, Die filiif Gdthd's . . . Zarathustra^s, herausgeg., 
 ubersetzt und erUdrt, i., Leipzig, 1858, ii., ibid., i860, to be 
 used with very great caution. The following chiefly 
 depend on Spiegel : Decern Sendavestae Excerpta, recensuit 
 et latine vertit C. Kossowicz, Paris, 1865, and by the 
 same writer, Gdtha ahunavaiti, Fetershiirg, 1867; Gdtha 
 ustavaiti, ibid., 1869 ; Saratustricae Gdthae jposter. ires, ibid., 
 187 1. Neriosengh's Sanskrit translation of the Yasna, 
 edited by Spiegel, Leipzig, 1861. F. Spiegel, Avesta, 
 aus dem Grundtext ubersetzt, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1852-1 863, 
 with which must necessarily be compared his Conimentar 
 iiber d. Avesta, 2 vols., ibid., 1865-1869, as it contains a 
 number of emendations and modifications of the translation. 
 Detached pieces : M. Haug, Das achtzehnfe Kajntel des Wen- 
 diddd ubersetzt und erUdrt, Miinchen, 1869. Hubschmann, 
 Ein zoroasfriscJies Lied {Yagna, 30), ibid., 1872. Comp. 
 further, E. Roth, " Beitriige zur Erkliirung des Avesta," 
 i.-iii., and F. Spiegel, ''Zur Erkliirung des Avesta," 
 both in the Zeitschr. der Deidschen Morgenl. Gesellsch., xxv., 
 pp. I sqq., 215 sqq., 297 sqq. M. Breal, "Fragments de 
 Grit. Zende," Jou)-n. Asiat., 1862 (includes an essay on 
 the first Farg. of the Vendidad). W. D. Whitney, " On 
 the Avesta," Journ. Amer. Orient. Soc, v. 1856, and 
 ' . L 
 
1 62 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 Oriental and Linguistic Studies, New York, 1875, and Max 
 MuLLER, Chips from a German JVorkshop, artt. v.-viii. (A 
 number of purely philological works cannot be enume- 
 rated here.) Religion. — Th. Hyde, Historia Religionis vet. 
 Persarum eorumque Magorum, Oxford, 1700, still note- 
 worthy. I. G. Rhode, Die heilige Sage und der gesammfe 
 Religionssystem des Zendvolkes, Frankfort, 1820, founded 
 entirely on the translation of the Zend Avesta by 
 Anquetil Duperron, which is no longer of any use. The 
 confusion of elements belonging to different periods, and 
 the want of a good translation, render K. Schwenck's 
 Mythologie der Perser, Frankfort, 1855, useless. C. P. 
 TiELE, De godsdienst van Zarathustra van haar ontsfaan in 
 BaUrie tot den val van het Oud-Perzische Rijk, Haarlem, 
 1864, requires revision, especially for the history of the 
 origin of Mazdeism. M. Haug, Essays on the Sacred Lan- 
 guage, Writings, and Religion of the Par sees, Bombay, 1862 
 (to be used with caution). F. Windischmann, Zoroastr. 
 Studien, herausgegehen von Spiegel, Berlin, 1863 (contains 
 among other things a complete translation of the Bunde- 
 hesh and the Farvardin-Yasht). Id., Die Persische Ana- 
 hita oder Anaitis, Munich, 1856. Id., " Mithra," in 
 Ahhandll. filr die Kunde des Morgerd., i., No. i, Leipzig, 
 1857. I. G. Stickel, De Diance Persicce Monum. 
 GrcBchwyliano, Jena, 1856. J. H. Vullers, Fragmente 
 uher die Religion des Zoroaster, Bonn, 183 1. J. Oppert, 
 " L'Honover, le verb crdateur de Zoroastre" (Ann. dePhilos. 
 Chretienne, Jan v., 1862). A. Hovelacque, Morale de 
 V Avesta, Paris, 1874. James Darmesteter, Haurvetdt 
 et Ameretdt, Essaisur la Mythologie de l' Avesta, Paris, 1875. 
 On the Parsism of the present day, Dadhabai Naoroji, 
 The Parsee Religion, and The Manners and Customs of the 
 Parsees, London, 1862. — See further, " Contributions 
 towards a Bibliography of Zoroastrian Literature," in 
 
ORIGIN OF MAZDEISM 163 
 
 Trlibner's American and Onental Literary Record, July 20, 
 1865. 
 
 99. After the division of tlie Aryans into Hindus 
 and Eranians, the latter probably remained for a consider- 
 able time faithful to the ancient Aryan religion, though 
 not without adopting Turanian elements into it. Maz- 
 deism or Parsism is a reformation of this religion, ascribed 
 by its confessors to Zarathustra (Zoroaster). Of the his- 
 tory of this reformer, whose very existence even has been 
 called in question, nothing is known with certainty, though 
 a number of legends have been transmitted of his birth, 
 temptation, and miraculous deeds. It is equally uncer- 
 tain at what time the religion of Zarathustra was founded. 
 It appears from the oldest sources that the religious re- 
 formation accompanied the introduction of agriculture and 
 of settled life. The language in which these documents 
 are composed is an East-Eranian, and Bactria, therefore, 
 must have been the fatherland of Mazdeism, though it 
 was certainly raised to the rank of state religion in the 
 Persian empire from the time of Darius Hystaspis, and 
 perhaps even before him. Taking its rise in East-Eran 
 probably before or during the eighth century before our 
 era, it made its way after that date with the Aryan tribes 
 over Media and Persia, and there, it would seem, in the 
 hands of the non- Aryan priestly tribe of the Magi, un- 
 known in Bactria, it underwent not unimportant modifi- 
 cations. 
 
 The close relationship of Parsism to the old-Aryan 
 religion is placed beyond all doubt by comparing it with 
 the Vedic and Brahmanic religions. Haug and others 
 
1 64 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 (including the present writer in an earlier work) have 
 defended the opinion that Mazdeism arose at the same 
 time with the old-Vedic religion, and that both were 
 the result of a schism among the followers of the old- 
 Aryan religion. The grounds on which this opinion 
 is based, appear, however, on further inquiry to be 
 insufficient. 
 
 On the question whether Zarathustra must be regarded 
 as a mythical personage, there is as yet no agreement. 
 Kern, " Over het woord Zarathustra en den mythischen 
 persoon van dien naam " {Mededeelingen van de KoninU. 
 Akad. van Wetenscluippen, 1867), answered it in the affir- 
 mative. On the other side, Spiegel, Erdn. Altertli., i. p. 
 708, and Heidelh. Jahrhb., 1867, No. 43. Justi, Gott. Gel. 
 Anzeigen, 1867, No. 51. Cf. Spiegel, '' Ueber das Leben 
 Zarathustra's," in Sltzungs-Berichte der K'Onigl. Baler. 
 AJcad. Philos.-Philol. Classe, January 5, 1867. Even the 
 name Zarathustra has received various explanations. 
 
 From the inscriptions of Darius I. it appears that 
 Mazdeism was in his time the official reliirion of Persia. 
 
 O 
 
 With the exception of the short sepulchral inscription of 
 Cyrus, no such inscriptions remain from his predecessors. 
 It is not improbable that they also were already Mazda- 
 worshippers. 
 
 The selection of the eighth centurj^ is not arbitrary. 
 In the narratives given by the Assyrian kings of their 
 military expeditions into Media, it is not till the eighth 
 century and onwards that Aryan names begin to appear, 
 and in the first Fargard of the Vendidad only East-Eranian 
 countries are named, while with the exception of the 
 Median city Ragha, neither Media nor Persia is mentioned. 
 This tradition describes the countries created by Ahura- 
 Mazda, which can have no other meaning than the 
 countries where Mazdeism prevailed. If its origin can- 
 
MAZ DEISM. 165 
 
 not be brouglit clown later than the eighth century B.C., 
 Mazdeism must by that time have been in existence. 
 
 The Magians were certainly a pre- Semitic and pre- 
 Aryan priestly tribe in West Asia, whose head, Eab-mag, 
 belonged to the court of the Babylonian kings. See 
 Jer. xxix. 3. It is held by some scholars (Lenormant) 
 that, in the form emga, *' glorious," " exalted," the name 
 is already found in Akkadian as a title of honour borne 
 by the learned and the priests, which seems rather doubt- 
 ful to me. The Akkadian word mah, "great, high, 
 principal," has more likeness to the Semitic Mdg, the 
 Persian MagiLS, the Bactrian Mdghu. Of course tlie 
 ErS,nians must have derived it from their own Maz, 
 "great," ox Maga, "greatness." 
 
 100. Our knowledge of the Zarathustrian religion is 
 chiefly derived from the Avesta (or Zend-avesta), a collec- 
 tion of writings or fragments composed at different dates, 
 the remains of a much richer literature, and from the 
 Bundehesh, a cosmogonic-theological work, written in 
 Pehlevi not earlier than the third century of our era, but 
 preserving many older traditions. The Avesta is divided 
 into Izcsline (yama), " sacrifices," " sacrificial prayers," Vis- 
 pe7'ed (vispS ratavo, " all lords ") praises to the supreme 
 powers, and Vendiddd (yi-daevaddta), the law "given 
 against evil spirits," a book which contains, together with 
 ancient traditions, the moral and ceremonial laws, and 
 the prescriptions relating to purity. These three books 
 together, arranged in a peculiar way, constitute the pure 
 Vendidad (Vendiddd-sdde), the Parsee prayer-book. The 
 YasJits, sacrificial songs, resembling some which occur in 
 the books just named, form, with some shorter texts, the 
 
1 66 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS, 
 
 small Avesta {Khordali-Avesta), and are certainly by far 
 the most poetical portion of the Holy Scripture. The 
 greater part of these books are written in the same East- 
 Eranian or Bactrian dialect, but a portion of the Yasna, 
 chaps. 28-53, li^^6 some ancient prayers, is composed in 
 another dialect, and contains the five Gathas or religious 
 odes and a prose- work, the Yasna of the seven chapters, 
 — certainly the oldest documents of Parsism. 
 
 The Bundehesh was composed under the reign of the 
 Sasanidse, the restorers of Parsism, whose sovereignty 
 began at the commencement of the third century A.D. 
 By that time Bactrian had already become a dead lan- 
 guage. But it is clear that the learned men who wrote 
 this book employed ancient documents in its composition. 
 The Avesta, the Yashts not excluded, must be older, but 
 it is not possible to determine with any certainty the 
 dates of the origin of the different books. Their relative 
 antiquity is all that is settled. Their chronological suc- 
 cession is as follows : the second part of the Yasna, the 
 Vendidad, the first part of the Yasna, the Vispered, the 
 Yashts, &c. 
 
 101. Far above all divine beings stands Ahura mazddo, 
 the all-wise Lord or Spmt. In the oldest hymns and 
 texts, including, for instance, the confession of faith, he is 
 glorified as the Creator and the God of light, of purity 
 and truth ; the giver of all good gifts, and in the first 
 place of life, — his praise and worship transcending every- 
 thing. He is invested with the same rank in the inscrip- 
 tions of the old-Persian kings of the race of Hakhamanis, 
 who profess themselves indebted for their sovereignty to 
 him ; and the restorers of the empire and its religion, the 
 
AHURA MAZdAo. 167 
 
 S^sanidse, vie ^'ith them in his worship. With the 
 extension of the world of divine beings as objects of wor- 
 ship, the homage dedicated to him increased rather than 
 declined. The finest names were devised for him, and 
 the latest representation is perhaps the most exalted. 
 The preaching of this god as the supreme, and, indeed, 
 almost as the only deity, is certainly the new and charac- 
 teristic element of the Zarathustrian reformation, the 
 adherents of which even called themselves distinctively 
 MazdayasnaUy worshippers of Mazda. It was an obvious 
 step to identify him with the good spirit (spefito mainyus), 
 one of the two who, according to the Parsee doctrine, 
 existed from the beginning, and this identification took 
 place at an early period ; but it was not till a very late 
 modification of the system that he was placed on the 
 same footing with the evil one of the two spirits {anro- 
 ma'inyus), and boundless time (zrvan akarana) was set 
 above both. 
 
 A large number of Ahura mazda's titles of honour may 
 be found collected in the Ormazd yasJit. The description 
 given of him. by the Bundehesh is more elevated than 
 that in the Avesta. 
 
 In the combination Ahura-mitlira (dual) he takes the 
 place of the old- Aryan Yaruna ; but it would be erro- 
 neous on this account to place him on a level with the 
 latter ; he stands infinitely higher. 
 
 The system which represents Zrvan akarana as the 
 supreme deity, and Ahura mazda and Ailr6-mainyus as his 
 sons, is most probably no earlier than the time of the Sa- 
 s^nidse, and is an attempt to restore monotheism, which 
 was endangered by the application of dualism to the 
 conception of deity also. 
 
1 68 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 102. Next to Aliura mazda follow six lofty spirits, and 
 these seven make up the number of the sacred immortals 
 {ameslia sigcnta). The representation of seven supreme 
 spirits is old- Aryan, hut the new system raised one of 
 them above the rest, and inserted fresh figures in the 
 ancient frame. For five of these Amesha spenta (Amshas- 
 loands) were originally abstract ideas, their personification 
 being only slightly advanced in the oldest hymns. The 
 first three, Voliu mano, " the good mind," Asha vahista, 
 " the best purity," and Kshathra vairya, " the desired 
 kingdom," are scarcely more than attributes of Ahura 
 mazda ; the last two, Haurvatdt and Amh^etdt, " welfare " 
 or " health," and " immortality," are eternal powers con- 
 ferred by Mazda. Armaiti alone, an old- Aryan deity, has a 
 more definite personality, and denotes at once the wisdom 
 which protects and fosters the earth and the earth itself. 
 Volm mano became at a later date the genius who protects 
 mankind and receives them into his abode in heaven, as 
 the agent by whom Ormazd's creation is extended ; long 
 afterwards, under the degenerate name of Bahman, he 
 appears as the lord of the animal world. As the genius 
 of purity, Asha vahista is, of course, the spirit of fire, the 
 enemy of sickness and death, the adversary of all evil 
 spirits, and he is always, therefore, closely connected with 
 Atar, " fire," the son of Ahura mazda. Kshathra vairya soon 
 becomes the genius, not only of the kingdom but also of 
 riches, lord of the precious metals, who teaches their pro- 
 per employment, and punishes their misuse. Haurva- 
 tat and Ameretat are already in the Gathas gods at once 
 of health and long life, and of the waters and plants, and, 
 in general, of plenty, and they are, therefore, most closely 
 
THE AMES HA SPENT A, 169 
 
 connected with Armaiti. Tliey gradually came to be 
 regarded more definitely as tlie spirits who provided 
 food and drink, the conquerors of hunger and thirst. 
 
 The Amesha spenta have a general resemblance to the 
 Vedic Aditya's, which were originally six or seven in 
 number, and various epithets are applied to them in com- 
 mon. See Spiegel, Erdn. Altherth., ii. p. 31. But in 
 personality they were quite different. 
 
 It is remarkable that the names of the Amesha spenta 
 are half neuter and half feminine. Armaiti, in the form 
 Aramati, also occurs in the Veda, and acts among the 
 Hindus as well as among the Eranians as the genius of 
 wisdom or piety, and also of the earth. Accordingly the 
 founder of Mazdeism has adopted this entire figure from 
 the old-Aryan system. 
 
 The relation between Asha and Atar is completely 
 analogous to that between the Baby lonio- Assyrian Anu 
 and §amdan, though the two pairs of deities are at the 
 same time separated by great diversities. 
 
 J. Darmesteter has endeavoured to prove that the 
 abstract significance of the Amesha spenta preceded the 
 material, and, in particular, that Haurvatat and Ameretat 
 originally personified health and long life. Not till a 
 later period, so he supposes, were they set over the waters 
 and plants ; and it was from their older attributes that their 
 significance as spirits of plenty was derived. Though the 
 essay contains much that is admirable, and the author has 
 accurately expounded the necessary connection between 
 the various functions of these deities, he has failed, in my 
 judgment, to furnish the ^;roo/ that the material significance 
 is the derivative. The question is part of the larger subject 
 of the origin of Mazdeism and its connection with the Vedic 
 religion, an inquiry which is still far from being completed. 
 
 ^ 
 
lyo RELIGION AMONG THE ERAnIANS. 
 
 103. The general name Yazata, " worshipful," served 
 for addressing a number of spirits, partly derived from 
 the Aryan mythology, partly peculiar to the Zara- 
 thustrian system. The first named deities, which were 
 probahly too deeply rooted in the popular faith to be 
 altogether supplanted by new and more abstract repre- 
 sentations, were not, however, adopted among the Yazatas 
 without having undergone some modification, and being 
 made subordinate to Ahura mazda. The chief of them 
 are Mitlira, the god of light, Na'iryd sanlia, the fire-god, 
 AiJclm napdt, the god of the fire dwelling in the waters, 
 Haoma, the god of the drink of immortality, and Tistrya, 
 the genius of the dog-star. The goddess of the heavenly 
 waters and of fruitfulness, Andhita (old Pers. Andhata), 
 is of foreign Chaldee origin. When, under the govern- 
 ment of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the cultus of Mithra, com- 
 bined with foreign usages, increased in importance, this 
 goddess, also, was worshipped with special zeal, and in 
 entirely unorthodox fashion. The cultus of both deities 
 spread over Western Asia to Europe, and was on the 
 whole more widely diffused than that of any other deity 
 of antiquity. 
 
 It was natural that prominence should be given in 
 Mazdeism to that side of the character of the old- Aryan 
 deities which most harmonised with the spirit of the new 
 doctrine. Thus Mithra became more especially what 
 Varuna had been in the Yedic religion, the god of truth 
 and right, the guardian of leagues ; Nairy6 saiiha, in the 
 Veda Nara sansa, a surname of Agni and other deities, the 
 messenger between the dwellers in heaven and men; 
 Haoma (the Indian Soma), the genius of life and health, 
 
THE YAZATAS. 171 
 
 the protector against evil spirits and wicked men — the 
 revengeful and licentious ; and Apam napat was at any 
 rate brought into connection -with the genuinely Maz- 
 dayasnian representation of the heavenly glory. Tistrya 
 alone retained his physical significance pure and simple, 
 like the other star-spirits with Hvare kshaeta, the sun-god, 
 and Mao, the moon-god, at their head, who, however, retire 
 into the background among the Eranians. Moreover, the 
 traditions of the Aryan heroes supplied not a few ele- 
 ments for the Eranian, some of which were even attached 
 to the person of Zarathustra. 
 
 The goddess AnMiita bears the genuine Aryan surname 
 Ardhvt SHra, and her common name signifies the. "un- 
 spotted." She is, however, a foreign deity. See my 
 Godsd. van Zarathustra, p. 181, where it is shown that she 
 was adopted from the Semites. It was not then known, 
 and has only come to light since, that the Semites must 
 in their turn have derived her from the Akkadians. 
 
 104. The genuine Zaratliustrian Yazatas are all, like 
 tlie majority of the Amesba speiitas, personifications of 
 ideas, as is plain from tlieir very names, sucb as BasJinu 
 razista, " the most perfect justice," Daena, " the true 
 faith," or " the law," and others. Even the ancient 
 prayers were elevated into personal spirits of this kind, 
 and the most eminent of these, the Ahuna vairya prayer, 
 was even turned into a sort of Logos, a divine creative 
 word. But the highest in rank of all the Yazatas is 
 Sraosha, who was placed nearly on a level with the holy 
 immortals. He is, as his name proves, a fine bold personi- 
 fication of " hearing," both of invocation and of listening 
 to the sacred prayers, maxims and sacrificial songs, and he 
 thus naturally becomes the founder of sacrifice, the genius 
 
172 RELIGION AMONG THE ERAnIANS. 
 
 of obedience and watchfulness, who contends against evil 
 spirits with spiritual weapons. 
 
 Besides Eashnu razista and Daena, there also deserve 
 to be mentioned among this order of Yazatas Mdtlira 
 S2)enta, the sacred sacrificial rubric or magic formula, and 
 Damois ujpamand, the " oath " or " curse," and the Zara- 
 tliustrian Question. The entire divine revelation, namely, 
 is clothed in the form of answers given by Ahura mazda 
 to the questions of Zarathustra, and these last are then 
 ascribed to the inspiration of a special genius. The well- 
 kno^yn Honover is simply the later form of Ahuna vairya, 
 and was originally the oldest of the Parsee prayers. 
 
 Sraosha appears already in the Gathas as a personal 
 being ; the tendency to anthropomorphism fastened more 
 strongly on him than on any of the other Yazatas of the 
 same order, and at a later date he was for the most part 
 connected with Mithra. 
 
 105. From the Yazatas we must distinguish the Fra- 
 vashis, the divine or heavenly types of all living beings, 
 including the Yazatas and even the Amesha speiitas. 
 They are at once the souls of the deceased and the pro- 
 tecting spirits of the living, created before their birth, 
 and surviving after their death, and they are sometimes 
 identified with the stars. This doctrine, arising out of 
 animistic representation of the independence of souls or 
 spirits, and of their immortality, and recurring in one 
 shape or another among all nations of antiquity, received 
 among the Eranians — probably under the influence of a 
 native religion — a special development, and, in a higher 
 form, was adopted into the Zarathustrian system from the 
 very beginningo 
 
ITS DUALISM. 173 
 
 The Fravasliis reappear afterwards in Judaism as 
 guardian angels, and from these they passed into Chris- 
 tianity (cf. Matt, xviii. 10). The meaning of the word 
 Fravashi is uncertain. It probably signifies '' the earlier " 
 (fra) " grown " (vahh). 
 
 106. Parsism is decidedly dualistic, not in the sense 
 of accepting two hostile deities, for it recognises no wor- 
 ship of evil beings, and teaches the adoration only of 
 Ahura mazda and the spirits subject to him ; but in the 
 sense of placing in hostility to each other two sharply- 
 divided kingdoms, that of light, of truth, and of purity, 
 and that of darkness, of falsehood, and of impurity. This 
 division is carried through the whole creation, organic 
 and inorganic, material and spiritual. Above, in the 
 highest sphere, is the domain of the undisputed sove- 
 reignty of the all-wise Lord, beneath, in the lowest abyss, 
 the kingdom of his mighty adversary ; midway between 
 the two lies this world, the theatre of the contest. 
 
 At the head of the evil or dark spirits stands Anro 
 mainyus, the " attacking " or " striking " spirit, the creator 
 of everything physically or morally unclean, and, as such, 
 the opponent of Ahura mazda. Beneath him stand the 
 daevas (the devas of the Aryan and pre-Aryan period), 
 degraded from the rank of good to that of evil spirits. 
 These include some Vedic gods, as well as purely Eranian 
 creations, of which last-named Aeslima, " anger," is the 
 chief, or, at any rate, the best known. To the kingdom 
 of Anro mainyus there belong, further, the Drujas (Nom. 
 sing. druJchs), the " liars " or " deceivers," an order of 
 female spirits or monsters, who were already counted as 
 eviL spirits before the daevas had become so, and the 
 
174 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 Pairikas, another order of female beings, who seduced tlie 
 pious by tlieir beauty. It was not till later that some 
 amount of arrangement was introduced among these 
 beings, and each of the principal spirits, for example, 
 each of the Amesha spentas, obtained his distinct coun- 
 terpart. The character of Aiiro mainyus is opposition, 
 he simply follows the creative activity of Ahura mazda, 
 producing Avhatever may injure his good creations. 
 
 Anro mainyus becomes in Parsi Aharman, in modern 
 Persian Ahriman, among the Greeks 'A^s/,aav/oj. His name 
 signifies the "striking" or "attacking spirit." He is also 
 called the "wicked" (akem), or the "most wicked" 
 (acistem) " spirit " (mano). In the Gath^s he is still a 
 more or less abstract conception, but he very soon comes 
 to be personified. 
 
 The Vedic gods enumerated among the Daevas are 
 Indra {liidra or Andra), Sarva {Saiirva, originally a fire- 
 god, afterwards an epithet of Agni, later still identified 
 with Siva), and Nasatya (Ndonhaiihya), the prototype of 
 the Vedic Asvins. Aeshma daeva was adopted in the 
 form of Ashmodeus by the Jews and the Christians. Of 
 the other genuinely Er^nian Daevas we must also men- 
 tion Asfo-vtdhdt'us, the " bone divider," a genius of dissolu- 
 tion, and Apaosha, the " drought." 
 
 Druj, nom. druJchs, denotes literally the " deceiver," the 
 "liar," and is really the same word as the old High 
 German gitroc, modern Dutch gedrocJit, both signifying 
 "a monster," "a monstrous conception of the imagina- 
 tion, by which man is deceived." This order of beings 
 includes old-Aryan spirits of darkness, such as Azhi 
 dahdka, the " biting snake," the Ahi or cloud snake of 
 the Veda, and Nasus (vixv;), the " corpse-demon ; " and 
 purely Eranian spirits, like Bushyanda, a genius of sleep. 
 
ITS DUALISM. 175 
 
 Fdirlha is derived from a root {par) which, among 
 other meanings, signifies to fight, to contend, and also to 
 go away, to run off. Even pure nature-beings, such as 
 Duzhydira (old Pers. Dusiydra), the ''bad year," "failure 
 of crops," are referred to this group. 
 
 The classification of the evil spirits places Ako maiio 
 ("evil disposition "), for example, opposite to Vohu mano, 
 and Ifidra, the king of the Daevas, opposite to Khshathra 
 vai'rya, the " desired kingdom." 
 
 Tdric and Zdrtc, the demons of hunger and thirst, or, 
 more correctly, of sickness or death, are the adversaries 
 of Haurvatat and Ameretat. 
 
 107- This dualism further dominates the cosmogony, 
 the cultus, and the entire view of the moral order of the 
 world held by the Mazda-worshippers. Not only does 
 Aiiro mainyus spoil by his counter- creations all the good 
 creations of Ahura mazda, but by slaying the protoplasts 
 of man and beast, he brings death into the world, seduces 
 the first pair to sin, and also brings forth noxious ani- 
 mals and plants. Man finds himself, in consequence, 
 surrounded on all sides by the works of the spirit of 
 darkness and by his hosts. It is the object of worship 
 to secure the pious against their influence. This is of the 
 utmost simplicity, without images or temples : pure fire 
 plays the principal part, and has the power, when com- 
 bined with the sacred spells and sacrificial songs, to break 
 the might of the evil spirits, and purify men from their 
 pollution. The whole life of the believer is a constant 
 conflict with evil, in which, as is universal in antiquity, 
 little diff*erence is made between physical and moral evil. 
 Agriculture, likewise, and the care of clean animals and 
 
176 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 plants are powerful means of weakening the kingdom of 
 impurity. But the love of truth, also, vigilance and 
 activity, are weapons which win the victory in this 
 contest. 
 
 The protoplasts of men and animals are the well-known 
 Gaijomart (modern Pers. Kayilmars), i.e., Gay 6 maretan, 
 " human " or " mortal life," and Goshuntm, i.e., Geus urvan, 
 the " bull " or " ox-soul," both of whom were slain by 
 Ahriman. The first men, Gayomart's offspring, are 
 seduced by him to sin. The correspondence between 
 the legends of the fall among the Persians and the 
 Israelites is well known. 
 
 ^ 108. "With this fundamental thought the disposal of the 
 dead, and the representations of the destiny of the deceased 
 and the future of the world, are in accord. Purity inheres 
 especially in fire, earth, and water : the bodies of the dead, 
 therefore, must not be burned, nor buried, nor cast into a 
 river; they are exposed on artificial mounds or towers 
 reserved for the purpo^ (daJchmas), to be devoured by 
 birds of prey. After death the souls of the departed are 
 oblif^ed to cross the bridcje Chinvat. For the wicked 
 this bridge is too narrow, so that they fall off^ and sink 
 down into the under world (DuzaJch), there to be tor- 
 mented by the spirits of evil. The good, however, are 
 welcomed by Sraosha or Vohu mano into the Abode of 
 Song (garo demdna), the dwelling-place of Ahura mazda 
 and the saints. But the joys of heaven and the pains of 
 hell do not last for ever. Hereafter the sovereignty of 
 Aiiro mainyus shall come to nought. Three thousand 
 years after Zarathustra, the conquering saviour (Saoshyas 
 Verdhragna), preceded by two personages to p *pare the 
 
ITS ESCHATOLOGY. 177 
 
 way, sliall be born by sux^ernatural means. The contest 
 reaches its climax. Everything is in flames, but only the 
 wicked suffer ; the pious feel nothing more than an agree- 
 able warmth. By this discipline all creatures are refined ; 
 the evil spirits are destroyed ; the earth is renovated, 
 and the sole sovereignty of Ahura mazda begins, to be 
 continued without end. 
 
 The bridge Chinvat, commonly interpreted as the 
 " bridge of the gatherer," an explanation which now ap- 
 pears to me very doubtful, is borrowed from the old 
 Aryan mythology, and was probably originally the rain- 
 bow which unites heaven and earth. The P^rsee eschato- 
 logy represents the judgment of souls as conducted there 
 not only by Sraosha, but also by Mithra, the genius of 
 truth, and Eashnu, the genius of justice. Saoshyas (Pehlv. 
 Sociosh, Pdrsi Saosyos), the Saviour, is the son of the 
 virgin mother Eredatfedhri ("she who possesses a mighty 
 father "), who conceives him in a miraculous fashion from 
 Zarathustra. He renews the world and resuscitates the 
 dead, after having first destroyed everything. Here, also, 
 in spite of the diff'erences, the corres^^ondence with Jewish 
 and Judseo-Christian ideas is striking. The doctrine of 
 the purification of the wicked is peculiar to Parsism. 
 
 109. The old- Aryan theology and cultus are only in 
 part the source of many of the distinctive features of 
 Parsism. The doctrine of the Pravashis, and the whole 
 system of sj)irits with the dualism so strictly carried 
 through it, the cosmogony, the special homage offered to 
 fire, some of the sacrificial customs, and other representa- 
 tions, also remind us of the religion of the Akkadians, 
 
 who were so closely connected with the ancient inhabi- 
 7 M 
 
 / 
 
178 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS. 
 
 tants of Media and Elam. It is probable, therefore, tliat 
 the Zarathustrian religion, especially in its later develop- 
 ment, owed its form to the influence of the native reli- 
 gion of the Medians. The Chaldee religion may also 
 have contributed one element or another to the Median 
 and Persian Aryans, for before their settlement in Media 
 and Persia, the Assyrians had reduced a good deal of Eran 
 under their sway. Some other peculiarities again must 
 be derived from other sources. But to all these foreign 
 elements the Aryan mind has given an independent 
 shape, resulting in a religious communion, whose simple 
 creed and pure practical morality preserved it from 
 the extravagances of its sister communion in India, and 
 stimulated its adherents to an active life and valiant 
 deeds. The less luxuriant climate of Eran and the 
 national character may have co-operated in this direction ; 
 but this high development, and especially their almost 
 monotheistic conception of deity, must be to a large 
 extent ascribed to the preaching of a reformer, or at any 
 rate to a little circle of thinkers. 
 
 After the Greek conquest Mazdeism fell into decline. 
 It was brilliantly restored in the third century a.d. by 
 the Sasanidae, but it finally succumbed before the fana- 
 tical violence of Islam. In a few districts of Persia it 
 still drags on a miserable existence, but it continues to 
 flourish with some vigour among the Parsis who emi- 
 grated to India, and there it even appears to be not 
 incapable of reforms. 
 
 Amid many rash conjectures, F. Lenormant, La Magie 
 chez les Chaldeens, pp. 178 sqq., and 191 sqq., has many just 
 remarks on the influence of the old-Median religion on 
 
AFFINITIES WITH THE AKKADIANS, 179 
 
 Mazdeism, and the correspondence between the former 
 and the Akkadian. His idea that the Proto-Medes 
 worshipped a serpent-deity, and that this was Azh.i 
 dahaka, and identical with King Astyages, is altogether 
 erroneous. Azhi dahaka is a purely Aryan demon, and 
 Astyages has nothing to do with him. 
 
 The strange treatment of the dead, and the great value 
 set on the dog, which distinguish the Eranians from kin- 
 dred races and from their western neighbours, have been 
 found among Tibetan tribes ; and these practices, there- 
 fore, they must have adopted from the earlier inhabitants 
 of southern Eran. See among others, Koppen, Religion 
 des Buddha, ii. p. 322 sqq. 
 
 IV. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS OR LETTO-SLAVS. 
 
 Literature. — See I. J. Hanusch, Die Wissenschaft des 
 Slavischen Mythus, Lemberg, 1842, pp. 49-62. The Rus- 
 sian sources are enumerated by W. E. S. Ealston, The 
 Songs of the Russian People, London, 1872, pp. x-xii. See 
 further, Ealston, Russian Folk-Tales; Id., Khilof and 
 his Fables; Id., Early Russian History, London, 1874, and 
 Gottesidee und Cultus lei den Alten Preussen, Berlin, 1870. 
 The work of Hanusch, though rich in material, is ren- 
 dered useless by its want of a critical and historical 
 method of comparison. Ealston is a well-informed and 
 careful guide, who may be safely trusted. Comp. also F. 
 J. MoNE, Geschichte des Heidenthums im Nordl. EurojM, 2 
 vols., Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1822-23. 
 
 110. Down to the introduction of Christianity, reli- 
 gion, among the Wends or Letto-Slavs, remained at a 
 
 y 
 
i8o RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS. 
 
 point of development far behind even that of the Yedic 
 and old German religions. It is very probably older, 
 and it is certainly lower, than any of the Indo-Germanic 
 religions with which we are acq_uainted. It contains the 
 germs both of the polytheism of the Hindus and of tlie 
 dualism of the Persians, but without the philosophical 
 colouring which distinguishes the one, or the ethical 
 character of the other. Its cosmogony is still purely 
 mythical, the conflict between the divine beings is simply 
 that between the powers of nature, and with this stage of 
 development its cultus and its doctrine of immortality 
 are ia accord. 
 
 The Letts, who form one of the two great divisions 
 of this race, include the Letts proper, the Lithuanians, 
 and the old-Prussians. The Slavs are divided into 
 East and West-Slavs. Of the first of these groups the 
 principal members are the Russians, of the second, the 
 Poles and Czechs (Bohemians and Moravians). The 
 Slavs of Southern Austria and European Turkey (Ser- 
 vians, Bulgarians, Croats, &c.) form a separate group 
 of Southern Slavs, different from, yet most closely allied 
 with, the Eastern. The name Wends, now limited to the 
 Slavs of the Lausitz, seems to have been originally the 
 most general. 
 
 It is probable that the Letto-Slavs, like the Germans, 
 remained united with the Aryans longer than the Kelts, 
 Greeks, and Romans, and they have preserved the reli- 
 gion of this period in its purest form, while it reached 
 a higher and independent development among the 
 Germans. 
 
 The proofs of the other statements in the text will be 
 found in the following sections. 
 
ITS ANIMISTIC BASIS. i8i 
 
 111. Like all mythological religions, that of the Wends, 
 also, rests on the doctrine of souls or spirits, which 
 scarcely reaches among them a higher stage than among 
 savages. The soul, of which the ancient Wends formed 
 very different conceptions, though they were such as are 
 found among all other peoples, moves about in freedom, 
 remains for a while after death in the neighbourhood 
 of the body, but then sets off on its journey to the 
 shadow-land, which is sought either in the underworld, or 
 on a happy island in the East, the abode of the sun, or in 
 the sky. The journey is thus either a sea-voyage over 
 the world-ocean, or a journey on foot over the rainbow 
 or the milky- way, or the ascent of a steep and slippery 
 mountain ; and the survivors were careful to provide the 
 dead with what they would require on one of these ex- 
 peditions. The idea of retribution has not yet arisen; 
 the life after death is simply a continuation of the life on 
 earth. The dead, therefore, were furnished with every- 
 thing appropriate to their condition, even with wives and 
 slaves ; for the unmarried a consort was provided at the 
 grave ; and second marriages were rare. To the three 
 representations of the kingdom of the dead correspond 
 three modes of disposing of the corpse, — (i), burial, which 
 carried the soul to the underworld ; (2), burning, which 
 bore it in the smoke to heaven ; and (3), burial or burn- 
 ing in a boat, which transported it to the island of the 
 sun. But the souls of the deceased always continued in 
 relation with the living, and as their return was dreaded, 
 feasts and sacrifices were zealously celebrated to appease 
 them, or all kinds of devices were employed to keep 
 them away. 
 
1 82 RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS. 
 
 I The soul was represented as a spark kindled by the 
 god of thunder, as a star (as among the Persians), a 
 vapour, a breath of air, a shadow ; or, again, as a winged 
 creature, whether an insect or a bird, especially a dove, a 
 crow, or a cuckoo. The butterfly was even called a 
 " little soul " {dushkliTca). It appears also as a mouse, as 
 among other nations ; the mjlky-way is called the 
 " mouse-path." 
 
 The sky is named Puii (Lithuan. rojus, comp. Sanskr. 
 raj. = " to be bright or white "), and the underworld PeJcIo, 
 which is a regular deity among the old-Prussians. It was 
 only under Christian influence that this afterwards be- 
 came hell. The stories of the island Buy an (" the 
 burning ") agree in many respects with one of the chief 
 dogmas of Parsism. The white stone Alatuir (electron T) 
 found there, is the sun. The world of the dead is also called 
 Nava, a name wliich has not as yet received an adequate 
 explanation, but which some writers have connected with 
 the conception of the voyage of the ship (iiavis, vavi). 
 
 Burning and burial were both practised by the Slavs 
 as by all the Indo-Germans ; with these correspond the 
 difierent representations of the realm of the dead. 
 
 The same usages are found among the old-Prussians 
 and the Lithuanians. 
 
 112. A peculiar richness characterises the doctrine of 
 spirits among the Letto-Slavs, of which that of the old- 
 Eussians may serve as an example. They divided the 
 demons into spirits of the house, the water, the forest, and 
 the air. The house-spirits are, properly speaking, fire- 
 spirits, and are the objects, in their two-fold character, of 
 great veneration. The house-spirit watches over and 
 protects the house and its inhabitants, not excluding the 
 
ITS DEMONOLOGY. 183 
 
 animals, sliares all their fortunes, is, as a rule, friendly; 
 or, when he is angry, is easy to be appeased : but, if he 
 is altogether neglected, shows that he is a spirit of might, 
 who rules not only over the beneficent fire on the hearth, 
 but over the lightning as well. All the qualities of water, 
 its fertilising and destructive power, its treacherous beauty 
 and mystic depth, its magic power which sets the mill- 
 wheel in motion, are personified in the beautiful Tiiisdllms, 
 and their male companions ; all the terrors of the forest 
 and the dangers which threaten travellers through it, are 
 embodied in the wood-demons, which are naturally at 
 the same time the spirits of the storm. KosJicliei, the 
 genius of winter, is a very evil being, and so are the con- 
 tagious sicknesses which wander about in the shape of 
 old women or hideous men, as well as that multitude of 
 wizards and witches, who, during their lifetime, often 
 become were-wolves, and, after death, bloodsucking vam- 
 pires. All this is purely animistic ; but the Slavic 
 demonology is favourably distinguished from that of 
 savages by the poetical guise in which it is arrayed. 
 That it is not mere poetry, but really religious belief, is 
 proved by the awe with which the spirits are regarded, 
 and the often costly sacrifices offered to them. 
 
 Domovoy (t?oma = "house"), the house-spirit, stood in the 
 closest connection with the domestic hearth, and, in case of 
 removal, had accordingly to be transferred with great cere- 
 mony to the new dwelling. Frequently he assumed the 
 the form of the master of the house. He is found, how- 
 ever, wherever there is fire, even in the lightning. The 
 crowing of the cock, his sacred animal, puts to flight all 
 other spirits, but not him. Only the Domovoy of the same 
 
1 84 RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS. 
 
 house is friendly : those from elsewhere are jealous and 
 dangerous. 
 
 To the Vodyanuie, water-spirits, belong the Rusdlhas (rus, 
 old-Slav. = "stream," rosct, " dew," Lat. ros), much dreaded 
 for their deceitful qualities, and in the summer time 
 solemnly chased away. Tsar Morskoi, the water-king, with 
 his fair swan daughters, stands at the head of this realm. 
 
 The wood-spirits, Lyeshie, bear most resemblance in 
 conception and character to Pan and the Satyrs, and 
 have nothing in common with the clouds, with which a 
 certain school of mythologists attempts to connect them. 
 That they are also wind -gods appears from the represen- 
 tation of the storm as their marriage-procession, and the 
 whirlwind as their bridal dance. 
 
 The Domovoy is content with small domestic sacrifices, 
 but the spirit of the mill-stream requires the first swarm 
 of bees, the other water-spirits demand a horse, the wood- 
 spirits a cow, and all exact a portion of the harvest. In 
 ancient times, also, human sacrifices were certainly ofi"ered. 
 
 113. Eeligion did not, however, remain stationary at 
 this point among the "Wends any more than among other 
 nations. Besides these spirits they also recognised and 
 worshipped real deities, raised above nature, who were 
 called by the Letts Dewas and by the Slavs Bogu. At 
 their head there once stood among all the peoples of this 
 race the thunder-god Perun or Pcrhuns, the god who 
 smites the demons with his glowing flashes so that the 
 blood pours forth from their wounds in streams upon the 
 earth. In honour of him a perpetual fire of oak-wood 
 was kept up. Among the Lithuanians and old-Prussians, 
 two other gods were placed as his equals by his side, of 
 whom the one, Fatrimjno, must have been a joyous and 
 
NATURE OF ITS DEITIES. 185 
 
 beneficent sun-god, and the otlier, Tccollos, tlie god of the 
 hidden solar fire in the underworld, both being indis- 
 putably of native origin, and not adopted from any other 
 source. Sun-gods were worshipped by the Slavs in great 
 numbers ; some being male, such as Dazlibog, the god of 
 day, son of Svarog, the god of the sky (SvarozJiicJi), and 
 Zado, always united with Zada, counterparts of Freyr 
 and Freya, and corresponding in character with these 
 German deities ; one being female, the spouse of the 
 unfaithful Moon-god, and mother of the stars, who be- 
 longs to another mythological formation. Tire-gods also, 
 — of whom one, Ogon, bears the same name as the Yedic 
 Agni, and another Kuznets, is a sort of Yulcan, a cunning 
 smith, but at the same time a hero who destroys demons 
 — and a multitude of other divine beings, were objects 
 of worship. Among these we may further name the 
 Spirit of Life (Polish, ^Zyivie, Eussian, Jivct), embodied in 
 the cuckoo, the White and the Black god {Byel hog and 
 Czerno log), gods of light and darkness, of whom the first 
 is also named Svantovich, — representations and names 
 agreeu'ig with some of the Parsi, but destitute of the 
 ethical significance which they received in the Zara- 
 thustrian system, and which none of the Wend deities 
 possesses. 
 
 Dewas in Lithuanian signifies " god," but the unfavour- 
 able meaning which the word acquired among the Persians 
 attached itself even amongst the Letts to deiivys, " idol," 
 *' ghost." Bogu is the Sanskr. Ihagha (Bactr. bagha), old- 
 Pers. haga, from hhaj (Bactr. haz), to " divide," to " distri- 
 bute." In the use of this word again the Slavs agree more 
 closely with the Persians than with the Hindus. Some 
 
I 86 RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS, 
 
 writers regard Perun as a deity adopted from tlie Scan- 
 dinavians. Among them he appears under the name of 
 Fidrgyn, in a very subordinate position. If there was any 
 borrowing at all, the originalty is not in this instance on 
 the side of the Germans. This is true also of the Lettic 
 triad, which has been supposed to be derived from the 
 Goths. From what source, in that case, came the purely 
 Lettic names of these deities 1 Comp. Gottesidee und 
 Cultus der alt. Freiiss. p. 39 sqq. Patrimpo, the joyous 
 harvest-god, and Pjecollo, the ripener of the grain, are 
 both sun-gods, but the latter dwells in the underworld, 
 and is the god of the dead, a part which he also plays 
 in the beautiful Lithuanian myth of Nijola (the Letto- 
 Slavic Kora-Proserpina). His name, which is applied 
 among the Russians to the underworld itself, comes from 
 ipjec, to "bake," to "warm," the Sanskr. pack, to "burn," 
 to " cause to ripen." Patrimpo I am inclined to connect 
 with the Sanskr. trim]) (from tri])), to " enjoy to satiety." 
 
 Svarog comp. with Sanskr. svarga, the sky. 
 
 Lado or Did-Lado, "the great Lado"and his consort, 
 " the great goddess," are, like Freyr and Freya, gods of 
 love, marriage, and fertility. 
 
 Jiva, 'Zywie, comp. Sanskr. and Bactr. jtv, " life," old- 
 Pers. ziv, personified by the Parsis as Jisti, father of the 
 double unity AshdJmra. By el and Czerno hog are parallel 
 with the two Zarathustrian spirits Spento-mainyus and 
 Anro-mainyus. Svanto or Sveto in Svantovid = Spent6, 
 being identical in form and meaning (i.e., " holy"). 
 
 114. The relation between man and the higher powers, 
 also, so far as we know, still stood, at any rate among the 
 Slavs, at a very low stage of development. The spells 
 in which they believed, the amulets which they wore to 
 secure or avert the presence of spirits, the peculiar oracles 
 
ITS IMPERFECT DEVELOPMENT. 187 
 
 by wliicli tliey sought to discover the future, all belong 
 to the animistic view of life. This is also true to a cer- 
 tain extent of their feasts, in which the magic purport 
 was not wholly obscured, and the life of nature was as 
 yet scarcely elevated by any ethical conception, though 
 poetic and dramatic elements were not wanting. The 
 East-Slavs appear to have had neither temples nor priests, 
 nothing but sacred places and wise men and women, a 
 land of enchanters and enchantresses, who had power 
 over the elements, and were at the same time gifted with 
 prophetic utterance. 
 
 Tlie Lettic branch was somewhat more advanced. At 
 least the Lithuanians had a priestly order, and the old- 
 Prussians even a sort of high-priest, who lived apart in a 
 sacred place, surrounded by the veiled images of the gods, 
 and from tliis retreat issued his commands through his 
 subordinate priests. 
 
 The amulets, composed of all kinds of charms, have 
 always the form of a button, a lock, or a net, nduzui, 
 which is connected with uzui, ^' bands," and uzit\ to 
 "fasten :" these are clearly fetishes, serving to secure 
 the presence of the guardian spirit by binding him, and to 
 keep off hostile spirits. The oracles, both those by which 
 it was sought to learn the coming weather, and the result 
 of the harvest, as well as those concerning the issue of a 
 war or of j^ersonal destiny, are marked by the accidental 
 and magical character of the lot, which is genuinely 
 animistic. The feasts also were supposed to possess a 
 magical efficacy on the elements, as in the case of the 
 ceremony of pouring water on a girl decked with leaves 
 at the summer festival of the Servians, " that the heavenly 
 women (the cloud-spirits) may ;,dve rain," as they said. 
 
1 88 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 Among the East-Slavs this feast still retained a bao 
 chanalian and even phallic character. 
 
 It was customary among them for the head of the 
 family or the tribe to offer sacrifices on behalf of all 
 beneath a sacred tree (an oak was preferred), or on 
 the bank of a running stream. But the Vyedun, the 
 " enchanter," literally, the " knowing one " {vyedaf, to 
 " know "), and especially the Vyeshchaya Zhena, the " wise 
 woman," were held in high honour among them, at any 
 rate in times of prosperity. 
 
 The old-Prussian high-priest was called Kriwe or Griice 
 (from krych, to " hide " ?), and dwelt at a place named 
 Eomowe {rozmowa, " conversation " T), which the dead also 
 were obliged to pass upon their journey. 
 
 V. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 See the literature in K. Simrock, Eandhuch der Deut- 
 schen Mythologie mit Einscliluss der Nordischen, 3rd ed., 
 Bonn, 1869, p. 7 sqq., and L. S. P. Meyboom, De Gods- 
 dienst der oude Noormannen, Haarlem, 1868, p. 19 sciq. 
 Indispensable, Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 3rd 
 ed., 2 vols., Gottingen, 1854, and J. W. Wolf, Beitrdge 
 zur Deutsch. Mythologie, Gottingen, vol i., 1852, vol. ii., 
 1857. Comparative, W. Mannhardt, Germanische Mythertr 
 Forschmgen, Berlin, 1858. For Dutch mythology, L. Ph. 
 C. VAN DEN Bergh, Proeve van een Kritisch Woordenloeh 
 der Nederland. 3Iyfhol, Utrecht, 1846. 
 
 115. Among the Germans religion reached a mncli 
 higher development than among the Wends, which must 
 be ascribed rather to the richer endowments of their race 
 
RELATION TO OTHER RELIGIONS. 1S9 
 
 tlian to tlie influence of a more advanced civilisation. 
 "Witli tliis circumstance is connected tlie fact that, with 
 the exception perhaps of the Keltic, there is not one of 
 the Indo-Germanic religions which has departed so far, in 
 respect of the names of the chief deities, from its kindred 
 as the Germanic. In doctrine it most resembles the 
 Persian, and, like the Persian, it is inferior in philosophi- 
 cal contemplation to the Yedic religion, though it equally 
 surpasses it in its moral standard. Our fullest knowledge 
 of it is derived from the two Eddas, of which the older 
 contains a collection of very ancient and chiefly mytho- 
 logical songs, while the younger is composed of prose 
 traditions, together with fragments of older poems. They 
 are the sources for the religion of the Scandinavians or 
 Normans, from which, however, that of the Germans 
 proper does not essentially differ. German mythology 
 must be studied chiefly through the medium of oral 
 traditions. 
 
 The superiority of the German religion over that of 
 the Slavs is evinced by the fact that it made so much 
 more out of the same materials. The fundamental con- 
 ception in all the Indo-Germanic religions is the conflict 
 between the higher deities who control nature, and the 
 rude forces of nature, especially between light and dark- 
 ness. No nations of this race have realised this dualism 
 with such clearness as the Letto-Slavs, the Germans, 
 and the Persians, but while with the first it remained 
 purely physical, the two latter alone, and certainly 
 independently of each other, gave to it an ethical 
 character, and wrought it, as it were, into a subhme 
 drama. 
 
 The older Edda (" grandmother/' here, however, in a 
 
IQO RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 special sense, as the guardian of the ancient poesy) is 
 ascribed to Saemundr, the wise, and is therefore called 
 EMa Saemundar Jiins froda : the latter was collected and 
 written by Snorri, the son of Sturla, and bears in con- 
 sequence the name Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Among the 
 best translations is that of Simrock (3rd ed., Stuttgart 
 and Tubingen, 1863). How much still remains to be done 
 for the criticism and correct interpretation of the Edda- 
 sagas is proved, for instance, by the important disserta- 
 tion of Barend Symons, Untersuchungen ilber die sogenannte 
 Volsunga Saga, Halle, 1876. In the Story of the Volsungs and 
 NiUungs, London, 1870, Morris & Magmisson have repro- 
 duced some portions of the elder Edda for English readers. 
 
 116. The cycle of the Germanic gods is not entirely 
 deficient in names derived from Indo-Germanic antiquit}-, 
 but they are not numerous, and the deities which bear 
 them only occupy in the system a subordinate place. 
 The ancient Dyaus still survives in Tyr, who is still 
 among some tribes a god of the sky ; but in the system of 
 the Edda he is not a little degraded, for he has become 
 the god of the sword and of fraternal strife. The Letto- 
 Slavic Peruns or Perkunos may be recognised in Fiorgyn 
 (Goth. Fairguni) who has furnished a name to several 
 mountaiQ-forests, but he has seen his sovereignty pass to 
 his son Odliinn and his grandson Thorr, who are purely 
 Germanic gods. The very ancient and general name for 
 deity, Deva, is not quite forgotten, but it has been obliged 
 to give way to the more usual designations Aesir and 
 Vanir, which are found exclusively among the Germans. 
 The deities belonging to these orders, derived probably 
 from different tribes and only afterwards united, opposed 
 
ITS CYCLE OF GODS. 191 
 
 the wild powers of nature whicli were represented as 
 giants. Tliese, under the names of the " eaters " (jdtu7in) 
 or the " thirsty " (thurs), were worshi^^ped as powers of 
 violence and terror, and human sacrifices even were 
 offered to them. They were at first neither good nor bad, 
 but they came gradually, and with increasing definite- 
 ness, to be regarded as evil beings, foes of the good deities. 
 Between them and the Aesir and Yanir stand the Elves, 
 divided into three classes, two of which consist largely of 
 dwarfs. They are the lower, less dreaded demons of an 
 earlier period, and therefore, though they are at peace 
 with the gods, they often play a very mischievous part. 
 They also, like gods and giants, were the objects of 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Ty7', genit. Tys, Goth. Tins, old high Germ. Zio, is the 
 Vedic Dyaus, the Greek Zeus. In compounds it often 
 occurs with the general meaning of " god." Among the 
 Semnones or Suabians Tyr is still the god of the sky, 
 among the Scandinavians the god of the sword and of 
 unnatural war, but the sword was originally the lightning, 
 and the war the strife of the heaventy powers. 
 
 Fiorgyn is the Perkunos of the Letto- Slavs, and was 
 probably adopted from them. The elves it has further 
 been proposed to identify with the Vedic Kibhavas, and the 
 Maren with the Vedic Maruts, but, like Tyr and Fiorgyn, 
 they have no prominent place in the German system. 
 
 The plural ttvar, " gods," which occurs now and then, 
 corresponds to the Vedic deva. The Aesir {As, pi. Aesir, 
 Goth, and old high Germ, ans) are commonly explained 
 to mean the " beams," the suj^ports of the universe, which 
 seems to me very doubtful. It is far more probable, in 
 accordance with the opinion kindly communicated to me 
 
192 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 by my friend Prof. Kern, tliat the word, of wliich the 
 original form is ansu, is connected with the Er^nian anlm 
 (and thus also with the Ahuras and Asuras), and means, 
 therefore, the "beings," the "spirits." The Vanir are 
 originally the " waters," and hence also the " beautiful," 
 the "lovely;" comp. Yenus. 
 
 The three classes of elves are the Xios-(" light"), Bvart- 
 (" black"), and Ddck-{^^ dark") Alfar; the two last kinds 
 dwell in the ground, and to them belong the dwarfs. 
 That they were not mere productions of poetic imagina- 
 tion, but beings in whose existence and power men really 
 ■ believed, is proved by the sacrifices dedicated to them. 
 
 117. By the "union of Aesir and Vanir, the elevation 
 of single attributes of the gods to independent beings, 
 and other causes, the German polytheism grew richer 
 and richer, but it is a mistake to suppose that it issued 
 from monotheism. It was not till afterwards that an 
 approach was made to this in the representation of the 
 highest god as the All-Father. Far above the other 
 Aesir stand Odhinn, Thorr, and at first also Loki. Odhinn 
 or Wodan was originally a nature-god, the personification 
 of the violent movements of the air, of the breath which 
 blows through the universe. Then, as a deity controlling 
 nature, he was the warlike patron of princes and heroes, 
 whom he gathers after their death into his Walhalla; 
 and finally he rose to be the king of the gods, lord of the 
 
 A 
 
 world, and god of the soul. Thurr or Donar, the Asa 
 par excellence, with his wonderful hammer Miolnir, was, 
 as his German name implies, the thundering god of the 
 sky. As such he was the summer-god, who contends 
 with and overcomes the dreaded powers of winter ; and, 
 
THE AESIR AND VANIR, 193 
 
 as protector of agriculture, the god of the people aud of 
 servants, he was especially a god of civilisation. Lold, 
 probably also a god of the air, was very closely connected 
 in the old myths with these two chief-gods, so that he 
 forms a triad with them, and fights by their side against 
 the winter-giants, whom he generally outwits. In later 
 times he was to acquire a totally different significance. 
 The chief of the Vanir was Erejrr or Fro, the Lord, god 
 of the bright sky, source of life and fertility, and there- 
 fore, in the system to which he properly belonged, the 
 creator. After his imion with the Aesir, he became the 
 god of peace and love. Of the goddesses, who differ little 
 from each other, the Asynia Frigg, wife of Odliinn, and 
 the Vana Freya, " the Lady," sister of Freyr and spouse 
 of Njordr, the god of the sea, occupy the highest rank. 
 Subsequently Freya entirely supplants Frigg, and even 
 takes her place as Odhinn's consort. Originally a per- 
 sonification of the earth, then of the moon, she becomes 
 the goddess of beauty, fertility, and love. The doctrine 
 of the three l^orns or goddesses of destiny covers a deeper 
 thought, which the Greeks embodied in their Moirae, and 
 the Eomans in their Parcae, each in their own way. 
 
 All-Father, originally (as early as Hmfnag. 1) an epithet 
 of Odhinn. Odliinn, O.H. Germ. Wuotan, New Germ. 
 Wodan, Fris. TFeda, from watan = to " wade," w.eare, con- 
 nected with the German ividh ("wrath") and mufh 
 (" courage "). — Thorr (for Thonar, Tlionr ?), O.H. Germ. 
 Donar, is the Asahrdgr, the Asa-prince. The representa- 
 tion of him contains non-German (Turanian) elements, 
 such as the epithets Atti or E tzel (Attilsi), i.e., "grand- 
 father." Loki, whose name is connected by Simrock with 
 
194 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 lux, X?6xo?, Sanskr. Mg, and by Grimm with lulmn, to 
 " shut," to " close," seems rather, as his name io//r implies, 
 to have been a god of the air (luft). In the myth in which 
 he outwits the winter-giant with his horse Svadilfari (the 
 cold wind), he is the cool spring-breeze. 
 
 The triad of the three highest gods corresponds curi- 
 ously with the three chief heroes of the Finnic epos, and 
 so with the three principal deities of the ancient Finns. 
 
 The meaning of the name ISTorns is uncertain. They 
 are three, Urdhr, the " past," Verdhandi, the " present," 
 and Skuld, the " future." The Greek Moirae and the 
 Eoman Parcae are both of another character, the domi- 
 nant idea being, in the one group, that of death {f^o^oc, 
 mors), and in the other that of production (partus). The 
 Norns have it for their function to accomplish destiny, 
 scop (cf. scheppen, schaffen, to " shape," to " create "), orlog 
 ("fate," still surviving in the Dutch word oorlog, 
 " war"). 
 
 118. The moral standard of the Germanic religion is 
 shown forth, among other indications, by the history of 
 the Asa Loki and of the goddess Hel. The first gradnally 
 sinks lower and lower beneath the rank first occupied by 
 him by the side of the two highest gods, and he finally 
 becomes an evil being. As the god of fire he was not to 
 be trusted ; for however beneficent he might be, he was 
 at the same time dangerous and treacherous. While the 
 myths were still nothing more than nature myths, this 
 caused no difficulty : but when the attempt was made to 
 detach the Aesir from nature, and measure their character 
 by a moral standard, it was inevitable that Loki should 
 sink and finally be thrust out. Hel encounters the same 
 fate, though she was originally no other than the dark 
 
ITS ETHICAL CHARACTER, 195 
 
 ■underworld, properly speaking the twilight, both darkness 
 and light, the goddess of death and life. 
 
 Loki, who was first of all the brother, then the bosom- 
 friend of Odhinn, was the contriver of frequent tricks by 
 which he brought the Aesir into danger, but he always 
 rescued them again by his cunning. He counsels an 
 alliance with the winter-giant, the architect (Smidhr, 
 " smith," Vind og Veder, " wind and storm "), with his 
 horse Svadilfari, which was to overthrow the god, but he 
 manages to frustrate it. He carries Idunn to Thrym- 
 heim, but he brings her back, and is one of those who go 
 thither to recover the stolen hammer of Thorr. 
 
 When, however, the conflict of the powers of nature 
 came to be transferred to the domain of ethics, he be- 
 came the father of the destructive powers, the wolf Fenrir, 
 the serpent of Midhgardh, and Hel, and it was he who 
 instigated the murder of Baldr. He abuses the gods as 
 their evil conscience, he is pursued, chained, then he 
 breaks loose again in the last contest, only to be finally 
 altogether overthrown. The myth is exactly parallel to 
 the Prometheus myth, which is, however, worked out in 
 a completely oj^posite sense, with sympathy for the hero. 
 
 Hel (Goth, halja, connected with the Sanskr. Mlt, the 
 " black"), has an equally ambiguous meaning as " twi- 
 light," but the further she can be traced into antiquity, 
 the higher is the position which she occupies. 
 
 119. The clearest manifestation, however, of the 
 ethical character of this religion is seen in the description 
 of the great drama of the world, which corresponds both 
 in general and in some detail with the Persian, and, like 
 its parallel, rests upon ancient nature-myths. Its chief 
 features are as follows. In the bej^imiinf^ innocence and 
 
 D O 
 
IS6 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 freedom from care everywhere prevail. But lying and 
 sin soon make their appearance, and even steal within the 
 circle of the gods. The gods are indeed constantly victori- 
 ous in the conflict with the giants ; but the adoption of 
 giantesses into theu' community, the birth of violent mon- 
 sters, children of Loki, his falsehoods and deceptions, are all 
 the forerunners of a future fall. The death of Baldr, the best 
 and wisest of the Aesir, one of the disasters brought about 
 by Loki, is the great turning-point of the drama, for it 
 proves the mortal nature of the gods. The wicked god and 
 the dangerous monsters are for a time subdued and put in 
 chains, but at last they burst their bonds. The break-up 
 of all institutions and ordinances (Ragnardh, commonly 
 the " twilight of the gods ") begins. For three years 
 there is winter, and an unnatural war rages. The gods 
 wrestle with the collected forces of cold, fire, and dark- 
 ness, and in this strife they perish with their adversaries. 
 Then, however, everything renews its life ; the chief of 
 the Aesir are now hallowed and purified ; mankind lives 
 again, no longer subject to the miseries of existence ; and 
 the earth recovers its power of growth. Baldr returns 
 from the underworld, and beneath the sway of the supreme 
 but unnamed god, all beings in the renovated world lead 
 a life of freedom from care, and peace. 
 
 The basis of this representation in nature may still be 
 clearly traced. Like all ancient nations, the Germans 
 made at first no sharp distinction between moral and 
 physical good and evil. But for the study of the develop- 
 ment of relidon, it is of the highest interest to observe 
 how the same nature-myths underwent an ethical trans- 
 formation among both Germans and Persians, quite inde- 
 
THE DRAMA OF THE WORLD. 197 
 
 pendently of each otlier, and with characteristic differences 
 among each people; and how, consequently, while the 
 forms remain the same, the development of religion 
 advances with that of the nation. 
 
 The myth mentions three female Thurses, or giantesses 
 (Old Engl, thurst, goblin or wood-demon, A. S. ihyrs), 
 which were adopted into the circle of the Aesir, and 
 thus became the primal cause of their fall. These three 
 are not the three Norns (Simrock), but Anrjurhodlia, Gerda 
 and Shidhi, the wives of Loki, Freyr, and Njordhr. 
 Beneath these three there lay originally (i) a thunder- 
 myth (Loki, the god of fire, by Angurbodha [" messenger 
 of fear"], the thunder-cloud, begets Fenrir and Hel, i.e.y 
 darkness, and the serpent of Midhgardh, the shower) ; (2) 
 a myth of the sunset (Freyr, the sun-god, sinks into the 
 arms of Gerdha, the earth-girding sea) ; and (3) a winter- 
 myth (Njordhr, the god of the sea, is married to Skadhi). 
 
 Baldr is Bdlddg, the white god of day, the Byelbog of 
 the Slavs, having probably been adopted from them. 
 Hodhr, his blind brother, who slays him, agrees in that 
 case with Czerno bog, and was originally the god of 
 darkness. 
 
 Ragnaroh, interpreted by Grimm as Gotterdiimmerung 
 " twilight of the gods," and formerly translated by others 
 *' elementorum dissolutio," in connection with Aldar log, 
 " ruj^tura saeculi," is properly the break-up or dissolution 
 of the ordinances and regulating powers in nature and 
 the world.. All the chief Aesir take part in the contest, 
 and each has his special adversary, whom he overcomes, 
 though he himself is in his turn overthrown. Odhinn 
 fights against Fenrir, Tyr against Managarm, Thorr 
 against the serpent of Midhgardh, Heimdall against Loki. 
 Vidhar alone, the god of the forest and of revival, sur- 
 vives Fenrir, whom he slays. 
 
/ 
 
 ipS RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 
 
 The same myths which at first expressed simply the 
 conflict between light and darkness, night and day, and 
 were afterwards transferred to the succession of the 
 seasons, became then blended into one whole, and were 
 applied to the entire course of the history of the world. 
 It was the necessary consequence that they were at the 
 same time elevated by moral conceptions. 
 
 120. It is remarkable that while the conception of the 
 gods among the Germans stands so mnch higher than that of 
 the Letto-Slavs, their psychology, their doctrine of immor- 
 tality, and their cultus, are in the same backward condi- 
 tion. The representation of the sonl and its destiny after 
 death, is still largely animistic, though the idea of retri- 
 bution after death is not wholly wanting. Magic was 
 still very general. The cultus was on the whole exceed- 
 ingly rude ; even human sacrifices were not infrequent. 
 It was conducted among the Germans chiefly in sacred 
 groves, or at least in very small and simple temples. But 
 some progress is, nevertheless, to be traced. The Normans 
 had larger sanctuaries, and among them some of great 
 celebrity. The cultus of animals and trees was only 
 kept up because it had been brought into connection 
 with the worship of the higher deities, and a deeper signi- 
 ficance began to be sometimes attached to sacrifice. 
 The priests acquired a very high rank. They belonged, 
 among the Germans at any rate, to the nobility, and had 
 peculiar influence as heralds and judges. Even their 
 names indicate rather an exalted conception of their 
 office. 
 
 All these considerations prove that the Germanic re- 
 ligion was in a state of transition and temporary decay 
 
ITS IMPERFECT DEVELOPMENT. 199 
 
 "^vlien Christianity began to make its way to the North. 
 The new faith was itself no longer entirely pure, as it 
 was already mingled with a number of Greek and Eoman 
 elements, and it was unable wholly to supplant the 
 ancestral religion, but it blended with the popular beliefs, 
 and breathed a new spirit into the old forms. And it is 
 certainly not a matter of chance that it was among these 
 same Germans, who, even in barbarous times, had intro- 
 duced moral conceptions into their theology, that the 
 reformation was most earnestly taken to heart, and most 
 triumphantly carried out, and that its prevailing character 
 was not intellectual, but ethical. 
 
 The reception of the heroes v\ Odhinn's Yalholl implies 
 already the passage from the theory of continuance to 
 that of retribution. For though they continue there 
 the occupations of their past lives, their reception is a 
 reward for their valour. There are, moreover, traces of a 
 place of punishment. 
 
 Human sacrifices consisted not only of criminals and 
 prisoners of war, but even of widows and slaves. In 
 epidemics even children were offered, and they were also 
 immured in the foundations of new buildings, in regularly 
 animistic fashion, with food and toys. 
 
 In the development of religion, the forms of worship, 
 which are very tenacious, are the slowest and the last to 
 undergo modification. 
 
 An O.H. Germ, title for priest was Ewarto, from moaj 
 the " divine and human law." Another, Old-Norman, 
 was God% fem. Gydja, from Giidh^ "god." Among the 
 Normans the priests exerted iniluence even over war, and 
 indeed the priesthood and the kingship were combined 
 among them. 
 
 / 
 
200 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS, 
 
 In the fusion of Cliristianity with the popular beliefs, 
 
 the myths and traditions became legends ; the place of 
 
 Wodan was occupied by Christ, St. Michael, or St. 
 
 / Martin ; for Donar appeared Christ or St. Peter ; Fro 
 
 , was supplanted by St. Andrew, mitissimus sanctorum, 
 
 ' St. Stephen, or St. Nicholas ; the place of the goddesses 
 
 was taken by Mary; St. Gertrude represented Gerdha, 
 
 &c. Loki, of course, became the devil. 
 
( 201 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS UNDER 
 THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEMITES AND 
 HAMITES, 
 
 Literature. — M. W. Heffter, Die Eeligion der Griechen 
 und Rdmer, 4Yols.,'BrsiiidenhuYg) 1845. W. H. Roscher, 
 Studien zur Vergleich. Mythologle der Griechen und Romer, I. 
 Apollon und Mars, Leipzig, 1873. II. Juno und Hera, 
 ibid., 1875 (cieficient in exactness of method, the conclu- 
 sions, therefore, being insufficiently confirmed). A. 
 Preuner, Eestia-Vesta, Tiibingen, 1864, a monograph of 
 great importance. Emile Burnouf, La Legende A then- 
 ienne, £tude de Mythol. com^parde, Paris, 1872 (sets forth a 
 doubtful and improbable theory). W. Grimm, Die Sage 
 von Pohjj)hem, Berlin, 1857 (also in the Ahhandll, der 
 Kaiserl. Akad. zu Berlin, 1875, p. i scjq.), 
 
 I. 
 
 RELIGION AJyiONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 Literature — History. — G. Grote, History of Greece, 8 
 vols., London, 1862, vol. i., describes the Greek religion 
 objectively, without any attempt to explain it. E. 
 CuRTius, History of Greece, transl. by A. W. Ward, 5 
 vols., London, 1868-73, admirably adapted for exhibit- 
 ing the connection between the history of the people and 
 the development of its religion. J. P. Mahaffy, Social 
 Life in Greece from Homer to Mcnander, London, 1874, 
 
202 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 ingenious but one-sided. Comp. further Schomann's 
 Griech. AUerthilmer, 2 vols., 3d ed., and A. H. G-. P. VAN 
 DEN Es, GrieJcsche Antiqiiiteiten, 2d ed., Groningen, 1873. 
 
 Mythology and Religion. — F. G. Welcker, Griech. 
 Gotterlehre, 3 vols., Gottingen, 1857-62. J. A. Har- 
 TUNG, Die Religion und Mythologie der Griechen, 4 vols., 
 1865-73. L. Preller, Griech. Mythologie, 2 vols., 2d 
 ed., 1860-61 (a 3d ed. of vol. i. has since appeared). J. 
 W. G. VAN OoRDT, De Godsdienst der Grieken en hunne 
 Volksdenkbeelden, Haarlem, 1864. Id., Giiehche Mytho- 
 logie. Rene schefs, 's Gravenh., 1874. For the older works 
 comp. Preller, i. pp. 19-24. 
 
 Important Monographs. — J. Overbeck, Beitrdge zur 
 Erhenntniss und Kritih der Zeusreligion, Leipzig, 1861 
 (also in the Ahhandll. der Sachs. Gesellsch. der Wissensch., 
 iv. No. i). Nagelsbach, Die Homer. Theologie, 2d ed. 
 by Autenrieth, Niirnberg, 1861. J. GiRARD, Le Senii- 
 inent Religieux en Grece d' Homtre ci Eschyle, Paris, 1869. 
 F. Leitschuh, Die Entstehung der Mythologie und der 
 Entwickelung der Griech. Religion nach Hesiods Theogonie, 
 WUrzburg, 1867. E. BucHHOLZ, Die Sittliche Weltan- 
 schauung des Pindaros und Aeschylos, Leipzig, 1869. E. 
 Zeller, Die Entstehung des Monotheismus hei den Griechen, 
 Stuttgart, 1862. J. Mahly, Die Schlange im My thus 
 und Cultus der Classischcn Volker, Basel, 1867. H. F. 
 Perthes, Die Peleiaden zu Dodona, Moers, 1869. E. 
 DoHLER, Die Orakel, Berlin, 1872. H. D. Muller, 
 Ares, ein Beitrag zur Entwickelung der Griech. Religion, 
 Brunswick, 1848. J. Ruskin, The Queen of the Air 
 (Athene), 2d ed., London, 1869. 
 
 12L The Greek religion, which was destined one day 
 to attain a higher development than the other Indo-Ger- 
 man religions, was not at first separated from them by 
 
THE PELASGL 203 
 
 any great differences. The -^Yooi of this may be found 
 
 in what is still known of the religion of the Pelasgi, 
 
 whose name denotes rather a period than a race. The 
 
 statement that they worshipped the God of heaven on 
 
 their sacred mountains without images and under no 
 
 definite name, does not warrant the inference that their 
 
 cultus was purer than that which succeeded it and was 
 
 monotheistic, but simply means that they still regarded 
 
 and worshij)ped their gods, even the highest of them, as 
 
 nature-beings, and if they made no images of them, they 
 
 were nevertheless not without fetishes. Some sanctuaries 
 
 of this Pelasgian Zeus continued to exist in later times, 
 
 and one, that at Dodona in Epirus, even remained in 
 
 high honour. There, the will of the deity of the sky 
 
 was learned from the rustling of the sacred oak, his fetish, 
 
 or by other purely animistic methods. In Arcadia and 
 
 Messenia, human sacrifices even were offered to him. It 
 
 was not till afterwards that the institution of the Olympic 
 
 games, and the protection of Sparta, gave to the ancient 
 
 Zeus-worship in Elis the high significance which made 
 
 this region itself a holy land, and raised the temple to be 
 
 one of the principal sanctuaries of all the Hellenes^ 
 
 It appears that Asia Minor was the last place in which 
 the Greeks, the Phrygians, and the later Italian races 
 were united in one people. Phrj^gian worship and arts 
 were naturalised in Hellas from the remotest times. 
 
 The Pelasgians were not a special Greek race, but the 
 
 name denotes all the first settlers in Greece who were 
 
 A found already in the new fatherland by tribes which 
 
 entered it subsequently, such as the Dorians and louians. 
 
 They were not, therefore, regarded as barbarians, and 
 
204 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS, 
 
 their gods were invoked together with the Hellenic. Tlie 
 attempt (made by P. Volkmuth, among others, Bie 
 Pelasger als Semifen, SchafFhausen, i860) to prove that 
 they were Semites, and more specifically, Phenicians, 
 must be treated as a complete failure. The points of 
 agreement between the Syro-Phenician and the Greek 
 religions, which are called in to suj^port this conclusion, 
 must be viewed in quite another light (see below). 
 
 A deity without name or image, belonging to the re- 
 motest times, denotes a nature-power which has as yet 
 received no human form. The Pelaso;ic cultus cannot 
 have advanced to monotheism, for by the side of Zeus 
 there was certainly a female deity, whose place was occupied 
 at Dodona by Dion^, who was brought from elsewhere, 
 and at Olympia by Hera ; and it is equally certain that 
 the Pelasgi also worshipped other gods, such as Pan, the 
 god of pastures, an ancient deity of light. 
 
 The fetishes remaining from this remote period, besides 
 the oak at Dodona and other trees, consisted in sacred 
 stones, such as that of Delphi, sticks, like the so-called 
 sceptre of the Pelopid?e at Chaeronea, the most ancient 
 Hermse, and various animals, subsequently dedicated to 
 the gods, but originally regarded as their incarnations, as 
 the eagle of Zeus, the wolf of Apollo, the owl of Athene, 
 &c. Metamorphoses are an attempt to bring the oldest 
 re23resentation of the gods into harmony with the later. 
 
 Zeus revealed himself at Dodona by his breath, or 
 rather by his voice, heard in the rustling of his oak or in 
 the thunder, the latter being imitated in a peculiar way. 
 It was the oracle of an agricultural people. His servants 
 were the sacred Selloi, from whom the name Hellenes, 
 even, has been derived. At the time when Dodona 
 flourished, the people still called themselves Gmihoi, 
 Greeks. 
 
CAUSES OF ITS DEVELOPMENT, 205 
 
 In Arcadia tlie chief ancient sanctuary of Zeus was on 
 Mount Lykaion, and in Messen^ on Mount Ithom^. In 
 the former locality and at Elis, the sacred mountain bore 
 the name, as in Thessaly, of Olympus. 
 
 122. But whatever be the resemblances of the Greek 
 reliQ'ion in oriirin and character to kindred reli^^ions, 
 especially to the Vedic and Germanic, and though in the 
 Pelasgian period, at any rate, it reached no higher level, 
 it soon advanced in development beyond them all. The 
 ancient nature-deities are re^jlaced more and more by 
 gods endowed not only with the shape of men, but with 
 real humanity, who continually rise in moral dignity and 
 grandeur, and to whom the Greeks transferred the divine 
 element in man. The causes of this development are the 
 same as those of their great progress in general civilisa- 
 tion, which was due (among other cii'cumstances) to the 
 nature of the country which they inhabited, their splendid 
 natural gifts, and the many-sided intercourse of the 
 several tribes both among themselves and with the re- 
 presentatives of an older and very rich culture. The last 
 of these may indeed be regarded as the foremost cause of • 
 all. In the Greek religion we see the first fair fruits of 
 the fusion of the Indo- Germanic and Aryan with the 
 Semitic and Ilamitic elements, — the dawn of a new era. 
 
 Herodotus, i. 131, draws a distinction between the 
 Egyptian and Hellenic gods, the former of whom he 
 designates uvOiurrond-.T;, the latter dvd^wTrofiuiag. 
 
 The peculiarity of the countries occupied by the Greeks, 
 which consisted chiefly of coasts and islands, has been 
 rightly specified as a cause of their advanced civihsation. 
 
2o6 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS, 
 
 But it is necessary to avoid the one-sidedness •wliich 
 derives everything from this circumstance. That the 
 genius of the people was another factor, is proved by the 
 low stage occupied by the later inhabitants of the same 
 regions. 
 
 A highly important stimulus to the development of 
 religion among the Greeks came, however,, from the active 
 sea traffic to which their country gave occasion, and which 
 brought the backward Greek races into contact not only 
 with their more advanced kinsmen, but also with the 
 Semites and Hamites. Besides this, they were obliged in 
 some cases, as in Asia Minor, in Crete and Cyprus, to 
 divide the country with the Phenicians and Syrians 
 already settled there. Although it is supposed from the 
 evidence of the Egyptian monuments, that they took part 
 as early as the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries in 
 military expeditions against Egypt (which still appears 
 very doubtful, at any rate), the influence exerted on them 
 by the inhabitants of this country seems to have been 
 mediate rather than direct. 
 
 Wherever the Phenicians established their colonies,, 
 they at once founded a sanctuary for their national deities, 
 whom the native Greeks then either adopted or blended 
 with their own gods. Melkart of Tyre was naturalised as 
 Melikertes or MaJcar, or was combined with Herakles. 
 The luxurious Sidonian Ashtoreth was transformed into 
 Aphrodite, and the stern Tanith was united with other 
 goddesses. Under the influence of Baal-Shalam the 
 Pelasgian Zeus of Salamis became Zeus Epikoinios, &c. 
 The Greeks were further indebted to the Phenicians for 
 the cultus of the planets and the doctrine that the stars 
 are deities which rule the world, both these, as we know, 
 having been in their turn derived from the Akkadians. 
 We may refer also to the Samothracian gods. The wor- 
 
NATIONAL AND FOREIGN ELEMENTS. 207 
 
 ship of images, likewise, passed from tlie Semites to the 
 Greeks. 
 
 The elements received by the Greeks from their own 
 kinsmen have been to a large extent personified by tradi- 
 tion, in the band of gods and heroes who came from the 
 East into the later civilisation of Hellas, such as Herakles, 
 Dionysos, Danaos, Argos, Agenor, and others, while 
 Kadmos, the brother of Kilix or Phoinix, represents 
 rather the Semitic civilisation. It is probable that the 
 worship of the sea-god Poseidon (an Ionic name), and 
 certain that the cultus of Apollo, was introduced among 
 the inhabitants of Greece proper by their kindred in Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 The history of the Greek religion is one of the most 
 striking examples of the great law that the richness and ; / 
 elevation of religious development are proportional to the j 
 opportunities of intercourse on the part of one nation with i 
 others, and the completeness of the fusion of races. 
 
 123. It is often possible in the myths and forms of the 
 Greek gods still to distinguish very clearly between the 
 national and the foreign elements. Thns in the myth of 
 Zens, his contest with Kronos, like that of Kronos with 
 Ouranos, his absolute victory over the powers of nature, 
 his unlimited sovereignty, are of Semitic origin ; while 
 his contest with Prometheus and his human passions and 
 attributes come from Indo-Germanic sources. The bene- 
 ficent Demeter, the fruitful mother-earth, with her 
 daughter Kore, the blooming sj^ring begotten by Zeus, 
 protector of agriculture and giver of abundance, is 
 genuinely Greek ; while the sombre queen of the under- 
 world, who becomes by Poseidon the mother of Perse- 
 phone, goddess of death, must be a foreign deity. 
 
2o8 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 In tlie same way Greek theology also possesses two 
 representations of tlie world of the dead. According to 
 one, the Semitic, it lay within the earth, and there the 
 departed led a life of shadows without spirit or conscious- 
 ness, which was, however, a melancholy continuation of 
 their earthly careers. The other, the Indo-Germanic, 
 placed it in the west, at the setting of the sun, where 
 the privileged were admitted to Elysium or the islands 
 of the blessed. These different representations it was 
 endeavoured as far as possible to combine. 
 
 In some cases the union of these dissimilar elements 
 was never successfully effected. The difference between 
 the chaste maidenly Artemis, protectress of innocence and 
 modesty, hostile to everything savage and lewd, and the 
 blood-thirsty and sensual goddess of Tauris, Asia Minor, 
 and Crete, was always vividly felt even by the Greeks. 
 Generally, however, the fusion is so complete that it is 
 hardly possible to separate the foreign from the national 
 elements. This is the case, for example, with Dionysos, 
 Apollo, and Athene. 
 
 What we have designated briefly Semitic, is strictly 
 speaking only north-Semitic, after it had been modified 
 by intercourse with the oldest occupants of Mesopotamia. 
 The myths adopted by the Greeks from the Semites were 
 as a rule Akkadian, but they reached the Greeks in the 
 form given to them by the ISTorthern Semites. 
 
 Whatever be the meaning of the name Kronos (to the 
 unfortunate derivations winch have been proposed Kulm 
 has recently added another by the suggestion of a doubt- 
 ful Sanskrit word Jcrdna, ^' creating for himself," Ueher 
 EntwicTcelungsshifen der Mytlwiblldung, Berlin, 1874, 
 
UNION OF DISSIMILAR ELEMENTS. 209 
 
 p. 148), it is certain that lie has nothing- to do with 
 Chronos, '^ time," and that the god who mutilates his 
 father and eats his children is of genuinely north Semitic 
 origin. A satisfactory explanation of his myth is still 
 wanting, but that he is a god of the dark, and particu- 
 larly of the nightly sky, is proved by the representation 
 that he eats up his own children, all of them light-gods. 
 The stone, the form in which he devours his son Zeus, is 
 supposed by some scholars to be the sun, which the god 
 of night is afterwards obliged to vomit forth again, after 
 which the other gods whom he swallowed, also return to 
 life. 
 
 The Indo-Germanic character of the Prometheus myth 
 has been shown by Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und 
 des Gottertranks lei den Indogermanen. The spirit of the 
 myth also, as it was worked out by the Greeks, is com- 
 pletely non-Semitic. 
 
 The world of the dead beneath the earth with the 
 shadows that cannot feel, is obviously Sheol with the 
 Ptephaim. For this reason (if for no other) the rape of 
 Persephon^ and her descent into hell must be a non- 
 Greek myth ; and accordingly we find the exact parallel 
 to it in the old Akkadian epos. 
 
 Perhaps even the chaste Artemis is not a Greek god- 
 dess at all ; but she is, in any case, Indo-Germanic. Her 
 name points to a Phrygian origin. Artamas, comp. the 
 Eranian arta, areta, "perfect," arethaiiiat, "lawful,'^ 
 *' legitimate." 
 
 In Dionysos lurks an Indo-Germanic deity of the drink 
 of immortality and the vintage, with which is connected 
 the myth of his birth from Semele. The god of the 
 seasons, to whom a festival was celebrated in the winter, 
 is probably a foreign sun-god. On the Lycian god, Apollo, 
 see below. If the name of Athena really corresponded to 
 
 o 
 
2IO RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS, 
 
 a Sanskr. dliand, the " dawning," and Athenaia to ahania, 
 the "day-bright," as Max Miiller supposes, we should 
 have to regard her also as an Indo-Germanic goddess. 
 The adoption of foreign elements into the conception of 
 her beconies probable when it is considered that a Pheni- 
 cian Athene was worshipped on the Isthmus, and that she 
 came from Salamis to Attica, and it is made further evi- 
 dent by a comparison of her attributes and cultus witii 
 those of the Phenician Tanith. 
 
 On the whole subject of this section compare the very 
 interesting essay of E. Curtius, " Die Griechische Gotter- 
 lehre vom Geschichtlichen Standpunkt," in the Preuss. 
 Jahrbh., July 1875, though some of the conclusions must 
 be accepted with reserve. 
 
 124. The poetic and philosophical feeling of this richly- 
 endowed peox^le, the creative power of the Greek mind, is 
 displayed, for instance, in their treatment of the myth of 
 Prometheus, w^hich became in their hands the vehicle for 
 profound and elevated thoughts, or in the manner in 
 which they raised the nature-myths of Demeter and 
 Persephone to be the expression of a genuine human 
 feeliQg, and ennobled the mystic significance w^hich had 
 already been attached to it in other lands. But it no- 
 where comes more clearly into view than in a comparison 
 of deities such as Hermes or Aphrodite with the divine 
 beings of Indo-Germanic or Semitic origin, from which 
 they have sprung. Hermes or Hermeias, once the hound 
 of the gods, the god of the wind and the changes of light 
 and darkness which it produces, the great enchanter and 
 conductor of souls, becomes among the Greeks the mes- 
 senger and right hand of Zeus, the mediator between him 
 and men, the ideal herald, the god of graceful speed, of 
 
TREA TMENT OF NA TURE-M YTHS. 1 1 1 
 
 music, of eloquence, and pliilosoi^hy. Aphrodite is no 
 other than the Phenician and Mesox^otamian Astarto 
 (*Ashtoreth, Istar), hut while it was the aim of philo- 
 sophy to infuse a deeper meaning into the naturalistic 
 myths of her hirth out of the waters, her sovereignty 
 over the monsters of the ocean, and her intercourse with 
 Adonis, they w^ere transformed by Greek poetry and art 
 into the loveliest of images, and she herself, though 
 retaining many features which recalled her origin, was 
 raised to be the goddess of beauty and grace, of spring 
 and flowers, of family peace and social harmony. 
 
 Hermeias is identical with SdrameyaSy the name of the 
 two dogs of Yama, the god of death, the mythic watch- 
 dogs in the Yeda. Max Miiller doubts whether Saramdj 
 their mother, the messenger of Indra, who goes to fetch 
 back the stolen cows, was a dog. But the Sdrameyau 
 certainly were so. Hermes possesses no Semitic trait. 
 His original physical significance as a god of wind 
 perfectly explains all the myths about him, such as the 
 stealing of Apollo's cows, the slaying of Argus, his combat 
 with Stentor, and all his attributes, as guardian of the 
 flocks (the clouds), guide of the shades, herald of the gods, 
 god of music and eloquence, his magic power, his swift- 
 footedness, &c. As god of eloquence, he naturally became 
 in Greece the god of philosophy as well. 
 
 That the Greeks originally possessed a goddess of 
 spring, beauty, and love, of their own, whose name, 
 however, disappeared, is highly probable ; indeed, the 
 Latin Venus may be said to prove it. Aphrodite, how- 
 ever, whose name is perhaps a corruption of 'Athar'atha, 
 is certainly the Phenician goddess of Cyprus and Cythera, 
 who passed from there to the Greeks, bringing with her 
 Kinyras, Adonis, and Pygmalion. But all these myths, 
 
212 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 which were once coarsely sensual, and for the most part 
 cosmogonic, were touched with the magic wand of their 
 poetry. 
 
 125. The first-fruits of this mingling of the Phenician, 
 Phrygian, and Hellenic elements was the brilliant civili- 
 sation which preceded that of Greece proper, and spread 
 over the whole of the west coast of Asia Minor and Crete. 
 It was the era when the old Lydian supremacy flourished, 
 together with Troas and Lycia, and the powerful kingdom 
 in Crete named after Minos. There it was, and then, 
 that the Greek mind first gave signs of possessing sufficient 
 strength to appropriate the Semitic elements independently, 
 and endow them with a new form. Then it was that the 
 myth of Zeus received its shape in Crete, and his cultus 
 was established, in the mode which soon became the pro- 
 perty of all Hellenes, and supplanted that of the Pelasgian 
 Zeus. Then it was that the Greek Herakles arose, pro- 
 bably in Lydia, out of the Assyrian Samdan, brought 
 thither by conquest. Then it was that the knightly 
 people of the Lycians, kinsmen of the Greeks, and their 
 forerunners in civilisation, after coming under the influence 
 of the Semitic spirit, wrought out the noble figure of 
 Apollo, the god of light, the son and prophet of the most 
 high Zeus, saviour, purifier, and redeemer, whose cultus, 
 lifted high above all nature- worship, spread thence over 
 all the lands of Greece, and exerted on the religious, moral, 
 and social life of their inhabitants so profound and salutary 
 an influence. 
 
 In Crete, several forms of Phenician cultus still pre- 
 vailed. This is the scene of the chief myths of Zeus, 
 
DIFFUSION OF FOREIGN ELEMENTS. 2 1 3 
 
 which have a Semitic origin. This does not prove that 
 Crete was also the place of their rise, but simply that 
 they there attained the form wliich became dominant 
 amoncr the Hellenes. 
 
 The mingling of various elements may still be very 
 clearly traced in the Trojan tradition. By the side of 
 the Assyrian names Ilos {Ilu) and Assarakos stand Phry- 
 gian, like Kapys, Dymas, Askanios, and Kasandra, and 
 pure Greek names such as Andromache, Astyanax, and 
 others. Some heroes even bear double names — Paris- 
 Alexandros, Dareios-Hektor — of which only the second 
 are Greek. The first have a pure Eranian form (Paris, 
 from ^ar, " deserter "), but they are doubtless really 
 Phrygian, as this language was connected alike with 
 Eranian and with Greek. On this subject see further 
 Curtius, History of Greece, vol. i. pp. 47-68. 
 
 126. Last of all, the higher civilisation made its way 
 to Hellas, Greece proper, both by direct colonisation on 
 the part of the Phenicians, and to a greater extent by 
 Greek settlements from Asia Minor and Crete. The point 
 attained by the religious development of the Acheans, 
 before the supremacy of the Dorians, is shown by the 
 Homeric poems. The gods are no longer half-conscious 
 nature-powers ; they are beings possessing moral liberty 
 and freedom of action like men — they are in the same 
 way subject to pain and grief, and they are obliged to 
 support life by food. But their food is of a heavenly 
 kind, which secures them immortality ; in theory, at least, 
 all things are known and possible to them, and the chief 
 of them rule no more over a limited realm. Although 
 they are not themselves raised above passions and selfish 
 desires, they are nevertheless the guardians and avengers 
 
214 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 J 
 
 of the moral order of tlie world, tlie violation of wliicli 
 excites their wrath more than an injury offered to them- 
 selves. The world of the gods is arranged after the 
 pattern of the households of earth. To the council 
 (/JojA?]) of the kings, mustered round their leader, corre- 
 sponds the assembly of the high Olympian gods, under the 
 presidency of Zeus, their superior, not by privilege of birth, 
 but, like the chief of the princes of the earth, by his greater 
 power and ability. The popular assembly (dyopd) has its 
 heavenly counterpart in the convocation of all divine 
 beings on certain occasions to learn the will of the 
 king. Their supremacy is established ; the contest 
 with the rude powers of nature has long been finished, 
 and they have been subdued for ever. In this respect 
 they have advanced beyond the Yedic and Germanic gods. 
 
 On this and the following sections compare Nagelsbach, 
 Homerische Theologie. 
 
 Between the rehgion of the Acheans and their adver- 
 saries, the Dardanians, there is no essential difference. 
 But the gods which protect the latter stand, hke their 
 heroes, at a perceptibly higher level than those of the 
 former, which correctly commemorates the fact that the 
 inhabitants of Hellas were still behind those of Asia 
 Minor in civilisation. 
 
 The difference between gods and men is very naively 
 indicated, among other signs, by the doctrine that it is 
 no human blood, but a pecuHar fluid (/%w|), which runs in 
 the divine veins. 
 
 127. High above all the other gods stands Zeus, whose 
 power is unlimited, who is not bound by any recognised 
 restraint, and is alone not subject to the will of the 
 
? 
 
 THE HOMERIC THEOLOGY. 7.15 
 
 majority. Even Lis consort Hera, wlio generally opposes 
 him, can effect nothing but by and with him. Vainly 
 does his brother Poseidon strive to establish similar pre- 
 rogatives. Most closely connected with him are Athena 
 and A2:)ollo, who constitute with him a supreme triad. 
 
 As Athena is the personified Metis, the " reason," the 
 wisdom of the divine Father, who withstands him, yet 
 to whom he always yields, Apollo, no less beloved of 
 Zeus, is his mouth, the revealer of his counsel, the son, 
 who, ever and in all things, is of one will with him. For 
 it is one of the features which distinc^uishes Zeus from 
 the other gods, that he never communicates directly with 
 men, but only through his messengers. Iris or Hermes. 
 In reality, all the gods are little else than representa- 
 tives of Zeus, each in his own realm which he has 
 received from him. Thus, monarchism has touched the 
 borders of monotheism. 
 
 The dependence of the gods and of the whole world 
 on Zeus is finely described in the weh-known passage, 
 ^ Iliady 0. 1-27. 
 
 The circumstance that Dionysos and Dem^ter have but 
 little significance in the Homeric poems does not war- 
 rant the conclusion that their worship was not yet 
 generally diffused. But they were chiefly popular 'gods, 
 worshipped by the tillers of the soil, and they did not, 
 therefore, figure in the aristocratic Homeric society. 
 
 128. The conviction that the world was not ruled 
 merely by an arbitrary will, was expressed by the doc- 
 trine of destiny {aiGa, fjLolpa), though the representation of it 
 was deficient in clearness, and the question whether the 
 
2:6 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 supreme god determined tlie course of destiny, or wlietlier 
 lie, like all the other gods, was subject to it, so that he had 
 only to consult and to execute it, was answered now in 
 one way and now in another. The deity makes known 
 his will to men by personal revelation, by miracles and 
 signs, or by inspiration and dreams, but most clearly 
 of all by his works. Yet the trustworthiness of signs 
 is already called in question, and once even the noble 
 sentiment is uttered that they are insignificant compared 
 with the divine voice in the heart of man, which com- 
 mands him to do right without thought of the conse- 
 quences. Morality and religion are already in intimate 
 connection, but psychology and the belief in immortality 
 still stand on the animistic level. 
 
 Zeus and Moira frequently coalesce in the description 
 of the poet ; what she does is also ascribed to him and 
 to the other gods ; good and evil gifts are allotted by 
 him. On the other hand, he is represented as knowing 
 nothing of the will of destiny by himself ; he is obliged 
 to consult it with his scales, and is bound to fulfil it com- 
 pletely. 
 
 In the Homeric psychology a noteworthy separation 
 is made between the understanding {(p^svsg) and the soul 
 (-vl^ux??), the former of which dies with the body; an idea 
 which we also meet with amons: the Hindiis. 
 
 Retribution after death is as yet scarcely mentioned. 
 The shades continue the occupations which they dis- 
 charged during their lifetime : in the kingdom of the 
 departed, Teiresias is still a soothsayer, Minos a judge, 
 Orion a huntsman. 
 
 129. The rise of Delphi marks a new and important 
 era in the history of the Greek religion. Dodona con- 
 
INFLUENCE OF DELPHI. 217 
 
 tinned to be spoken of with reverence, bnt its inflnence 
 had long been limited to a small and backward portion 
 of the country. The other religious centre, also, the 
 Thessalian Olympus, was gradually abandoned by the 
 more gifted tribes which had surrounded it, and lay in 
 the midst of a land of barbarians. At Delphi, lying at 
 the foot of Parnassus, there was in existence already 
 before Homer a famous oracle, first of the Earth-goddess, 
 afterwards of the Pythian Apollo ; and it was located 
 in a temple where Zeus and Dionysos were worshipped 
 together with the deities already named. When the 
 Dorians had quitted Thessaly to seek new homes, they 
 attached themselves as ardent worshippers of Apollo to 
 the Delphic sanctuary, and wherever they settled they 
 established the cultus of the Pythian deity. Delphi 
 became the chief seat of a new Amphiktyonic league, 
 and was, in fact, for a considerable time, the centre of the 
 nationality of the Hellenes. The power exercised by the 
 Delphic priesthood in the centuries between the Doric 
 migration and the Persian wars was very great. No new 
 political institutions, no fresh cultus, no additional games, 
 were established without the sanction of the Pythian 
 oracle, and it was carefully on the watch against the 
 neglect of the old and the introduction of new gods, 
 while it strove to maintain peace between the different 
 Hellenic states. It had its representatives and exponents 
 in the chief cities of the principal states, and foreign 
 princes or states which sought to enter into relations with 
 Greece applied to the Delphic Apollo, who spoke all 
 languages. The colonies, whose despatch was always 
 determined and directed by him, spread his worship) far 
 
2iS RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 and near. It was not a new religion, destined to replace 
 the worship of Zeus, for Apollo was simply the revealer 
 of his holy will ; it was a higher stage Of the development 
 of this same religion, by which some bounds were set to 
 polytheism, and the ethical took the place of the physi- 
 cal. It accepted no outward actions as satisfactory ; only 
 with a pure heart might the deity be approached, and 
 self-examination and self-knowledge were the first and 
 loftiest of his demands. The false and double-minded 
 gained no light from Apollo, the evil-doer no help ; but 
 on the weak he bestowed protection, and on the repentant 
 grace. Truth and self-control, without self-mortification 
 or renunciation of nature, a steady equilibrium between 
 the sensible and the spiritual, moral earnestness com- 
 bined with an open eye for the happiness and the beauty 
 of life, such were the characteristic features of the Del- 
 phic Apollo-worship, in which the Greek religion almost 
 reached the climax of its development. 
 
 Other places besides Delphi served as the centres of 
 these leagues of states; for example, the sanctuary of 
 the Ephesian Artemis. 
 
 The legislation bearing the name of Lycurgus originated 
 in Delphi, and received its sanction from there. When 
 the sanctuary at Olympia in Elis had acquired a higher 
 significance by the protection of Sparta, it was consecrated 
 by the Delphic oracle, and Apollo was placed beside Zeus 
 as the guardian of the Olympic games and institutions. 
 
 No Hellenic .state mi2;ht consult the oracle with hostile 
 intentions against another Hellenic state. The memory 
 of a civil war might not be perpetuated at Delphi by any 
 permanent trophies. It was not till the period of decline 
 after the Persian wars that this principle was infringed. 
 
I NFL UENCE OF DELPHI, 2 1 9 
 
 It is well known that the Pythian oracle was consulted 
 by Phrygian and Lydian princeS; and by Italian peoples, 
 Jimongst others, even by the Romans. Foreign nations 
 were regarded at Delphi as guests. 
 
 For him who approached with a pure heart, so it was 
 said, a single drop of the consecrated water of the well of 
 Castalia sufficed; but he who came with an evil mind 
 could not wash away with a whole ocean the pollution of 
 liis sin. It was a mark of the ethical character of the 
 Delphic religion that the doctrine of retribution after 
 death accompanied it. This doctrine never, it is true, 
 became really a matter of popular belief among the 
 Greeks, but it was promoted by men of earnest views, 
 and it was proclaimed by poets and sages connected with 
 Delphi, such as Hesiod, Solon, Pythagoras, and Pindar. 
 
 130. The general diffusion of civilisation and knowledge 
 among the Greeks, which resulted from their splendid 
 gifts, their love of freedom, and other accessory causes, 
 prevented the rise of a dominant class of priests or literati, 
 like that which existed among the Brahmans. Moreover, 
 the priesthoods were generally in the hands of the nobles, 
 and were not mutually dependent on each other. Priests 
 and prophets (jiavreh), however, received high honour, for 
 it was they who expounded the signs of the divine will, 
 interpreted the utterances of the deity, and bestowed for- 
 giveness of sins. Above all, however, the Delphic priests 
 contrived to maintain their position at the head of civili- 
 sation, and of everything which went on in Greece and 
 the neighbouring states. The form of the ancient oracle 
 uttered by the Pythia in ecstasy was retained, but the 
 real answer was given by them, and as their decisions 
 w^ere as a rule wise and practical, they were largely 
 
 J 
 
220 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 invoked. This in itself secured tliem great power over 
 the actual course of affairs. But they also contrived to 
 give a definite direction to literature, philosophy, and art, 
 though they did not themselves take part in them. They 
 formed an intellectual aristocracy, which stood in relation 
 with all the foremost men of different countries, which 
 pointed out who were the best and the wisest of their 
 time, which led the way in a certain edifying style of 
 history and in the comp)osition of sacred songs, which 
 encouraged the authors of didactic and lyric poetry, and 
 thus proved itself the active ready representative of the god 
 who led the hand of the Muses. The system of Pytha- 
 goras, who founded a real religious community in a 
 thoroughly Delphic spirit, the poetic school of Hesiod, 
 whose Theogony was even regarded as a book of revela- 
 tion and a rule of belief, were called into existence by 
 the influence of the priesthood of Delphi. The festive 
 games, also, which were of so much importance in this 
 period for the national life of the Hellenes, were regulated 
 by them, and the Pythian games were favourably distin- 
 guished from the others by the prominence given in them 
 not to bodily exercises, but to the musical contest. 
 
 The real cause which prevented the rise of a hierarchy 
 in Greece was not its polytheism, for that proved no 
 obstacle in India, but chiefly the general civilisation of 
 the whole people, Avhich made theology in the hands of 
 priests and philosophers not an obstacle, but a means of 
 development, and was in its turn a result of the active 
 intercourse which the position of their country enabled 
 the Greeks to maintain. 
 
 It was by Delphi that the seven famous Sages were 
 
INFLUENCE OF DELPHI. 221 
 
 ennmerated, whose teachings were framed, like the He- 
 brew, in short maxims. It is well known that at a much 
 later time still the oracle, in reply to a question by his 
 disciple Cherephon, declared Socrates to be the wisest of 
 all mortals. 
 
 The festival games at Olympia were at first solely 
 gymnastic. The Nemean and Isthmian were founded 
 with the sanction of the Delphic oracle, on condition that 
 they should be open to all Hellenes. This specification 
 was characteristic of the Delphic policy. 
 
 131. About the end of the sixth century rc, the 
 influence exercised for three hundred years by Delphi 
 began to decline. This was in part to be ascribed to 
 circumstances, especially to the lessening interest of 
 Sparta, which found a new religious centre in Olympia, 
 and to the rivalry between this state and Athens, which, 
 together with Sikyon, now attached itself more closely to 
 Delphi. But it was to a still larger extent their own 
 fault that the priests of Apollo lost their power. They 
 ceased to be faithful to their own principles; they exchanged 
 their sound statesmanship for a narrow-minded and tem- 
 porising policy ; they no longer followed the pure moral 
 aims of earlier days, but pursued particular interests ; 
 they strove to maintaia their position by craft and 
 intrigue ; and they even sold themselves for Asiatic 
 gold. In the great conflict with Persia, Delphi no longer 
 rejjresented the national spirit ; it wavered, and led others 
 to waver, and thus injured the common cause. The great 
 god was still an object of reverence, but the people began 
 to despise the oracle. The aristocratic spirit of the Delphic 
 priesthood, also, was no longer in harmony with the pre- 
 
222 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 vailing spirit of the time. The era of the democratic 
 Dionysos- worship, which at Delphi only occupied the 
 second place, had begun. 
 
 The contest with the Persians had not only a national, 
 hut a rehgious character as well. In spite of the vacil- 
 lating attitude of the oracle, the allies resolved to dedicate 
 a tenth part of the spoil to the Delphic god. 
 
 132. The national religion of the Hellenes, however, 
 was not to succumb without brealdng forth into a splendour 
 hitherto unknown. Involved in a struggle for very life 
 with the increasing unbelief, it put forth aU its powers, 
 and then, even when decline had already set in, it attained 
 the fulness of its glorious stature. It was at Athens 
 
 &■■ 
 
 that this last conflict was fought out. The Doric migra- 
 tion had brought together in Attica a number of Achean 
 and Ionic tribes, and had fused together several religions, 
 with that mingling of elements which is always productive 
 of rich development. The teacher of Athens was Delphi, 
 to which it was faithfully attached, and it was by Apollo- 
 worship, which became the popular religion under Solon, 
 that the foundations of a higher civilisation were laid, but 
 the special contributions made by Athens itself were called 
 forth under the impulse of the cultus of Dionysos and the 
 worship of Athena. The first of these was favoured by 
 the tyrants, Peisistratos and his successors, owing to their 
 readiness as demagogues to promote a cultus which had 
 proved more acceptable than any other to the masses of 
 the people. To the myth of the Thracian god, who was 
 worshipped at Eleusis by the side of Demeter, Onomakritos, 
 by a new mystic system, imparted a higher significance. 
 
THE WORSHIP OF DIONYSOS. 223 
 
 The Baccliic clioric-song, tlie dithyramb, was developed 
 into a separate art by Lasos and his disciple Pindar, who 
 was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, and made it 
 the vehicle of the most elevated religious thoughts. These 
 choric songs and dances grew into dialogues and perform- 
 ances, which were in their turn the source of tragedy and 
 comedy. By slow degrees a greater freedom was attained 
 in the choice of dramatic subjects, and tragedy, in the 
 hands of Eschylus and Sopholdes, became the means of 
 bringing forth in living forms to general view the kernel 
 of religious truth hidden in the mythologic shell. Both 
 were men of their time, with an open eye for all advance, 
 but at the same time earnestly devoted to their ancestral 
 religion. The deep religious feeling which characterised 
 the Dionysos-worship — the fruit of the Semitic spirit, and 
 the genuinely human element contributed by the Hellenic 
 — were fused by them into a noble unity. 
 
 Curtius, History of Greece, i. p. 304, has called attention 
 to the number of great men in Athens who were descended 
 on the father's or mother's side from noble Messeniau 
 families who had emigrated thither. Such were Kodros, 
 Solon, Peisistratos. Kleisthenes, Perikles, Plato, Alki- 
 biades. 
 
 The most ancient local deity of Attika was Zeus 
 Herkeios. Eleusis was the seat of the worship of Posei- 
 don and Demeter, with which that of Dionysos was 
 united. The contest between Athena and Poseidon at 
 Athens is well known. Apollo was early worshipped at 
 several places on the coast. 
 
 When the chief famihes at Athens were burdened with 
 blood-guiltiness, Solon sent for the prophet Epimenides, 
 a man of impressive character, from Crete. He puri- 
 
224 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 fied and atoned for everytliing in the name of Apollo, 
 who then, under his influence, "became the national 
 god. 
 
 Eschylus was himself born at Eleusis, and belonged to 
 a family which was very closely connected with the sanc- 
 tuary. He grew up beneath the influence of the grave 
 rites performed there. The union of the religious and 
 Immanist elements is nowhere more strikingly displayed 
 than in the Titan Prometheus, as he is represented by 
 Eschylus — proud and noble, unwearied in thought and 
 endeavour, unsubdued in conflict and humiliation, but 
 the victim of his own self-exaltation and wantonness, 
 which made him forget that the only true wisdom has its 
 source in Zeus, and in the heart of genuine piety. 
 
 133. The spirit which was promoted by poetry was 
 fostered also at Athens by sculpture. It was most closely 
 connected with tbe worship of Athena, the goddess of art, 
 the " workmistress " (Ergane), and shed most glory on her 
 cultus and that of her father Zeus. Its greatest genius, 
 Pheidias, flourished in the time of Kimon and Perikles. 
 While the more advanced no longer found in the ugly old 
 images to which the people continued to pay a supersti- 
 tious reverence, the deity whom they mentally conceived, 
 and many a philosopher ridiculed the worship of images, 
 Pheidias wrought statues which were not intended to be 
 worshipped, but were designed to furnish a purer idea of 
 the deity, and to be dedicated to it as worthy offerings. 
 This was especially the case with his two masterpieces, 
 the virgin Athena of the Parthenon and the Zeus of 
 Olympia. In these two works of art, and in the ancient 
 Tragedy, the religion of the Hellenes reached the climax 
 of its development. The ideal humanisatiou of deity, for 
 
ITS CONNECTION WITH ART. 225 
 
 which the way was prepared by the ciiltus of the Delphic 
 Apollo, was perfected at Athens by Eschylus, Sophokles, 
 and Pheidias. 
 
 The family of Pheidias was hereditarily devoted not 
 only to art, but also to the worship of Athena Ergane. 
 
 In the Athena Parthenos Pheidias succeeded in com- 
 bining chastity with gentleness, victorious strength with 
 calm peace, profound wisdom with clearness ; while the 
 Zeus of Olympia united the greatest and most impressive 
 sublimity with clemency, supreme dominion and power 
 with graciousness. Both works, the productions of the 
 highest art, were at the same time the expression of a 
 profound religious idea. 
 
 134. But not even the miracles of art, which always 
 hastens to the aid of a dying form of religion, can save it 
 from ruin, when it no longer answers to the wants of a 
 new generation. It was impossible for poets and sculptors 
 to arrest the increasing decline of the Hellenic religion. 
 The causes of that decline lay in the triumph of democracy, 
 which weakened the reverence for lawful authority, the 
 great disasters which befell the state and excited doubts 
 of the power of the protecting deities, the boldness of 
 philosophical speculation which questioned the personality 
 of the gods, the genuineness of their signs, the validity of 
 their tradition, and set unintelligent powers in the place 
 of the living gods of Olympus, while sophistic, the bastard- 
 daughter of philosophy, undermined both faith and morals. 
 The proof of this is furnished by the constant increase of 
 superstition. Men sought satisfaction for their religious 
 cravings in all kinds of foreign worships, from dirty 
 mendicant priests, who promised atonement for moneyj 
 
22 6 RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 and ventriloquists who professed to be inspired. Secret 
 associations replaced the state mysteries. Vainly did a 
 poet like Euripides strive to unite the religious aspirations 
 which filled his mind, with the claims of thought. He 
 himself was too much affected by doubt to be able to 
 harmonise the traditional belief with the ideas of his time, 
 and he died, gloomy and dissatisfied, far from his native 
 land. Had it been possible for any one to reconcile these 
 conflicting elements, it would have been effected by a 
 man of prophetic nature, like Sokrates, the opponent of 
 the Sophists, an acute inquirer into existing systems, a 
 profound and original thinker, but at the same time 
 endowed with a heart of childlike piety, and a lofty moral 
 character, which wrought his faith, his doctrine, and his 
 life into complete accord. In him the reconciliation of 
 religion and philosophy was accomplished. But the 
 authorised representatives of religion rejected his aid, 
 like that of all the noble thinkers of their days. Their 
 fanatical zeal, a new sign of decline, was not directed 
 only against the philosophers and the sophists, including 
 even the religious Anaxagoras ; it pursued Alkibiades, it 
 did not spare Perikles and Pheidias, and it endeavoured 
 to establish a regular inquisition. Sokrates, also, became 
 their victim. Condemned for apostasy from the ancestral 
 religion, for introducing new religions, and for corrupting 
 youth, he was forced to drink the poisoned cup. A religion 
 which thus murders its noblest thinker, who has been 
 declared by deity itself to be the wisest of all mortals, 
 has closed the path to all further advance, and has no 
 other future before it than lingering petrifaction or 
 death. 
 
, ITS DECLINE. 227 
 
 The rich activity of religious art, just at the period of 
 a religion's decline, is a common phenomenon. Instances 
 abound in the splendid temples of Nebukadrezar in 
 Babylon, in the revival of sacred art in Egypt under the 
 Saitic princes, and even under the Ptolemies, in Rome 
 under the early emperors, and in the Italy of the Eenais- 
 sance. 
 
 Among the foreign religions which now found great 
 acceptance in Greece may be named the Phrygian worship 
 of Sabazios and the Mother of the gods, the Thracian 
 cultus of Kotytto, and the Syrian of Adonis, which was 
 already widely diffused in the East. Between the adop- 
 tion of these foreign forms of worship in a state of decay, 
 and the independent working of lofty religious ideas and 
 conceptions, to which the Hellenic religion was indebted 
 in the period of its growth for its advanced development, 
 there is a vast difference. 
 
 Sokrates was diligent in sacrificing; he revered the 
 oracles, and loyally held fast to the religion of his fathers. 
 The Apollo-worship won his greatest sympathy ; the guid- 
 ing principle of each was the same. He gained his belief 
 in deity by the path of inward experience, and he heard 
 within him the voice of his good spirit, which was with 
 him no figure of speech, but an intense conviction. The 
 miserable nature of the charges brought against him is 
 clearly indicated by the description of this as the intro- 
 duction of new gods. The close affinity between the 
 persecutors of Sokrates and the Sadducees who put Jesus 
 to death is well illustrated by their hypocrisy in postpon- 
 ing his execution for thirty days, to prevent the desecration 
 of the city while the Athenian festival-ship was on its 
 voyage to Delos. 
 
 The persecution of Pheidias, who died broken-hearted 
 in prison, was also inspired by religious zeal : he was 
 
2 28 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 accused of having perj^etuated his own likeness and that 
 of Perikles on the shield of the Parthenos. Alkibiades 
 was perhaps not so innocent of ridiculing the Eleusinian 
 mysteries, which was the charge brought against him. 
 His guilt, however, was never proved, and the mutilation 
 of the Hermae, which was also laid at his door, was 
 probably the work of his enemies themselves. The fury 
 of the zealots knew no bounds. Every honest man was 
 in danger of being accused of atheism. Open liars were 
 praised and honoured; noble citizens were laid on the 
 rack. So untrue is it that intolerance was alien to the 
 Greek religion. 
 
 II. 
 
 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 Literature. — T. Mommsen, History of Rome, translated 
 from the German by W. P. Dickson, 4 vols., London, 
 1867 (6th Germ. ed. 1874). A. Schwegler, Bomische 
 Geschichte im Zeitalter der Konige, Tubingen, 1853. I. 
 A. Hartung, Die Religion der Romer, 2 vols., Erlangen, 
 1836. L. Preller, Romische Mythologie, Berlin, 1858 
 (2d ed. 1865). For the earlier literature comp. Preller, 
 ibid., pp. 41-43. 
 
 135. The religions of the Greeks and Eomans were 
 originally, like their languages, very closely connected, as 
 the names of some of the chief gods prove. The traces 
 of agreement would certainly be still more numerous, 
 had not the difference in national character and in out- 
 ward circumstances led each of the two reliofions to 
 develop itself for a considerable time in exactly opposite 
 directions, till the nations came once more into contact 
 
DIFFERENCES FROM THE GREEK. 229 
 
 with each other, and their religions blended together. 
 The aim of the Greek was towards a more and more com- 
 plete anthropomorphism, which Attic sculpture '\^TOught 
 out to perfection; but to tliis the Eoman felt an instinc- 
 tive aversion. He was too little of an artist, and had 
 also too deep a reverence for the higher powers to repre- 
 sent them as beings resembling men. The powers of 
 nature, so far as they had not yet in an earlier period 
 become personal deities, remained spirits to his view, or 
 became personifications of abstract ideas. This is the 
 character likewise of the new gods whom they created, 
 beings who only possess a nebulous existence, rarely 
 uniting in marriage or forming amorous connections, and 
 remaining for the most part childless. The remains of 
 the old Eoman mythology are therefore extremely scanty. 
 But the ideas which were elevated to the rank of spirits 
 are innumerable. ISTot only has every man his Genius, 
 and every woman her Juno, but every deity, also, to- 
 gether with every being, every object, every action or 
 function, every moral quality even, has its own sphit, 
 which is limited to its own province. If the dominant 
 elements in Greek mythology are personality, freedom, 
 and the richest diversity, the Eoman theology is charac- 
 terised by the abstract idea, by necessity, by the severest 
 order and monotony. The difference between the two 
 corresponds exactly to that between the Hindu and Per- 
 sian religions, to the latter of which the character of the 
 Eoman affords a complete parallel. 
 
 Identity of name subsists between Jupiter (JDiovis) and 
 Zeus, Zeus pater, Vesta and Hestia, and probably between 
 Juno and Dione. Janus, it has been suggested, is con- 
 
230 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 nected with the Greek form Zen. Mars and Ares are 
 regarded by recent investigators as entirely different 
 deities. I am not only of the opposite opinion, but I 
 even believe the names have originally the same signifi- 
 cance, Ne])tunus, a name which disappeared among the 
 Greeks, is certainly the Ajpam na^at of the ancient 
 Aryans. 
 
 The intercourse with Eastern nations, which can be 
 traced back among the Greeks to the earliest times, did 
 not begin among the Romans till after their national life 
 had developed, and it consequently produced a much 
 deeper impression on the religious ideas of the former 
 than on those of the latter. 
 
 There is a characteristic difference between the Greeks 
 and Romans in prayer. The Greek looked towards the 
 deity with uncovered head, the Roman veiled his face. 
 
 The nebulous character of many Roman deities also 
 appears from the formulae: '' Sive Deo, Sive Beae" " Sive 
 Mas, Sive Femina,^' ^^ Sive quo alio nomine te ajjpellari 
 volueris," employed concerning the gods or addressed to 
 them. 
 
 It appears that the marriages of the gods, and their 
 children likewise, were much more numerous in the 
 earliest times, but that such representations were after- 
 wards rejected by the strict Romans. One of the most 
 important survivals of genuine Roman or rather of Italian 
 mythology, is the myth of Hercules and Cacus, the old 
 Indo-Germanic conflict between the god of light and the 
 cloud demon; but it is noteworthy that the Greek Herakles 
 has already stepped into the place of the national god, and 
 that Cacus (the " burning'"? or the ''blind "?) was brought 
 into connection with the Greek word xuKog. 
 
 The term Genius is employed for the S23irits of female 
 beings also, Genius Junonis Sospitce, Genius Famce, Genius 
 
ITS ABSTRACT CONCEPTIONS. 231 
 
 Forinarum. The fertility in the creation of special genii 
 which distinguished the Eoman religion particularly, 
 may be estimated from the fact that not only every con- 
 dition of social life, but every operation of agriculture, 
 ploughing, sowing, harvesting, down to the opening of 
 the barns, — nay, even the annual supply of corn in the 
 market {Annona), and the healthy flesh of the human 
 body {Carnia, properly speaking a demon who kept off 
 blood-sucking vampires), had their special representatives 
 in the world of spirits. 
 
 The peculiarity here indicated as attaching to the 
 Eoman religion is connected with the Eoman national 
 character, which Mommsen finds in the profound sense 
 of the existence of the general in the particular, in the 
 devotion and self-sacrifice of the individual to the whole, 
 and which he regards as the basis also of the political 
 unity and the universal dominion of the Eoman Empire. 
 
 The resemblance of the Eoman and Persian religions 
 is indeed striking. In both the ethical rises above the 
 mythological elements ; in Parsism abstract ideas become 
 in like manner immortal saints (amesha sphnta) and mini- 
 sters of Ahuramazda, and there also, just as among the 
 Eomans, everything, including even the gods, has its 
 own spirit or Fravashi, a word which does not differ very 
 widely in meaning from Genius (connected with genuSy 
 gigno). 
 
 136. In spite of the complete modification of the 
 Eoman religion subsequently by the adoption of foreign, 
 elements, particularly those of Greek and Oriental origin, 
 it remained true to this character during every period of 
 its existence, and continued to develop itself in this 
 direction until the end. When silver coinage was intro- 
 duced, about the middle of the third century B.C., Aescu- 
 
232 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 lanus, the ancient genius of copper money, immediately 
 begot a son, Argentinus. The first Greek gods whom the 
 Eomans made their own received new and intelligible 
 names in place of their former Greek designations, which 
 bad ceased to be understood, or they were modified so as 
 to represent some abstract conception. Thus Mercurius, 
 the god of trade, was imitated from the Greek Hermes ; 
 Minerva, the " thinking," from the Greek Athena ; while 
 Proserpina was the Greek Persephone. The number of 
 genii who w^ere mere abstractions continued to increase. 
 Terror and pallor in battle, peace and freedom, hope and 
 good fortune, became the objects, as spirits of dread and 
 blessing, of a real worship ; and if in ancient times only 
 Fides, " good faith," was venerated as a separate deity, 
 altars and sanctuaries were soon erected for several other 
 virtues, divine or moral attributes, such as Concordia^ 
 Pudicitia, Mens, Fietas, and Aequitas ; at a later date to 
 Constantia, Liberalitas, Frovidentia ; and finally even to 
 the Indulgentia and dementia Cmsaris. From this last 
 phenomenon to the deification of the emperors themselves, 
 which also, indeed, originated under the influence of the 
 East, there was but a step. 
 
 The designation of Greek gods by Latin names, so that 
 the Pomans could better understand their meaning, has 
 nothing to do with the fusion of Greek with old Italic 
 deities, hke that of Aphrodite with Venus, of Bakchos with 
 Liber, of Demeter with Ceres, and of Artemis with Diana. 
 
 The Virtutes, which were the earliest to become Genii, 
 were originally attributes of distinct deities, as Fides of 
 Jupiter (comp. Dius Fidius), Concordia of Venus, Pudicitia 
 of Juno, Mens of Fortuna. 
 
ITS EARLY CHARACTER. 233 
 
 A most remarkable example of personification is found 
 also in that of the divine voice, as Aius Lociitius. 
 
 137. The religion of tlie Eomans stands at first at 
 about the same point of development as the Pelasgic. 
 The number of spirits or genii is unlimited, and they are 
 worshipped with more zeal than any others. Among 
 them may be named the Lares, or Lords, who were at 
 first, at any rate, only worshipped in private ; the FenateSy 
 or hearth-spirits, to whom, together with Yesta, public 
 adoration was paid ; the Manes, the Larvae, and the 
 Lcmures, all of whom were souls of the dead, the first 
 being good and pure, properly spirits of light, while the 
 two last wandered about as ghosts, not having as yet 
 come to their rest, and at a later period were regarded 
 definitely as evil spirits. ISTo sharp lines were drawn to 
 distinguish these spirits, to whom other groups might be 
 added from one another, for they were in fact only different 
 representations of the same idea. Nevertheless, it is 
 incorrect to name even the oldest Eoman religion poly- 
 daemonism. The decisive step which leads to polytheism 
 had been already taken. The term Dei, Divi, was no 
 longer applied exclusively to the spirits of the sky ; it 
 became, just as among the Greeks, the generic name for 
 personal and intelligent beings belonging to the earth and 
 the under-world as well as to the sky, and ruling nature 
 by their will (as nmnina). The transition was still in 
 progress. The evil deities who were dreaded, such as 
 Vediovis, were still worshipped equally with the good. 
 Their number, moreover, was still small. Some, like 
 Bobigo, the god of the corn-rust, Consus, probably the god 
 
2 34 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS, 
 
 of the liidden germs, Carmentis, the deity of the magic 
 incantation, and others, were not yet much more than 
 spirits ; but others, such as the good shepherd's god, 
 Faunus, the god of sowing, Saturnus (Saeturnus), with his 
 joyous festival, the fire-gods, Vulcan and Vesta, and espe- 
 cially the three most eminent of all, Jupiter, Janus, and 
 Mars, were personal deities in the fullest sense, possessing 
 supreme power not only over the realm of nature, but 
 also over society and morals. 
 
 The genius was also called Cerus or Kerus, a word con- 
 nected with the Sanskrit root Jcri, " to make," " to do." 
 
 The Lares do not differ much in character from th^ 
 Greek heroes. If their name is identical with the well- 
 known Etrurian word Lars (which is, however, declined 
 differently), they must be the "lords," the "potentates." 
 The term Fenates is derived from peniis, the domestic 
 "hearth," connected with j)enes and penihis. The name 
 Manes, alUed with maney " early in the morning," denotes 
 the "bright ones," the "pure." The Silvans and Fauns 
 bear more resemblance to the bands of Hindii deities. 
 They are the spirits of the forest and the field. 
 
 Besides the deities specified in the text, the oldest 
 Roman festival calendar also mentions Tellus, the nourish- 
 ing earth ; Ceres, the goddess of growth ; Pales, the deity 
 who gave fruitfulness to the flocks ; Ojys, the goddess of 
 the harvest ; Terminus, the boundary-stone of the land ; 
 NeTtunus, Tiber, Mater (matuta), the morning goddess, a 
 sort of dawn ; and Liber and Libera, regarded by some as 
 the "deliverers" from bondage and sorrow, by others as 
 the gods of the blessing of children. It is noteworthy 
 that Juno, Minerva, and Diana, though they were very 
 early worshipped in Rome, the two first on the Capitol, 
 the last on the Aventine, have not as yet appeared. 
 
FUSION OF DIFFERENT ELEMENTS. 235 
 
 138. Here, as elsewhere, it is by a fusion of different 
 elements tliat a Liglier development has been reached. 
 The religion of the earliest inhabitants of Eome had not 
 advanced beyond that of shepherds and tillers of the soil ; 
 it was from the Sabines that higher religions conceptions, 
 together with a certain patriarchal-hierarchic polity, were 
 first introduced. As Eome became more of an Italian 
 centre, the number of gods who received its citizenship 
 increased, and if this caused a loss of the old simplicity, 
 the horizon was at the same time enlarged. After the 
 union of Latins and Sabines, three gods were raised far 
 above the others ; Jupiter was the highest. Mars the most 
 worshipped, and Janus the most characteristic of the 
 people. Jupiter, the good father, source of blessings and of 
 creation, sustainer of good faith and honesty, was still, as 
 the severe requirements imposed on his priest evince, and 
 as results from his whole character, pre-eminently the god 
 of purity and holiness. Whatever Mars may have been 
 in an earlier period, whether sun-god or spring-god, he 
 had certainly by this time become, par excellence, the god 
 of war, protector of the flocks of his people, champion of 
 the citizens, who received as his spring-harvest the Ver 
 Sacrum, the young men sent forth to conquer for them- 
 selves a new abode, and whose priests, from their magic 
 war-dance, were called the Salii. Janus (Dianus, the 
 " light one," the " bright"), with his two faces, the god of 
 the summer, who opened the day, and afterwards also the 
 year, gave his name to the month which succeeded the 
 winter month, was the opener of all life, the beginner of 
 all movement, and almost became the Creator, but the 
 soldierly Eomans connected him likewise with war. 
 
2 36 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 Even the Palatine Mars, before the coming of the 
 Sabines, was still more of a nature-god than of a god of 
 war, and only acquired this latter significance by his 
 union with Quirinus, the war-god of the Sabines. Diffe- 
 rent derivations are assigned to his name, which would 
 make him either the god of death (Mavors, Maurs, Mors, 
 so Mommsen), or a sun-god (from mar, to " shine," to 
 " sparkle," Eoscher). The proposal of Roscher to identify 
 him with Apollo, on the ground of some external corre- 
 spondences, seems to me to ignore the vast difference 
 between the character of the two deities. In the opinion 
 of Preller, Mars is the same as Mas, "the, male power" 
 (comp. Maspiter, Marmar, and his marriage with Nerio, 
 whose name is connected with the Sabine Nero, " strong," 
 and with the root nri, nar, " the male element"), and in 
 this capacity he would be the god of new life, of re-awak- 
 ening fruitfulness, and the genius of war. Mommsen and 
 Preller may at bottom be both right, for mors and mas 
 probably both have the same root (Sanskr. mri) signifying 
 death (comp. Sanskr. marya, "man," "warrior," marta, 
 martya, " man," and the Maruts, the Yedic gods of storm 
 and war). The Ver Sacrum was a sacrifice of men and 
 cattle to the god of war, in the hope that this propitiation 
 would induce him to spare during the year the rest of the 
 warriors and the flocks of the community. The practice 
 of opening the temple of Janus Quirinus at Rome at the 
 outbreak of war, and closing it again when peace was., 
 established, has been variously, but not yet satisfactorily, 
 explained. I look for its origin in the old animistic 
 notion that it was needful to give the deity an oppor- 
 tunity of accompanying the troops. 
 
 139. Much greater weight was attached by the prac- 
 tical Roman to the cultTis than to the doctrines of religion. 
 
ITS CULTUS. 237 
 
 This was the one point of supreme importance ; in his V 
 view the truly devout man was he who j)uiictually per- 
 formed his religious obligations, who was pious according 
 to law. There was a debt to be paid to the gods wliich 
 must be discharged, but it was settled if the letter of the 
 contract was fulfilled, and the symbol was given in place of 
 the reality. The animistic conception that the gods might 
 be employed as instruments for securing practical advan- 
 tages, lies at the basis of the whole Roman cultus. In 
 the earliest times, therefore, it was quite simple, so far as 
 regards the absence of images or temples, but it was at 
 the same time exceedingly complicated and burdened 
 with all kinds of ceremonies and symbolic actions, and 
 the least neglect destroyed the efficacy of the sacrifice. 
 This necessitated the assistance of priests acquainted 
 with the whole ritual, not to serve as mediators, for the 
 approach to the deity was open to all, but to see that the 
 pious action failed in no essential element. Each god 
 had his Flamen or " fire-kindler " (literally " blower "). 
 Of these there were twelve, the three principal ones 
 (rtiajorcs) being the priest of Jupiter, the Flamen dialis, 
 who was bound by rigid obligations, and the two priests 
 of Mars, the Flamines Martialis and Quirinalis, the heads 
 of the two Salian- Colleges. The wives of these Flamines 
 performed the cultus of the corresponding goddesses. No 
 special deity claimed the services of the Fontifices, the 
 bridge- or road-makers, a priesthood whose head, the 
 Fontifex Maximus, was rising higher and higher in 
 authority, though at this period, at any rate, the three 
 Flamines majorcs were still his suj)eriors ; the Augurs, 
 also, who discerned the will of the gods from the flight 
 
2 -.3 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 J 
 
 of birds, and other sacred orders, were likewise uncon- 
 nected with any particular deity. Everything was regu- ' 
 lated with precision by the government ; and the fact 
 that the highest of the priests was always under the 
 control of the state prevented the rise of a priestly 
 supremacy, the absence of which in Greece was due to 
 other causes ; but the consequence was that the Eoman 
 religion remained dry and formal, and was external rather 
 than inward. Even the purity (castitas), on which such 
 great stress was laid, was only sacerdotal, and was attained 
 by lustration, sprinkling, and fumigation, and the great 
 value attached to prayer, so that a single error had to be 
 atoned for as a neglect, had its basis in the superstitious 
 belief that it possessed a high magic power. Such a 
 religion was certainly intelligible to all; it was not with- 
 out a favourable influence on political and social life, 
 and it was admirably adapted to form a well-organised 
 army of conquerors, a nation that could rule the world, 
 but to spiritual life it contributed nothing, and it did 
 little for the advancement of speculation, poetry, or 
 art. 
 
 It was not necessary to offer to the thundering heaven- 
 god or to the river-god of the Tiber any human sacrifices, 
 but to the former onions and poppy-heads were offered 
 for his Kghtning to strike, instead of human heads, while 
 thirty puppets made of rushes were annually cast into 
 the latter. 
 
 Yarro regrets the days when the gods were worshipped 
 *' sine simulacroy In fact the little " houses of the gods " 
 (aedicula), which came into use in early times, were re- 
 garded as departures from the law of Numa. It is 
 
ITS CULTUS. 239 
 
 erroneous to quote this circumstauce in proof of the 
 purity of the primitive cultus; it only indicates the 
 low stage at which that cultus stood. The sacred trees, 
 stones [Jujpiter lapis), and animals (the wolf of Mars, and 
 his woodpecker, Ficus, who even becomes in tradition a 
 pre-historic king, Ficumnus), prove that it was origin ally 
 nothing more than fetishism. 
 
 The Flamen dialis might not touch anything unclean, 
 nor hear the lamentations for the dead, nor tread upon 
 a grave. He might not put away his wife, nor marry a 
 second time, and the thoroughly patriarchal character of 
 his priestly functions is revealed in the rule that on the 
 death of his wife he must lay down his office. 
 
 Human sacrifices were not uncommon among the 
 Romans also in early times. It was said that they were 
 abolished by Numa. But even down to the days of the 
 emperors a human victim, though he was a condemned 
 criminal, was put to death, and slaughtered enemies and 
 those who suffered capital punishment were regarded as 
 offerings to the gods. The self-sacrifice of individuals 
 (devovere se) on occasion of plagues or disasters was also 
 prompted by the same idea. 
 
 It was an instance of the favourable influence exerted 
 by the Roman religion upon social life that certain crimes 
 which were not dealt with by any law, such as the sale 
 of a wife or of a married son, the beating of a father, or 
 the violation of hospitality, were subject to the curse of 
 the gods, that is, involved a kind of excommunication, of 
 which men stood in great dread. 
 
 The anxious care for purity, and the belief in the magic 
 power of prayer, are further points of concord between 
 the Roman and the Parsee religions. Scrupulous ad- 
 herence to forms, which frequently led among the Romans 
 to a repetition of the sacrifices, on some occasions even 
 
 ^ 
 
240 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 as many as thirty times, was common to all ancient 
 priestly religions, but was seldom so strongly developed 
 as in the case before us. 
 
 140. The Tarquinii and Servius TuUiiis gave an 
 entirely new direction to the state religion, which was 
 pursued without interruption after their fall, and in fact 
 imtil the decline of pre-Christian Eome. They founded 
 a splendid temple on the Capitol for Jupiter, as the 
 mightiest and greatest of the gods, Ojptimus Maximus ; 
 others placed Juno and Minerva by his side. With this 
 temple splendid games and a brilliant cultus were 
 associated. The ancient patriarchal god of light and 
 purity thus became the powerful ruler, of whose citadel 
 it was said that it should become the head of the whole 
 world ; he was the divine personification of the conquer- 
 ing Eoman state. Such he continued to be. Into his 
 temple the great Scipio Africanus the elder, went every 
 morning to prepare himself by quiet prayer for his daily 
 work, and all his triumphs he ascribed solely to the 
 protection and aid of this great god. Jupiter 0. M. is 
 the expression of the belief of the Eomans, to which 
 they remained faithful even in that age of decline when 
 they ridiculed the rest of their ancestral religion. While 
 the Eoman empire continued to extend over the world, 
 it was impossible to doubt his power. The nations 
 trembled before him more than they had ever done be- 
 fore Asur or Maruduk. Even a stranger, like Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, founded a sanctuary to him in his capital, 
 and endeavoured to spread his worship with fanatical 
 zeal. The Jewish people alone claimed for their deity 
 
JUPITER OPTIMUS MAXIMUS. 241 
 
 the same sovereignty, and accordingly offered the most 
 steadfast resistance to the attempts of Antiochus and of 
 the Eomans. But the Jews were conquered, and a 
 temple of the Capitoline god was erected under Hadrian 
 on the ruins of the temple of Yahveh, until at last 
 Christendom, which issued from this same Jewish people, 
 drove Jupiter 0. M. out of his Capitol for good. 
 
 02)timus, in the formula Jupiter 0. M., possesses no 
 ethical significance, at any rate in the earliest times, hut 
 simply denotes the " mightiest," the " strongest." 
 
 The changes brought about by the Tarquinii affected 
 both the representation of the god and the mode of his 
 worship. Temples and images of the gods in human 
 form, hitherto scarcely known among the Eomans, were 
 now introduced. 
 
 141. It soon became evident that a cold formal state 
 religion of this kind, though it was now surrounded with 
 great pomp, and was raised to be a symbol of a bold 
 political idea, while it might satisfy a few statesmen and 
 patricians, could not meet the wants of a whole people. 
 This deficiency was perceived by the same kings who 
 modified the native cultus, and they endeavoured to meet 
 it by the introduction of foreign deities and usages. A 
 sanctuary was erected on the Aventine for Diana, who 
 was here really identical with the Artemis of Massilia, 
 and consequently with the Ephesian goddess ; while the 
 books containing the records of the oracular utterances of 
 the Sibyl of Cumae, were brought to Eome, and intrusted 
 to the care of two officers and two interpreters. These 
 were the first traces of Greek religion at Eome. But they 
 
 Q 
 
243 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 were not left to stand alone. One Hellenic god after 
 another, at first with the substitution of a Latin name, at 
 last even without that, received citizenship at Eome. 
 What the last kings had done voluntarily, though cer- 
 tainly with the view of meeting the wishes of the people, 
 the Senate was afterwards obliged to permit, in conse- 
 quence of the demands of public opinion, though it rarely 
 resolved to do so without hesitation. The Greek deities 
 were followed by the Asiatic, such as the Great Mother of 
 the gods, whose image, consisting of an unhewn stone, was 
 brought at the expense of the State from Pessinus to Eome. 
 On the whole, it was not the best and loftiest features of 
 the foreign religions that were adopted, but rather their 
 lower and sensual elements, and these, too, in their most 
 corrupt form. An accidental accusation brought to light, 
 in the year i86 B.C., a secret worship of Bacchus which 
 was accompanied by all kinds of abominations, and had 
 already made its way among thousands. Five years later 
 an attempt was made, by the aid of some supposititious 
 books of ISTuma, to substitute a certain semi- Greek theo- 
 sophy for the State religion, but this proved too much for 
 the sober sense of the Eomans. 
 
 For the guardianship of the Sibylline books duoviri 
 sacris faciundis were appointed. 
 
 It has been conjectured that even the Capitoline 
 triad, especially Minerva, shows an imitation of Greek 
 models, and in the institution of the Ludi Romani this 
 influence cannot be mistaken. The novelty lies in the 
 introduction of Greek deities ; Latin and Sabine gods 
 had been admitted long before. The worship of the 
 Massilian Artemis was quickly followed by the rites of 
 
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN DEITIES. 243 
 
 Dimeter, of Perseplion^, and of Dionysus, which were 
 amalgamated with the native worship of Ceres, Liber, and 
 Libera ; then came Castor and Pollox, Apollo, Esculapius ; 
 with the garden-goddess Venus, the Greek Aphrodite 
 was identified, and the luxurious cultus of the Erycinian 
 Venus, the mother of Eneas, soon rose to be the national 
 worship. 
 
 The Bacchic mysteries, introduced at Eome by a couple 
 of Campanian priests, were not the pure Eleusinian rites, 
 but the fanatical and immoral performances which pre- 
 vailed in Greece after the Peloponnesian wars. They 
 afforded the Eomans a welcome means of secretly prac- 
 tising unchastity, poisoning, falsification of wills, and 
 other crimes, as well as of forming political conspiracies. 
 P. Ebutius, who very nearly became their victim, brought 
 the scandal to light. 
 
 The supposititious books of Numa consisted of seven 
 Greek books on theosophy, and seven Latin on the jus 
 jpontificiuin ; the fabrication, however, was so clumsy that 
 the fraud was detected immediately, and the Senate gave 
 orders that they should be burnt. 
 
 142. The current of the age was, however, too powerful 
 to be turned even by any Eoman authority. It was in 
 vain that the philosophers, the soothsayers, and the priests 
 of foreign gods were from time to time expelled ; the first 
 had become indispensable for the higher classes, many 
 of these being also equally devoted to the last, who were, 
 however, in especial request among women and among 
 the lower classes. The state religion, undermined by- 
 philosophy, fell more and more into decline. As early as 
 the first Punic war, a general ventured to ridicule the 
 auspices, and the augurs soon did the same. Priestly 
 
\ 
 
 244 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 offices were no longer secured to the worthiest occupants, 
 but were sold to the wealthiest, and the highest of all 
 sometimes remained vacant for years. Incredulity was 
 followed by the usual result — the rank growth of super- 
 stition. Astrology and necromancy made their way even 
 among the cultured and the learned, and went hand in 
 hand with the grossest abuses. The eyes of the multitude 
 were always turned towards the East, from which deliver- 
 ance was expected to come forth, and secret rites brought 
 from there to Eome were sure of a number of devotees. 
 But they were only bastard children, or, at any rate, the 
 late misshapen offspring of the lofty religions which once 
 flourished in the East, an un-Persian Mithra-worship, 
 an un-Egyptian Serapis-worship, an Isis-worship which 
 only flattered the senses and was eagerly pursued by the 
 fine ladies, to say nothing of more loathsome practices. 
 Yet even these aberrations were the expression of a real 
 and deep-seated need of the human miud which coid.d find 
 no satisfaction in the state religion. Men longed for a 
 God whom they could worship heart and soul, and with 
 this God they longed to be reconciled. Their own deities 
 they had outgrown, and they listened eagerly, therefore, to 
 the priests of Serapis and of Mithra, who each proclaimed 
 their god as the sole- existing, the almighty, and all-good, 
 and they felt especially attracted by the earnestness and 
 strictness of the latter cultus. And in order to be secure 
 of the eradication of all guilt, men lay down in a pit 
 where the blood of the sacrificial animal flowed all over 
 them, in the conviction that they would then arise entirely 
 new-born. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN DEITIES. 245 
 
 After the death of L. Merula, in the time of Marius, 
 the office of Flamen dialis remained vacant for seventy 
 years, as no one was willing to submit to the great self- 
 denial which it demanded. 
 
 The practice of astrology and magic was a return to the 
 ancient civilisation of the proto-Babylonians. The astro- 
 logers at Rome were always called Chaldeans. They 
 found credit even with learned persons, like Varro and 
 Nigidius Figulus ; under Sept. Severus they were publicly 
 recognised, and under Alexander Severus they even re- 
 ceived a sort of professorial chair at Rome. Magic had a 
 more mixed character, for the aid of northern priests, 
 especially of the Druids, was also invoked. As early as 
 97 B.C., it was found necessary to prohibit human sacrifices 
 instituted in accordance with magical dogmas. Emperors, 
 like Nero, and even Hadrian, were not disinclined to it. 
 
 Besides the deities named in the text, a number of 
 others were also introduced into the Roman Em^^ire, 
 especially from Syria, such as Atergatis, Maiwna, the 
 goddess of Gaza, Deus Sol Elagahal (the god of Byblus 
 [Gebal] worshipped at Emesa), &c. On Serapis, see 
 above, § 37. The most interesting of all these deities 
 was the old-Aryan Mithra, whose worship had attained a 
 high ascendency as early as Artaxerxes Mnemon, and, in 
 conjunction with all kinds of un-Parsee usages, had spread 
 through the East. His cultus, which always remained 
 relatively pure, was brought to the West by pirates. By 
 the Romans he was identified with their Sol invidus, to 
 whom not only Julian, but also Constantine, even after 
 his conversion to Christianity, is said to have been devoted. 
 How far this Mithra was, moreover, from being the pure 
 Zarathustrian god of light may be inferred from the fact 
 that the highest — and, properly speaking, the only — god 
 of the system, compared with whom Mithra is nothing 
 
246 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS, 
 
 more than a genius, remained entirely unknown in the 
 West. 
 
 The Tauroholia and Krioholia must also have been 
 derived from the East, though their origin is unknown. 
 
 143. It was natural that the policy of Augustus should 
 include the restoration of the national worship, but it was 
 only the outward institutions which he re-organised ; he 
 could breathe no life into its dead forms. Two important 
 religious innovations characterise the age of the empire 
 — the deification of the emperors, and the growing power 
 of universalism. l!^ot only was the emperor on the 
 Capitol made the centre of worship, which was to be ex- 
 pected in a state religion, but men now began to follow 
 also at Eome the example set centuries before by the 
 Egyptian princes, and in later days by the Ptolemies and 
 Seleucidae, for which the worship of genii afforded the 
 means of transition, and the prevailing Euhemerism which 
 explained the gods themselves as princes deified in ancient 
 times, supplied the justification. Even during his lifetime 
 Caesar was honoured as a deity, and after his death he was 
 enrolled among the gods by the Senate with great forma- 
 lity. All the emperors, with a few exceptions, followed 
 him in turn, although Augustus and Tiberius still offered 
 some resistance to the practice, and a Vespasian ridiculed 
 it. Men talked of their majesty and eternity ; their head 
 was surrounded with a crown of rays and a nimbus ; 
 sacrifice was offered to their images, and they had the 
 sacred fire carried before them. They were designated by 
 the names of the gods — Hadrian was the Olympian, Nero 
 Zeus, the liberator, and even the saviour of the world. Em- 
 presses thought it not beneath them to serve as priestesses 
 
WORSHIP OF THE EMPERORS. 247 
 
 in the temples of their dead consorts, in expectation that 
 they themselves would be deified, and cities esteemed 
 it an honour to be temple-guardians (properly " temple- 
 sweepers," vewKopoi) of the Imperator. Thus this new 
 cultus became a regular instrument of propaganda among* 
 the non-Eoman nations, alike of the religion and of the 
 supremacy of Eome. For Augustus and Eoma were 
 placed side by side as symbols of the restored empire 
 with all its civilisation and its belief. 
 
 The second innovation was that Jupiter 0. M. was now 
 not only raised with the loftiest titles to be the chief of 
 all the deities in the world, but was also identified with 
 all the highest gods of other nations, and the provinces 
 witnessed everywhere the rise of imitations of the Capitol. 
 The relation was thus reversed. Men had begun by 
 honouring the foreign gods, as mysterious powers, above 
 their own ; now that they knew them better, they saw 
 that they stood no higher, and were essentially the same ; 
 each chief god was in fact a Jupiter, and the cultus of 
 this Jupiter in different forms, combined with that of his 
 incarnation upon earth — the emperor — now became the 
 universal religion for the great universal empire. 
 
 The deification of Csesar under the name divus Julius 
 had proceeded so far that his image was not allowed to be 
 carried in procession at family obsequies among the images 
 of the ancestors of the house. The cultus of the emperors 
 was pursued with such zeal that games were actually 
 instituted in their honour, temples were built, and spe- 
 cial priesthoods apjpointed ; the Greek usage in the first 
 case, and the Egyptian in the second, supplying the 
 model. Even by the Christian Tertullian the emperors 
 
248 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 were called, though in a modified sense, a Deo secundi, solo 
 Deo minores. 
 
 Jupiter now received the splendid titles of summus 
 excellentissimus, or exswpera7itissimus, pacator or jpraeses orbis, 
 and others of the same kind. The inscriptions of the 
 period speak of a Jiipiter 0. M. HeUojJolitamis (Baalbek), 
 Damascenus, DoUchenus, and even of a Pceninus on the St. 
 Bernard, and a Cuhninalis in Styria. See Orell. Inscri^pt 
 lat Colledio, No. 228 foil., and Henzen (vol. iii. Colled. 
 OrelUanae), No. 5642. Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Myth. p. 154. 
 
 144. The Greco-Eoman civilisation was the most com- 
 posite, and consequently the highest, of antiquity. It 
 soon far outgrew the ancestral religion, and men sought 
 anxiously for the satisfaction of their religious wants. 
 Fresh elements, therefore, were constantly being added to 
 those which had already coalesced from Greece and Eome, 
 and the whole mass continued to seethe and ferment. 
 But an inspiring idea was necessary to draw forth from 
 this confusion a new form of religion which should answer 
 the needs of the civilised world. This idea was brought 
 by the Gospel, the latest and most precious gift of the 
 East to the West. But the West contributed its share, 
 for it was here that the Gospel found its way prepared ; 
 here alone was it possible for it, though after long struggles, 
 to prevail. The Eastern nations had retrograded; the 
 Slavic and Germanic peoples were still backward. It 
 was not till later that the era of the Germans dawned. 
 The first form which Christianity assumed as an established 
 religion was Eoman. The Eoman Catholic Church is 
 simply the Eoman universal empire modified and conse- 
 crated by Christian ideas. It left the old forms for the 
 
RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 249 
 
 most part standing, but it ennobled and elevated them by 
 the new spirit ; its organisation and its efforts after unity 
 which controlled all its development were inherited from 
 the Eomans, and it was by their means that it was 
 enabled to become the teacher of the still rude popula- 
 tions of the North, to preserve rather than to diffuse 
 the treasures which it had received from the Ancients 
 and from Jesus. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY BAI.LANTYNE, HANSON AND CCX 
 EDINBUKfiH AND LONDON. 
 
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