THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
WILLIAM A. NITZE
,-i//ii iii.urilx,/ hi/ /ii,s ,>Nji;r,l /iiimlih Sirui/it
"' Tllh'. AUTHOH.
hi/tltflinl l-ebl 111" ail/u ,1i* ■lii.ittl^ /I Mul ./ mnii^lan yr.iiih ,7au^l> hiiiLUnilm
THE
ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY
ASCERTAINED FROM
HISTORICAL TESTIMONY
AND
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
BY GEORGE STANLEY FABER, B.D.
EECTOR OP LONG-NEWTON.
Every reasonable Hypothesis should be supported on a faci
Warburton's Div. Leg. vol. v. p. 458-
THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
JLonDon :
Printed hy R. and R. Gilbert, St. John's Square, CltrhtnweU,
FOR F. C. AND J. RIVINGTONi
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.
18J(7.
^f-ff/..
F/A
O
V.3
ERRATA.
VOLUME III.
?iige tint
83. 4 from bottom. For call read called
S7. 5 note. For adopted read adapted
♦1. 20. For Pherephalta read Phcrcphatta
65. 22. For Arahanari read Ardkanari
87. 10. Insert a comma after Hewce
120. 5. For //« read //«
125. 7. F"or Athyn read Alhyr
135. 25. For Pj//Aa read f/i/Aa
135. last line. For Anias read Anius
200. 1 note. Insert 4 before Natal
205. 18. For /jar/s read peaks
246. 3 from bottom. For Shocmadoo read Shoemadoo
253. 1. For rfna'i'an read (^iYwwarj
254. 15. For /)a/e read j;i7e
263. 1. Erase vast
271. 26. For Pachacamaa read Pachacamac
282. 25. For drncontion read dracontian
284. 15. Erase /Ae before temple
329. 2. For Codem read Codoni
332. 22, 30. Invert the references 2 and 1
399. 2 from bottom. For thl read the : and for chronologlcae read chronological,
401. 8. For 1494 read 1495
409. 9. For Daesha read DacJta
438. 16. For cai/ read cdi/e
485. 19. For let read /e/i!
486. 3 from bottom. For Kheltrics and dheltries read Khettries and Cshettries
488. 8. For Cuchas read Ciahas
490. 3. Insert o/" after lo/jo/e
491. 3. F'or i\i«g/ii read iV/flffZia
518. last line. For 2
C0NTf,NT9» 3a
PAGE
S. The aspirants were born again out of the infernal boat - 163
4. An account of the Druidical Mysteries, as exhibited in the initiation of
Taliesin - - - - - - \65
(1.) The nragic cauldron - - - - l67
(2.) The Metamorphoses - - - - 171
(3.) The inclosure of the aspirant within the Kist-Vaen, representing
the womb of the ship-goddess - - - 172
(4.) The committing of tlie aspirant to sea iii a dose coracle - 174
(5.) His initiation was viewed, as a descent into hell, and as a passage
to the Elysian island over the infernal lake - - 175
(6.) The aspirant was liberated from the coracle at the same time that
Noah was liberated from the Ark - - - 177
5. An account of the Persian Mysteries of Mithras - - 173
(I.) Regeneration of the aspirant from the door of a rocky cavern 179
(2.) The regeneration of the aspirant from a boat. Fable of Homai
and Darab - - - - - 183
6. Regeneration from the rocky orifice - - - 184
(1.) Among the Hindoos - - - - ib.
(2.) Among the Druids - - - - 186
7. Regeneration from a pit - - - . 187
8. An account of the Mexican Mysteries - - - 188
9. Import of the sacred door - - . « I89
10. Free-masonry not improbably borrowed from the ancient Mysteries 190
CHAPTER VII.
Concerning the places used hy the Pagans for religions worship 193
TilE great father is thought to have been the first, who built temples and instituted
sacriiicea .,.---- jbs
Xii CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. The primeval places of worship were thick groves, lofty mountains, rocky
caverns, and small islands - - - - 194
1. Notions entertained by tlie Heathens respecting their consecrated moun.
tains .--_-- 200
(1.) Each high place at once represented Paradise and Ararat - 201
(2.) Each high place was also a symbol of the generative great father 202
(3.^ Each high place, as sustaining the lunar Ark, was a mountain of
the Moon . _ _ _ . 203
(4.) Mountains with two or three peaks were peculiarly venerated.
The reasons, why they were thus venerated - - 204
2. Notions entertained of the sacred caverns. They represented the gloomy
interior of the Ark as wedged fast among die rocks of Ararat - 208
(1.) Caverns combined with a holy mountain - - ib.
(2.) Universal prevalence of cavern worship, whether the cavern be in
a mountain or in a holy island - - - 210
(3.) Proofs of the supposed import of the sacred cavern - oig
(4.) Exemplification of the mode, in wiiich the cavern was used - 215
(5.) Virgil's fable of Aristeus explained - - . gjjr
3. Sacred lakes and islands. The Earth, the summit of Ararat, and the
Ark, were each an island. Lake of Paradise. As the deluge retired
from the mountains of Ararat, it would present the appearance of a lake
studded with islets - - - - - 921
(1.) Lakes and islands immediately connected with traditions of the
deluge. Chemniis. Delos. Sacred western island of the Moon.
Lake Titiaca and its island. Islands of Hu either in lakes or in the
sea - - - - - - 224
(2.) l/akes and islands not quite so distinctly marked, but referred
analogically to the same class. Cotyle. Lake and islands of Va-
dimon. Delian Trochoidcs. Lake and island of EUora. Lakes
and islands of the gods. Floating island of Vulcan - - 22(>
4. As the waters of the deluge rrtired, the lop of Ararat would form the
circle of tlie visible horizon. Hence originated the notion of the sacred
circle of hills on the top of the mundane Mcru - - 229
5. Grove-worship. As Ararat locally coinciiliil with Paradise, imitative
holy groves were associated wilii mountains, caverns, and islands - 230
(I.) Origin of grove-worship ascertained from Isaiah - 231
(2.) Beauty of the sacred groves - - . 234
CONTENTS. Xiii
,_ _ , , , PAGE
II. From those primeval places of worship, wliich were furnished by the hand
of nature, originated corresponding artificial sanctuaries _ 235
1. Every tumulus, or artificial high place, or pyramid, or pagoda, was a
transcript of the holy mountain. Hence, in their arrangements, they ex-
actly correspond with the fabled Meru - - - ib.
( 1 .) Tower of Babel - . ■ . 033
(2.) Pyramids of Egypt - - - '. 242
(3.) Pagodas of Ilindostan - - - _ 245
(4.) Pyramidal temples of Buddha - - . 246
(5.) Artificial tumuli of the Scythians and Celts. i\ityn-Obo. New-
Grange. Silbury hill _ . _ . 047
(6.) As the artificial tumuli represented Ararat ; they were often
raised, either on the shore of the sea, or on the banks of rivers, or
on small islands, or in the midst of a lake. Pagodas of Hiudostan.
Pyramids mentioned by Herodotus. Pyramidal temple of Vitzli-
putzli. Insular pagoda of Seringham. Tumulus near Tyre. Ota-
heitean Morai - . - . . 250
2. Every artificial excavation was imitative of the natural cavern - 254
(I.) Excavations in mountains. Ellora. The Mithratic grottos.
Caverns of the Thebais. Caveins near Tortosa. Excavations at
Caieta. Excavations in the Crimea. Excavations in Norway.
Excavation in mount Olivet. Grotto of Trophonius - Jb.
(2.) Excavations in insular mountains. Elephanta. Canarah - 26O
(3.) Dark central chambers in artificial hills or pyramids. Tower of
Babylon. Great pyramid. Indian pagodas. New-Grange 263
3. Dark cavernal chambers in temples devoted to the celebration of the
Mysteries were also imitative of the natural cavern. Cavern temple at
Tenarum. Egyptian temples. Labyrinths. Templeof the Eleusinian
Ceres. Druidical Kist-Vaens. Temples of the Peruvians and Mexi-
cans ...... 2G7
4. Every temple of v\hatever description was deemed a copy of the World,
by which we are to understand conjointly the Earth and the Ark - 272
5. Temples were so frequently built on hills, because the Ark rested on
mount Ararat. Examples - - . _ 075
6. The celestial temple on the summit of Meru was an imaginary circle of
hills. Hence originated artificial circular temples, whether open or co-
vered. When they were finished with a dome, the additional idea was
taken from the mundane egg .... i^'Q
XIV 60NTENTS,
PAGE
(I.) Open round temples. Peruvian. Phrygian. Phenician. Da-
nish. Druidical : Stongehenge ; Abury. Temple of Cnuphis.
Philae ------ 278
(2.) Covered round temples. Persian Pyratheia. Temple of Vesta.
Pantheon. Temple on mount Zilmissus. Temples of Jagan-Nath,
Mathura, and Benares. New-Grange. Mexican and Peruvian
round temples . . . « - 033.
7. The dome and the pyramid were sometimes blended together, in double
reference to the cavern and the holy mountain. Temple in Ceylon,
Pyramids of Deogur. Pyramids of Sakarra. Chinese Tien-tan - £85
8. Cruciform temples, Benares. Mathura. New-Grange. Origin of
the form ..---- 286.
9. Ship temples. Pagoda of Tanjore. Latin mount Alban. Ship tem-
ple of Osiris. Celtic ship temple in Ireland. Ship temple of Escula-
pius. Stone ship of Bacchus. Stone sliip of Osiris. Agdus of Cybel^.
Tolmen in Cornwall. Stone mother alluded to by Jeremiah. A ship
symbolical of initiation into the Mysteries - - - 288
10. Temples imitative of groves. Why the portals of such temples looked
to the east ... - - 292
1 1 . The ancient pagan style of architecture has been adopted both by
Christians and Mohammedans - . - _ 295
III. The worship of the Gentiles was of a sepulchral nature. Heuce origi-
nated the notion, that the pyramids were tombs . . 296
1. The temple of the great father was always deemed his tomb - 298
(1.) Ground of this opinion - - - - ib.
(2.) Exemplification of it . _ » . e
and succession in the days of Scrug - - > 4n
(3.) How tlie Scytiiic heresy prevailed from the flood to the tower 412
"V. Respecting tiie era of the old Scythic empire, and of the building of the
to«cr . . - . - _ 4,3
1. Tiic emigratjon from Armenia could not have taken place until after the
death of Noah and iiis three s(M1s - - - ib.
2. The early postdiluvian chronology of the Hebrew Pentateuch shewn to
be erroneous - . _ - _ 4]*
.•5. The early jwstdiluvian chronology of Josei)lius shewn to be erroneous 4'i 1
4. The early postdiluvian cliionology of the Ixx siiewii to be erroneous ib.
5. The tally posldiluvian chronology of the Samaritan Pentateuch shewn
to be perfectly genuine - . _ - 402
fi. The dates of the commencement and termination of the Scythic empire
.asctrtaincd --__•. 4^4
CONTENTS. • XIX
PACK
VI. Polity of Nimrod's empire . _ - - 426
1 . Its polity consisted in an arrangement of the community into four dis-
tinct castes or tribes : the sacerdotal, the military, the mercantile, and
the servile --_-.- 437
2. Circumstantial evidence adduced in proof of such an opinion - 432
(1.) From Justin - . .- . _ . ib.
(2.) From Scripture . - - - 435
(3.) From the Dabistaa - - - .441
VII. Machiavellian politics of Nimrod - - . - 442
CHAPTER III.
Respecting the primitive division of the world among the children
of Noah, the triads of the Gentiles, the confusion of languages,
and the mode of the dispersion from. Bahel - - _ 446
I. The inheritance of Japhet was the whole of Europe and northern Asia^ 447
1. Gomer --.... ii,,
2. Magog, Tubal, and Mesecli . _ _ _ 443
3. Madai _--..__ ^^g
4. Javan -----•. ]{,.
5. Tiras - - .. - _ -451
II. Tlie inheritance of Shem was southern Asia intermingled with Ham - ib.
1. Elam ------ ib.
2. Ashur ------ 452
3. Arphaxad - • - - - ib.
(1.) Peleg ----- ibl
- XX CONTENTS.
PAGE
(2.) Joklan - - - - _ 452
4. Lud -.--.. 453
5. Aram ----- , jb.
III. The inheritance or acquisitions of Ham, at the first division of the earth,
were the whole of Africa, and southern Asia intermingled with Shem ib.
1. Cush ------ 434
2. Misr ------ 4J5
3. Phut ...--- 456
4. Canaan .----_ 457
IV. Tlie confusion of languages in some centrical region may be ascertained
even independently of Scripture . . - - 45B
1. Mankind divide themselves into three great races ; Hindoos, Arabs,
Tartars ------ ib.
2. Limits of India - - • - - ib.
3. Limits of Arabia ----- 453
4. Limits of Tartary ----- ib.
5. To these three races all mankind may be traced up - - ib.
(1.) Members of the Indian race - - - ib.
(2.) Members of the Arabian race - , - - 460
(.'3.) Members of the Tartarian race - - - ib.
6. Analogous to the three races, there are three primeval languages ; Sans-
crit, Arabic, and Sclavonic - - - - ib.
(1.) Dialects of Sanscrit - . - - ib.
(2.) Dialects of Arabic - - . - ib.
(;3.) Dialects of Sclavonic - - - - ib.
7. The three races and the three languages are all found in Iran . ibi
8. Hence Iran must have been the cradle of mankind - . 462
9. The confusion at Babel was a real confusion of language : but only
three different tongues were produced at the time of the dispersion 463
V. The division of the world by Noah among his sons - - 466
1. Tills division was triple, agreeably to the number of his sons ; and it
was well known to the Gentiles - - . , ^QQ
2. From the three sons of Adam, viewed as reappearing in the three sons
of Noah, originatetl the divine triads of the Cientiles - - 4fi8
VI. Respecting the peculiar mode of the dispersion from Babel - 475
1. Lxislencc of castes ill various dilVcrcht regions - - 476
(I.) Summary of what has been learned from the inquiry - 482
CONTENTS. XXI
PAGE
(2.) Conclusion deduced from it - - « 434
2. There is sufficient evidence to prove, that the various Noetic tribes
went ofi' under Cutliic leaders, sacerdotal and military. Hence the
Cuthim, as constituting the two superior orders of priests and military
nobles, were mingled with their brethren in almost every part of the
world _..-_. 435
(1.) Proof of the Cuthic descent of the several sacerdotal and military
classes, from historical notices - _ . i|j.
(2.) Proof of the same position, from the remarkable travels of mem*
bers of those classes ■ - . - 493
(3.) Proof of the same position, from the circumstance of the sacerdo-
tal orders of different nations all bearing similar family titles - 495
(4.) Proof of the same position, from certain extraordinary names borne
by the several military classes ... 4QG
CHAPTER IV.
Ecspccting the various settlements and migrations of the unblended
part of the military caste ... 499
I. A large body of the Cuthim went off from Babel in an unmixed state,
owing to the schism of the two great sects - - ib.
1 . These were deemed excommunicated by the oAers - - 50 1
2. Their chief settlements were in the three Cuucasi ; or in that conti-
nuous high range of country, which stretches from the Euxiiie sea to
upper India, and which the Persians denominate the stony girdle of the
earth ---.-. ^04
II. Oiiijiu and progress of the Scuthim or Scythians - . oOli
XXM "^ CONTENTS.
PAGE
1 . The Scythians came out of the region of Caf or Caucasus: and their
settlements extended all the way from upper India to the shores of tlie
Euxine - . _ - _ « 507
C. From Asia they passed into Europe - - - ib.
(1.) Here they penetrated to the utmost extremity of the west - ib.
(2.) The Germans were Scythians - - - 510
(3.) But the Scythians, or Scuthim, or Cuthim, or Chusas, were the
same race as the Getes or Goths. Whence the Germans were
Goths : and, as the Iiido-Scythae or Chusas claim to this day the
patriarch Cusha as their general ancestor^ the Goths were Cuths or
Cuthim - - - - - 512
(4.) Scythians of Scandinavia - - - - 515
(5.) Cossacs - - _ . . 5i6
(6.) High character of the ancient Goth» - • - ib.
3. Their opposite progress from upper India to the extreme east - 517
(1.) The Chinese ----- ib.
(2.) The Japanese - - - - - 421
(3.) The Cossais, the Siamese, the Peguers, the Burmans - 522
4. Tlieir progress to the south-west, briefly touched upon, and reserved
for a separate discussion - - - - ib.
5. Division into castes was necessarily unknown among the unmixed
Cutiiim .... - 525
CHAPTER V.
Respecting the SJicp/icrd-ld»gs of Egijpt, and the various acttlemenis
of the military caste in consequence of their expulsion 526
I. History of the Shepherd-kings of Egypt - - - ib.
1. As rerordfd by Manctho - - - - ib.
2. As noticed by Diodorus, Lysimachus, and Tacitus - - b30
CONTENTS. Xxiii
PAGE
II. Chronology of tlie pastoral domination - - - 532
III. Tlieory of Mr, Bryant relative to the Shepherd-kiiKjs - - 538
1 . Tlie tlieory stated - - - • - ib,
2. Shewn to be unsatisfactory - - - - 54 1
IV. Another theory proposed - - - . 545
1. The pastoral history connected with that of the Israelites, as gathered
from profane writers - - - - ib.
2. Agreement of pagan with sacred chronology . - 543
3. The retuni of the Shepherd-kings into Egypt, after their first expulsion,
is distinctly mentioned in Scripture . _ . 550
4. Their domination after that return lasted lOG years - ' - 553
a. This arrangement is confirmed by Scriptural chronology - 555
G. The Cuiiuc Shepherd-kings, not the native Mizraim, were the oppressors
of Israel in Egypt . - - . . 557
7. The pyramids were built by the labour of the Israelites « 559
Y. An inquiry into the origin and nationality of the Shepherd-kings - 560
1. The Shepherd-kings were Asiatic Ethiopians or Phenicians or Philitini •
Csometimes miscalled Arabians), who invaded Egypt from the east ib.
2. The Phenicians were not Canaanites, but Asiatic Cushim or Scythians.
They were the same race as the scriptural Anakim. In the time of
Abraham, there were two distinct races in Palestine ; the descendants
of Cusli, and the descendants of Canaan. Enumeratiun of them. Tlie
conquest of Egypt by the Phenicians was the same as that eifected by
the Shepherd-kings - - - - - 56l
5. The Piiilistim were not children of Misr throngii the line of Casluh, as
many have imagined from c misunderstood expression of Moses ; but tliey
were of the race of the Indo-Cuthic Pali or Shepherds - 565
4. Entrance of the Shepherds into Palestine, fiist from the norlh-east
round the great Arabian desert, then retrogressively from the south-
west .__.-- 570
5. In their progress from the Indian Caucasus, they subdued Chakl^a and
established thenisclves round the head of the P- rsian gulpli. They are
styled Arabs by various authors. Probable origination of that mii^ap-
plied title .-.-_. 572
6. The remembrance of their emigration was accurately preserved, both
(1.) In the West, where they planted the African Ethiopia or Cusha-
dwip without ; - - - - - 573
XXIV CONTENTS.
PAGE
(2.) And ill tlie East, where they had occupied districts of a more an-
cient Ethiopia ----- 579
7. The accuracy of these traditions is confirmed by several incidental par-
ticulars - _ - _ . 584
(1.) PaJhthan, Goshen, and Auaris, are all Sanscrit words of the same
import ----- ib.
(2.) Resemblance between India and Egypt, both natural and artificial 585
(S.) Verbal mytliological coincidences - - - 536
VI. Various emigrations of the Cuthic Shepherds, when finally expelled from
Egypt ------ 589
1 . Danai or Danavas • - - _ . ib.
1. Cadmians or Cadmonites or Codomites . _ - 591
3. Colchians . - - _ . 592
4. Cossacs - - - _ . 5Q3
5. Atlantians or western Ethiopians - _ _ 595
6. Milesians of Ireland - - _ _ 590
7. Colonists of the Mediterranean shores of Africa • - 6OO
CHAPTER VI.
Respecting (he mode, in xohich Pagan Idolatry originated ; the
resemblance between the Ritual Law of Moses and the Ritual
Ordinances of the Gentiles ; and certain jjeculiarities in the
several characters of the Messiah and the great father 609
r The mode, in which Pagan Idolatry originated from Patriarchism - ib.
I. Pagan Idolatry was Noetic Palrianhism corrupted and perverted 604
(I.) Matters recorded respecting Adam. The Cherubim and ark ib.
CONTENTS.
XXV
PAGE
G08
ib.
610
ib.
612
(2.) Matters recorded respecting Noah. He must have been ac-
quainted with the forms of the Cherubim
(.1.) Mattei-3 taught us respecting Jehovali and the Word of Jehovah
being visibly manifested in a human form
2. How these various well-known particulars were perverted by the idola-
ters of Babel .....
(1.) Perversion of the character of Jehovah the Word to the great
father. Rise of the doctrine of Avatars or incarnate maivifestations
of the great father - . . _
(2.) Points of resemblance between the characters of the Word, of
Adam, and of Noah, were eagerly laid hold of -
(3.) Rise of hero-worship from the doctrine of incarnate manifestations Gl.'?
(4.) Origination of the Metempsychosis from the same source - ib.
(5.) Summary of the character of the great father as thus originating ib.
(6.) Perversion of sacrifice, of the doctrines of the fall and regenera-
tion, and of the ark and Cherubim - - . 6l4
(7.) In the first stage of idolatry, the Godhead was given out to have
been successively incarnate in the persons of Adam and Noah, each
multiplying himself into three sons - - - 6 1 6
(8.) Rise of Sabianism from hero-worship and perverted astronomy 618
3. The outward forms of Pattiarchism were studiously copied into Ido-
latry - . - - - - ib-
(1.) King and priest - - - " 6l9
(2.) Sacrifice on the tops of hills - - - ib.
(.".) Worship in consecrated groves - - - 620
(4.) Symbolical stone columns - - -lb.
(5.) Teraphim or Cherubim - - - - 621
(6.) Jacob's ladder or pyramidal staircase - - 622
4. The leading ideas of Patriarchism were also copied into Paganism.
Exemplification from a remarkable passage in the book of Job - 623
II. The cause of the resemblance between tiie Ritual Law of Moses and the
Ritual Ordinances of the Gentiles - - - 624
1. The resemblance can only be accounted for in one of three ways - ib.
(1.) The theory, that Paganism borrowed its ceremonial from the
Ritual Law of Moses, examined and discarded - - 645
(2.) The opposite theory, that tiie Ritual Law of Moses was bor-
rowed from the ceremonial of Paganism, examined and discarded 627
Pflcr. Idol. VOL. 111. d
XXVI CONTENTS^
PAGE
(3.) The theorj', that they were each a transcript of a more ancient
ritual, namely that of Patriarchism, examined and approved - 630
2. The same train of thought is thence observable both in Paganism, Ju-
daism and Christianity - - . g3J
(1.) Instanced in the case of the Ark, the deluge, and the Cherubim.
Notions of the Philistim respecting the ark of the covenant - ib,
(2.) Further instanced in the case of the tabernacle, the temple, and
the high-priest - - » . g37
(3.) Furtiier instanced in the cliaracters of Christ and his consort the
Church ..... 640
(4.) Further instanced in the phraseology of Scripture. Fish of Jo-
nah. Christ viewed as a fish. Moses in the ark. A state of
affliction symbolized by a flood - _ _ §45
111. Certain peculiarities iu the several characters of the Jlessiah and the "reat
father accounted for - . . . . 643
1 . Infidel theory of Mr. Volney stated and examined . - ib.
(1.) His theory of the non-existence of a literal Christ - 64f>
(2.) His assertion, that the literal existence of Christ rests on the sole
testimony of Tacitus - - - - 653
(3.) His etymologies . . . ^ 653
2. True ground of the resemblance between the Messiah and the great
father iu certain peculiarities of character . _ . (354
(1.) Typical character of Adam - _ _ g^g
(-•) Typical character of Enoch ... 657
(■!.) Typical character of Noah . - - ib.
3. How ihe Buddhists came to confound Ciirist with CuddJia . 6i8
EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES IN PLATI^ IIL
The rise and progress of Temple Architecture.
rig-
J . The lunar sliip of Osiris, with the oracular navel containing the god in the centre
of it. From Pococke.
2. The lunar ship resting on the summit of Ararat, the original mountain of the
Moon.
S. The sacred mountain with two natural peaks, viewed as a physical copy, on an
immense scale, of the two horns of the lunette or of the stem and stem of the
ship.
4. The lunar ship, with the great father supplying to it the place of a mast, resting on
the top of the mountain of the Moon.
5. The sacred mountain with three natural peaks, viewed as a physical copy of the
two horns and mast of the lunette. This is a supposed form of Meru ; and the
real form of the sacred mount Olivet, on the three peaks of which were wor-
shipped Astoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom.
6. Japanese temple at Quaiio, built as a copy of the lunar mountain. From Kxmp.
fer's Japan, pi. xxxii. fig. 14.
7. Indian pagoda at Tanjore, supporting the hull of a ship. From Maurice s Ind.
Ant.
8. Great pagoda at Tanjore, terminating, like the fabled Meru, in three peaks. From
Alaurice's lud. Ant.
9. Ancient pagoda at Deogur, sustaining the mystic egg and trident; which last is a
copy of the lunar ship Argha with its mast. From Maurice's Ind. Ant.
10. Temple of Belus at Babylon, according to Herodotus. This seems to have been
the ancient tower of Babel completed by Nebuchadnezzar. It is a supposed
form of Meru.
11. An Egyptian pyramid near Sakarra. From Norden.
12. Mexican temple of the Sun and Moon. From Maurice's Ind. Ant.
13. Great pyramid of Cairo.
XXviii EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES IN PLATE III]
Fig.
14. Shoemadooj the great temple of Buddha at Pegu. From Symes's Embassy to
Ava.
15. A holy niountam with a consecrated cavern iu its side.
16. Section of the great pyramid of Cairo, exhibiting its dark central chamber or arti-
ficial cavern. From Pococke.
17. Holy two-peaked artificial tumulus of New-Grange with Mercurial columns and
door of approach to its central chamber. From Ledwich's A\it. of Ireland.
IS. The Ark, resting among tlie crags of Ararat, and exhibiting the semblance of a
dark grotto.
19. Rock temple of Jugneth Subha at EUora, excavated out of the bowels of a moun-
tain in imitation of liie Ark. Such places of worship frequently occur in India,
Persia, Egypt, Palestine, and the Crimea. From Asiat. Research, vol. vi.
'20. Gateway of the Egyptian temple at Edfu, designed to imitate the two-peaked moun-
tain and sacred cavernal door. From Nordeu,
21. A supposed form of mount Meru, surmounted by the Ida-vratta or sacred mundane
ring of hills.
22. A temple of the sort usually called Dntidical, designed to imitate the Ida-vratta
on the top of the lunar mountain.
33. A temple of Buddha in Ceylon, uniting the two forms of the egg and the pynmid.
From Abiat. Research, vol. vi.
24. A pyramid at Sakarra, uniting the two forms of the egg and the pyramid. From
^'orduu.
25. A Persian fire-temple, exhibiting the form of the egg. From Hyde.
'2('). The Pantheon at Koine, exhibiting the form of the egg.
27. Oviform Toinicn in Cornwall, with the sacred door or orifice used in the initiation
of aspirants. From Borlase.
28. A holy grove of palms.
29. Portico of an imitative Grecian temple.
30. An lilgyptian temple at Essnay, exhibiting conjointly the moimtain, the cavern, and
the grove. The cornice over the portal is decorated with the hieroglyphic of
the winged globe and scrj)cnt. See Plate I. Fig. 8. From Nordcn.
.31. Kill's Cotty house in Kent. An artificial cell or cavern of Ceridwen, within which
aspirants were wont to be inclosed, and from which they were reputed to be
born again. From Borlase.
THE ORIGIN
OF
PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V.
Pag. Idol. VOL. in.
CHAPTER I.
Concerning the Identity and lAinari-terrene Character of the great
Goddesses of the Gentiles.
JL NOW proceed to consider the character of the great goddesses of the
Gentiles, which will be found to bear a close analogical reference to that
of their great gods. The female divinities, however apparently multiplied
according to the genius of polytheism, ultimately resolve themselves into
one, who is accounted the great universal mother both of gods and men :
and this single deity is pronounced to be alike the Moon in the firmament
and the all-productive Earth.
I. On the present point both the eastern and the western mythologists
are remarkably explicit. The Hindoos inform us, that, although each god
has his own proper consort; yet, as the gods coalesce first into three and
afterwards into one, so the goddesses in like manner blend together, first
becoming three who are the wives of their three chief divinities, and after-
wards one who is the mystic consort of their self-triplicating great father.
Sometimes the order of speaking of this personage is inverted : and then
we are told, that Devi or the goddess (as their great mother is styled by
way of eminence) multiplies herself into the three forms of Parvati,
Lacshmi, and Saraswati, and afterwards assumes as many subordinate
4 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. forms or characters as there are female divinities in the mythology of Hin-
dostan. Yet each of these is severally, we are assured, both the Moon
and the Earth : and each, accordingly, is represented by the common sym-
bols of the cow and the lotos. Such is always the case with the mysterious
, female, who still remains one, however she may be multiplied. Whether
she be Devi, or Iva, or the White Goddess, or Ila, or Anna-Purna, or
Sita, or Isi; she is equally Maya or the great mother: and this great
mother is pronounced to be at once the Earth and the ]VIoon '.
II. As Isi, she is manifestly, according to the just remark of Sir William
Jones, the Isis of the Egyptians ". Nor is she proved to be the same by
the mere identity of names . the whole of her character minutely agrees
with that of Isis; and the Brahmens themselves acknowledge, that the
mythology of Egypt is but a transcript of their own '. But Isis, like Isi,
is declared to be equally the Moon and the Earth : and she is at the same
time unanimously determined by the ancient theologists to be one with
Ceres, Proserpine, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Juno, Rhea, Cybel^, Jana,
Atargatis, Seniiramis, Vesta, Pandora, lo, Bellona, Hecatfe, llhamnusia,
Latona, the Phenician Astarl^, the Lydian and Armenian Anais, and the
Babylonian Mylitta. These again are said to be mutually the same with
each other : and, if we descend to particulars, we still find them indiffer-
ently identified with the Earth and tlie Mooa>.
■ Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 21,22,33, 119,136,70,81, 116, 125, 119,138, 30,157,158,
101, 405, 136, 111, 134, 447. Asiat. lies. vol. i. p. 263, 253. vol. iii, p, 147. vol. vii. jk
263. vol. xi. p. 28, 108, 110. et alibi.
* Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 253.
' Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 335.
♦ Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 59. lib. i. c. 131. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 10, 11, 13, 21. HelioJ.
^thiop. lib. ix. p. 424. Lactam. Instit. lib. i. c. 21. I'lut. de Isid. p. 354, 361. Apul.
Metani. lib. ii. Serv, in Virg. Georg. lib. i. ver. 5. Varr. de re rust. lib. i. c. 37. Au-
gust, de civ. Dei. lib. iv. c. 11. lib. vii. c. 2. Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. c. 10, 15, 21, 17, 12.
Simp, in Arist. Ausc. Phys. lib. iv. Plut. in vit. Crassi. p. 553. Cliron. Pascli. p. 36.
Tzetz. Scliol. in Lycoph. ver. 707. Paus. Lacon. p. 192. Strab. Geog. lib. xi. p. 512,
532. lib. xii. p. 559. Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 322. Stat. Sylv. lib. iii. Luc. de dea
Syra. Luc. Dial. Deor. p. 123. Apul. Metam, lib. xi. Phurnut. de nat. deor. c. 28, 6.
Orph. Frogm. p. 395.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKV. 5
Isis was equally worshipped among the Gothic tribes under the appcl- chap, u
lation of Frea : and they sometimes bestowed upon her the title of mother
Herth, as Tacitus writes the word; a title, which is plainly no other tliaa
our English Earth*.
The same great goddess was likewise venerated by the old Britons under
the names of Ceridweu, Kcd, Sklee, Devi, Andrastii, and Esaye or Isi.
This deity, as both her general character and her title Ceridwen may serve
to testify, and as Artemidorus positively asserts, is the Ceres of the clas- ,
sical writers. She is also, as her other names no less than her character
sufficiently intimate, the Sita or Devi or Isi of Hindust^m. We are told,
that she was astronomically the Moon : and, since she is celebrated as a
botanist, and as the goddess of corn, and since her mystic circle is declared
to be the circle of the World, we may reasonably infer, that she was also
worshipped as the Earth, agreeably to the general analogy of Paganism *.
III. Such being the universal intercommunion between the Moon and
the Earth, the great mother being alike deemed a personification of each,
bolli those planets bore the common name of Olympian or Olj/mpia: by
which was meant the World ; for mount Olympus, as we have already
seen, was no other than the Indian mount Ilapu or Meru, which is fabled
to be crowned with the mundane circle of Ila or Ida '. Accordingly the
Moon was deemed a sort of celestial Earth, bearing a close affinity to this
our nether World *.
' Mallet's North. Ant. vol. i. p. 92. Tacit, de mor. Germ. c. 40.
* Artem. apud Strab. Geog. lib. iv. p. 198. Davies's Mythol. of Brit. Druid, p, 185,
289, 213, 8,270, 285.
^ Euseb. Chron. p. 45. Plut. in vit. Thes.
♦ Macrob. in somn. Scip. lib. i. c. 11, 19. Schol. in Stat. Thebaid. lib. i, Asiat. Re?.
voL xL p. 35v
CHAPTER II.
llespectiiig certain remarhahle Opinions which the Gentiles
entertained of the Moon and the Earth.
IMucii light will be thrown upon the origin and nature of the worship
paid to the great mother, if we examine certain remarkable opinions which
the Gentiles entertained respecting the Moon and the Earth of which this
mysterious goddess was an acknowledged personification. The opinions
in question are perfectly analogous to those, which prevailed respecting
the Sun '. I have already had occasion to give a partial statement of
them : I may now proceed to a more lull and general discussion of the
subject*.
I. As the ancient Egyptians represented the Sun under the figure of a
man sailing in a ship, so they similarly depicted the Moon as a woman
floating on tlic surface of the ocean in a raft or barge '. The same idea
may be traced in the mythology of Ilindostan. Saraswati is described, as
bearing on her front the lunar crescent, and as seated in the calix of the
aquatic lotos*. Now the lotos is declared to be the type of the ship
' Vide supra book iv. c 2. * Viile supra book ii. c. 4.
' Plut. de laid. p. 3Gi. rorpii. dc ant. njmpli. p. 23G. * Asiat. lies. vol. iii. p. 535.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 7
Argha : consequently, when the Moon is thus placed in the lotos, she is
virtually set afloat in a ship. A parallel notion may equally be detected iu
classical mythology. The Samians represented Juno, sustaining a lunette
upon her head, and standing upon a second larger lunette. This served
her for a boat ; the crescent being so depicted as to appear floating on the
surface of the sea, precisely after the fashion of the modern life- boat'.
We may hence collect, that the ]\Ioon was in some manner or another
compared to a ship : we are not however left merely to uncertain deduc-
tions, for we are explicitly informed that such was actually the case. The
Egj'ptians had two yearly festivals ; in the one of which they celebrated
the entrance of Osiris into the Moon, and in the other his entrance into
that ark within which he was inclosed by Typhon and thus set afloat upon
Oceanus or the Nile. But, according to Plutarch, this ark was itself a
navicular Moon ; for he tells us, that its shape was that of the lunar cres-
cent*. The account, which Diodorus gives, is exactly to the same pur-
pose. He tells us, that Isis inclosed Osiris within a wooden cow during
the turbulent reign of Typhon or the all-prevailing ocean '. Now the
horns of this cow represented the lunar crescent : and the Egyptian priests,
not satisfied w)th this natural similitude to the planet, endeavoured at once
to heighten the resemblance and to explain the import of the symbol, by
artificially impressing a lunette on the side of the living animal which was
consecrated to the Moon *. Osiris then was indifferently said to have
entered into the Moon, into an ark or floating machine formed like the
Moon, and into a cow dedicated to the Moon and doubly exhibiting the
resemblance of that planet while increasing in its first quarter. What we
ought to understand by this lunar cow, we are very plainly taught by Ilcsy-
chius : it was the ship Baris or Argo ^ But the Baris or Argo was the
ship or floating Moon of Osiris : for the Argo, on the history of which ill-
understood the Greeks built the fable of an imaginary voyage to Colchis,
was really the ship of the Egyptian divinity ; whence Plutarch very pro-
• See Plate I. Fig. 13. » Plut. de Isid. p. 366, 368. ' Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 76.
♦ Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. viii. c. 46. Marcell. lib. xxii. p. 257. Euseb. Praep. Evan. lib.
iii. c. 13. ' Ba? — Baji;, Ajjyo!. Hesych. Lex.
S THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
HOOK V. perly asserts the Baris and the Arso to be the same '. The Moon there-
fore, and the cow dedicated to the Moon, were alike symbols or hierogly-
phics of the ship of Osiris ; the one astronomically, the other physically.
Consequently, when the Moon was depicted floating on the surface of the
ocean, we seem obliged to conclude, that the planet was no further in-
tended, than as a symbol of that Moon or luniform ark into which Osiris
was compelled to enter by Typhon. The same observation applies to the
lunar cow. Though her living representation was dedicated to the Moon,
and was studiously made to exhibit the figure of that planet : yet the name,
by which she was distinguished, was Tlieba, which literally sigiufies an ark;
and she was palpably the same as the ark into which Osiris was driven by
Typhon, because the god is indifferently said to have entered an ark and a
■wooden cow when pursued by tlie fury of that destructive monster. But
Typhon, as the Egyptians informed Plutarch, was a personification of the
sea* : and the hero-god, who was constrained by the rage of the ocean to
take refuge in an ark, was certainly Noah. The ark of Osiris therefore,
as Ave have already seen, was the ark of the great father. Tiiis ark how-
ever was mystically deemed a floating Moon, and in the commemorative
Orgies of the god it was represented accordingly. Hence I see not what
conclusion can be reasonably drawn, except that the Moon was made the
astronomical symbol of the Ark.
Such a mode of typifying the Ship of Noah is both strictly analogical,
and may likewise be accounted for even on tlie score of natural fitness.
When the Sun was chosen as the hieroglyphic of the great father, analogy
required that the Moon should be selected as the hieroglyphic of the great
motlier : and, as the mystic consort of Noah was a ship, none of the hea-
venly bodies could have been more happily pitched upon than the Moon;
which, during its first and last quarters, exhibits the precise similitude of
the vessel denominated by the Greeks Auiphipn/mmiis.
II. The conclusion, to which we iiave thus been brought, will serve as a
key to explain many very singular notions which have been entertained by
t!io pagans respecting the Moon : and those notions again will confirm tlie
' Plut dc Isid. p. 359. ' riut do Isid. p. 356.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 9
propriety of the conclusion ; for they are perfectly intelligible on the sup-
position that the lunar crescent was the astronomical symbol of the Sliip of
tlie great father, but wholly unintelligible as they appear in their naked
abstracted form.
1. The Hindoos tell us, that the Moon was the abode of Siva, who yet
is declared to have sailed over the waters of the deluge in the ship Argha;
that it was the saviour of Chandra, or Siva in the character of the god
Lunus ; that it was the hiding-place of Crishna or Vishnou, who floated
on the surface of the flood reclining either on the naviform coils of the
great sea-serpent or on the navicular leaf of the betel-tree ; that it was the
residence of their deified ancestors, the Pitris or Rishis; and that it was the
place, where a wonderful penance was once performed by those identical
seven Rishis, who are literally described as having been preserved in an
ark with Menu-Satyavrata when all the rest of mankind perished by the
waters of a mighty inundation '. They further inform us, that it was the
child of the sea : and, as if to prevent all possibility of misapprehension,
they distinctly mark the precise time of its mystic birth, by declaring that
it emerged from the retiring streams of the deluge ^. They likewise teach
us, that it was created a short time before the war of the gods with the
giants, agreeing in this particular with the western mythologists : for The-
odoras and Ariston and Dionysius all concur in maintaining, that the Moon
first appeared but a little space prior to that celebrated conflict '. This
mode of dating the origin of the Moon perfectly accords with the other
more literal mode. The war of the gods with the giants was the destruc-
tion of the impious antediluvians through the imagined agency of the hero-
gods, who were preserved in the Ark: and the Moon, \\hich was created
a short time before that event, and which afterwards emerged from the
waters of the flood, was that floating Moon of which the planet was only
the astronomical symbol.
■ Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 39, 92, 213. Asiat. Res. vol. v. p. 262. vol. iii. p. 549. vol. x.
p. 139. vol. vii. p. 267. Instit. of Menu. c. i. § 66.
* Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 183. Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 561. vol. ix. p. 418. Maur. Hist,
of Hind. vol. i. p. 585.
' Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 1 18. Schol. in Apoll. Argon, lib. iv. ver. 264.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. B
10 TH£ ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK V. Agreeably to this view of the subject, the Hindoos tell us, that the new
Moon, which was produced out of the churned or violently agitated ocean,
was one, which would answer the purpose of living creatures whether
moveable or immoveable ; meaning, I apprehend, that it was suitable for
their abode and adapted for their preservation. They represent it, as shel-
tering its votaries from danger; as floating about at random on the surface
of the sea; as being a terrestrial Moon^ in contradistinction to the celestial
one : and as being the true and original Lunar White Island, of which each
literal sacred island is but a transcript. This holy island of the Moon is
composed of the Amrita or water of immortality, which was once lost, but
which was afterwards recovered from the ocean. As such it is incapable
of decay : and, securely floating on the surface of the boundless deep, it
survives with its beatified inhabitants the ruin of every successive World,
with the regeneration or renovation of which it is immediately connected.
To the floating Lunar Island is added another that is stable : or, as the
matter is sometimes expressed, the floating island itself becomes fixed ; by
which is meant, that the first is rooted or attached to the second. This,
which tiie Brahmens describe as situated far to the west, is also a terres-
trial Moon : it contains or coincides with the original mountain of the
Moon : within it is to be sought the Paradise of tire Moon : it is the abode
of the spirits of the blessed, or of those deified patriarchs who flourish at
the commencement of every World : and it is the favourite residence of
Crishna, who there reposes on the folds of the great navicular sea-serpent
which had been the vehicle of the sleeping god over the waters of the inter-
minable ocean '.
It is easy to perceive, as I have already had occasion to observe, that
the sacred Lunar Islands of the west are the Ark and mount vVrarat ;
whicii, when the floating island became fixed at the close of the deluge, lay
to the west of Hindostan and were the undoubted cradle of the Brah-
nicnical theology*. But of these islands there were numerous transcripts:
for, every sacred island being a symbol either of the floating Moon or of
' Asiat. Rfs. vol. xi. p. 35, 3G, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 90, 69, 92.
* Vide S'Upru book ii. c. 5.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 11
the once sea-girt lunar mountain, what was true only of the mystic ocean- chap. n<
born crescent and of the Paradisiacal Ararat was thence transferred to
their various insular representatives.
Such being the case, we shall readily perceive, why the White Island,
though pronounced to be situated in the ocean far to the west, is yet said
to have been brought into various parts of India. Wherever, as in the
instance of Ellora, a small island was consecrated in the bosom of a deep
lake, there the White Island of the Moon was recognized and venerated :
and, wherever the inhabitants of a larger island in the ocean were devoted
to the worship of the floating lunette, there, as in the instance of Sumatra,
we have an oriental island of the Moon. But still the same notions are
found to predominate : still does the lunar White Island survive the wreck
of worlds ; still does it float on the surface of the boundless ocean ; still
is it the peculiar abode of the hero-god of wisdom ; still is it the residence
of the mighty ones, the paradise of the just ones, the favourite haunt of
those deified mortals who are literally said to have been preserved in an ark
at the period of the universal deluge.
Agreeably to these speculations we are further told, that the Moon is the
wife and daughter of the Sun, and yet that si)e is also the oft'spring of the
wonderful architect Tvvashta. After what has already been said in the
course of the present work, such a fiction can require but little elucidation.
The Sun is the astronomical representative of Menu-Satyavrata, who was
preserved in an ark with the seven Rishis : the floating Moon therefore,
which is equally his consort and his child, can only be the Ark. In a
similar manner, the sage architect Twashta, who is also declared to be the
parent of the Moon, must clearly, so far as I can judge, be the wise njaster-
builder; who, immediately before the war of tlie gods and the giants,
framed the navicular lunette that received the great fattier within its womb
and saved him from impending destruction '.
2. Exactly the same notions prevailed in other parts of the world.
According to the Zend-Avesta, when the waters of the deluge retired
from oft' the surface of the earth, the peak of mount Albordi was the first
' Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 34, 42, 46, 97, 67, 88, 90, 91. Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 292,
12 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
land that became visible. At this time the Sun and the Moon appeared
upon its summit: and the latter of these is said to have received, and pre-
served, and purified, the seed or offspring of the second man-bull ; who^
with three subordinate partners, was the appointed instrument of bringing
over the face of the earth an universal inundation. She is likewise de-
clared to have caused every thing to be born when the world was renewed
after the catastrophe of the deluge ; she is pronounced to be the only one
of her kind that ever was formed ; and she is celebrated as the general
mother, from whose womb proceeded all the various descriptions of ani-
mals. The whole of this is palpably a description of the Ark : and it is no
further applicable to the Moon, than as the planet was the astronomical
symbol of the ship '.
3. Similar speculations may be equally traced in more western regions.
We are told by classical writers, that the Moon was the mother of Bac-
chus. Yet Bacchus is said to have been exposed at sea in an ark, and to
have been mystically born on the summit of Meru wliere the Ark rested
after the deluge. lie is also acknowledged to be the same deity as Osiris,
who was set afloat in an ark shaped like the Moon. Hence it is evident,
that the birth of the arkite Bacchus from the Moon is no other than the
birth or egress of Osiris from the floating Moon within which he was in-
closed by Typhon *. As the Moon was tlie mother of Bacchus ; so like-
wise was it esteemed by the Egyptians the mother of the whole World.
In both cases the ground of the opinion was the very same : the great
father and the rudiments of the new World were alike produced from what
the old astronomical mystagogues considered as a floating Moon or as a
lunar erratic island '. Such also was the reason, why souls regenerated in
tiie Mysteries and why all mortal bodies were fabled to be born from a
door in the side of the Moon, and why that planet was deemed to be the
confines of life and death *. These apparently wild notions are perfectly
intelligible, if understood of the floating INIoon of Osiris; but, how they
' Vide supra book iii. c. 3. 5 I, IV. ' Cicer. de nat. door. lib. iii. c. 23.
' MuTifa ^7l^7i»l^ T« xiktiaU. Plut dc Isid.
* Porpii. dc ant. n^iiiph. p. 262 — '26i; Macrob. in somn. Suip. lib. i. c. 11.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 13
are applicable to the literal Moon in the heavens, it is beyond the wit of chap. n.
man to discover.
4. The lunar ark of Osiris was deemed his coHin : and his entrance into
it was considered as equivalent to a descent into the infernal regions.
Hence the Nile and the Acherusian marsh, where his Mysteries were cele-
brated, became the river and the lake of Hades: and the floating Moon of
the god was esteemed the navicular vehicle of departed souls, over which
he presided by the name and in the character of Charon. What the Nile
was to the Egyptian mythologists, the Ganges and the Styx were to those
of Hindostan and Greece. Each had its boat and its infernal ferryman :
and, as the navigator of the Styx like that of the Nile is Charon or Osiris ;
so, what abundantly unfolds the import of these parallel legends, the
mariner of the Ganges is Menu-Satyavrata under the name of Salivahana,
that Menu, who was preserved with seven companions in an ark and wa&
afterwards constituted the god of obsequies. Here then the floating Moon
of Osiris appears as an infernal Moon, agreeably to the doctrine of the
Mysteries which placed the Moon in Hades and identified it with Pioser-
pine or Hccati;.
This will lead us to understand the import of some very curious parti-
culars, which Plutarch mentions as being presented to the imagination of
Timarchus in his vision of the infernal regions.
The friendly spirit, who acts the part of an hierophant (for the pretended
vision seems evidently to describe tlie process of an initiation), informs
him, that Proserpine is in the Moon, and that the infernal Mercmy or
Pluto is her companion. This Moon is wholly distinct from the celestial
Moon ; being what some call a terrestrial heaven or paradise, and others
a heaveyily Earth. It belongs to the genii or deified mortals, who tenant
the Earth : and it is described, as wearing the semblance of a floating
island. It is surrounded with other islands, which similarly float on the
bosom of the great Stygian abyss : but it is loftier than them all, and there-
fore not equally exposed to the destructive fury of the infernal river. In
this navicular Moon or Lunar Island there are three principal caverns.
The largest is called the sanctuary of Hecatb ; and here the wicked suffer
the punishment due to their crimes. The other two are rather doors or
14 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
outlets than caverns ; the first looking towards heaven, the second towards
the earth. These serve for the ingress and egress of souls : for the Moon
is the universal receptacle of them ; into her they enter by one door, and
from her they issue by the other door. She receives and gives, compounds
and decompounds ; and on her depend all the conversions of generation.
While the Moon thus floats on the waters of the Styx, the infernal river
strives to invade and overwhelm it. Then the souls through fear break
forth into loud lamentations ; for Pluto seizes upon many, who happen to
fall off. Some however, who are plunged in the raging flood, contrive, by
dint of great exertion and good swimming, to reach the shores of the JNIoon :
but the Styx, thundering and bellowing in a most dreadful manner, does
not allow them to land. Lamenting their fate, they are thrust headlong
into the abyss, and are hurried away to partake of another regeneration.
Many are thus disappointed, whilst almost touching the shores of the Moon;
and others, who had even already gained the wished-for preserving island,
are suddenly dragged again into the deep. Those however, who effect
their escape, and who stand firm on the beach of this floating Moon, are
crowned with the plumes of constancy '.
It must, I think, be evident, even on the most superficial view of the
question, that the Moon, which is here represented as floating on the bosom
of the sacred infernal river and as being the generative vehicle of souls, is
no other than the luniform ark or floating Moon within which Osiris was
inclosed by Typhon or the ocean : for this very ark of Osiris, which was
called Baris and Jrgo and T/icba, is the identical boat which Charon em-
ploys to ferry souls over the Achcrusian lake. But the ark of Charon or
Osiris is the same as the infernal Gangctic boat of Salivahana or Menu-
Satyavrata, wlio was preserved in an ark at the time of tlie deluge. The
conclusion therefore from the whole seems to be alike obvious and inevit-
able. As the entrance into the Ark was considered in the ligiit of a descent
into tiie infernal regions ; and as the quitting the Ark was viewed, as a
return frou) those regions, or as a restoration of life to the dead, or as a
uiysterious new birth from the womb of a great n)other : the Moon, which
' Plmarcli cited by WilforcL Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 114 — 117.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 15
floats upon the river Styx as the lunar ark of Osiris floated on the Nile, chap.h.
which is described as the vehicle of Proserpine and Pluto, and which is
celebrated as the birth-place of regenerated souls, must plainly be esteemed
a mere symbol of the Ship of Noah.
5. This conclusion, which exactly hannonizes with all the preceding ob-
servations, renders the curious vision of Timarchus perfectly intelligible.
The two doors of the floating Moon, which afford an ingress and egress
to regenerated souls, are those two doors, which Porphyry similarly gives
to the Moon, and to which he ascribes the very same oftice. Their pro-
totype is the door in the side of the Ark ; through which eight living souls
first entered, and through which they afterwards returned to the light of
heaven. From its serving this double purpose it was multiplied in the
Mysteries to two; and souls were feigned to enter into the Moon by one
door, and to quit it by another. The fruitless attempts of the Styx to
overwhelm the floating Moon are the fruitless attempts of the deluge to
overwhelm the Ark. The other islands, which lie lower than the Lunar
Island and which consequently do not escape so well, are the represen-
tatives of the various parts of the Earth, which the old mythologists com-
pared to a vast island floating on the bosom of the great abyss. The vain
endeavours of numerous souls to save themselves, and the washing of them
away from the shores of the Moon by the raging waves of the Styx, shadow
out the unavailing exertions of the wretched antediluvians: while the hap-
pier lot of a chosen few, who are preserved upon the Lunar Island, exhibit
to us the better destiny of Noah and his companions. The cavern, finally,
of Hecat^, within which the wicked are reserved for punishment, repre-
sents the great central cavity of the Earth : and it is placed within the
floating Moon, because the Ark and the Earth are constantly symbolized
by common hieroglyphics, each being alike esteemed a World and a
floating island.
6. We may now perceive the reason, why the ]Moon was styled by the
old mythologists Stilus or Safety; and why the Orphic poet addresses
Musfeus, who had been regenerated according to the form prescribed in the
Mysteries, as the oJ/xpri//g uj' the resplendent JMoun '. We shall also be
' Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. c. 20. Orph. Hymn. Ixvii. Orph. Fragm. p. 359. Edit Gesn.
16 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. able the better to understand the import of those notions respecting the
JMoon, which yet remain to be adduced.
7. At Autun in France a sculptured bass-relief has been found, which
represents the chief Druid bearing his sceptre and crowned with a garland
of oak-leaves ; while another Druid approaches him, and displays in his
right hand a crescent resembling the Moon when six days old. To this
ceremonial Taliesin evidently refers in one of his poems. He describes a
solemn act of worship paid to the Moon ; and yet he at the same time ex-
pressly styles the lunette, borne by the inferior Druid, a boat of glass '.
The toy was doubtless a representation of the lunar ship or floating
Moon, which was so highly venerated by the gentile mythologists in every
part of the world. Tliis was the Moon, within which Osiris was inclosed
by Typhon, within which Crishna and Siva alike found refuge, and within
which the seven companions of the diluvian Menu underwent the lustration
of a mysterious penance. This was the Moon, of which the Arcadians
spoke, when they claimed for their family a higher degree of antiquity than
even that possessed by the planet itself*. And this was the Moon, which
gave its name to so many lofty mountains where old tradition placed the
resting of the Ark after the deluge'.
8. From the same source of astronomical mysticism originated the fable
of the man in the Moon, wliich has been carried into regions very widely
separated from each other. This personage is no other than Osiris, or
Bacchus, or Siva, or Crishna ; each of whom is said to have once tenanted
tlic lunar orb. The talcs of our English nurseries make him, I believe,
perform penance in the Moon on account of his having gathered sticks on
the sabbath-day while tlie children of Israel travelled through llie wilder-
ness : but some of the aboriginal inhabitants oi Soutii-Aiucrica, in a manner
which belter accords with the speculations of ancient Paganism, supposed
him to be confined in the Moon as in a prison on account of his having
committed ince.^t witli his sister *. 'llie incest was that, which is so con-
stantly ascribed to the great father on account of the varied degrees of
relationship in which he was thouglit to stand to the great mother. A
' Diivios's Mytliol. of Brit. Druid, p. 277.
* Lycoph. Cassantl. ver. 1^2. Ovid. Fast. iilj. ii. vcr. 2!)0. ' Vide supra I), ii. c. •!■. § IV.
* Purcli. Pilgr. b. Lx. c. i. p. 822.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. i7
similar story of the man in the Moon is well known to the inhabitants of chap.ii.
New-Zealand : and they derived it, I have little doubt, from the same
universally prevailing system of mythology '.
Sometimes we find a variation in the sex : when, instead of Osiris or
Siva being placed in the Moon, its tenant is said to be a mysterious female.
Thus, according to Serapion, the soul of the most ancient Delphic Sibyl
migrated after her death into the Moon ; and the human countenance,
which imagination has ascribed to the orb of that planet, is really the face
of the deified prophetess *. This first of the Sibyls was the same personage
as Cybelfe, or Ila, or Isis, or Proserpine ; and those, who in after ages
bore her title, were really her priestesses: just as the great father was
esteemed the first Priest or Druid or Magus ; his sacerdotal votaries, at
every subsequent period, studiously adopting his titles and imitating his
character. The imagined migration of the Sibyl into the Moon is the same
as the parallel translation of Isis into that planet; the same also as the
entrance of Proserpine into the floating Moon of which she herself is ex-
pressly declared to be a personification, as it is described to us in the
vision of Ti march us.
9. Even in the remote island of Otaheite a similar vein of mysticizing is
is not altogether unknown ; the general religion of the pagan world having
been brought there, most probably from Asia, by the first colonists. The
inhabitants of that country assure us on the authority of an ancient tradi-
tion, that the seeds of certain trees were once carried by doves to the
Moon '. It need scarcely be observed, that this curious legend, inappli-
cable as it may be to the literal planet, is yet strictly true of the floating
Moon or lunar boat into which Osiris or Noah was compelled to enter by
the fury of the ocean.
III. Such being the notions entertained of the IMoon, since the great
mother, by whatever name she might be distinguished and in whatever part
of the «orld she might be worshipped, was equally the Moon and the
Earth ; we may naturally expect to find a certain intercommunion of cha-
' Marsden's ace. of New Zealand. Christ. Observ. vol. ix. p. Y24.
'■ Scrap, apud Clem. Alex. Strom, lib, i. p. 30+. ' Cook's Third Voyage, b. iii. c. 9.
Pag. Idol. VOL. in. C
18 THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
racter between these two so nearly allied objects of idolatrous veneration.
Nor shall we be disappointed : as the same goddess represented them
both ; so they are themselves exhibited under common symbols, and are
described with similar attributes.
The Moon, we are informed, is a celestial Earth, tenanted by its proper
inhabitants, and comprehending within its sphere the Elysian fields or
Paradise. It is also, as we have seen, a floating island, and a ship or ark
within which the principal god of the Gentiles was once constrained to seek
shelter from a dreadful inundation of the sea.
In a similar manner, according to the doctrine of the ancient Babylo-
nians, the Earth is a vast ship floating on the surface of the great abyss '.
The same notion prevailed among the Jews, being adopted by them most
probably during the period of the captivity *. It may also be traced in the
writings of the Orphic poet, who describes the J^arth as an immense island
girt on every side by the circumambient ocean K And it appears with
remarkable di^^linctness in the speculations of the Hindoo sages, who at
once symbolize the earth by a sliip and speak of it as a large floating island *.
From the centre of this island rises the sacred mount Mcru ; on the sum-
mit of which, no less than in tlie Moon, they place their Elysian fields or
the Paradisiacal abode of the hero-gods: and, as every smaller island is a
transcript of tiic Earth or a World in miniature ; we likewise find an
nniversally prevailing opini')n, that the seats of the blessed arc to be sought
for in certain sacred islands situated far to the west in the midst of the all-
pervading ocean.
So again : the Moon was typified by the lotos, the cow, and the mysteri-
ous sliip Argo or liaris or Tlieba : for we perceive the lunar goddess with
the crescent on her forehead floating in the aquatic lotos ; we meet with a
legend that Isis or lo or the Moon was once changed into a cow, while the
horns of that animal are positively declared to represent the lunar crescei>t
and \\ hilc we are told that the figure of a crescent was studiously impressed
> Diod. Bibl. lil). ii. p. 117.
* Windet Ac viu funct. statu, p. SIS, 243. apud Magee on atonement, vol. ii. p. 165.
3d Edit. ' Orpli. I'nig. p. 101..
♦ .\siat. RcN. vol. iii. p. I.'J.'!, 137. vol. viii. p. 271', 308, 312.
THE OUIGIN OK PAGAN IDOLATRY. 19
on tlie side of the sacred lunar bull of the Egyptians ; and we find, that the tuAP. n.
luniforni ark or floating Moon of Osiris is at once said to be a wooden cow
denominated Theba or the ark and to be the very same as the celebrated
ship Argo ".
Precisely in a similar manner, the Earth is represented by the lotos, the
cow, and the sacred ship Argha: for the Hindoos assure us, that the calix
of the lotos with its centrical petal and the ship Argha with its centrical
mast equally shadow out the great mundane floating island : while they
declare that the cow, which was produced from the deluge, and which was
the mystic mother of their god Rudra or Siva who once dwelt in the lunur
orb, is no less the Earth than the Moon *. '
IV. The simple fact of the existence of such notions is undeniable,
since it rests upon the most positive and incontrovertible authorities : the
only question is, how we are to understand tiiem. And this, so far as I
am able to judge, cannot be very difiicult ; if we only attend to the various
concurring legends and speculations, which have now been adduced.
It is sufficiently evident, that the whole preceding mystical jargon really
describes a ship, which is said to have floated on the surface of an universal
deluge and to have afforded shelter to an ancient personage from the fury
of the overwhelming ocean. But I see not what this ship can possibly
mean, except the Ark of Noah. The Ark therefore, for some reasons or
other, was thought by the pagan mythologists to bear a close affinity to the
Moon, to the Earth, and to a floating island. Why it was compared to the
last of these, need scarcely be pointed out : and, why it was supposed to
resemble the two former, may easily be ascertained by attending to tlie
general principles of heathen theology, which ever delighted in tracing
similitudes and in using hieroglyphics.
'Jhe Earth then is a larger World, containing the w hole of mankind with
every sort of beasts and birds and vegetables : the Ark is a smaller World,
' Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 322. Luc. Dial. deor. p. 123. Stat. Sylv. lib. iii. p. 49.
Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. viii. c. 46. Am. Marcel, lib. xxii. p. '257. Euseb. Praep. Evan. lib. iii.
c. 13. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 76. Plut. de Isid. p. 359. Plut. Sympos. lib. viii. p. 718.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 13+, 136. vol. viii. p. 27t, 308, 312. vol. vii. p. 293. vol. iii-
p. 161. vol. viii. p. 81. Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 141.
^0 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
, similarly containing, during the period of the flood, all that existed of the
human race, all that remained of the animal and vegetable creation. The
original great father, the parent of three sons, was born out of the Earth :
the second great father, likewise the parent of three sons, esteemed only a
transmigratory reappearance of his predecessor, was born out of the Ark.
The Earth, according to the accurate notions of the ancients who were
ignorant of the existence of a second distinct large continent, is an island
surrounded on all sides by the ocean : the Ark or smaller World was also
an island, similarly begirt by the waters of the deluge. The Earth, viewed
after the manner of the Hindoos and Babylonians as comprehending under
one grand wliole every detached smaller island, is, during the intermediate
space between deluge and deluge, the sole mysterious lotos which rises
above the surface of the sea: the Ark or sacred lunar island, which never
perishes but which survives the wreck of each successive World, which is
never submerged beneath the sea but which always floats securely on its
bosom, was the sole mysterious lotos which rose above the surface of the
ocean when for a season no other World was visible. Such being the t7'ue
points of resemblance between the Earth and the Ark, to make the analogy
complete one only particular was wanting; and this Jici it ious point the
speculative genius of old mythology scrupled not to supply. The Ark was
not only an island, but a floating island ; not only a floating island, but a
ship : tlie Earth therefore, which is really an island, was pronounced to be
a floating island ; and, as the smaller World was a ship, the larger World
was also determined to resemble a ship, and as such was symbolized by the
sacred boat.
With respect to the Moon, as Sabianism constituted a very prominent
part of ancient idolatry, when the great i'athcr was venerated in tlie Sun,
the great mother was by a necessary consequence venerated in the Moon.
And this latter heavenly body was the rather chosen for such a purpose
from the form which it was observed to assume during its first and last
quarters. It thai exhibits the exact figure of a boat: so that nothing
could have been more happily chosen by the astronomical niythologist to
represent uj)on the sphere the Ship of the deluge'.
• See Plate III. Fig. 1, 2.
THE OltlGIN OF PAGAN IKOLATUY. 21
Here therefore we may perceive the origin of that singular intercom- chap. a.
raunion between tlie Earth, the Moon, a ship, and a floating island, which
may be traced throughout the whole system of Paganism in every quarter
of the globe. The Earth was a greater World ; the Ark, a smaller World :
the Earth a greater ship or floating island ; the Ark, a smaller siiip or float-
ing island. But the lunette was the astronomical symbol ol the Ark.
Therefore the Moon became at once a ship, a floating island, and a celes-
tial Earth. Hence, what was predicated of the one was also predicated of
the others : and, as the Ark was a floating Moon, as the Earth was a ship,
and as the Moon was a boat and a heavenly Earth and a floating island ;
one and the same goddess was deemed an equal personification of them
all, one and the same set of symbols was employed equally to typify thera
all. Accordingly, the great motlier is declared to be at once the Earth,
the Moon, and a ship : nor is this singular intermixture of ideas to be found
only in a single country ; it pervades tlie whole pagan world, and thus affords
an illustrious proof timt all the various systems of gentile idolatry must have
originated from some common source. That source was the primeval Ba-
bylonian apostasy.
V. The humour of mysticizing the Ship of the deluge did not stop here :
it was carried even to a yet more extravagant length, though still in most
curious harmony with the established speculations of Paganism.
As the goddess of the Ark was identified with the Earth and the Moon :
so, according to the most extended theory of Materialism, she was yet
further identified with Universal Nature. The first step made her one
with the greater World : the second made her one with even tlie greatest
World, that is to say, with the whole Universe. Thus the Isi of Hin-
dostan and the Isis of Egypt are not only declared to be both the Earth
and the ]\loon : they are further pronounced to be nothing less than a per-
soni cation of all things'.
And now let us mark the consequence of this extension of character.
As the Earth and the Moon are each made a ship, from their intercom-
munion of character with the Ark : so, for the same reason, the very Uni-
' Vide supra b. i. c. 3. § II.
22 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V, verse itself, being Isis or Isi, is exhibited to us under the image of a ship
of most stupendous magnitude. The whole Mundane System in its largest
sense is one mighty vessel : and, as the Ark vi^as manned by Noah and his
seven companions ; so the huge ship of the World has the Sun for its pilot
and the seven principal heavenly bodies for its crew '.
' i\Iartian. Capell. Satyric. lib. ii. p. 43.
CHAPTER III.
Respecting the navicular, infernal, and human, Character of the
Great Mother.
I. xVgreeably to the peculiar notions entertained by the Gentiles re-
specting the Earth and the Moon, ue shall find, that the great mother,
•who is declared to be a personification of them, is also described as being
a ship : and such accounts are given of that ship, as leave us no room to
doubt that it was tlie Ark of Noah.
1. The Hindoo inythoiogists inform us, that, during the prevalence of
the deluge from the fury of which Menu and hrs seven companions were
preserved in an ark, Isi or Parvati or the great mother, whom they mysti-
cally hold to be the female principle of nature, assumed the form of the
ship Ar'^ha : while her consort Siva, who is analogously deemed the male
principle, became the mast of the vessel. In this manner they were safely
wafted over the mighty deep, which destroyed and purified a guilty world :
and. when at length the waters retired and the ark of Menu rested on the
peak of Nau-banda, the navicular goddess flew away in the shape of a
dove '.
* Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 523.
24- THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
Here, in a most curious legend which can scarcely be misunderstood,
we find the great mother Isi unequivocally represented, as being the ship
which floated upon the surface of the deluge ; and as afterwards, when
the flood abated, assuming the form of the identical bird which Noah sent
out of the Ark. Isi therefore, whom the Hindoos pronounce to be both
the navicular Earth and the floating island of the Moon, is likewise palpa-
bly the Ark of Noah.
2. But the Isi of Hindostan is certainly the Isis of Egypt : consequently
the fable respecting the former goddess will teach us how we ought to
understand the parallel fable respecting the latter. Now Isis, like Isi, was
venerated under the form of a ship: for in the rustic calendar of the Ro-
mans, who systematically adopted the rites of all other nations, we find an
Egyptian festival in honour of the ship of Isis noted down for celebration
in the month of JNIarch'. There was likewise a tradition, that she sailed
over the whole world in a ship, and that she first invented sails *. But this
ship was certainly the vessel, which the Greeks and Egyptians called Argo,
and which the Hindoos still denominate Argha; a point, which may easily
be shewn by a comparison of circumstances.
The entrance of Osiris into the ark, and his inclosure within the floating
Moon, were celebrated at two opposite seasons of the year, spring and
autumn '. Now it appears from the rustic calendar, that the festival of
tlic ship of Isis was celebrated in ]\[arch. But this was the time, when
the entrance of Osiris into his lunar boat was celebrated at the veriuil fes-
tival. Therefore the ship of Isis is the ship of Osiris. But the ship of
Osiris was the ship Argo or Tiieba or Baris : and it is described as being
a floating Moon and a wooden cow dedicated to tlie Moon. Isis however
is declared to be herself the very Moon, within which Osiris was inclosed.
Consequently the ship of Isis must likewise be the ship Argo: and Isis
herself, being identified with the floating Moon which is again identified
with the ark of Osiris, must be the same also as the ship Argo or Tiieba.
This result exactly accords with tlie Hindoo legend. Isi is at once the
' Gnitcr. Inscrip. p. 138. Lactant. Instit. lib. i. c. 11. p. 5f).
» Hyg. I'ab. 277. ' Pint, dc Ibid. p. 356.
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRV. 2^
Moon, the sacred cow, and the ship Argha which bore Siva or Iswara in chap. m.
safety over the dehige : Isis is at once the Moon, the sacred cow, and the
ship Argo into wliich Osiris was compelled to enter by Typhon or the dilu- ^
vian ocean. In both cases the great mother is a ship : and that ship is
circumstantially determined to be the Ark.
3. The ship-goddess was equally worshipped among the ancient Ger-
mans : for Tacitus informs us, that part of the Suevi sacrificed to Isis,
and that her symbol was a galley. His language seems to imply, that she
was venerated by that tribe under the very name of Isis; a circumstance,
%vhich might easily be accounted for, though certainly not in the manner
suggested by the historian. He pronounces the worship to be manifestly
of foreign origin : but strangely conjectures such to be the case, because
the figure of the galley proves it to have been brought from another coun-
try ; just as if the worship of Isis could have been imported from Egypt
into the heart of Germany by water.
lie is right no doubt in supposing that it was not the g7'oxvth of this latter
country: but the galley does not indicate the mode of its introductioti ; it
was the symbol of the goddess herself. This was equally the case with the
Indian Isi and with the Egyptian Isis : and, as for the ship-worship of
Germany, instead of being brought by sea from Egypt, it was really brought
by land from the mountains of upper India. The Suevi, like the other
Teutonic tribes, were of Gothic or Scythic origin. Now the Goths or (as
the Hindoos call them) Chasas migrated westward from the high land of
Cashgar and Bokhara, that is to say, from the region of the sacred mount
Meru ; where the veneration of the ship Isi or Argha has long been firmly
established. Hence, I think, there can be little doubt, but that the appa-
rently Egyptian superstition, which attracted the notice of Tacitus, was
really brought by the Gothic colonists from the Indo-Scythic mountains
of Cashgar. He is not indeed mistaken in declaring that the Suevi wor-
shipped Isis ; for Isi and Isis are clearly the very same goddess : but the
Germans, as must necessarily be inferred from their oriental origin, re-
ceived the rites of the mystic ship not from Egypt, but from the east '.
• Tacit, de rnor. Germ. c. 9.
Pag. Idol VOL. III. D
26 THE ORIGIN OF TAGAy IDOLATRY.
The Isiac galley of the Suevi is introduced into the Edda under the name
of the ship of the hero-gods. In this vessel they are described as sailing
together upon the ocean, precisely in the same manner as the Egyptians
and Hindoos set their deities afloat in a ship ; and we are told, that, al-
though it was so large tliat all the gods might sit in it at their ease, yet
they could at any time reduce it to so suxall a size that it might be carried
in the pocket '.
The origin of such a fable may perhaps be conjectured without much
difficulty. The literal ship of the hero-gods or deified patriarchs was in-
deed of an immense size: but the model of it, which was used in the Mys-
teries and which often in form resembled the lunar crescent, was not un-
frequently so diminutive as to be a nx-re toy. Thus, in the Druidical
superstition, the sacred boat, as we learn from Taliesin and the Autun
monument, was a small lunette made of glass, whicli an attendant priest
bore in his hand : yet in this very boat of glass the primeval Arthur and
his seven companions are feigned to have been preserved, when all the
rest of mankind perished by the waters of the deluge*.
4. Precisely the same mode of symbolizing the great mother prevailed
among the Celtic tribes.
As the galley was the hieroglyphic of Isis among the Suevi; so the glass
boat, in which eight persons were saved at the time of the flood, repre-
sented the goddess Ked or Ccridwen or Sidee among tlie ancient Britons.
Thus Taliesin, describing his initiation into the Mysteries wliich scenically
exhibited the several events connected with the deluge, tells us, that Ce-
ridwen, within whose womb he had been inclosed, and from whom as an
imitative aspirant he had been born again, swelled out liJte a ship upon the
waters, received him into a dark receptacle, set sail witii hinj, and carried
him back iuio the sea of Dylan '. If we inquire who this Dylan was, we
arc informed, that he was the son of the ocean : and that, when the floods
came forth from heaven, and when the fountains of the great deep were
broken up, he floated securely upon the surface of the waters in tiie very
' Edda Fab. xxii. » Talies. Preiddcn-Annwn apud Davics's Mythol. p. 522,
* Davics's Mythol. p. 256.
THE OHIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 3.7
ship, within which, as a form of the goddess Ccridwen, the bard repre- chap. m.
sents himself as having been mystically enclosed '. Dylan therefore is
manifestly Noah : whence his ship must be the Ark. IJut the ship of
Dylan is a form of the goildcss Ceridwen : consequently, Ceridwen or the
great mother must inevitably be viewed as a personification of the ship of
Noah.
Agreeably to this conclusion, we are told, that Ked or Ceridwen was
the daughter of Menwyd, the INIenu of Hindostan and the Menes of
Egypt: but at the same lime we are taught very unequivocally, that her
birth from that ancient personage, who is the same as the oceanic Dylan,
vas a figurative, not a literal, one. He was her father only in the sense,
in which an artist is the father of the work produced by hiin : he was her
father, at the period of a great effusion or deluge ; because he formed the
curvatures or ribs of the ship named Ked, wliich then, bounding over the
waves, passed in safety through the dale of the grievous waters \
5. Tlie Ceridwen of the Celts was the same character as the Ceres or
Demeter of the classical mythologists : for we are assured by Artemidonis,
that, in an island close to Britain, Ceres and Proserpine were venerated
with rites similar to the Orgies of Samothrace'. But this ancient testi-
mony exactly agrees with such remains of Celtic theology as have been
handed down to us ; for the Britons, as we learn from the writings of the
bards, worshipped two goddesses, who had the same attributes, and who
stood in the same degree of relationship to each other, as Ceres and Pro-
serpine. Hence the Celtic Ceridwen is doubly identified with the clas-
sical Ceres : and this identification, united with the peculiarity of her own
character as a ship-goddess, further proves, that she is the same also as
the navicular Isis or Isi of Egypt and Hindostan. Ceridwen, Isis, and
Isi, then being each the same as Ceres, and each moreover being literally
tlie Ship of the deluge, we shall naturally be led to expect, that either di-
rectly or indirectly the mystic navicular character is also sustained by the
classical goddess. Such, accordingly, we shall find to be the case.
' Talies. Cad Godden apud Davies's Mythol. p. 100.
» Davies's Mythol. p. 176, 568, 571. Comp. Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 232,
i Strab. Gcog. lib. iv. p. 198.
fl* THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOXATRY,
HOOK V. By the Greek mythologists Ceres or Hippa is said to have received
Bacchus into her womb and afterwards to have produced him again by a
new and ineffable birth. But this god is also feigned to have been ex-
posed in an ark at sea and to have been wonderfully born out of a floating
Moon. His quitting tl)e ark therefore is the same as his being born out
of the floating Moon : and, since Ceres or Hippa is declared to be the
Moon, his birth from the Moon is the same as his birth from Ceres. But
the floating Moon is the ark, within which lie was inclosed. Therefore
Ceres or Hippa must likewise be the ark or ship of Bacchus \
Agreeably to this conclusion, we find her worshipped by the Phigalen-
sians of Arcadia on a sacred hill, which they denominated the mountain of
the olive. Her appearance was that of a woman with the head of a horse :
and in the one hand she held a dolphin, and in the other a dove*. It is
almost superfluous to remark, that, in the worship of the diluvian ship-
goddess, the mountain of the olive is a transcript of mount Ararat, and
that the dove is the dove of Noah. But we have a yet more direct testi-
mony, that Ceres, like Isis and Isi and Ceridwen, was a personification of
a ship. Pausanias mentions a picture, in which a priestess of Ceres was
represented holding a boat upon her knees : and he explains the circum-
stance by observing, that it resembled those sacred boats which it was
customary to make in honour of the goddess'. Now, since this custom
prevailed among the Greeks, since Ceres is determined to be the same as-
Isis, and since a ship was a special symbol of the Egyptian divinity; it can
scarcely be doubted, that the boat of Ceres and the sliip of Isis were one
and the same hieroglyphic, each being designed to represent the ark or
floating Moon Tiicba or Argo, into which Osiris was compelled to enter
by the fury of 'i'yphou.
6. The Phrygian rites of Attis and Cybelfe were of precisely the same
description as those of Osiris and Isis : and no reasonable doubt can be
entertain(!d of the identity of the two goddesses. We find accordingly,
that the mystic boat is equally characteristic of the Asiatic and of the
Kgyptian deity.
■ Orpli. Hymn, xlviii. Proc. in Plat. Tira. apuil Orpli. Frngin. p. 401.
' PauR. Arciid. p. 523. ' Paus. Plioc. p. 662.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 29
Julius Firmicus tells us, that, during the annual celebration of the Phry- chap. m.
gian Orgies, a pine-tree was cut down, and that the image of a young man
was bound fast in the middle of it. The tree, it seems, was hollowed out,
so as to resemble a boat : for he adds, that in the Mysteries of Isis a similar
ceremony was observed ; the trunk of a pine, during tlitir celebration also,
being dexterously excavated, and an image of Osiris made from the cut-
tings of the wood being inserted'. Now we know, that the image of
Osiris was inclosed within an ark which exhibited the figure of a lunette.
But Firmicus assures us, that the statue of Attis was similarly inclosed
within the excavated trunk of a pine ; and he represents the two ceremo-
nies as being palpably the same. Hence it is manifest, that the excavated
pine of the Phrygian goddess was a boat ; and that in fact it was no other
than the Argo or Theba or sacred ship of Isis.
The fictitious parentage of Cybel^ exactly accords with her navicular
character. As the British Ceridwen is allegorically said to be the daughter
of Menwyd, and as the Indian Ila or Ida or Isi is described as being the
daughter of Menu who was preserved with seven companions in an ark :
so the Phrygian Cybelfe is feigned to be the offspring of a very ancient
king of Lydia, whom Diodorus calls Meon, but whom Xanthus denomi-
nates Manes or Menes assigning to him for a consort one of the daughters
of the Ocean*. This Meon or iVIencs, the fabled husband of the sea-
nymph, is the same as the Baal-Meon of Palestine, and as the Menes,
Menu, and Menwyd, of Egypt, Hindostan, and Britain: while his oceanic
wife is one character with his fabled daughter Cybel^, whom Macrobins
and Firmicus rightly style the mother of the gods \ Cyhdb in short stands
to him in the very same double relationship of wife and daughter, that Ida
does to Menu-Satyavrata: and in both cases the reason is still the same.
Noah was the father of the diluvian Ship, because he built it: and he was
its husband, because it was the mother of his children the younger Baalicn
or hero-gods.
' Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rel. p. 53.
* Diod. Lib), lib. iii. p. 191, 192. Dion. Halic. Ant. Rora. lib. i.
^ Macrob. Sat. lib. i. c. 21. Jul. Firm. p. 53.
30 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. The identity indeed of the ship-goddess Cybel^ and the ship-goddess
Ida appears at once from their names and from their characters.
Cybel^ was highly venerated in mount Ida, whence she was denomi-
nated the Idean mother or mother Ida. But this is the precise title of the
Indian navicular goddess, who was similarly revered in mount Meru ; the
summit of which is from her denominated Ida-vratta or the mundane
circle of Ida.
Nor is there less resemblance in point of character between the Id^an
mother of Phrygia and the Id^an mother of Hindostan. The circle of Ida,
which crowns the top of JNIeru, is said to be a ring of mountains ; and it is
considered as the symbol of the World. But Meru is the hill, on which
tiie ark of Menu rested after the deluge : and that ark and the World are
represented by common symbols, and are thus blended together by a sort
of mystical intercommunion. The circle of Ida therefore on the top of
Meru denotes the Ark no less than the World, each of these two Worlds
being equally typified by the lotos and the ship Argha. But the fabled
Idcan circle is the prototype of the massy circular temples formed of large
upright stones ; which have often, though erroneously, been deemed pecu-
liar to the Druidical superstition. They were indeed eminently used by
the Druids, and the appellation whicii they bestowed upon Stonehenge
shews the light in whicli they considered lliem; for they were wont to style
that wonderful monument the mundane Ark or the Ark of the JVorld,
deeming it a symbol of their ship-goddess Ked or Ceridwen: but they are
to be found in other parts of the globe besides those, in which the Celtic
priesthood flourished. Now it is a very curious circumstance, that one of
these circular temples still exists on the summit of a conical hill, which
rises like a vast natural altar at the base of the Phrygian mount Ida. It
was clearly, I think, a copy of the sacred Ida-vratta ; and was dedicated
to the great Id^an mother Cybel^, just as the circle on the top of Meru is
the circle of the Hindoo Id^an mother, and as Caer-Sidee or Stonehenge
is the temple of tlie navicular Ceridwen. I sus[)ect, that tiie old super-
stition of tlie Iliensians feigned a larger Ida-vratta on tiie top of Ida itself,
as the Hindoo .superstition places one on tiie top of Meru : ami I believe,
that this more accessible temple was designed to represent it. Tlie spc-
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 31
cial name of the highest peak of Ida is Gargarus or Gargar: and tliis cuap. m.
word, like the Celtic Caer, denotes apparently a circle. It is the same
appellation as G&r or Gor-Z)« or C(/;'-Z)m ; which was bestowed, with a
similar reference to the mystic circle of Ida, upon that lofty chain of hills
in Armenia where the Ark rested after the deluge. It is the same also as
the Cor of mount Parnassus, famed fo4- the appulse of the ark of Deuca-
lion; that Cor or circle, from which the Corycian nymphs borrowed their
title. The Phrygian Ida, like the Grecian Parnassus, was a local Ararat :
and, as its Gargar or circle-crowned summit was little short of being abso-
lutely inaccessible, the ship-goddess of the country was adored in an arti-
ficial Caer on a more moderate eminence, as the ship-goddess of Britain
was worshipped in the parallel round temple of Stonehenge. Agreeably
to this supposition, the top of Ida, like that of Meru and Olympus, was
esteemed the seat of the immortal gods. But the hero-gods of the Gen-
tiles, whose favourite abode is ever placed on the summit of a lofty hill,
are those deified mortals who were born out of the womb of the great
mother : and that great mother is invariably described as being a ship,
which is said to have floated upon the surface of the deluge, and which is
represented as flying away in the form of a dove when the waters began to
retire from off" the surface of the earth '.
7. Among the Hindoos, Tsi, who during the prevalence of the flood
successively changes herself into a ship and into a dove, is considered also
as the mysterious Yoni or female principle of nature from which every
tiling living is produced : and, since she is the consort of the great father
under the name of i/tvi, she herself would properly bear the feminine
appellation of Hera or the Lady. Decorated with these two titles, she is
evidently the Latin Juno and the Grecian Hera.
I am inclined to believe, that, notwithstanding the new sense which the
word Yoni has acquired in the Sanscrit, the real prototype both of it and
* Clarke's Travels vol. ii. chap. 5. p. 128— 1. "32. Dr. Clarke very justly observes, that
the curious remains of antiquity on the summit of the conical hill seem to refer pointedly
to siiperstilions concernvig the summit of mount Gargarus ; and he cites Plutarch as men-
tioning, that the altars of Jupiter and the mother of the gods were in Ida formerly called
Curgarut,.
32 THE ORIGIN' OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
of the name Juno is the Hebrew or Babylonic Yoneh or Yuneh or Juneh
or Jonah ; for thus variously may this oriental appellation be expressed in
our western characters. It signifies a dove: and it is used by Moses in his
account of the deluge. I am the rather led to adopt such an opinion ; be-
cause I find, both that Isi or Yoni is actually said to assume the form of
that bird, and because her name Pai'vati denotes a dove : and I am the
more confirmed in it, because the mythologic history of the w estern Juno
equally shews its propriety in the case of that goddess also.
We learn from Dion Cassius, that at mount Alban in Latium a sacred
ship was venerated, which was denominated the ship oj Juno '. It appears
therefore, that the ship was the symbol of Juno, no less than of Isi, Isis,
and Cybel^ : and the nature of the worship may, I think, be collected from
the title by which the holy mountain of the Latins was distinguished,
Alban is the same name as Albania, Albion, and Albyn. This appellation
■was bestowed upon the high range of country contiguous to Armenia; and
the peak itself, where tlie Ark was believed to have rested, bore the title
of Luban or Luban. Alban however is but a variation of Laban : each
word signifies the Moon ; and the Moon was originally so called from the
whiteness of its aspect. Hence, in the west, the Island of Alhyn ox Albion
is equivalent cither to the Island of the Moon or to the JVhite Island: and
hence, in the east, mount Laban or Alban means either the mountain of
the Moon or the mountain of the IVhite Goddess. Of the primitive lunar
or arkite mountain the sacred mount Alban of the Latins was a local tran-
script: and the ship, which was venerated upon its summit, was but a copy
of the Ark resting on the top of Laban or Ararat. Tliis sacred ship of
Juno was constructed, I apprehend, in the form of the lunar crescent : for
such seems to be the natural inference, both from the ship of Isis bearing
tiiat shape, from the name of the mountain on whicli the Latin ship was
venerated, and yet more directly from the actual figure of Juno as she was
worshipped by the Samians. They represented her standing upon a lu-
nette ; the circular part of which dipped into a luminous straight line so as
to be partially concealed by it, and the horns of which pointed upwards.
' Dion. Cass. lib. xxxixt ,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 33
The line is evidently meant to describe the surface of the ocean ; and the «»*'• '"
lunette is what Dion rightly calls the ship of Juno: for it appears, partly
rising above the level of the water, and partly sinking beneath it, just in the
same manner as a boat of that form would do '.
Juno then, like Isi, was the Ark : and, although I cannot prove that,
like Isi also, she was ever reputed to have transformed herself into a dove,
yet we at least find her closely connected with that sacred bird. I would
not build too confidently upon the account, which Pausanias gives of her
curious statue at Mycenas ; because, though I suspect the bird upon the
top of her sceptre to have been really a dove, that writer denominates it a
atckoo'' : I would rather adhere to the more positive testimony, which is
afforded by the history of Semiramis and the remarkable image in the temple
of Juno at Hierapolis.
8. Lucian, in his treatise on the Syrian goddess, informs us, that this
temple was thought to have been built by Deucalion immediately after the
deluge, and that it was erected over a chasm, through which the waters
were believed to have retired into the great central abyss. In it was the
image of a female richly habited, and upon her head was a golden dove.
The Syrians gave it no proper name, but merely called it a sign or token :
and this, in their own language, they would express by the word Sent or
Scma ; which Lucian has very happily translated into its Greek derivative
Semeion '. Now Semiramis, who was reputed to have been one of the
earliest sovereigns of Babylon, was nevertheless greatly venerated at Hiera-
polis : and her legendary history will throw much light upon this female
imaae, which was call Sema, which bore a golden dove upon its head, and
which was closely associated with Juno.
Thouiih it is nut iuipossible, that the name of Semiramis may have been
assumed by more than one even literal queen of Babylon, agreeably to a
■ See Plate I. Fig. 13. * Paus. Corinth, p. 114, 115.
' Ka-Mirat it Sii^oiVo' xai i-f' aflw AffO-ffii)', lii Ti o»0|Lta iJ.o» av\u iSivro. Luc. tie dea
Syr. § S."?. I doubt, whether the Greek of Lucian will bear Mr. Bryant out in his idea,
that Semeion is itself a Syriac word, denoting the token of the Dove : it seems only to be a
translation of the corresponding oriental term, which I take to be Sem or Sema ; cu; or
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. E -
34 THE ORIGTN OF PAGAN IDOtATRY.
300K V. very common practice of sovereigns taking the appellations of the deities
whom they served : yet the earliest Semiramis, who is represented as being
the wife of the Assyrian Ninus and who at the same time is immediately
connected with the founding of Babylon, is certainly a goddess ; and, by
the accounts of her which have come down to us, lier true character may
be easily ascertained. She was feigned to be the daughter of Derceto or
Atargatis, and the sister of Icthys or Dagon ; for Icthys is described as
being the son of Derceto. But Derceto was the piscine ship-goddess of
the Syrians, being undoubtedly the same personage as the navicular Venus
or Juno or Isis'. Semiramis therefore is the offspring of the Ark. How
6uch a genealogy is to be understood, we are taught very unequivocally
by a curious tradition respecting her : she is said to have been transformed
into a dove ; and we are likewise told, that her standard was a dove, which
insigne was adopted by all the Assyrian princes after her *. Semiramis
then was a dove : she was greatly venerated at Hierapolis : and, in the
temple of Juno at this very place, there was a figure of a female bearing a
golden dove upon its head, which the Syrians denominated Se77ia or the
token. Putting these different circumstances together, I feel persuaded,
that the image in question was the statue of the dove-goddess Semiramis ;
and I think we may further conjecture, that the origin of the name Seini-
ramis is to be sought for in the word Sema. If the simple Scma denote a
token, the compound Scma-Rama will denote a lofty token : and this ap-
pellation was bestowed upon her whom the Greeks called Semiramis, be-
cause, as we learn from her mythological history, she was a symbolical
personification of the dove. Hence slie is made the daughter of the ship-
goddess and the sister of Dagon, whom we have already shewn to be the
same character as Noah : hence, like the Indian Isi who successively
assumes the form of a ship and a dove, she is sometimes identified with
* Luc. dc dea Syr. ^ l*. Ovid. Mctam. lib. iv. ver. i*. Athcn. Legat. c. xxvi. Xanth.
•pud Athen. Deipnos. lib. viii. p. 346. Artemid. Oniroc. lib. i. c. 9. Euscb. Praep. Evan,
lib. i. c. 10. Glyc. Annal. p. 184.
* Ovid. Mctum. lib. iv. vvr. 44. Athcn. Lcgat. c. xxvi. David Ganz. Chronol. iu aniu
J958 apud Dyrant.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. SS
the ship-goddess herself: and hence she is occasionally said to have been craf. in.
the builder of the first ship '.
Further light will be thrown upon her character by considering the time,
to which she is ascribed. She is said to have built the walls of Babylon,
and to have been the wife of that earliest Assyrian Ninus who founded
Nineveh. But the Ninus thus distinguished can only be Nimrod, whose
real name seems to have been Nin, the title Nimrod or the rebel being
applied to him by way of reproach; for Nimrod was the only Ninus, who
•was equally concerned in the founding both of Nineveh and of Babylon :
when miraculously driven away from the latter, he Tvent forth, we are told,
into the land of Ashur where he built the former*. The dove Semiramis
then was the consort indeed, but only the mystical consort, of the arch-
apostate Nimrod, with whom originated the whole frame of gentile mytho-
logy : and accordingly, as the Sema-Rama or lofty token of the dove was
the peculiar badge of the ancient Assyrian empire, which commenced at
Babylon and which afterwards had Nineveh for its capital, I am much in-
clined to believe, that it was first assumed as a national banner by the
daring architects of the tower of Babel, and that it is mentioned even by
the sacred historian himself He represents the primeval Babylonians as
encouraging each other to the work by saying, Come now, let lis build mito
ourselves a city and a tower ; and the top thereof shall be for the heavens:
and let us make unto ourselves a token, lest we be scattered over the
face of all the earth '. The word, here used by Moses to describe the
name or token which the Babylonians agreed to assume, is Sein ; the very
word, which enters into the composition of Semiramis, and which the
Hierapolitans seem to have applied to tlieir dove-bearing statue : and I
interpret it in the same manner, inasmuch as it will thus both produce ex-
cellent sense and w ill accord remarkably well with history. I see not how
the merely wishing to acquire renoxvn, as the expression is commonly
understood, could at all, in the way of cause and effect, tend to prevent
tlieir being scattered : and, whatever it was that they agreed to make for
• Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. vii. c. 5G. Cliron. Pa«ch. p. 36. Athen. Legat. c. xxvi.
* Vide infra book vi. c. 2. j 1. ' Gen. xi. \.
36 THE OUIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
themselves, it was plainly something which was designed at least to operate
as an instrument to keep them together in one body. Now, if we suppose
Sem to mean a name in the sense of token or a sign or a banner, we shall
immediately perceive its close connection with the avowed purpose of the
Babylonians. They agreed to adopt a national badae and to enroll them-
selves under one particular ensign ; in order that, by thus having a rally-
ing point, they might prevent themselves from being dispersed. Accord-
ingly we find from history, not only that they had a national standard ; but
that that standard was a dove and tliat they designated it by ihe word here
employed by Moses, calling it uncompoundedly Sema or ihe token and
eompoundedly Sema-Rama or the lofty token. Their banner probably
exhibited a woman bearing a dove on her head, like the token of the Hiera-
politans : and, since it was immediately connected with the superstition
which originated at Babel, it was deemed sacred ; and thence, as was usual
among the old military idolaters, was worshipped as a divinity '. By the
Greeks, and perhaps even by themselves in process of time, it was mistaken
for a deified princess, the supposed founder of Babylon : but the real
diluvian character of the personified Sema-Rama was never thorouglily for-
gotten. She was still made the daughter of the fish-goddess Dcrceto : she
was still thought to be the sister of the fish-god Dagon : she was still con-
nected with the flood of Deucalion and tiic first built ship: she was still
fabled either to have been transformed into a dove, or to have been fed by
doves in her infancy, or to have been the first that bore a dove for her en-
sign, or to have been distinguished by a name which some Iiow or other
either signified a dove or was connected witii one*. In the legend of her
being fed by doves we again find the word Sem ; by which the dove was
called in its capacity of a symbolical ensign, and which Moses (if I mistake
not) applies to the banner adopted by the primeval Babylonians. When
exposed during her infancy, she is said to have been discovered and pre-
" Diod. Bibl. lib. ii. p. 107. The Romans, in a similar manner, worslnpped the eagles
on their standards; whence Tacitus calls them propria legionum numina. The modern
practice of consecrating the banner of a regiment is evidently a relic of this ancient ido-
latrouB custom.
» Uiod. Bibl. lib. ii. p. 92, 93, 107. Luc. de dea Syra. Ilesych. Lex.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 37
served by a shepherd named Simma ; and she is feigned to have been after- chap. m.
wards espoused to Menon '. The story of her exposure and preservation
is but the incessantly repeated fable of the exposure of the great father or
the great motlier on the summit of a lofty mountain : and both the shepherd
Simma or Sema, and her reputed consort Menon or Menu, are alike the
diluvian patriarch ; of whom the shepherd Nimrod, so called as the prince
of the Scythic Palli or Sliepherds, probably claimed to be a manifestation
or Avatar.
It is not unworthy of observation, that both the name of Sami or Sami'
Rama, and some broken legends of her connection uith doves, have been
preserved in the western parts of Hindostan *. She is there imagined to be
a tree with a human countenance, called the Sami tree; and she is feigned
to be the goddess of fire. We may easily trace the origin of both these
notions. The Sema, or token of the dove, having been assumed as a
national insigne, was elevated, like the Roman eagle, on a standard-pole :
and this token, if we may judge from the form in which it was exhibited at
Hierapolis, was a female figure, sometimes probably a mere female head,
surmounted bv a dove '. Now, in the east, any long upright piece of
wood was called a tree*. The tree of Sami therefore will prove to be
nothing more than the ensign of her votaries ; that is to say, a pole sur-
mounted by a dove which perches on the head of a female. Such was the
form of the Indian Sami : and, with respect to her character, she was
deemed, I apprehend, the goddess of fire, because the Sabian worship,
of the solar fire commenced with Nimrod at Babylon, and because, as is
frequently the case with the great mother, she was esteemed the female
regent of the Sun ^
* Diod. Bibl. lib. ii. p. 93.
* See Asiat. Res. vol. viii. p. 257. The passage here referred to appears to be authentic :
but Mr. Wilford's pundit had shamefully corrupted the legend, whence his former account
of Semiramis was drawn. He seems to have learned her western history, and to have
adopted his interpolations accordingly.
' Thus, according to Euthymius Zegabenus, the ancient Arabs adored a simple head of
Venus. Seld. de diis Syr. synU ii. c. 4. p. 216.
* By this appellation the cross is frequently designated in Scripture.
' Respecting the female Sun and the male Moon more will be said hereafter. Vide
infra book v. c. 4. § I. 3.
3S THE oniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. 9. The ship-goddess Juno being thus connected with the mystic dove,
we shall perceive the reason, why the rainbow also, under the name of
Iris, is constantly assigned to her as a handmaid and attendant.
This beautiful phenomenon was another Sema or sacred token : and it
is a curious circumstance, that, in a hymn to Selen^ or the lunar boat
ascribed to Homer, the very title of Setria is given to it '. The word was
borrowed by the Greeks from the oriental dialects, and it was used by them
precisely in the same sense. Thus Homer, both in the hymn to Selen&
and elsewhere in the Iliad, calls the rainbow, almost in the very words of
Moses, a token or sign to mortals placed in the clouds by Jupiter *. It is
not improbable, that the Sema-Rama of the Assyrians, when complete,
exhibited the appearance of a woman bearing on her head a dove sur-
rounded by the rainbow, thus uniting together the pagan Juno and Iris : at
least, I think it abundantly clear, that the peacock was consecrated to the
queen of the gods, because in its gaudy plumage it exhibits the various
tints of the rainbow.
10. The Astartfe or Astoreth of the Phenicians, who was worshipped in
conjunction with Adonis in the same manner as Isis was venerated in
conjunction with Osiris, was equally the goddess of the sacred lunar ship.
According to Sanchoniatho, her head, like that of Isis or lo, was decorated
with horns which exhibited the figure of the navicular crescent: and coins
are yet extant, in which she is represented standing on the prow of a galley,
with a spear in her left hand and a head in her right '.
The head is doubtless that of Osiris, which was thought to float super-
naturally every year from Egypt to 13yblos : and the ship is clearly the
same as the Argo or Argha, the sacred vessel of Isis or Isi.
11. Hitherto I have considered the great mother, as openly and unre-
servedly either identified or connected with a mysterious ship ; in which,
the great father is described, as having floated upon the surface of the
• Tix^«;j Jf ^{OToi? x«i ar.fna. rntii!\iToi(ri Tutvaar,
Ziu? if u{a»«6i» Ti^a? i(x/ii»ai. llia Simp, in Aristot. dc ausc. phys. lib. iv. p. 150.
• Orph. Hymn. Ixxxiii. 5. ii. 1, 2. ,
' Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. c. 21. Orph. Hymn. liv. xlviii. Pragm. p. 401.
• Davies's Mythol. p. 184, 185. ' Mallet's North. Ant. c. vi. p. 92, 93.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. G
50 THE ORIGIN OF PACAV IDOLATRY.
in general '. Isi, under the various names of Lacshmi, Saraswati, Sita,
and Parvatijis said to have had all the mundane elements produced within
her womb, to have been the mother of the world, to have been the female
power of generation when the earth was covered by the waters of tije de-
luge, and to have once comprehended within her the whole famil}' of the
hero-gods \ Nor are we left in any doubt respecting the character of the
deities, who are thus fabled to have been born from the great navicular
parent of the Universe. Sometimes they are described to us as being
eight, and sometimes as only three, in number : the first alluding to the
Noetic ogdoad ; the second, to the Noetic triad. Thus the Egyptians
eminently worshipped eight gods, who were depicted sailing together in the
sacred shipof Isis: these eight divinities therefore, if we adopt the figu-
rative language of the initiated, were those identical hero-gods who were
comprehended within the womb of the great mother of the immortals '.
Thus the Japanese, while they denominate their aquatic goddess Quanwon
or Kriunycs of the fal)lcd Inferum, the three
floating eggs from which the three great gods were produced, the three
Worlds into which the Universe is feigned to be divided '.
3. What is thus variously set forth in the mystic jargon of the cpoptas,
is sometimes literally and unreservedly declared to us.
Saturn, whom we have seen to be palpably the sauie as Adam reappear-
ing in the person of Noah, is said to be the husband of Rhea or Opis, the
Satar-U|)a of the Hindoos. These are the parents of three sons and three
daughters: and, agreeably to their number, the World, that universal
empire of their father, is divided for them int(j three portions. The same
' Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 110, 111, 112. vol. iii. p. IGl, 163. ]\Ioor's Iliiul. Paiitii. p.
21, 22, S3, 70, 81, 1 16, 1 19, 125, 136. Hryant on the plagues of Egypt, p. 170. Cud-
wnrtli's Intcll. ."^yst. h. i. c. \: p. 41 i. proporly S.'jt. Oipli. Fiafini. p. 406. Pearson on
tilt' Creed, vol. ii. p. 57 Moor's Hind, runtli. p. \0. Orpli. Hymn. Iviii. Ixix.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATHl'. 59
genealogical arrangement occurs in the fable of Phtha or Vulcan ; whom chap- "'•
Jaiiiblichus identifies with the navicular Osiris, and who is celebrated as
the wonderful architect of the iloating World. We learu from Phcrecydes,
that Vulcan espoused Cabira, tlie daughter of Proteus ; who bore to him
the three Cabiri and the three Cabiras '. Ileie the sea-nymph Cabira evi-
dently occupies the place of Rhea or Isi or Iva: and accordingly she will
prove to be the same person, as the ocean-born Venus, and as the navi-
cular Ceres. Euthymius tells us, that Venus was a Cabira; and Ceres,
whom Mnaseas enumerates in his list of the Samothracian Cabiri, is by
Pausanias styled Cabiria '. The complete number of the Cabiric deities,
as given by Pherecydes, amounts precisely to eight; namely a father and
a mother, w ith three sons and three daughters. Now, as the father was
one of those eight great gods whom the Egyptians represented sailing toufe-
ther in a ship, and as he is likewise identified with Osiris whom Typhon
set afloat in an ark ; as the Cabiri are said to have constructed the first
ship, as they are fabled to have consecrated the relics of the ocean, and
as they were deemed the tutelary gods of navigation : the whole Cabiric
family, which consists of four males and four females, must be collectively
those eight persons, who were preserved in an Ark when all the rest of
mankind were overwhelmed by the waters of the deluge '.
■ Jamb, de myster. sect. viii. c, 3. Pherec. apud Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. ^12. Herod,
lib. iii. c. 37.
* Euth3m. Zegab. Panop. apud Seld. de diis Syr. synt. ii. c. 4. p, 211. Pausan. BoeoU
p. 578.
' Euseb. Pracp. Evan. lib. i, c. 10. Aristoph. Iran. ver. 275. Schol. in loc.
CHAPTER IV.
Bespecting the hermaphroditic Unity of the Great Universal
Parent.
I. As all the gods of the Gentiles finally resolve themselves into one god,
who is yet said to be mysteriously triplicated ; and as all the goddesses of
the Gentiles finally resolve themselves into one goddess, who is similarly
described as appearing in three forms : so this god and this goddess, the
great father and the great mother of pagan theology, ultimately unite to-
gether, and thus constitute a single deity who partakes of the nature of
them both.
Here, so far as T can judge, we have the only divine unity that the
heathens ever worshipped : an unity, which has often been mistaken for
that of the Supreme Being, but which really has notiiing in common with
him, save that it bore the name and was decorated with the nsuri>cd attri-
butes of the Deity. It was, in fact, composed of that great father and that
great mother, whose mythologic characters have now been so largely con-
sidered. Hence, if neither of these personages were scvcral/j/ ihe true
God; a point, than which nothing can be more palpably evident: llif tro
co/ijai)illj/, when viewed as one great hcrujaphroditic divinity, can just as
little be the true God.
THE ORICIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 61
Vet this was the unity, wliich misled Bp. Warbuiton into the groundless c"ap. jv.
fancy, that the ancient INIystcries were instituted for the purpose of teaching
the initiated the falsehood of the popular hero-worship and the existence of
the one true Supreme Deity. The Mysteries did indeed teach, that all the
gods M'ere one and that all the goddesses were one ; tliey moreover ex-
hibited in scenic representation the death and revival of the great father
and the various calamities of the great mother ; and they revealed to the
epopta^, that the divinities of Gentilism were their deceased ancestors, vene-
rated as the regents of the mundane Ship, astronomically worshipped in
conjunction with the Sun and Moon, and materially identified with the
Avhole frame of Nature : but they assuredly did not discard these factitious
gods to make room for that unity of the true God, which Bp. Warburton
has supposed them to teach as their last and greatest secret. They taught,
no doubt, an unity such as it was : but it was not the unity of Jehovah.
It was an unity ; which, instead of discarding hero-worship, was simply a
varied modification of it. It was an unity; which did not inculcate the
folly of adoring the great father and the great mother, but which itself was
produced by the mystic union of the two. The objects of worship were
still the same ; whether many gods and goddesses were adored, whether
the many were resolved into a single god and single goddess, or whether
these two \\ere finally blended together into one compound being who was
esteemed the great hermaphroditic parent of the Universe. This one being
is indeed described with many of the attributes of the true God : but that
is no proof of their real identity. When the creature was made to usurp the
place of the Creator, it was necessarily spoken of in language whicli pro-
perly belongs to the Creator alone : but, unless we can believe that the
primeval being who floats in a wonderful ship upon the surface of an uni-
versal deluge is God, we can never admit the genuine divinity of that unity
which is produced by the mystic hermaphroditic conjunction of the ship-
god and the ship-goddess.
The very language indeed of the pagans themselves, which they employ
in speaking of the nature of tlieir deities, is sufficient to overturn the spe-
culation of this great but daring writer. Instead of describing the unity,
which they all acknowledge, as superseding the plurality : they speak of
62 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. their gods as being equally one and many '. Whatever therefore the many
be severally, the one must be collectively : because the unity is but a com-
bination of the plurality. Hence, since the many are hero-gods ; the one,
which mystically comprehends them all in an imaginary hermaphroditic be-
ing, nmst evidently be a pantheistic congeries of hero-gods, and therefore
cannot be the true God \
Yet, notwithstanding this plain consequence from an incontrovcrtibly
established position, namely the mortal origin of the hero-gods, so perpe-
tually has the divine unity of the pagan mytiiologists been mistaken for the
divine unity of the real Godhead, that Synesius, himself a Christian bishop,
has most strangely ascribed to Jehovah the hermaphroditic nature of the
one great universal parent venerated tliroughout the gentile world '. Thus
mischievous is the unscriptural notion, that the pagans worshipped the true
God, either under the many names of their various idols, or at least under
the unity into which they all resolved themselves.
1 . The old mythology of Hindostan is the most explicit in setting forth to
us the nature of that unity, within which all the deities both male and female
• See Cudworth's Intell. Syst. p. 377—512.
* Cudworth admirably shews, that all the gods and goddesses of the Gentiles are ulti-
mately one numen, described as partaking of the nature of both sexes: but, unfortunately
imagining like Warburton that the unity must be the true God, he thence, more con-
sistently than the author of the Divine Legation, makes every individual of the plurality
the true God likewise ; worshipped indeed erroneously and materially blended with the
Universe, but still the true universal Numen. His argument ouglit to have taken a directly
contrary course. Instead of inferring the divinity of each individual from the assumed
proper divinity of the mystic unity ; he ouglit rather to have inquired uito the nature of
the individuals, and thence to have established on a sure basis the nature of that unity
which confessedly comprehends them all. Now (as Warburton most strenuously and justly
maintains, for no truth can well be more evident) the many gods of the Gentiles were
deified mortals : the conclusion therefore ought to have been, that the unity was a conge-
ries of deified mortals; not the unity of the true God. Cudworth however is at least con-
sistent ; but Warburton is not so : for the latter, after rightly insisting that the many
gods are deified mortals, yet maintains, that the unity taught in the mysteries, an unity
composed of this very plurality, was the unity of the true God.
Xv i "(f'^'t ^u ^ OilAi/(.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRy, 63
M'ere ultimately comprehended : it will serve therefore as a key to unlock chap. iv.
the mystery as it occurs in the systems of other nations.
Brahma, Vishnou, and Siva, who are all forms of one and the same god-
head, are all described as being hermaphrodites, each comprehending within
himself the masculine and feminine principles of fecundity. Isi likewise or
Parvati is similarly an hermaphrodite, sometimes appearing as a male, and
at other times manifesting herself as a female *. Such being the case, we
should naturally be led to suppose, that the god Isa became an hermaphro-
dite by an inseparable union with the goddess Isi, and conversely that the
goddess Isi partook of the two sexes by her mystic amalgamation with the
god Isa. This would be the obvious conclusion, even if nothing more had
been said on the subject : but the Hindoos leave us in no doubt respecting
the precise character of their androgynous divinity. They tell us, that
during the flood the generative powers of nature were reduced to their
simplest elements, and that these were combined in the form of the ship
Argha and its mast; the ship representing the great mother Isi, and the
mast the great father Isa * : and they further contend, that the union of the
two principles was so mysteriously intimate as to form but one compound
being, which they symbolize by a figure half male and half female, denomi-
nating it Hara-Gauri and Ardhanari-Iszcara '. Hence it is manifest, that
the hermaphroditic god of the Hindoos is composed of the great father and
the great mother, or the ship-god and the ship-goddess, blended together
so as to make one being which partakes of both sexes : and from this being,
thus uniting in itself the two principles of fecundity, they deduce the origin
of all things. The paintings, accordingly, of Ardhanari most curiously ex-
hibit Siva and Parvati, or Isa and Isi, so conjoined as to form only a single
figure. Their union commences at the head, and terminates at the feet:
and half a woman is so united to half a man, that one side of the figure
from the head downwards represents the masculine shape of Siva, while
the other side similarly represents the feminine shape of Parvati. TJiis
• Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 25*. vol. iii. p. 126, 127, 132, 133, 13i, 135. vol. vii. 293, 294..
Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 9, SSi, 385, 292.
* Asiat. Re«. vol. vi. p. 523. ' Asiat. Res. vol. viii. p. 55,
64 f-HE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
compound figure, decorated on the right with all the symbols of Isa and on
the left with all the symbols of Isi, appears seated on the top of the sacred
mount Meru, where the Hindoos place the garden of Paradise, and where
they suppose the ark of Satyavrata to have rested after the deluge '.
Here then we have the sole divine unity, which the Brahmens worship
as god : an unity, not of the invisible Creator of heaven and earth, but
composed by tl>e mystic amalgamation of the great father and the great
mother, whose characters have already been very sufficiently ascertained.
Witli this opinion, which runs directly counter to the often advanced-
notion that the Hindoos entertain the most sublime conceptions of the true
God and that He alone is the real object of their adoration, the unreserved
declarations of these very Hindoos themselves precisely correspond. Ask
one of that nation, whether learned or unlearned, if he worships the Su-
preme Being, if he prays to him, if he offers to him sacrifices ? He will
immediately answer, No, never. Inquire, if he does not at least worship
him mentally ? The doubt will be, whether he understands the import of
the question ; but, if he do, he Avill again answer. No. Do you praise
him? No. Do you meditate-on his attributes and perfections? No. What
then is that silent meditation, which some learned authors adduce as a clear
proof of your venerating tlic one true invisible God? He will tell you,
that, with eyes closed and looking up to heaven, with hands uiodcrately
open and a little elevated, he composes his thoughts ; and, without moving'
his tongue or using any of his organs of speech, says, I am Brahma or the
Supreme Being. If you ask him, what this supreme being is, you will find
that it is a being altogetiicr different from him whon) ice have learned by
revelation to venerate under the name oi Jehovah. The Hindoo will tell
vou, that the supreme being, upon M'hicli lie meditates, is identified with
liimself ; that it is forbidden to adore him or to offer prayers and sacrifices-
Uj iiini, because that would l)e to worship himself; but that we may vene-
rate collateral emanations from him and even mere mortals. He will add,
that the worship of images is recommended, when, after consecration, the
deity has been called down and forced into them by powerful spells. Do
I
• Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 23, 83, 98, 99. phitcs 7 and 2't. See Plate II. Fig. 8.
THE OniGIM OF PAGA>I IDOLATRY. 65
you then worship idols? He will immediately answer witliout the least cuap. iv.
hesitation, i'es, I do worship them '.
Precisely similar to this was the doctrine of the ancient philosopiiers of
Greece and Rome ; and their speculations were those of the avIioIc pagan
world. They taught, that every individual of mankind was excerpted from
their universal numen or great androgynous hero-god ; that he was conse-
quently a portion of this deity ; and that, as he proceeded from him, so by
death he would be resolved again into his essence. The religion of the
gentile world therefore was in trutii rank atheism : whence the apostle in-
forms us, even in so many words, that the pagans were atheists and had
rejected the worship of the real God ^.
2. But it may be said, that, although the heathens erroneously imagined
the souls of men to be excerpted portions of their supreme being, they
might still by thciv supreme being mean him whom we denominate Jehovah
or tlie Sclf-c.iistcnt.
To conjecture, facts afford tlie best and most satisfactory answer : and
these facts I the rather proceed to adduce, because, while they still bring
us to the same point as before, namely that the supreme unity of the pagan
mythologists was but an hermaphroditic compound of their great father
and great mother ; they further teach us, how the notion of this androgyn-
ous union first originated. Let us attend then to the account, whicli the
Hindoos give us of their double god Arahanari or Viraj, from wlwm the
souls of all mankind are said to be emanations.
He, the primeval being, felt not delight ; t Iter ej ore man delights not
when alone. He wished the existence oj' another ; and instantly he became
such as is man and xcomanin viutual cntbracc. He caused this, his oivn self,
to fall in txcain ; and thus became a husband and icij'e : therefore zvas this
body so separated, as it were, an imperfect moiety of himself. This blank
therefore is completed by woman: he approached her ; and thence were
human beings produced. She nfiected doubtingly. How can he, having
produced me jroui himself, incest uously approach me ? J xcill nozv assume a
disguise. She became a cow ; and the otlwr became a bull, and approached
• Asiat Res. vol. xi. p. 125» 126. * Rom. i. 23, 25, 28. Eph. iii. 12.
Fag. Idol, VOL. III. I
66 THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATIIY.
EooK V. her : and the issue were kine. She was changed into a mare, a7id he itito a
stallion ; one was turned into a female ass, and the other into a male one:
thus did he again approach her ; and the one-hoofed kind was the off'sprmg.
She became a female goat, and lie a male one ; she was an ewe, and he a
ram : thus he approached her ; and goats and sheep were the progeny. In
this manner did he create every existing pair whatsoever, even to the ants
and minutest insect '.
The notion of Viraj dividing his own substance into male and female
occurs in more than one Purana; so does that of an incestuous marriage
of the first ^lenu and his daughter Satarupa : and the commentators on
the Upanishad understand that legend to be alluded to in this place. Now
the first ]\Ienu and his wife Satarupa, who are thus understood as jointly
constituting the primeval demiurgic hermaphrodite, are likewise denomi-
nated Adima and Iva, are said to have been eminently the parents of three
sons one of whom was murdered by his brother at a sacrifice, and are de-
scribed as being the common progenitors of the whole human race. But
Adima and Iva are themselves manifestations of Isa and Isi, or of Brahma
and Saraswati. Hence we find, that exactly the same story is told of
Brahma.
According to the JMatsya Purana, Brahma, in the ?2orfh-west part of
India about Cashmir, that is to say, in tlie lofty region of Meru where the
Hindoos place tlie garden of Paradise, assumed a mortal shape : and, one
half of his body springing out without his suffering any diminution xehat-
ever, he framed out of it Satarupa. She zvas so beautiful, that he fell in
love with her ; but, having sprung from his body, he considered her as his
daughter, aiul was ashamed. During this conflict between shame and love,
he remaineu motionless with his eyes fixed upon her. Satarupa, perceiving
his situation and desiring to avoid his looks; stepped aside. Brahma, unable
to move, but still wishing to see her, caused a face to spring out in the
direction to zvhich she moved. She shifted her place four li)nes: and as
many faces, corresponding with the four corners of the zvorld, grexv out of
his head. Having recovered his intellects, the other half of his body
sprang from him and became Menu-Szcayambhuva \
• Asiat. Res. vol. viii. ji. 4*1. » Asiat. lUs. vol. vi. p. 4rTA 4-72.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr. 67
From these legends we may collect in a manner which cannot easily be ^'i*''' i^»
misunderstood, that the hermaphroditic unity of Brahma or the supreme
being, whom the meditative Hindoo identifies with hiniself, is an imaginary
androgynous conjunction of Adam and Eve, the universal parents of the
human race : and consequently that the divine unity, venerated by the
pagans and described by them as partaking of the nature of both sexes;
an unity, which has so often been mistaken for the real divine unity of the
true God ; is produced solely by the fabled amalgamation of the great
father and the great mother. Hence it is evident, that the heathen doc-
trine of the excerption of souls from the hermaphroditic universal deity and
of their final absorption into the being from whom they sprang, cannot in
the slightest degree relate to the creation of souls by the true God : on the
contrary, it was only the necessary result of the theory, which was adopted
with more or less distinctness in every part of the globe ; that the demiurgic
great parent was manifested with his three sons at the commencement of
every new mundane system, that from him was born the whole human race
which was destined to flourish during the continuance of that system, and
that all mankind together with the whole world were resolved into his
essence at the period of its dissolution. Then, in solitary meditation or in
deathlike sleep, he floats on the surface of the mighty overwhelming ocean,
inclosed in the womb of his consort who assumes the form of the sacred
ship Argha. But, when the waters retire from oft' the face of the earth, he
demiurgically renews the whole a})pearance of nature, and manifests him-
self anew at the beginning of another system to act again the same part
which he had already acted during the existence of the former.
That this being is tlie unity, from whom the souls of all men are ex-
cerpted and into whom they are all resolved, with whom consequently all
men are identified by partaking of a conunon species and by the physical
relationship of one blood, is declared to us in the most explicit terras by
the Hindoo divines.
Swaifuml/huva, or the son of the self-existing, was the first Menu and
the father of mankind: his consort's name was Satarupa. They call him
Adima or the first : he is the first of men, and the first male. His help-
mate Fracriii is called also batarupa, ithe is Adimi, or the first ; she is
(58 THE ORIGiy OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
T'isva-Jemii, or the mother of the world; she is Iva, or a form of I the
female energy of nature ; she is Para, or the greatest. Both are like
JUahadiva a/id his Sacti, xchuse names are also Isa and Isi. Swayambhiiva
is Brahma in a human shape, or the first Brahma ; for Brahma is man in-
dividuallj/ ', and also collectively mankind : hence Brahma is said to be born
and to die every day. Collectively he dies every hundred yeai-s ; this being
the utmost limits of life in the Cali-yug : at the end of the world, Bi^ahma
or mankind is said to die also at the end of a hundred divine years. Fro7n
the beginning to the end of things, zvhen the whole creation will be annihi-
lated and absorbed into the supreme being, there will be Jive great Calpas or
periods. Every Culpa, except the first, is preceded by a renovation of the
world and a general flood. At the end of his awn Culpa, each herinaphro-
ditic Brahma or Menu is deprived by his successor of the 7/iasculine prin-
ciple of fecimdity, who attracts the whole creation to himself to sxcalloxv it
up or devour it ; mid, at the close of his own Culpa, he disgotges the whole
creation. Szcayambhuva is, conjointly and individually, Brahma, J ishnou,
and Isa. To Swayambhuva were born three daughters: and Brahma
created or produced three great Rajapatis to be their husbands *.
As each man is thus individually said to be Bralima, who is the same as
Swayambhuva or Adima, because he is born from him and is therefore a
portion of his essence : so each woman is individually pronounced to be a
form of I or the female principle, and thence to be really Iva or Eve or
the vvliite goddess Isi '. But Adima and Iva constitute jointly the great
liermapiirodilic unity Ardlianari; and this, so far as I can learn, is the
only supreme demiurge, from whose essence the souls of all mankind were
thought by the gentile n)yti)ologists to have been excerpted ; this, I am
fully persuaded, is tiie sole divine unity, which the apostate heathens have
worshipped instead of the unity of Jehovah.
2. The notion of the first-created man being an hermaphrodite has
doubtless arisen from a misconception of the prinieval tradition, v'hich
through Noah was handed down to tlie builders of the tower, respecting
* Hence, as wc liave seen, tin; Hindoo devotee asserts, that lie himself is Brahma or
the supreme being, and tliat to worship this supreme being is in fact to worship himself.
» Asiat. lies. vol. v. p. 21'7, 'liV,. ' Asial. \lc». vol. xi. p. Ill, 112.
THE oniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 69
flie process of forming the original pair. As the woman sprang out of the chap.
side of the man, and as therefore she made a part of him before such dis-
jimction, it was mystically said, that Adam or Swayambhuva was andro-
gynous, and that all things were produced from an hermaphroditic unity.
Afterwards, when the Earth, the Ark, and the Moon, were severally pro-
nounced to be forms of the great mother ; and when the Sun, in a similar
manner, became the astronomical symbol of the great father : each of these
was thought to exhibit the same androgynous conjunction, each was
esteemed the double parent of the world and of the whole human race.
Hence the Earth and the diluvian ship Argha were equally symbolized by the
lotos ; the petal of that flower representing mount Meru or the mast of the
ship or the masculine principle, while its calix shadowed out the mundane
boat or the hull of the Argha or the feminine principle. Hence the Moon
was said to be male as well as female, and the Sun to be female as well as
male '. Hence these two heavenly bodies are so often spoken of as the
parents of a warlike race, who early established their supremacy over their
brethren. And hence the souls of men, which are described as excerpted
portions of the supreme being, are also declared by the mystaj to be born
from doors in the Sun and Moon or to be produced from the womb of a
cow *. All such expressions mean ultimately the same thing. The human
race were literally born from Adam and Eve, viewed as the great primeval
hermaphrodite : but mystically they were produced from the Earth, the
Ark, the Moon, and the hieroglyphical cow, considered as different forms
of the polymorphic universal n)Other. Agreeably to this singular intercom-
munion, we find the masculine Moon represented as the king of the infer-
nal regions ; while the female Moon or Proserpine, floating on the surface
of the Styx, is celebrated as their queen '. The god Lunus or Chandra is
the same as Osiris or Iswara ; and Iswara again is the same as Menu-
' Mitrt^a, mi o-iXjjmn ra xoo-fU* xa\uffi, xxi (pvutt i^^' ufvitohXvi aiotlai. Plut. de Isid. M>!H),
«o^l',- Ti xai afOT,,. Orph. Hymn. viii. Moor's Hind- Panth. p. 292, 278, 283, 2S4-, 289, 78,
279, 290. Mallet's North. Ant. vol. ii. p. 1C6. Seld. dc diis Syr. syut. ii. c. 2. p. 165,
166.
* Porph. de ant. nymph, p. 261, 262, 26*, 265, 267, 268.
3 Asiat. Rei, vol. yii. p. 269.
70 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
30UK V. Satyavrata, who, after having been preserved in an ark, was constituted the
god of obsequies. Yet both Osiris and Iswara are the Sun : and the Sun
again is described as being a female no less than a male. Thus we still
run the same round ; and are still brought to the same conclusion, that the
supreme hermaphroditic unity of the pagan world had nothing in common^
save the name of deity, with the Supreme Unity of the true God.
There is a curious passage in the Corwivium of Plato, which will throw
additional light on the subject, and which will still further tend to prove
that I have assigned its true origin to the hermaphoditic unity of the Gen-
tiles. AVhen it comes to the turn of Aristophanes to speak, he is described
as saying, that oiu^ human nature was not of old what it noxo is, but dif-
ferent from it. For at first there were three sorts of human beings ; and
not txco only, as at present, male and female. But of the third sort no-
thing noxv remains, except the name. This was common, aiid made up of
the two others : for man and xvoman xvere then one kind, and had one ge-
neral name, and partook both of the male and female sex. Afterwards he
is made to tell us, that each human being in the primitive state of the worlds
before the sexes were divided, was round, encompassed with back and sides,
andfurrushed with four hands and four feet and two faces. But at
length Jupiter resolved to divide this hermaphroditic creature into two :
and the consequence was, that the one severed half always hereafter felt a
longing desire to embrace its other half. Hence it comes to pass, that the
two, which we?'e originally but one, naturally experience a tnutual affec-
tion : and this love is ever striving to make only one again out of txoo, and
thus to heal human nature which xvas wounded by the disruptive product ioji
of two out of the primeval one '' It is sufficiently evident, that this fable is
substantially the same as the parallel legend of the Hindoos. Each no
doubt originated from a common source : and each, if I mistake not, was
worked up into its present fantastic shape by the apostates of Babel ;.
whence the notion of an hermaphroditic unity in the person of the great
demiurgic hero-god ditfuscd itself over the focc of the whole earth. As for
the source, it was clearly an ancient tradition, handed down from Adam to
* Platon. Conviv. p. 189. apud Kidder's Demons, part iii»p. 121,
THfe OftrdlN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 71
Noah, respecting the first creation of man and •woman and the primeval in- chat. iv.
stitution of marriage. The fountain of this tradition was God himself: and
accordingly Moses was directed to preserve it, in its genuine unadulterated
form, when he penned the history of the primitive ages.
Yet such is the strange propensity of man to adopt the wildest conceits,
that we find the very same opinion prevalent among the Jewish Rabbins
respecting the androg} nous nature of Adam. We are told by Menasseh
Ben-Israel, that, in the opinion of R. Nachman, R. Solomon, Aben Ezra,
R. Bahye, R. Eliezer, and R. Isaac Karus, Adam and Eve were at first
made together ; and that Eve was joined to him in such a manner, that
Adam was in the front and Eve behind him : and the author of the liab-
both affirms, that this compound body was supposed to be hermaphroditic,
and to have had two faces. I suspect, that this fancy, like others of tlie
same scliool, was adopted from the mythology of the pagans during the
period of the Babylonian captivity : but, when once it rvas adopted, the
Rabbins with mischievoi.s ingenuity attempted to prove the truth of it from
Scripture ; and they treated the sacred volume much in the same way, as
the apostates of Babel treated the unwritten tradition which they received
from Noah or his sons. It is said by the inspired historian, that God
created man in his ozvn image, in the image of God created he him, male
and female created he them. Hence it was argued, from the mixed use of
the singular him and the plural them, that God formed one human being
indeed, but a being of a double nature; and that, as this formation is
spoken of anterior to the separation of Eve from Adam, when we arc told
that he created them male and female, we must understand by the expres-
sion that he originally created them in one body partaking of both sexes.
It is further said, that, when God subsequently created Eve in a distinct
form, he took, as the word is commonly understood, a rib from Adam, and
moulded it into the shape of the first woman. On this the Rabbins observe
that the word, generally supposed to mean a rib, here denotes a side or
moiety of the body of Adam ; and they urge, by way of demonstrating tliR
propriety of this interpretation, that the same word is elsewhere used in the
law of Moses to express not a rib but a side: what therefore Ciod took
from Adam was, they conclude, his female side or moiety; which was
73 ^ THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
aooK V. originally attached to the male half of that primitive human being, who was
created both male and female '. Other arguments, equally convincing, are
adduced by these Hebrew sages, to establish from Holy Writ the same
notable opinion : and they might, had they been so inclined, have addi-
tionally contended, that Moses strongly insinuates it by the speech which
he puts into the mouth of Adam. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh
of my flesh : she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unta
his xvifc : and they txco shall be one flesh *.
The purpose, for which I have noticed these speculations of the gentile
Aristophanes and of the Jewish Rabbins, is to shew, what that hermaphro-
ditic unity really was, which the pagans venerated as the great universal
parent both of gods and men and as the periodical renovator of the dissolved
umndane system. Now, from the whole of what has been said, I think it
abundantly evident, that it was no divine unity of the true God which they
worshipped, but an imaginary created unity produced by the androgynous
conjunction of the great father and great mother.
n. The more we pursue the subject, the more will this plain truth shine
out. Like tlie Hindoos, all nations adored as the first demiurgic cause au
herujaplirodilic divinity : i)ut, if we inquire who this divinity was, we shall
invariably find, that he was not the spiritual and almighty Creator of heaven
and earth ; but, indift'erently, cither the great father vvho is said to have
floated in an ark upon the surface of the deluge, or the great mother who is
fabled to have assumed the form of a ship. Sometimes this deity is de-
scribed as being properly an hcnnuphrodilc : and sometimes he is repre-
sented as becoming one, so far as the adoption of such a diaracter was pos-
sible, by suflering mutilation. His votaries, as was usual throughout the
gentile world, esteemed themselves his visible pro.xies : and, as such, they
studiously endeavoured to imitate his character. Hence originated some
of tiie most horrible abominations of Paganism : for, whatever the an-
» Men. Ben. Isr. Concil. p. M. Rabbotli. fol. 9. col. 3. .npud Kidder's Demons, part iiK
p. 121.
* Gci>. ii> 23 2i Conipv Matt. xix. \, 5, 6. Mark x. 6, 7, 8. 1 Cor. ri. 16. Epli. v. 31,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 73
drogynous divinity was mystically said to have done or suffered, his wretched chap. iv.
worshippers thought it a matter of religion to do and suffer likewise. Ac-
cordingly, by voluntary mutilation and by the adoption of the female habit,
his effeminate priests laboured to make themselves partakers of both sexes :
wliile his priestesses, by the assumption of the male dress and by tlie de-
testable aping of masculine mannei-s, strove, while they retained their own
sexual distinction, to appear not as women but as men. Nor was this all :
as the great father and the great mother were deemed personifications of
the two distinct principles of fecundity, and as such were propitiated by
religious fornication and by phallic processions ; so, when the two con-
jointly were viewed as constituting one great androgynous parent, the flood-
gates were opened to a deluge of even still worse iniquity '. Such was the
depraved worship, which St. Paul so indignantly reprobates as prevailing
but too generally throughout the pagan world at the time of the first pro-
mulgation of the Gospel *. Such also was the worship, which called down
the special vengeance of heaven upon the cities of the plain.
1. The deity worsiiipped in those cities, as we may collect both from the
prevailing superstition of the country and from the very name \tse\{ of Sodor/t
or Sedom ', was Sed or Said or Seth or Sit, as the same title was variously
pronounced : and, when the mystic solar appellation Om or On was suf-
fixed to it, the god Sed was then revered as Sed-Om or Sid-On or Sit-On.
We learn from Sanchoniatho, that this Phenician and Canaanitish divinity
•was the same as Dag-On or the fish-god*: and indeed the two titles oi Sit-
On and Dog-On are compound words of perfectly similar import : for,
in the language of the old Phenicians, Sid or Said denoted a Jish no less
• See Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rel. p. 9, 10.
' Rom. i. 21 — 28. The apostle rightl)' teaches us, that the abominations, which he
cpecifieg, were to be referred to the peculiar nature of that theology, which the Gentiles
adopted when they forsook the worship of the true God. They changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image; — wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness —
They changed the truth of God into a lye, and worshipped the creature rather than the
Creator; — for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections.
' So the Masoretic punctuation riglitly teaches us to pronounce the word.
♦ Euseb. Praep. Evan. Jib. i. c. 10.
Fag. Idol VOL. III. K
74 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOR V. than Dag \ Sit-On or Sid-On was highly venerated by the Tyrians : and
he equally communicated his name to the two cities Sidon and Sedom. He
was also adored by the Egyptians and the Moabites : for Seth was an ap-
pellation of Typhon ; and Typhon, by the mystic theocrasia of the Gen-
tiles, ultimately identified himself with Osiris and Baal-Peor, who is thence
mentioned in Holy Scripture by the name of Seth *. Such being the case,
Seth will be the same likewise as Cronus-Anubis and Adonis : for Osiris is
plainly one with each of those deities. Now both Anubis and Adonis were
thought to be hermaphrodites. Hence it will follow, that Seth or Sed was
also an hermaphrodite : and we may safely infer, that the same notions
were entertained of him, and the same rites instituted in honour of him,
that marked the fabulous history and distinguished the nefarious worship
of Anubis and Adonis, But the hermaphroditic Cronus-Anubis was de-
scribed, as being at once the father and mother of the Universe : and the
hermaphroditic Adonis was declared to have been guilty of the very same
miscalled religious abominations, as those which produced the miraculous
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha '.
Hence, I think, there can be no doubt of the source, from which the
wickedness of those cities originated. It v.as not merely wickedness,
viewed abstractedlii and uncomicctcdhi as such : but it was a peculiar form
of wickedness, which necessarily resulted from the professedly imitative
worship of the androgynous Scd or Adonis. Accordingly, wherever this
worship prevailed, there we always find a strong bias to the enormity in
question : and, as it prevailed generally throughout the heathen world,
such also was the prevalence of its detestable concomitant.
Adonis then or Seth united in his own person the two characters of
Osiris and Isis or of Iswara and Isi, being in fact that compound monster
whom the Hindoos c?t\\ ylrdlianari: and it is observable, that a similar
duplicity of sex was also ascribed to his paramour Venus or Astoretli ;
^\llo, ill her female capacity, was the same as Isis or Isi. The Cyprians
represented her with a beard, and supposed her to be both masculine and
feminine, J'hilochorus tells us, that on this account men sacrificed to her
• Just. Hist. Pliil. lib, xviii. c. 3. * Numb. xxiv. 17.
' Plut. du Ibiil. p. 368, rtoJ. Ileph. Nov, Hist. lib. v. p. 328.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 75
in the dress of women, and women in the dress of men. Aristophanes chap. rv.
calls her Jphroditiis, instead of Aphroditb. And Levinus, asserting iicr
to be of both sexes, applies to her the masculine epithet Almus. This last
writer and Philochorus agree in maintaining, that she is the Moon: and,
accordingly, as we have alrcatly seen, the Moon was likewise thonght to
be an hermaphrodite ; the god Lunus being no less venerated than the
goddess Luna '. There was the same intercommunion of character be-
tween Mars and Venus, as between Venus and Adonis : for ]\Iars and
Adonis were fundamentally one person. jMaimonides notices a book of
magic, in whicii it was directed, that, when a man adored the planet Ve-
nus, he should wear the embroidered vest of a female, and, when a woman
adored the planet ISIars, she should assume the arms and cuirass of a
man*.
Agreeably to such a view of these deities, their nefarious worship par-
took of their imagined character. In the cities of the plain, the double
Seth was propitiated by a crime against nature. The hermaphroditic Ve-
nus on the summit of mount Lebanon, who is the same as the Indian Ard-
hanari on the top of the lunar mount Cailasa or Meru, had in her temple
both consecrated harlots and consecrated catamites '. The same goddess,
under the name of A.storelh or Astarih the abomination of the Sidonians,
was venerated by the apostate Jews on the central peak of the mount of
olives, thence called the mount of corruption, with precisely the same vile
orgies *. And, as the great mother of JNIexican theology was personated,
in order to represent her double sex, by a youth wrapped in the skin of a
murdered woman and dressed in female attire ; so we find, that similar
enormities were perpetrated also by the American idolaters, under a similar
professed shew of religion '.
From these remarks we may perceive, why, under the Mosaical law,
the two sexes were so strictly prohibited from wearing each other s apparel.
It micfht at the first seem strange, why an action, ap[iarently so trivial,
• Macrob. Sat. lib. iiL c. 8. * INIaimon. Mor. Nevoch. par. iii. c. 38.
* Euseb. vit. Constan. Magn. lili. iii. c. 55.
♦ 1 Kings XV. 12, 1^. xiv. '23, 24. xxii.46. 2 Kings xxiii. 4—7, 13— U.
' Purch. Pilg. book viii. c. 10. book ix. c. 11,
76 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,'
BOOK V. should yet be stigmatized by tiie strong expression of an ahomination to
Jthovah: but the strict propriety of such phraseology will immediately be
visible, uhen we find, that this interchange of garments was in reality no
trifling matter, but a well-known badge of the infamous worship of the
hermaphroditic deity '.
The notion, that the principal hero-god was androgynous, and that as
such he was the mother of the World, may be observed in various deli-
neations of his character besides those already adduced. Thus the Orphic
poet speaks of the primeval Jupiter, as uniting in his own single person a
male divinity and an immortal nymph; and declares, that from this myste-
rious conjunction all things were generated'. Thus also he celebrates
Minerva or Neith, as being at once both male and female'. Thus like-
wise he ascribes the very same peculiarity of character to Bacchus or
Osiris: and, in explanation, represents him, as being of a double nature;
so that he comprehends in himself the two persons of the legislator Dionu-
sus and the ineffable queen Misa or Mai-Isa or the Great Isis, from whom
the arkite hill in Armenia is occasionally denominated Masts*. And thus
Macrobius informs us, that some mythologists pronounced Janus to be a
combination of Apollo and Diana or of Janus and Jana : while Ovid ex-
hibits him, in a manner closely corresponding with the Orphic description
of the androgynous Jupiter, as containing in his own essence the whole
circuit of the Universe K
2. As the priests of the heathen gods endeavoured to express in their
own persons the characters and actions of the deities whom they served ;
and as for this purpose the ministers of the androgynous divinity were wont
lo mutilate themselves, and to confound tiic sexes by studiously imitating
• Dcut. xxii. 5. * Orph. Fragm. p. 365— SGT.
' Oq)Ii. Hymn. xxxi. JO. * Orph. Hymn. xli.
5 Macrob. Saturn. lib. i. c. 9. p. 157. OriJ. Fast. lib. i. This probably was the true
rca-son, why be was depicted nitli two faces ; the one provided with a flowing beard, the
other smooth and beardless. He was the Ardhanari of the old Etruscans: and hence he
was represented with the face both of a man and a woman. It may be observed in favour
of this conjecture, that the two heads are placed back to back looking opposite ways, just
in the same manner as tlic oriental fable describes the first pair to h.ive been originally
created.
THE ORIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATIiy. 77
the dress and manners of women : so, in return, the great hermaphroditic chap, iv,
object of tlieir devotion is often described as suffering the very calamity,
to which liis degraded hierarchy, in their strange attempt to copy his
double nature, voluntarily submitted.
Accordingly we find, that the Indian Siva, the Egyptian Osiris, the Phe-
nician Esmunus or Asclepius, the Phrygian Attis and Agdestis, and the
Grecian Bacchus and Saturn and Uranus, are all equally said to have suf-
fered mutilation '. So general an agreement proves, that the same idea
must have prevailed among the several votaries of these numerous though
cognate divinities : and, since we find that several of them are also expli-
citly described as being androgynous, and since the mutilated priests of
others affected to partake of the nature of both sexes, it is sufficiently evi-
dent, that the idea in question had respect to the supposed hermaphroditic
character of the great universal parent.
3. It was from this ancient speculation respecting the nature of that
parent both of deities and of mortals, that the classical fable of the boy
Hermaphroditus derived its origin. By the mythological plagiaries of
Greece, Hermes was said to have been the father, by the goddess Aphro-
dite or Venus, of a person; who was both male and female, and who from
the blended names of his parents was called Hermaphroditus,
The poets do not seem to have known very well what to make of this
monster, which they doubtless borrowed from the oriental mode of symbo-
lizing : yet the character of it was not altogether forgotten among the clas-
sical writers.
Diodorus tells us, that the form of Hermaphroditus was a mixture of a
boy and a girl ; it united all the softness and delicacy of the female sex
with all the nerve and strength of the male sex : and he adds, in exact
accordance with the tenet of the Hindoos respecting the reappearance of
their Ardhanari at the commencement of each new mundane system, that
' Asiat. Res. vol. iv. p. 381, 382. vol. v. p, 248. Dioil. Bibl. lib. iv. p. 21 4. lib. i. p. 19.
Euseb. Praep. Evan. lib. i. c. 10. Damas. vit. Isid. apud Pliot. Bibl. p. 1073. Pausan.
Achaic. p. 430. Clem. Alex. Cohort, p. 12. Catul). Elcg. l.\. Porph. dc ant. nympli,
p. 260. Arnob. adv. gent. lib. v. p. 157.
78 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOIATRT,
WOK V. some believed him to be a god who from time to time manifested himself
to men '.
The curious fable, preserved by Ovid relative to this imaginary being>
is replete with mythological information, though dressed up to suit the
taste of the lovers of romance. Hermaphrotlitus was educated in the caves
of mount Ida by the Naiads or water-nymphs. At the age of fifteen he
chose to wander from the sacred haunts of his boyhood, and at length
arrived at the brink of a beautifully pellucid lake. This was the favourite
resort of the Naiad Sahnacis : who, observing the youth in the act of bath-
ing himself, plunged into the water; and, inflamed with passion, clasped
him in her arms. Her affection however was not returned : but the gods,
commiserating her slighted love, inseparably united the two boflies, whicli
thenceforth constituted a monster both male and female. Ever afterwards
the water of that lake was thought to possess the power of transforming into
hermaphrodites such as bathed in it '.
Here we may observe the sacred cave, the sacred lake, and the sacred
mountain, which ever make so conspicuous a figure in the theology of the
Gentiles. The Phrygian Ida was a copy of the Indo-Scytliic Ida-vratta,
as that was a transcrij)! of the Armenian Ararat : and within its recesses
were celebrated the Mysteries of the mountain-born Cybel^ and her emas-
culate paramour Attis or Agdestis ; as were those of Venus and Adonis in
the Phenician Lebanon, and as Siva and Argha united together in the
single form of Ardhanari are still venerated as tenanting the lofty summit
of Ida-vratta. Now we have seen, that both Venus and Attis and Ado-
nis, like the classical Ilermapliroditus and the Indian Ardhanari, were
fabled to be androgynous. Hence I think it evident, that Ilermapliroditus
and Salmacis conjointly are the same as Venus- Adonis, Attis-Cybel^, and
Siva Parvati. 'J he one is the god of the symbolical lake; the other is its
goddess. Like Adonis or Attis or Siva, the male Ilermaphroditus is the
deity of the siiip : like Venus or Cybele or Parvati, the female Salmacis is
a personification of tliatship; wliencc she is exliibitcd as a Naiad, who
delights to sport in the waters of a consecrated pool. In the midst of
» Diod. Bibl. lib. iv. p. 21t, 215. » Ovkl. Metam. lib. iv. ver. 285—388.
THE oniGtN OP PAGAN IDOLATRY. 79
those waters, she is inseparably blended with the object of her love : and cbapi jy.
the two compose that single mystic being, by which the ancients depicted
the androgynous conjunction of the great father and the great mother.
Nor was the son of Hermes alone deemed an hermaphrodite : in the
fabulous genealogies of Paganism the son and the father being perpetually
but one person, we shall find that Mercury himself partook of both sexes,
or in other words that he was himself the real symbolical Ilermaphroditus.
Albricus says, that he was represented both as man and woman ; and that
he bore a lance in one character, and a distaff in the other '.
4. To the same source as the fabulous Hermaphroditus we may clearly,
I think, trace tlie ancient Amazons of classical hction.
These were described as a community of warlike and masculine females,
who admitted men to have commerce with them only at certain stated
times, and afterwards put them to death. If the fruit of this intercourse
proved to be a boy, he was lamed by fracturing his legs, in order that he
might be incapable of oftering any future resistance to tlie established plan
of government : if a girl, her right breast was cauterized ; so that here-
after, having only a single one, she might be the better adapted to draw
the bow and to discharge the duties of a warrior *. From the last circum-
stance, the whole race was by the Greeks denominated Amazons ov females
ulthout a breast.
Mr. Bryant ridicules the story altogether, as too absurd to be tolerated
for a single moment : and thence takes occasion to conjecture, that, as
there was no such nation of women, the word Amazon bears no reference
to the pretended cauterizing of the breast; and that its mere accidental
resemblance to a Greek compound was the sole origin of the wild fable
respecting a community of female warriors '.
Few, I apprehend, will be sufficiently adventurous to maintain, in oppo-
sition to this great scholar, that such a nation as that of the Amazonian
viragos ever really and literally existed : yet, though we may without fur-
ther ceremony discard the fable itself, as in fact both Strabo and Pale-
' Albric. de deor. imag. c. 6.
■* Ilcrod. Hist. lib. iv. c. 110. Diod. Bibl. lib. ii. p. 123. Strab. Geog. lib. xi. p. 50i'.
» Bryant's Anal, vol, jii. p, 463.
80 THE ORIGIK OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BOOR V. phatiis did long ago ; I am not equally satisfied with the conjecture, that
the word Amazon is no Greek term and consequently has no relation to
the deficiency of a breast. I doubt, whether there is sufficient evidence
to prove, that any people were in their own language styled Amazonians ;
a circumstance, absolutely necessary for the admission of Mr. Bryant's
proposed etymology. The Greeks indeed speak of Amazons in the region
of mount Atlas, in Thrace upon the river Thermodon, in mount Caucasus
near Colchis and Albania, in the country bordering upon the Palus Meo-
tis, in Ionia, in Samos, in Italy, in Ethiopia, and in India'; and I doubt
not of tlieir being perfectly accurate in what they say : but then the term
is truly and properly their own; it is not a name that was ever really borne
by the inhabitants of those several districts ; but it is an appellation^ which
tiie Greeks rightly bestowed upon certain semi-female forms, which had
actually no more than a single breast. The subsequent error consisted,
not in any misapplication of the word Amazoti; but in the absurd exten-
sion of the term to whole communities, which gave rise to the fable of varir
ous entire nations of female warriors.
What we are to understand by the Amazon or one-breasted woman of
classical fiction, is abundantly plain from the circumstance of our being
t'jid that Amazons were to be found in India. The recent inquiries of our
learned countrymen have very fully laid open the mythology of that inte-
resting country : and, in perfect harmony with the assertion of the inqui-
sitive though fabulizing Greeks, we may still behold in llindostan the one-
breasted Amazon of the ancient Hellenic legends. A remarkable figure
yet exi-^ts in the deep recesses of the rocky Elephanta pagoda ; to which
Nicbulir, Hunter, and Maurice, have all agreed to give the name oiAniazou
Precisely as the Greeks described their imaginary race of lieroines, this
statue wants the right breast, while the left is fiill and globular. It is pro-
vided with four arms: one of which rests upon the head of a bull ; another
hangs down in a mutilated state ; the third grasps a hooded snake ; and
the fourtli sustains a circular shield. Mr. Maurice professes himself wholly
• Diod. Bibl. lib. iii. p. 185, 188. Strab. Gcog. lib. xi. p. 50+, 505. Scyiac. Pcrip. ia
Gcog. Ytl. vol. ii. p. 31. Scliol. iti Apoll. Argon, lib. ii. vor. 96(5. Pint. Quajst. Grscc.
vol. L p. a03. TzeU. in Lycoph. vcr. yy5, 1332. Polyteu. lib. i. p. 11. apud Bryant.
THE ORtGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRY". 81
unable to account for the appearance of such a figure in an ancient Indian cbap. iv.
temple; and pronounces it to be an enigma, the real meaning of which
will probably never be solved '. Yet, as we have just seen, its appearance
minutely corroborates the assertion of the Greeks that there were Amazons
in India : and, as we may now add, serves to explain the real import of
that assertion before it was clogged and disguised by the idle tale of literal
one- breasted female warriors.
Arguing from what we have discovered in the Elephanta pagoda, Me
may, I think, safely conclude, that the ancient fabulous Amazons of Thrace,
Mauritania, Caucasus, Italy, and Ethiopia, M'ere, like the Amazons of
India, no communities either of living men or living women ; but images,
which wore the semblance of masculine viragos, each furnished with no
more than a single breast and that breast the left one. To such a conclu-
sion we shall be the rather led, if we consider the origin of the several na-
tions that seized upon or colonized the districts where the Greek writers
place the Amazons.
Now there is sufficient evidence to prove, that the Indo-Scythas of the
Cashgarian Caucasus, the more western Scythse of the Albanian Caucasus,
the Thracians, the Atlantians, the primitive Italians, and the Ethiopians
both of Asia and Africa, were all branches of one great family *. Hence
of course the presumption is, that, what the Amazons of the Indo-Scythae
were, such also were the Amazons of their brethren in other parts of the
world. But the Indian Amazons were certain one-breasted statues, similar
to that which may still be seen in the Elephanta pagoda. The Amazons
therefore of the other enumerated nations may be safely considered as
sacred statues of the same description : that is to say, they were not the
nations themselves, but the sculptured figures of some deity which those
nations worshipped.
Nothing now remains but to solve what Mr. Maurice calls the enigma
couched under such a peculiar mode of representation : nor will this task,
• Maurice's Ind. Ant, vol. ii. p. 147 — 149. Aslat. Res. vol. iv. p. 4'26.
• Vide infra book vi. c. i, 5.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. L
82 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOK V. I apprehend, be found very difficult; the reader probably will have already
anticipated me in the performance of it.
The Amazon of the Elephanta pagoda and of the wonder-loving Greek
fabulists is manifestly no other than the compound hermaphroditic deity,
who by the Hindoos is called Ardhanari, and who is formed by the lateral
conjunction of Siva with Parvati. This monster, as delineated by the my-
thological painters of India, has, from the head to the feet, the right side of
a man and the left side of a woman. His arms, agreeably to the form of
the statue in the Elephanta pagoda, are four in number : and near him, as
near the statue in question, reposes the mysterious bull Nandi. One of
his hands bears a sword : and the right breast, since his right side is that
of a male, is of course wanting. Now this was the identical breast, which,
according to the Greek fabulists, was extirpated by those Amazonian fe-
males ; who were to be found, as in other regions of the globe, so likewise
in India: and the whole figure of the warlike one-breasted Ardhanari is
precisely such, as would suggest to a person who knew not its real nature
the idea of a military heroine deprived of her right breast '.
HI. I shall close this subject with some remarks on the worship of the
sacred Omphalos or navel.
1. There is a curious fable respecting the classicaljupiter, which I take
to be nearly allied to his hermaphroditic character and to his connection
with the nymph Tlieba or Argha. We are told by Diodorus, that, while
the infant god was nursed by the Curetes in the sacred cave of the Cretan
Ida, his navel fell into the river Triton : whence the territory, adjoining to
that river, being consecrated, was called Omphalon, and the surrounding
plain Omphalion; both from Omphalos, \\\\\c\\ signifies a )mver. The
" Moor's Hind. Panth. plate 7 and 24'. See Plate II. Fig. 8. Exactly the same hiero-
glypliic occurs in Persian romance, and doubtless it originated from the same source. The
Nim-Juze and the Nim-Chebr are supposed to be a luiman figure split in two; the male
forming the right half, and the female the left. Each has half a face, one eye, one arm»
and one foot : yet tlicy run with incredible speed, and are reckoned very dangerous and
cruel. Tlie notion of their cruelty, like the similar notions respecting queen Lamia, the
Cyclopes, and the Ogres of our nursery tales, originated from the bloody sacrifices of
ancient Paganism. See Halcs's Chronol. vol. iii. p. 32.
' Diod. Bibl. lib. v. p. 337, 338.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 83
Greeks had various other stories respecting some sacred navel ; which *=''*^* '^•
must all, I think, be plainly referred to the same origin, whatever that
origin may be. Tiius they had a notion, that Delphi was the navel of the
earth, and thence esteemed it the centrical place of the world. There was
also a navel in the Peloponnesus, which was reckoned the middle of that
peninsular country. We find another navel at Elis ; another, in Thessaly;
and another, in Crete where the present fable respecting Jupiter was told.
The name was sometimes transferred to whole tribes ; for we are informed,
that both the Etolians and the Epirots were once called Omphalians or
people of the navel. Nor was this notion of a sacred navel confined to
Greece and her islands. Egypt was another navel or mundane centre.
There was likewise a place called the 72avel at Enna in Sicily, where Pluto
was feigned to have carried oflf Proserpine to the infernal regions '. This
must have been close to the consecrated lake, into the waters of which the
god and goddess were thought to have plunged when they descended into
Hades : or rather it was probably an artificial island, which floated
■upon the bosom of the holy pool. To such a conjecture I am led by the
parallel case of a sacred lake in Italy. We learn from Dionysius, that a
tribe of the ancient Pelasgi or Scythic Palli were commancipd by an oracle
to shape their course to tliat western region, and not to settle until they
should find a lake with a floating island in the midst of it. The fated lake
proved to be that of Cotylfe : and most likely the ingenuity of the priests
supplied the floating island, which seems to have been one of the same de-
scription as that in the Egyptian lake of Buto. This island, thus venerated
by the Pelasgi, was esteemed the navel of Italy '^.
2. But not only were particular places distinguished by such an appel-
lation : an artificial image of the symbol itself was occasionally exhibited
to the devout aspirant. As Egypt was one of the many sacred navels of
antiquity, so we learn from Quintus Curtius, that a literal representation of
' Soph. Oedip. Tyr. vcr. 487. Find. Pyth. Od. vi. ver. 3. Eurip. Ion. ver. 233, Strab.
Geo. lib. ix. p. 'tlQ, 420. Horapoll. § xxi. p. 30. Paus. Corinth, p. 109. Phoc. p. 637.
Pind. Olymp. Od. vii. Strab. Geog. lib. viii. p. 353. Steph. Byzant. 0/*9*Xio». Callim.
Hymn, in Cerer. apud Bryant's Anal. vol. i. p. 2i0 — S^S.
' Dionys. Haiic. Ant, Rom. lib. i. c. 15, 19. Plin. Nat. lib. iii. c. 12.
84 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V. that hieroglyphic was conspicuously introduced into the worship of Jupiter-
Ainmon. He tells us, that the figure of the god resembled a navel, that it
was adorned with precious stones, and that it was carried by the priests in
a gilt ship whenever the oracle \\ as about to be consulted '. There was a
similar representation of the navel at Delphi, executed in white marble,
and exhibited in the temple, doubtless with the same idea as that which
was shewn in the boat of Ammon *. And it seems probable, if we may
argue at least from analogy, that, wherever the sacred navel was venerated,
there also was displayed a carved image of it.
3. Mr. Bryant contends, that the whole of this remarkable superstition
originated from a mere misprision of terms. He justly observes, that,
wherever there was a story about a navel, in the same place there was sure
to be an oracle. Now the compound term Om-Phi or Am-Phi will doubt-
less signify the month or oracle of Ham or tlie Sun: and the word Om-
phalos, in the Greek language happens to denote a navel. From tliese pre-
mises he contends, that the several legends respecting navels arose from the
circumstance of the Greeks confounding Om-Phi with Omphalus ; that ge-
nuine ancient mythology knew nothing of these pretended navels, which
existed solely in the imagination of the Greeks, ever prone, from a silly
nationality, to appropriate and misinterpret foreign words ; and that each
Omphalos was in truth no navel, but an Om-phi or solar oracle.
I am sorry, that I cannot assent to the opinion of this excellent writer;
who, in the present instance at least, appears to me to have unjustly cen-
sured the vain humour of the Greeks. If we never met with any tale about
a navel except in countries where the Greek language was spoken, the mis-
prision alleged by jNIr. Bryant would be a circumstance far from impro-
bable : but, if we meet witii parallel stories in countries where that lan-
guage was not spoken, the conjecture of the misprision must, so far as I can
judge, inevitably fall to the ground. Now wc liave the testimony of Quin-
tus Curtius, adduced by the learned author himself, that precisely the same
veneration of a navel prevailed among the Egy[)tians; who, as we have
just seen, used it as a symbol of Jupiicr-Ammon or Osiris, and carried it
' Quint. Curt, lib ir. c. 7. * Taiis. Phoc p. 637. Strnb. Geog. lib. ix. p. 420.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 8.5
about iu a mystic ship. Mr. Bryant, aware of such an objection, ridicules cmp. iv.
the narrative of Curtius as utterly absurd and incredible, and thence dis-
cards it in tuto without furtiier ceremony. This is certainly rather cutting
the Gordian knot, than untying it : nor can we possibly admit of such a
summary process, unless we have some much stronger proof of its legality
than mere ridicule. Curtius, be it observed, is not detailing a wild mytho-
logical fable ; bat is simply stating a bare matter of fact, without either
comment or speculation upon it : and, so far as the abstract merit of the
question is concerned, when we recollect the extreme devotcdness of the
Egyptians to hieroglyphical representation, I see not where the improbabi-
lity lies of supposing that a navel might be one among their numerous
sacred symbols. Hence, I think, we ought to be cautious in flatly contra-
dicting a writer, when prima facie there is nothing in his account itself,
which is at all unlikely or abhorrent from the manners of the nation which
he is speaking of. But, unless I greatly mistake, Mr. Bryant has himself
furnislied us with as decisive a proof of the accuracy of Curtius as can well
be desired ; and has thus provided a direct confutation of his own conjec-
ture. He gives us three engravings from Pococke, copied from genuine
Egyptian remains, of the identical ship described by Quintus Curtius : these
therefore must incontrovertibly determine the accuracy or inaccuracy of
that historian. The first exhibits the ship borne by the priests, and con-
taining the shrine of the god, which resembles in form the sides and sloping
roof of a small house : the second exhibits the same ship similarly borne,
and containing a square shrine within which the god himself is seated : the
third exhibits the ship without the priests; and it now is delineated as con-
taining a circular box or shrine, within which the god is sitting as before '.
From these three engravings it appears, that the shrine of Ammon or
Osiris was sometimes circular, sometimes square, and sometimes of a form
resembling a small house. That, in which it is represented as circular,
plainly seems to me to accord so exactly with the description given by
Curtius, as to leave no room to doubt of his accuracy : for what is the
circular machine within the ship, but the sacred navel which he so ex-
• See Bryant's Anal. vol. i. p. 252. vol. ii. p. 230. from Pococke. See Plate III. Fig. 1.
86 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. pressly tells us was placed in the ship whenever the oracle was about to be
consulted ? Thus I think it manifest, that the Egyptians really used a
navel as a symbol : whence it will follow, since the mythology of Greece
was closely allied to that of Egypt and largely borrowed from it, that the
Greeks cannot be charged with a misprision of terms when they speak of
consecrated navels, but that navels were really meant by their Omphali
although the Omphali themselves were doubtless oracular.
4. The mythology of Hindostan will both establish the same position,
and will lead us to a right understanding of what was intended by the
mystic navel. The Hindoos speak Greek no more than the ancient Egyp-
tians did : yet the navel of Vishnou is as much celebrated among them, as
the navel of Jupiter was among the Cretans. Hence again it is clear, that
the Greeks ought not to be charged with that misprision of terms for which
Mr. Bryant contends ; but that a navel was equally a s;icred symbol in the
kindred theological systems of Egypt, Greece, and Hindostan. We have
only therefore to inquire what we are to understand by it : and, when that
is ascertained, we shall be brought to the true exposition of the fable re-
specting the fall of Jupiter's navel into the river Triton.
(1.) I have shewn, how very common it was among the old mythologists
to represent their principal god or goddess as an hermaphrodite, endeavour-
ing to blend together into one person the two characters of the great uni-
versal father and tiie great universal mother : and I have mentioned, that,
when thus considered, the symbolizing humour of Paganism venerated them
under the hieroglyphic of the combined male and female principles.
That such was the case, we positively learn from the mythology of Hin-
dostan : in which we are told, tliat, during the prevalence of tlie deluge,
the two powers of nature, male and female, were reduced to their simplest
elements ; that these powers were Isa and Isi ; that the female power
assumed the form of the ship Argha, wliile the male power supplied the
place of llie mast ; and that, thus united so as to constitute a single com-
pound iiicroglyphic, they were wafted over the great deep under tlic pro*
lection of \ ishnuu '.
' Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 523,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 87
Trom this legend then it appears, that the ship Argha, viewed as the chap. iv.
mother of the World, was typified by the female principle ; that her con-
sort, viewed as the father of the World, was typified by the male principle;
and that the two, when blended together, formed that double being, who
was thought to combine botli principles in his own single person, and who
thence was at once esteemed the father and the mother of the World. But
the female principle is deemed by the Hindoo theologists the same as the
navel of Vishnou : which accordingly is worshipped by them, as being one
with the sacred Yoni or the great universal mother reduced to her simplest
element. Hence as the navel of Vishnou is a symbol of the great mother and
as the ship Argha is a form of the great mother, it will plainly follow, that
the mystic navel is an hieroglyphic of the Argha : and accordingly we are
told, that such is actually the case. In imitation of that ship, the Hindoos
employ in their sacred rites certain vessels which they call Arghas. These
ought properly to be in the form of a boat ; though they are now made in
several diftercnt shapes, oval, circular, or even square. A rim round each
Argha represents the mysterious Yoni : the navel of Vishnou is commonly
denoted by a convexity in the centre : and the contents of the vessel are
thought to symbolize the mariner god Isa, who is identified with its mast.
Agreeably to this notion which makes the navel a type of the female prin-
ciple or the door in the side of the Ark, the Hindoos, in a wild but curious
legend, deduce the origin of Urahma from the navel of Vishnou, while at
the same time they immediately connect his birth with the deluge.
It is related in the Scanda, that, when the whole earth was covered with
•water and when Vishnou lay sleeping in the bosom of Devi, a lotos arose
from his navel, and its ascending flower soon reached the surface of the
flood. From that fk)wer sprang Brahma ; who, looking round the bound-
less expanse without seeing any creature, imagined himself to be tlie first-
born. Resolved however to investigate the deep, and anxious to ascertain
whether any being existed in it who could controvert bis claim to pre-
eminence, he glided down the stalk of the lotos, and, finding Vishnou asleep,
askcil loudly who he wac,. I am the Jirst-boru, replied the waking Vish-
nou. Brahma denied his primogeniture, and an obstinate battle was the
consequence. Then Siva pressed between them in great wrath, asserting
SS THE ORIGINT OF PAGAN IDOtATRr.
•oos v« that the primogeniture was his, but offering to resign it to either of them
who should be able to reach the crown of his head or the soles of his feet.
Brahma and Vishnou each made an ineffectual attempt in opposite direc-
tions : but the treachery of Brahma, who falsely pretended that he had
reached the summit of Siva's head, induced the angry god to pronounce
Vishnou the real first-born '.
The latter part of this story has probably been built upon the conten-
tions between the rival sects of Hindostan, each of which seeks to give the
precedence to its favourite deity : but the former part, with which I am at
present chiefly concerned, may serve additionally to elucidate the symbo-
lical navel of pagan antiquity. The navel, as we have just seen, is one of
the hieroglyphics of the Argha or (to speak vith more strict precision) of
the door in the side of the Argha : and we are informed, thai the aquatic
lotos, which from its property of always rising to the surface of the water
aptly represents a ship, is another hieroglyphic of the same vessel \ When
we are told therefore that the lotos sprang from the navel of Vishnou, we
have in fact a mere symbolical repetition : for the lotos and the navel alike
mean the Argha. Consequently, the birth of Brahma from the lotos is in
reality his birth from the navel : and this birth, when the import of those
symbols is considered, must of course denote his birth from the door of the
ship Argha which floated upon the great deep during the prevalence of the
deluge. But Brahma is also said to have been born from the floating esff.
so highly celebrated in the mythology of the Gentiles '. Hence the egg
must be the same as the navel and the lotos, from \\ hich he is also said to
have been produced: and consequently, since the egg and the lotos (as I
have already shewn at large) are equally symbols of the diluvian Ship, the
navel must likewise be viewed as an hieroglyphic of tliat Ship.
Thus, I think, we have sufiiciently ascertained what we are to under-
stand by the mystic navel. It was esteemed the same as the female power
of nature: it re[)resented the door of the Ark, which that power was em-
ployed to symbolize because the Ark was reckoned a great universal mo-
• Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 126— 14-8. Moor's Hind. Pantli. plate vii. Sec Plate II. Fig. I.
* AsJau Kes. »oJ. iii, p. 133, 131. ' lust, of Menu. chap. i.
THE oniGIX OF "PAGAN IDOLATUV. 89
ther : it was ascribed to the god Vishnou ; because that deit}', like Brahma cai-- iv.
and Siva whose characters melt into that of Visiinou, was feigned to be an
hermiiphroditc, uniting in one person Isa and Argha or the two mystic
principles of fecundity : and it was often styled the navel of l/ie JForld,
not because, Delphi was the centre of the Earth as the navel is of the human
body (a notion sometimes advanced by the classical writers, though evi-
dently ^with all the consciousness of unsatisfactory inaccuracy'); but be-
cause the Earth and Ark were convertible terms, each being esteemed u
complete ^\'orld, each being thought to float like a ship on llie surface of
the great abyss, each being personified by one and the same goddess, and
each being represented by common symbols such as the egg or the sacred
boat or the calix of tlie lotos.
(2.) These speculations of the Hindoos will throw much light on the
mythology of the west, in which precisely the same notions will be found
to have prevailed, and from which precisely the same conclusion must be
drawn.
The navel at Delphi is clearly to be identified with the navel of Egyp-
tian antiquity. Now the Delphic navel, as we learn from Tatian, was
esteemed tiie tomb or coflin of Dionusus *. But Dionusus was confessedly
the same as Osiris : consequently the tomb or coffin of Dionusus is the
tomb or coffin of Osiris, Tlie coffin however, within which the dead Osiris
was inclosed by Typhon, was the floating INfoon or lunifovm ark : ttic coffin
therefore of Dionusus was the same. But that coffin, we find, was sym-
bolized by the Delphic navel. Therefore the Delphic navel represented
the ark of Dionusus or Obiris ; which bore the name of Argo or Tlieba,
and which was doubtless the same as the Argha of llindostan.
We shall be led to an exactly similar inference by the superstition, as it
prevailed in Italy. The floating island in the lake of Cotylfe was esteemed
a navel. But the sacred floating island symbolized the mundane Ark.
Therefore the navel was equally an hieroglyphic of the same holy vessel.
* Strab. Geo. lib. ix. p. ilO. X-Arr. de ling. Lat. lib. vi. p. 68.
* Tatian. Orat. cont. Gra;c. p. '251.
' It is witb a similar mythological reference, that Homer sty}es the island of Calypso, by
which was certainly meant one of the sacred symbolical islets of the blessed, the navel of
the circumambient sea, Horn. Odyss. lib. 1. ver. 50.
F(/g. Idol. VOL. in. M
yO THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATUT.
As for the navel in the centre of the Egyptian Argo which was the con-
secrated ship of Osiris or Amnion, it is obviously (according to the accu-
rate description of it by Quintus Curtius) that identical symbol wliich the
Hindoos call the navel of Jlsltnou, and which they similarly place in tl>e
centre of the ship Argha, The navel then of Vishnou is the navel of
Osiris : and, since Osiris has been identified with the Cretan Jupiter, the
submersion of Vishnou's navel in the ocean, and the plunging of Jupiter's
navel into the river Triton, are fundamentally the same fiction. The Triton,
like the Nile, the Ganges, and tlie Styx, was a sacred river, which repre-
sented the ocean at the period of the deluge : and the supposed fall of the
navel into it meant the same as the fall of the Dionean egg into the
Euphrates and as the launching of the Baris or Argo into the Nile ; each
equally denoted the committing of the Ark to the waters of the flood '.
5. Though from what has been said Mr. Bryant appears to have been
too hasty in charging the Greeks with a misprision of terms, and in ridicul-
ing and altogether denying the existence of such a symbol as the navel ; yet
he is perfectly right in saying, that, for the most part, wherever there was
un Omphalos, there also was an oracle of the great father. This circum-
stance will additionally serve to prove, that the same mythological reveries
prevailed in the west and in the east : that the navel meant the same as the
female power : and that both alike denoted the Ark or great mother ; the
very appellation indeed, which the Hindoos apply conjointly to the navel
and the female power considered as one symbol *.
Among the various Omphali which the Greeks revered, they specially
claimed the preeminence for that of Delphi. Now, as we may collect from
the very name of Dc/p/ii which signifies t/ic u-omh, the sacred navel was
certainly viewed by the Hellenic mythologists in the same light as it is by
those of Hindostan : that is to sav, it was a symbol of the great mother,
who is a personification at once of the Earth and of the Ark. Agreeably
to this opinion, the whole system of worship established at Delphi was
' Agreeably to tliis supposition, the Nile itself actually bore the name of Triton.
Xzetz. in Lycopli. vcr. 119.
* See Asiat. Res. vol. Hi. p. l.'JT.
THE OUIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. t)l
clearly of diluvian origin : for the town was situated close to Parnassus, ciuv. vr.
where Deucalion landed from tlic ark, and where Apollo finally triumphed
over the monster which had driven his parent into the floating island ; tlio
victory is said to have been acinevcd immediately after the deluge, whence
tlie flight of Latona into the navicular island must have taken place exactly
at the era of the deluge ; and the Delphic oracle was thought to have
been established synchronically with the victory. The very idea of its
establishment indeed is inseparably connected with the history of the Aik.
AV'hen wc consider the close affinity of the Greek and Egyptian systems of
theology, it is impossible not to be persuaded, that the same notions must
have been prevalent in the minds both of those who founded the omphalic
oracle at Delphi and of those who founded the omphalic oracle of Jupiter-
Ammon. Accordingly, as the latter of these was immediately connected
with the ship Baris or Argo, so the former was similarly connected witli the
ark of Deucalion : and, as the oracular responses of the Egyptian Argo
were supposed to issue from the navel in the centre of the vessel, so there
was a notion that the Greek Argo was vocal or fatidical or prophetic '.
I am inclined to believe, that the fancied. oracularity of the holy ship may
be traced up to the responses, which the dove brought back to Noah : for
the oracle of Ammon is said to have been founded by a black dove, or
rather by an Ediiopic priestess of the dove ; and a bird of the same
species is reported to have been sent out of the Argo while prosecuting its
fabulous voyage to Colchi *.
6. The navel thus united with the Argo seems, like the calix of the lotos,
to be the mystic cup, in which the Sun and Hercules are fabled to have
sailed over the ocean. The sacred Ancilia likewise, or oval shields with
an omphalos or umbilical boss in the centre, which the ancient Romans
considered as the safeguard of their city, were, I suspect, no other in
reality than so many copies of the holy boat or Argha. I take them to
have been much the same as the shield of the British Arthur, which is iden-
• Eratos. Catast. c. xxxv. Callist. Stat. c. x, Val. Flac. Argon. lib. i. Apollod. I5ibl.
lib. i. c. 9. § 24. Apollon. Argon, lib. iv. vcr. 580—592.
* Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 51—58. Apollon. Argon, lib. ii. ver. 551.
92 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAX IDOLATRY.
WOK "■'' tified with the ship that preserved him and his seven companions at the
period of the general deluge ' : and that ship again I believe to have been
nearly allied to the celebrated round table of that fabulous Celtic sove-
reign. His. table, or (as it is sometimes called) his stone, is thought by
Camden to have been originally near thirty tons in weight : and under it
is a cell, which the common people suppose to have a communication with
the sea*. The well was a rocky cleft or sacred navel, similar to that at
Delphi : the stone or table represented the egg or stone-ship of the great
fatlier : and, respecting the character of its fictitious knights, the compa-
nions of the nautical Arthur, we may form no improbable conjecture from
the wild legend which makes them a sort of infernal deities who were ac-
customed to ferry demons over the rivers of Hades '. What in one age is
mythology, in the next melts into romance. Hence, as the weird sisters
certainly appear to have borrowed their magic cauldron from the cauldron
of Ccridwen, their infernal horse from the hag-mare of the goddess, and
tlieir rites of necromancy from the old worship of the diluvian or infernal
deities : so I am inclined to think, that the unbroken egg-shell and the cir-
cular sieve, in either of which they fearlessly traverse the ocean, were ori-
ginally the very same as the floating egg, the consecrated Argha, the navi-
cular cup, and the mystic navel.
7. To a kindred source I ascribe the classical fable of Hercules and
Omphalc. ^ye are told, that the hero-god, who sailed over the sea in a
golden cup, was so completely subjugated by the charms of this youthful
beauty, that he resigned to her his ponderous club and lion's skin, while
he himself plied the distaft'of Ills capricious enslaver. The legend, I think,
is clearly built upon the imagined hermapliroditic character of tlie great
universal parent. Omphalc, as the name imports, is a personification of
the Omphalos or sacred navel : and the appearance of the god in the attire
and employment of a female, and the appearance of his mistress in the
garb and attitude of a male, perfectly correspond with that of tiie distaff-
bearing Mercury and that of the anneil Venus or Minerva. The imitative
» Davies's Mythol. p. 517. * Camden's Brit, apud Davics's Mytliol. p. 39t.
, ) Kabclais. livr. ii. c. 3Q.
THE ORIGIJI OF PAGAN IDOLATBT. 93
transcripts of each were the priests who officiated in the dress of women, chap. iv.
and the priestesses who officiated in the dress of men. Omphal6, be it
observed, was a princess of Lydia ; where the effeminate rites of the groat
mother eminently prevailed '.
• Apoll. Bibl. lib. ii. c. 7. § 8. Ovid. Fast. lib. ii. ver. 305—356. Diod. Bibl. lib. iv.
p. 237. Hyg. Poet. Astron. lib. ii. c. H. Minerva was clearly the true Amazon of the
western fabulists.
CHAPTER V.
Respecting the Doctrine of the two independent Principles,
-It will be proper for me here to offer a few observations on the doctrine
of the two independent principles, which was strongly held by the Per-
sians, and which may be traced also in the mythologies of some other
nations.
According to this ancient tenet, there is an eternal principle of good,
which delights in order and harmony, which regulates and disposes all
tilings, and which itself is a light pure and ineffable: but there is also an
eternal principle of evil, which rejoices in mischief and confusion, which
seeks to overturn and disorganize the fair frame of the Universe, and which
itself is a darkness thick and impenetrable. These two j)rinciplcs are ever
at war with each other; but, being equally independent and eternal, nei-
ther of them is able completely to subjugate its rival. Sometimes the em-
pire of darkness extends itself over tlic whole world. At that period every
thing is consigned to inevitable destruction ; a general disorder prevails ;
and all nature is resolved into the primeval chaos. IJut, as light is immor-
tal no less than darkness, and as neiliier can entirely prevail over tiic other,
the tyranny of the evil principle must necessarily have its limits. Hence,
after a certain allotted period, the empire of light again begins to arise from
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. QS
its temporary humiliation; tlie good principle again exerts itself to repair csAr. v,
the wide-spread mischief produced by the principle of evil : order is again
elicited out of disorder : and the Universe once more smiles in renovated
splendor and beauty. Still houever, darkness being no less eternal than
light, the empire of the evil one will in due time assuredly regain its ascen-
dancy; but it will regain it only for a season. Harmony will succeed to
confusion, and darkness will be followed by light : yet again confusion will
succeed to harmony, and light will be absorbed by darkness. Thus, in
endless revolution and in never-ceasing warfare, each dcatiiless rival will
alternately prevail and alternately be vanquished.
I. This theory was employed by speculative men to account for the
origin and continuance of evil in the world : and it doubtless does in some
sort involve the idea of moral evil, though I am fully persuaded, that it
chiefly and properly respects physical evil. We may perceive in it a very
evident allusion to the existence of a wicked spirit, who deliglits to coun-
teract the benevolent purposes of the Supreme Being, and who ever seeks
to introduce misery and disorder into the Universe : but at the same time
we may clearly discern, that the agent, who as the principle of good per-
sonates the Supreme Being, is not really so; and that the agent, who as
the principle of evil sustains the character of the primeval tempter, is not
merely the author of moral turpitude, but the efficient cause of the disso-
lution of each mundane system. The manner in short, in which we are to
understand the doctrine, will best appear by recurring to what we are told
respecting these two independent principles and by comparing it with the
generally prevailing hypothesis of an endless succession of similar worlds.
By the Persians the good principle or the pure light was called Onmisdf ;
and the evil principle or the unalterable darkness, Ahrhnan. In the Zend-
Avesta, the former is exhibited with all the attributes of the Godhead :
while the latter is described, as tempting the first-created man to the com-
mission of sin, and as thus introducing moral evil into the world. Were
we to stop here, we should inevitably conclude, that the doctrine in ques-
tion was solely founded on a perverted tradition of what occurred in the
garden of Paradise ; a tradition, sufficiently accurate in the main, though
perverted by alike ascribing independent eternity to evil and to goodness.
96 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
But this is not the whole of what is said : Ahriman likewise introduces phj/^
sical evil into every part of the creation; and thus at length brings on the
catastrophe of the deluge, over which the second man-bull Taschter is sai'i
to have presided, and by which the world was thought to be reduced to its
original, chaotic state. Afterwards Ormusdt creates all things anew ; and
then our present mundane system commences from Taschter and his three
companions. Here the matter appears under a different aspect, but under
an aspect wliich cannot easily be misunderstood. It has clearly a reference
to the hypothesis, that after certain great though limited periods the world is
destroyed by an inundation either of hre or water, that it remains a year
of the immortals in chaotic darkness and confusion, and that afterwards it
emerges from the deluge in renovated beauty and light and order. Hence
it is evident, that Ahriman or the evil principle must be viewed, not merely
as the author of moral evil ; but as the power of destruction, by which all
things are from time to time reduced to a state of darkness and disorgani-
zalion : and it is equally evident, that Ormusdt or tiie good principle must
be viewed, not so much as the real omnipotent author of all goodness ;
but, as the great father, who has been made to usurp the attributes of God,
and who is invariably represented as creating the World anew after having
floated in the mysterious ship on the surface of the intermediate deluge.
Ormusdt therefore, or the pure light of goodness, is, like iMilhras, the trans-
migrating great father; who appears at the commencement of every mun-
dane system to change disorder into harmony, and who m as astronomically
venerated in the ethereal light of the Sun : while Ahriman, or the thick
darkness of evil, is the chaotic inundation, wiiether igneous or aqueous,
viewed as a work or even as a personification of the wicked one; by which,
at the close of every mundane system, harujony is changed into disorder
and confusion.
Such an opinion necessarily results from the circumstance of tlic good
and evil princi|)]cs of tlie Persic theology sustaining the very same parts>
as the deified great father who restores the \\'orld, and as the liestruclive
agent who dissolves it. For what are the functions ascribed to tiie good
principle, but those which are discharged by the demiurgic Isa or Woden
or Osiris? And what arc the functions ascribed to the evil princij)le, but
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 97
those which are similarly discharged by the all-devouring Maha-Pralaya
or Loke or Typhon ? But Isa, Woden, and Osiris, are each alike the
transmigrating great father : consequently, the Persic good principle must
be the transmigrating great father also. And, on the other hand, Maha-
Pralaya, who swallows up the World and all the hero-gods, is avowedly
a personification of the consummating deluge, for the word itself literally
denotes the great flood ; Typhon, who drives Osiris into the ark and who
extends his usurped dominion over the Universe, is positively declared to
be the ocean ; and Loke is pal[)ably the same as Maha-Pralaya, for at the
close of each mundane system he similarly devours the World and the
hero-gods, and reduces all things to that chaos from which a new World
of light and order afterwards springs fortli : consequently, the Persic evil
principle must likewise be a personification of the great consummating in-
termediate deluge. This latter however does also occasionally run into
the character of the great father himself: for, as Noah beheld both the de-
struction and the renovation of tiie World, he was considered both as the
demiurgic and as the destroying power. Accordingly, the Persic Taschter,
who reproduces from the floating Moon the postdiluvian World, is yet
employed as the agent who presides over the dissolution of the antediluvian
World : and, in a similar manner, the Indian Isa, who creates and pre-
serves each successive Universe as Brahma and Vishnou, is no less thoutiht
to destroy it as Siva; while the classical Cronus or Saturn, who is un-
doubtedly the same as the devouring Molech of Palestine and the Typho-
nian Osiris of Egypt, is justly celebrated by the Orphic poet as the con-
sumer and the reproducer of all things'.
II. This then being the true character of the two independent princi-
ples of good and evil, we shall readily perceive why they were each reck-
oned eternal. In fact, such a notion was but the necessary result of that
philosopliy, which taught an endless succession of similar Worlds. Matter,
under all its modifications, was everlasting ; but each particular system
contained witliin itself the seeds of dissolution: and again, the great father
himself was eternal in his duration ; but every incipient World beheld a
' Orpli. Hymn. xii. 3.
Pag. Idol VOL. III. N
CHAP, V.
98 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. distinct manifestation of him. Hence it followed, that destruction or the
evil principle, though it might lie dormant for a season, was by the very
nature of things immortal ; and that the reproducing great father or the
good principle, though he might from time to time be vanquished and over-
powered, was in himself physically immortal likewise.
III. Holy Scripture at once testifies the remote antiquity of such spe-
culations : and decidedly proves, that the pure light or good principle of
the Persians was not the true God, as some have imagined ; but, no less
than the thick darkness or evil principle, a mere creature. In the address
of Jehovah to Cyrus his anointed, he is represented as saying, in manifest
allusion to the philosophy of the Magi : / am the Lord, and there is none
else. I form the light, and create the darkness : I make the peace, and
create the evil'. I, the Lord, do all these things*.
' The peace or harmony of the renovated world ; the evil or confusion of the dissolved
world. * Isaiah xlv. 6, 7.
CHAPTER VI.
Respecting the Nature and Purport of the ancient Mysteries,
VV E may now proceed to a consideration of tlie nature and purport of
those ancient Mysteries, the celebration of which prevailed so very gene-
rally throughout the whole pagan world.
I. It will be observed, that I here speak of the Mysteries, wheresoever
they might be established, and by whatever nations they might be adopted,
as being mutually the same ; and that I do not view the Orgies of one peo-
ple, as something radically and fundamentally diftercnt from the Orgies of
another people: it will be observed in short, that I propose to identify with
each other all the various Mysteries of the Gentiles in all their various set-
tlements after the dispersion. This proposed identification necessarily
follows from the palpable unity of the several mytiiological systems of the
pagans : for, if each of those systems be nothing more than a modification
of one common primeval system, and if the great father and the great mo-
ther of gentile theology be still the very same characters under whatever
diftercnt names they might be worshipped ; it must plainly be concluded,
since the gods of each nation are truly the same, that the Mysteries of those
gods must in nature and purport be the same also. All alike professed to
reveal the history of the popular divinities, all alike promised the benefits
100 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
9C0K V. of a mysterious regeneration to the initiated. If therefore we have been
compelled, by the evidence of facts and by the positive assertions of the
pagans themselves, to identify the various gods and goddesses of gentile
mythology : we must inevitably no less identify the various Mysteries of
all those kindred deities. Hence I cannot but think Bp. Warburton some-
what inconsistent, when he rightly and strenuously maintains the identity
of the Mysteries, and yet denies the identity of the gods '. The two posi-
tions must, so far as I can judge, stand or fall together. We may either
prove from circumstantial evidence the identity of the gods, and thence
argue the identity of the INIysteries : or, inverting the process, we may
demonstrate the identity of the ]\Iysteries, and thence argue the identity of
the gods. In each case we shall still be brought to the same general con-
clusion : for I see not, how it is possible to assert the identity of the one
and yet to deny the identity of the other.
But we have no occasion to depend entirely upon inductive reasoning.
Both propositions may be demonstrated separately and independently.
As we have proved the identity of the gods, so may we likewise prove the
identity of the Mysteries. Thus will circumstantial evidence bring us to
the very conclusion, which we have just reached in the way of almost ne-
cessary deduction.
The Mysteries then, though frequently called by the names of different
deities, were in substance all the same. Thus Strabo asserts, that the
Curetic Orgies, which were celebrated in memory of the mystic birth of
Jupiter, resembled those of Bacchus, Ceres, and the Phrygian Cybel^ :
and he further observes, that poets and mythologists were continually ac-
customed to join together the Mysteries of Bacchus and Silenus, the rites
of Cybelc, and the worship which was paid to Jupiter at mount Olympus*.
Thus the author of the Orphic poems identifies tlie Orgies of Bacchus
with those of Ceres, Rhea, Venus, and Isis : and evidently speaks of them
as being the very same with the Mysteries, which were celebrated in
Piirygia, in Crete, in Phenicia, in Lcmnos, in Samothrace, in Egypt, and
• Warburton'e Div. Leg. b. ii. sect. i. p. G. b. iii. sect. 3. p. 51*. b. iv. sect. 5. p. 231' — ■
238. note. p. 429. 8vo edit.
' SlT&b. Gfog. lib. X. p. 468— 4-70.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 101
in Cyprus'. Thus Pindar, after invoking Bacchus or the great father, chap. vt.
immediately refers to the nocturnal rites of the Phrygian Cybelfe, whom
Euripides and tlie Orphic poet equally pronounce to be the mother of that
god \ And thus Euripides unites the Orgies of Cybele, as celebrated in
Asia Minor, with the Grecian Mysteries of the Broniian Dionusus and
with the Cretan rites of the Cabiric Corybantes '. In a similar manner,
Dionysius informs us, that the ancient Britons were well acquainted with
the Mysteries of Bacchus : and Artemidorus asserts, that in a sacred
island, which lay close upon some part of their shore, Ceres and Proser-
pine were venerated with rites similar to the Orgies of Samothrace*. But
we know, that those Orgies were the Mysteries of the Cabiri ; and we are
told by Mnaseas, that the Cabiric gods of Samothrace were Bacchus, Ceres,
and Proserpine, to whom Mercury was added in the subordinate capacity
of a minister ^ Hence it is evident, that the Samothracian deities were
no other than those whom the Druids called Hu, Ceridxccn, and Creirwy ;
and that tlie Mysteries of the Celtic divinities were the very same as those
of the Samothracian Cabiri : consequently they were the same also as the
Mysteries of Greece, Phrygia, Cyprus, Phenicia, and Egypt Mnaseas
teaches us, that the sacred names of the Cabiric Ceres, Proserpine, and
Pluto, which last identifies himself with the infernal Bacchus, were Axieros,
A.riocersa, and Axiocersos. But these titles are evidently the same as the
Indian Asyorus, Asyotcersa, and Asyotcersas : for the Samothracian dei-
ties, who bear the former appellations, perfectly correspond in character
and attributes with the Hindoo deities who bear the latter '. Such beinw
the case, the ancient INIysteries of the Indo-Scythge must have corresponded
with those of Samothrace on the one hand, and with those of the Celts,
the Greeks, the Phrygians, the Egyptians, and the Phenicians, on the other.
Agreeably to such a conclusion, the Greeks had a tradition, that the fabu-
• Orph. Argon, ver. 17 — 32. Hymn, xxxvii. xli.
* Find, et Eurip. apud Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. 468 — *70. Orph. Hymn. xli. 6.
» Eurip. apud Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. 468, 469.
♦ Dionys. Perieg. ver. 565 — 574. Artem. apud Strab. Geog. lib. iv. p. 198.
' Mnas. apud Schol. in Apoll. Argon, lib. i. ver. 917.
' See Aiiat. Res. vol. v. p. 297.
102 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
loiis hieiopliant Orpheus M'as a Thracian, and that the Orgies themselves
VI ere of Thracian origin '. Sometimes however they ascribed tlieir inven-
tion to the old Pelasgi ; who at one period, in the course of their wander-
ings, tenanted Samothrace*. These two accounts are in substance the
iame, and I entertain no doubt of their accuracy. The Thracians and the
Pelasgi were the ancestors of those Greeks, who did not emigrate from
Egypt and Phenicia. They were equally children of one great family :
for they were branches of the Indo-Scythic or Pallic or Gothic race, which
sent out colonies in almost every direction, and which communicated their
religious institutions to their descendants the elder Hellenes. Thus we
need not wonder at the perfect identity of the Indo-Scythic and the Samo-
thracian Mysteries : nor have we any occasion to reject as incredible the
well-founded opinion, that the Orgies of the barbarous northern and north-
eastern nations were really the same, both in nature and purport, as those
of the more civilized Greeks and Phenicians and Egyptians. On the con-
trary, it will serve to shew the justice of that remarkable classification, by
which Clemens enumerates, as teaching much the same doctrines and as
philosophizing in much the same manner, the priests of Egypt, the Chal-
deans of Assyria, the Druids of the Gauls, the Saman^ans of the Bactrians,
the sai^cs of the Celts, the Magi of the Persians, the Brahmens of the In-
dians, the piiilosophers of the Scythians, and the various wise men among
the OdrysfB and the Getas and the Arabians and the Philistines and (to
use his own sweeping expression) ten thousand other nations'. From these
misnamed barbarians Pythagoras, as he tiuly observes, borrowed very
largely : and, of what nature as well as of what extent his obligations
were, Jambliciius informs us very explicitly. Ho taught, it seems, certain
riles of piirificution ; he initiated his tiisci|)les into the Mysteries; and,
uniting a divine philosophy with religious worship, he instructed them with
the greatest accuracy in the knowledge of the hero-gods. What lie com-
municated however, he had himself prcvioux/j/ kamcd; for the specula-
tions, wliich lie delivered, were no tncrc novel inventions of his own. He
' SuiiL Lcxic. ' Ilcrod. Ili'-t. lib. ii. c. 51.
' Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. \>. 'M'i, a05.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 103
had derived them, partly from the Orphic rites of the Thracians, partly ciup. vj.
from tiie Egyptian priesthood, partly from the Chaldeans and the Magi,
partly from the Mysteries of Eleusis and Imbros and Samothrace and
Delos, and in addition to all these partly from the Celts and the Iberians'.
He taught then, we find, certain Alysteries blended with philosophy, which
he had borrowed from various kindred sources. But Herodotus speaks of
the Orphic and the Pythagorean Mysteries as being the very same *. Now
we know, that the Orphic INIysteries were no other than those of Samo-
thrace, Egypt, and Phenicia : such likewise must tl>erefore have been those
used by Pythagoras. But he borrowed them from all the numerous sources
specified by Jamblichus. Hence the identical Mysteries, M'hich were cele-
brated in Thrace, Egypt, Phenicia, Samothrace, Eleusis, Imbros, and
Delos, must also have been established among the Chaldeans, the Magi,
the Celts, and the Iberians. In fact, not only Pythagoras, but the Greeks
collectively, had noticing but what they received from those whom they
styled ^flr^am/(*'. Now what they received was the Mysteries. Con-
sequently, the Mysteries of the barbarians must have been the very same
as the Mysteries of the Greeks ; which again were the same as those of
the Egyptians, the Phrygians, and the Phenicians. Agreeably both to this
conclusion and to what has already been observed on the subject. Porphyry
views the cavern- worship of the Persian Mithras as immediately related to
the similar cavern-worship of the Cretan Jupiter, the Arcadian Pan and
Luna, and the Naxian Bacchus : and associates the initiation into his rock-
mysteries with the legends resjjecting the several consecrated grottos of
Saturn, of the Nymphs, and of Ceres and Proserpine *. In short, so gene-
rally acknowledged was the identity of the Mysteries in every part of tlie
world, that Euripides describes the god Bacchus, in his tragedy of that
name, as declaring, that the Orgies were equally celebrated by all foreign
nations, and that he came to introduce them among the Greeks*: while
Zosimns informs us, that they prevailed so universally, as to comprehend
the whole race of mankind *.
• Jamb, de vit, Pyth. {151. » Herod. Hist, lib, ii. c. 81.
* See Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 303, 305.
♦ Porph. de ant. nymph, p. 253, 254, 262, 263.
' Eurip. Bacch. apud Warburton, ^ * Zosira. lib. iv. apud Warburtou,
104 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
>ooK V. II, The identity of the Mysteries being thus established, we may next
inquire, whence they originated ; for the very circumstance of their iden-
tity necessarily proves them all to have had some common origin.
1. Bp. Warburton, agreeably to his system of deducing every thing from
Egypt, contends that they were first invented in that country : whence, in
process of time, they were carried into Greece, Persia, Cyprus, Crete, Sa-
mothrace, Lemnos, Asia Minor, Britain, Hindostan, and all those barbar-
ous nations wherever situated amongst which we find them established'.
This theory seems to me so utterly incredible, that I feel myself altoge-
ther unable to adopt it. Whatever was the origin of the Mysteries, such
also must have been the origin of the whole fabric of pagan mythology :
for the two are so intimately connected, that it is impossible to separate
them from each other and to derive them from distinct sources. If then
we subscribe to tiie hypothesis of Warburton, we must prepare ourselves
to believe, that the whole frame of gentile idolatry with the sacred Myste-
ries attached to it was the exclusive contrivance of the Egyptian priest-
hood j and that the entire human race were but the servile copyists of one
single nation. We must believe, not only that the neighbouring Greeks
and Phenicians borrowed from Egypt ; but that the most remote commu-
nities, the British Celts, the Pelasgic Scythians, the Magi of Persia, the
Chaldeans of Babylon, and even the Brahmens of Hindostan, were all con-
tent to receive their theology from the same country. We must believe
too, that this universal obligation to Egypt was incurred in the very ear-
liest ages : for, not to enter into a discussion respecting the antiquity of
Babylon or Persia or Hindostan, we find tlie Orgies of Adonis or Baal-
Pcor and of Astartt or Sida completely established in Palestine prior to
the time of the exodus; and we observe the Greeks acknowledging, that
they had already received from the northern Pelasgi or Thracians those
very Mysteries which were again imported by the soutliern settlers from
Egypt. The whole of this appears to me perfectly incredible. Egypt no
doubt was a civilized and well-regulated state at a very remote period :
and its established idolatry was, I believe, coeval with its very existence
' Div. Leg, book ii. sect, i: p. 3, i, 5.
riiE oRicrw OF pagan idolatrv. 105
as a nation. But, neither was it the onh/ ancient or civiHzcd community; chap. vi.
nor, even if it were, would tliis satisfactorily account for the universal
adoption of its Mysteries, as well by its more immediate neiglil)ours, as by
the far distant colonists of the extreme east and north and north-west. The
thing itself plainly exceeds all reasonable belief. No one exposes with
more pungent ridicule than this great writer the gross absurdity of Iluet
and other speculatists of the same school, who discover in the single legis-
lator of the Israelites all the hero-gods of antiquity : for how should the
various remote pagan tribes know any thing of Moses ; or, if they did,
where could be their inducement so universally to erect him into a deity ' ?
Yet he sees not, that the same inconsistency ; though doubtless not quite
in so high a degree, because the celebrity of Egypt very far surpassed that
of Israel : still, that the same inconsistency in kind attaches to his theory
of alike deducing from the former country the manifestly kindred Myste-
ries, not only of Greece and Palestine, but of Britain and Scythia and
Persia and Babylonia and Hindostan. I do not however exclusively cen-
sure the hypothesis of this learned prelate : I think, that for the very same
reasons, those theories are equally devoid of solidity, which would similarly
deduce every thing from Scythia or from Hindostan or from any other
favourite community whatsoever. When the earth was once peopled by
the descendants of Noah, and when his children had once formed distinct
states in regions widely separated from each other : I can never bring my-
self to believe, that any single nation could communicate its own peculiar
religious system to the whole world ; I can never persuade myself, that all
mankind with one consent forsook the worship of their fathers merely tliat
they might adopt the fantastic inventions of Egypt.
2. How then are we to account for the general prevalence and identity
of the pagan Mysteries ; and from what common origin are we to suppose
them to have sprung? For, as I have just observed, and as it was neces-
sarily felt and acknowledged by Bp. Warburton, the very circumstance
of their identity demonstrates them all to liave h^ one and the same
origin.
• Dir. Leg. book iii. sect. 3. p. Gt— G7.
Pag. Idol. VOL. Ill- O
106 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKr.
I undoubtedly account for the matter, precisely a3 I account for the
identity of the various systems of pagan mythology. So remarkable and
exact an accordance of sentiments and institutions, which may be distinctly
traced in every part of the world, leads us inevitably to the belief, that, in
the infancy of society when as yet mankind were but few in number, all the
children of Noah were associated together in a single community ; that,
while thus they formed but one empire, a great apostasy from the worship
of the true God took place; that at that period the original system of
idolatrous mythology and the sacred Mysteries attached to it were first con-
trived ; and that afterwards, when colonies were sent forth from the parent
society and when new independent polities were gradually established, the
same mysterious rites ai>d the same peculiar mode of worship were carried
by the emigrants to every part of the world. Such, even if the scriptural
history had never been written, would be the only rational and satisfactory
method of accounting for a fact as undoubted as it is curious. But it need
scarcely be observed, how decidedly that history establishes the present
conclusion : « hile, on the other hand, the conclusion, to which we are thus
inevitably led by actually existing circumstances, affords an illustrious at-
testation to the truth of the sacred volume. We have an extraordinary
fact, which nothing can adequately explain but the supposed occurrence of
one particular event; the union of all mankind, at some remote period, in a
single community : the Bible declares, that this identical event, which exist-
in
from which they are thus produced, is described as floating like an island
on the surface of the infernal lake or river.
It is obvious, that all these various particulars could not be treated of in the
Mysteries without entering very deeply into certain recondite physiological
speculations : and accordingly we are told, that such was actually the case ;
they taught the nature of things, no less than the nature of the gods. The
philosophy iiowcvcr, which they inculcated, vAas immediately connected
with the established theology, or rather formed an essential part of it.
This physiology coublituted a most prominent feature of ancient Paganism,
and indeed was the very basis upon wliich the whole airy fabric was
erected. Now we find but one description of natural philoso|)iiy generally
prevalent among the Gentiles; a philosophy, not resting on the solid foun-
dation of experiment, l)ut altogether visionary and speculative and dogma-
tical : and this philosophy is radically and inseparably connected with the
theology taught in the Mysteries. Hence wc may rest assured, that it was
the identical physiology of which tiic Mysteries treated.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV, J l^f
The philosophy in question taught, that matter itself was eternal, but cnkP. vu
that it was liable to endless changes and modlHcations : that over it a de-
miurgic Intelligence presided, who, when a World was produced out of
Chaos, manifested himself at the commencement of that World as tlie
great universal father both of men and animals : that, during the existence
of the World, every thing in it was undergoing a perpetual change ; no
real destruction of any substance taking place, but only a transmutation of
it: that, at the end of a certain great appointed period, the World was
destined to be reduced to its primeval material Chaos : that the agent of
its dissolution was a flood either of water or of fire: that, at this time, all
its inhabitants perished ; and the great fiither, from whose soul the soul of
every man was excerpted and into whose soul the soul of every man must
finally be resolved, was left in the solitary majesty of abstracted medita-
tion : that, during the prevalence of the deluge and the reign of Chaos, he
floated upon the surface of the mighty deep, reposing in the bosom of his
consort the great mother, who then assumed the form of a ship, but who
M as likewise represented by the lotos or the egg or the sea-serpent or the
navicular leaf or the lunar crescent : that the two powers of nature male
and female, or the great demiurgic father and the great demiurgic mother,
were then reduced to their simplest principles, and sailed over the face of
the illimitable ocean in a state of mystic conjunction ; the one typified by
the ship, and the other by its mast : that the great father however was but
mystically alone ; for that he comprehended within his own essence three
sons or filial emanations, and was hiinself conspicuous in eiglit distinct
forms : that, at tiie close of a divine year, the deluge abated ; and that tiie
great father, then awaking from his death-like sleep and bursting forth from
the womb of the great mother within which he had been confined, created
a new VVorld out of the chaotic wreck of the old one : that he appeared in
his eight forms and with his three sons at the commencement of this reno-
vated World,. as he had already similarly appeared at the commencement
of the former World : that a new race of mortals and of animals was aofaia
produced from him and his consort: that every thing, which had occurred
during the existence of the preceding World, reoccurred during the exist-
ence of this reproduced World : that the same persons, who had played
Il6 ¥he origin of pagan idolatry.
BOOK V. their parts in the one, acted afresh similar parts in the other : that this new
World was destined again to give place to an exactly corresponding suc-
cessor, as itself had arisen out of the fragments of an exactly corresponding
predecessor : that this alternation of destruction and reproduction was
eternal, both retrospectively and prospectively : that to destroy was, con-
sequent!)', nothing more than to create under a new form : and that water,
or the muddy watery Chaos, was the origin of all tilings.
This was the philosophy, that was inculcated in the Mysteries : and,
agreeably to such speculations, the allegorical death and sepulture and re-
vival of the great father, who on the material system was hermaphroditi-
cally identified with the whole Universe, shadowed out the destruction and
reproduction of the World, no less than the death of Adam and his trans-
migratory resurrection in the person of Noah, or the entrance of the latter
patriarch into the ship and his subsequent birth from its gloomy sepulchral
womb. The Mysteries, in short, treated throughout of a grand and total
regeneration ; a regeneration, which alike respected the whole World, the
great demiurgic parent, and every individual part or member of the World.
Hence the golden figure of a serpent, from the faculty which that animal
possesses of shedding its skin and coining forth in renovated youth, was
placed in the bosom of tlie initiated, as a token that they had experienced
the regeneration of the IMysteries : and hence, from the earliest ages, the
mule and female principles of fecundity, which were thought to reproduce
the mundane system as often as it was destroyed, were deemed sacred
symbols of the great father and the great mother ; and, as such, were iu-
variiibly introduced into the Orgies.
l'[). U'arburton docs indccil contend, that the Mysteries were origi/ialli/
pure and innocent, and that the abominations of the phaliic worship were
subse(]ue72tlif and only partialli] ingrafted upon them : and he is disposed
to give in an eminent degree the palm of sanctity to the rites of Isis, while
those of Venus or Astartii or Derceto or Mylitta were grossly and shame-
fully corrupted '. I fear however, that his lordship's anxiety to exhibit
' Div. Leg. book ii. sect. 4'. Dr. Hales adopts Dp. Warburtou's opinion. SeeChronol.
voL ilL p. 199.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 117
the Mysteries as the very acnit; of ancient political h isdom has led him, in cuap. vi.
this instance, to prefer a mere groundless conjecture of his own to positive
testimony respecting absolute facts. Long before the time of Apuleius,
whom he would describe as quitting the impure Orgies of the Syrian god-
dess for the blameless initiations of Isis, did the phallic processions, if we
may credit Herodotus and Diodorus, form a most conspicuous and essen-
tial part, not only of the Mysteries in general, but of these identical Isiac
or Osiric Mysteries in particular'. Nor is there any reason to doubt
their accuracy on this point. The same detestable rites prevailed in Pa-
lestine among the votaries of Siton or Adonis or Baal-Peor, long before the
exodus of Israel from Egypt : the same also, anterior at least to the days
of Herodotus, in Babylonia, Cyprus, and Lydia: the same likewise, from
the most remote antiquity, in the mountains of Armenia, among the wor-
shippers of the great mother Anais : and the same, from the very first in-
stitution of their theological system, as we may fairly argue from the uni-
form general establishment of this peculiar superstition, among the Celtic
Druids both of Britain and of Ireland \ Nor do we find such Orgies less
prevalent in Hindostan. Every part of the theology of that country ;
which some, who know little about the matter, have thought proper to re-
present as so pure and blameless, that the introduction of Christianity would
be a work of palpable supererogation : every part of the theology of the
misdeemed holy and moral Hindoos is inseparably blended with them, and
replete with allusions to their fictitious origin. The self-conspicuous image
of nature, which Bp. Warburton oddly fancies to be a pure ethereal light
exhibited to the ravished eyes of the initiated, still appears within the deep
recesses of the oldest cavern temples, and is displayed in a manner which
cannot be misunderstood on the fronts of the most ancient pagodas. Each
sacred Argha, or libatory boat, avowedly shadows out the reduction of the
two principles to their simplest forms, during the period of the intermediate
deluge : Meru itself or that Paradisiacal mount Ararat from which were
• Heroil. Hist. lib. ii. c. 48, 49, 51, 60. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 19,76. lib. iv. p. 214.
' Numb. XXV. Herod. Hist. lib. i. c. 199, 93. Strab. (ieog. lib. xvi. p. 745. lib. xi.
p. 532. lib. xii. p. 559. Vallancey's Viiidic. p. 211—220, 160, 161. Daviess MythoU
p. 539.
lis THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
«coK V. born two successive Worlds, and with Meru every imitative high-place or
pyramidal pagoda, is viewed as a mysterious symbol of the grand object
of Brahmenical veneration : and to this day the primeval obscene worship
of Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, and the whole western world, is religiously
kept up within tlie precincts of the temple of Jagan-Nath. Here, as of
old, lust sits enthroned hard by hate : and the power, that alike presides
over destruction and regeneration, that at once (as the Orphic poet speaks)
consumes and reproduces all things, is still propitiated with human blood
in reference to the former attribute and with obscenity in allusion to the
latter '.
These are un pleasing subjects to touch upon, yet are they not without
their use. They shew us, how low man may degrade himself when left to
follow his own imaginations : and they teach us how to be thankful to the
all-pure Author of good, for having called us Gentiles from the dark cells
of lasciviousness and the blood-stained altars of a murderous superstition
into the liglit and life of the glorious gospel of his Son.
IV. Ancient authors unanimously represent a certain sacred ark, as
being of prime importance in tlie due celebration of the Mysteries. Nu-
merous instances of this have been selected by Dr. Spencer, with a view
of establishing his own peculiar hypothesis. I shall avail myself of them,
adding at the same time others, which have not been, and which in some
cases could not have been, noticed by that learned writer.
1. Apulcius mentions the ark of Isis ; and describes it as containing the
secret symbols, which were used in the Mysteries ; he also exhibits Psychfe,"
• Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 132— lf28. vol. viil. p. 273, 274. Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 387,
393, 389, 399. Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 219, 250, 2.'51.. vol. iv. p. 4.28. Buchanan's Chris-
tian Research, p. 133, 13S, 139, 115, MG. It is well romarki-il hy Dr. Riiohannn, in
answer to those who would persuade us that the introduction of Christianity into Hindos-
tan is needless on account of the high moral purity of its inhabitants, that vile indeed must
be the tendency of a relifrion, under the sanction of which the indecent symbols, to which
I have had occasion to allude, are shamelessly exposed to the unrestrained gaze of the
youth of both sexes, while the ofliciating priestesses area band of consecrated prostitutes.
As this religion is substantially the same as ancient I'aganisni wherever adopted, we may
view its obvious moral temlcHcy in the rJtcB of the Rabylonian Mylitta, the Armenian
AnaiB, the Cyprian Vcnas, the I'henician Astarte, and the Egyptian Isis.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRl'. 119
as deprecating Ceres by the silent Orgies of the ark of that goddess'. Plu- ciup. vi,
larch, in treating of the rites of Osiris, speaks of the sacred ark; which his
long-robed priests were wont to carry, and which contained within it a small
golden boat*. Pausanias notices an ancient ark, which was said to have
been brought by Eurypylus from Troy, and within which the sacred image
or symbol of Bacchiis-Esymnetes was inclosed': he likewise mentions cer-
tain arks, as being ordinarily dedicated to Ceres, who was worshipped in
conjunction with Bacchus just as Isis was in conjunction with Osiris*.
Eusebius informs us, that, in celebrating the INIysteries of the Cabiri, the
Phcnicians used a consecrated ark'. Clemens says, that a similar ark was
employed in tiie Orgies of the same Corybantic Cabiri, who were vene-
rated in mount Olympus ; that it contained an indecorous symbol of Bac-
chus ; and that it was conveyed by the Cabiric brethren themselves into
Etruria, where the mystic use of it was likewise adopted ^ This author
speaks also of the ark of the Eleusinian Ceres, and is very particular in
noticing its contents ''. Theocritus, in describing the Mysteries of Bacchus
as celebrated by the three LenfR, Ino and Autonoe and Agav^, ttie three
representatives of the triplicated great mother, fails not to specify the sa-
cred ark, out of which they take the hidden symbols that were used in the
Orgies'. Suidas mentions the arks, which, among the Greeks, were dedi-
cated to Bacchus and the two goddesses ; meaning, no doubt, Ceres and
Proserpine'. Ovid familiarly alludes to similar arks, as being equally
used by the Romans in the celebration of the Mysteries'". Catullus and
Tibullus likewise mention them ; and that too in the very same connection
with the Orgies, which the profane fruitlessly endeavoured to pry into ".
Celius lihociiginus, on the authority of ancient writers, informs us, that in
the Babylonian temple of Apollo or Belus there was a golden ark of won-
derful antiquity '*. Pausanias very largely describes a cedar ark, which
' Apul. Metam. lib. xi, vi. * Pint, de Isid. p. 366. ' Paus. Achalc. p. 435, 1-36.
♦ Paus. Piioc. p. 662. ' Euseb. Prsep. Evan. lib. ii. c. 3. ^ Clem. Cohort, p. 12.
7 Ibid. p. 13, 14-. ' Theoc. Id3ll. xxvi. vcr. 6. ' Suid. Lex. in voc. Ktsrlop^as.
'° Ovid. Art. Amat. lib. ii. ver. 609.
" Catull. de Pel. nupt. ver. 259, 260. Tibull. lib. i. 8.
" Cod. Rhod. Lect, Ant, lib. viii. c. 12,
120 THE ORIGIN" OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
booK V. ^vas placed in the magnificent temple of Juno at Elis, and within which
Cypselus is said to have been inclosed by his mother when the Bacchidae
sought his life '. Every writer, who treats of Indian mythology, notices
the Argha or sacred ark of the god Siva or Isa*. Taliesin mentions the
ark of tlie Britisli god llu or Aeddon : and the whole tenor of the Druid-
ical superstition demonstrates, that it was of no less importance in the
Celtic INIysteries than in those of Greece, Egypt, Italy, Phenicia, Baby-
lonia, and Hindostan '. The Spanish authors, who discuss the early his-
tory and mythology of the INIexicans, teach us, that their great god JVIexitli
or Vitzliputzli was carried in a sacred ark on the shoulders of his priests
during their progress in quest of a settlement ; and that afterwards, when
they finally established themselves, the same ark containing the image of
the deity was solemnly placed in his temple *. Adair affirms, as an eye-
witness, that a precisely similar ark was venerated by the North-American
savages of the back-settlements, that it was used as the vehicle of certain
holy vessels, and that it was borne from place to place by ministers ap-
pointed for that special purpose ^ Tacitus mentions, that the Germanic
or Gothic Suevi employed in their religious worship an ark or ship, which
he identifies with the ship of the Egyptian Isis *. And Cook, while pro-
secuting his discoveries in the great Pacific ocean, observed with some sur-
prize, that the natives both of Ilualicinc and of Otaheite highly reverenced
a consecrated ark, which was provided with two poles like those of a sedan-
chair for the purpose of being carried about, and vvhicli was considered as
the house of their national divinity ^
Thus it appears, that, in the due celebration of their kindred Mysteries,
a certain holy ark has been equally used by the Greeks, the Italians, the
Celts, the Gotiis, the Phcnicians, tlie Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Hin-
doos, the Mexicans, the northern Americans, and the islanders of the Pa-
'*Paus. 1 Eliac. p. SI 9, 320.
' Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 52?j. vol. iii. p. 13t, 136, 132. vol. viii. p. STK Moor's Hind.
Panth. p. 68, 336, 337, 385, 388, 390, 391..
' Davies's Mytliol. p. 118, 55 K * Purch. Pilg. book viii. c. 10. p. 790. c. 1 1. p. 796.
' Adair's Ilifct. of Amcr. Ind. ' Tacit, de nior. (jcrin, c. 9.
' Cook's first voyage b. i. c. 20. tliii'd vojage b. iii. c, 2.
THS ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 121
cific ocean. Such an uniformity clearly proves the common origin of their «:"■»>■• vi.
theological systems : and we may reasonably infer from it, that, as they all
venerated a sacred ark, they all viewed that ark in the same light and
employed it for the same superstitious purposes.
2. The question then is, what we are to understand by this so generally
reverenced ark ; whether we are to consider it merely as a box or chest
within which the consecrated trinkets of the Mysteries might be commo-
diously deposited, or as something of itself highly important and signifi-
cant in the proper celebration of the Orgies. Bp. Warburton seems to
have viewed it in tlic former light, if we may argue from his passing it over
in total silence as altogether unworthy of being noticed by a writer on the
Alysteries : yet, notwithstanding this studied omission, we shall find it, I
suspect, to have contained the very pith and marrow of that favourite ordi-
nance of Paganism. Would we satisfactorily answer the question now
before us, we must inquire into the peculiar ideas attached to the sacred
ark, and into the purposes for which it was used. Ou these points enough
lias been handed down to us, to prevent the possibility of error.
Various terms are employed by the Greeks to describe this mysterious
ark : and they severally, according to their literal import, convey to us the
idea of a chest, a coffer, a boat, a coffin, or a navicular ark such as that
in which Deucalion and Pyrrha were preserved at the time of the deluge '.
The phraseology of the Latins exactly corresponds with that of the Greeks;
leading us to view the mystic ark either as a chest, a boat, or a coffin *.
"We may easily collect, that such also «as the case with the language used
by the old Egyptians and Syrians. They styled the ark Thcba, Baris, and
Argo; and a cofnn they denominated Buto^. Now the city of JButo or
the coffin was immediately connected with the Mysteries of the ark ; and
it is worthy of observation, that to this day the Copts and the oriental
Mohammedans bestow upon a coffin the names oi Bent and Tabut or Thc-
' KitIt., 6r,«)), xt^arior, trc^of, Xa^fa^. Apollodorus and Lucian use this last word to de-
scribe the ark of Deucalion ; while the Greek translators denominate the Ark of Noaii
r.i^wTo; or a boat.
* Cista, area, loculus. ' Hesych. Lex.
Fa^. Jdut. VOL. III. Q
122 THE ORIGINT OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
8i>oK V. batli '. The same double mode of expression was adopted likewise by
the Celtic Britons. They considered the ark of Aeddon as his temple, or
sanctuary, or resting-place : yet this very sanctuary they were accustomed
to style his Bcdd; wliich word, like the Coptic Bent, denotes a grave or
coffin *. Similar phraseology may be detected likewise in the ancient Chal-
daic or Babylonic or Hebrew language : whence we may rest assured, that
it equally prevailed in the dialect used by the Phenicians and the Canaan-
ites. The very same word is used in Holy Scripture to designate the ark
of the covenant and the soros or coffin within which the dead body of Jo-
seph was deposited'. This word is Aro7i or Arum and it has been car-
ried into the west by those colonists, who migrated originally from the
region of Babylonia. Thus Boiotus or Butus, who is the same as the ori-
ental Buddha and whose history is inseparably united with that of Theba
or the city of the Ark, is feigned to have been the offspring of the ocean-
god and the nymph Avnh or Aren^ : and thus the grave or arkite sanctuary
of the Celtic Hu or Tydain is said to be in the border of the mount of
Aren*. The nymph Arn^ was the same mythological personage as the
nymph Thcba : and the mount of Aren is evidently the mount of the ark
. or sacred coffin of Tydain.
3. This singular uniformity of expression can scarcely be attributed to
mere accident : so that, even if we had nothing further to adduce, we should
be naturally led to believe, that the ark of the Mysteries was, for some
reason or another, viewed in the double light of a boat and a coffin. But
the purposes, to which that ark was applied, leave us no room to doubt
that such phraseology was studiously adopted : for we find, that it was
actually considered as being at once the cotliii and the ship of the prin-
cipal hero-gods ; though it is more generally and more expressly described
as being the former.
(1.) In tiie Egyptian iVIystcries of Isis and Osiris, the image of a dead
* Moor's Hind. Pantli. p. ^')G. Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 21 1.
* Davies's Mythol. p. 1 18, W?,, 369, 393, 193, \M:
' Exoil. XXV. 10. ct alibi. Gen. 1. 2f).
* Dioil. Uibl, lib. iv. p. 2G9. Eustalh. in Dion, rerii-g. ver. 12G. Davies's Mytliol.
p. 193, 19i.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 123
mail was carried about in an ark or small boat which served him for a cuap. vi.
coffin: and the person, represented by this image, was thought to be after-
wards restored to life, or (as the initiated expressed themselves) to return
from Hades '. Now the ark, which was thus used, is plainly the sacred
ark or (as it was sometimes called) ship of Isis : we therefore distinctly
gather from ti preceding account, that the ark of the IMystcrics was emi-
nently employed as the vehicle of some one who was reputed to liave died,
that his inclosure within the ark was deemed an inclosure within a cofliii
or a descent into the infernal regions, and that his liberation from the ark
was esteemed a resurrection from the dead or a return from the infernal
world. But the person, whose image was thus inclosed as one dead w ithin
the sacred ark, was Osiris or tlie great father : for we are told, that in the
ceremony, which tlie Egyptians styled the interment of Osiris, they pre-
pared an ark or coffin shaped like a lunette or life-boat, and placed within
it a statue of the supposed defunct god *. This interment they viewed as
an aphanism or disappearance of the deity ; and tlie lamentations, occa-
sioned by his being dead or lost, constituted the first part of the Myste-
ries. Afterwards, on the third day subsequent to his inclosure within the
ark, that is to say on the nineteenth day of the month, they went down at
night to the sea; the priests bearing the sacred ark, which contained a
small golden boat. Into this they poured water from the river : and, when
the rite had been duly performed, they raised a shout of joy; and ex-
claimed, that the lost Osiris was found, that the dead Osiris was restored
to life, that he who had descended into Hades had returned from Hades ' :
The violent exultations, in which they now indulged themselves, consti-
tuted the second or joyful part of the Mysteries. Hence originated those
watch-words used by the mystae, JVc have jvnnd Jiim, let us rejoice toge-
ther*: hence tlie Orphic poet speaks of the mournful rites of the Kgyp-
tians, and of the sacred funereal Orgies of Osiris': hence Ovid represents
the god, as never being sufficiently sought for by his anxious votaries': and
• Plut. de Isid. p. 357, 35S. * Plut. de Isid. p. 368. See Plate III. Fig. 1.
» Plut. dc Isid. p. 366. * Athenag. Legat. c. xix. p. 88.
* Orph, Argoa. ver. 32. ' Ovid. Aletaiu. lib. ix. ver. 632.
124 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOtATRr.
hence Theophiliis describes the loss and reinvention of Osiris, as being
annually celebrated by those who had been initiated ', Hence also Athe-
nagoras and Julius Firmicus ridicule the absurdity of the Egyptians, who
first bewail the death and burial of Osiris, and then, exulting at his sup-
posed revival, offer sacrifices to him as to a god ': and hence a Latin poet,
cited by Lactantius, speaks of the dead Osiris, as being shut up in a wooden
coffin, and idly venerated by the Egyptian populace '. This remarkable
ceremony is well declared by Firmicus to be the sum and substance of the
Isiac jNIysteries*. Yet it was occasionally varied: and Horus the son of
Isis, instead of Osiris her husband, was described as the person lost and
sought for and found again. This also is said by Lactantius to be the sub-
stance of the sacred rites celebrated in honour of Isis'. The two asser-
tions are only apparently at variance: for Osiris and Ilorus were really
the same divinity, viewed as bearing the two difterent relations of consort
and son to the great mother. Accordingly, each is said to have undergone
the same calamities, and each is represented as having been slain and re-
stored to life again. In short, all tiiose ancient writers, who have treated
on the subject, j)ositively declare, that the Orgies of Isis were of a funereal
nature, that they exhibited the principal hero-god as dead and shut up in
the sacred ark or cofltin, and that they afterwards represented him as quit-
ting the ark and as experiencing a wonderful resurrection from Hades.
But we are not left to consider the mysterious ark of Isis, as being solely
the coffin of the deceased god : this ark was sometimes called the ship of
Isis, just as the ark of Juno was called the ship of Juno; and correspond-
ent witii its name was the use, to which it is said to have been originally
applied. Would we understand what was fully meant, by the inclosure
of the dead Osiris within his coffin; we must obviously attend to the my-
thologic history of the transaction, which the Mysteries professed sceni-
cally to commemorate. Now the transaction was this. Osiris was attacked
and murdered by Typhon, whom the Egyptian priests declared to be a
• Theoph. ad Autol. lib. i. p. 343.
* A then. Lcgat. c. xii. Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rcl. p. 4-, 5.
' Lactam. Instit. lib. i. c. 21. p. 1 18. ♦ Tinn. dc error, prof. rcl. p. 4.
' Liictant. Inst. lib. i. c. iil, p. 117.
THE ORIGIN OK TAGAV IDOLATRY. 125
personification of the sea. Afterwards Typhon inclosed his dead body chap. yi.
M ithiii an ark : and this ark is set afloat with its contents on the surface of
the waters., Thus shut up in his navicular coffin, which in siiape resem-
bled tlie lunar crescent, the god was borne over the waves in a state of
deathlike confinement during the period represented by the intermediate
day : for he was thought to have entered into the ark on the seventeenth
day of the autunnial month Athyn, and his liberation from it was celebrated
on the third day after his inclosure. At length however his painful voyage
was brought to an end : the ark drifted to land : the god was restored to
life : and, quitting the floating Moon or coftin within which he had been
shut up, Osiris in his turn became victorious over his enemy Typhon who
for a season had subjugated the whole world to his empire'. In memory
of these events the Mysteries were instituted : but the calamities and final
triumph of the god were celebrated by two commemorative festivals, at the
opposite seasons of spring and autumn. At the one, his entrance into the
Moon is said to have been peculiarly shadowed out; at the other, his in-
closure within his cofiin*. Each of these however plainly represented one
and the same transaction : for, as the ark or wooden coffin of the god was
reputed to be shaped like the Moon, his entrance into the floating Moon
and his enti-ance into the floating luniform ark were doubtless but a single
event. Analogous to the mythologic history of the elder Osiris is that of
Horus or the younger Osiris. Sometimes he is said to have been slain by
the Titans, to have floated in a state of death on the ocean, and to have
been afterwards restored to life by his mother Isis. At other times, he is
fabled to have been pursued when a child by the monster Typhon, and to
have been sheltered from his rage in a floating island which was shewn in a
sacred lake near Buto. Here the island occupies the place of the ark; and
the lake, that of the sacred river or the ocean. The obvious meaning of
such legends has already been sufficiently pointed out': they are here ad-
duced to shew, that the Mysteries related to the inclosure of some ancient
personage within an ark, which was viewed under the double aspect of a
coftin and a ship. It may be observed, that the rites in honour of this
' PJut. de Isid. p. 356. * Plut. de Isid. p. 36G. ' Vide supra book iv. c. 4. § I,
126 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
person, which were celebrated on the lake of Buto, were also celebrated
on another small lake at Sais. The testimony of Herodotus respecting the
purport of them is remarkably explicit, and therefore well deserves our
attention. He tells us, that at Sais they shewed the tomb, and celebrated
the commen)orative funereal Orgies, of one, whose name he deemed it un-
lawful to mention. The place devoted to their celebration was a circular
lake, about the size of that in Delos named Trochdides. On the surface
of this pool they scenically exhibited the sufferings of the person, whom
the historian would not venture to specify : and these, he adds, were the
rites, which the Egyptians called their nocturnal Jlfi/sl cries \ The decla-
ration of Herodotus perfectly corresponds with what we are told by Dio-
dorus and Jamblichus : the former says, that the Mysteries related to the
calamities which the gods experienced from Typhon ; the latter intimates,
that they treated of the bursting asunder of the heavens, the displaying of
the secrets of Isis, the shewing of the ineft'able wonders of the great abyss,
the resting of the ship Baris at the conclusion of its voyage, and the scat-
tering to Typhon the limbs of Osiris *. Such information can scarcely be
misunderstood. The ship Baris or Argo or Theba was the ship of Osiris :
but the ship of Osiris was that floating ark or navicular coffin, within which
Lis dead body was inclosed by Typhon. It was also the ship of Charon
or of Osiris viewed as the ferryman of Hades: and it is clearly the same,
both as the ship of the infernal Buddha, and as the ark or Argha of the
Indian Siva. Now the Argha is the ship, in which Siva floated on the sur-
face of the deluge : and the infernal Buddha is that ]\Icnu-Satyavrata, who
M as preserved in an ark at the time of the flood, and who was thence con-
stituted the god of obsequies. Hence it is clear, that the Mysteries de-
scribed tlie voyage of Noali ; that the sacred ark was the Ship of the de-
luge ; and that, as the great father died out of one World and was born
again into another, tliat ark was considered likewise as his coffin.
The very same complicated idea was attached to the ark of the Myste-
ries in every other part of the Egyptian ritual. Thus the dead body of
' IIcioil. Hist. lib. ii. c. 170, 171.
"* Diod. I3ibl. lib. i. p. 87- Jamb, dc myst. sect. vi> c. 51>
TUE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 127
Osiris was sometimes feigned to have been inclosed within a wooden chap. vi.
cow': the cow therefore, like the ark or the floating Moon, was his coffin:
but she was no less the ship of the god; for both the cow and the ark were
indifferently styled Tlieba and Argo. Thus also the bull Apis, which was
thought to be the immediate representative of Osiris and even to be ani-
mated by the soul of that deity, was interred after his death in a sacred ark
or coffin, by way of shadowing out the entrance of his prototype into a
similar machine : while his successor the new found Apis, after having been
solemnly fed during the space of forty days, was set afloat on the Nile in
ihe mystic Baris, and brought by water to be inaugurated into his office *.
And tlius all the various animals, which were the symbols of the hero-gods,
and into which they were fabled to have transformed themselves when they
fled from the rage of Typhon, were constantly, when they died, buried in
sacred arks or coffins, and bewailed with the same lamentations as the
deceased Osiris '.
(2.) A superstitious notion prevailed, that the ark of Osiris, which was
annually set afloat on the Nile, drifted to shore on the coast of Phenicia.
This fable seems to have originated from the manifest intercommunion of
worship between the Phenicians and the Egyptians : for the Mysteries of
Adonis or Baal-Peor were of precisely the same nature as those of Osiris,
and referred to the very same event. He was first bewailed as dead ; but,
after a proper time, his votaries forgot their former grief, and with loud
acclamations celebrated his supposed revival. These were the funereal
Orgies, which the Israelites were seduced into by the women of Moab in
honour of Baal-Peor : and, as many of the Byblians rightly maintained that
the Mysteries of Adonis were really no other than those of Osiris ; so we
find, that the Phenician god was thought to have been inclosed in the sa-
cred ark and to have descended into the infernal regions, as well as the
Egyptian deity *. The Orgies of Adonis were eminently celebrated, not
■ Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 76.
» Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 323. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 76.
' Euseb. Praep. Evan. lib. ii. c. 1. Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 6G, 67.
♦ Luc. de dea Syr. § 6, 7. Plut. de Isid. p. 357. Apoll. Bibl. lib. iii.c. 13. Theoc.
Idyll. XV. ver. 86.
126 THE OEIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
only on the sea-coast or on the banks of a sacred river, but likewise on the
summit of Lebanon or the mountain of the Moon'. The reason was, be-
cause here his ark or Baris or floating Moon was fabled to have rested,
as the Ark of Noah first came to land on the primeval lunar mountain of
Ararat.
(iJ.) Of a similar nature were the Mj'steries celebrated in honour of
Attis and Cybelfe. The goddess was supposed first to bewail the death of
her lover, and afterwards to rejoice on account of liis restoration to life '.
Her alternate lamentation and triumph were imitated by her votaries: and,
as the whole was ascenical exhibition of the sufferings of Attis, his image,
like that of Osiris, was placed, when the mournful part of the Orgies com-
menced, in a boat or ark or coffin formed by the excavation of a pine-tree'.
What we are to understand by this inclosure may readily be collected from
the parallel Mysteries of Egypt: but we may gather, even from tlie legend
of Attis himself, that the hollow tree was designed to represent a ship no
less than a coffin ; he was thought at one period of his life to have performed
some remarkable voyage over the ocean*.
(4.) Clemens Alexandrinus rightly pronounces the mutilated Attis to be
the same as Bacchus, while Bacchus himself is identified with Osiris '.
Hence again we shall find, that the sacred ark was an implement of high
importance in the Dionysiaca, and that the god was alternately bewailed as
one dead and rejoiced over as one restored to life*.
That his ark was a ship, cannot be doubted : both because he is said to
have been exposed in an ark ut sea during his mythological infancy, and
because he was depicted sailing in a siiip decked witii vine-leaves and ivy^
Such being the case, and the god liimsclf being no other than the Egyptian
Osiris, we shall be prepared to observe the palpable identity of his Myste-
ries and those of Isis. At Laphria in Achaia was shewn the ancient ark,
which I have already mentioned as thought to have been conveyed thitlier
by Eurypylus from Troy. It contained a statue of Bacchus-Esymnetes:
' Mncrob. Saturn. lib. i. c. 21. » Val. Flacc. Argon, lib. viii. ver. 239.
' Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rel. p. 5:5. * Cntull. Eleg. Ix. * Clem. Cohort, p. 12.
* .Jul. Firm, dc error, prof. rtl. p. 14', 1,'). Arnob. adv. gent. lib. v.
7 I'uus. Acliuic. p. 43ti. i'liilubtrut. Icon. lib. i. c. lU. Tuus. Lacon. p. 209.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 129
and a yearly festival was celebrated in honour of the god. This was chap. vi.
plainly a mere repetition of the Mysteries of Osiris : for, on the principal
night of the feast, the liierophant solemnly brought forth the ark, and the
children of the citizens went in procession to the river Milichus, where they
bathed, and afterwards similarly returned to the temple of the deity '. Such
Orgies represented what the Egyptians called the death and revival of
Osiris, or his descent into Hades and his return from it.
(5.) The Mysteries of the Eleusinian Ceres differed from those, which I
have hitherto noticed, in this particular : the person lamented and sought
for was not a male, but a female. In other points the features still re-
mained the same : for these Orgies represented the wanderings of Ceres
after the ravished Proserpine, just as the Egyptian Mysteries exhibited the
travels of Isis in search of Osiris. This similarity is noticed by Lactantius :
and Julius Firmicus joins together, with great propriety, the Orgies of Bac-
chus, Proserpine, Attis, and Osiris ; describing them all as equally mourn-
ful, and equally commemorative of some supposed death or descent into
Hades *. In fact, the only difference between them was this : most com-
monly the ship-god was the person bewailed ; but, in the rites of Eleusis,
the ship-goddess was made the principal character in the mimic tragedy.
Agreeably to this inversion, as the image of a man was wept over, in the
Mysteries of Attis and Osiris ; so, in the Orgies of Ceres and Proserpine,
a wooden figure of a virgin was bewailed during the space of precisely
forty days '. This was the identical period, during which the Bull Apis
was solemnly fed previous to his navicular inauguration as the representa-
tive of Osiris : and in both cases, as we may argue from the ultimate iden-
tity of all the Mysteries, it must have been selected by the prevalence of
some common idea. What that idea was, we may learn from the scrip-
tural history of the deluge : the rain, we are told, was upon the earth forty
days and forty ?iights *.
The Orgies of Ceres, like those of Bacchus and Osiris, were celebrated
in the deep gloom of night, allusively to the darkness, which for a season
• Paus. Achaic. p. 435, i36.
* Lactan. Instit lib. i. c. 21. Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rel. p. 20, 45.
' Jul. Firm, de error, prof. rel. p. 53. * Gen. vii. 12.
Pag. Idol. VOL. m. R
130 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V. inveloped the Noetic family, while confined within the womb of the Ark
or floating coffin ; allusively also, if I mistake not, to the primeval dark-
ness which inveloped the mundane Chaos : and the wanderings of the god-
dess, like those of Cybelfe, Venus, Isis, and Latona, in quest either of a
son or a husband or a lover, refer to the erratic state of the diluvian Ship
upon the surface of the waters ; for each of those divinities, as we have
already seen, was a personification of the ship Argha, Argo, Baris, or
Theba.
Hence the sacred ark was a necessary instrument in the due celebration
of the Eleusinian Mysteries. It was borne in solemn procession on the
back of an ass ; because an ass was deemed a symbol of Typhon or the
ocean, which sustained upon its waters the Ark of the deluge ' : and its
contents, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, were certain conical pyra-
mids, cakes formed so as to exhibit the semblance of navels, pomegra-
nates, and the indecorous hieroglyphic of the female principle \ These
were all significant emblems, employed universally by the ancient ido-
laters. The last of them was a symbol of the Argha or great mother ;
as the first shadowed out the mariner of the Argha or the great father : the
cakes represented the mysterious navel, of whicii sufficient has already been
said in another place : and the pomegranates., bursting with innumerable
seeds, were used, both in the east and in the west, to designate Ceres
or Juno or Kimmon, that is to say, the all-productive hermaphroditic
parent ',
To the ark which contained these various emblems, the formula of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, preserved by Clemens, evidently related : / have
fasted ; I have di'unk the medicated liquor ; I have received from the ark ;
what I received I have placed in the basket ; from the basket I have
-. returned it to the ark*. It is not very difficult to guess the import of such
expressions. The symbol, taken out of the ark and afterwards restored to
it, was eitiicr tlic image or the hieroglyphic of the great fatlicr : and the
whole ceremonial respected his mystic interment and resurrection.
' Apul. Mctam. lib. xi. Plut. ilc Lsid. p. 3G2. Epipli. adv. li;rr. lib. iii. p. 1093.
* Clcrn. Cohort, p. I*. ^ I'aus. Corintli. p. 114. Scld. dc diis Syr. uynt. ii. c. 10.
* Clcni. Coliort. p. 13.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 131
(6.) But, though a female was bewailed in the Orgies of the Eleusinian chap. vi.
Ceres ; we have reason to believe, that a male was the object of lamenta-
tion in those of the same goddess as celebrated in the island of Samo-
tlirace.
The Cabiric gods there venerated are said by Mnaseas to have been
Ceres, Proserpine, and Bacchus : and, since the Sainothracian Mysteries
were among the most famous of the gentile world, and since Bacchus was
the deity who was the subject of them, we may rest assured, that his in-
closure within the ark and his subsequent liberation from it were duly ex-
hibited to such as were initiated into the Cabiric Orgies. This we certainly
know, that, when the Phenicians celebrated those same Orgies, they used a
sacred ark : and what we are to understand by that ark may be collected
very unequivocally from the legend which they taught respecting the Ca-
biri themselves. They reckoned them to be eight in number : they sup-
posed them to have been the builders of the first ship, that is to say, of the
Argo or Arglm ; for the Argo was similarly reputed to be the first-con-
structed vessel : and they described them, as having, on some memorable
occasion, consecrated the relics or exuviae of the ocean to the principal
maritime deity. Analogous to these notions were those which prevailed in
Samothrace. The mythologic history of that island is immediately con-
nected with a tale of an ark and a deluge : its Cabiric divinities Avere
thought to preside over navigation : and those, who had been initiated into
their Mysteries, were supposed to be made secure against all the varied
perils of the sea '.
(7.) This opinion is confirmed by the positive assertion of Artemidorus
that the Orgies of Samothrace were the same as those of Britain, and by
the declaration of Dionysius that in an islet near the coast of that country
the Mysteries of Bacchus were celebrated in a manner resembling that
which was adopted in Greece *. Now the ancient Druidical Orgies were
those of the ark and the ark-god : and the identical deities, who were vene-
• Schol. in Apoll. Argon, lib. i. ver. 917. Tzetz. in Lye. ver. 29, 69. Euseb. Pricp.
Evan. lib. i. c. 10. Aristoph. Iren. ver. 275. Schol. in loc.
* Artera. apud Strab. Geog. lib. iv. p. 198. Dionys. I'ericg. ver. 565.
132 THE ORIGIN OK PAGAN IDGLATRT.
«ooK V. rated as the Cabiri of Samothrace, namely Bacchus and Ceres and Proser-
pine, were equally venerated as the great divinities of Britain. Hence it
will follow, that, whatever were the Mysteries of the latter island, such,
also were the Mysteries of the former.
4. On the whole it is evident from tliis part of the subject, that the
Ori'ies related to the imaginary death and revival, or loss and recovery, of
some ancient personage ; that this personage was so lost and recovered, by
entering into a floating ark which was deemed his coffin, and by afterwards
quitting it ; that this entrance into the ark was esteemed a descent into the
infernal regions, and the liberation from it a return from Hades ; and that,,
as his death was bewailed with loud lamentations, so his revival was an-
nounced with the most violent expressions of joy.
Several of these expressions or watch-words have been handed down to
us, and they are precisely of such a nature as might have been anticipated.
Thus, at the close of the Isiac IMysteries, the initiated were taught to ex-
claim, JVe have found him ; let lis rejoice together \ Thus eacli epoptes,
considered as exhibiting in his own person the varied fortunes of the ark-
god, was instructed to say, / hcwe escaped an evil, I have found a better
lot '. And thus, as we learn from Julius Firmicus, when, in the nocturnal
celebration of the Orgies, an image had been laid upon a couch as if dead,
and had been bewailed with the bitterest lamentations ; lights, after a sut-
ficicnt space of time had been consumed in all the mock solemnity of woe,
were introduced into the mystic cell, and the hierophant slowly chaunted a
distich to the following purpose : Be of good cheer, ye mystce, since our god
has now been preserved; to us therefore shall he the safety from our
labours '.
V. It must not however be forgotten, that the great father, whose varied
fortunes constituted the chief subject of the Mysteries, was Adam as well
as Noah or rather Noah viewed as a reappearance of Adam ; and tliat tho
sacred ark, in consequence of this supposed transmigration, represented not
only the Ship of the deluge, but likewise the Earth w iiich was thought to
• Athcn. Legal, c. xix. p. 88. * Demos, de coron. ^ Id. p. 135.
J Jul. Firm, dc error, prof. rcl. p. i'5.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 133
float like a ship on the surface of the abyss. The existence of this twofold chap. vj.
idea has already been shewn at large : we have now therefore only to attend
to the application of it.
1. Since the Ark tlien and the Earth were tlms blended together, they
were represented by common symbols, and certain notions in common were
entertained of them both. Thus, as they were alike shadowed out by the
lotos, the floating egg, the ship, the cow, and the navicular Moon ; so were
they equally typified by the sacred grotto or stone cell, whether natural or
artificial : and thus, as the entrance into the Ark or mystic coffin was
esteemed a descent into Hades, so the infernal regions were similarly
placed in the centrical cavity or womb of the Earth, viewed as tlie greater
ark or ship of the World. Thus also, as the Earth and the Ark were con-
sidered interchangeably by the ancient idolaters, and thence were described
by common symbols ; so were they both personified by one and the same
goddess, who was reckoned the universal mother both of gods and men :
and thus, as the interior of the Earth and the interior of the Ark were
alike deemed to be the infernal regions, into which the deity celebrated in
the iNIysteries first descended and from which he afterwards returned ; so
the goddess, who personified the Earth and the Ark, was necessarily
esteemed an infernal goddess, and her womb was of course identified with
Hades itself.
The obvious result of such a notion was, that the mystical restoration to
life or return from hell was viewed as a sort of regeneration or new birth
from the womb of the great mother : and, when this phraseology had been
adopted, he, who was said to be born from the womb of the great mother,
would equally be said to be born from every symbol of the great mother ;
whether that symbol were a ship, a cow, an egg, a lotos, a cavern, a stone
cell, or a floating ]\Ioon.
Kutthe idea of the birth in question was complex, analogous to the com-
plex character of the two great parents. Adam, being formed out of the
substance of the Earth, was thought to be born out of its womb : Noah,
being produced into a new World out of the interior of the Ark, was
thought to be born out of the womb of the Ark. Adam, having entered
into the bowels of the Earth at the time of his literal interment, was said to
134 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V, have descended into the womb of the great mother : Noah, having entered
into the interior of the Ark at the time of his mystic inclosure within his
coffin, was similarly said to have been received into the womb of the great
parent. The universal father however was thought to have died in the per-
son of Adam, the Menu of the antediluvian World; and to have transmi-
gratorily revived in the person of Noah, the Menu of the postdiluvian
World. Hence, in the Mysteries, the idea of a literal death was mingled
with that of a figurative death ; the idea of a nativity from the Earth, with
a nativity from the Ark; and the idea of a transmigratory revival or rege-
neration, with that of an allegorical revival or regeneration from the float-
ing coffin.
The notion was rendered yet more complex by the material character
ascribed to the great father and great mother, or, in one word, to the great
hermaphroditic parent. According to this character, the androgynous deity
of the Gentiles, as we have alread}' seen, was the universal frame of Na-
ture, Matter operated upon by Nous or Menu or Mens or Intellectual
Spirit. Now the World, as we have also seen, was thought to be subject
to certain great periodical changes, independent of those smaller mutations
which it yearly and daily experiences. In the course of each diurnal revo-
lution, it dies away into the gloom of night ; and revives, or is born again,
into the liglit of day. In the course of each annual revolution, it sinks into
the dark inactivity of deathlike winter ; and is regenerated, or restored to
life, by the return of spring. In the course of every revolution of the
seasons, the whole vegetable creation dies, is buried, and revives under a
form different indeed yet still the same. In the course of each revolution
both of human and bestial life, a generation perishes from oft" tiie face of
the earth, and is replaced by another generation of similar living beings.
Lastly, in the course of each grand mundane revolution ; for so the gentile
philosophers speculated from the single real circumstance of the ante-
diluvian World having been succeeded by the postdiluvian: in the course
of each grand mundane revolution, all nature is resolved into its primeval
Chaos, and universal death is inducctl by a tremendous deluge ; but, after
a certain period given to the slce|) of destruction, every thing is restored to
fresh life, a new earth is born again from the shattered womb of its prede-
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr. 135
cessor, and the whole race of mortals who had played their parts during '^"^p- ^''
the existence of the former system reappear by the transmigration of their
souls into new bodies and once more act again the same parts during the
existence of another system.
This succession of deadis and revivals, of dissolutions and regenerations,
was equally taught and shadowed out in the Mysteries : and the link, by
which it was connected with the death and revival of the great father, was
the materialism of character which the hierophants were wont to ascribe to
the universal hermaphroditic parent.
2. Tiie preceding statement will enable us to account for much that is
said, both respecting the god who is the hero of the Mysteries, and respect-
ing the Mysteries themselves.
The god, who is solemnly committed to the floating ark as one dead and
who is afterwards exulted over as experiencing a wonderful restoration to
life, is also said to have been born again ; and his regeneration is described
in various different manners, corresponding with the several hieroglyphics
which were employed to symbolize his boat or navicular coffin. Thus
Horus or the younger Osiris was born out of the womb of the ship-goddess
Isis, or out of the womb of the cow into which Isis was thought to have
been transformed. Thus the principal deity of the Goths, with his three
sons, was similarly produced from the wonderful cow Oedumla. Thus the
Indian Siva was produced or born out of the womb of Arglia or Isi, one of
whose principal forms was the sacred cow which was the reputed child of
the ocean. Thus Brahma, Vishnou, Siva, Bacchus-Protogonus, the Egyp-
tian Pytha, tlie Phenician Taut, and the Chinese Puoncu, were all born out
of an egg, which floated on the surface of the great abyss. Thus Bacchus
was born out of the Moon; a circumstance explained by the entrance of
Osiris into the luniform ark, and his subsequent liberation from it. Thus
Brahma was born out of the lotos and the navel ; each of which, we are
told, represented the ship Argha. Thus Bacchus was said to have entered
into the womb of Ceres-Hippa, and afterwards to have been born again
from it. Thus the same Bacchus was also reputed to have been born from
the ship-goddess Cybelfe or Venus or Isis. Thus the infant Jupiter, the
children of Saturn, and the ark-exposed Anias and Bacchus, are all said to
136 THE ORIGIV OP PAGAN IDOLATRT.
■ooK V. have been either born or nursed in a sacred cave. And thus the Persian
Mithras was declared by those, who were initiated into his Mysteries, to
have been born out of a rocky or stoney grotto '.
All these different legends equally respected the birth of the great father
from the ship Argo or Argha, which was the sacred ark of the Orgies, and
which doubly shadowed out the Ship of the deluge and the Ship of the
World. For, when Porphyry tells us that the sacred grotto represented
the Universe ; since the ship, the egg, the cow, the lotos, the Moon, and
the goddess, were all double symbols ; we may rest assured, that the grotto
was likewise a double symbol, that it was employed to exhibit the Ark no
less than the Earth : and accordingly we find, that the Mysteries indiffer-
ently treated of the entrance into, and the egress from, an ark and a cavern ;
and that the same god was indifferently said to be born out of a grotto and
out of a ship.
The birth from the grotto was effected by the aspirant's passing through
its rocky door : and sometimes the sacred caverns were furnished with two
doors ; one for the ingress, and the other for thq egress. This orifice was
the mysterious portal, over which the god and goddess of the door, or the
great father and the great mother viewed as Prothyr^us and Prothyrfea, were
thought to preside : and its double prototype was the door of the rock-
hewn sepulchre, and the door in the side of the Ark. Hence, in the cele-
bration of the Orgies, the entrance into such grottos, like the entrance of
Osiris into the ark, was esteemed a descent into the infernal regions ; and
the egress from them, througli the stone portal, was accounted a birth into
a new life or a resurrection from the dead. The door of tlic sacred cavern
was in effect the same as the door in the Moon ; from which every soul
that inhabits this lower world was believed to be born, after previously ex-
periencing a wonderful sidereal transmigration. But the whole of that
wild legend originated from the primeval combination of idolatry with
astronomy : and, as the Moon, from the door of wiiich souls were thouglit
to be born, was a Moon tliat floated like ii ship on the surface of the in-
fernal lake; the cavern, from the door of which souls were equally thought
' Just. Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 29G.
THF, ORICrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY, 137
to be born, must plainly represent the very same thing that the Moon cum: vi.
represented. Now the floating Moon was no other than the luniform ark
or coffin of the great father. Consequently, the cavern must equally have
symbolized that navicular sepulchral vehicle.
With this conclusion every particular will be found to harmonize. The
Mysteries, as I have just observed, indifferently exhibited an entrance into
a grotto and an ark, and an egress from a grotto and an ark. In each case,
the entrance was a death or a descent into Hades ; and, in each case, the
egress was a revival or a return from Hades or a new birth. In each case,
the door, through which the regenerated aspirant was produced, as the god
■whose fortunes he imitated had been produced before him, was reckoned
the type of the sacred navel or female principle of fecundity : and, in each
case, the claim of oracularity was zealously asserted ; for the ark of the
Orgies or the ship Argo, and the rocky foraminous grotto whether at Del-
phi or in Samothrace or in any other region, were alike reputed to be
fatidical. Analogously to such an intercommunion, the image of the great
father was occasionally committed to a soros or stone coffm, instead of a
wooden ark or floating coffin : while, on the other hand, Saturn, whose
whole history identifies him with the scriptural Noah, is said to have once
concealed his children, three sons and three daughters, in an insular cavern,
which he built or made for that express purpose in the midst of the bound-
less ocean '. Hence it was, that the stone cell of tiie British Ceridwen,
vithin which the aspirant was inclosed in order to his initiation, was deno-
minated a chest or ar/c: hence the rock temple of Stonehenge was called
the Ark or Ship of the JVorld: hence, among the ancient Celts, stone
temples were constructed in the precise form of a ship on the stocks :
hence, among the Romans, an island in the Tiber was converted into a
temple for Esculapius, who was one of the eight Phenician Cabiri, by being
so faced with stone-work as to exhibit the figure of a large ship : and hence
a notion prevailed, that the ship of Bacchus was once changed into stone ',
' Porph. de ant. nymph, p. 2j4.
» Davies's Mythol. p. 393, 391. Collect, de reb. Hibern. vol. iii. numb. X. p. 199—209.
Liv. Hist. Epit. lib. xi. Ovid. Metam. lib. xv. ver. 7Ji9. Valer. Maxim, lib. i. c. 8. Plin.
Pag. Idol. VOL. I If, S
138 THE ORIGiy OF PAGAN IDOLATUT.
All these matters originated from the same source, the mystic identity
of the sacred am and the sacred grotto; and on this account we not un-
frequently find the two associated together. Thus, not to repeat the in-
stances which have already been adduced of the birth of the ark-god from a
cave, Synesius tells us, that the Egyptian hierophants, when celebrating the
Orgies, not only bore in solemn procession certain holy arks or small boats ;
but likewise descended into consecrated caverns, where the most recondite
part of tlieir worship was performed ' : and tiius the soros or stone coffin of
Osiris, which has so often been mistaken for the literal coffin of some really
deceased king, may still be seen deposited in the central chamber or arti-
ficial grotto of the great pyramid.
The Mysteries however treated, no less of the destruction and renovation
of the whole mundane system, than of the allegorical death and revival of
the chief hero-god. Wc learn from Cicero, that the Orgies of Samothrace
and Elcusis, when rightly understood, related more properly to the nature
of things than to the nature of the deities ; or, in other words, that they
taught a system of natural philosophy, rather than gave any satisfactory in-
formation respecting the Godhead *. We are told by Cesar, that, while the
Druids disputed largely concerning the strength and power of the immortal
gods, they likewise taught their pupils many things of the stars, of the mag-
nitude of the Universe, and of the nature of things '. We gather from Cle-
mens, that the priests of Egypt, the Chaldeans of Assyria, the Druids of
Gaul, the Samanfcans of Bactria, the IMagi of Persia, and the Gymnosophists
of India, were all devoted to tlic study of a certain favourite philosopiiy *.
And we are assured by Jamblichus, that tlie Mysteries related, not only to
the resting of the ship and the calamities of Osiris, but likewise to some
great physical revolutions which affected the whole frame of the Universe ^
Now wc are also informed, that Pythagoras received his collective wisdom
from the various Orgies into which he luul been initiated, and that the
Nat. Hist. lib. xxix. c. 1. Dion. Halic. in excerpt, a Vales. Ovid. Metaiti. lib. iii. vcr. f)2{}—
700. Nonni Dionys. lib. xlvii.
' Syncs, ill Ciilvit. encoin. * Cicer. de nat. duor. lib. i. c. '1-2. p. 117, 118.
' Caes. du bell. Gall. lib. vi. c. 14% + (^lem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 305.
5 Jamb, do myst. sect. vi. c. 51.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN MYTHOLOGY. 139
Offies of Pythagoras and Orpheus were substaatially the same. Hence cuap. vi,
the natural philosophy of the Mysteries is the identical philosophy, which
has come down to us under the names of those two sages. But the Orphic
philosophy exhibited the various parts of the World as tlie members of that
great hermaphroditic deity, who was thought alternately to die and to
revive : and the Pythagorean philosophy described the Universe as subject
to endless revolutions, and as experiencing alternate destructions and rege-
nerations '.
Such therefore, no doubt, must have been the peculiar philosophy incul-
cated in the Mysteries : and of this we find abundant traces in every part
of the globe. It was the wisdom, which the Egyptian hierophant comuiu-
nicated to Solon : it was the wisdom, which the Stoic most strenuously
maintained : it was the wisdom, w hich is inculcated in the Gothic Edda :
it was the wisdom, w hich is still eminently conspicuous in the Institutes of
Menu and in the other ancient documents of the Braiimens '. Accordingly,
in the sixth book of the Eneid, which, I think with Cp. Warburton, cer-
tainly describes the process of an initiation, Anchises, who sustains the part
of the hierophant, delivers an oration replete with this identical philosophy:
and, in the curious fragment of the Orphic poet, which his lordship rightly
pronounces to be the initiatory speech of the same hierophant, though he
erroneously infers from it that the doctrine taught secretly in the Mysteries
was the unity of the true God, the very basis and groundwork of the system
is inculcated with much solemnity '.
Now the basis of it, as taught with peculiar distinctness by the Brahmens
in the east and by the Stoics in the west, was tliis ; that, at the close of
every mundane revolution, the whole Universe, together with both mortals
and hero-gods, was absorbed into the essence of the one great hermapliro-
ditic parent ; that, during the intermediate period of desolation, he remained
in solitary majesty contemplating with intense abstraction his own physical
properties ; and that, when the appointed time of renovation arrived, he
produced afresh from his own essence the frame of another World w itli all
its subordinate hero-gods and mortal inhabitants.
' Orph. Frag. p. 365—367. Ovid. Metam. lib. xv. ver. 60—477.
* Vide supra book i. c. 2. ^ ^neiU. lib. vi. ver. 724—755. Orph. Frag. p. 357—361.
140 THE OKIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY".
This all-productive and all-absorptive unity is the unity declared by the
Orphic hierophant to the initiated Mus^us, as the fundamental secret of
the Mysteries. But such an unity, one and many (as it was described to
be), was equally the basis of that natural philosophy, which was insepa-
rably blended ^^ ith ancient mythology, and which therefore the Mysteries
sedulously inculcated. Hence, as it has been most justly remarked, every
pagan cosmogony was likewise a theogony : and hence, as the Orgies treated
of the death and regeneration of the hero-gods, they of course also treated
of the destruction and reproduction of the World ; for these two ideas were,
in the minds of the gentile philosophers, indivisibly associated with each
other. Hence moreover, as the hierophant was esteemed the special re-
presentative and deputy of the demiurgic great father who was said to be
the pritneval Druid or Brahmen or Magus, the learned poet Virgil places
in the mouth of Silenus, who was the same as Bacchus or Osiris, just such
a cosmogonical song as was chaunted in the ^Mysteries to the initiated :
and iience the ancient Babylonians described the piscine Oannes, who was
their original archimage, as emerging from the waters of the Erythrfean sea,
and as delivering in the capacity of an hierophant the history of a grand
cosmogonical revolution '.
This philosophy expressly taught the doctrine of the IVfctempsychosis ;
for it maintained, both that the great father with his three sons, and that
every individual human being wlio was descended from him, reappeared
with new bodies in each renovated World, and acted over aiiain the same
parts which they had already sustained during the existence of a former
system. Now the transmigration of the soul was equally inculcated in
the Mysteries, and along with it the Metamorphosis or transformation of
the body : for such was the nature of pagan physics, that the two dogmas
were inseparably united, so that tliey stood or fell together. They dider
in fact only in respect to the particular shape of the body, into which tiie
flitting soul was believed to enter : for the term Metempsychosis is used to
describe the passage of the soul from one human body into another; while
the term Mctcunorphosis is employed to describe the similar passage of the
" Virg. Eclog. vi. Syncull. Clironog. p. 29.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 141
soul from a human body into a bestial, or from a bestial body either into chap. vi.
a different bestial body or again into a human body. Still however the
soul remains the same : and a transmigration of it equally takes place, into
whatever outwardly varied tenement it may be thought to migrate.
Such speculations have prevailed among the Hindoos irom the earliest
ages : and also were taught in the Mysteries of the ancient Babylonic
Chaldeans '. Both the Metamorphosis and the Metempsychosis were alike
inculcated in the Mysteries of the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Celts *.
They were adopted into the Orgies of Pythagoras, and were received also
by other speculative Greeks'. And, as Cicero declares in general terms,
that the doctrine of the Metempsychosis was universally delivered to the
initiated ; so we find the same notion alike established among the Burmans,
the Tlascalans of Mexico, and the aboriginal inhabitants of South America
•who doubtless brought it with them from the Asiatic settlements of their
forefathers*.
The tenet of the Metamorphosis naturally emanated from that of the
Metempsychosis; but the special channel, through which it came to have
been received, I take to be this. According to the Hindoos, the great
father and the great mother, at the commencement of every new mundane
system, successively assume the forms of all kinds of animals; and thus
give birth to the whole bestial no less than to the rational creation. Hence,
however the origin of particular symbols may be separately accounted for;
and in some, such as the fish or the dove or the raven for instance, we may
doubtless perceive an independent appositeness to shadow out the person
or thing symbolized : hence we may say in general terms, that every animal
was deemed sacred, because every animal according to its sex was a type
« Instit. of Menu. chap. xii. Orac. Chald. p. 17. Pleth. et Psell. Comment, in loc.
* Herod. Hist. lib. ii. 123. Porph. de abstiii. lib. iv. § 16. Caesar, de bell. Gall. lib. vi.
C. 14. Davies's Mythol. p. 15, 229, 573.
* Ovid. Metam. lib. xv. vcr. 157 — 175. Porph. de vit. Pyth. p. 188. Incert. de vit.
Pyth.p. 212. Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 123. Diog. Laert. de vit. phil. lib. viii. § 14.
* Cicer. Fragm. e libr. de philos. Symes's Embass. to Ava. vol. ii.p. 324. Torquemad.
1. vi. c. 47. Charlevoix's Hist, of Paraguay, vol. ii. p. 151. It was from the impure source
of Paganism, that Origen fantastically adopted it. See Du Pin's Biblioth. Patr. p. 1 1 1.
142 THE ORIGIN CF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. or form of the two great parents. From this source originated the Egyp-
tian fable, which was borrowed by the Greeks and which made a conspr-
cuous figure in the Mysteries', respecting the various bestial shapes, which
were taken by the hero-gods during the persecution which they experienced
from Typlion: and from the same source may be deduced the prevailing
idea, which so pervades the entire mythological poem of Ovid as to confer
upon it the appropriate name of the Metamorphoses. But, Mhatever the
hero-gods did and suffered as exhibited in the Mysteries, that the imitative
epoptae affected to do and suffer likewise : for the whole process of their
initiation Avas a studied transcript of the varied fortunes of the great father.
Accordingly, as the souls of the gods passed from body to body, whether
human or bestial, until they had accomplished the grand circle of the crea-
tion; so each aspirant was diligently instructed in the abstruse doctrines of
the Metempsychosis and the Metamorphosis.
Nor did the matter stop here : the same philosophy, which blended
physics with idolatry, did not overlook that important branch of physics,
astronomy; but still, true to its purpose, it no less mingled astronomy with
hero-worship. Such being the case, the souls of the demon-gods were
fabled to migrate into those heavenly bodies, whether the Sun or the Moon
or a Star or a Oonstellation, which were made to represent them upon the
sphere*: and, analogously to this Sabian Metempsychosis, the souls of the
initiated were feigned to pass through all the elements of nature and to
experience a wonderful sidereal or planetary or solar or lunar transmi-
gration '.
VI. The supposed Metempsychosis of the great father and the hero-gods
took place during tiie intermediate period of the deluge ; for they were
thought to be burn out of one World into anotlicr, and each world was
separated from its successor by an universal flood or chaotic dissolution.
But there was a very generally prevailing notion, that the waters, wiiich
swept away the antediluvians, cleansed the earth from the impurities which
it had contracted ; and thus, by restoring it in some measure to the Para-
' Di(.(l. Hil)l. Ill), i. p. 87. * Vide supni book i. c- i. § II. book iv.c. 1. ^i I.
» t;u(lwoiili's latdl. Syst. p. 788—791. Porph. Uc ant. njmpli. p. 263—268. ApuL
Mctum. lib. xu
THE OniOrN OF PAOAV IDOLATRY. 143
disiacal state, introduced a new golden age of primitive innocence and ciur. vi.
simplicity '. In addition to tliis circumstance, as the Ark rested on mount
Ararat, as tlie mount of the appulse was believed by the Gentiles to coin-
cide geographically with the garden of Eden, and as there is much reason
to think that their opinion was well founded : when the hero-gods were
born again from the womb of their great mother, or when their souls passed
by transmigration from the old into the new World, they literally escaped
from the filth and pollution of a thoroughly corrupt age into that very Para-
dise which was tenanted by man before the fall.
So remarkable an occurrence was not overlooked by the original framers
of the Mysteries. They knew, by immediate tradition from Noah and his
children, that the human race had lapsed from their pristine integrity, and
had thus forfeited the happiness of Eden : and they knew, however with a
high hand they might corrupt themselves by departing from the service of
the one true God, that a restoration to lost innocence and Paradise was
not only necessary in order to the enjoyment of real happiness, but that it
was actually promised to the first man through the benign agency of the
seed of the Moman. They knew likewise, that, when the antediluvian
World was destroyed, a state of comparative innocence and holiness, resem-
bling that of the first-created pair, ushered in the renovated World ; as a
state of actual purity had already ushered in the old World : and they knew,
that the second great father was born again by transmigration into that
very Paradise, into which the first great father had been previously born
from the womb of the Earth; and that his restoration to comparative inte-
grity, when he was delivered from the abominations of the antediluvians,
took place in that precise region where his ancestor had been blessed with
absolute integrity. Thus instructed, they were willing to believe, that
Eden and lost innocence were actually regained after the deluge, that the
hero-gods were born again from a condition of impurity to a condition of
purity, and that their souls passed by transmigration into that identical
state of holiness which in a preceding World they had forfeited.
' Hence originated the fable of the arkitc Hercules cleansing the Augean stable by de-
luging it with the waters of a mighty river.
BOOK V.
144 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKV.
1. Notions, accordingly, of this description may be very clearly traced
in the ancient Mysteries ; and, agreeably to the speculations respecting the
Metempsychosis of the hero-gods, we find such notions almost invariably
associated with the kindred doctrines of the Metempsychosis and tl»e Meta-
morphosis.
Plato assures us, that the design of initiation into the Orgies was to re-
store the soul, as at first, to that state of perfection, from which it had
deflected ' : and, in strict accordance with this alleged end, the hierophant
taught, that, while the souls of the profane, at their leaving the body, stuck
fast in miry filth and remained shut up in impenetrable darkness, the souls
of the initiated winged their flight directly to the happy islands or the Pa-
radisiacal habitations of the hero-gods *. These ideas pervade the whole of
the Platonic philosophy, which is essentially the same as the old Orphic
and Pythagorean: and we perpetually find in it allusions to what is called
the deplumation of the soul, its fall from some prior state of blissful inte-
grity, its incarceration within the body, and its final restoration after per-
forming numberless transmigratory circuits to the holiness which it had
foifcited. Such restoration M-as fondly thought to be accomplished by
initiation into the Mysteries ; when, after the pattern of the hero-gods, the
aspirant descended into Hades, and thence transmigrated or was born again
from the wouib of the great mother into a mimic Paradise.
Hence, in the Metamorphoses of Apuieius which wholly treat of the
ancient Orgies, we are presented with the curious niythos or allegorical
tale of Cupid and Psychfe or Love and the Soul. From it we learn all the
benefits which were believed to result from initiation, and all the evils which
the soul experienced in consequence of its lapse from pristine integrity.
But, as we learn these i)articulars in immediate connection with the INlyste-
ries which equally taught them; so we learn ihcm likewise in immediate
connection with the character of the great transmigrating father himself.
Cupid, who is rightly described as the oldest of the deities, who first ap-
pears when the renovated World springs out of the watery Chaos, and who
' Plat. Phad. apiul Warburton.
» Plat. PliT(l. p. f)f), 81. Aristid. EIuus. p. i-M. ct apud Stob. scrm. 119. Schol. in
Ilan. Aristopli. Diog. Lacrt. in vit. Diog. Cyn. apud Wurburton.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 145
is celebrated as the oifspring of the ship-goddess Aphrodite or Derceto, is chap. vi.
the same person as Buddha or Osiris or Bacchus or Adonis'. He is the
same therefore as the transmigrating great father : and his final union or
celestial marriage with Psycht, who in reference to her supposed new birth
is depicted with the w ings of a butterlly, seems to shadow out that ultimate
absorption of the soul into the essence of the universal parent which
formed so prominent a feature of the old mystic philosophy. We must
observe, that Apuleius describes his heroine as falling from the enjoyment
of heavenly love through the impulse of a fatal curiosity, and as under-
going toils and troubles and hardships of every description ere she recovers
her forfeited happiness.
The whole of this is perfectly consentaneous with the drift and awful
ceremonial of those Mysteries, respecting which he is treating. During
the inclosure within the Ark, the great father and his offspring were thought
to be in a state of death and darkness, to undergo heavy toils, and to sus-
tain unspeakable dangers and calamities in the course of their transmigra-
tory progress to Eden or the isles of the blessed: and, in imitation of such
difficulties, the aspirant was often made even literally to encounter very
severe and appalling trials, ere his mystic regeneration into light and liberty
and holiness was allowed to be accomplished. No one, as we learn from
Gregory Nazianzcn, could be initiated into the Mysteries of the Persian
]\Iithras until he had undergone all sorts of penal trials, and had thus ap-
proved himself holy and impassible *. He was made to pass through fire
and water, to brave the opposing sword, and to support the most austere
fasts, without shrinking or complaining. If his courage failed him, he was
rejected as unworthy, and cast out as profane '. Similar difficulties, though
operating rather upon the imagination than upon the bodily organs, were
objected to the candidates for initiation into the Mysteries of Eleusis. They
were required to grope their darkling way through a terrific gloom as of
the grave, while hideous phantoms flitted before their eyes, and wliile their
ears were stunned with the loud hayings of the infernal dogs. This task
' Vide supra book iv. c. 5. § XXIT. * Greg. Naz. 1 Oral, cont Julian.
' Maurice's Ind. Ant. vol. v. p. 991
Pag. Idol. VOL. III.
T
146 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN ID0LATR7."
being accomplished with due fortitude, they suddenly emerged from the
horrors of the artificial Hades, and were admitted as regenerate souls into
the overpowering splendor of the sacred isles of Elysium.
To such a process Virgil alludes in the sixth book of the Eneid. As
all tlie initiated, whether Hercules or Theseus or Orpheus or Bacchus or
Ulysses, are invariably said to have descended into hell ; so the poet con-
ducts his hero into the realms below, commencing his narrative with the
identical formula which the hierophant was wont to use while the doors
were closing upon the profane '. After safely passing through much oppo-
sition and through many appalling spectacles, En^as at length arrives in
tiie Paradisiacal fields of Elysium. Here Anchises, personating the hiero-
phant, sets forth in a solemn oration the sum and substance of the mystical
philosophy : and, in the course of it, fails not to describe those purgatorial
trials, through which the aspirants were required to win their way, ere they
could transmigrate or be born again into the Paradisiacal islands of the
blessed *.
Now these were the precise trials undergone by such as were initiated
into the Mysteries of IMithras. They are the same also as those, to which
the devotees among the Hindoos still fanatically submit. In each case
moreover the end was still the same. Such austerities were invariably
practised with a view to obtain that purification of soul, or rather that
enthusiastic abstraction from every worldly object and that union of mind
with the great fatlicr, which was believed to constitute the spiritual part
of tlic regeneration of the IMy stories. Htnce, among the Hindoos, no less
than among the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Celts, those,
who have submitteil to such frantic austerities, arc dignified with the appel-
lation of the txike-born ',
2. As the purifying transnTlxa T
what manner it is so ascribed, is sufi'icicntly plain from the whole tenor of
the song. A just man, the supreme ruler of the world, celebrated as the
first mythological Arthur whose allegorical consort bears the name of
Gwenhxvyvar or The lady on the surface of the zvater, enters into the in-
closure of the ship-goddess Sidi, described not unaptly as a prison, in con-
sequence of the prophetic mission of Intellect or Nous or Menu *. Within
this quadrangular inclosure, this floating island with a strong door which is^
represented as being the gate of hell, he sits darkling at the head of seven
companions, who alone return in safety from a perilous voyage when the.
rest of mankind perish in the mighty deep. These kiK)w, neither the day
* Preiddcn Annwn. apivd Davlcs's Mytliol. p. .51k
Citer Veiliivid, Caer liigor, and Caer I'amhv^, arc but (lifl'erent names of Caer Sidi
or llic Inclosure of Sidi. This was the mystic title of Stonchenge, which shadowed out
the Ark and the World. Hence the Druids were accustomed to style it the Ark of the
World, and hence tlicy feigned it to have sailed over the sea which separates Ireland
from Britain.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. l69
when the unexpected stroke m ould be given, nor the hour when the teni- f "ap. vt.
pest-tosscd patriarcli wouhi be born again from the square inclosure which
preserved liin), nor the mode in which he was saved while navigating the
dales of the interminable waters. But all such matters arc fully declared
in the Mysteries : where a boat of glass, in which ]\Ierlin and his initiated
associates are said to have navigated the ocean ', represents the floating
island with the strong door; and where an officer with a drawn sword
stands ready to execute vengeance upon the perjured and to guard against
the intrusion of the profane. The cauldron then, which is described as
boiliuCT a year and a day, the contents of which like the churned sea in the
Courma Avatar become a liquid poison, and which yet produces three pre-
cious drops of renovated knowledge, is something immediately connected
with the history of the deluge.
Further light will be thrown on the subject by another bardic fragment.
There is still extant an ancient hymn, used by the Druids in the celebra-
tion of their Mysteries, and termed A song of dark import composed by the
dist'uigidshcd Ogdoad. In this hymn is celebrated a great influx or deluge
mingled with the blood of men: and certain suppliants, who vainly attempt
to escape in their ships, are described as imploring the oracular ark of
Adonai against the overwhelming flood. The catastrophe however had
been previously foretold to an irreclaimable and unbelieving world. The
heat oj the Sun shall be u-asted: yet shall the Britons have an inclosure of
great renoxon, and the heights of Snowdon shall receive inhabitants. Then
will come the spotted cow, and procure a blessing. On the serene day zi-ill
she bellow : on the eve of May shall she be boiled: and, on the spot where
her boiling is completed, shall her consumer rest in peace. Let truth be
ascribed to Memcydd the dragon chief of the world, who formed the cur-
vatures of Kydd ; which passed through the dale of grievous water, hav-
ing the fore part stored with corn and mounting aloft with connected
serpents'. To each stanza of the poem is subjoined a burden ; which is
put, like a sort of chorus, into the mouth of those, who, terrified by the
' Cambrian Biography.
» Gwawd Lludd y Mawr. apud Davics's Mythol. p. 563. et infra.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. Y
170 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. raging flood, approach the ark of the just man and implore protection.
This burden is not written in the Celtic, but in some foreign language ;
and it is a most curious circumstance, that, upon examination, that lan-
guage proves to be genuine Hebrew or Chaldaic, agreeably to the express
assertion of Taliesin, that his lore has been delivered in Hebrexv '. The
chaunt seems to have been brought out of Asia by the ancestors of the
Britons : and it is wonderful, how accurately the Druids have preserved
it by the ear, agreeably to the observation of Cesar, that their pupils were
required to learn by heart a great number of traditional verses then deemed
too sacred to be committed to writing. Its purport exactly agrees with
the general tenor of the poem, in which it occurs : for the following is a
literal translation of it. Alas my covenant ! The covenant it is of Niih.
The wood of Nuh is my witness. My covenant is the covenant of the ship
besmeared. My witness, my witness, it is my friend *.
Here we find, that the cauldron of the British IMysteries represents that
mighty vessel, in which the symbolical cow is boiled or tossed about during
the space of an entire year : and that boiling is studiously introduced into
a song, which palpably relates to the deluge. The boihng is completed,
and the sacrificer rests in j>eace, on the eve of May. But that is the iden-
tical day, on which the coracle of the initiated Taliesin drifts to shore : so
that the initiation of tlic bard stands inseparably connected with the boil-
ing of the cow ; and tlic boiling of the cow again stands equally connected
with the voyage of Nuh or Menwydd or Menu, which he j)crforms in the
womb of Kydd or Ceridwcn then floating as a ship on the surface of the
waters, and which (according to the local figment of the Druids) termi-
' Angar Cyvyndawd. apud Davies's IVIytliol. p. 57^,
* The chaunt is expressed in the following words ; wliich, as being in some foreign
language, Mr. Davies leaves untranslated. O britlii britli oi nu ocs nu edi brithi brith
mihai si/ck edi edi eu rot. I express then) more accurately, and write them ui Hebrew
characters as below.
O Brithi! Brith i Null. : niJ «'n nni : 'nna 'ik
Eg Nuh edi. : nr nu yv
r.rithi Brith ani suclu : ^]^o 'J« nnn 'nnn
Edi edi eu roi. : 'J^T Min ns ng
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 171
nated on the summit of their holy mount Snowdon '. The boiUng caul- cbap.ti.
dron then clearly shadows out the ocean cup: and its boiling continues for
the space of a year, because so long the just man was a prisoner within the
inclosure of the Ark.
This witching cauldron is doubtless tlie same as the cauldron of the Irish
Dagh-dae or Dagon*: and, as the boiling of it was deemed so important
bv the bards, that the term was used metaphorically to describe both the
Mysteries themselves and all the benefits supposed to result from them ;
so there was a ceremony not dissimilar in the Orgies of the Eleusinian
Ceres, who is certainly the same character as the British Ceridwen. The
officer, named Hydramis, corresponds with the aspirant who is ordered to
watch the boiling of the cauldron : and the cauldron itself may be identi-
fied with the deep vase or kettle, which Ascalaphus offers to Ceres when
she is wandering round the M'orld in quest of her daughter Proserpine '.
Antoninus does indeed grievously mar the story in relating it : but the
mode, in which the Eleusinian jMysteries were celebrated, affords ground
for believing, that such' was the nature of the deep vase which he particu-
larises. On the ninth and last day, when all the purifications had been
completed, two deep earthen vessels, which widened from the bottom up-
wards, were tilled, according to Atheneus, with water. After the recital of
certain prayers, the water was poured into a kind of pit or channel, much
in the same manner as the contents of the British cauldron are spilt by its
disruption : and the aspirants exclaimed, May we be able auspiciously to
pour the water of these vessels into the terrestrial sink*. In both cases,
the action alluded to the retiring of the deluge into the central abyss, as we
may collect plainly enough from the ceremony observed in the temple of
Hicrapolis : at the festival of the Syrian goddess, which occurred twice in
every year, water was poured by the devotees into a chasm through which
the flood was believed to have descended into the bowels of the earth.
(2.) Such was the mystic cauldron of Ceridwen : our attention is next
' Welsh Archaeol. vol. ii. p. Si. apud Davies.
» Vallancey'8 Vind. of the anc. hist, of Ireland, p. 153. I need scarcely observe, tliat
the cauldron of Ceridwen is the prototype of the magical cauldron in Macbeth.
! Anton. Liber. Metana. c. xxiii. * Davies's Mythol. p. 222, 223.
172 THE ORTCiy OF PAGAX IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. arrested by the several metamorphoses undergone by the goddess and the
aspirant. These are evidently the transformations ; which constituted so
prominent a feature in the shews of the ancient Mysteries, which are nearly
allied to the metamorphosis of the Egyptian deities into various animals
when pursued by the oceanic Typhon, and which still decorate so many
oriental tales with specious miracles '.
(3.) The metamorphic mummery however, which seems to have been
exhibited by means of suitable vizors, was but preparatory to the grand
business of initiation. As Ceridwen was the goddess of the Ark, it was
necessary that the aspirant should be inclosed within her ; in order that,
like the great transmigrating father, he miglit thus experience a second
birth.
This ceremonj-, wildly as it is described by Taliesin, appears to have
been literally gone through by the initiated. The goddess was represented
by one of those stone cells or artificial caverns, of which so many are yet
remaining in different parts of our island. They were called Kist-Ftwiis
or Jl/cien- Arc/is, terms alike denoting (//■A\s' of stone : and tliey were consi-
xlered as transcripts of that floating prison, within which the just man and
his seven companions were for a season inclosed*. In these the aspirants
were shut up as prisoners : and, as such edifices typified the great navi-
cular mother, tliey were figuratively said to be swallowed by Ceridwen and
afterwards to be born again as infants from her womb. Accordingly,
Taliesin explains C'eridwen's absori)tion of hiui, by inforaiing us, that the
Llan or cell, within which he was inclosed during the process of his initi-
ation, was above ground '. It was the same as the stone shij) of Bacchus,
the rocky insular cavern of Saturn, and the navicular stone cotliu of Osiris :
and, in what liglit we are to understand the confinement within it and the
numerous nietuuiorphoses undergone by the goddess aiul her novitiate, may
be collected from the words of this bardic poet, wherein he explains the
' Sec particuhirl)' tlie talc of the second Caleiulm- in tlie Arabian nights Entertainments.
There is so close a riscnii)lance hetiveen the series of metamorphoses imtlergnne by Ce-
ridwen and Gwion and those undergone by the princess and tiic evil genius, that tliey must
apparently have originated froni a common source.
» See riate ill. I'ig. 31. •• Davies's Mythol. p. 391— lOK
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRV. 173
import of his being swallowed by the great mother and of his being born chat. vi.
again from her wotnb.
/ zi-asjirst modelled into the form of a pure man in the hall of Ceridzren,
xcho subjected me to pe/iance. Though small xdth'ni nn/ ark and modest in
my deport metit, I rras great. A sanctuary carried 7ne above the surface
of the earth. Jlliilst I xcas inclosed rtithin its ribs, the szcect /Jzcen ren-
dered me complete ' ; and my law, zvithout audible language, was imparted
to me by the old giantess darkly smiling in her wrath; but her claim ztas
not regretted, when she set sail. I fled in the form of a fair grain of pure
wheat : upon the edge of a covering cloth she caught me in her fangs.
In appearance she was as large as a proud mare, zvhich she also resem-
bled* : then zvas she swelling out, like a ship upon the waters. Into a dark
receptacle she cast me. She carried me back into the sea of Dylan. It
was an auspicious omen to me, when she happily suffocated me. God, the
Lord, freely set me at large K
From this passage it appears, that the ceremony of initiation was per-
formed in dumb shew and througli the uiediiun of a significant scries of
symbolical representations. It further appears, that the confinement in
the stone-ark or hall or womb of Ceridvven was designed to shadow out
a confinement within a ship floating on the waters. And it moreover ap-
pears from the mention of tlje sea of Dylan into uhich the ship of Ceridwen
was supposed to carry the aspirant, that that ship must mean the Ark ;
because Dylan is certainly Noah. This personage is styled by tiie bards
the son of the sea and the son of the zvave : and his resting place or mystic
grave is said to be in the temple of the navicular ox, hard by the mountain
of the Ark, while the restless waves make an overw helniini' din. Ilcnce.
as tlie aspirants studiously imitated ail the acliuns and sufferinifs of the
great lather, Taliesin, speaking of his own initiation, e.xclaims ; Truly I
was in the ship zrith Dylan son of the sea, embraced in the centre between
' Or initiated mc. The Greeks used the exactly equivalent words tO~(u and rAsrai in
speaking of their Mysteries. Awen is the iiermaphroditic Om or Awm of Hindobtim,
which is styled the place of births. Asiat. Res. vol. v. p. S-tS.
The Ceres-Hippa of the Greeks, who similarly received Bacchus into her womb.
' Davies's Mytliol. p. 255, 25G.
\7i THE ORIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
the royal knees ; when, like the rushing of hostile spears, the Jioods came
J or ih from heaven to the great deep. No other bard will sing the violence
of convulsive throes, when forth proceeded with thundering din the billoxvs
against the shore in Dylans day of vengeance; a day, which, in the cele-
bration of our commemorative Mysteries, extends to us '.
(4.) The inclosLire witiiin the stone-ark or artificial cavern, which repre-
sented the womb ol the ship-goddess, served to initiate the aspirant accord-
ing to one mode of celebrating the Mysteries : but, when he had been duly
confined under a strict discipline in the allegorical prison of (^eridwen, and
w hen he had been born again by issuing through its rocky portal, a greater
trial of his fortitude and patience still awaited him in his initiation according
to another mode of celebrating them. He was committed in a close coracle
to the sea, Avhich shadowed out the deluge : and he was thus sufi:ered to
drift, at the mercy of the waves and tides, to a reef of rocks, which typified
the mount of debarkation. Here he was received by the officiating hiero-
pliants : and, w hen tiiis adventure, which was frequently attended with
considerable danger, had been achieved, his initiation was complete.
Henceforth he was one with the great solar patriarch ; that general pri-
mary bard, who transmigratively exists throughout all ages: he might bear
his name and claim a participation of his attributes*.
This was the case w ith Talicsin, when taken out of the coracle by Elphin
and solemnly presented to his spiritual father (J wyddno. Hence we may
conclude, that these two personages were two hierophants ; Gwyddno, as
holding the higher rank, being the Arch-Druid. Agreeably to such a con-
clusion, the bard speaks of Elphin, who in his capacity of a hicrophant
was the representative of the transmigrating creatoi', as the sovereign of
all the disciples of Druidism ; and identifies him with the solar orb itself,
which was the astronomical symbol of demiurge': while, in an ancient
song evidently relating to the ceremony of inclosing the hierophant within
a coracle and launching him into the sea, Gwyddno appears as the acknow-
ledged Archimage who presides over the whole process. The song is in
' Davies's Mythol.p. 100, 101. * Davics's Mythol. p. 248.
^ Daviess Mythol. p. 217.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 175
the form of a dialogue between him and the probationer; who, beholding cuap. vi.
at a terrific distance the ridge of rocks on which he hoped to disembark
from his vessel, shudders at the perilous adventure of initiation which every
aspirant was bound to achieve.
piionATioNi..R. Though I lore the sea-beach, I dread the open sea: a
billow may cot)ie, undulati/ig over the stone, cwyddno. To the brave, to
the vtagnammous, to the amiable, to the generous, who boldly embarks, the
ascending stone of the bards will prove the harbour of life ! It has asserted
the praise of Heilyn, the mysterious impeller of the sky : and, till the doom,
its symbol shall be continued, prob. Though I love the strand, I dread
the wave : great has been its violence ; dismal, the overwhelming stroke.
Even to him who survives, it xtnll be a subject of lamentation, gwyd. It
■is a pleasant act to wash on the bosom of the fair water. Though it fll
the receptacle, it will not disturb the heart. My associated train regard
not its overwhelming. As for him who repented of his entcrprizc, the lofty
wave has hurried the babbler far azcay to his death : but the brave, the
magnanimous, will f ml his compensation in arriving safe at the stones.
The conduct of the water will declare thy merit.
The aspirant however proves timid, or else is rejected : the hierophant
therefore commands, that he should be taken out of the coracle ; and dis-
misses him with a sharp reproof, in which he pointedly alludes to the sign
of Gods covenant with Noah.
GWVD. Thy coming without external purity is a pledge, that I will not
receive thee. Take out the gloomy one. Out of the receptacle, which is
thy aversion, did I obtain the rainboxv '.
The official name of the hierophant answers to his character : Gwydd-
Naw, in the Celtic, denotes, we are told, the priest of the ship.
(5.) From the peculiar phraseology of 'J'aliesin, who speaks of himself
as being terrified at the near approach of death and as even being slain
when he entered into the womb of the great mother, we may clearly infer,
that initiation into the Druidical Mysteries, like initiation into those of the
Greeks and Egyptians, was considered, as a descent into hell, as a passage
• Davifs's Mythol. p. 250, 251.
BOOK V.
176 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
over the infernal lake, and as a landing on theElysian island of the blessed.
Rut we may do much more than merely gatlier by induction, that such were
the speculative ideas attached to Druidical initiation.
Dionysius tells us, that, when the British females celebrated the Myste-
ries of their great god Bacchus or IIu, they passed over an arm of the sea,
in tiie dead of night, to certain smaller contiguous islets : and Tzetzes, after
observing that many esteemed Britain and its dependencies tlie sacred
islands of the blessed, proceeds to relate ; that the souls of the dead were
currently thought to be conveyed in a wonderful ship from Gaul to that
country over tlie narrow sea which separates them, that a particular tribe
of Celts who tenanted the coast acted as ferrymen, and that this appalling
voyage was always performed in the night-time '.
• It is not difficult to ascertain the origin and import of such accounts.
Tiie nocturnal voya-ge of the dead was an initiation into the Druidical
Mysteries : their ship represented the ship of the deluge : the arm of the
sea, w hich they crossed, was the infernal river of the flood : and the fabled
Elysian island, with which their voyage terminated, shadowed out ihe
Lunar White Island or the ocean-girt summit of the Paradisiacal Ararat.
The whole was an exact transcript of the Egyptian Orgies of Osiris, which
were similarly celebrated in the dead of night on a sacred lake. Now it is
evident from the aquatic mode of celebration, even if direct assertion were
w anting to prove the fact, that in each case a boat must have been used :
and, as in Egypt tlic boat was tlie holy Baris or Thcba or Argo of the in-
fernal Charon or Osiris, so among the Britons the boat must have been
the ark of Hu considered as the god of obsequies. Within this the aspi-
rant was inclosed as a dead body within a coflin : and was thus, in the
niglit-timc, wafted over, cither the English channel from Gaul to Britain,
or a narrow frith from Britain to Anglesey or Baidscy or Lindisfarnc or
lona, or an arm of the sea which separated one part of the country from
another.
Of such a nature was the initiatory voyage of the mystically dead Ta-
' Dion. Pericg. ver. .0^5 — fili. Tzctz. in Lycopli. vcr. 1200. See also some curious
purticulurs dctuileil in Strub. Gcug. lib. iv. p. IDH,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr. 177
liesin. As he was set afloat in liis coracle on the twenty ninth of April, chap. vi.
and as he did not reach land until the eve of May day, his voyage must
have been performed during tlic night. Hence it was a nocturnal voyage
of the dciid : and hence in every particular it agrees with those accounts,
which have been handed down to us by Tzetzes and Dionysius.
Inexact accordance with this conclusion, the hierophantGwyddno bears
the additional name of G'«rfl«////* .■ and, under that appellation, he is de-
scribed as being the ferryman of the dead. Here he is palpably the coun-
terpart of the Grecian and Egyptian Charon: and there is so strong a
resemblance also between the two titles Charon and Garanhir, that it is
difticult to refrain from believing their common origination '.
Taliesin's initiation into the funereal Mysteries of the Druids will explain
the singular talc, in which Arthur's knights of the round table are described
as acting tiic part of mariners to the boat, which conveyed the souls of the
dead over the Stygian lake. The original boiling of Ceridwen's cauldron
is said to have occurred during the first period of Arthur and the round
table: and, accordingly, at that identical time, the just man, under the
appellation oi Arlliur, enters with seven companions into a floating inclo-
sure, sometimes denominated the inclosure of Sic/i or the navicular Cerid-
■wen, and sometimes mystically represented as a shield named Prychccn.
This shield and the round table plainly mean the same thing : each was
an oval or circular Argha, each equally symbolized the ship of the deluge.
As Arthur embarked with seven companions, his fabulous knights were
styled hmghts-companioiis : and, as they were really the navigators of the
Ark, they were of course, agreeably to the notions of the old epopta;, navi-
gators of the infernal ship which bore the ghosts of the dead over the river
of hell into the lunar Elysian island of the blessed.
(6.) We must not omit to notice the peculiar day, on which Taliesin's
coracle drifts ashore. It was, as we have seen, the identical day, on which
the boiling of the symbolical cow was completed, and on which her sacri-
ficer first rested in peace. Now this day was not selected accidentally :
for May eve running into May day was very generally adopted as the sea-
' Welsh Archacol. vol. ii. p. Gt. Davies's Mythol, p. 392.
Pag. Idol. vol.. III. Z
178 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BOOK V. son of the great father's principal festival ; and India, Babylonia, Britain,
and Ireland, have agreed in celebrating at that time the Orgies of their
chief divinity. The reason of such a choice I take to have been, that Noah
then quitted the Ark : for, according as Moses reckons by the ecclesias-
tical or the civil year, he must have quitted it either in the spring or the
autumn ; and the former is the most probable, because he would then have
the whole summer before him.
5. Closely allied to the Orgies of Hu and Ceridwen were those of the
Persian Mithras : and consequently the initiations into the latter were of
the very same description as the initiations into the former. We have the
fullest authority for saying, that aspirants were thought to be born again
by issuing forth from a rocky cavern : and we may infer from a curious
legend which will presently be noticed, that their regeneration was some-
times deemed to be accomplished by quitting a small boat within which they
had previously been inclosed.
The rites of Mithras were celebrated, according to the universal voice of
antiquity, in deep caverns or grottos, sometimes natural and sometimes
artificial. Of the latter many are still in existence, being calculated from
their imperishable nature to resist all the attacks of time : and of the former
the first is said by Porphyry to have been consecrated to the god in the
mountains of Persia. He tells us, that the ]\Iithratic grotto was a symbol
of the World, and that it was dedicated to IMithras in the capacity of the
great demiurgic father '. In this lie is accurate, provided his assertion be
rightly understood. The sacred cavern did indeed shadow out the World;
but it no less typified tiiat smaller floating World, the Ark. Hence, as
the sliip Arglia and every otlicr parallel hieroglyphic doubly represents both
tlie Mcgacosm and the Microcosm; so, in the Mysteries, the aspirant was
indittcrently said to be born again from the ship and from the stone cell.
Hence also, as the great father was the literal architect of the smaller
World, out of which he himself was afterwards produced ; he was mysti-
cally said to be the dcmiurtiic author of the larger World, over the reno-
vation of which he was thought to preside at each succesiive mctcmpsy-
' Porph. (Ic ant. nymph, p. 253, 254.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 179
cliosis, and out of the womb of which he was likewise in the character of chap, vi,
Adam originally born or created. The prevalence of such notions will
account both for the assertion of Porphyry, and for the fabled birth of Mi-
thras ; which, on the first view of the matter, might appear utterly incon-
sistent with each other. Porphyry says, that the cave was consecrated to
him, because it was a type of the World w hich he created : yet Justin in-
forms us, that he was also supposed to have been born from a rock ; that
is to say, from the interior of a rocky cavern *. Now, if the literal World
were alone intended by the Persic cavern, and if (as some would persuade
us) we are properly to understand by Mithras the Supreme Creator of all
things : how could the Magi be so absurd as to teach, that the true God
was himself born out of that very cavern in the rock, which symbolized the
identical World that he had created. It is a contradiction in terms to say,
that ]Mithras, viewed as the true God, first made the World; and was him-
self afterwards produced from it. But this contradiction, which pervades
the whole of ancient mythology ; for the egg is universally declared to be
a symbol of the World, and yet the demiurgic great father is universally
fabled to have been born out of that identical egg : this contradiction will
vanish, when we rightly understand the character of the great father and
the peculiar mode in which the cavern shadowed out the World. Of the
smaller World he was indeed the creator, and of the larger World he was
the mystic destroyer and renovator : yet was he himself, in the languat^e
of the Orgies, born out of each World, in the successive transmigratory
characters of Adam and Noah, as from the womb of a great universal
mother both of hero-gods and of men and of plants and of animals.
(1.) Analogous to this birth of the Persian deity was the regeneration
of each mimic aspirant. Porphyry informs us, that the initiation of the
priest was always completed either in a cave or in a place denominated
the cave, and that it mystically represented the descent of the soul into
the infernal regions and its subsequent return to light : for the dark inte-
rior of the cave was the type of Hades, while its sun-illumined exterior gave
to the mind images of joy and cheerfulness*.
• Just. Dial cum Trj'ph. p. 296. ' Porph. de ant. nymph, p. 253,
180 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. From this account we may easily collect the nature of the Mithratic
initiation. Tiie aspirant first entered into the gloomy cavern, which action
represented what the mystagogues termed his descent into htll ; a descent
invariably supposed to have been accomplished by the great father, whe-
ther denominated Osiris, Bacchus, Adonis, Hercules, JVoden, Buddha, or
Menu-Sraddadcva. After he had remained shut up the appointed time,
he emerged through the door of the cave (that door, from m hich Mithras
himself was born, and which doubly symbolized the door of the Ark and
the mouth of a sepulchre) into light and liberty. This was his return from
Hades, or his new birth from the rock : and, as I have already observed,
it was of precisely the same import as his allegorical birth from the Moon
or from a co\r. For Porphyry first informs us, that the ingress into the
cavern and the egress from it typified the descent of the soul into Hades
and its subsequent return : and he afterwards remarks, that the Moon was
esteemed the female president of generation ; that the priestesses of the
infernal Ceres M'ere called bees; that the Moon herself was saitl to be a
bee ; that she was likewise said to be a bull or rather a cow ; and that
new-born souls, that is to say, souls regenerated in the Mysteries, were
represented by bees, and were supposed to be born Irom a iieifer '. The
birth therefore from the heifer was the birth from the Moon, of which it
was a symbol ; and the birth from the Moon was the birth from the rock.
But the Moon in question was that floating Moon, which scrvcil Osiiis for
a coffin, and which was the same as his Argo or Thcba or bovine ark.
Hence the new birth of the Mysteries*, whether it be from the door of a
grotto or from a door in the side of the Moon or from the womb of a cow,
invariably means the birth of the transmigrating great lather first from the
womi) of the Earth and afterwards from the door of the Ark. As the jiricst-
esscs of the infernal Ceres were called bees, and as tliose of Isis and Amujon
were styled doves; so, in allusion to the raven of the ark, tiie priests of
Mithras were denominated ravens and sacred ravens'-. Accordingly, this
bird is introduced as a figure into a piece of sculptured marble, wiiich re-
presents ]\lithras on the sacred bull, and of which Montf uicon has given a
' I'orpli. dc aut. n^niiih. \). 2G1, 2G2. ' l'ori)li. ilc abstin. lib. iv. ^ 16.
THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRT. 181
plate ill his Antiquities. It appears perched over against his head, while ciup. vi.
he himself seems to be in the act of slaying the bull; a rite, whicti consti-
tuted part of the IVIystcrics, and which (as we shall presently see) was
sometimes used in the process of regeneration.
The initiation into the Orgies of Mithras is saiJ to have been accompa-
nied by a most severe discipline of the body, which was at once designed
to prove the courage of the aspirants and to represent the toilsome pro-
gress of the Metempsychosis from one World to another. Some assert,
that they passed through no less than eighty different kinds of trials : but
the object was to attain a sort of mental impassibility or abstracted quiet-
ism, and thus finally to procure the benefit of regeneration into Paradise'.
It is remarkable, that they were not only caused to be figuratively born out
of a grotto; but likewise that they went through the ceremony of a sort of
baptismal immersion, which represented the death and resurrection of the
votary or (what was considered as synonvuious) his death and regenera-
tion. Tertullian imagines, that this was a diabolical imitation of the Chris-
tian rite of baptism : but it existed long before the promulgation of Chris-
tianity, and equally constituted a part of the Mysteries of Isis and Cybel^*.
It related to the second birth of Noah from the ocean : wiience indeed the
external form of baptism has been antitypically borrowed ; which suffici-
ently accounts for the outward resemblance of the two ceremonies without
supposing the Persian rite to have been taken from the Ciiristian '.
The Mithratic Orgies however had likewise an astronomical allusion :
and then the Mithratic door or gate was multiplied seven times, in refer-
ence, we are told, to the seven planets. But the Sun and the Moon seem
to have been esteemed the principal gates, through which the new-born
souls were supposed to migrate, ascending through tiie former and descend-
ing through the latter*. The whole of this notion originated from the early
mixture of Sabianism and hero-worship. The Ark and the arkite mariners
being elevated to the sphere, the regeneration of the IMysteries was thence
" Gregor. Nazian. 1 Orat, cont. Julian. Noun, in 2 Nazian. Steleteut.
* TertuII. de prjescript. adv. hacr. c. 4-0. de baptism, c. 5.
' 1 Peter iii. 20, 21.
♦ Seld. de diis Syr. synt. i. c. 5. Porpli. de ant. nymph, p. 268.
182 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BOOK V. thought to have some connection with the heavenly bodies ; which again,
as we have already seen, were reciprocally supposed to have some relation
to a ship. Mithras as the Sun, and the seven planetary gates, constitute
the Noetic Ogcload, and jointly man the stupendous Ark of the Universe :
while, on the other hand, those souls, which were deemed to be born again
from a rock or a cow or the Moon or the ocean, were also thought to
undergo a wonderful sidereal transmigration through the gates of the Sun
and the seven planets.
I have just intimated, that the gate or door thus multiplied was properly
but one, namely the door of the Ark : and I think, that we may easily trace
the progress of its multiplication. When the great father was blended with
the great mother, the being thus compounded was esteemed an hermaph-
rodite, the mixed universal parent of the World. Hence, in the sphere, he
was both Melius and Lunus, Helia and Luna. This being the case, the
Sun and the Moon had each its gate or door, from which souls were sup-
posed to be born : and each was alike esteemed the president of genera-
tion. Now it is observable, that there are only two gates mentioned by
Porphyry ; and doubtless they were the two principal gates. But, wlien
the chief Cabirus was placed at the head of the seven Cabiri, every planet
had its own gate assigned to it : consequently, the number of gates, includ-
ing that of the Sun as specified by Porphyry, will amount to eight, the pre-
cise number of the arkite mariners. These observations perfectly accord
with the character of Mitliras. Like Siva, Osiris, Bacchus, Adonis, Ve-
nus, and Minerva, he was an hermaplirodite, and was venerated at once as
the Sun and the Moon ; that is to say, as the god both of the solar and tlie
lunar gate. Tliat he was the Sun, is well known : but Herodotus informs
us, that he was also the Moon, and the same as Mylitta the Assyrian
Venus or female principle of generation '. Or, if we suppose Mil lira to
be rather the feminine form oi Mithras, as Jana is oi Jatms and Maia of
Mains, the position will still be virtually the same: for the great father and
the great mother were perj)etually joined together in one couipound being,
who was then esteemed the universal hermaphroditic parent,
• Herod. Hist. lib. i. c 131.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 18S
('2.) That the Magi ever used the rite of initiation by the boat, I am not chat. vi.
able positively to shew : but I think we may infer that they did, from a
legend wliich cannot easily be accounted for on any other supposition.
A queen of the second Persian dynasty, named Homai or Khamani, is
said to have become pregnant by an incestuous intercourse with her own
fether Bahaman. During the time of her gestation, Bahaman died ; and
his daughter succeeded him in the empire. About five months after her
accession to the throne, she produced a son. The astrologers, having cal-
culated the nativity of the child, declared, that he would bring great misfor-
tunes on the country ; and advised, that he should be immediately de-
stroyed. A mother's tenderness however would not permit Homai to fol-
low their counsels : she therefore made a little wooden ark ; and, having
put the child into it, suffered the vessel to fall down the Gihon or Oxus.
The ark drifted to a place, where a dyer followed his occupation ; and by
him the infant was found and educated. From this circumstance the child
received the name of Darab, which denotes Found i?i water. Young Da-
rab, arriving at the age of maturity, determined on the profession of arms,
and joined the troops which were then marching against the Greeks. At
length he was discovered to be the son of Homai; who, having reigned
thirty two years, resigned to him the diadem '.
On adverting to the Caianian dynasty as exhibited by the oriental writers,
we find this son of Homai the immediate predecessor and father of Darius
the unfortunate antagonist of Alexander * : and, as we liave no reason to
believe from genuine history that the legend contains a single syllable of
truth, its existence must be accounted for on a different principle. My own
decided opinion is, that the whole of it originated from the initiation of
Darab into the Mysteries of the boat : and with this conjecture every part
of the narrative will be found exactly to quadrate.
Some orientalists suspect, that no such queen as Homai ever existed. It
may not be absolutely necessary to annihilate her altogether : yet, if ever
there were such a person, both in name and in conduct she studiously imi-
■ Vallancey's Vind. of the anc. hist, of Ireland, p. 226, 227. Hales's Chronol. vol. iii.
p. 207, 208.
» Ouseley's Epit, of the Anc. Hist, of Persia, p. 23, 25.
184 THE ORIGIN' OF PAGAJf IDOLATRT.
liooK V. tated the fabled great mother of Paganism. The appellation Honiai seems
to be the Sanscrit Hiima, which is a title of the Earth or the female prin-
ciple or the ship Argha' : and Khamaiii is probably the compound Cai-
Maiii, which is equivalent to the illustrious Mena. Incestuous mixtures
were but too common among the Persian princes, so that a literal Homai
may liave been pregnant by her father : but the practice itself originated
from the various degrees of relationship, which the two great parents were
thought to bear towards each other. If Homai then be a real character,
M'e are not on that account prevented from supposing Darab's exposure in
the ark to mean his initiation : but, if she be a mi/tliological character, the
supposition will then be yet more probable. In this case, Darab is mys-
tically born from her, just as Taliesin is from Ccridwen : whence, in the
usual phraseology of the Orgies, he is, also like the Celtic bard, styled an
infant. Afterwards, still in close analogy to the double initiation of Ta-
liesin, this infant is shut up in an ark and committed to the sacred river
Gihon ; from which perilous situation he is in due time extricated by the
officiating hierophant, whom the Persic legend has converted into a dyer.
Now, if I be right in such a view of the subject, it will obviously fol-
low, that the Afagi used initiation by the boat no less than by the rocky
cavern.
6". As the idea of being born again from the Thcba or bovine Ark pro-
duced the regeneration from the womb of a cow, which I have already had
occasion to notice : so tiie idea of being born again from the sacred cavern
produced the regeneration, which was thought to be effected by squeezing
the bo'ly through a lioic in a rock. Of this latter process very distinct
traces may be observed botii in tlic cast and in the west.
(I.) The vast artificial grottos, wliich occur in ditVerent parts of Ilindos-
tan, bear so close a rcsemblauce to the Mithratic excavations in Persia,
that we can scarcely entertain a (U)ul>t of their having been employed for
the very same purpose of initiation into tiie Mysteries : and tliis belief is
strengthened, both by the doctrine of a new birtii being so universally pre-
' Asiuf. Res. vol. vi. p. 51.5, .'330. Iloiicc the Persians denominated llie great fatlier
Cai- Vrnunk or the lUustiiuui l''' rightly observe, lliat it
relates to tlie multiplieil iiU)hitrous imitations of tlie Israelites. The latter part of it ought,
I apprehend, to bu traiutlatcd as follows. Also thou didst visit Molcch viilh ointmcnl, and
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATUr. 199
This early mode of worship was by no means confined to the land of chap, vu-
Canaan. According to Strabo and Herodotus, the Persians always offered
up their sacrifices on the top of some lofty mountain : and, according to
Eubulus in Porphyry, Zoroaster first taught them to venerate the sacred
grotto by dedicating to Mithras a natural cave in the lofty neighbouring
region of Bokhara '. Thus also the Scythians or Goths had their holy
mountain and their mysterious cavern, where the Archimage was accus-
tomed to retire, ere he claimed, like the present Lama of Thibet, to be an
incarnation of the deity whom they worshipped * : and thus the Phrygians
venerated the great mother in the consecrated recesses of mount Ida;
while the Cretans dedicated to the great father a cave and a hill, which
was distinguished by the same appellation. In a similar manner, wo read,
that the Thracian Orpheus went annually with his disciples to offer up,
on the summit of a lofty mountain, a sacrifice to the Sun ; in gratitude for
his escape to that hill, while an infant, from the fury of a huge dragon':
and in Sicily we find mount Ei-yx, with its attached grove and sepulchral
tumulus, dedicated to the rites of the navicular Venus*. The same wor-
ship prevailed in Pontus and Cappadocia : for, when Mithridates made
war upon the Romans, he chose one of the highest hills in his dominions ;
and, erecting upon it an immense pile, he there sacrificed to the god of
didst multipli/ iTiy perfumes : and thou sentest out thy messengers to a distance, and thou didst
bring thyself down into Hades. With the multitude of thy progresses thou didst taeary thy-
self; yet thou saidst not, The matter is desperate. Thou hast found the life of thy supreme
pou'er ; therefore thou art no longer grieved. I have supposed the sending messengers to a
distance, and the multitude of the progresses, to relate to the mad erratic excursions of those
who celebrated the Orgies of the great father: yet it is not impossible, that those expres-
sions may allude to the laborious pilgrimages to the shrine of a favourite deity, which still
prevail so notoriously throughout Hindostan. The ridiculous pilgrimages of the Romanists
and the Mohammedans have both originated from the same pagan source,
' Strab. Geog. lib. xv. p. 73'A Herod. Hist. lib. i. c. 131. Porph. de ant. nymph.
p. 2.53, 254.
» Strab. Geog. lib. vii. p. 297, 298.
' Demet. Mosch. Pra;f. in Orph. Lithic. p. 290, 292. By the dragon we are to under-
stand Python or Typhon ; and the infancy of Orpheus relates to his imitative regeneration. '
* Virg. iEneid. lib. v. ver. 760.
BOOK V.
200 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATEr.
armies '. Lofty mountains, each viewed as the mountain of debarkation,.,
were equally venerated by the ancient Celts ; and the most terrific rites of
the Druids were celebrated in deep groves of oak*. Such likewise even
now is the worship of the Hindoos and Japanese and Burmans: and, when
America was first discovered by the Spaniards, the priests of Mexico were
wont to select, for their religious incantations, rocky caverns, lofty moun-
tains, and the deep gloom of eternal forests'. In short, every towering
hill was reckoned holy : and we are assured by Melanthes, that it was the
universal practice of the ancients to otfer sacrifice on the highest mountains
to him who was accounted the highest god ^ The same remark may be-
made with regard to islands. Among the Hindoos, the Egyptians, the
Greeks, the Romans, the Scythians, the Celts, and the Americans, they
were alike accounted sacred and were alike used for the purposes of devo-
tion :. insomuch that the learned Bailly, struck with this universal agree-
ment, notices indeed the circumstance, but is unable to give any satisfac-
tory reason for it ^ Various instances of this superstition have already
been adduced : hereafter, in the proper place I shall resume the subject)
distinguishing between the firm island and the floating island.
]. If we inquire into the notions, which the old idolaters entertained,
and which modern idolaters still entertain, respecting their consecrated
mountains or high places, \\c shall constantly find ourselves brought to the
very same point. They esteemed the summits of them the peculiar abode
of the hero-gods : and they commonly described them, cither as a sort of
Paradise, or as the place where the Ark rested after the deluge. Some-
times tliey united tiie two ideas ; and tluis exhibited the holy mountain,
both as an £lysium tenanted by the great father, and as the final scope of
his perilous voyage from one World to another. Such legends and suciv
opinions leave no room for doubt. The hero-gods were those mortals,.
wiio flourished in the two golden ages antediluvian and postdiluvian : and
" Appian. do bell. Mitlirid. p. 215.
* Davits's Mythol. p. 192. Lucan. Pliarsal. lib. iii. ver. 398— 425.
' iMuiir. IikI. Aiit. vol. ii. p. 39. Ka-inplcr's Japan b. v. c. 3. p. 417. Purch. Pilgrim.
I), viii. c. 12. p. 803. Symes's Embass. to Ava. vol. ii. p. 81, 183, 238.
■• Natal. Coin. lib. i. c. 10. J Lcttres sur rAtlantide. p. 361.
THF OllIOTN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 201
the mountain, which is thus shadowed out by every local consecrated liili, cbap.
can only be the arkite and Paradisiacal mountain of Ararat.
(J.) Among the Hindoos this holy mountain bears the name of Merit.
But I have already shewn very fully from circumstantial evidence, that
Meru, though geographically situated at the head of the Ganges, is the
lical mount of Paradise and of the Ark '. Hence it will necessarily follow,
that, whatever is avowedly reckoned an imitative transcript of Meru, must
also be viewed as a professed copy of Ararat.
Now the Hindoos deem every holy mountain a copy of Meru: and,
accordingly, they have many hills, which are all equally designated by this
title \ Every hill therefore, which is thus designated, is really a local
transcript of the Armenian mountain : and, as the theology of the whole
gentile world is fundamentally the same ; each sacred peak, wherever situ-
ated, must obviously be viewed in the same light. Agreeably to this con-
clusion, the traditions and notions, attached to these several high places,
will constantly be found to point towards Paradise and the Ark: and the
reason is, tliat each is the local Ararat of the country where it is situated.
Thus Parnassus, and Olympus, and the Singalese peak of Adam, and the
Mauritanian Atlas, and the British Snovvdon and Cader-Idris, not to men-
tion almost innumerable other hills, are all equally imitative transcripts
of what the Hindoos call Jllcru but what is really the Paradisiacal moun-
tain of the Ark.
It is to this northern mountain of Ararat, northern with respect to so
large a part of civilized Asia, which was the prototype of all the conse-
crated hills of the Gentiles, that the two prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel
allude in their predictions relative to the downfall of the kings of Babylon
(). "■ Porpli. de ant. nymph, p. SS*.
■• I'orpli. dc ant. nymph, p. 'Z5\.
THE ORIorN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 21 S
World : hence the egg, the lotos, the mundane cavern, and the World, cha*. vn;
were all equally made iiierogly|)hics of the Ship of the delugo.
It is in reference to this arkite World, which once contained in its hol-
low vvomh the rudiments of the Universe, that the demiurgic Zeus, who ie
described as existing before the three sons of Cronus, is said by the Orphic
poet to have formed all things in a dark cave. We afterwards find, that
the cave in question was no other than the womb of the great hermaphro-
ditic Jupiter himself. For the Universe is inditFerently pronounced to
have issued from the mystic cave and from the vast womb of the semi-
female divinity : and the ideas or principles of all things are said to have
been generated in this dark receptacle after it had swallowed up Phanes or
Bacchus or the First-born, who is variously fabled to have been tossed
about in an egg and to have been exposed at sea in an ark. Such language
needs little explanation. The ark, the egg, the cavern, and the dark
receptacle of the womb, all mean the same thing : and the absorption of
the tirst-born Piianes is palpably that extraordinary event, which in the
Mysteries was represented by the imitative absorption of the aspirant into
the womb of the navicular great mother '.
In exact accordance with such speculations, the Pythagoreans and the
Platonists were accustomed to style the World the dark cavern of hnpri-
soned souls''. The expression related to the Mysteries, from which they
borrowed the whole of their fantastic theology : and, in those Mysteries,
the aspirants were first confined within the gloomy cavern which symbo-
lized the Ark of the World, and afterwards were said to be born again out
of its womb.
This regeneration was the same as the birth of souls from the infernal
floating Moon ; which accordingly was reported to be furni.shed with a
cavern, or which in other woids was a hollow boat shaped like a crescent:
and the whole treatise of Porphyry on the cave of the Nymphs is full of a
sort of mystical jargon, respecting the birth of souls from a door in the
Moon and from a door in the sacred mundane grotto. The floating Moon
and the sea-girt cavern meant alike the Ark; which, while the greater
' Proc. in Plat. Tira. ii. p. 95, 3 k apud Orpli. Oper. Gesn. p. 365. Orph. Hymn. v.
* Porph. tie ant. nymph, p. 255.
214 THE ORIGIN OF FAGAN IDOLATRY.
World was plunged beneath the waves of the deluge, was the sole World
tl)at visibly existed.
Such a conclusion is finally established by the almost naked declaration
of the Indian theologists. In the holy city Banares, there is a cavern,
which is termed Macliodara or the belly of the fish : the consecrated moun-
tain, which rises in the centre of the city, is also denominated Machodarn :
and the whole town, as well as any place in the midst of the waters which
can afford shelter to living beings, is sometimes distinguished by the very
same appellation. Now, what the Brahmens mean by the phrase thus
alike applied to tlie sacred cavern, the sacred mount, the sacred city which
frequently becomes an island by the overflowing of the river, and any place
surrounded by water which may preserve living creatures from being swal-
lowed up by an inundation ; what they mean by this phrase, they them-
selves unreservedly tell us : for they bestow the identical name Macho-
darn or the belli/ of the Jish upon the vast ark, within which INIenu or
Buddha was concealed and preserved in the midst of surrounding waters '.
A similar notion evidently prevailed among the Egyptians : for, as the
Brahmens term their holy city Machodara or the belly of the fish, so the
Egyptians styled their holy city Theba or the Ark ; and, as the Brahmens
extended the appellation Machodara to every place surrounded by water,
so the Egyptians extended the name of Thebce in a special manner to those
Elysian islands of the blessed which were thought to be clipped by the vast
circumambient ocean *.
Agreeably to this conclusion, the Indian Puranas declare, that in the
sacred Wliite Islands of the west there is a wonderful cave, the door of
which represents the sacred Yoni or female principle of fecundity '. Now
it has been shewn at large, tiiat by those islands we arc to understand
mount Ararat and the Ark * : and we aie assured, that the ft.malc principle,
of which the insular cave is expressly pronounced to be a symbol, floated
on the surface of the deluge in the form of the ship Argha. Hence it is
obvious, that by the holy cave of the AVhitc Islands was meant the Ark
resting on the crags of Ararat.
' Asiat. Rc8. vol. vi. p. IHO, 4 81. * I-yc. Cassan. ver. 120+. Tzetz. in loc.
' Asiat. lies. vol. vj. p. 502. ♦ Vide supra book ii. c 5,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 215
(4.) The mode in wliich tlic consecrated grotto was used, and the no- chap. vu.
tions entertained of its presiding divinity, appear very distinctly from a
curious account which has been handed down to us of an Indian cavern.
Porphyry tells us on the authoiity of Bardesanes, who received the ac-
count from the Brahmens of India, that, in the side of a very lofty moun-
tain situated in tiie centre of the earth, there was a. natural cave of large
dimensions. In it was placed an upright statue, ten or twelve cubits in
J)eight ; the arms of which were extended in the form of a cross. One side
of its face was that of a man ; the other, that of a woman : and the same
difference of sex, from head to foot, was preserved in the conformation of
its whole body. On its right breast, was carved the Sun; and, on its left,
ihe Aloon. On its arms were represented a number of figures, which Por-
phyry calls angels; and, along with them, the sky, the ocean, mountains,
rivers, plants, and animals. The Brahmens asserted, that their chief deity
cave this statue to his son when about to create the World, in order that
he might have a pattern to work from : and they declared to the inquisitive
traveller, that no one knew of what materials it was composed, though its
substance bore the strongest resemblance to a sort of incorruptible wood
while yet it was not wood. They added, that a king once attempted to
pluck a hair from it, and that blood immediately flowed in consequence of
the impiety. Upon its head was the figure of a god seated upon a throne.
Behind it the cave extended to a considerable distance, and was profoundly
dark. If any persons chose to enter into it, they lighted torches; and ad-
vanced, until they came to a door. Through the door flowed a stream of
water, which, at the extremity of the cavern, formed a lake : and, through
this door likewise, those, who wished to expurgate themselves, were re-
quired to pass. Such, as were pure from the pollutions of the world, met
with no impediment, for the door opened wide to admit them ; and they
forthwith arrived at a very large fountain of the most beautifully pellucid
water : but those, who had been guilty of some crime, found themselves
violently opposed, the door forcibly closing itself against them and denying
them admission. Whenever this was the case, they confessed their sins,
besought the intercession of the Brahmens, and submitted to long and pain-
ful fasts by way of expiation. Porphyry adds, that Apolionius Tyan^us
216 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. was apparently acquainted with the water and cavern described to hitn by
Bardesanes: for, in the letters which he addressed to the Brahmcns, he
was wont to use as a formula of abjuration, No, by the Tantalian 7vater,
by which you initialed me into your Mysteries. The epithet Tantalian
he is supposed to have applied to it, from the tantalizing state of suspense
in which it held the impatient aspirants'.
We may learn by this narrative both the unchanging nature of Hindoo
superstition and the use which the Brahmens made of their sacred caverns.
The mountain in the centre of the Earth, where the grotto is described as
being situated, is evidently the centrical mount Meru, which is considered
as rising out of the midst of the worldly lotos, and which may be viewed as
really occupying the middle region of that insular World which was known
to the ancients. The hermaphroditic statue at the entrance of the cavern
is precisely that compound being, now venerated by the Hindoos under the
{ippcUation o^ Ardha-nari. It is formed, just as the Ardha-nari is formed,
by the lateral conjunction of Siva and Parvati ; so that of the whole image,
from top to bottom, the one half is male, and the other half female. This,
no doubt, was the prototype of the Amazons: and its station in the sacred
cavern of the arkite and Paradisiacal Meru perfectly answers to its cha-
racter ; for it is composed by the hermaphroditic union of the ship-god
and the ship-goddess or of the transmigrating great father and great mo-
ther. In the speculations of Materialism, the two jointly constituted the
World : and, accordingly, like the Orphic androgynous Jupiter and the
Hindoo androgynous Siva, the statue is described as being a symbolical
picture of the Universe; which Brahma, the son of Vishnou by being born
from his navel, creates anew after every periodical deluge. The passage
througii the rocky door of the cavern is the identical superstition, which
still prevails in India, and of which I have already given various instances:
and we may gather, both from the whole ceremonial and from tlic oath of
Apollonius, that aspirants were initiated into the Mysteries of the Brah-
niens, precisely as they were initiated into those of the Persian Magi, by
being born again through the narrow portal of a grotto which represented
tiic Ark resting on mount Ararat.
, • Porph. dc Styg. p. 283— 28a.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 217
(5.) We shall now be able to perceive, with what exact mytholof^ical chap. vn.
propriety that learned poet Virgil has worked up his curious tale of
Arist^us.
The person, wlioin he makes the hero of his story, was the son of Apollo
by the nymph Curen^ : and he was educated, like Jason and Achilles, in
the grotto of the centaur CIriron. He is said to have attempted the chas-
tity of Eurydic^, and to have involuntarily been the cause of her death :
a circumstance, which occasioned the fictitious descent of Orpheus into the
infernal regions. Among the Emonians, he was worshipped under the
several titles of Jupiter- Aristcus, Apollo, Agrcus, and Nomius: and he
was reputed to be a native of Arcadia, the inhabitants of which were emi-
nently devoted to the superstition of the ship Argha. Hence it appears,
that he was in reality no other than the solar great father, who from the
most remote antiquity was believed to preside over agriculture and pastur-
age : and, accordingly, as that compound personage was thought succes-
sively to reappear at the coiimiencemcnt of every new world, so we are told
by Bacchylides that there were four Aristei just as the Babylonians fabled
that there were four Annedoti or Dagons'.
Now the mythological story, which Virgil relates of him, is this.
Through disease and famine, he had lost his bees. Deeply afflicted with
the calamity and not knowing how to repair it, he stands upon the bank of
the river Peneus whom the Roman poet makes to be his father, and there
invokes the aid of his mother Curen6, Surrounded by her sister nymphs,
she hears his lamentations, and forthwith emerges from the bed of the river
to comfort and assist him. At her potent command, the waters divide
asunder, and yield a free passage to the forlorn shepherd. Under the
guidance of the goddess he descends in safety to ihe bottom of the sacred
stream ; and enters, full of wonder, into her aqueous habitation. Here he
beholds the strange sight of a spacious cave, provided with a holy grove
and containing within its deep recesses a lake of pure water. Here too he
views the secret source of every river: for within this mystic grotto lie con-
cealed the fountains of all the numerous streams, which appear upon the
' Apoll. Argon, lib. ii. vcr. 500 ct infra. Schol. in loc. Hyg. Fab. IS*.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 2 E
BOOK V.
218 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
surface of the earth. And now his mother, after due purification by water,
directs, tliat a solemn hbation should be made from the cup of Bacchus to
Ocean the universal father, and that the central fire which blazed on the
hearth should be sprinkled with liquid nectar. She then enjoins him to
consult the hoary marine seer Proteus ; and directs him, how he may most
effectually secure the often metamorphosed prophet. He carefully ob-
serves her maternal instructions : and, in despite of every effort on the part
of the reluctant Proteus, holds him fast in the rocky grotto which the sea-
god was accustomed to haunt. His successful labour meets with its due
reward. The prophet, after discussing largely the fate of the hapless Eury-
dice, the descent of Orpheus into hell, the boat of Charon, the nine-fold
Styx, the dog Cerberus, and the various terrific portents of Hades, con-
cludes his theological lecture with assuring Aristfeus ; that, provided only
he will slay four bulls and as many cows, leave their carcases in a holy-
grove for nine days, and at the end of that period perform due obsequies
to the ghosts of Orpheus and Eurydicfe, all his wishes shall be accom-
plished and his loss be fully repaired. The shepherd obeys : when, lo, at
the stated time, every carcase teems with new life ; and a superabundant
swarm of bees is marvellously generated from the putrefying bodies of the
slaughtered animals '.
It must, I think, naturally strike any person, who reads this singular tale
with merely poetical eyes, that, however highly it is wrought up by the
exquisite taste of Virgil, the end seems most strangely disproportioned to
the means. Aristt-us, it appears, had the ill luck to lose a fine swarm of
bees. This, no doubt, was provokingly unfortunate : yet, as every bee-
master knows, it required no miracle to repair the loss. But Virgil, in
apparent defiance of the sound poetical canon that a god must never be
introduced xrhen the knot can he untied by a mortal, moves heaven and
earth in order that the shepherd Aristeus may not be disappointed of his
honey. A river opens; a goddess appears; a simple swain penetrates
into a cavern never before trodden by human foot. Nor is even this ma-
chinery sufficient to recover the dead bees : Curen^ can only direct her
' VIrg. Gcorg. lib. iv.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKY. «19
son for efficacious advice, under his peculiarly difficult circumstances, to chm., vu.
another deity somewhat wiser than herself. That deity works a series of
miracles to prevent liis being caught. But at length, by a concluding
miracle, the loss is repaired : and Aristtus is preternatural ly enabled once
more to follow his important avocation of tending bees.
Such are the complex contrivances, by which a very simple effect is
finally produced : and, if the legend be considered as a mere poetical sport
of fancy, there is certainly a mighty stir about nothing, a complete moun-
tain with its mouse. But Virgil was a mythologist as well as a poet : and
he peculiarly delights to embellish his writings w ith matter draw n from that
old philosophical superstition, in which he was himself so thoroughly con-
versant. This is eminently the case in his Silenus and in the sixth book
of his Eneid : and, unless I greatly mistake, it is the same also in the pre-
sent fiction. His commentator Servius ind(^ed very sensibly gives us a
clue to the enigma by affirming, that the whole fable, of Aristeus plunging
beneath the waves, and entering into the sacred cavern to converse witii
his mother, was entirely borrowed from the theology of Egypt. In this
supposition I believe him to be right; though, in strict propriety of speech,
the story was no more built upon the Egyptian superstition than upon that
of any other country : for, as we have invariably seen, the same system of
religion was equally established in every part of the heathen world.
Peneus was one of the many sacred rivers of antiquity. The description
of the cavern is taken from the nymphfean grotto and its subterraneous
stream. All rivers are represented as originating from it; just as, in the
Zend-Avesta, the holy river and all other subordinate waters are exhibited
as flowing from the Arg-Roud, while it rests at the close of the deluge on
the summit of mount Albordi. Within its recesses, the universal father
Ocean is venerated vvith libations from the Argha or navicular cup of the
arkite Bacchus : and the whole grotto, like the interior cell which in the
^Mysteries represented Elysium, is illuminated with a lambent central fire.
The passage into the cave is only through water : and we know, that this
was one of the trials, which were exacted from those that were initiated
into the Mithratic Orgies. Another delineation of the sacred grotto is
presented to us in the marine cave of Proteus. This ocean prophet is no
220 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
Other than the great father: his numerous transformations allude to the
sceiiical metamorphoses of the Mysteries : and his whole discourse respect-
ing the infernal regions is perfectly in character with him, as the univer-
sally acknowledged god of the dead.
But it is time that we attend to his directions for producing anew swarm
of bees, which is the very jut of the entire story from beginning to end.
Here let us take Porphyry for our guide. In his treatise on the Homeric
cave of tiie Nymphs, which cave is clearly the prototype of the Aristean
grotto, he tells us, that those divine females, whom the Latin like the Greek
poet describes as occupied in weaving, are human souls about to be born
into the 'World. These souls the ancient mythologists called bees : and, as
Proserpine or the infernal Moon was the reputed female principle of gene-
ration, she was likewise denominated a bee ; and from her the priestesses
of the infernal Ceres Avere distinguished by the same title, doubtless as
the mystic representatives of the Nymphs. But the souls, which were
born out of the grotto, wcrC also said to be born from a door in the side
of the Moon : and this IMoon was not only styled a bee, but likewise a
heifer. Hence, Porphyry observes, bees were fabled to be produced from
a heifer : and souls, advancing to the birth, were mystically described in
the very same manner and under the very same appellation. For this
reason, he adds, honey was made a symbol of death ; and libations of honey
were wont to be poured out to the infernal gods. He then proceeds to
notice, in connection with his subject, the high antiquity and general pre-
valence of worship in caverns ; that is to say, such caverns as those which
concealed the Nymphs or bees or souls about to be born into the World '.
And now we may plainly enough perceive the drift of Virgil's curious
mythological story; which perfectly accords with the received character
of the Arcadian shepherd Arisl6us, as drawn at the commencement of this
discussion from other sources: we may now safely acquit him of any vio-
lation of that poetic canon, which at the first view he inigiit seem to have
so lightly disregarded. He had a knot to untie, which indeed required the
aid of a divinity : for, under the form of an apologue, he was delivering
• Porpli. de ant. nympli. p. 260— 2G2.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 221
the most abstruse Mysteries of ancient theology ; he was treating of no less chap. vu.
important a subject than the general destruction of the human race, and
their subsequent reproduction from that wonderful vessel which Avas in-
differently symbolized by a cavern or a heifer or a divine prolitick female
or a flouting Moon.
So deeply indeed is the poet impressed by his theme, and so well did
he know the profound veneration in which the bee was held by the initi-
ated, that, even before he enters upon his fairy-tale and while he is pro-
fessedly delivering a mere lecture to apiarists, he cannot refrain from
throwing out some anticipatory hints of what is to follow. In the genuine
s|)irit of the old mystical philosophy, which taught that all human souls
were excerpted from the essence of the great father and that at each mun-
dane revolution they were again absorbed into that essence, he remarks,
that such was the peculiar nature of bees, that they might well be deemed
an emanation from the divine mind. For, however short the life of an
individual insect, the race itself was immortal : and, as all human souls
spring from the great father, so all bees are generated from that single bee
which was anciently denominated their king. He then at once launches
out into the system, which formed the very basis of pagan mythology.
A supreme uitclligait numcn pervades the Universe. From him both
flocks, and herds, and 7)ien, are alike produced : and into him again every
thing is finally resolved. Death has no real existence: for, by a perpetual
revolution, whatsoever is possessed of l/J'e migrates only froju one state of
being into another, mounts to its proper sidereal abode, and is at length
swalloyed up in the profundity of high heaven '.
Throughout the whole of this curious passage, in the precise symbolizing
humour which is so fully explained by Porphyry, the mythological poet
speaks of bees under a covert phraseology, which properly applies only to
the new-born souls of the Mysteries.
3. After the Ark rested on the summit of Ararat, to a person, that looked
out from the hatch or window of the vessel, the top of the mountain would
exhibit the appearance of an island ; and, as the waters further abated so
» Virg. Georg. lib. iv. ver. 206— ?27.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. that the neighbouring peaks of Armenia emerged from beneath them, the
retiring deluge, becoming what seamen term landlocked, would resemble,
so far as the eye could reach, a spacious lake studded with numerous islets.
The top then of Ararat would be deemed an immoveable island, and would
be viewed as the happy termination of a voyage from one World to
another.
But there would naturally be associated with it a second island of a
totally different description. The Ark had long floated in an erratic state
on the surface of the all-prevailing ocean, bearing the relics of the old and
tiie rudiments of the new World : hence, by a familiar and easy figure of
speech, that enormous vessel would obviously be denominated a fioat'ing
kland; and, as it ceased to float after its appulse, it would be celebrated
as an island, which had once wandered about at the mercy of the winds
and waves, but which afterwards became immoveably fixed '.
The garden however of Paradise, as it was rightly and universally be-
lieved, coincided geographically with Ararat; and the Ark finally rested on
the summit of tliat mountain. Such being the case, both the insular peak
and the once floating island would be esteemed Elysian islands, or fortu-
nate islands, or islands of the blessed, or islands where pious souls that
passed from one World to another were destined ultimately to disembark:
and, partly from a remembrance of the real origin of these fabled islands
and partly from the astronomical speculations which so intimately blended
themselves with ancient theology, they would be styled, as we actually find
tliem styled, ThebcE or arks and floating AIooiis or lunar islands. They
would also be said, sometimes to be seated in the midst of the vast ocean,
and sometimes to bo separated from the world of the living by tiie infernal
lake or river of deatli. Nor would their association with u holy lake be
solely derived from the appearance exhibited by the retiring deluge: ac-
cording to tlie scriptural account of Paradise and its four rivers, those
• Tlie vast bulk of the Ark would naturally lead to its being deemed an island. If we
reckon the cubit at 18 inches, the burden of this vessel would be 42,413 tons: in other
words, it was equal in capacity to 18 of our first-rate men of war. Hence it would have
carried 20,000 men with provisions for 6 months, besides the weight of IbOO cannons and
all military and naval stores. See llales's Chronol. vol. i. p. 323.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 223
streams must all have issued from a small lake, into which a fifth river, cuap. vu.
termed the river of Eden, had previously emptied itsclt". In reference
therefore to this small pool, every romantic lake, situated in the recesses
of what were esteemed mountains of the Moon, would be reckoned |)ecu-
liarly sacred ; and, as the first families of men in either World were the
hero-gods of the Gentiles, such lakes would be denominated the lakes of
the gods or the lakes of the Sun and Moon.
But there was yet another island, which was intimately connected with
these two, and which thence in old mythology communicated to them cer-
tain ideal attributes strictly belonging only to itself. The ancients either
really knew or arbitrarily fabled, that the whole habitable World, exclu-
sive of the long hidden continent of America, was a vast island. Having
adopted this opinion which happens to be strictly accurate, and having
their minds filled with t>vo other very closely connected islands, they forth-
with blended all the three together, mingled their peculiar attributes, repre-
sented them by common symbols, and personified them jointly under the
character of one hermaphroditic deity. For such a combination they had
many specious reasons. The insular top of Ararat, when it first arose
above the waters which still spread themselves over all the lower regions,
was to the Noetic family a World in miniature, begirt like the greater
World on every side by the ocean : and the Ark, while it floated on the
surface of tlie deluge which overspread the face of the whole Earth, was
certainly, when we view its contents, a complete epitomfe of the World.
Hence both the Ark and the summit of Ararat were deemed a World: and
hence, reciprocally, the Earth was compared to a ship floating on the vast
abyss ; or, in its insular capacity, was considered, agreeably to the ideas
entertained of islands in general, as a huge mountain rising out of the bed
of the ocean. »*>
On these grounds, as we have already seen, the submersion of the ante-
diluvian World was described under the imagery of a lake bursting its
bounds and of an island sinking beneath the waves: while, on the other
liaOii, the voyage and final landing of the Noetic family is exhibited to us,
as the flight of the hero-gods from the rage of the ocean, personified by a
destructive monster, into an island, which at first floats erratically on the
224 THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
surface of the waves, but which afterwards becomes firmly rooted to the
bed of the sea or lake that contains it.
(1.) Such is the naturally deduced theory, by which I account for that
universal persuasion of insular sanctity that so much engaged the attention
and excited the curiosity of the learned and inquisitive Bailly '. I shall
now adduce some instances of the superstition.
One of the most remarkable is that afforded by the Egyptian island
Chemmis, Herodotus informs us, that near Buto there was a deep and
broad lake ; in which, according to the people of the country, fk)ated the
island in question. It contained a large temple, dedicated to Apollo and
furnished with three altars : and its magnitude was such, that a grove of
palm-trees flourished in the soil which covered it, and surrounded the sa-
cred edifice. Herodotus himself did not witness the circumstance of its
floating : but Pomponius Mela asserts, that it really swam, and that it
was impelled in this or in that direction at the pleasure of the winds. The
Egyptians maintained, it seems, that the island did not originally float;
but that it lost its firmness in consequence of Latona taking refuge upon
it, with the infant Horus, from the rage of Typhon*.
The Chemmis of the Egyptians is the Dclos of the Greeks ; and the
story attached to the one is substantially the same as the story attached to
the other. Latona is pursued by the monster Pytlion ; and is unable to
find safety in any part of the earth. At length the floating island Delos
receives her, when she is delivered of the Sun and JNIoon : and the former
of those deities, after he has vanquished his adversary Python, renders the
island stable in gratitude for his preservation. It is to be observed, tliat
Dclos was originally the nymph Astoria, who assumed the shape of a float-
ing island in order that she miglit save Latona'. Cut Astoria was the
Plicnician Astart^ or AbtoreUi : and Astartc was the maritime Venus or
the goddess of the ship. In one particular, the Cireek story is a [)rccise
inversion of the Egyptian : Chemmis is stable at first, and afterwards, when
" See liis Lettres sur I'Atlantide. p. 361.
* Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 156. Tomp. Mel. lib. i. c. 0.
1 Ovid. Mctani. lib. vl. vcr. 3^2. Nonni Dion. lib. x.\xiii. Callim. Hymn, ad Del.
Vfr. 3*— 70. Ilyg. l"ab. 53.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 225
it has received Latona, begins to float; Delos floats at first, and afterwards,
when Python is subdued, becomes stable. It is easy to perceive, that the
same fable has taken tliese two difterent forms merely from two diftereiit
views of the history to which it relates. The arkitc island was originally
fixed; but, when it received the Noetic family, it began to float: this is
tlie Egyptian tale. The arkite island, with the Noetic family, moved in
an erratic state on the surface of the ocean ; but, when the deluge was
subdued, it became stable on the top of Ararat : this is the Greek legend.
Just the same notions are entertained by the Hindoos of the sacred White
Island of the west. It is denominated the Inland of the Moon ; because
the masculine deity of the Moon is thought to have been born there : and
it is believed to have once floated erratically on the sea, ere it ultimately
became fixed. It is also esteemed a Paradise : it is said to have sheltered
its worsiiippers from danger : and it is feigned to be incapable of decay,
never being involved in the ruins of the numerous successive worlds, but
always surviving the shock of each great mundane catastrophe '.
Ideas of a very similar description prevailed among the ancient Peru-
vians. Their sacred lake was the great lake Titiaca ; and they had a tra-
dition, that, when all men were drowned by the deluge, Viracocha emerged
from this holy pool and became the father of a new race of mortals. They
likewise shewed a small island in the lake, where they believed the Sun to
have once hid himself and to have been thus preserved from a great danger
which awaited him. Hence, in the precise manner of the Greeks and the
Egyptians, they built a temple to him upon it, j)rovided it with an establish-
ment of priests and women, and there offered to him large sacrifices both of
men and of animals *.
Similar speculations united with a similar mode of worship prevailed
among the Druids of Britain and GauL Hu or Noc, who is celebrated as
the father of all the tribes of the Earth, is described, as presiding over the
vessel with the iron door which toiled to the top of the hill, and as having
his sanctuary in a holy island surrounded by the tide. Such islands were
■ Asiat. Res. vol. xi. p. 35, 21 , 47, 97, 43, 44, 48. Vide supra book ii. c. 5.
* Purch. Pilg. b. ix. c. 9. p. 874.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 2 F
226 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
believed to have once floated on the surface of the water : and in lakes or
bays of tlie sea, which wanted tliis necessary appendage of superstition,
the hierophants seem to have constructed a kind of rafts or floats in imita-
tion of them. There was formerly one of these artificial islets in the middle
of Pemble mere, and another In a small lake situated among the mountains
of Brecknock; as may be plainly enough collected from legends respecting
certain wonderful islands in each of those pieces of water, which are now no
longer in existence. Giraldus Cambrensis mentions a lake in the recesses
of Snowdon, remarkable for a wandering island, concerning which some
traditional stories were related : and Camden thinks, that it may still be
recognized in a pool called Llyn y Dyxearchen or the lake of turf, from
a little green moveable patch of ground which floats upon its bosom. Of
what nature these traditional stories were, may easily be conjectured from
the circumstance of Snowdon being made by the Druids the place of the
Ark's appulse after the deluge. Another floating island was ascribed to
Loch Lomond in Scotland : and Camden observes, that many legendary
stories were told of the other islands, with which it is studded. Each of
these moveable rafts was deemed a sanctuary of the ship-god Hu : and
Taliesin describes them, as provided with a strong door, as mounting upon
the surface of the waves, as surrounded by a mighty inundation, and as
■wandering about from place to place. But the Druids had also sacred
islands of a dift'ercnt description, which were evidently viewed as copies of
the insular Ararat rising above the waters of the deluge. These were vari-
ously denominated the rock of the supreme proprietor, the chief place of
tram/uillity, the landing-stone of the bards, and the harbour of life:
and their mystical import is very uneciuivocally shewn in the British rites
of initiation ; for the aspirant was set afloat in a small coracle, and after
encountering the dangers of a mimic deluge was finally landed upon a rocky
precipitous island or [)rojccting promontory'.
(2.) Trom these lakes and islands, which arc attended by traditions that
clearly point out the nature of the worship celebrated in them, I may
proa cd to others, .whicli are not quite so distinctly marked, but which
• Daviess Mytliol. p. 120, 15*, 155, 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 145.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 227
the general analogy of superstition requires us to ascribe to the same ckap. vu.
class.
Foremost of these I may notice the sacred lake and floating island of the
Italian Cotyle. The wandering Pelasgi, we are told, were directed by an
oracle to shape their course to the western land of Saturn ; where, in a
lake, they should find a floating island. Obedient to the command, they
proceeded in quest of the familiar sanctuary ; and, at length, discovered the
pool and islet of Cotyle '.
There was another sacred lake of a similar nature in Tuscany, now
called Bassanello, but formerly distinguished by the name of the god Vadi-
mon who was the same as Janus or Cronus or Buddha or the great father.
Pliny has given a very full and curious account of it. In his time it was
circular in form like a wheel : and its banks were so exactly uniform and
regular, without any curvatures or projections of the shore, that it seemed
as if excavated by the hand of art. The colour of the water was of a light
azure green, and the smell was sulphureous. The lake itself was deemed
sacred, doubtless to the god whose name it bore ; and no profane vessel
sailed upon it : but several islands, covered with reeds and rushes, floated
upon its surface. The borders of these were worn away, in consequence
of tlieir being frequently driven both against the shore and against each
other. They were all of about the same height ; and their bottoms gra-
dually sloped away, like the keel of a ship. This peculiarity of form niigiit
be clearly observed on every side through the water, in which they were
suspended. Sometimes they appeared to be locked together in one com-
pact mass ; at other times, tliey floated separately. A small island was
frequently seen swimming after a larger one, like a boat after a ship.
Wlien they drifted to the shore, cattle would often unguardedly advance
upon them in quest of pasture; and would afterwards be not a little
alarmed to find themselves, by the insensible recession of what tliey stood
upon, surrounded by water. But the wind would soon drive them back ;
and that so gently, that their return was as little felt as their departure *.
' Dionys. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. i. c. 15, 19. See also Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iii. c. 12.
» Piin. Epist. lib. vJii. epist. 20.
228 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
The accurately defined shape of the lake Vadimon was probably effected
by art : and the object was to procure the figure of a ring or circle, which
the ancient mythologists so peculiarly venerated. Of this form was the
small consecrated lake, named Trochoides, in the once floating island of
Delos : of this form also was the lake at Sais, on the vvaters of which were
nocturnally celebrated the Mysteries of the deceased yet regenerated Osiris:
and of this form is the holy lake at EUora, M'hich from its reputed sanctity
and wonderful excavations may well be termed the Thebes of Hiiidostan.
The last mentioned pool is situated in a mountainous country ; and, agree-
ably to the prevalent usage of Gentilism, it contains a small island in its
bosom, while a montifonn pyramid or pagoda rises aloft upon its bank,
and while the neighbouring rocks are scooped into an infinite number of
sacred caverns '.
This lake is doubtless a lake of the gods, agreeably to a phraseology
equally familiar to the Mexicans and the Hindoos. Such was the appella-
tion bestowed by the former upon their holy lake : and such is the appel-
lation, by which the Brahmens still alike distinguish the lake in the southern
Meru at the head of the Nile, the lake in the northern Meru at the head of
the Ganges, and the lake in the high mountainous country at the head of
the Oxus '. With a similar idea, they denominate lake Baikal the holy
sea, and consider all the adjacent country as sacred : whence it is even yet
occasionally visited by pilgrims '. From lakes the name passed to islands,
but still with the same palpable reference to the ancient hero-worship.
Thus Britain was deemed the peculiar island of Hu and Ceridwen : thus
the islets on the coast of Scotland wcie all dedicated to dillerent deities :
thus a small island near Bombay yet bears the appellation of (he islaml of
the gods*: and thus Apollonius llhodius gives to Vulcan or Plitha, the
great architect of the navicular world, a marvellous floating island for his
work- shop '.
» Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 170, 171. Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 389— 423. Plate oppos. p. 416.
» Asiat. Hcs. vol. iii. p. 56, GO, 89. vol. viii. p. :i27— :i'29. .-JSO, .331.
■■ AeiaU Res. vol. viii. p. 332. ♦ Moor's Hiiul. rantli.p. 335.
^ Apollon. Argon, lib. iii. vcr. 41— '13.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV^ 229
4. As the waters retired from the high land of Ararat, that mountainous chap, vn,
region would form the circle of the visible horizon : and, if we suppose the
Ark to have grounded on a lofty plain or tract of table-land which would
give it a position the most convenient for its navigators, the aspect of the
country would be that of a circular plain surrounded by a ring of hills.
But the top of Ararat, as we have already seen, was reputed to be a World
of itself, until the rest of the Earth or the greater World had emerged from
beneath the deluge. Hence the ring of hills, which bounded the horizon,
would of course be deemed the circle of the World.
Such precisely is the idea, which the Hindoos entertain of their holy
mountain IMeru. Notwithstanding they ascribe to it three supereniinent
peaks, in allusion to the two horns of the floating Moon and the great
father standing as a mast between them, they likewise represent its summit,
as a large circular plain surrounded by a rim of smaller hills. This they
term Ila-vratta or Ida-vratta, which denotes the circle of the JForld; and
they consider it as a Paradise or celestial Earth. It is similarly denomi-
nated and similarly venerated by the Thibetians, the Chinese, and the
Tatars : while the Buddliists, viewing it with equal devotion, style it the
ring of Sakya or Buddha; a title substantially the same as Ida-vratta, for
the great father Buddha is said to have been the consort of Ida '.
This high plain and circle of mountains may be traced not obscurely in
the mythological systems of other nations.
The Greeks had their Olympus : and, in plain reference to the imagined
form of the holy hill, when they were about to build a city, they marked
out a circle and called it Oli/mpus. The Romans did the same ; styling
the ring, which they had described, Mundus or the JForld. The Phrygians,
the Cretans, and the Goths, had each a consecrated Ida : and, as the top of
the Phrygian mount was denominated (rrt/-^ a;- or the mountain of the circle *,
so the Gothic Ida is represented as a lofty plain rising in the centre of the
Earth and tenanted by the hero-gods. Sucii a notion was certainly brought
' See Plate III. Fig. 21.
* Gargarus I take to be the Sanscrit compound Cnr-Ghari. The name, together with
the name o{ Ida, was brought by the Indo-Scythic Iliensians from the region of mount
Meru.
230 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
by their ancestors from upper India : for the Scythians are exhibited by
Justin as saying, that their native country, which was the high land of
Meru or Cashgar or Bokhara, is an elevated spot, which towers above the
rest of the World, and from which rivers flow in all directions '. But the
most complete transcript of the Indian Ila-vratta is to be found in Peru.
Upon twelve mountains, that surround the city of Cusco, there were twelve
stone columns dedicated to the Sun and answering to the twelve months of
the vear. Now this ring of mountains, each crowned with a pillar, was
clearly, I think, consecrated with the same idea, as that which produced
the imaginary or rather perhaps the literal circle of hills that surround the
plain of Ida on the summit of Meru '.
In each case that has been considered, the mystic ring was the circle of
the World. Such however was not its exclusive character. As it was
placed on the top of Ararat, as the World and the Ark were venerated in-
terchangeably under the character of the great mother, and as the Ark
rested on the high ground of the very mountain which was crowned by the
holy ring : the circle was thought to represent the inclosure of the Ark, no
less than the periphery of the Universe. Hence we find, that Ila or Ida,
by whose name the circle is distinguished, though the word itself literally
signifies the JForld, is yet described as the wife and daughter of Menu or
Buddha who was preserved in an ark, and is palpably the same personage
as Isi or the diluvian ship Argha. Hence also, in plain allusion to the Ida-
vratta, the sacred models of that ship are sometimes made of a round figure ;
though it is acknowledged, that the legitimate form is oval or navicular.
And hence the Druids were wont to call the mystic circle of Stonehcnge,
which was an artificial copy of the ring of Ida, the Ark of the ll'otid;
most curiously expressing the double idea in a single pliruse.
5. The land of Ararat was no less the scite of the antediluvian Paradise,
than the region of the Ark's appulse. From tliis circumstance, groves and
gardens were used as places of vvorsliip, and were perpetually associated
with mountains, caverns, and islands. Enough has already been said
• Asiat. lies. vol. viii. p. 311—310. Edda. Tab. vii. Just. Hist. lib. ii. c. 1.
^ I'urch. rilgr. b. ix. c. 12. \\ 885.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 231
respecting the universality of that custom : I am now cliiefly concerned in
shewing, that such was its origin.
(1.) Of the holy groves or gardens, devoted hy the idolatrous Gentiles
to the celebration of their Mysteries, Isaiah speaks in three very curious
passages, which throw a strong light on this part of old mythology. In
the first he represents the apostate Israelites, as being ashamed on account
of their consecrated oaks, and as being confounded for the gardens which
they had chosen '. In the second, he exhibits them, as sacrihcing in the
gardens, as burning incense on the tiles w Inch formed the flat roofs of their
houses and which served them for domestic high-places, as dwelling in the
sepulchres, as lodging in the caverns, and as exclaiming in the course of
their idolatrous rites. Keep to thyself, come not near ine, for I am holier
than thou *. And, in the third, he describes certain of the Gentiles, as
purifying themselves in the gardens behind one tree of peculiar sanctity
which was planted in the midst, and as eating the flesh of swine and the
abomination and the mouse '.
The central tree, to which the prophet alludes in the third passage, is that
holy tree of immortality, which makes so conspicuous a figure in the my-
thological systems of the east, and which is not altogether unknown in those
of the west. According to the Hindoos, it flourishes in the midst of the
Paradise of Indra : and in reference to the fabled recovery of life by the
landing out of the Ark in the precise country of Eden, it is said to have
been one of the precious jewels recovered from the deluge. The Burmas
divide the world into four great islands, answering to the four principal
leaves of the mundane lotos : and in each island they place its own conse-
crated tree, while in the centre of them rises their Mienmo or Meru. This
is a mere multiplication of the original single island of the World : and, ac-
cordingly, they sometimes rightly place their holy tree Zaba where it ought to
' Isaiah i. 29. * Isaiah Ixv. 3, 4, 5.
' Isaiah Ixvi. 17. Bps Lowth and Stock render behind one, as it stands in our transla-
tion, after the rites of Achad, under which name the solar unity was venerated in the ejist.
This version produces very good sense, and I had onee incHned to adopt it : but a more
attentive consideration of the passage induces me to doubt its propriety and to adhere to
our common Enghsh translation.
232 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
be placed, namely in the centre of mount Mienmo ; which their Buddhic
brethren of Thibet, in reference to the garden of Paradise, decorate with
the heads of four animals, and describe as the lofty region whence four
rivers are seen to flow to the four quarters of the World. The tree of Hin-
dostan, Siam, and Thibet, is clearly the sacred ash of Gothic mythology ;
which is planted in the midst of the Idh&n city of the hero-gods, which
overshadows both the city and the whole world with its widely-spreading
branches, and under which the deities assemble every day to administer
justice. It is the same also as the tree with golden apples, which rose con-
spicuously among the other trees in the garden of the Hesperides, and
under which Hercules is sometimes represented as standing while a serpent
coils round its trunk. And it is the same too as the tree of knowledge,
which the ancient Celts associated with their Ogham or Macusan, and
from which they believed every science to emanate '. In fact, the two
ideas of life and of knowledge were blended together in this central tree,
which held so eminent a place in the sacred gardens of the Gentiles : and
it was doubtless in reference to it, that the ancients, as we learn from Pliny,
used groves for temples ; and that, even in his days, the most conspicuous
tree of the holy inclosure was peculiarly dedicated to the deity of the place *.
Such then was the tree, w hich Isaiah describes as being in the midst of the
consecrated gardens : and the necessary inference is, that the gardens
themselves were copies of the primeval garden of Paradise.
These central trees are the oaks, I ap[)rehend, which, in the first-cited
passage, he mentions in conjunction with, though distinctly from, the holy
gardens : conjointly, because each garden had its preeminent oak ; dis-
tinctly, because this tree in the midst was reputed to be of special sanctity.
I need scarcely observe, that tlic mouse and ti>e sow were considered as
sacred animals ; insomuch that from the word Mas some woukl even de-
rive the terms Mustes and Musterioii, as tlie Greeks write Mysta and
Mijxter'iiun : I sliull rather hasten to oiler a few remarks on the second
passage, which has been adduced from the writings of Isaiah.
Here the imitative gardens are, with tlie strictest mythological accuracy,
• See Vullancey's Vind. p. 86— Q*. ^ VWn. Nut. Hist. lib. xii. c. 1.
THE ORiqilf or PAPAN IPOLATRY. 233
joined to the high-places, the sepulchral grottos, and the oracular caverns, chap, vn
The worship of the great father, as we have repeatedly seen, was of u fune-
real nature : and, as the floating Moon was deemed his coftin, so the holy
grotto was said to be his sepulclu'e. When he entered into it, he descended
into the mystic Hades : when he quilted it, he was restored to life or was
born again from the grave. Hence the most ancient literal sepulchres were
either natural caves or artifical grottos, which perfectly resembled those
caves and grottos that were devoted to the rites of the transmigrating great
father. On this account, Isaiah truly represents the aspirant grove-wor-
shippers, as dwelling in the sepulchres and as lodging or sleeping in the
caverns. The latter practice, as Bp. Lowth rightly observes, is adduced
by the prophet in reference to the very old superstition of sleeping within
the precincts of one of these consecrated places, in order to obtain oracular
dreams. Of this he adduces an appropriate instance from Virgil, though
be unfortunately omits one of the most essential parts of that learned poet's
description. Latinus wishes to consult the oracle of Faunus. For this
purpose he goes to a holy grove in the precincts of the lofty Albunea, so
called from Albunea or Leucothea or the White goddess, through which a
sacred fountain rolls its mephitic waters. Here, when the various tribes of
Italy sought oracular information, the officiating priest was accustomed to
wrap himself up in the skins of slaughtered sheep and to gain the desired
response in the deep visions of the night. The usual method is pursued
by the king : and the usual success attends his high daring '. Virgil de-
scribes neither an imaginary place, nor an imaginary superstition : for
Strabo mentions, that there was a sacred hill in Daunia with an oracular
chapel, where those, who wished for a response to their questions were used
to slay a ram and to sleep in its skin *. Nor was the custom confined to
Italy : the oracle of Amphiaraus in Attica was consulted in precisely the
same manner, as we are assured by Pausanias ' ; and the fabulous Brute is
described by Geoffrey of Monmouth, as sleeping for a similar purpose on
the skin of a hind *. This old writer, however wild his fictions may be, is
• Virg. iEneid. lib. vii. ver. 81 — 95.
» 8trab. Geo. lib. vi. p. 284. See also Lye. Cassand. ver. 1047— -1055. and Tzetz. in loc.
' Pau«. Attic, p. 65. * Galf. Monemut. de orig. ct gesu Brit. lib. i.
Pag,. Idol. vot. III. 8 G
234 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRy.
•ooK V. at least accurate in thus exhibiting an ancient British superstition, which
perfectly corresponds with the similar rite of Greece, Italy, and Palestine.
The identical ceremony, to which Isaiah alludes (as Bp. Lowth remarks,
and as St. Jerome had remarked many ages ago), prevailed among the
Celtic highlanders of Scotland, save only that the skin of a bullock was
used instead of the skin of a ram. In this the person, who wished to pry
into futurity, was wrapped up; and then laid beside a water-fall, or at the
bottom of a precipice, or in some other wild situation where the scenery
around suggested nothing but objects of horror. Here he confidently waited
for the afflatus of the demon '. Isaiah concludes his description of the
garden and cav«rn Orgies by presenting us with the formula ; which, it ap-
j)ears, was ordinarily used at the time of their celebration : Keep to thyself,
. come not near me, for I am holier than thou. It is almost superfluous to
remark, that this is the identical formula of the officiating hierophant in
the ancient Mysteries ; and tiiat the idea associated with it is the precise
idea which was entertained respecting the benefits of initiation. Begone,
ye profane ; close the doors against all the impure together, was always the
preliminary injunction of the Archimage : and, as those that were without
were deemed unholy, so the regenerated were thought to acquire a peculiar
degree of sanctity by the austere trials to w hich they were subjected.
(2.) The sacred groves or gardens were often of extraordinary beauty,
thus designedly corresponding with that primeval garden which they all
equally represented. Such was the grove of Amnion or Osiris in one of the
Oases of Africa. The consecrated halntation of the deity, says Quintus
Curtius, incredible as it may seem, rtas situated in the midst of a rast de-
sert ; and it zvas shaded from the sun by so luxuriant a vegetation, that the
solar beayns could scarcely penetrate through the thickness of the foliage.
The groves were watered by meandering st reams, which fhnved from numer-
ous fountains : and a wonderful temperature of climate, 7'esemhling most of
all the delightful season of spring, prevailed through the whole year with
an equal degree of salubrity*. Very similar is the description, which Vii-
• Sec Scotl'6 Lady of tlie lake. cant. iv. .and note ou stanz. -t. j <
* (iuiiit. Curt. lib. iv. c. 7.
THE ORIGIN or PAX>AN IDOLATRV. 235
gil gives of the Elysian fields or the fortunate islands. Nor was this done ciur. vn
accidentally : every sacred grove was a copy of Elysium, as every holy
cave was a transcript of Hades; but the prototype of Elysium itself was
the insular Paradise of mount Ararat '.
II. Such were the primitive sanctuaries of the Gentiles ; sanctuaries all
furnished by the hand of nature, with the exception of the rafts (if rafts
they were) covered with turf and designed to imitate floating islands. All
history attests, that the first places devoted to idolatrous worsliip were lofty
mountains, gloomy caverns, deep groves, and small islands washed either
by the « aters of a sacred lake or the stream of a holy river or the billows
of the wide-extending sea. How the notion of peculiar sanctity came to be
attached to them, has been shewn at large : we must now proceed to con-
sider those artificial temples, which can scarcely be said to have ever super-
seded them, though doubtless some ages elapsed previous to their general
construction.
Of these, however modified, the natural sanctuaries must be viewed as
the palpable rudiments. The more modern works of art were but mere
copies of the more ancient works of nature. Every idea, which we have
seen distinguishing the latter, equally distinguishes the former : and in
many instances the imitation, which I suppose, is expressly and unre-
servedly acknowledged.
I. Whenever the early idolaters, in the course of their migrations, hap-
pened to occupy a flat country, they would be precluded by the nature of
the place from solemnizing their rites on the top of a lofty hill : if there-
fore they wished to retain them, art must supply the deficiency. This
would be done, either by throwing up a large tumulus of earth or by build-
ing a temple in the form of a mountain, which should rise conspicuously
above the surrounding plain : and, when once such a practice was adopted,
it would hereafter be carried not unfrequently into countries where it was
realty superfluous. Here then we have the origin of the artificial hillock
and of the gigantic pyramid or pagoda. Whether round or square, such
constructions were invariably copies of Ararat or JMeru : they were hi"h
* J^ac'uL lib. vi. ver. 637—681.
236 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
sooK V. places devoted to the reigning superstition, and they were raised by the
labour of man to supply the local deficiency of nature.
If this were no better than a mere conjecture, it would at least be a pro-
bable one ; because it would exactly quadrate with the general principles
of idolatry : but it is no conjecture ; we have the most positive declarations
of the reality of the circumstance.
Various opinions are entertained among the Brahmenists and the Budd-
hists respecting the shape of the holy mountain Meru. It is represented,
sometimes as a cone, sometimes as a huge barrel or round pillar or trun-
cated cone, sometimes as a square pyramid, and sometimes as a pyramid
with seven stages or steps, that is to say, as a pyramid composed of eight
squares placed one upon another which successively diminish in size from
. the bottom '.
We may readily perceive, that the form of a truncated cone is occa-
sionally preferred, in order that its flat circular top may exhibit the Ida-
vratta or circle of Ida : and, with respect to the other alleged shapes, the
cone displays a perfect resemblance of the artificial round tumulus ; the
square pyramid is the exact figure of the pyramids of Egypt and the pago-
das of Hindostan ; and the pyramid with seven stages presents the complete
similitude of the sacred Babylonian tower, which was dedicated to the great
father Belus.
Accordingly, the Hindoos plainly tell us, that all such montiform erec-
tions are studied transcripts of Meru. Wc read in their books, of princes,
who raised mountains of gold and silver and precious stones : some, three ;
others, only one. And wc are told, that, when a single pyramid was raised,
it was intended sim])ly to represent Meru ; but, when three were con-
structed, they were meant to exhibit the three peaks of that holy mountain.
Thus, at Samath near Benares, there is a conical pyramid of earth finislicd
with a coating of bricks, which was built by a king of Gaur or Bengal :
and, in the inscription found there some years ago, it is declared to have
been raised as a copy of mount Meru '. Thus also other Hindoo princes
* Asiat. Res. vol. viii. p. 260, 290, 291, 320, .S.52. Sec Plate III. Fig. 10.
* Asiat. Res. vol, viii. p. 260, 291. vol. x. p. laS.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. '2'37
were formerly fond of throwing up mounds of earth in the same conical chap. vu.
shape, which they venerated like the primeval IMcru, and on which the
gods were called down by spells to come and dally. They are ordinarily
sty\cd Alcrusringas ov peaks ofJMcru : and, besides that which I have
just noticed at Samath, tiiere are no less than three more either in or near
Benares '. So universally indeed is this imitation acknowledged, that in
almost every Bengalese village, particularly towards the Sunderbunds,
there is an earth-raised transcript of tiie worldly temple of IMeru ; on the
summit of which the image of some favourite deity is placed, during stated
festivals, in a small portable sluine or temple. These fabrics vary in
height from five feet to twenty feet, according to the circumstances and
zeal of the villagers : but they arc all equally considered as representations
of mount Meru *.
We are further informed, that Meru is the mundane temple of the great
deity of Hindostan, where he resides embodied in a human form ; and that,
as such, it is likewise the temple of the Trimurti or the three subordinate
divinities into which he multiplies himself Here they jointly dwell on its
summit, either in a single temple or in a three-fold temple or rather in
both one and the other : for, as they are both three and one, so their
mountain-temple is likewise both three and one, the mountain itself being
single but terminating in three peaks. On this account, Meru, viewed as
the most sacred temple of the great universal father producing out of liis
own essence the three younger patriarchs, is generally, we are assured,
typified by an artificial cone or pyramid, with either a single chapel or with
three chapels on its top, and either with steps or without them '.
Agreeably to such a professed mode of representation, whatever notions
are entertained of Meru, the same are also entertained of the imitative
tumuli or pyramids. Thus, as Meru is deemed a symbol of the masculine
principle of fecundity; so every pyramid is considered as a phallus: as
Meru rising out of the mundane lotos is an image of Siva standing in tlie
midst of the ship Argha ; so every pyramid is equally an image of the self-
• Asiat. Res. vol. vlii. p. 290, 291. * Asiat. Res. voi. x, p. 134, 135.
' Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 128. See Plate III. Fig. 7> 8.
238 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRIT.
»»oK V, same god : and, as Meru is said to be the tomb of the great father ; so
every pyramid is also said to be his tomb, and is feigned to hold a portion
of his relics, inasmuch as it is an avowed copy of the mundane temple of
the deity which is the tomb of his first embodied form".
"We have now obtained a clue for the right understanding of the object,
vith which so many tumuli or pyramidal buildings have been constructed
in difterent parts of the world : nothing more therefore is necessary than
to atlducc examples; and it will be found, as we proceed, that every in-
stance serves to shew the truth of what the Hindoo divines have told us on
the matter.
(1.) When the children of Noah left the high land of Armenia, they
journeyed until they reached the tlat country of Shinar. During tlieir pro-
gress, or possibly before they quitted mount Ararat, the ambitious Nimrod
at the head of his enterprizing Cuthites accustomed them to submit to his
rule, and laid the foundations of that idolatrous apostasy which he after-
■wards completed at Babylon. Noah and the three great fraternal patri-
archs were now dead : and I am strongly inclined to suspect, that, even
before the emigration from Armenia, the worship of the true God on the
summit of Ararat was perverted to the w orship or at least to the excessive
veneration of the self-triplicating great father and the vessel out of which
he had been born into the postdiluvian World'.
As his posterity advanced, bearing with them the consecrated model of
the ship which in succeeding ages was esteemed the ark or ship or Argo
or Artrha of Bacchus or Ceres or Osiris or Siva ; they would at every halt-
in<»-place, so long as they continued in a mountainous country, repeat the
sacrificial rites, which, however debased, originated with Noah himself
immediately after the deluge, by constructing an altar and offering up vic-
tims on tiie top of some studiously chosen hill. But, when at length they
descended into the plain of Sliinar w here nature olfered tiiem no elevated
ground for the purpose of such commemorative rites, either the rites must
henceforth cease to be performed after the primeval manner, or an artifi-
' Moor"« Himl. Panth. p. 399, 15, iG. Aiiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 136. vol. iv. p. 382, 393.
Tol. X. p. I2H, 1'29.
* Ttiii subject will bf discussed licrcafker. Vide infra b. vi. c. 1,2.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 339
cial mountain must be laboriously constructed to imitate the Ararat which euAr. vu.
they liad quitted. Tlie latter part of the alternative was preferred : a huge
tower or pyramid quickly reared its head, at the command of political
superstition ; and I3iibel became the beginning, at once of the mcilitated
empire, and of the determined apostasy, of Nimrod and his Scythic nobi-
lity. That tower in short was the first imitative pyramid: and, as it owed
its rise to the flatness of Shinar, so the defect of the country was remedied
as far as possible by constructing it after the fanciful shape which a wild
mythology early attributed to iVIoru or Ararat.
No mention is made in holy Scripture of any overthrow of the tower,
in the day of the forced dispersion from Cabel ; I am not therefore dis-
posed to give much credit to these gentile legends, which speak of it as
being miraculously beaten down by lightnings and earthquakes and veli!^f'\
nient w inds. ^\'e are merely told, that the children of men desisted froin°j;
building the city, and consequently the tower. Hence it is manifest in-
deed, that the Babylonian pyramid was not completed hy Nimrod: but it
is equally manifest from the very nature of such edifices, which like moun-
tains themselves are peculiarly calculated to resist the inroads of time,
that the unfinished tower, even if wholly neglected, would still subsist for
ages.
On these grounds I think there can be little doubt, that the structure
begun by Nimrod was the identical pyramid, which Herodotus and Strabo
describe as the temple of Bel us. The local situation of each is the very
same: and, if the temple be not the tower, what had become of the gigantic
remains of the latter in the days of Herodotus r I take it, that Babylon,
when the seat of the primeval Cuthic monarchy was removed to Nineveh,
sank, almost deserted, into the condition of a mere provincial town. In
this neglected! state it continued during the whole period of the first Assy-
rian enipire : but, after the second had been divided into the two kingdoms
of Assyria and Babylonia, and after those two kingdoms had again coa-
lesced, Babylon regained its pristine importance; arxl, as Nebuchadnezzar
is said in Scripture to have been its builder notwithstanding its prior edifi-
cation by Nimrod, 1 think it evident, that that prince completed what the
other (we are told) left u/ijiiiished, and consequently that the temple of
240 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. Belus was the original tower now finished according to the design of its
first founder '. Such being the case, the description, which has come down
to us of the temple, will give us a very full idea of the shape of the tower
so far as it was carried up in the time of Nimrod.
Now Herodotus informs us, that the Babylonia temple of Belus was a
vast square building, each side of which was no less than two furlongs in
length : that, in the midst of this sacred inclosure (for so, I think, the histo-
rian must plainly be understood), rose a massy tower of the depth and
height of a single stadium : and that the tower itself was composed of seven
lowers, resting upon an eighth which served as a basis, and successively
diminishing in size from the bottom to the top. The ascent, he says,
wound round it on the outside, thus imitating the circuitous ascent of a
mountain : and, in the last or crowning tower, there was a large temple,
provided with a splendid bed and a golden table *.
It is obvious, that a form like this would, at a certain distance when the
several stages melted into each other, present the aspect of a vast truncated
square pyramid : and, accordingly, such is the name by which Strabo desig-
nates the tower-temple of Belus; adding, that it was built of brick just as
Moses describes the tower of Babel, that its height and its basis each mea-
sured a stadium, that it was ruined by Xerxes, and that Alexander had
entertained the design of repairing it'.
Here then, I apprehend, we have the image of Nimrod's original tower:
and we find it to be an exact copy of mount Meru, according to the notions
which the Buddhists of the east entertain of that holy hill even at the pre-
sent day: for they tell us, that Meru resembles a pyramid, formed by the
imposition of eight successively smaller towers upon each other, and thence
exhibiting to the eye seven peripherous steps or stages ; and they add, tliat
its summit is the mundane temple of the triplicated great father. Thus we
' Compare Gen. x. 8, 9, 10. xi. 1—9. with Dan. iv. 30. and eee below book vi. c. 2.
* HcrotL Hist. lib. i. c. 181. See Plate III. Fig. 10. I have given what I believe to
be the meaning of Herodotus. As Strabo says, that the entrc height of the tower was
only one stadium ; it is absurd to suppose, that such was the altitude of its lowest step
alone,
' Strab. Gcog. lib. xvi. p. 7.38.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGA>f IDOLATRY. 241
arrive at the conclusion, that the pyramidal tower of Babel was a transcript oup. vn.
of Mcru or Ararat, and therefore that it was an iinitativc artificial high
place devoted to the worship of the great father and mother wliich was car-
ried from the plain of Shinar to the uttermost parts of the earth.
With this conclusion the traditions of the Jews remarkably accord : and
I deem them the more worthy of notice, because I strongly suspect that
they were partly learned from the Chaldtians and partly gathered from their
own inspection of tlie temple of Belus during the Babylonian captivity.
Thus the Targum of Jonathan, the Targum of Jerusalem, and the Rabbi-
nical author of the Bereschit Rabbah, all agree in describing the tower as
being crowned with a temple, in which was placed an idol with a sword in
its hand. The same opinion seems to have prevailed among the Gentiles,
among whom some remembrance of the ancient tower had been preserved :
for Josephus cites Hesti^us as saying, that, after the wrath of heaven had
been manifested against the builders of it, such of the priests as were saved
migrated to Sennaar of Babylonia, bearing with them the sacred rites of
Jupiter-Enualius '. If therefore a regular priesthood carried this idolatrous
worship from Babel, it is plain that both the priesthood and the worship
must have subsisted in Babel prior to the dispersion.
The legends again of the Hindoos still lead to a similar conclusion. Every
pyramid is viewed by them as a copy of Meru : but Meru is thought to
symbolize the masculine principle: whence every pyramid is deemed an
hieroglyphic of the same impo''t. Now they have a tradition, that the first
artificial phallus of an immense size was constructed and adored on the
banks of the Euphrates, and that the god to whom it was dedicated was Bal-
Eswara '. This is plainly the tower of Babel, which they justly represent as
the first built pyramid : and Bal-Eswara is the Bel or Belus, who was wor-
shipped on its summit. The word, we are told, denotes Esrcara the infant :
and such a title perfectly accords with the notions prevalent among the old
mytholDgists. It answers to the western title of Jupiter the boy : and it
' Joseph. Ant. Jud. lib. i. c. 4. J 3. By Sennaar we are clearly to understand, not the
plain, but the city of that name.
» Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 135, 136. vol. iv. p. 382, 393.
Pag. Idol, VOL.111. SH
•o"
242 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
sooK V. was doubtless applied to the great father in reference to his allegorical new
birth, which involves the idea of intancy.
(2.) The nanne, by which the Hindoos designate the pyramid of Bal-
Eswara on the banks of the Euphrates, is Padma Mandir or The ianpk of
the lotos : and sometimes, in allusion to the attached college of priests or
sacerdotal students, they likewise call it Pudma-Matha or The lotos college.
Now, by Padma or The lotos, they mean, we find, Padma- Devi or The god-
dess residing on the lotos : and this goddess is Parvati or Isi, who at the
time of the deluge metamorphosed herself into the ship Argha of which
the lotos is a symbol. Such an appellation then as Padma-Jllandir points
out most unequivocally the design with which the tower of Babel was
erected : but it will further serve to elucidate the nature of the Egyptian
pyramids, respecting which so many different opinions have been enter-
tained.
After the building of the first Padma-Mandir on the banks of the Eu-
phrates, certain children of Sharma, who was a son of the ark-preserved
INIenu, arrived, according to the Brahmens, alter a long journey, on the
banks of the Nila. Here, when due honours had been paid to the lotos-
gotldcss, she appeared to their leader, and commanded him to erect a
pyramid for her on the very spot wlicre he tlien stood. His associates
immediately began the work, and raised a lofty pyramid of earth. On this
the goddess took up her residence ; and, like the first pyramid of the Eu-
phrates, it was called from her Padma-Mandir'.
Mr. Wilford conjectures, that the scite of this tumulus was the city,
which by the Greeks was denominated Byblos, and which still bears its
ancient ap|K.'llalion Babel : for Byblos is evidently no otiier than the orien-
tal Babel with a Greek termination suffixed. This is the Egyptian Baby-
lon, as the place was sometimes called : and the very name may itself serve
to prove, that the superstition of the Chaldean city was the identical super-
stition wjjioh was brought to the banks of the Nile. Accordingly, the
remarkable Indian legend now before us makes the pyramid of tiie Egyp-
" Respecting Uiis Egyptian colony of Sliemitcs more will be said hereafter. See below
book vi. c. 5. and Append. Tab. v. in A.P.D. 1003.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATXIT. 243
tian Babel an express copy of the pyramid of the Asiatic Babel; and de- chap. vii.
scribes them as bearing the self-same title oi Padma-Mamlir, because they
were alike dedicated to the worship of the lotos-goddess".
From tliis earliest Egyptian pyramid, the neglected remains of which are
mentioned by Thucydidcs and Stephanus and Ctesias, and which as a pro-
fessed imitation of the Babylonic tower was most probably constructed with
the same peculiarity of form, the other pyramids both of Sakarra and of
Cairo seem to have been borrowed. Agreeably to such a conjecture, one
of the Sakarrine pyramids is built exactly upon the model of the Chaldean
temple of Belus as described by Herodotus : for the two differ from each
other only in the number of gradually diminishing square towers, of which
they are respectively composed. The pyramid of Babel, like the fabled
Meru, rose aloft with eight such towers : the Sakarrine pyramid has only
four of them ; but from its extreme obtuseness we may reasonably conjec-
ture, that it has been left unfinished, and that according to its original design
more towers were to have been added*. On the other hand, the pyramids
of Cairo are built with so many of these towers, and each tower is so low;
that the turret form is lost, and their sides present severally the aspect of
a huge stair-case. The architectural principle however is, in both cases,
evidently the same, however the precise number of steps might vary'.
The Ethiopians of India have preserved a very accurate tradition both
of the origin and the use of the Egyptian pyramids, which 'vere certainly
founded by their Pallic brethren of Africa. A warlike foreign prince con-
quered the whole land of Misra : and his grandson raised three mountains,
or pyramidal fabrics like mountains, of gold, of silver, and of gems*. These
are clearly the three great jjyramids of Cairo : and the manner, in which
they are spoken of, shews unequivocally with what view they were erected.
The three artificial mountains are copies of the three peaks of Meru, agree-
• Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 68, 69, 70. Dr. Slmckforcf, full of the notion that idolatry ori-
ginated in Eg}'pt, fancies that the Babylonic tower of Belus was a copy of the Egyptian
pyramids. The very reverse is the truth, agreeably to the sensible legend of the Hindoos
which perfectly accords with the Mosaical account. Connect, vol. ii. b. viii. p. 221, 222.
» Norden's Trav. vol. ii. p. 13. See Plate III. Fig. 1 1.
» See Plate III. Fig. 13. ♦ Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 226, 227.
244 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
>ooK V. ably to the positive declaration of the Rrahmenical theologists, that all such
triads of pyramids are thrown up with this allusion : and the tale of their
being severally composed of gold and silver and gems is but a repetition of
the story of Indian princes building three Meru-sringas of the like maie-
riais.
There is another legend in the Puranas, which will additionally serve to
explain their use. A victorious king of Egypt, one no doubt of the same
conquering race that subdued the whole kingdom, received assistance from
Isi under the name of Ashtara during the rebellion of his prime minister.
Grateful to his celestial patroness, he built a pyramid in honour of Ashtara-
devi; which, according to the writer of the Purana, was situated near the
river Call or Nila '. This, I take it, is the great pyramid, the summit of
which was dedicated to the ship-goddess Isis or (as the Phenicians called
her) Ashtara or Ashtorath or Astartfe : and I am the more decidedly led
to adopt the opinion from the exactly similar idolatrous arrangement, wliich
took place in the days of Solomon on the top of mount Olivet. That
mountain, as we have seen, is provided with three natural peaks or pyra-
mids; which, like the three artificial pyramids or mountains of Egvpt, were
considered as representing the three peaks of Meru : and, on tlic central
peak, just as I suppose to have been the case with the central pyramid,
was venerated the identical goddess Ashtoreth or (as the Hindoos denomi-
nate her) Ashtara-devi. The resemblance was studiously kept up by art,
so far as the unfavourable nature of the country would allow : for, as the
three Meru-sringas of Olivet are three hillocks rising out of a larger hill,
so tliC three pyramids of Egypt have been industriously built upon the first
hill between Cairo and the western bank of the Nile'.
If any thing more were wanting to ascertain the design with which the
pyramids were constructed, it would be supplied by the positive decision
of the Brahmens; whose theology is so pali)al(ly the same as tiuit of Egypt,
that wc must allow them to be no incompetent judges of lijc matter. "\Vlien
Mr. Wilford described the great pyramid to several very learned Brah-
mens; they declared it at once to have been a temple. His description
• Asial. Reg. vol. iii. p. 167, 168. » Niebulii's Trav. sect. v. c. 2.
THE ORIGIK OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 245
liowever being only pariial, one of them, who well knew the mode in w hich ciup. vii.
their own similar edifices were built, asked if the Egyptian pyramid had
not a communication under ground with the river Cali. It was answered,
that such a passage is mentioned as having formerly existed, and that a
well is at this day to be seen in its interior. Upon this they unanimously
agreed, in exact conformity with the Puranas wliich represent the two pyra-
mids of the two Babels Asiatic and African as high places of the lotos-
goddess, that the great Egyptian pyramid must have been appropriated to
the worship of Padma-devi, and that the supposed tomb in the central
chamber was a trough, which, on certain festivals, her priests used to fill
■with holy water and with the flowers of the lotos '. In absolutely denying
it to be a mythological tomb, I suspect however that they go too far. It
was a stone Argha or Argo ; and it was certainly used for the purposes
which they mention, just as the imitative vessels called Arghas are used
at the present day and as the navicular cups named Paterce were used by
the classical idolaters : but, like the ship Argo of which it was a copy, it
was likewise viewed as the lunar sepulchre of Osiris. The top of the great
pyramid is flat : and it appeals, like the summit of that in Babylon, to
have been employed for the double purpose of an altar and an obser-
vatory.
(3.) From the decision of the Brahmens respecting the Egyptian pyra-
mids, we may obviously conclude that their own pyramids are viewed in
the same light : and, accordingly, as we have already seen, every building
of this form is pronounced to be a copy of Meru.
The most ancient Indian pyramids are supposed to be the pagodas of
Deogur and Tanjore : and the first-mentioned of these are judged, from
their ruder appearance, to be prior to the others. The pagodas of Tanjore
are constructed after the manner of the Babylonian tower with steps or
stages ; but these are very considerably more than seven in number, and
the pagodas themselves are much higher in proportion to their bases than
the pjramids of Egypt*. Those of Deogur are far less elegant, the sides
bulging out in a curve, so as to give them the semblance of ill-fashioned
» Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 229, 230. » See Plate III. Fig. 7, 8,
245 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOIATRT.
square domes : but, in their proportions, they resemble the others '. Th6
tops however of each distinctly point out the design with M-hich they -were
constructed, and prove how truly they are declared by the Hindoos to be
transcripts of Rleru. The chief pagoda of Tanjore terminates in three
peaks, answering to the three peaks of the holy mountain : and those of
Deogur are universally surmounted by what is conmionly denominated the
trident of Siva. Its position on such buildings will at once lead us to under-
stand its import, and will serve to confirm my supposition relative to the origin
of the three fabled peaks of Meru. As the pagodas are avowedly copies of
the sacred hill, the tridents, which are studiously placed on their tops, must
be intended to represent its three peaks. But the shape of each trident is
that of a lunette with a spike rising out of its centre : and the curve of the
lunette rests upon a ball which is placed on the top of the pagoda. Hence,
both from the general tenor of pagan mythology and from the particular
tenor of that which prevails in Hindostan, we may feel assured, that the
trident of Siva is an hieroglypiiic of the floating Moon or the ship Argiia
with the god himself in the centre supplying the place of a mast, and that
the ball upon which it rests is the mysterious navicular egg. Its position
on the summit of an imitative pyramid is just what we might liave ex-
pected, since we are told that each pyramid is a copy of INIcru or Ararat :
the combination clearly represents the Ark on the top of the lunar moun-
tain of Armenia*.
(4.) The temples dedicated to Buddha are equally pyramidal in form
as the pagodas of Deogur and Tanjore, and doubtless for the very same
reason : the Buddhists perfectly agree with the Brahmenists in declaring
them to be copies of mount Meru or Mienmo; and their deity himself is
no other than the transmigrating Menu, who was preserved in an ark at
the time of the general flood.
Tliat, which most attracts notice in Pegu is the temple of Buddha vene-
rated under the title of Sltoc7nadoo or the gulden great god. This extraor-
dinary edifice is built on a double terrace or one terrace raiseil upon ano-
ther. The lower and greater is about ten feet above the natural level of
» See PJate III. Fig. 9. » See Plate lU. Fig. 4, 9.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATHr. 247
the ground : the upper is raised about twenty feet above the lower ; and chap, viu
both are alike square. These terraces arc ascended by fliirhts of stone
steps ; and upon the higher is constructed the temple itself. It is a pyra-
mid composed of brick and plaister with fine shell mortar, octagonal at tiie
base and spiral at the top. Each side of the base measures one hundred
and sixty two feet : and this immense breadth diminishes abruptly, so that
the fabric resembles in shape a large speaking trumpet. Its extreme height
from the level of the country is three hundred and sixty one feet, and from
the top of the upper terrace thirty feet less '.
There are many other temples of a similar construction scattered through-
out the Burma empire, which are universally dedicated to Buddha and
which vary in height from three to five hundred feet. Some are solid, and
some are hollow containing an image of the god : but the natiu'e and
design of them all is the same ; they are all equally copies of mount
Mienmo *.
A parallel style of architecture prevails in Japan : for Ksempfer assures
as, that the temples of Buddha in that country resemble the pagodas of the
Siamites which have just been noticed ; and, accordingly, in a view with
which he presents us of the city of Quano, there is one of these pyramids
surmounted with the lunar crescent representing mount Ararat with the
floating Moon on its summit '.
(5.) Of a similar nature were the artificial montiform temples of the
ancient Scythians and Celts, though more simple in their construction and
therefore approaching more nearly to what they were designed to imitate.
The Crimea and the adjacent country was one of the principal European
settlements of the Scuths, and it is held to the present day by their de-
scendants the Cossacs. In this region, near the road leading to Caffa, a
very remarkable tumulus is shewn as the sepulchre of Mithridates ; but
whici), when we consider the theology and eastern extraction of the Gothic
* AsiaU Res. vol. v. p. 115 — 118. Sytnes's Embass. to Ava. vol. ii. p. 110. See
Plate III. Fig. I*.
* Af iat. Res. vol. vi. p. 293. Ka:mpfer's Japan, b. i. c. 2. p. 32, 33. Symes's Embass.
vol. ii. p. 222, 238.
' Kaerapfer's Japan, b. v. c. 3. p. 417. plate xxxiii. fig. U. See Plate III. Fig. 6. 2.
248 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. tribes, must clearly, I think, be pronounced a local Meru-sringa or Ararat^
The natives call it Altyn-Obo : and they have a tradition, that it contains
a treasure guarded by a virgin, wiio here spends her nights in lamentations.
It stands on the most elevated spot in this part of the Crimea, and it is
visible for many miles round. Its shape is not perfectly conical, but rather
semi-spheroidical : and its sides present that stupendous masonry, which is
seen in the walls of Tiryiis near Argos, where immense mishapen masses of
stone are placed together without cement according to their accidental
forms. The western part is entire, but the others have fallen. Like the
cairns of Scotland, it consists wholly of stones heaped together, as may be
distinctly perceived by looking through the interstices and by examining
the excavations made upon its summit: its exterior however betrays a
more artificial construction, and exhibits materials of greater magnitude.
On the eastern side of it is a pit ; which, if it be not a part of the original
design analogously to the well of the chief Egyptian pyramid and the tanks
of the Indian pagodas, may have been sunk by some person who wished
to penetrate into the interior of this immense pile. Tlie natives have tried
in vain to effect a passage : for the stones tall in upon them as they pro-
ceed, and render their labour fruitless. Yet they have a legend, that an
entrance was once accomplished : and they pretend to describe the interior,
as a magnificent vaulted stone chamber formed by enormous slabs which
seem as if they would crush the spectator '.
So firm a hold did the ancient superstition lay upon the human mind,
that the wild traditions attached to such edifices, which have been handed
down from father to son, are generally built upon the truth : for mythology
in one age becomes legendary romance in another. Every tale respecting
the Altyn-Obo confirms me in my belief, that it was a high place or arti-
ficial Meru. The plaintive virgin is the weeping Venus or Niob^ of mount
Lebanon : and the idea of her nocturnal lamentations has been taken from
the nightly mourning for the lost or slain great father. The story of the
central cliaml)er is borroweil from the circumstance of such apartments
being usually constructed in the middle of artificial pyramids : and I think
* Clarke's Travels, vol. i. c. xviii. p. 425—427.
THE ORIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 249
St highly probable, that one of these rooms actually exists in the heart of chap. vh.
tiie Altyn-Obo ; the access to which, as was loiisji; the case with the gieat
pyramid ol Egypt, still remains concealed, but may herealter be discovered.
At any rate, the prevailing tradition shews, that among the Scythians such
chambers were wont to be constructed in the midst of such edilices. The
notion of this tumulus being the sepulchre of a king serves additionally to
point out its real nature. Similar to it is the fancy, which has lonif ob-
tained respecting the Egyptian pyramids : and the opinion in each case
originated from the same cause ; Meru itself, and thence every imitative
artificial mountain, was deemed, as I shall presently shew at large, the grave
of the great father.
The pyramidal tumulus equally prevailed among the Celts ; of which, to
omit others, the hill of New-Grange in Ireland and Silbury hill in England
furnish striking instances.
Of these the former is an immense pyramid of earth in the county of
^leath, containing in its interior a most curious oviform chamber ; the en-
trance to which was long concealed, not being discovered until the year 1699:
and the latter is a still more stupendous pyramid in Wiltshire, similarly
composed of earth. It stands in front of the Druidical temple of Abury ;
which, from its form, exhibiting as it docs the figure of a snake attached to
a circle, was certainly dedicated to the dragon-god Hu or the serpent
Cnuphis of Egyptian theology. Such vicinity points out very unequi-
vocally the nature of Silbury. It was a hill representing that; which, ia
the Druidical system, was esteemed the bed or grave of the great father, of
which the diluvian Hu was said to be the ruler, and to the top of which the
vessel with the strong door or Ceridwen in the form of a ship was believed
to have been conveyed with infinite toil and labour. The amazing bulk of
it betrays the same painfully fanatical humour, which has produced so
many parallel structures in diflerent parts of the globe. It rises full south
of Abur)-, and it stands exactly between the head and the tail of the enor-
mous mimic serpent. The figure, which it presents, is that of a truncated
cone : whence its top is a circular plain, exhibiting the sacred ring of Ila ',
' Ledwich's Ant. of Ireland, p. 316. Cookeon the patriarch, relig. p. 37, 38. SeePlatelll.
Fig. 17. Plate I. Fig. 5. I suspect, that many of these turauli became in a subsequent ago
Fag. Idol, VOL. III. Hi
250 tHE ORIGIN OF PAOAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. (6.) As the artificial pyramid or hillock was designed to represent ^leru
or Ararat, and as that mountain was an island during the recess of the de-
luge, we shall readily perceive, why such structures were so often thrown
up either on the shore of the sea, or on the banks of lakes and rivers, or in
a small natural island, or in the midst of a factitious inundation. In each
case, the idea was still the same : and the whole of this studied arrange-
ment arose from the circumstances, under which the prototypal mountain
had once been placed. Thus the tower of Babel stood on the banks of the
Euphrates; and the pyramids of Egypt decorate the banks of the Nile.
Thus also the pagodas of Hindostan are built upon the banks of the Ganges
and tlie Kistna; or, if raised at a distance from one of the sacred rivers,
'the bases of the tower-keeps of castles, for which purpose they would be admirably adapted.
Thus the pyramid of the Egyptian Babel was converted into a strong bold, where Inarua
with his Athenian and Egyptian auxiliaries sustained a siege of a year and a half against
the whole Persian army under Megabyzus. Old Sarum, if I mistake not, was one of these
religious fortresses : and it still, rising in successive stages, presents an aspect similar to
that which is ascribed to Meru and which was borne by tiie Babylonic pyramid of Ik-lus.
The idea was very ancient : and, as Meru was sometimes called the holy city of the gods, so
we are not without an example of a literal city being formerly built after its express model.
Such was the Median Ecbatana. A hill was selected lor its scitc ; round which, from the
bottom to the top, were constructed seven walls one within the other, forming seven con-
centric circles. Between the different walls stood the houses : and the round space on the
very top of the hill, which was inclosed within the seventh and smallest ring, was occupied
by the royal palace containing most probably the chief temple or higli place. By this
arrangement, the walls to a distant spectator would appear to rise in steps above eacli
other, and the whole town would present the ap[)earance of an enormous pyramid. We
must not omit to observe, that tlic apparent steps were seven ; whicli is the precise number
of stages ascribed to mount Meru and thence studiously adopted in the construction of the
Babylonic pynmiid. Nor did the evidently designed similitude end here. As the sides of
Meru arc fabled to be tinged with various gaudy colours, yellow, red, white, brown; so
we are told, tluii the walls of Ecbatana were similarly painted each with a difterent colour,
white, black, purple, blue, or yellow. Herod. Hist. lib. i. c. 98. Much the same idea may
be traced in the construction of some of our old castles. In the centre rises tlie keep or
donjon (perhaps the dun-iona or hill of the goddess Yoni or lona) on an artifical mount:
and romid it are built the circling walls of one or more ballia. The castle or palace of the
Median sovereign was encompassed by no less than seven such walls, enclosing betwceu
them (in our western phraseology) six bailies.
THE ORIGIN- OF PAGAN IDOLATUr, 2 1
they have invariably before them huge tanks or reservoirs of water, some chap. vn.
of which are between three and four hundred feet in breadth'. These
are the holy streams of the several countries through which they flow: and
on all of them, as we have already seen, were celebrated the commemora-
tive Mysteries of the great father and mother ; to all of them were attached
some legends relative to Paradise and the deluge and the infernal regions.
I may now proceed to exemplify this branch of the subject by some other
appropriate instances.
One of the most remarkable of these is afforded by the two pyramids,
which are mentioned by Herodotus though they now exist no longer, lie in-
forms us, that the vast artificial lake Moeris was dug by the Egyptian piince
of that name, and that out of the midst of it arose two pyramids each four
hundred cubits in height. The lake however being two hundred cubits in
depth, only half the height of these pyramids appeared above the surface
of the water. They were alike surmounted by a colossal statue in a sitting
attitude, which might appear to survey the wide-extended inundation be-
low *. We have here a complete exemplification of the old Hindoo doc-
trine, borrowed no doubt from the state of Ararat while the deluge was
retiring, that every island is a mountain rising from the bed of the sea. The
two pyramids were certainly meant to represent the two outer peaks of Meru,
such as they are exhibited by the two peaks of Parnassus : and the two
colossal statues, which were in the very same attitude as those near the
Memnonium in the Thebais, were designed, like them, for the great father
and the great mother.
Nearly allied both in form and idea to these pyramids was the chief
Mexican temple of Vitzliputzli. According to Gomara, the sacred in-
closure was square, each side equal in length to the shot of a cross-bow.
In the midst rose a mount of earth and stone, fifty fathoms square. Its
shape was pyramidal, save that the top was flat, which was a square of ten
fathoms. This area was furnished with two smaller pyramids : and from
it there was a striking and extensive view of the lake, by which botij it and
the city were on every side surrounded '. Here we have a Meru exhibit-
• Maurice's Ind. Ant. vol. iii. p. 2]. * Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 101, 149.
» Gomar. apjid Purch. Pilg. b. viii. c. 12. p. 799, 800. See Plate HI. fig. I'i.
252 THE oniGlN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. ing, like Parnassus, only two peaks : we find it begirt with a wide inunda-
tion : and the temple-mount itself perfectly corresponds with the character
of the god, to whom it was dedicated ; for his image was wont to be so-
lemnly carried about by the priests in an ark after the manner of the
Egyptian Ammon or Osiris, and seated in that same ark it occupied the
sacellum of the pyramid '.
Of a similar nature is tl>e pagoda of Seringham, which is built in an
island of the same name formed by two branches of the great river Cauveri
that flows through the dominions of the Rajah of Taujore. The whole
island constitutes the vast pyramid : for tlie temple consists of seven square
mural inclosures one within another, the centrical and loftiest area inclosing
the sanctuaries. It is obvious, that by such an arrangement the island,
gradually rising from its shores to its summit, Mould present to a spectator
at a proper distance the exact fabled aspect of JNleru and the real aspect of
the Babylonian tower of Belus : for the seven square walls, successively
rising according to the shape of the ground, would exhibit the appearance
- of the seven steps or stages attributed to the holy mountain and exempli-
fied in the first-built pyramid on the Euphrates*.
With the same allusion to the deluge in the clioice of situation, a vast
pyramidal mound of earth was thrown up on the sea-shore near the city of
lyre. As we may judge from tlie reigning superstition of tlie country, it
was dedicated to Thammuz and Astartfe who were venerated on the neigh-
bouring lunar hill cf Lebanon. It Mas said to have been constructed by
the earth-born giants ; nor m as the tradition erroneous : for these post-
' That this pyramid was designed to represent a hill, is manifest from its oriental name.
According to l^ernal Di:iz, it was styled the great Cu. But Cu is no otlier tlian tlie Persic
Coh or Can, which denotes a mnitnlain. Thus Co/i-Ciis or ('(nicnsus is l/ie mountain of
Cash. We find this identical name, in an inverted t'orni, among the Peruvians ; who, like
tlicir brethren the Mexicans, must have emigrated from north-eastern Asia. Chsco or
Cmh-Cok is still trie mountain ofCuxfl.
* Ormc's Hist, of Hind, apud Maur. liul. Ant. vol. iiu p. 50, .51. It is almost super-
fluous to remark, that the plan of tliis pagoda exactly resembles that of the Median city
Ecbatana, which I have already noticed. Each was clearly a studied copy of mount Meru.
'J'licre is another pyramidal temple in the Hurman dominions, similarly situated in an island
furtiiui by the- river IrrawaUdcc. See .Symcs's Dmbass. to Ava. vol. ii. p. 2'J2.
THF. ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 253
diuvian giants, who peculiarly claimed to be the children of the great chap. vn.
motiier whetlier described as the Earth or the Moon or the Ark, were the
military tribe of Cush ; and the Phcnicians were an eminent branch of the
Indian Chusas or Ethiopians '.
If we finally pass into the recently discovered islands of the Pacific
ocean, we shall still meet with the same architectural notions as those which
prevailed in other parts of the world.
The great pyramidal Moral of Otaheite, which, agreeably to the specula-
tions of the continental idolaters, is deemed at once a sepulchre and a
temple, is certainly no other tlian an imitative Meru : and it is not impro-
bable, that the very name of Moral may be a corruption of the title by
which the holy mountain is distinguished. This building is a pile of stone-
work raised pyramidally upon an oblong base, two hundred and sixty seven
feet long and eighty seven wide. Like the fabulous Meru and the Bab}'-
lonian tower, it is constructed with steps or stages running round its whole
circumference. Each stage is four feet high : and, as there are eleven of
them, the altitude of the entire pile is forty four feet. It is observable,
that in the two long sides of the edifice the stages are not horizontal, but
all sink in a kind of hollow in the middle ; so that, at the top, the whole
surface from end to end is not a right lir.c, but a curve. The pyramid,
nearly in the manner of the Indian and the Mexican temples, is attached
to a spacious inclosure of which it forms one side : it is surrounded by a
sacred grove : and it is built upon the sea-shore*. When we recollect the
deity worshipped by these islanders, namely a god who is supposed to reside
in an ark of a similar formation to the arks of Ammon and Vitzliputzli ;
we can be in little danger of mistaking the design, with which tliis pyra-
midal temple was erected. It is certainly a local Ararat, studiously built
upon a promontory that juts out into the sea : and, according!}-, its top is
so constructed as to exhibit the appearance of a lunar crescent with two
horns or peaks.
The same con}memorative worship prevails among the natives of Atooi ;
for we find in that island a pyramid, which closely resembles in form tlifi
' Nonni Dionys. lib. xl. p. 1048. * Cook's First voyage, b. i. c. 15.
254 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
»ooK V. pyramids of Egypt As the great Moral of Otaheite is erected near the
sea; so tlie pyramid ot Atooi stands on the bank of a small sacred lake*.
In all these different cases the idea is still the same ; for the sea, the lake,
and the holy river, equally represented the deluge retiring into the great
ab\ss from the arkite mount Ararat.
2. Whenever a sacred mountain was provided witli a natural cave, that
cave was highly venerated as the symbol of the gloomy mundane Ark rest-
ing among the crags and precipices of the Armenian peak*. Hence, if a
local Meva did not furnish the desired grotto, recourse was had to art :
and, with infinite labour, excavations were formed out of the bowels of the
solid rock. The same expedient was resorted to when the mountain was
insular, for each small island towering above the sea was deemed a pecu-
liarly appropriate representation of Ararat. And, when the mountain itself
was artificial as in the case of pyramids and conical tumuli, a centrical
chamber or cavern was studiously formed in the midst of the pale, that so
the resemblance miglit be complete between these imitative JNlerus and their
sacred prototype.
(1.) I'hc many stupendous excavations in widely separated regions of
the globe prove the boundless extent, to which the primeval superstition
spread itself.
Of these several yet remain in the mountainous region of upper India,
Mhich may well be termed the Thebais of that country. Without insisting
upon the probably hyperbolical language of Abul-Fazil, that in his various
excursions among the mountains he personally examined twelve thousand
recesses cut out of the solid rock all ornamented with carving and plaister-
■work, it will be suflicieut for my present purpose to notice the wonderful
tem[)le grottos of EUora. These arc hewn out of the perpendicular face
of a rocky pyramidal hill, which doubtless was viewed as tiie Meru of tiie
place. The several fronts, which they present to the approaching spec-
tator, resemble each other in their square form and in the low doors l)y
whicli admission is gained to the interior. Each exhibits the semblance of
a huge square chest or ark, fast wedged amidst the crags of the mountain,
' Wittaionary voyage to the soutli-sca. * See Plate 111. Fig. 1 8.
THE OniGrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 255
and provided with a low door or doors by no means suitable to the general chap. vii.
raagiiiticence of the cavern : each in Short displays the precise shape ot the
Ark with its small portal, so far as we can gather it from the description
given by Moses*. The dimensions of these artificial grottos are wonder-
fully large : their roofs are supported within by pillars hewn, like them-
selves, out of the living rock : and, amidst a vast variety of elegantly
sculptured images, they are decorated with the statues of Siva and Parvati
in the evident situation of being the presiding deities of the place. Hence
we can have little doubt of the object, with which the excavations were
formed ; since those divinities floated on the surface of the deluge as the
presiding mariner and the ship Argha, and since they afterwards peculiarly
delighted to dwell on the summit of mount Meru. But the title of one of the
grottos may serve to throw further liglit on the nature of the Mysteries,
which were celebrated in their dark recesses. It bears the name oi Cailasa
or Paradise : and Cailasa is that eminently sacred peak of Meru ; which,
as the special habitation of Siva and his consort the Ship, obtains a de-
cided preeminence over the other two peaks. The I'emarkable construc-
tion of this cavern answers to its name : and here it was, I apprehend, that
the aspirant, after passing through the preliminary difficulties of initiation^
was received into the full glory of the illuminated Elysium. The Cailasa
grotto exhibits a very fine front in an area cut through the rock. On the
right hand of the entrance is a cistern of water: and, on eacii side of the
portal, there is a projection reaching to the first story decorated w ith niucli
sculpture and handsome battlements. From the gateway you enter a vast
area cut down through the solid rock of the mountain to make room for an
immense ten)ple of the complex pyramidal form. This temple, which is
excavated from the upper region of the rock and which appears like a grand
building, is connected with the gateway by a bridge, the component stone
of which was purposely left wlien the mountain was thus hollowed out.
Beneath it, at the end opposite the entrance, is a figure of Bhavani or
Argha sitting on the mysterious lotos and attended by two elephants. On
each side behind the elephants are extensive ranges of apartments ; and be-
* See Plate III. Fig. 19,
256 THE ORIGIN- OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
sooK V, yond them, in the area, two obelisks of a square form. The pyramid,
which, as a representation of Merii, is also a symbol of that self-conspicu-
ous image of nature that was exhibited to the epoptas when they entered
into the mimic Elysium, is no less than ninety feet in height from the floor
of the excavated court. Its use was the same, as that of the pliallic cone
which is alike conspicuous in the inner cavern of the Elephanta pagoda
and in the sacellum of the Irish temfjle of Muidhr. In the immediate
vicinity of these excavations, is the small circular lake with the pyramidal
islanil and the neighbouring pagoda, which I have already taken occasion
to notice '. ,
Of a form closely resembling the caverns at EUora are the artificial ]Mi-
thratic grottos in the mountainous part of Persia. They are hewn out of
tlie face of a solid perpendicular rock : and their fronts invariably present
the appearance of a square ark, furnished with a small door, and wedged
fast amidst the precipices of the mountain. One of them is remarkable
tVom its being surmounted by a winged Cupid, the sylphid first-born of
the old Hindoo and Orphic theology, seated upon the diluvian rainbow *.
Analogous to these are the curious excavations of upper Egypt in the
granite mountains denominated Tscltcbat tl Koffcri and Tschabcl Essclscle.
The square front and the low door still present themselves : and within are
spacious saloons and otlier chambers, supported by pillars cut out of the
rock adorned with images and hieroglyphics, and still exhibiting remains of
painting and gilding '.
Similar grottos may be seen near Tortosa to the north of Bcruth and
Tyre, hewn out of the solid rock and surmounted by two j)yraniidal
towers, which were designed to represent the two exterior peaks ot the holy
hill*
• Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 382—423.
* Le Bruyn's Trav. vol. ii. plate 158, IGC, 167. Thovenot's Trav part ii. c. 7.
' Norden's Trav. vol. ii. p. 33, 34', 93, 94'. The theory, wliiili I am advocating, is
strongly corroborated by an incidental remark of Mr. Bruce drawn fVom liliii by the mere
inspection of the Egyptian sanctuaries. Thefie
banks of the lake Moeris, out of which rose the two insular pyramids that
have already been described '. Pliny mentions three other Labyrinths,
besides this of Egypt; one in Crete, a second in Lemnos, and a third in
Italy *. They were all, I believe, constructed for the celebration of the
same gloomy funereal rites. That of Crete was ascribed to Dedalus, who
is said to have lived in the time of Minos ; and it is fabled to have been
the prison of the Minotaur'. Such a legend amply shews the real end
of its construction : for the Minotaur was the semi-bovine symbol of the
great father, and the Ark was esteemed his prison. Eustathius accord-
ingly represents it, as a deep subterraneous cavern, branching out into
many intricate windings : that is to say, it was precisely of the same na-
ture as those in which we know that the Mysteries were ordinarily cele-
brated ♦. It seems, that these edifices were sometimes reputed to have
been the work of the Cabiric Cyclopes, whose fabulous character I have
already discussed at large ' : for Strabo mentions certain caves near Nau-
plia in Argolis denominated Ci/dopha, within which Labyrinths or winding
passages were artificially constructed *. They were anciently, I am per-
suaded, the sacred grottos of the country, where the sepulchral Orgies of
the great father were duly celebrated. According to Diodorus, the origi-
nal Labyrinth of Egypt was built by king Mendes; and, according to
Pliny, by king Petesucus'. There is no real difference between these
accounts : for Mendes was the same as Menes or Menu or Minos ; and
he was styled Petesucus or Petah-Suchus, as being the priest of the Ark
or symbolical crocodile which safely conveyed him to land when the whole
country was overflowed by a deluge. Hence the word Siichus equally
denoted in the language of Egy[)t an ark and a crocodile : and hence, we
• Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. US, 149. * Plin. lib. v. c. 9. lib. xxxvi. 13.
' Virg. iSncid. lib. v. vcr. 588. lib. vi. ver. 37. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 55, 56.
• Schol. in Odyss. lib. xi. ver. It. ' Vide supra book iv. c. 5. j XX\'Iir.
• Strab. Geog. lib. viii. p. 369. 7 Diod. Bib. lib. i. p. 55. Plin. lib. xxxvi. 13.
270 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr,
BOOK V. see, in the days of Herodotus, the vaults of tlie Labyrinth were the mystic
sepulchres both of the holy crocodiles and of the supposed royal founders.
It is evident, that the temple, built purposely for the celebration of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, was a structure of much the same sort as the Laby-
rinths. The aspirants, as we have seen, were conducted through many
dark winding passages, ere they emerged into the splendid inner apart-
ment, which, like the consecrated grotto, was brilliantly illuminated to re-
present Elysium. Now the fabric, in which the pantomimes of the Orgies
were exhibited, must necessarily, from the very nature of those panto-
mimes, have been ample in its din)ensions : nor could tiicy have been ex-
liiijited after the manner in which they are described to us, unless the con-
struction of the temple had closely resembled that of the Labyrinths.
Such accordingly was the case, as we learn from the express testimony of
the ancients. Apuleius describes himself as being led by the aged hiero-
phant to the doors of an immense temple, ■within the spacious recesses of
which he was initiated into the Mysteries : Strabo represents the temple
of the Eleusinian Ceres, as being of equal capacity -with one of the vast
theatres of Greece ; and he speaks of its interior sacellum by the name of
a mystic cell or cavern: Vitruvius similarly notices the cell; assures us,
that it was of enormous magnitude ; and mentions, that the temple was
originally built without external columns, so that its sides must have pre-
sented tiie aspect of dead walls precisely in the same manner as the old
temples of Egypt : and Aristides yet further confirms the resemblance, by
observing, that the whole of the spacious interior was comprehended within
one house or one external inclosing wall, just as were the temples of J'^.gypt
and Babylonia, and just as still are the temples of Ilindostan and the
East '.
The cell of the Greek Ceres is doubtless the cell of the British Cerid-
wen : and, however they may differ in u)agnitu(lc and artfulness of con-
struction, they were equally designed to represent tlie rocky cavern, and
were equally used for the purposes of initiation. Many of the ancient cells
' Apul. Mttarti. lib. xi. Strab. Ocog. lib. xl. p. SM. Vitriiv. de nrchitcc. prsef. ad lib.
vii. Aria. Jilcusin. Orat. apud Warburt. Div. Lcgut. b. ii. sect. 4.
THE ORrOI>f OF PAGAN IDOI-ATRr. . 271
of the Druidical goddess yet remain in different parts of this kingdom, ciup. vn.
They are denominated Kist-J^aais or stonc-clicsts : and tliey are univer-
sally formed by three large upright stones, placed rectangularly to each
other, and covered by a fourtii which serves as a lid. Their front aspect
is a rude but exact miniature copy of the Egyptian temple at Essnay : and
it exhibits consequently, like that temple, the appearance of a cavern in a
rock'. These stone-arks, as they were sometimes called, represented the
•womb of the great mother, who took the form of a shi|) at the time of the
deluge and thus conveyed the god IIu in safety over the mighty waters.
Hence there was a notion, that they were rolled from the valley to the top
of a mountain by the single mighty hand of the primeval archdruid, though
so large that sixty oxen could not have moved one of them: hence also, as
the great father was said to have been imprisonetl within the womb of the
ship Ccridwen, these stone-arks were viewed as prisons: and hence the
imitative aspirant, when about to be initiated, was placed within the cavern
which they formed, and was then allegorically spoken of as entering into
the womb of the goddess or as being confined within a prison *. They
were, in fact, superterranean grottos within a small artificial rocky hill :
and, accordingly, the stone, which served as a roof, was usually laid in a
slanting posture, so as to imitate the descent of a mountain, and thus to
facilitate the access to tlie summit which in imitation of Ararat served as a
sacrificial altar.
If we finally turn our attention to America, we shall still perceive the
same idea prevalent both among the Peruvians and the Mexicans in the
construction of some of their temples.
The city of the great god Pachacamaa, the Bacchus or Pads or Baghis
of the western continent, was famous for Peruvian devotions. Here, we
are told, the idol was placed in a dark room or cell, representing no doubt
that mystic cavern which was held so sacred among the idolaters of every
part of the world : and pilgrims were wont to come not less than three
hundred leagues with offerings to his shrine, precisely in the same manner
• See Plate III. Fig. 31.
* Davies's Mythol. p. 392-402.
272 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK V. as a blind superstition even yet brings thousands to the temple of the Oris-
san Jagan-Nath*.
A similar style of architecture was equally familiar to the Mexicans.
We learn from the Spanish writers, that they had dark houses full of idols,
the walls of which were absolutely blackened by the putrid gore of those
hecatombs of human victims that were incessantly sacrificed by them :
and we are informed, that to the pyramidal temple of Tescalipuca there
was attached a spacious chapel or cell; which was entered by a low door
always covered with a veil, and which was accessible only to the priests
who dwelt like those of Egypt and the east in numerous chambers ranged
round the edifice *.
Thus universally was such a mode of worship established : and thus accu-
rately did the psalmist describe such dens, as the dark places of the earth
full of the habitations of cruelty^.
4. As the sacred cavern represented the interior of the Ark, as the Ark
was accounted a World in miniature, as the insular circle of Ararat was
for a time the circle of the visible World, as the cavern and the mountain
w hether natural or artificial were the temples of the pagans, and as both
the Earth and the Ark were personified by one and the same navicular
goddess whose won)b symbolized the gloomy interior of both these Worlds:
it is obvious, tliat every temple would be deemed an image of the World;
and again tiiat the whole World would be viewed as one immense temple.
But we must never forget, what I have so often had occasion to point out,
that by this mundane temple we are not merely to understand the literal
greater World, but likewise that smaller figurative World which once floated
on the surface of the deluge bearing within it the rudiments of all things.
Accordingly, we may both have already observed how intimately the an-
cient temi)les are connected with the Ark: and, as we advance, we shall
distinguish this connection perhaps yet more definitely and clearly.
Por[)liyry assures us, that the consecrated grottos were esteemed symbo-
lical of the World : and, as by the ancient materialists the notion of the
' Purch. Pilgrim, b. ix. c. II. p, 881, 882.
' Purcli. Pilgrim, b. viiJ. c. 12. p. 800. ^ Psalm Ixxiv. 20.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY'. 273
World was extended from the Earth to the Universe, such grottos were chap. vn.
decorated with figures of the heavenly bodies, and the doctrine of the
Metempsychosis was enlarged to a fanciful transmigration through the
several spheres.
The curious treatise of Porphyry on the cave of the Nymphs is full of
references to such speculations : but the peculiar manner, in which they
were literally exemplified, is described to us the most accurately ,by Celsus.
Origen has quoted a passage from that philosophic bigot, in which he tells
us, that the Persians represented by symbols the two-fold motion of the
stars, fixed and planetary, and the passage of the flitting soul through tlicir
different orbs. Their contrivance was this. They erected in their holy
caves what he denominates a high ladder, on the seven steps of which were
seven gates or portals according to the number of the seven principal hea-
venly bodies: and through these portals, I apprehend, the aspirants passed
until they reached the summit of the whole; which passage was mystically
styled a trcmsmigration through the spheres^.
The machine described by Celsus was very evidently, I think, not what
we should call a ladder ; for it is not easy to conceive, how there could be
seven gates on the seven rounds of such an implement : but it was an ascent
furnished with seven very large steps, resembling in form those of a common
staircase. Its precise figure may without much difficulty be conjectured,
if we attend only to the general analogy of pagan worship. We have seen
that the adytum of initiation usually contained a pyramid, sometimes of a
small size, but at other times of very large dimensions. This was the self-
conspicuous image of nature, that phallic mount Meru which was deemed
a symbol at once of the great father and of the Universe : and, during the
celebration of the Mysteries, it was highly illuminated, so as to exhil)it the
Sun and the Moon and the planets of the mimic Elysium respecting which
we hear so much in the accounts that have come down to us of the pa-
geants of the Orgies*. But the imitative pyramid was often constructed
with exactly seven periphorous steps or stages, in reference to the imagined
» Porph. de antr. nymph, p. 252—255, 262—268. CeJs. apud Origen. adv. Cels. lib. iv.
» Vide supra b. v. c. 6. ^ III, VI.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 2 M
274 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY.
>ooK V. seven steps by which mount IVferu was ascended : and the highest peaks
of that hill are said to be occupied by the solar great father and the lunar
great mother, just as the two highest steps of the INIithratic ladder were
(according to Celsus) assigned to the Sun and the INIoon. Hence there
can be little doubt, that the ladder iii question was really a pyramid with
seven steps or stages, that each stage was provided with a narrow dooi'
distinguished by the name of one of the heavenly bodies, and that the aspi-
rants squeezed themselves through these doors until they reached the sum-
mit and afterwards descended through other similar doors on the opposite
side of the pyramid. The first process was styled the ascent of the soul,
the second was termed its descent : and these are the two opposite plane-
tary transmigrations, to which Porphyry alludes in his treatise on thQ
Homeric Nympheum.
We may perceive a clear reference to such speculations, in the scrip-
tural account of the pyramid, or (if we please to call it so) the ladder, of
Babel. Its top was to be to the heavens: by which expression we are noti
to imagine, that the builders, who had just left a high mountainous coun-
try, were silly enough to fancy that they could reach the visible heaven and
thus provide against all future danger from a flood, as Josephus idly sup-
poses ; but we are rather to understand from it, that the top was to be a,
representation of lieaven or the Olympus of the deified astronomical hero-
gods. Agreeably to this exposition, the Hindoos style the summit of IMeru
Cailasa or heaven : and, in like manner, Isaiah, in express reference to the
idolatry of Babylon, uses as synonymous terms the ascent of the proud
Chaldean monarch into heaven and his seating himself upon the northern
mount of the assembly, in imitation of which the tower was constructed'.
Sucii then was the furniture of the consecrated grotto: and such was its
connection with the World, whether viewed simply as the Earth or moro
extensively as the Universe. Yet, though it represented the literal World
in either acceptation, it no less represented the Ark: for the aspirants were
inditferently regenerated by being born out of a boat and out of a cavern,
ihe postdiluvian ancestors of mankind arc indifferently said to have come
' Isttiah xiv. 1 n.
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAK IDOLATRY. 275
out of a ship and out of a cave, the Earth is declared to be symbolized by chap. vn.
the identical vessel which is described as Heating upon the surface of the
flood, the {Treat mother is pronounced to be at once the Earth and a Ship,
and the whole frame of the Universe is likened to an enormous galley
manned by seven sidereal mariners while the Sun sustains the office of a
pilot. Thus also, according to the Hindoos and the several votaries of
Buddha, mount Meru is reckoned the mundane temple of the great father :
and, as each pyramid, with or without the seven stages of ascent, and with
cither a single chapel or with three chapels on its summit, is deemed an
express copy of Meru; each pyramid is of course viewed in the same light'.
Yet the whole history of Meru connects it with the earthly Paradise, with
Ararat, and with the deluge. Hence it is evident, that the various artificial
copies of the holy mount and of the natural cavern were all esteemed imi-
tative worldly temples.
This idea, when inverted, gave rise to a phraseology, which has been
very generally adopted : as every temple was the JVorld in mimature, so
the whole World was one grand temple. Such, accordingly, is the language
of many of the ancient philosophers: and it was from a fond attachment
to the primeval mode of worship, that the old Persians and Celts and Scy-
thians had such a strong dislike to artificial covered edifices. Thus Xerxes
i& said to have burned the Grecian temples, on the express ground that the
whole World was the magnificent temple and habitation of their supreme
deity *. Thus Macrobius mentions, that the entire Universe was judici-
ously deemed by many the temple of god '. Thus Plato pronounced the
real temple of the deity to be the World *. And thus Heraclitus declared,
that the Universe, variegated with animals and plants and stars, was the
only genuine temple of the divinity'. Let us bear in mind this speculative
opinion ; and it will throw much light on those sacred edifices of the Gen-
tiles, which yet remain to be considered.
5. Since we have now reached the conclusion, that temples were deemed
copies of the World, and that by the World we are to understand conjointly
» Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 128—136. ' » Cicer. de leg. lib. ii. p. S35.
* Macrob. in somn. Scip. lib. i. c. 14. p. 51.
♦ Plat, apud Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. v. p. 584. ' Herac. in epist, ad Hermod, p. 51 .
£75 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
■ooK V. the Earth and the Ark which are alike personified under the name of the
great universal mother ; we shall easily perceive the reason, why so many
of those edifices were built on the summit of a hill, either natural or artir
ficial. Each consecrated mountain was a copy of Ararat : each temple,
that crowned the top of such a mountain, was a representation of the mun-
dane Ark.
The summits of Meru, of Olympus, of the British Snowdon, of Parnas-
sus, of every lunar mountain at the head of a sacred river, and of the three
Idas whether Phrygian or Cretan or Gothic, were all equally esteemed the
celestial temple of the hero-gods or the special habitation of the higher
powers. But those hero-gods were the deified progenitors of mankind,
who transmigratorily flourished at the commencement of the two successive
Worlds : and all these holy mountains were transcripts of Ararat, which
coincided with Paradise before the deluge, and which sustaixied the Ark
after it. Hence the imagined temple or sacred city (as it was sometimes
called) on the top of eaxh of them was the Ark, blended, as we find it to
be most curiously blended, with Paradise or the abode of the beatified
patriarchs. From such a temple on the summit of Meru was borrowed
every imitative tem{)le on the summit of every iuiitative Meru.
The pyramid of Babel was crowned with the sacellum of Belus : the
pyramids so frequent tliroughout India have small chapels upon their tops:
and the great pyramid of jNIexico terminated in two pyramidal temples.
Mount Olivet supported the three high-places of the ship-goddess Astoreth
and of the du[)licated ship-god Cliemosh or Milcoin. The temple of the
Thracian Scba or Bacchus was built on the top of mount Zihnissus'. The
Persian Pyratlicia, and the old Irish fire-towers, were alike constructed on,
the summits of hills ; and were alike dedicated to the great father Belus or
Beil or Mitiiras, worshipped astronomically in tlie Sun. Such also was
the situation of the temple of Jupiter, whether Capitoline or Olympian or
Genean or Eabradcnsian or Atabyrian or Idi^an : such was that of the
navicular \''cnus, wiiether Cyprian or Sicilian or Corinthian : such was
that of Apollo, whether Dclpliic or Actiensian : such was that of Diana^
• Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. c. 18. p. 20L
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 277
■whether Pamphylian or Rhodian : and such was that of the high places chap. vn.
of Anais, whetlier adored by the Armenians or by the mountaineers of
Persia '.
In the cast, we not only find small chapels placed upon the tops of imi-
tative pyramids, but likewise temples themselves built, as in the west, upon
the summits of hills.
The pagoda of Tripetty is situated upon a high mountain about forty
miles to the north-east ot Arcot : and, both from its great extent and from
the numerous attached cells of the ofliciating Brahmens, it has more the
appearance of a city than of a temple. To this liill, according to Taver-
rier, there is a circular ascent every way of hewn stone, the least of the
stones which form it being ten feet long and tlu'ee broad : and the hill itr
self, doubtless as a special imitation of Meru, is considered in so sacred a
light, that none but Hindoos are ever suffered to climb it. The temple is
dedicated to the Indian Venus ; that is to say, to the maritime Isi or Bha-
vani, who floated as the ship Argha upon the waters of the deluge, and who
afterwards flew away in the form of a dove *.
In a similar manner, as we learn from Kosmpfcr, by far the greatest part
of the Japanese temples of Buddha are built in the ascent of hills or moun-
tains, and are provided with beautiful staircases of stone by which the wor-
shippers are conducted to them '. All, he tells us, are most sweetly seated;
a curious view of the adjacent country, a spring or rivulet of clear water,
and the neighbourhood of a wood with pleasant walks, being necessary
qualifications of those spots of ground upon which these holy buildings are
to be erected : for they say, that the gods are extremely delighted with such
high and pleasant places*.
From Japan we may pass to the Burman empire : and here again wc
shall find a similar attachment to hill worship. The pyramidal temple of
Shoe-Dagon stands on a rocky eminence considerably higher than the cir-
cumjacent country: a peculiarly sacred temple of Gaudma near Prome is
' Spencer de leg. Heb. lib.iii. dissert, vi. c. 2. p. 303, 304'. Strab. Gepg. lib. xi. p.512»
lib. xii. p. 559.
* Maurice's Ind, Ant, vol. iii. p. 49, 50. ' Kcempfer's Japan, b. iv. c. 4. p. SOX
* Ibid. h. V. c. 3. p. 416.
278 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY.
sooK V. built on the summit of a conical hill, which rises abruptly from the western
bank of the river, and on which the god left one of the holy impressions of
his foot : and, in the neighbourhood of the once magnificent city of Pagalim,
every little hill is crowned with a pagoda '.
6. If we inquire into the precise nature of the imaginary celestial temple
on the summit of Meru, we shall find that it is a ring of mountains deno-
minated Ida-vratta or the circle of the JVorld. We may also recollect,
that the World was symbolized universally by an egg. And, if we cither
view the most common roof of a natural cavern or cast up our eyes to the
vaulted expanse of heaven, we shall in each case be presented with the ap-
pearance of a vast egg-shell seen internally or of what architects call a
dome. But, as the World and the Ark were considered by the old idolaters
as interchangeable terms, as they were represented by common symbols,
and as they were personified by one and the same maternal goddess : so
we may observe, that Ida or 11a is described as the wife and daughter of
the ark-preserved INIenu ; that she is no other than Isi in the form of the
diluvian ship Argha ; that the mystic egg is said to have floated an entire
year upon the surface of the ocean, and then to have produced from its
gloomy interior the triplicated great father or the great father and his three
sons ; and that the cavern manifestly typified the ship of Cronus or Osiris»
no less than the literal and material World.
From these speculations originated the oval and circular temples ; which
were sometimes open to the wide vault of heaven, and which at other times
were covered in by a concave shell or dome. The notion however of the
prototypes was of course extended to the architectural copies : and, as they
were symbols of the World both literal and mystical, so likewise were their
imitative transcripts.
(1.) The link, by which the natural Ida-vratta is joined to the artificial
copy, may be seen the most perfectly and therefore the most distinctly in the
American region of Peru. With a rare felicity, the city of Cusco is sur-
rounded by a ring of twelve mountains answering to the twelve signs in the
great mundane ring of the zodiac. Here then was a natural Ida-vraita,
• Symcs'e Emb. to Ava. voJ. ii. p. 110, 111, 183, 238.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 279
which could not fail to be observed by a body of colonists who certainly cuap. vn.
brought with them from Asia tlie whole system of their theology. But they
did more. As a rude upright stone was the most ancient liicroul) phie of
tlie phallic and solar great father ; they reared twelve such stones on the
tops of the twelve mountains, and dedicated them to the Sun in iiis twelve
astronomical places during the succession of the twelve months '
But such peculiar situations were very seldom to be had : and, when
tliey were wanting, it was necessary that mere art should su[)ply tlic defi-
ciency. Still however in tliese cases the original of the projected fabric, a
ring of iiills on the summit of a mountain, was carefully borne in mind :
and, if each separate stone could not be placed upon a separate hillock, a
ring of stones, as the best possible substitute, was reared upon the ascent
of a single mountain or eminence *. Such fabrics are commonly styled
Druidical : but, if by the term we mean to limit them to the old Celts, we
apply it most erroneously. Rock monuments of various descriptions abound
indeed most eminently in Britain : but we find circles of stone in othei*
regions besides this.
There is one upon the top of a hill, which rises like a natural altar before
the Phrygian Ida'. There seems to have been another upon the summit
of the Phenician Lebanon, dedicated to Venus and Adonis : at least we are
told, that there were many upright stones there of the Betylian description ;
and, as there were many of them, and as Lebanon was a local Weru or Ida-
vratta, I think it most probable that they were ranged in the form of a
circle *. In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, they occur not unfrcqucntly •
and they are usually placed round a small artificial hill, which is crowned
with the rocky cell or grotto of four stones described already under its
British name of Kist-Vaen. One of the largest of these temples is to be
seen in the island of Zealand. It is composed of stones of an enormous
magnitude: and, like our own Stonehenge, it might almost seem to be the
work of enchantment, since there are no similar rocks in its immediate
vicinity '. There was another of them in the island of Jersey, wliicii has
■ Purch. PilgT. b. ix. c. 12. p. 885. » See Plate III. Fig. 21, 22.
' Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. * Damas. apud Phot. Bihl. p. 1047-
' Mallet's North. Ant. vol. i. c. 7. p. 125, 12C.
280 rfHE ORIGIN OF PAGAN JDOLATRT.
been removed to England and reerected in the neighhoinliood of Ilcnley:
and there is another at Salakee in one of the Scilly islands '. But by far
the greatest number is to be found in various parts of Britain, some com-
posed of small and some of large stones, according to the zeal or ability of
their respective founders. In Cornwall, which may well be termed the
Thebais ot the island, they abound most wonderfully : and their foi in is not
always perfectly circular, but sometimes elliptical or oval. They occur
also in the Highlands of Scotland : and there the remembrance of their true
destination has been accurately preserved even to the present day ; for they
are still denominated temples, and tradition reports lliem to have been for-
merly the habitations of pagan priests '. In England we have Rolrich and
the gigantic Stonehenge. Of these the former is constructed upon the sum-
mit of a hill ; and the latter, not quite, but very nearly so. A bury we /tadp
until the country was deprived of it by the persevering mischief of a stupid
barbarian. This was a circle inclosing two other circles, and attached to
an enormous snake formed entirely of upright stones and having a fourth
circle for its head. The principal ring of Abury likewise stood upon ele-
vated ground : and directly to the south of it, as I have already observed,
rose the artificial pyramid of Silbury '.
To describe such well-known monuments, curious as they are, would be
iinpertinent : what I am chicriy concerned with is the idea, which was at-
tached to them, and which in fact prompted their construction.
I deduce them all from the sacred Cor-du or imaginary Ila-vratta of
•mount Ararat ; though it is not improbable, that they may have been occa-
sionally used as places of national or provincial conterence, no less than as
temples : and this opinion is clearly confirmed, while the light in which
they were considered is unequivocally ascertained, by the curiously de-
scriptive titles which the ancient Druids and their successors the bards be-
stowed upon Stonehenge. They denominated it Cacr-Sidec ; which de-
notes the circle or inclosure of Sidee. But Siilee is the same goddess as
the Sicilian Sito, the Plienician Sida, the Bal)yloiiiun Sidda, the Caiiaanitish
Sittah, and the Indian Sita : and Situ is a title of Ilu or Parvali, who floated
• Rorlase's Cornwall. I), iii. c. 7. p. 19S.
* Jbid. p. 192, 193. • bee Jt'late I. I'ig. 5.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 281
on the deluge as the ship Argha; just as Sidee is a title of Cerldwcn, who chap. vh.
similarly floated on the deluge in the form of a ship bearing IIu or Noe in
safety over its waves. Thus it is manifest, that the name Caer-Sidce is
precisely equivalent in all respects to the name Ila-vvatta. Whence it
will follow, that Stonehenge was a designed copy of the ring of 11a or (as it
is sometimes called) the ring of Buddha-Sakya, which is feigned to crown
the summit of Meru or Ararat. As Ceridwen however was the goddess of
the Ark, no less than the goddess of the World ; so the imitative Cacr-
Sidee represented the microcosmic Ship resting on the top of the mountain,
no less than the Megacosm which was once confined to the insular circle
of the Armenian peak. Both these ideas were ingeniously combined to-
gether in a single appellation, by which the Druids were wont to distin-
guish the vast ring of Stonehenge : they called it the Ark of the JVoiid —
If such a title required any explanation, it would receive it from the cha-
racter of the deities, to whom the temple was dedicated. The common
sanctuary of Noe and Eseye, or of IIu and Ceridwen who is the Isi of Hin-
dostan, is said to be the great stone fence or the circular mound constructed
of stone-work. Now this sanctuary, from the very description of it, must
either have been Stonehenge or some other similar edifice ; which is per-
fectly immaterial to the point in question, for analogy demonstrates that
the many stone circles of the Druids were all constructed under the in-
fluence of the same ruling idea. But Hu and Ceridwen, or the ship-god
and the ship-goddess, are most undoubtedly Noah and the Ark. Therefore
Stonehenge was plainly called the Ark of the JVorld, because it was viewed
as a copy of the inclosing Ark of Noah — This conclusion is further esta-
blished, both by the singular language of the bards, and by the other names
which were bestowed upon Caer-Sidee. Tliough the mythologic poets of
Britain tell us, that the common sanctuary of the great father and great
mother was the vast circle of stone-work ; yet they likewise speak of that
sanctuary, as being surrounded by the tide, and as reposing upon the sur-
face cither of a wide lake or of the boundless ocean. Now, as such de-
scriptions have but ill accorded with Stonehenge since the portentous day
when it crossed the Irish sea at the high behest of the enchanter Merlin,
and as the deities of Stonehenge were Noe and a Ship: we may safely
Pag. Idol. vox. III. SN
282 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
venture to transfer botli them, and the legendary voyage of the Wiltshire
temple, to the real floating sanctuary, of which that temple was only a sym-
bol, and of which the true Noe was the pilot. Yet, agreeably to the uni-
form tenor of Paganism, which always blends together in the person of one
goddess both the Ark and the World, the Druids, by the names which they
imposed upon their Caer-Sidee, never suffer us to forget, that, although it
shadows out the diluvian Ship, it does not shadow it out simply or exclu-
sively. They variously denominated this magnificent temple the mundane
rampart, the mundane circle of stones, the circle of the World, the stall of
the cow or of the navicular Ceridwen venerated like Isi and Isis under the
form of that animal, the circle ofSidee, and the mound constructed of stonc^
•work representing the JVorld ' — Each of the trilithons of Stonehenge, as
they are called by Stukeley, formed a noble portal : and through these por-
tals, primarily representing the door of the Ark, but finally the various
multiplied astronomical doors of the Sun and the Moon and the Planets,
the aspirants were conducted into the interior, and were said to be rege-
nerated by so holy a passage — The edifice lias been originally composed
of two concentric circles, inclosing an elliptical adytum or cell : and, in the
very midst of that cell, is a large flat stone, which has usually been deemed
the altar. As for the adytum, it plainly answers to that interior sacellum,
which in artificial temples was called the cavern; and it was devoted, I
apprehend, to the very same purposes : while the supposed altar was the
mythologic grave or bed of llu, respecting which more shall be said in its
proper place — In this temple Hu was venerated as the serpent god * : and
to that circumstance we may ascribe the dracontion figure attached to the
ring of Abury. The two together formed the hierogly[)hic of the serpent
nnd the circle : and, as the scrpcnl-god was usually said to have wings, the
whole composed the famous Egyptian symbol of the globe and the winged
serpent ; wliich Kircher has idly fancied to be an emblem of the Trinity.
It was in truth the type of the serpent Cnuphis : but Cnuphis was the
same divinity as tlie serpent Hu.
• Davies's Mythol. of Brit. Druicls. p. 100, 101, 105, 108, 109, 113, IH, 120, 121,
104., 507, 508, 537, 5G2, 568.
» Davies's Mythol. p. U5, 11+, 12), 5G2.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 383
Accordingly, the temple of Ciuiphis in the Egyptian island of Elephan- cuap. vn.
tina is similar in figure to the circular temples of Abury and Stonehenge,
though it differs in the style of architecture. It is a low building, con-
sisting of a single apartment and surrounded by an oval cloister, which last
is open to the sky. The interior sacellutn, like the interior circle of Stone-
henge, contains a plain square table ; which Norden rightly conjectures to
be meant for a tomb, though he is mistaken in deeming it a literal tomb '.
Its religious use was the same as that of the similar table in the centre of
our British temple. There is another oval temple in the island of Piiilaj,
^\■hkh lies still higher up the Nile than Elephantina : and here also was a
sacred tomb, where Osiris was believed to lie interred '.
(2.) But, though the vault of heaven was the only roof of the primeval
round temples, convenience led, among many nations, to their being covered
«n. Yet, when this was done, the remembrance of what they originally
were was still carefully preserved ; and the roof, which was added to them,
instead of being flat, rose gracefully in the form of an egg-shell or concave
dome.
Thus the circular Pyratheia of the Persians, when at length they were
covered in order that the sacred fire might be the better preserved from
wet, were always finished with an oviform roof. Thus the Roman temple
of Vesta, which is generally supposed to be the present round church of
St. Stephen, was built, according to Plutarch, of an orbicular form for the
reception of the holy central fire : and, by this fashion of the edifice, Numa,
he tells us, intended to shadow out, not merely the Earth or Vesta in that
character, but the whole universe in the midst of which the Pythagoreans
placed the fire of the Sun *. And thus the Thracian temple of Bacchus-
Seba, which crowned the summit of mount Zilmissus, was of a circular
form ; and was lighted solely by an orifice in the top of the dome, by which
it was covered '. This last was evidently a temple of precisely the same
' Cough's Compar. view of the anc. monum. of Ind. p. 15. Norden's Trav. voL
p. 101, 102.
* Cough's Compar. view. p. 15. Died. Bibl. lib. i. p. 19.
' See Plate 111. Fig. 25. * Maurice's Ind. Ant. toI. iii. p. 180, ISl.
J Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. c. 18. p. 201.
284 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. description as the celebrated Pantheon of Rome. As the name imports,
that magnificent Rotundo was dedicated to all the hero-gods, who once
sailed together in the Ship of the deluge, and who were thence represented
by the Egyptians not standing on dry land but floating on a raft: yet it
appears to have been eminently a temple of Mithras or the Sun. Its vast
concave dome, as we are expressly told by Piiny, was designed to imitate
the vault of heaven : and it is lighted, in the very same manner as tha
temple of the Zilmissian Seba, by an aperture in the centre of its arched
roof twenty feet in diameter. The door fronts the north : so that to those
who entered it the colossal image of the solar Apollo, which was directly
opposite, appeared full in the south ; while on either side of him were
ranged, in suitable recesses, the six great planetary deities, who were so
highly venerated in the Mithratic caverns of Persia, As for the internal
aspect of the building, it is precisely that of an enormous cave : and, when
we consider the progress of the temple architecture, we cannot for a mo-
ment suppose that the resemblance is purely accidental. The edifice was
no doubt a studied imitation of the interior of the great mundane egg,
w hicli was equally represented by the concave roof of tlie natural grotto '.
A similar style of building prevails also in India. The temple of Jagan-
Nath in Orissa is an immense oval : and, in external appearance, it is de-
scribed as resembling a huge butt set upright on one of its ends. It is con-
stantly illuminated by u hundred lamps ; and to a spectator within it
strongly conveys the idea of a large cavern. The image of the god stands
in ihe centre of the building upon a raised i)latform or higii-placc ; and im-
mediately above his head rises the lofty concave dome *. Of the same
form are the great temples of Mathura and Benares : in each case, a high
circular dome covers the round sanctuary which is constructed in the middle
of the sacred pile '. Of tlic same form likewise arc the interior artificial
caverns in the temple grotto at Canarali and beneath the Irish pyramid of
New-Cirange : the concave dome, representing the interior vault of tlie
mundane egg, still presents itself to our attention. And of tl)e same form,
• Maurice's Iml. Ant. vol. iii. p. 183— 18G. Sec Plate III. Fig. 2G.
» Ibid. i>. 27, 191', '-'8. ' Ibid. p. 47.
THE ORIGIN^ OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 285
sincethe theological speculations of the old continent equally established cuap. vn
themselves in Aniericaj were some of the temples both of Mexico and
Peru.
In the first of these countries, was a round temple, dedicated, according
to the Spanish writers, to the god of the air ; and its figure was said to
exhibit the circular course of the atmosphere round the earth. The door
into it was so fashioned, as to resemble the mouth of a serpent'. This
god of the air was the same divinity as the ethereal Jupiter of the west;
and the rotundity of the temple had an acknowledged relation, we find, to
the shape of the World. Yet it had a further reference to the Ark : for
its door shadowed out the door in the side of that vessel ; and it was made
to imitate the mouth of a serpent, because the serpent was an hieroglyphic
of the diluvian hhip *.
In the latter country there was also a round temple, built no doubt under
the intluence of the same religious opinions. The principal sanctuary of
Cusco resembled, we are told, the Pantheon of Rome. Like that edifice,
it was the house and dwelling-place of all the hero-gods ; but it was pecu-
liarly dedicated to the chief deiiy the Sun. At the east end of it was placed
his imaL-e, made with a considerable degree of art from fine gold, and so
formed as to represent the luminary of day encircled with radii. But what
the Peruvians worshipped in this circular fane was not the Sun simply;
but the Sun distinguished by certain attributes, which prove him in his
human capacity to be the patriarch Noah. For their venerated Sun was
not merely the Sun in the firmament ; but a Sun, that once hid himself in
a small island of the sacred lake Titiaca, when pursued by an inveterate
enemy at the period of the universal deluge'.
7. These circular temples with domes served the double purpose of repre-
senting the mystic cavern or tiie mundane ring internally, and the holy
mountain which contained that cavern externally. Hence we sometimes
find the dome and the pyramid curiously blended together in one compound
edifice.
* Parch. PiJgr. b. viii. c. 12. p. 800. * Vide supra book ii. c. 7. § III. 2.
J Purch. Pilgr. b. ix. c. 11. p. 881. c 9. p. 874^
BOOK V.
286 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
One of these occurs about three miles from Matura in the island of Cey-
lon. On the top of a gentle acclivity rising from the sea and clothed with
various kinds of trees, is the Cingalese temple in question. From the
centre of a circular terrace, about one hundred and sixty teet in diameter
and twelve high, rises a lofty dome shaped like a bell : and this dome is
surmounted by a round pyramid, which rests upon a square pedestal '.
The very ancient pyramids of Deogur are constructed after a somewhat
similar manner. Their sides are not carried up in a straight line; but
they bulge out in curves, so as to produce the appearance of so many
square domes. At the top they are truncated : and, from the square sum-
mit thus formed, rises severally a square pedestal supporting a circular
cone ; which is finally surmounted by the egg bearing the trident or the
lunar boat with its central mast '. The same ruling idea may be observed
in one of the Egyptian pyramids at Sakarra. Of its four sides the lower
parts bulge out with the curvature of a dome ; but tiie upper parts towards
the apex rise rectilineally : so that the whole edifice consists of a square
dome terminating in a square pyramid'. To this class we may add the
Chinese Tien-ta7i or Eminence of heaven. Tlie form of the hill, which is
vithin the Malls of Pekin, is round ; in allusion to the vault of the heavenly
firmament, as it strikes the eye : and the single character of Tien or Heaven
is inscribed upon the principal building, which surmounts it. In the sum-
mer solstice, when the heat and power of the Sun are at the highest, the
Emperor comes in solemn procession to the Tien-tan to otFer thanks for its
benign influence : as in the winter solstice similar ceremonies are per-
formed in the temple of the Earth. We are not positively informed, whe-
ther the building upon the summit of this tumulus is pyramidal ; but, from
the general style of the eastern [)iigodii, such most probably is the case.
At any rate, the hill seems very evidently to be the grand local Mienmo or
Meru of China*.
8. As the circular form was chosen to represent the appearance of the
" Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 438, 439. and plate opp. to p. 138. See Plate III. Fig. 23.
» See Plate III. Tig. 9.
^ Nordcii's trav. vol. ii. p. 1 f. pi. vi. fig. 3; See Plate III. Pig. with the conical stroke*
at the end of the two arms somewhat elongated.
' Tavernier apud Maur. InJ. Ant. vol. iii. p. 30, i?.
* Maur. Ind. Ant. vol. ii. p. 359, 360.
288 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. g, We now come to a very peculiar sort of temple, which may serve
decidedly to confirm all the preceding remarks by exhibiting the form of
the sacred ship without the intervention of any hieroglyphic.
Since each sacred mountain, whether natural or artificial, was confess-
edly a transcript of j\Ieru or Ararat; and since, as we have seen, each
temple which crowned its summit or was dug out of its side was an avowed
symbol or representation of the mundane Ark : we shall not be surprized
to find the naked truth sometimes exhibited in the exact model of a shi[),
either insularly surrounded by water, or placed on the top of a holy hill.
This, accordingly, will prove to be the case in more than one region of the
earth.
A pagoda, which stands near the great pagoda of Tanjorc, supports upon
its top the precise figure of the hull of a ship furnished with a slopirig deck
like the roof of a house ; the whole perfectly resembling those drawings
of the Ark, to which pictorial licence so frequently gives birth '. The sum-
mit of the lunar mount Alban in Latium was of old decorated with a similar
figure of a ship, which was reverenced as the sacred ship of Juno or IsisS
Sesostris is said to have built a sliip of cedar two hundred and eighty cubits
in length, plated over with gold on the outside and with silver in the inside;
vhich he dedicated to the god whom the Thebans worshipped, that is to
say, to the ark-exposed Osiris '. Such a dedication to the navicular divi-
nity, the costly mode in which the vessel was finished, and the circumstance
of its being constructed in the very interior of the country, all serve to
demonstrate, that it was never meant to be launched, but that it was a
ship-temple built in studied imitation of the mystic Baris or Argo. I am
inclined to think, that the shi[) of Isis venerated among the Suevi was no
otlicr than a rude sliip-teinple: and I am the ratiier led to adopt such an
opinion from the actual existence of such a structure among the Hyper-
boreans of Ireland. On the summit of a liill near Dimiialk is an exact
stone model of the hull of a ship, which Mr. Wriglit very ])roperly terms
a ship-temple. Its Celtic name signifies the one night's work; which, by
a slight alteration, General Vallancey would make to denote, though (as
• ijcc rialc ill. Fig. 7. » Dion. Cass. lib. xxxix. p. 62. => Diod. Ribl. lib. i. p. 52.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 289
he acknowledges) by a forced construction, the re^nains of the 07ily ship, chap- vn,
I see not the necessity of this correction. The goddess Niglit or the black
Venus, the infernal Ceridwen of the Britons, the Mother-Night of the
Goths, and the gloomy Lilith of the Persians and Babylonians, was highly
venerated in all parts of the world as the female divinity of the ship. To
that goddess the uncorrected name of the Irish temple plainly alludes :
and it consequently teaches us, that the stone-ship on the hill was a work
executed in imitative honour of that divine Night or infernal navicular deity,
■who is eminently One. But, whatever be the true import of the name, the
general analogy of ancient Paganism leaves no room to doubt of the my-
thologic idea, Avith which this remarkable ship was studiously constructed
on the summit of a hill '. There was another very curious ship-temple
at Rome, dedicated to Esculapius ; who, as we have seen, was the same
as Adonis or Attis or the great father *. When the worship of tliis deity
was first introduced from Epidaurus, the living serpent, which represented
him, quitted the ship as she lay in the Tiber, and glided to a small island
in the river. Hence it was believed, that the god had chosen this sacred
spot for his peculiar residence : and accordingly, by means of a breast-
work of marble which was carried round it, the whole island was fashioned
into a temple for him, which in form exactly resembled a ship ; one end
of it being made higher to imitate the stern, and the other end lower to
imitate the prow '.
It is easy to perceive, that the fable of the stone-ship of Bacchus origi-
nated from these imitative stone temples. An attempt was made upon his
lite by certain impious mariners, who were conveying him to Italy : but he
changed the men into fishes, and the ship into stone. This happened, we
are told, on the coast of Tuscany : and I think it highly probable, that some
' Collect, (le rcb. Hib. vol. iii. p. 199. et infra. A short time Since the remains of a
wooden ship were discovered upon an eminence in the midst of one of the Irish morasses.
It occasioned no small speculation ; for the wonder was how it came there, since it was
considerably above the level of the water. The stone-ship of Dundalit will explain the
mystery.
» Vide supra book iv, c. 4. § IV.
» Banier's Mythol. b. v. c. 5. p. 163. Hook's Rom. Hist. b. iii. c. 21. p. 592.
Fag. Idol. VOL. III. 2
£90 THE ORIGKV 07 PA6AN IDOLATRY.
insulated rock, which in figure resembled a ship, was venerated as the sub-
ject of the metamorphosis, and was used a& a sea-girt sanctuary of the
god '. The vestiges of a similar superstition remain even to the present
day in the Crimea, which was one of the first European settlements of the
Scuths or Chusas ; of so durable a nature are llie legends of ancient Pa-
ganism. Between Sudak and Lambat is shewn a rock ; which, from its
accidental resemblance to a ship, is still believed to have been a vessel^
that was formerly with its crew turned into stone S It ^\as, I am per-
suaded, no other than a natural ship-temple of the old Scythians; who
were ever the patrons, and who were indeed the first authors, of the great
demonolatric apostasy. In its mythological nature it was the same as the
rocky cavern, whieh Saturn constructed in the midst of the ocean for the
purpose of concealing himself and his family : it was the same also, in its
import, as the Irish insular tem[>le of INIuidr, and as the Egyptian holy
island of Philas near the cataracts. This last was the leputed burial-place
of Osiris : but the coffin of that god was the same as his ship : hence Phil?e,
with its sacred excavations, was doubtless viewed as the sepulchral ship-
tcmplc of tlie great father. The stone trough in the central chamber of
the principal pyramid, which has generally been deemed the cofiin of the
imagined royal founder, is in reality the stone-ship of Osiris : and, like the
Argha of the modern Hindoos, it was, during the performance of the holy
rites, filled «ith flowers and fruits and water for ablutions. Yet the com-
mon supposition of its being a coffin is not absolutely erroneous : the mis-
take consists rather in the character of the person to whom it is attributed,
than in the nature of the implement itself It was certainly a coffin: but,
instead of being a literal colVui, it was a stone copy of the niytiiologic sepul^
tliral ship of the dead Osiris '.
• Nonni Dionj'S. lib. xlvii. ver. 507, 508. Ovid tells the same story, hut not quite so
perfectly, he only says, that the ship became fast rooted in the sea; wlticli however im-
plies that it was changed into a rock. Metam. lib. iii. ver. 661, 662.
* Jlebcr's Journal in Clarke's Travels, vol. i. c. 21. p. 537. Closely allied to such le-
gends is the metamorphosis of the Pheucian galley into stone, when it returned after
conveying Ulysses to Ithaca. See Odyss. lib. xiii. Homer, I have little doubt, alluded
to some lingular ship-teiripje. The rooting of tlie ship to the bottom of the sea alluded to
the grounding of the Ark on mount Ararat.
' Vallancey's Vindic. p. 21 J, 220. Diod. Bibl. lib. i, p. 19.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 291
We may not improperly refer to tliis description of temples those vast chap. vu.
single stones, which were occasionally venerated as symbols of tlje navi-
cular great mother. Tlierc was one of these on the confines of Phrygia,
named Agdus; which was tiiougiit to be the rock, whence the stones were
taken that Pyrrha and Deucalion threw behind them after the deluge. It
was believed to be divinely animated ; and it was revered as the shrine or
actual residence or symbol of the goddess denominated the great mother*.
I suspect it to have been of an oval or navicular form, like the enormous
egg-stone of the parish of Constantine in Cornwall. Tiiis rests upon the
points of two rocks; and it bears a close resemblance to a ship upon the
stocks, the deck of which rises in such a curve as to give one at the same
time an idea of a large egg. The orifice beneath, thus formed by the con-
tact of the three stones, was considered as the mystic door of the vessel ;
by passing through which the aspirants became entitled to the imaginary
benefits of tiie Bacchic regeneration *. To such navicular images of the
great mother, which we may distinguish by the name of stone-ships, the
prophet Jeremiah clearly alludes, when he reproaches the apostate Israelites
tor saying to a stone. Thou hast brought vie forth ', They, who arc the
subjects of his denunciation, had been born again (to adopt the language
of the Mysteries) by squeezing themselves through the rocky orifice, which
represented the door of the ship : and accordingly, as we have already
seen, the same superstitious ceremony prevails throughout India even at
the present day.
These remarks will account for the curious onirocritical explanation of
Achmetes, which seems not a little to have perplexed the learned Dr. More.
That writer tells us, that, according to the Indian interpreters of dreams,
if any person in the visions of the night be engaged in building a merchant-
ship, he shall collect together a company of men for the purpose of initi-
ating them into the Mysteries. Such an exposition Dr. More quaintly
pronounces to be as far fetched, as from the Indies themselves. Yet he
adds, thougli utterly at a loss for the reason, that it is not easy to conjec-
' Timoth. apud Arnob. adv. gent. lib. v. p. 157,
* Boilase's Cornwall b. iii. c. 3. p. 174.. See Plate III. Fig. 27. ' Jerem, ii. 27, •
292 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V. ture, why a ship should intimate the congregating of men for the celebration
of religious jMi/steries, unless ^\e conceive a ship to represent a temple.
He is doubtless right in his conjecture, though he owns himself quite un-
able to assign any adequate cause of a temple being onirocritically symbo-
lized by a merchant-ship '. We shall at present however have little diffi-
culty in accounting, both for this circumstance, and for the close connection
of a ship with the Mysteries. Temples were transcripts, either literal or
hieroglyphical, of the diluvian Ship : that Ship, from the infinite variety of
its lading, was aptly deemed by the Indians a merchant-vessel: and aspi-
rants were initiated into the Mysteries by an imitative new birth through
the portal, which represented the door in its side *.
10. From the natural grove, which shadowed out the garden of Para-
dise, originated those temples, which were constructed with numerous
pillars some without and others within the edifice. The shafts of the
pillars represented the trunks of the trees : and, from the general style of
their capitals in Grecian architecture, I should think that the sacred phenix
or palm was the tree chiefly selected for this purpose. Exquisite as was
the taste of the Hellenic builders, insomuch that it seems to exceed the
genius of man to invent a fourth order ' ; they yet plainly borrowed in the
first instance from Egypt, as Egypt (I suspect) under its Shepherd-kings
borrowed from Hindostan *. The general style is paljiably the same;
though the Hindoos often use a capital, which I am not aware was ever
adopted iu the west. This is the flower of the sacred lotos, which fre-
* Achmct. Oniroc. c. 179. More's Synop. Prophet, b. i. c. 8. p. 5.'>l.
* Since much of tlie machinery of the Apocalypse stiuhously refers to that pagan dcmo-
nolatry, which under a difFercnt name was to be adopted by a corrupt Christian cliurch, I
am inclined to suspect, that the prophet styles the liicrarchy of the mystic Babylon ship-
masters in express reference to this part of gentile superstition. The figurative ship was
the harlot, floating, like the navicular Isi, upon many waters. See Rev. xvii, I. and
xviii. 17—19.
' I purposely say n fourth order, because I can only admit the existence of three genuine
orders ; the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. As for the Tuscan, it is mere Doric in
the Egyptian style as used by the old llctruscans : and in the Composite we behold the
exquisite Corinthian most woefully corrupted.
* See Plate III, Fig. 28, '^y.
THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 293
quently crowns the summit of their massy pillars. I am led to deduce the chaf. v»-
Grecian and Egyptian columns from the palm, not only on account of their
striking resemblance to that tree which appears in all the pillars of the
Thebaic temples and which is eminently conspicuous in the Corinthian
order, but likewise from its reputed sanctity and its thence being so often
used in the sacred groves. To avoid prolixity, a single instance shall suf-
fice : the floating island of Chemmis, in which Horus took refuge from tlie
fury of Typhon, was planted ciiiefly with palm-trees '. It is prol)able
however, that, in those cases where the roof of the edifice rose into the
graceful curve instead of being perfectly flat, the notion of other trees may
have been superadded ; the curve exhibiting the arch, which the brauches
form by their intersection. Of such buildings we may not unreasonably
conjecture that the Indian fig-tree was often, though not exclusively, the
prototype. This remarkable plant forms a grove of itself: for the bou"hs,
spontaneously bending down from the original parent trunk, take root in
the earth ; and, the boughs again of these new trunks successively pro-
ducing others, the tree continues in a state of progression so long as it can
find soil to nourish its shoots. It is highly venerated by the Brahniens ;
for it serves them as a sort of natural temple, and thus carries back their
imaginations to that early period when artificial imitations were unknown'
Now it is obvious, that the arch formed by tiie dip of these shoots will be
circular : and, when the tree has considerably extended itself, its appear-
ance to those who walk beneath its shade will be that of a temple witii
numerous pillars supporting various round vaults.
It is superfluous particularly to specify the well known relics of ancient
art, which serve to exemplify the present hypothesis: I shall rather notice
a circumstance, which ought by no means to be omitted. As Paradise and
the Ark were always associated together in the minds of the old idolaters,
and as caverns were symbols of the Ship of the World ; we continually
find the two ideas of a grove and a grotto, blended together in the artifi-
cial excavations or in the buildings designed to imitate such excavations,
which occur in so many difterent parts of the globe. The excavations
» Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 156. » Maur. Ind. Ant. vol, iii. p. 169—173.
294 THE OUIOIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V. and buildings, to which I allude, are professed transcripts indeed of the
mystic cavern : but yet they are furnished with pillars, the form of which
is evidently borrowed from the trunks of trees'.
Temples of this description had their chief portal almost universally, I
believe, looking towards the east, an arrangement precisely the reverse of
that which has been adopted in the Christian cathedral '. For this dispo-
sition various reasons have been assigned. Sometimes it is ascribed to the
circumstance of the Sun rising in the east ; and, at other times, to an opi-
nion prevalent among the old Egyptians, that the east is the front of the
\\"orld '. I doubt, whether such reasons be perfectly satisfactory : for, if
either of them were the true cause of this arrangement, all temples would
invariably have their portals to the east. But this is not the case : for ca-
verns and cavern-temples were contrived to have their doors looking to
the north and the south, if they had two ; and to the north, if they had
only one. There must therefore have been some other more specific rea-
son, why an eastern aspect was so studiously selected for temples built
with pillars so as to imitate the sacred groves. And this we shall easily
discover, if we adopt the hypothesis that such groves and their architec-
tural copies were equally transcripts of the garden of Paradise. We fmd
from holy Scripture, that the portals of Eden, when God stationed the
Cheriibiin to keep the way of the tixe of life, was on the eastern side of the
sacred grove: and, analogously with this intimation, the Hindoo my tho-
logists place the cherubic Garuda in the eastern pass of their Elysian
garden on the summit of INleru *. Hence the imitative temple had its door
to the east; and hence not uufrequently the approach to it was guarded
with figures of the compound Sphinx.
• .See Plate III. Fig. 19,30.
' Spencer, dc leg. Heb. rit. lib. iii. disser. vi. c. 2. sect. i. p. 309 — 311. In a simihu
manner, the prfncijial gate of .such Indian pagodas, as arc constrnctod with a central nave,
side-aisles, and a .sanctuary at the farther end, alw.iys fronts to tlit cast. Maur Iiul. Ant.
vol. iii. p. '22. The same disposition occurs in the sacred architecture of the Peruvians:
.lecording to Cieza, the doors of their temples looked eastward. Purch. Pilgrim, b. ix.
c. 11. p. 880.
^ Muur. Jnd. Ant. vol. iii. p. 22. * Gen. iii. 2K Asiat. lies. vol. vi. p. ICt.l.
THE OUIGrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 295
1 1. The ancient pagan style of architecture with many of its allusions chap, tu,
has been adopted both by Christians and Mohammedans in the construc-
tion of their churches and mosques.
A Gothic cathedral, as it has often been remarked, bears a studied re-
semblance to two intersecting avenues of trees: and every part of it is most
ingeniously contrived to heigliten the effect. The pillars are moulded so
as best to imitate the trunks : the lofty pointed arch of the aisles, both in
its general form and by means of its transverse groins, precisely exhibits
the supernal crossings of the boughs : every ornament affects the tapering
spiral figure: and the ramifications of the windows, as they are aptly called,
serve yet more to heighten the deception. Externally, the towers are often
surmounted by pyramids : and, in the case of Ely cathedral, the central
lanthorn is a dome. This last mode of roofing eminently prevails in the
sacred edifices of the Greek church: and it has been adopted by the archi-
tects of the two well-known Roman and English cathedrals of St Peter
and St. Paul. In the case of the former, Michael Angelo professedly bor-
rowed it from the Pantheon' : and the latter appears to be iii le more than
a transcript of the Italian church. Each of these buildings, with its four
arms exhibiting the figure of a cross and with its lofty centrical dome, bears
a very close resemblance to the cruciform and dome-surmounted pagodas
of Mathura and Benares : and, though doubtless the cross has been intro-
duced into the plans of Christim churrhes in allusion to the cross of the
Redeemer; yet I suspect, that the coincidence of shape with the oriental
temples was by no means overlooked by the first ecclesiastical architects.
In a similar manner, tlie crypts under some of our ancient churches, which
were once and (I believe) still are occasionally used for divine service,
appear to- be no unambiguous imitations of the sacred caverns : and these
"were the ratlier copied, because there is reason to believe, that the primi-
tive Christians, while labouring under a state of persecution, often resorted
to deserted excavations of this description. The very appellations of I he
Nave and i/ic Choir arc strictly significant, and were certainly not adopted
" His conception was, as he sublimely expressed himself, to euspend the Pantheon in
ike air.
296 THE ORIGIJI OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOK V. through mere accident. Nave signifies indifferently a tonple and a ship:
and the sanctuary of our churches was denominated the Choir or Chor or
Caer, in reference to the sacred circle of the mundane Ark. Hence we
shall find, that the true shape of this part of the edifice is not parallel-
ogrammic but circular. Thus the Greek Basilicse terminate universally
towards the east in a semi-circle : thus the same eastern termination has
been retained in the cathedral of London ; and thus some even of our
Gotliic churches, such for instance as those at Lichfield and Westminster,
affect a similar form at the extremity of their chancels.
As for the Mohammedans, they have not only retained the pyramid in
their minarets and the oviform dome in their mosques ; but they likewise
carefully decorate the summits of those imitative mountains with the navi-
cular lunette, so highly venerated among the astronomical pagans as a
symbol of the Ark.
Such imitations most probably originated from the circumstance of
Christian churches, in the first instance, so often studiously occupying the
scites of heathen temples ; and of Mohammedan mosques afterwards sup-
planting Christian churches. In some cases, the very buildings themselves
were appropriated to new purposes, as the Pantheon at Rome and the ca-
thedral of St. Sophia at Constantinople : in others, the ground of a prior
sanctuary was purposely selected for the creation of an edifice destined for
the purposes of a different and victorious religion.
in. A very idle notion has long prevailed, wliich has not only served
to point a mere poetical declamation against despotism, but has even drawn
forth man)' notable speculations from serious writers, that the pyramids
of Egypt were neither more nor less than the tombs of their respective
founders. This childish fancy seems to have taken its rise from the asser-
tion of Herodotus, that Cheops designed certain vaults in the rocky hill,
upon which he built tlie principal pyramid, to serve for him as a sepulchre:
and the same tale, with an extension to the other pyramids, lias been echoed
by Diodorus and Strabo '. Tlie story has been duly transmitted down to
the present day : and such was the hold that it took upon the imaginations
• l/troil. Ilibt. lib. ii. c, 121. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. 58. Strab. Geog. lib. xvii. p. 808.
THE ORIfilN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. ^97
of mm, that it has often been considered as declaring so undoubted a truth ^"^p. vn.
as uliolly to prcchidc the necessity of argument.
What then arc we to tiiink, it may be asked, of the direct testimonies of
the old classical writers? Are they to be unceremoniously set aside, as
altogether unworthy of notice?
By no means : so far from it, the testimonies are highly valuable and
important. I would not discard them : I would only have them rightly
understood. The pyramids were most undoubtedly viewed by tlie ancient
Egyptians as tombs: but the question is, whether they were literal, or
mythological, tombs ; whether they were real tombs of substantial Mizrai-
mic sovereigns who had built them for that express purpose, or allegorical
tombs of that ancient personage who was enrolled the first among the
princes of the country. Of the two suppositions, the latter, almost to de-
monstration, may be shewn to be the true one : whence it will follow, that,
when the Egyptians told their Grecian visitors that tlic pyramids were sepul-
chres of their primeval king ; those visitors, understanding them literally,
concluded as a thing of course, that the pyramids were real tombs, and that
their several founders had built them for the special reception of their own
dead bodies. ^Meanwhile the Egyptians, who seem not unfrequently to
have amused tiicmselvcs with playing upon the Cirecian love of the marvel-
lous, truly intimated, though misunderstood by their inquisitive neighbours
and by a great body of the moderns after them, that each pyramid was a
mystic tomb of the dead Osiris.
It is worthy of observation, that Herodotus hiinself throws some light on
the real nature of these supposed literal sepulchres. He tells us, that
Mycerinus the son of Cheops or (as Diodorus styles him) Chemmis, to
whom the raising of the great pyramid is attributed, had the misfortune to
lose his only daughter. Inconsolable on account of her death, he inclosed
her body in a wooden cow ornamented with gold. The historian professes
to have himself seen this cow: and he adds, that the body of the princess
was annually taken out of it iluriogthe festival of that nameless god, wliose
funereal Mysteries, he elsewhere tells us, were celebrated upon a sacred
lake, lie further mentions the existence of a legend, that Mycerinus had
conceived an incestuous passion for his daughter, and that he attempted
Fag. IdoU VOL. III. 2 P
293 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
to violate her person '. The whole of this tale shews very plainly what
kind of sepulchres the pyramids were : for we have liere the fable of the
cow Thcba and of the incestuous commerce of a father with his daughter
whicli is so constantly interwoven into the history of the chief hero-god,
associated with an imaginary death, with the funereal lake-orgies of Osiris,
and with the founders of the pyramids. No doubt the cow or ark was the
coffin of the pwncess, just in the same sense as the pyramids were tombs
of the old Egyptian kings : and it may be further observed, that both Cheops
and Chnmnh are titles of Osiris, though assumed, as was usual, by the
sovereign who literally built the principal pyramid. Cheops denotes ths
illustrious serpent-deity : and from the god Chemmis or Caimas or Chc'
mosh or Cameses, as the name was variously expressed, the floating island
Chemmis, which received the boy Osiris when he fled before Typhon, obvi-
ously borrowed its appellation.
1. Agreeably to this view of the testimonies of the Greek writers relative
to the sepulchral nature of the pyramids of Egypt, we shall constantly find
in every quarter of the world a prevailing notion that the temple of the
great father was also his tomb : and, in order that the investigation may pro-
ceed tlie more regularly and satisfactorily, we will begin it, as before, from
first principles'.
(1.) Meru or Ararat is considered as the mundane temple of the great
father, conspicuous in an embodied shape and multiplying himself into
three forms : and this most sacred temple is artificially represented, as we
have seen, by a cone or pyramid. It is however not more viewed as a
temple, than as a tomb: and by the followers of the very ancient super-
stition of I)U*klha it is pronounced to be the sepulchre of the son of the
licavenly spirit, tliat is, of the first man who is supposed transmigratorily
to reappear at the commencement of every new World. Tlie bones of this
primeval !iero-god were scattered over the face of the whole earth : and it
was the first duty of his descendants and votaries to collect and to entomb
them. Hence there is a notion, that, as every pyramid is a co|>y of the
sepulchral Meru, so every pyramid is to be deemed ascpulciuc of the great
' Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 129—132.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRY. 299
fatl)er : and hence in many of these builduigs a tooth or a bone is devoutly chap, vi
exhibited as a relic of the defunct godhead. It is confessed however, that
several pyramids do not really contain the bones of the Thaciir or Lord :
yet we are told, that they are to be supposed and asserted to contain them,
though the true place where they are deposited must ever continue un-
known in order to prevent profanation. The secret vault, in which the
holy relics are generally said to be deposited, is called T/iacur Cuti or the
cell of the Lord: and it is observable, that the grand Lamas of Thibet,
who are acknowledged to be successive incarnations of Buddha, are always,
in studied imitation of their prototype, buried under pyramids '.
Now Buddha or Menu, as we have seen, however he may be multiplied
in accordance with the doctrine of a succession of similar Worlds, is really
Adam considered as reappearing in the person of Noah. Accordingly we
shall find, that the oriental traditions respecting these patriarchs singularly
accord with the preceding notions respecting Buddha.
Adam and all tiie fathers in a direct line from him through Seth are said
to have dwelt during their lifetime in the borders of the holy Paradisiacal
mountain, and to have been buried after their death in a sacred cave of
that mountain denominated Alcanuz. When tlie period of the flood
arrived, Noah entered the cavern ; and, having kissed the bodies of the
other patriarchs, he solemnly removed that of Adam, while his three sons
bore the proper oblations of gold and myrrh and frankincense. As they
descended from the holy mountain, they turned back their weeping eyes
to the garden ; and exclaimed, Hacred Paradise, farexvell. Every stone
and every tree they devoutly embraced ; and, at length, Mitli their venera-
ble load, entered into the Ship. During their abode widiin it, Noah was
wont to say a daily prayer over the body of the protoplast; his wife, his
sons, and his daughters, making the proper responses from another part of
the Ark: and, when they quitted it, the corpse of Adam was carefully taken
out together with the rest of the lading. How it was then disposed of, is
differently related by different legendary writers. Some say, that it was
secretly buried by Shcm and i\Ielchizedck, under the special guidance of
' Asiat. Res. voL x. p. 128—136. toI. vi. p. 437, 4^, 293. vol. vii. p. 423.
300* THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
an angel, in mount Calvary, «hich is to be deemed the navel of the Earth.
Others relate, that Noah, when he divided the World among his three sons,
divided also the bones of Adam ; that fragments of these were carried, as
holy relics, by them of the dispersion to various quarters of the globe ; that
the skull, as the noblest part, fell to the lot of Shem ; and that it was finally
buried in mount Calvary, which from that circumstance was denominated
t lie place of a skidl'.
It is easy to perceive, whence these Rabbinical and IMohammedan tales
originated. The framers of them saw plainly enough, that the great father
of gentile theology was Adam ; and they could not but observe, that he
was connected in a very peculiar manner with Noah. Hence they adapted
to those patriarchs the eastern mythologic fictions i-especting Buddha or
Menu : they buried Adam in a sacred cavern of the Paradisiacal mount :
they made the Ark a sepulchral vehicle of the dead : they reinterred the
patriarch in a secret place of mount Calvary, which, as a local Meru, they
pronounced to be the navel of the Earth : or, as the tale was occasionally
varied, they scattered his bones to the most remote parts of the globe,
while Calvary received his skull alone. The ridiculous figment of the body
of Adam in the Ark would be unworthy of notice, if it did not so immedi-
ately join itself to the mythologic inclosure of the deceased great father
within that floating navicular cofTm which was esteemed the infernal ship
of the dead : but I think it highly probable, that both Adam and Noah
were literally buried in the precincts of the Paratlisiucal mount Ararat ; for
it is not likely, that either of those patriarchs would retire to any material
distance from tiiat remarkable spot consecrated by so many interesting
recollections. On these grounds, in addition to the allegorical death and
revival of the transmigrating great father, they, who venerated IMcru as the
first worldly tcm[)lc, would of course venerate it likewise as the scpulclu'e
of the complex chief hero-god : and thence, on the universal principle of
local appropriation, every national holy mountain and every imitative
' Gocz. (Ic Adam, reliq. p. 59 — C2. Hilsclicr. dc Ailam. reliq. p. 7i, 75. Eutycli. Annal.
vol. i. p. rif). Julian. Grcgor. ex catun. .Arab. IM.S. in (jcii. iti obscrv. sacr. c. xxv. Gregor.
Abulpli. in histor. dynast, p. 9, 10, Eutych. Annal. vol. i. p. ■H. apud Tabric. Cod. Pscu-
dcpig. viA. i. p. GO, 71-, 'J 11, 2C7.
THE ORIGIJI OP PAGAN IDOLATRV. 301
pyramid would be deemed at once the temple and the tomb of the supreme chap, vn
paternal divinity, by whatever name he might be distinguished. In a
similar manner, each consecrated grotto would be viewed as his grave :
and, in order that the general concinnity of the system might be preserved,
the Ark, which was represented by all such grottos, would be esteemed his
floating coffin. Thus the literal and the allegorical death of the great faiher
would finally meet together in one point : and thus tradition and mystic
speculation would alike contribute to stamp the sacred rites of pagan an-
tiquity with an indelibly funereal character.
It was from the same heathen source that the Jews learned that doc-
trine of the Metempsychosis, which seems to have been very prevalent
among them at the time of our Lord's first advent '. Their Rabbins,
clearly perceiving that the principal demon-god of the Gentiles was Adam
considered as reappearing under new forms at many different intervals,
ascribed to the first man the attributes which dibtinjfuished the i^reat father.
Thus they teach us, agreeably to the pagan doctrine of the excerption of
souls, that Adam was the habitation and the matrix of all the souls of his
posterity : that, in addition to these, he had his own proper soul, Mhicli
successively migrated from his body into other bodies : and that, as that
soul had already entered into the body of David, so it would hereafter pass
into the body of the Messiah. Thus also they speak of a double transmi-
gratory revolution : one, of the bodies of the dead, by which they pass
through the caverns of the Earth into Palestine, there to wait for the ge-
neral resurrection ; the other, of souls, by which, in accordance with the
mystic self-triplication of the great father, they were each to enter into pre-
cisely three bodies *.
(2.) But enough has been said by way of explanatory foundation : wc
have now only to point out the general prevalence of such notions ; \\ hich
will shew with how much accuracy the Greek writers speak of the Egyptian
pyramids as tombs, though unfortunately they mar the whole matter by
misdeeming them literal sepulclircs of certain ancient kings their founders.
' See John ix. 2.
» liiliCher. de Adam, reliq. p. 72. apud Fabric. Cod. Pseud, vol, i. p, 73.
302 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKV.
BOOK V. We will begin, where we ought to begin, with Babel. Herodotus informs
us, that the tower was the temple of Belus : Strabo again declares, that it
was his tomb '. Here we have no real contradiction ; for it was in fact
both the mystic tomb, and the imitative mountain temple, of the great
fatiier.
In a similar manner, each Egyptian pyramid, which (as we have seen)
was copied from the Babylonic tower, was a tomb of Osiris ; but it was
not the less on that account his temple. Agreeably to this view of the sub-
ject, I hesitate not to pronounce the stone trough in the dark central cham-
ber the coffin of the god : but then it is only to be viewed as a representa-
tion of that sepulchral ark or floating coffin, within which his image was
placed during the mournful part of the Mysteries. Thus we find, that his
nocturnal Orgies were celebrated on the surface of a sacred lake near Sais,
in the immediate vicinity of which was shewn his tomb *. It was doubtless
a pyramidal tumulus : but it was only one of the many places of his alle-
gorical sepulture ; for, just in the same manner as the oriental Buddha, his
corpse is said to have been torn into several different pieces, which were
afterwards collected and interred by his consort Isis. A very celebrated
tomb of this description was exhibited in the holy island of Phila; near the
cataracts, which yet was clearly a navicular or insular sanctuary of the
god '. There was another of them, as we may collect from the form of the
central stone, in the temple of Cnuphis, which yet remains in the island of
Elephantina *. As for Isis, she also had her grave, which was shewn in the
city of Memphis : though soioe contended, that with her husband she lay
interred in the island of Phila; ^ The Labyrinth again was said to be the
tomb of its founder Mocris or Mendcs : but the true Mendes or Menes
was Osiris or Menu, and the Labyrinth was a temple devoted to ti)e cele-
bration of his funereal Mysteries *. I am much mistaken, if the Sphinx
was not another of these tombs. This compound monster was a syn)bol of
the great mother, whose womb was deemed the Hades or navicular coffin
• Hcrod. Hist. lib. i. c. 181. Strab. Geog. lib. xvi. p. 738.
* Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 170, 171. ^ DioJ. Bibl. lib. i. p. 19.
« Nordi'n's Trav. vol. ii. p. JOl. ' Dioil. Uibl. lib. i. p. 19, 23.
'■ Ikrod. Hist, libv ii. c. US. Diod. Cibl. lib. i. p. 55. I'liii. lib. .\x.vvi. c. 13.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 305
of the dead hero-god. Hence, according to Pliny, it was reputed to be the chap, vir,
tomb of Amasis : and modern travellers have actually discovered, in the
back part of the rock out of which it is formed, an opening into a spacious
sepulchral cavern '. For a literal sovereign of Egypt substitute its mytho-
logical king, as in the case of the pyramids ; and the testimony of Pliny
may be received as accurate.
It has been observed, that the Buddhists pronounce IMeru to be at once
the temple and the sepulchre of the great universal father. Agreeably to
this declaration, if we turn our attention to the local geographical JNIeru o^
Ilindostan and the adjacent countries, which has been shewn to coincide
with the high land of Cashgar at the head of the Ganges ; we shall find
precisely such a reputed tomb within its precincts. The pretended sepul-
chre is forty cubits in length, the stature of the divine personage for whom
it was erected : and beneath it is a vault of the same dimensions, with a
small door that is never opened out of respect to the illustrious dead. It
is called by the Mohammedans the tomb of Lamech : but the pagan in-
habitants of the country pronounce it to be the sepulchre of Buddha-Na-
rayana or Machodar-Nath ; that is, of Buddha dwelling in the waters or
of the sovereign prince in the belly of the fish *.
What jSIeru or Ida-vratta is to the Hindoos, the holy mountain Ida was
to the Cretes and Iliensiensians. Hence, as the sepulchre of Buddha is
still exhibited in Cashgar, so the tomb of Zan or Jupiter was equally shewn
in the Cretan Ida '.
Thus likewise Olympus is a local Ilapu or Meru : and, accordingly, we
find, that a sacred tomb was venerated in the Olympian hill of Saturn. It
was said to be the tomb of Ischenus, the son of the giant ; who was offered
up, a self-devoted sacrifice, to the gods during the prevalence of a famine*.
This sacrifice I suspect to be nearly allied to the similar sacrifice of tlie
Indian Brahma and of the son of the Phenician Cronus : and the tomb it-
• Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvi, c. 12. Maur. Ind. Ant. vol. iii. p. 97.
» Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 479, iSO.
' Poiph. in vlt. Pythag. p. 187. Callim. Hymn, in Jov. ver. 8. Lactant. Instit. lib. i.
c. 11.
* Lycoph. Cassand. ver. 42, 43. Schol. in loc.
304 _ THE OBIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK V. self ^vas, I am persuaded, the mythologic sepulchre of the gigantic deity of
the place ; agreeably to a prevailing notion, derived probably from the co-
lossal statues of Egypt and the East, that the stature of the great father far
exceeded that of the ordinary race of men. There was another of these
holy tombs near the oracular grotto of Trophonius. It was given to Arce-
silaus, whose bones were said to have been brought thither from Troy for
the purpose of interment : but I believe, that, like the last, it was really
the mystic grave of the fatidical hero-god himself '. There was another of
them at Delphi, which was shewn as the tomb of Bacchus ' : another on
mount Sipylus in the country of the Magnesians, which was said to be the
tomb of Jupiter ' : another on mount Cyllenc in Arcadia, which was ascribed
to Eputus who is feigned to have been stuug to d-cath by a serpent * : an-
other at Delphi, which was given to Apollo who similarly perished by the
sting of the serpent Python * : and another at Nem&a in Argolis, which was
exhibited as the sepulchre of Opheltes who is likewise fabled to have been
slain by a serpent' . These several legends all relate to the same person;
who mystically perished by the agency of tiic diluvian Typhon, who was
inclosed within a floating coffin, and who was afterwards restored to life and
made victorious over his enemy. So again, we iind the tomb of Orion at
Tanagra ; that of Piioroneus, in Argolis ; that of Deucalion, at Athens ;
that of Pyrrha, in Locris ; that of Endymion, in Elis ; that of Tilyus, in
Panopca ; that of Asterion, in the sacred island Lad^ ; that of Egyptus the
son of Belus, in Achaia ; and that of the liero Phocus, on a hill at Epi-
daurus near a holy inclosure planted with olive-trees '. Of Osiris I have
already noticed more than one tomb : but, in fdctf'eveiy temple of this god
was his reputed sepulchre. Hence, as we Icarn from Plutarch, the Egyp-
tians were accustomed to shew )?i{/)ii/ graves of their deity : and hence, as
we are told by Lucian, some of the Phenicians of Pyblos, who worshipped
' Paus. Roeot, p. 602.
• Cyril, corit. Julian, lib. i. ji. II. This was L'stecnicd the same as tlic sacrcil navct,
' Paus. Coriiilii. p. 1 '-';'>. * Paus. yVrcail. p. 4'8'i.
' Porph. in vit. Pytliag. p. 187. '' Paus. Corinth, p. 111.
' Paus. RoLot \}.r,~\. Corinth, p. 120. Strab. Gcoi;. lib. ix.p. '1'25. Paus. 1 Eliac. p. 288.
Phoc. p. G15. Attic. i).()(J. Acliaic. p. 110. Corinth, p. 110.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 305
Osiris under the names of Adonis and Tkammtiz, asserted that the god was cuap. t«.
buried in their country ', So universally indeed was this mode of de-
monolatry adopted, that the pagan Euhemerus professed himself able to
point out tiie deaths and sepulchres of all the liero-gods : while the early
fathers indignantly reproached the Gentiles with the worsliip of mere dead
men, roundly intimating that even by their own confession their temples
were no better than so many tombs *.
Exactly the same ideas prevailed among the old Britons. They had the
tomb of Tydain or the solar Ilu, in the border of what they denominated
the mount of Aren : and the resting-place or coffin of Dylan, who is the
same diluvian personage under a different name, is said to be the temple
of the navicular ox surrounded by the deafening wave '. Each Kist-vaen
also, or mystic stone cell of Ceridwen, was deemed sepulchral : and, in
the Druid ical Mysteries, ere the noviciate passed the river of death in the
boat of Garanhir or Charon, it was requisite that he should have been alle-
gorically buried under the great stone, as svell as have allegorically become
defunct *. From these principles I argue analogically, that the large flat
slab in the centre of Stonehenge, which has often been taken for an altar,
was really the mystic tomb of Hu or Tydain ; just as a similar stone in the
midst of the Egyptian temple of Cnuphis was a sepulchre of Osiris.
Nor were such speculations peculiar to the old continent : we find evi-
dent traces, in the old Mexican superstition, of the death of the great father
and the dilaceration of his members. In the month of May there was a
special festival in honour of the arkite Vitzliputzli ; and, on this occasion,
the consecrated virgins were wont to prepare an image of the god witii
maize and beet kneaded together with honey. When the principal day
arrived, the deity was solemnly borne in his ark to a mountain near
Mexico, where sacrifices were duly offered up. Thence he was conveyed
to two other holy places, and afterwards brought back to his temple in the
■ Plut. de Isiil. p. 358, 359. Lucian. de dea Syr. vol. ii. p. 879.
• Cicer. de nat. deor. lib. i. c. 42. Euseb. Prap. Evan. lib. ii. c. 8. Clem. Alex. Cohort.
p. 29, 58. Arnob. adv. gent. lib. vi. p. 193.
' Davies's Mythol. p. 193, I OK ♦ Ibid. p. 392, 400.
Pag. Idol. VOL. in, 2 Q
306 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. city. When the procession was finished, the maize image was toni asunder ;
and pieces of its substance, in the form of large bones, were laid at the feet
of the god. These morsels of paste they called the Jlcsh and the bo?ies of
VitzUputzU '.
Lastly, it is with the same religious ideas, that the great pyramidal Moral
of Otalieite is deemed at once a temple and a sepulchre : and, unless I be
wholly mistaken, we have ourselves derived from a pagan source the un-
seemly practice of burying the dead within the walls of our churches *.
(3.) In making these remarks I am compelled wholly to dissent from
]\Ir. Bryant, to whom I have been indebted however for some of the pre-
ceding instances of consecrated tombs. Drawn away by a refined etymo-
logy of the Greek word Taphos, he contends, that every pretended sepulchre
of a hero-god was not a tomb, but exclusively a temple or high-place. That
they were temples is indisputable : but, if the notion of their being tombs
also originated from the mere Hellenic misprision of a sacred term, it is
obvious, that such an idea would be utterly unknown without the limits of
Greece. We have seen however, that it was equally familiar to the orien-
tal Buddhists, the ancient Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Phenicians, the
Celts, and the jMexicans. Hence I conclude, that, when the Greeks deno-
minated such structures Taphi and supposed them to be tombs, they were
guilty of no misprision, but merely called them by their proper mytholocri-
cal names '.
2. During the intermediate period of the flood, the great father was some-
times said to lie in a state of death, and at other times was described as
being plunged in a deep slumber. When the former phraseology was
' Purch. Pilgr. b. viil. c. 13. p. 807, 808. * Cook's first voyage, b. i. c. 15.
' See Bryant's Anal. vol. i. p. 449 ct infra. The talc of Benjamin of Tuilela respecting
llic Anak prince Abshamaz has evidently originated from tlie old mytliology of Canaan,
■which waa the same as that of Egypt and all other ancient nations. He informs us, that
lie saw at Damascus a rib of this personage, which measured nine Spanish palms in length
and two in breadth : and he adds, that it was taken out of a scpulclire, the inscription of
which purported it to be the tomb of Abshamaz the sovereign of the world. Vallanc.
Vind. c. iii. p. 38. This gigantic universal king was the gigantic great father, venerated
under the appellation of Abshamaz or the 'ff^^nng nfthe Sun ; for Abshamaz is plainly Ab-
Shemcsh or the Sun is mij father.
TAB ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 307
ftdopted, the Ark was his cofFin or his grave ; when the latter was preferred, cuap. vn,
it was his bed. It was the custom, particularly in the east, to represent this
ancient personage by colossal images of vast size : and these, agreeably to
the mythological notions entertained of him, were fashioned either in a sitting
posture of deep meditation or in the recumbent attitude of one asleep.
Such opinions and such modes of representation will account for many
curious particulars in the old systems of idolatry : for we shall continually
find, that, in consequence of this train of ideas, a bed is substituted for a
ship or a coffin as the vehicle of the chief-hero-god ; and that he reposes
upon it, dilated in effigy to the size of an immense giant. But by the bed
was really meant his allegorical grave or coffin ; a figure of speech, than
which nothing can be more obvious and familiar : and his sleep upon the
one is the very same as the inclosure of his dead body within the other.
(1.) Agreeably to this speculation, the Hindoo mythologists describe
Vishnou as sleeping, during the intermediate period of the deluge, upon a
bed supported by the folds of the vast navicular serpent, which itself floats
upon the surface of the waters '. Such a mode of delineation is its own
interpreter : and it may therefore with propriety be first noticed, as afford-
ing a key to the right understanding of the sacred bed. Here we have the
bed placed upon the volimus of tiic ship-serpent: but the serpent and the
bed are but different symbols of the same thing. Accordingly, Vishnou is
sometimes represented slumbering upon the serpent only, which serves him
for a bed : while, at other times, he appears slumbering upon the bed only,
the serpent being omitted. A remarkable instance of the former occurs on
a sculptured rock near the Ganges': and, of the latter, at Cathmandu in
Nepal. In a large bason on one side of the royal garden, there is a colos-
sal figure of Vishnou-Narayan sleeping upon a mattress of stone ; which is
about eighteen or twenty feet long, and broad in proportion. Tlie bason be-
ing full of water, the image and the bed appear as floating on the surface ^
Vishnou is ultimately the same as Buddha or Sa-Kya : hence we find
this god likewise exhibited in the same manner. Near the town of Syrian
• Moor's Hind. Pantlieon. plate vii. See Plate II. Fig. 1.
* Maur. Hist, of Hind. vol. i. plat..' i. See also floor's Hind. Panth. pi. viiL
} Asiat. Res. vol.ii. p. S13.
308 THE ORTGtX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. in Pegu, there is a temple of Kia or Gautama, which contains a gigantic
image of the deity sixty feet in length. It lies in a sleeping posture,
recumbent upon a couch of proportionable dimensions '. We meet with
two similar images of Buddha in the island of Ceylon, where he is equally
venerated. One of them is in a temple at Villigaam, eighteen feet long :
the other is eighteen cubits long, and is to be seen in a temple at Oogul-
Bodda. They are both in a sleeping attitude, reclining on one side. The
head, crowned with the lunar trident, rests upon a pillow attached to the
upper end of the bed : the right hand is naturally placed beneath it : and
the left is extended on the thigh of the same side \ This self-same per-
son, dilated to the vast height of forty cubits, is said to lie buried in the
holy tomb, which is shewn in the mountains of Casiigar or IVIeru '. Here
the tomb serves him for a bed : and consequently the bed is mythologically
no other than the tomb *.
In a similar manner, the tomb of Jupiter was exhibited in the Cretan
Ida : and, as he was thought to lie there in the slumber of death, a regal
couch or tlirone was annually spread out for him to repose upon during the
celebration of his IVIysteries ^ It does not appear that any figure of tiie
god was laid upon this bed, but only that it was prepared for his imaginary
' Hamilton's Account of East-Ind. vol. ii. p. 57. See also Symes's Emb. to Ava.
vol. ii. p. 247, 248.
'■ Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 435, 451. See Plate II. Fig. 2.
3 Ibid. p. 479, 480.
* Anotlicr of liis mystic beds is still shewn among the ruins of the Indian Mavalipuram.
On ascending the liill hi/ its slope on the north, it very singular piece of sculpture presents it-
self to view. On a plain surface of the rod, vjiich may once have served as the floor of some
apartment, there is a platform of stone, about eight or nincjcct long by three or four tvidc, in
a situation rather elevated, xuith Ixvo or three steps leading up to it, perfectly resembling a
couch or bed, and a lion very ixell executed at the upper end of it by xuay of pillow ; the whole
of one piece, being part of the hill itself. This the Brahmens, inhabitants of the place, call
the bed of Dherma- Ilnjah. Asiat. Kes. vol. i. p. 149. Dlicrnui-llajah or the Just King,
the Sydyk of Sunchoniiaho and the Just Man of Moses, is the same person as Menu or
Buddha.
5 I'orph. in vit. Pylhag. p. 187. Porphyry calls this piece of furniture a throne: but it
was evidently a regal eastern couch to be used in a reclining posture, for lie describes jt as
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRV. 309
use. Now, when we consider that it was thus spread out upon the summit chap- vh.
of the holy mountain Ida, we shall he at no loss to understand tlie nature of
tlic parallel sacred couch at Babylon.
In the chapel, which crowned the top of the montiforni pyramid of Be-
lus, there was a magnificent bed provided for the accommodation of the
god : but he was only believed to repose upon it ; for, according to Hero-
dotus, it was not occupied by any statue '. This bed was mythologically
his coffin or resting-place ; for we learn from Strabo, that the pyramid-
temple was esteemed his sepulchre : and, as it was placed on the summit of
a building which was constructed in imitation of Meru or Ararat, it was
evidently the same implement as the navicular coffin or ark of the deity.
There was a similar bed in the temple of Jupiter or Osiris at Thebes : and
there was another of these couches in the temple at Pataraj in Lycia \ In
each case, a desecrated female was provided for the entertainment of the
divuiity : and, as prostitution formed a regular part of the old idolatrous
system, the Archimage, who professed to be the visible representative of his
transmigrating god, acted no doubt as his proxy.
This will develop the meaning and the allusion of a part of that very
curious mythological passage in Isaiah, which I have already had occasion
to notice. The harlot church of Israel, white engaged in celebrating the
funereal Orgies of Molech or Osiris, is described, as preparing a bed upon
a lofty mountain in avowed imitation of that bed of her idolatrous neigh-
bours which she had beheld with delight, and then as committing fornica-
tion upon it like the priestess of the generative great father '. Spiritual
fornication is doubtless here intended, but it was rarely dissevered from
literal pollution : the imagery however of the passage is certainly borrowed
from the mystic bed of the Gentiles on the summit of their holy moun-
tain.
Speculations of a similar nature prevailed also among the ancient
Celts. The rocky bed of Idris is still shewn on the top of Cader-Idris :
and, in plain reference to the mystic death and oracular pretensions of the
initiated, it is even yet asserted, that, whoever shall rest a night upon it, he
• Herod. Hist. lib. J. c. 181. ' Ibid c. 1S2. ' Isaiah Ivii. 7, 8,
BOOK V,
310 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
V ill be found in the morning either dead or raving-mad or endued with
supernatural genius '. So again, Plutarch mentions, on the authority of a
traveller named Demetrius, that, in one of the sacred islands on the coast
of Scotland, Cronus lay extended in a profound sleep, the giant Briareus
beinrf his cuard, and various other demons his attendants *. This British
Saturn is clearly the same personage as Hu or Tydain or Elphin : and, ac-
cordingly, the grave or resting-place of that deity in the border of the sacred
mount was denominated his Bedd ; whence our English word Bed has pal-
pably been derived '. A similar double notion was attached, I make no
doubt, to the slab in the centre of Stonehenge : it was at once the bed and
the grave of the great father. Agreeably to this supposition, we find in
Ireland a Druidical temple, which to this day bears the name of the bed of
Diarmod or tlie bed of the omnipotent divinitj/. There is likewise another
temple at Glan-Or in the same country, which is called the bed of the hag
ov the bed of the giantess. The masculine deity thus described was cer-
tainly the great father : and the hag or giantess was the fury Ccridwen or
the sinantic great mother, whom the bards were accustomed to celebrate as
the ancient giantess grimly smiling in her wriath *•
We may trace the same idea among the Gothic Thracians. Dionysius
of Byzantium mentions a tumulus on the Argyronian cape, near the Cya-
nean isles in the Thracian Bosphorus, which was denominated the bed of
the giant : and it is a curious circumstance, tliat the identical appellation
has survived even to the present day ; for a Dervish resides near the tumu-
lus, who details the traditions of the country respecting the hill and the
giant sup[)oscd to be buried there K In a similar manner, the mj'stic tomb
of the daughter of Sitlion is termed by Lycophron lier bed or shrping-
p/ace ^. She was tiie same character as Isis or Sita : and her mythological
father Sithon, who (as usual) is made the primeval king ami father of tlie
• Davies's Celtic Research, p. 1 73. * Plut. de defect, ornc.
' Davies' Mytliol. p. 193, lOi: Comp. p. 391, 392, 21.8.
♦ Vallancoy's Vindic. p. 469, 471, 472.
' DionyB. Byzant. apud Ciylliuni. lib. iii. c. 6. Clarke's Travels, vol. i. c. 26. p. 683.
'' £vm0-1p. Iluril lias a similar remark in his Letters on chivalry.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 315
I. The entrance of the great father into the Ship formed a very promi- ciiAP.vur.
nent feature of old mythology : and, as his liberation from it was esteemed
his birth into the new World, he was often represented as a helpless infant
exposed in a wooden ark. This ark is sometimes set afimt on the sea,
while at other times it is mentioned simply without any specihcation of such
a circumstance : and, though the great father himself is occasionally exhi-
bited as an infant, yet we are not unfrequently told vuthout any disguise that
he constructed a ship and embarked in it with certain companions. All
tliese various particulars have been duly transcribed into the page of romance
both ancient and modern : and the channel of communication seems to
have been a well preserved, though at length mistaken, remembrance of
tlie diluvian IMysteries. Each aspirant was imitatively deemed an infant,
and in the course of his initiation was committed to the sacred infernal
boat. Hence originated the numerous tales of persons having experienced
such a calamitv durinij their childiiood.
(1.) Let us first attend to legends of an exposure in an ark, either at «
sea or on the stream of a river. Of tliis it is easy to produce a consider-
able variety of examples.
The classical Perseus, and Telephus, and Anius, and Tennes, arc all
equally said, like the god Bacchus, to have been set afloat in an ark, dur-
ing the period of their infancy, on the surface of the ocean, and to have all
in due time come safe to shore '. A precisely similar story is told respect-
ing the British Taliesin, the Persian Darab, the Latin Romulus, the Indian
Pradyumna, the Amadis of Gothic romance, and the Brahman and Perviz
and Parizad^ of Arabic fiction. The child Taliesin is committed to sea iir
a coracle : the infant Darab is set afloat on the Gihon in a small wooden
ark: Romulus and his brother are exposed in the same manner on the
Tiber : Pradyumna is inclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea, is swal-
lowed by a fish, and is ultimately brought safe to land ; Amadis, while a
child, is shut up in a little ark, and cast into the main ocean : and the two-
-princes and their sister are successively placed in wicker baskets, and thus
" Apollod. Bibl. lib. ii. c. 4. ?trab. Geog. lib. x. p. 487. lib. xiii. p. 615. Tzetz. in
Lycoph. ver. 570. Conon. Narrat. 29. Diod. Bibl. lib. v. p. 332. Cicer. 1 Orat. in \'err..
$ 19. Lycoph. Caesaiid. vcr. 229. Tzetz. in loc. Nonui Dionys, lib. xxv. p. 425.
51(> THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BOOK V. committed to a stream M-hich flowed beneath the walls of their father's
palace '.
(2.) Sometimes we meet with a story of a person being inclosed within
an ark, unattended by the circumstance of its being set afloat on the
water.
Thus Cypselus, an ancient prince of Corinth, is said to have been pre-
served in an ark, when his enemies sought his life : and this ark, m hich
continued to be shewn in the days of Pausanias, was afterwards conse-
crated in Olympia by his posterity, who from him ^vere denominated
Cypselida; \ Thus Jason, the captain of the Argo, was inclosed in an ark
during his infancy as one dead ; and in that state was bewailed by the
women of his family, precisely in the same manner as the females of Egypt
and Phcnicia lamented the untimely fate of the ark-concealed Osiris and
Adonis '. Thus Ion, the son of the Babylonic Xuth and the reputed an-
cestor of the Ionic Greeks, is fabled to have been exposed in an ark, which
was decorated with an olive-branch * Thus the primeval Athenian prince
Erechthonius, whose form was compounded of a man and a serpent, was
inclosed in an ark by Minerva, and committed to the care of the three
daughters of Cecrops who were certainly priestesses of the triplicated great
• Davips's Mytliol. p. 230. Vallancey's Vindic. p. 226, 227. Plut. in vit. Romul.
Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 183, 184. Amadis de (iaul. book i. c. 2. Arab, niglits cntcrt.
Concluding story. As for Romulus, Livy treats as fabulous all that preceded the building
of Rome : and Plutarch aifords ample room for doubting at least, whether the whole tale
of the two brothers be not mere mythologic romance. From him we learn, that the foun-
dation of the city was ascribed to various persons at various periods, and that there was
the same complete uncertainty respecting both the parentage and the e]ioch of Romulus.
The most rational opinion is, that Rome was built by a colony of the Pelasgi or Cuthic
Palli ; for almost every particular in the early Latin hislory, if history it can be called, is
built upon tlie prevailing popular theology. Sec I.iv. Hist, lloni. lib. i. in prx'fat. Plut,
in vit. Itnniul. Tzctz. in Lycopli. ver. 1226, 12.12. The Scythic origin of the Romana
lias been ably demonstrated by Mr. Pinkerton. Dissert, on the orig. of the Scyth. p. 80.
* Pausan. 1 VXvdv. p. 319, 320.
' Tzetz. Cliil. vii. hist. 96. Scliol. in Lycoph. vcr. IT.*?. Pindar. Pyth. iv. ver. 197.
Natal. Com. lib. vi. p. 31.'».
■• J^uripid. Ion. ver. H31, lj87. Cliron. Pasth, p. 19. Jamb, dc vit. Pythag. c. .';i.
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRV. 317
mother *. And thus an ancient personage, named Comatas, one of the chap.vih.
race of the Blessed who were the deified tenants of the sacred Elysian isles,
is said by Theocritus to Iiave been shut up in an ark for the space of a
nhole year and to have been there fed with honey *.
(3.) Occasionally the idea of infancy is dropped; and the hero of ro-
mance, at an adult age, performs some extraordinary voyage.
Such is the exploit of Hercules, w hen a golden cup conveys him in quest
of adventures over the surface of the mighty ocean '. Such is the voyage
of Theseus to encounter the Cretan Minotaur : for, in what light his ship
Avas viewed by the Athenians, may easily be collected, from the circum-
stance of its being preserved with high veneration even to the time of De-
metrius Phalereus, and from the positive declaration of antiquity that he
was one of tlie mariners of the Argo *. And such is the bold adventure
of the British Merlin and his associated bards, who dared the perils of the
ocean in a liouse of glass and were never heard of more. This is said
to be one of the three disappearances from the isle of Britain '. The tale
most probably originated from the loss of some unfortunate aspirants, wha
were carried out to sea in their coracle while going through the process of
a navicular initiation : for, in the ancient song of Taliesin which treats of
the entrance of the just man with his seven companions into the inclosure
of the ship-goddess Sidi, that vessel is styled the inclosure of glass *. As
for the appellation itself, it was certainly borrowed from the glass boat or
lunette which the Druids used in the celebration of their IVIysteries.
To the same class we may refer the various romances of our British
king Arthur.
It is not unlikely, that such a prince actually fought with the Saxons :
but the mythologic history of a primeval Arthur, from whom he received
his name, has become romantic fiction when engrafted upon the exploits
of the literal sovereign. Hence we find king Arthur described as entering
' ApoUod. Bibl. lib. iii. c. 13. Paus. Attic, p. 31. Ovid. Metam. lib. ii. ver. 553,
Tzetz. in Lycoph. ver. 158. Athenag. Lcgat, § I. Ilesycli. Lex.
» Theocr. Idyll, vii. vxr. 83. » Apollod. Bibl. lib. ii. c. 5. § 10.
♦ Hyg. Fab. U, 251. Plut. in vit. Thes. J Davies's Mytliol. p. 522. Carabrian Biog,
• Dttvies's rviythol. p. 515, 522,
318 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
aooK V. into a wonderful ship or inclosure with seven companions, during the time
of a general desolation produced by a mighty flood of waters. Hence, in
allusion to the triplicated White goddess, he is said to have had three
wives ; each of whom was denominated Gwenhwyvar or tlie Lady on the
summit of' the rvater. And hence he is represented, as having a sister,
M ho is styled the Lady of the lake. He is placed at the head of three
knights ; who are said, like himself, to have been imprisoned in a very re-
markable manner. The mode of this imprisonment evidently shews, that
the story was borrowed from the inclosure of the aspirant within the mys-
tic stone cell of Ceridwen which typified the womb of the ship-goddess.
Three nights, we are told, was Arthur confined in the inclosure of wrativ
and the remission of wrath ; three nights, with the lady of Pendragon ;
and three nights, in the prison of Kud or Ceridwen under the flat stone of
Echemeint. This stone was his allegorical bed or sepulchre : and, accord-
ingly, a vast stone in the centre of a round table, which crowns a hill in
the district of Gowcr, is still denominated Arthurs stone. Monuments
of such a description arc sometimes called his quoit or his table: but both
the one and the other of these imaginary implements were equally derived
from the sacred ring of Ila, which the Druids symbolized by Stonehenge
styling it the Ark of the TVorld. Accordingly, the redoubtable knights of
the round table are sometimes fabled to man the infernal ship and to ferry
tlie souls of the dead over the lake of Hades : and the sacred inclosure, into
which Arthur enters with his seven companions when a flood destroys the
rest of mankind, and which we find variously denominated his quoit and
his table, is declared to be Caer-Sidi by which appellation the bards distin-
guished Stoneiienge. His round table is the same also as his shield : and
that shield we find to be a ship, in v.-hich he performs a wonderful voyage
over the ocean. It was called Prydwen, which signifies the lady of the
IVorld ; a title, not particularly applicable to a buckler, but strictly de-
scriptive of that mundane Ship which was personified as a lady or a god-
dess.
With respect to his military exploits, he copies and rivals Osiris or Dio-
uusus or Scsostris or Myriiia. He drives the Saxons out of England. Hq
<;onr£ucrb Scolluud, Ireland, Denmark, and Norway. He makes the kings
»«
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRY. 319
of Iceland, Gothland, and Swedeland, his tributaries. lie subdues all cuAP.vin;
France. He completely routs the emperor of Rome, by name Lucius :
and, in the same battle, slays the Greek emperor and five paynim kings to
boot The next year he enters the capital of the world as a conqueror;
and solemnly receives the imperial crown from all the cardinals. But the
greatest warriors must die : and so must king Arthur. Returning to Bri-
tain, he is treacherously slain by his kinsman Mordrcd ; just as Osiris, after
all his victories, perished by the villainy of Typhon. Though mortally
wounded, he is unable to die till his magical sword Excalibar is thrown into
the Severn. The charge is entrusted to duke Lukyn ; who at length fulfils
it, though sorely against his inclination. He casts the noble blade into the
midst of the stream : when lo, ere it touches the water, a hand and arm is
seen to grasp it, to flourish it thrice in the air, and then to sink with it be-
neath the waves '. When the duke returns, Arthur is no longer visible :
but he perceives a self-moved boat put off" at the same instant froni the
land, and hears the piercing shrieks of unseen ladies. Popular superstition
long believed, that the king was not really dead ; but that he was conveyed
by the fairy Morgana, in an enchanted ship, to a paradisiacal region within
the recesses of the ocean. From this island of the blessed he will return
after a certain predetermined interval, and reign again over the world with
his pristine authority *.
I need not formally point out, whence this wild and beautiful fiction
originated. Yet, although Arthur thus disappeared, his grave was shewn
in the sacred peninsula, where the abbey of Glastonbury was founded.
Some writers say, that our Henry the second examined it, and discovered
a stone beneath which was a wooden coffin : but Polydore Virgil treats the
' Mr. Southcy has availed himself of this highly picturesque circumstance in his fine
•poem of Thalaba, b. v. p. 241. As he does not acknowledge any obligation, tlie thought
is probably with him original. Ariosto has a somewhat similar incident, when Ferrau drops
the helmet of Argalia into tlie river.
^ Davies's Mythol. p. 187, 188, 199, 394., 404, 517, 515, 522, 394, 396. Rabelais, liv.
ii. c. 30. apud Selden. Note au raanteau mal taille. fabliaux du xii et du xiii. siecle. torn. i'.
Legend of king Arthur and king Artluir's death, apud Percy's reliq. vol. iii. Hollingshed.
b. V. c, 14. See Seld. notes ou Draytou's Folyolb, song iii.
320 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV,
BOOK V. whole accoui>t as an idle fiction. I believe him to be right in his scepti-
cism : for every particular in the romance of king Arthur, no less than the
Insular situation of the tomb itself, leads me to believe that it was a sepul-
chre of a similar nature to those of Osiris or Jupiter or Bacchus or Apollo
or Buddha'.
Closely allied to the magical bark of Arthur, as originating from a com-
mon source, are the inchanted boats, which are so often prepared in ro-
mance to convey knights errant to some desperate adventure. The cava-
lier finds a small skiff on the shore of the ocean. He is immediately con-
vinced, that some brother in arms or some distressed damsel, imprisoned
in an insular castle, needs the assistance of his invincible arm. He steps
into the vessel : and, in an instant, like the navigators of the infernal boat
which conveys the souls of the dead from Gaul to Britain, he is wafted,
by tlie unseen agency of some friendly magician, full three thousand leagues
to the precise scene of action *.
We find much the same legend in Arabic fiction. Prince Zeyn, when
in quest of the mysterious ninth statue, arrives with his companion on the
brink of a lake. Presently the inchanted boat of the king of the genii,
steered by a mariner who in his uncouth form unites the licad of an ele-
phant to the body of a tyger, makes its appearance. The prince enters it
under a strict injunction of silence, like that imposed upon the ancient aspi
rants ; and is forthwith transported to a beautiful island, w hich is described
in the oriental style as resembling a terrestrial paradise '. On this tale I
need only remark, tliat the Indian Ciunesa is provided with the head of an
elephant ; and that that animal is deemed one of the forms of Buddha,
who steers the infernal ship of the dead over the hallowed stream of the
Ganges. It is not difficult to trace the obligation of our Arabic fabu-
list.
2. We shall equally find in romance the sacred laJ\e, the fairy or female
divinity presiding over it, the wonderful cavern, the oracular tomb of im-
prisonment, the sleeping giant, and the upright figure eternally seated upoa
•a large stone like the Memnon and other colossal statues of Egypt.
• Slid. 00 Polyolb. nong iii * See Doi\Quixote. vol. iii. c. 29*
' Anib. niglits enter. Story of prliice Zeyn Alasnam.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATUY. 321
(1.) In British fiction, we have a Lady of the lake, who is said to have chap.viii.
been the sister of Jving Aithur, and who is celebrated by the name oi' Mor-
gti/ia or Vaiaiia. She is clearly the same being as the Persic Mergian
Peri and as tiie Sicilian Fata Morgana, whose splendid illusive palaces
float upon the snrface of the sea. Boiardo represents her as gliding be-
neath the waters of an inchanted lake, while she caresses a vast serpent
into which form she had metamorphosed one of her lovers : and other
romance-writers describe her as the perfidious paramour of Merlin, who
was wont to denominate her the ■nc/iiie serpent. Iler character has been
taken from that of the White goddess ; who presided over the sacred lake,
and who as the navicular serpent was the diluvian vehicle of the great uni-
versal father.
As for Merlin, he was the son of a fair virgin by an infernal spirit : and
he was at once the lover of the lady Morgana, and her instructor in the
profomid science of magic. Like the old Cyclopians or Telchines, he was
a most skilful architect. He surrounded Caermarthen with a wall of brass :
he compelled the demons to labour for him in a cavern of the island of
Barry in Glamorganshire; where (as Camden remarks) you may still, by
the exertion of a moderate degree of fancy, hear them at work : and, hav-
ing built the stupendous circle of Stonehenge, he conveyed it in a single
night, partly by sea and partly by land, from the neighbouring country of
Ireland to the plain of Salisbury, fie was sometimes called Avibrosius :
and, agreeably to that appellation, such stones as those of which his temple
is composed were of old denominated Amhrosian stones ; while a town in
its immediate vicinity still bears the name oiAmbrosbiirij. All his magical
skill however could not preserve him from the treachery of his mistress,
the Lady of the lake. He became enamoured of her at the court of Uther
Pendragon ; wliere he established the famous round table, wrought many
wonderful works, and uttered a number of pro[)hecie3. Previous to his
death, he constructed a tomb capable of holding him and the lady : and
taught her a charm, uhich would so close the stone that it could never be
opened. The tomb is represented, as being formed out of a rock ; and the
entrance into it was beneath a huge inchanted slab. Into this cavern, and
under this slab, she one day prevailed upon him to go; pretending, that
Pa. vo). ii. miiiib. 1, p. 45.
tHE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRy. 329
of tlie country; avIio assumes the shape of a stone, that constant symbol of chap.vjh,
Buddha or Samana-Codem.
II. Ecclesiastical, no less than secular, romance has been greatly in-
debted to old mythology for several of its most specious wonders. This
circumstance originated from the practice, which Pope Gregory recom-
mended to Augustine when he planted the gospel among the Saxons of
England, and which had long before that time been generally adopted in
the church. Pagan temples were converted into Christian oratories ; or,
where they had been destroyed, new edifices were erected upon the former
scite : idols gave place to the relics, and in due time to the images, of the
saints : and the festivals of the demon-gods were supplanted by the festi-
vals of that new race of demons, the canonized martyrs, whose imitative
honours are so graphically foretold by St. Paul'. The humour of framing
marvellous legends respecting these dead men, to Avhom the churches were
now ordinarily dedicated, very soon followed : and, as nothing could be
more apposite than the tales of the pagan demons, who had been venerated
in the precise places now occupied by their deified successors, they were
readily caught up, and with the requisite modifications adapted to the reign-
ing taste. In various instances, the gentile divinity was himself metamor-
phosed into an imaginary saint : and we have a whimsical case upon re-
cord, in which the very reverse took place ; a saint was oddly transformed
into a pagan god. The Rugii, while in a state of heathenism, occupied the
sacred island of Rugen in the Baltic ; and there venerated, with the usual
rites, the great universal father. When they were converted to Chris-
tianity, a church was built upon the scite of their principal temple, and
dedicated to tlie memory of St. Vitus. The Rugii however, wlio probably
discerned no material difference between the old and the new idolatry, soon
relapsed into the superstition of their ancestors : and, deeming Sauctovitus
one of the many names of their chief divinity, they henceforth devoutly wor-
shipped him under the appellation of Suantatith \
• Bed. Hist. lib. i. c. 30. 1 Tim. iv. 1—3.
* Milner's Church Hist. vol. iii. p. 28 1-, 28 J.
Pag. Idol. VOL. HI. 2T
330 - THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. 1 . One of the most ancient ecclesiastical romances is that of the seven
sleepers.
When the emperor Decius persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths
of Ephesus, we are told, concealed themselves in a spacious cavern in the
side of an adjacent mountain ; where they were doomed to perish by the
tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should be firmly secured with a
pile of huge stones. They immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was
miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during the
period of one hundred and eighty seven years. At the end of that time,
the stones happening to be removed, the rays of the sun darted into the
cave, and the sleepers awoke. The marvellous event soon spread abroad :
the seven companions were visited by the bishop, the clergy, the people,
and even (it is said) by the emperor Theodosius himself: they bestowed
their benediction upon the assembled multitude : and, having related their
wondrous tale, they forthwith peaceably expired. This pious fiction is of
very considerable antiquity ; for it is mentioned by James of Sarug, who
was born only two years after the death of the younger Theodosius : and
so favourable a reception has it met with in the world, that it is received
alike by the Latin, the Abyssinian, and the Russian, church ; is introduced
into the Koran of ISIohammed ; has been adopted and adorned by all the
Musulman nations from Bengal to Africa ; and has been discovered even
among the Goths of Scandinavia, who placed the seven sleepers of their
nijrthern region in a cavern beneath a rock on the shore of tiie ocean '.
Mr. Gibbon has carefully collected the several particulars; and, with
the evidently malignant design of placing this miracle upon the same foot-
ing of authority as those recorded in the gospels, has endeavoured to trace
the fiction to within filty years of the supposed event. For tlic same pur-
pose he has industriously blazoned its universal reception ; thus tacitly in-
sinuating the strength of evidence, l)y which it is supported. But, unfor-
tunately for the infidel historian, this very circumstance of its universal
reception points out the source whence it originated, and thus effectually
destroys the force of his concealed argument. No iloubt such a story was
* Gibbon's Hist, of Dccl. and Fall. vol. vi. c. 33. p. 32— 31.
THE ORIGIN* OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 331
generally received from India to Scandinavia, and had been received long chap.vih,
before the time either of Dccius or Theodosius. The seven sleepers are
the seven holy Rishis or companions of Menu in the ark, who are said to
have performed a wonderful penance in a floating Moon. Their inclosure
within the ark was deemed a state of deathlike slumber : and their lunar
ship was represented by a holy cavern in the side of a mountain. It was
the same as the sea-girt cavern, in which Cronus inclosed the seven mem-
bers of his family, and which (as we have learned from Plutarch) was
shewn by the Hyperboreans in a sacred isle on the coast of Britain : the
same also as the grotto of the sleeping great father Buddha or Siva, cons[)i-
cuous in his eight forms on the summit of mount Meru. The tale in short
has been palpably borrowed from that old mythology ; which prevailed
throughout Asia iMinor, no less than among the Hindoos and the Goths and
the Celts.
Such was its origin, so far as the notion itself is concerned : but I think
it not improbable (so early did a wretched system of fabricating spurious
wonders creep into the church), that a farce might have been actually
played off in a cavern near Ephesus during the reign of Theodosius. It is
at least obvious, that nothing could be more easy in the execution, than to
produce seven pretended sleepers out of a cavern ; who should gravely
recite the pagan tale prepared for them, bestow their benediction upon the
credulous nmltitude, and afterwards sink into a pretended death. So
much for a silly tale, through which a deistical writer hoped to shake the
credibility of the miracles performed by Christ and his apostles. When we
are able to persuade five thousand persons assembled in the wilderness,
that their hunger has been really satisfied by partaking of a few loaves and
small fishes : tiien, and not till then, may we rank the wonders of the
gospel, the actual perj'onnaiice of which was never disputed by the early
enemies of Christianity, with tlie portent of the seven sleepers of Ephesus '.
2. Nearly allied to this legend is that of the w'andering Jew ; who, for
insulting the Messiah while upon his mock trial, is doomed to await in the
' According to Mr. Gibbon's clironologlcal table of contents, the seven sleepers emerged
from their gloomy cavern about the year •i-39, when luucli corrupt superstition had crept
into the Cliurch.
332 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRY.
•ooK V. flesh the second advent. Like the fabled great father, he rambles over tlie
face of the whole globe, and visits every region. At the close of each
revolving century, bowed down with age, he sickens and falls into a death-
like slumber: but from this he speedily awakes in renovated youth and
vigour ; and acts over again the part, which he has already so repeatedly
sustained.
3. As these romances have originated from the periodical sleep and
resurrection of the great father and his family, so that of St. Antony has
been copied from the various terrific transformations exhibited in the fune-
real Orgies of Dionusus or Osiris or Mithras.
Antony, it seems, was in the habit of dwelling in one of those excavated
rock sepulchres or catacombs ; which are so frequent in Egypt and the
east, and which in form are precisely similar to the sacred grottos used for
the celebration of the Mysteries. In this comfortless abode he was once
attacked by a whole host of demons ; who completely filled the place in
the various shapes of lions, bulls, wolves, asps, serpents, scorpions, pards,
and bears. Some of these unwelcome visitants howled, some yelled, some
threatened, and others actually proceeded to flagellate the saint. But, the
uiulauuted Antony making the sign of the cross, a heavenly light, resem-
bling thut which flashed upon the exhausted aspirant at the close of his ter-
rible march through haunted darkness, beamed into the cell, and soon put
the hellish rabble to flight *.
4. To the same class, as the sepulchral battle of St. Antony with tlie
fiends, belongs the famous monastic legend of the descent of Owen into
tlic infernal regions, which was accomplished by his entering into what is
now called the Purguiuiy uf St. Fatrk.
Every particular relative to this engine of papal imposture proves it to
have been an ancient cell used for the purposes of Druidical initiation.
The Purgatory is a small artificial cavern, built upon a little island in Lough
Deig, in the southern part of Donegal '. Its shape resembles that of an L,
excepting that the angle is more obtuse : and it is formed by two parallel
• Act. sanctor. vol. ii. Jan. 17. p. 123. apud Southey's Thalaba. vol. ii. p. 101.
* The island ie only 126 yards long by H broad.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 33$
walls covered with large stones and sods, the floor being the natural rock, chap.vih.
The length of it is sixteen feet and a ha\i, and its width two feet ; but the
building is so low, that a tall man cannot stand erect in it. Round it are
built seven chapels, dedicated to the same number of saints, Tliis Purga-
tory was once called the cave of the tribe of Oin : and it is said to have
received its appellation from the following circumstance. An adventurer,
named Owen, entered into it : and there, sinking into a deep sleep, he be-
held the pains of Tartarus and the joys of Elysium. His visions, which
closely i-esemble the descent of Eneas into Hades, are circumstantially
related by Matthew Paris : and the fable was afterwards taken up by one
Henry, a Cistertian monk, from whom it received sundry improvements
and embellishments. The drift of them is to shew us, how the cave ac-
quired its supposed preternatural virtues. According to Henry, Christ ap-
peared to the celebrated St. Patric : and, having led him into a desert
place, shewed him a deep hole '. He then proceeded to inform him, that,
whoever entered that pit, and continued there a day and a nigiit, having
previously repented and being armed with the true faith, should be purged
from all his sins : and he further added, that, during the penitent's abode
there, he should behold both the torments of the damned and the joys of
the blessed. In consequence of this divine revelation, St. Patric imme-
diately built a church upon the place *.
Such is the legendary history of this insular purgatory, which has been
wholly borrowed from the i>agan Mysteries once celebrated within it.
Derg, from whom the lake received its appellation, was the principal god-
dess of the old Irish : and both her attributes and her name prove her
identity with the Durga of Hindostan and the Derc^ of Palestine. The
lake and the island were no doubt sacred to her : and, from the oracle
' This hole was broken up by order of Pope Alexander VI on St. Patric's day 1 1-97.
Tliat pontiff wisely judged the whole to be a scandalous imposture: and yet, strange to
tell, the late Pope l^enedict XIV was so vehement an admirer of the purgatory, the wind-
ing passage of which yet remains, that he actually preached and published a sermon on its
manifold virtues. Ledw. Ant. p. 4i6. What heretic shall presume to decide between
these two discordant Infallibles ?
* Ledwicb'^ Aat. of Irel. p. 446, 447. Collect, de reb. Hib. vol. iv. p. 74, 89. preC
334 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
established in the latter, the former was also called the lake of soothsayers^
long before the supposed era of St. Patric; whence it is evident, that the
monks did not hroetit the tale of the purifying cave and the descent into
Hades, but only adapted it to the superstitions with which Christianity was
encumbered in the middle ages '. Accordingly, the purification, believed
to be obtained by threading the narrow passage, is the exact counterpart of
the regenerative purification, which in pagan times, from Hindostan to Ire-
land, has been thought to be acquired by squeezing the body through a
stone orifice : and the scenes, which the intrepid Owen beholds in the pre-
tended Purgatory of St. Patric, are precisely similar, both in kind and
order, to the pageants which were exhibited during the process of initiation.
His conductor, the mimic of the ancient hierophant, first shews him tlie tor-
ments of the damned ; and afterwards leads him into Paradise or Elysium.
Owen, in short, was the Babylonic Oan or Oannes ; whose name and wor-
ship was brought into Ireland by the first colonists from the east : hence
we find him mentioned by Bede near five centuries before the era, in M'hich
Matthew Paris flourished. After tlie natives had been for some ages con-
verted to semi-christianity, the real character of Owen or Oin was gradually
forgotten : but the old traditions concerning him were still faithfully handed
down; and he himself was transformed into a sainted soldier, while his
oracular cavern, which was one of the very same description as that of
Trophonins, was metamorphosed into St. Patric's Purgatory. The seven
attached cliapels have succeeded to seven sacclla, answering to the seven
small sanctuaries which surrounded the image of Molech * : and they were
used, I apprehend, for the preparatory transmigration of tlie aspirant ; like
the seven gates or steps of the ]\lithratic staircase, which were a transcript
of the seven steps or stages of mount IMcru.
As for Patric, if such a person ever really existed beyond the limits of a
fabulizing martyrology, his character at least has received large additions
from that of the Irish Molech or Baal ; agreeably to the arrangement of
' Colgan apud Collect, dc rcb. Hib. vol. iv. p. 71'. prcf.
» Or, 08 some tliink, tlic seven partitions into wliicli his liollow statue was divided. Sec
Scld. du diiu Syr. synt. i. f. 6. p. 9G.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IBOLATRV. 335
his Purgatory in the midst of the seven cells '. We find him denominated cuap.vih.
Tailtrean or Tai/ain, which is the same title as the classical Telchin : for
Td-Chin signifies a priest of the Sun; and Taulch is one of the names
Mhich the Irish bestow upon that luminary*. We also find him styled
Aistahx, because he was the masculine counterpart to the goddess Easter
whose pagan appellation we have retained in one of our ecclesiastical festi-
vals; just as Molech was entitled Asterius or Taurus, because he was the
masculine counterpart to Astoreth or Astartfe '. His fictitious attributes
correspond witli his names. The image of Molech was wont to be lieatcd
red hot : and, when it was thus prepared, children were sacrificed by being
inclosed within the ignited statue. In a similar manner, Patric or Aistaire
is said to have appeared in an universal blaze of fire to Milcho, whom the
monks fancy to have been one of his disciples, but who in reality was no
other than Molech or IMilchom or Patric himself. Upon this occasion,
flames issued continually from his mouth, his nostrils, his eyes, and his ears;
and Milcho with difficulty escaped the danger of combustion. His two in-
fant daughters however were not so fortunate : as they slept together in one
bed, they were reduced to ashes by the conflagration *.
Patric has another purgatory of the same nature in the mountain Crua-
chan Aigle. Many devotees are accustomed to watch and fast on the sum-
mit of this hill, fancying that the merits of the saint will assuredly deliver
them from the pains of hell. Some of them, who have passed the night
there, pretend that they suffered most dreadful torments inflicted by an
invisible hand ; and by this process they believed themselves to be purified
from their sins. Hence the place acquired the name of St. Fatrics Pur-
gatory K Here we have a holy mountain ; as before we had a holy lake,
and island, and cavern. The two legends difler only in having originated
from different sanctuaries of the same universal system of old idolatry.
* Mr. Ledwich strongly contends, that no such saint as Patric ever existed. Ant. of
Irel. p. 326—378.
» Collect, de reb. Ilib. vol. iv. p. 60. pref. Ibid. vol. v. p. 404.
^ Vallancey's Vindic. p. 201.
♦ Sext. vit. Patric. Colgan. p. 67. apud Vallanc. Vind. p. 252.
* Culgan apud ColLuct. dc ccb. Hib. vol. iv. p..?-*. preL
336 THE OUrCIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK V. 5. A similar purgatory occurs in Wales, distinguished by the appellation
of St. JVhuj'red's needle. They, who were accused of any crime, were re-
quired to clear themselves by passing through the narrow orifice. If they
succeeded in the attempt, they were pronounced innocent ; if they stuck
fast, they were deemed guilty. It is superfluous to make any additional
remarks on the palpably heathen origination of this ceremony : 1 shall
rather notice the legend of the saint herself, which, like her rocky needle, is
Paganism in masquerade.
"Winifred, as we are credibly informed by Wynkin de Worde, was a
beaulifid virgin; whose head was struck oft' by a young prince, because
she resisted his attempt to violate her. Where the head fell, there sud-
denly started forth a fountain which still bears the name of the murdered
maid. She was destined however to experience a wonderful resurrection.
St. Bueno, most opportunely coming by, replaced the head in its natural
position, and then by a single prayer restored the virgin to life and struck
the ravishcr dead. This miracle naturally enough produced an intimacy
between Bueno and Winifred : insomuch that, when the former wcni to
sojourn in Ireland, he desired the latter to send him an annual token, Tiie
simple mode, which he recommended, was, merely to put the token in the
Stream of the newly-produced fountain, whence it would inlallibly be carried
over the sea to his Hibernian residence. \\'inifred did as she was directed:
and thus, from year to year, the holy man regularly received a chesyble of
silk wrapped up in a white mantle '.
Bueno, whom the monks have transformed into a wonder-working saint,
was an ancient Druidical god, the same as Hu or Not* or Tydain : for his
temple is mentioned by Taliesin j and is described by that bard, as being
on the border of a sacred mount where the wave makes an overwhelming
din, and as containing the mystic bed or tomb of Dylan who with his con-
sort was preserved in an ark at tlie period of an universal deluge. Per-
haps I should express myself with more accuracy, if I said that Bueno was
a tilU: of the god Ilu-Noe, who must doubtless be identified with Dylan son
of the ocean ; for, in the Celtic, tiie word, agreeably to the mytliologic
character of tiie god, denotes ihc bull of the ship \
* Grose's Ant, vol. vii. p. G2. * Taliesin apiul Davics's ^lytliol. p. 19i.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 337
Here then we have a clue to the remainder of the legend : and I think cuAP.vnr.
we may collect from it, that the Druids had rites which bore a strong
resemblance to those that were annually celebrated in Egypt. Winifred
dies by violence, and is restored to life : a sacred fountain springs from her
head, as the Nile docs from the foot of Orion and the Ganges from the foot
of Vishnou or the head of Siva : and a token is feigned to be yearly wafted-
over the sea which separates Ireland from Wales, just as the little papyrine
boat containing the head of Osiris made its spontaneous annual voyage from
Egypt to Phenicia.
6. But the voyage of St. Bueno's silk chesyble is a mere trifle, compared
to the portentous aquatic expedition of St. Brandon. This adventurer, in-
stigated by a laudable desire of extending the limits of science both
geographical and astronomical, embarked on the coast of Ireland : and,
like Columbus, boldly launching out into the great western ocean, he sailed
straight, not to tlie islands of America, but to the Moon. Here he had
an editying conversation with Judas Iscariot, whose torments regularly
ceased from Saturday until the even-song of Sunday : and it is added, that
the saint and the traitor made a fire on the back of a huge fish, mistaking
it for an island '.
In this tale we may again perceive, how much the monastic legends have
been indebted to old mythology. The Moon of St. Brandon is evidently
the floating Moon or lunar island of the great father : the fish is another
symbol of the same import : and I am not without suspicion, that the ec-
clesiastical mariner himself has received his name from ancient Pacranism.
Brandon signifies t/ie hill of the raven : and it is worthy of notice, that a
mount near Durham still bears this identical a])pellation.
7. We now tread upon the consecrated |)ecuiiar of St. Cuthbert's patri-
mony: and I advance, witli the reverential awe due from one of his spiri-
tual children, to trace the devious wanderings of the canonized erratic.
Lindisfarne or Holy Island was the original see of the great northern
diocese. The remarkable form of that island, and the extraordinary sanc-
tity attributed to it, leave us little room to doubt, that, like Heligoland and
• Petr. Comest. and Strab. apud Purch, Pilgr. b. i. c. 3. p. 18.
Pag. Idol. VOL. II J. 2 U
338 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
Bardsea and other similar islets, it was a sea-girt sanctuary of the old
superstition of the country. It boldly rises out of the sea in the figure of a
cone, the top of which is crowned with the remains of an ancient castle :
and within its precincts are the ruins of the conventual and cathedral church
of Lindisfarne. Such a form was peculiarly valued by the old hieropliants,
as exhibiting j\Ieru or Ararat surrounded by the retiring deluge : and I am
greatly mistaken, if this island was not a holy wave-beaten mountain of Hu,
where his bed or resting-place was exhibited from the earliest ages. When
the Britons were converted to Christianity, the pagan sanctuary, according
to the plan so generally adopted, became the scite of a church. Under the
Saxons, it was probably again devoted to the rites of Paganism : and, when
they at length received the gospel, the ancient holy place was made the seat
of the extensive diocese of Northumberland. Thus, with the exception of
the Danish inroads, matters remained, mitil the episcopal see was removed
o Durham.
In this opinion I am the more confirmed by a part of the legend of
St. Cuthbert. That he might the better practise his austere devotion, he
withdrew himself to one of the adjacent islets, a bleak barren rock ; which,
to use the quaint language of his historiographer, was as *ooid of men as it
•was full of devils. How such a notion originated may easily be accounted
for, if we suppose the Holy Island to have been once a pagan sanctuary.
In that case, the chief island and the adjoining rocks would be constantly
used in the navicular rites of initiation into the Druidical Mysteries. But
these Mysteries, like the Orgies of the rest of the world, were of a sepul-
chral or infernal nature: and it was a received maxim in the Church,
derived from some misunderstood texts of Scripture, that the gods of the
Gentiles were literally devils. Hence, on the preceding supposition, wc
may readily perceive, why the Farn islands would have the reputation of
being haunted by evil spirits. This supposition will both tin-ow light on
the very curious legend of St. Cuthbert, and will itself be corroborated by
the general tenor of that legend: for the whole story is a tissue of pagan
fables, ada|)ted v\ith some ingenuity to a hero of monkish Ciu'istianity,
After a probation of fifteen years in tiie abbey of Melross, Cuthbert, who
had been early led by a miraculous vision to assume the monastic habit,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 339
was promoted to the dignity of prior of LiiKli&farne. Tiiis station he held ciup.vjii.
so irreproachably for the space of twelve years, that the devil, the former
occupant of the island, was provoked to vex him, during that period, by
sundry unlucky tricks of the same description as those, with which St. An-
tony was harassed in his sepulchral abode. At length he resigned his
ecclesiastical dignity, and retired to the rocky islet which I have already
had occasion to notice. Here he had a variety of combats w ith his former
ghostly enemy, the print of whose feet is still to be seen impressed on the
solid crag: and once, during a visit which he had paid to the sacred isle of
Coquet, two sea-monsters presented themselves kneeling before him, re-
ceived his benediction, and then peaceably returned to the hoary deep.
The sanctity of his life becoming famous, he was in full synod elected
bishop of Lindisfarne. This dignity lie accepted very unwillingly, and
held it only two years, at the close of which he returned to his insular her-
mitage and there ended his life. He ordered in his will, that, if the pagans
should invade the Holy Island, the monks should quit it, and with them
should carry away his bones. These directions were punctually obeyed ;
and, when the Danes next made their appearance, the saint, wholly unal-
tered bv the sleep of death, was piously exhumed and conveyed by the
monks to the main land. Here both he an'd they long continued in an
erratic state: and Cuthbert was borne about in a coffin, from place to
place, on tho shoulders of his ministering attendants. In this manner they
conveyed him through Scotland : and then, from Whithern in Galloway,
they attempted to sail for Ireland ; but they were di ivcn back by violent
tempests. At length the saint, who appears to have oracuUirly marked
out their route, made a lialt at Norham. Thence he proceeded to Melross,
where he remained stationary for a short time. Next he caused himself to
be set afloat upon the Tweed in his stone coffin, and propitiously concluded
his voyage at Tillmouth in Northumberland. From Tillmouth he wan-
dered, in his usual fashion, to Craike near York : and from Craike he
brought back his bearers to Chester-le-Street, where he rested in peace for
a considerable time, in the course of which tiie seat of the bishopric was
removed to that place from Lindisfarne. But, tiie Danes continuing to be
troublesome, the saint became dissatisfied with his quarters. Upon tliis the
340 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V, monks painfully bore him southward to Ripon, where he remained until the
invaders withdrew themselves. They then set out, with their holy burden,
on their return to Chester. And now this eventful pilgrimage drew near
to a conclusion. The monks, worn out with carrying the saint themselves,
had placed him in a vehicle drawn by oxen : when, as they passed through
a northern forest, the carriage suddenly became immoveable at a place
named JVardelazv. In such an emergency, the wisest plan of course was
to consult Cuthbert himself. This accordingly was done with prayer and
fasting : and, at the end of three days, the canonized erratic vouchsafed to
inform Eadmer, that he disapproved of returning to his old station, and
chose rather to be carried to Dunholme where his weary bones were des-
tined to find their ultimate resting-place. The difficulty now was to learn
the precise situation of the fated Dunholme ; for the oracle was silent, and
the saint refused to give them any further directions. "While they were de-
liberating in great perplexity, a woman, m ho had lost her cow, made in-
quiries of another respecting the strayed animal ; and was answered, that
it had been seen in Dunholme. The pro[)ilious omen was accepted ; the
track of the cow was followed ; Dunliohne was discovered ; and in due
time the cattiedral of Durham was built. The final abode however of the
restless Cuthbert is involved in awful mystery. During the reign of the
Norman conqueror, he chose to revisit his ancient haunt the Holy Island.
He was borne, according to the mode of travelling whicii he ordinarily pre-
ferred, on the shoulders of four men ; who, on the present occasion, were
seculars. When his retinue came opposite to Lindistarne, it was high
Avatcr ; a circumstance, which stopped their progress, and exposed them to
the serious inconvenience of spending a northern winter's night under the
canopy of heaven. The saint, willi much considerate good-nature, pitied
their distress : at his command, the sea miraculously opened for them a
passage: and, when they were all safely landed, the waves returned to their
ordinary course. So amazed were the four secular bearers with the por-
tent, that they immediately renounced the world and became good monks.
Cuthbert's visit to his old friends lusted somewhat more than three montlis :
he was tiien brought hack to Durliam, and privately buried within the pre-
cincts of the cathedral. The precise situation of his grave is unknown, at
THE ORIGIN OF PAGA>J IDOLATRY. 341
least to the profane lierctics who have usurped his domain : but an old tra- chap.vhi.
dition says, that the important secret is still in the possession of three
respectable catholic gentlemen ; and that, when one of the number dies,
the survivors duly elect a new depository of the thrilling trust. liis won-
derful stone coffin is shewn in more than a single place. The actual sepul-
chral boat, though unluckily broken, may be seen near the ruined chapel
of Tillmouth: and another coffin is exhibited, as the original property of
the saint, beside his oratory in the small demon-haunted Farn island, which
bears the name of Cocquet \
The whole of this legend sufficiently bespeaks the source, from which it
has been derived. We have here, scarcely concealed beneath a thin mo-
nastic disguise, the holy island of the great father, his inclosure within a
floating coffin or a stone ship, his solemn conveyance in that vehicle on the
shoulders of his priests, his erratic progress at the head of each new colony,
his oracular directions where the colonists are to halt, his occasional jour-
neys in a waggon drawn by oxen, his passage through the sea to his insular
Paradise, his mysteriously uncertain interment, his sepulchral ship exhibited
in various places, and his abode in a cell or cavern within a sea-girt rock :
here likewise we have the emerging of Oannes or Dagon from the hoary
deep, and the impression of the sacred foot of Buddha : and here, in the
fabulous discovery of Dunholme and the subsequent erection of the cathe-
dral, we have a palpable repetition of the two kindred tales respecting the
foundation of Thebes and Ilium by Cadmus and Ilus ; each of whom, like
the monks of St Cuthbert, was led to the destined place by the mystic
symbolical heifer.
From the evident identity of the various systems of ancient mythology,
I am led to believe, tliat such stories and such rites were well known to
the Druids, and that the monks did not so much borrow the legend of
Cuthbert from the classical writers as from old traditions relative to the
ship-deity of Holy Island.
8. One of the seven chapels, which surround St. Patric's Purgatory, is
» Grose's Antiq. vol. ii. p. 88, 89. vol. iv. p. 82, 83, 93, 112—120. Scott's Marmion.
cant. ii. note II.
342 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
WOK V. dedicated to St. Coliiniba. If such a saint ever existed, we may again trace
the connection of a monkish legend with the mythology of Paganism.
The name oiCohtmba signifies a dove: and we find the saint, who bears
it, esteemed the peculiar guardian of the Scottish sacred island of lona.
This was very early celebrated, as containing a great monastery of tlie Cul-
dtan ascetics : but its appellation, which it has preserved even to the pre-
sent day, serves to prove, that it was originally a pagan sanctuary. lona
was the peculium of the sacred lona. But the sacred lona was certainly
the lona, or mystic dove, of Babylon ; and the Yoni or female principle of
Hindostan, which at the time of the deluge first sailed over the great deep
in the form of a ship and afterwards flew away in the shape of a dove.
Hence, the words Columba and Iviia having precisely the same meaning,
■ the saint, if we admit his literal existence, was aptly selected as the patron
of the holy island : but the consequence was, that the old pagan stories of
the place were immediately transferred to its new demi-god.
During the recess of the deluge, the great father sent out the exploratory
dove ; and the prospect, which met his eye from tlie window of tiie Ark,
was that of an ocean studded with islands, the intervening valleys being
still covered with water.
Exactly such is the view from the sanctuary of lona ; and, w hen we re-
collect the general tenor of the Druidical theology, we can scarcely doubt
with what religious associations so well-adapted a scene would be contem-
plated. Accordingly we find no obscure traces of this speculation yet
ren)aining among the natives. They suppose, that, on certain evenings
every year, their tutelary saint Columba, dilated like Buddha or Edris or
Atlas to a gigantic size, appears on the top of the churcii-tower, and counts
the surrounding islands to assure himself that they have not been plunged
by tlic power of magic beneath tiic waves of tlie ocean '.
^Vhi!e the waters of the deluge prevailed, the lunar island of the Ark
always appeared above their surface; and, when they abated, il first be-
came fixed on the summit of Ararat and in tlic very region which once was
Paradise. Hence the Hindoos have a notion, tliat the holy island of the
' Campbell's I'lcisurcB of Hope, part ii. vcr. 199. note.
THE onrom of pagan iDotATar. 343
]\foon and the highest peak of Cailasa or Meru are never submerged be- caAP.vm.
neath that periodical inundation which overwhelms every successive mun-
dane system, but that they are invariably saved amidst the wreck of con-
tending elements in order that by thcui the rudiments of a new World may
be preserved : and hence the Jewish Rabbins have adopted the wild fiction,
that, at the time of tlie flood, the garden of Paradise became buoyant, and
was borne aloft upon the surface of the waves over the tops of the loftiest
mountains '.
Just the same ideas still prevail, as they have for ages prevailed, among
the natives of lona. When the whole World is plunged beneath a miglity
inundation of waters, their privileged island rises preeminent above the
flood, and affords a safe shelter to all who tenant it. Such being its ex-
traordinary property, it was long a favourite burial-place of the northern
kings : and eight and forty sovereigns repose within its hallowed precincts,
secure that no future deluge shall scatter their remains*.
Let these legends be connected with Columba's station near the Purga-
tory, and we shall scarcely mistake his true character.
There are yet however some other particulars, which may serve to throw
additional light upon it. He was in the habit, it seems, of stationing his
monks in small islands, sometimes in lakes and sometimes in the open sea :
and we siiall occasionally find very plain hints, that these islands were ori-
ginally pagan sanctuaries.
Such was Monaincha or Innisnabeo, as we may collect from the account
given of it by Giraldus Cambrensis ; who, in the year 1185, accompa-
nied King John to Ireland, the native country of St. Columba. In North
Munstcr, says he, is a lake contabujig two isles : in the greater is a church
of the ancient jxligion ; and in the lesser, a chapel, wherein a few monks,
called Culdees, devoutly serve God. In the greater no xvoman or any ani-
mal of the female gender ever enters, but it immediately dies. In the lesser
no one can die: hence it is called the island of the living. Often people are
• Bochart. TTieroz. par. il. lib. i. c. 5. p. 29. This notion lias been adopted by our deeply
learned poet Milton. See Parad. lost, book xi. vcr. S29 — 835.
» I bad this information from a friend, who recently visited lona.
344 THE QRICIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK V. grievously afflicted with diseases in it, and are almost in the agonies of death.
JVhen all hopes of life are at an end, and when the sick would rather quit
the world than lead any longer a life of misery, they are put into a little
boat and wafted over to the larger isle ; where, as soon as they land, they
expire '. Such likewise was another isle in the lake of Ulster, mentioned
by the same writer. He describes it, as divided into two parts. The one,
pleasant and beautiful, contained a church of the orthodox faith; the other,
rough and horrible, was inhabited by demons *.
The legend, attached to the Munster isle, seems very evidently to have
arisen, from the funereal Orgies and the boat of Garanhir the Celtic Cha-
ron : and, as it was very long ere the old superstition was finally eradicated,
I suspect, that the demons, -who with the monks were joint tenants of the
Ulster isle, were the infernal gods of the Mysteries, still venerated by the
natives amidst cliffs and crags '.
9. Perhaps however the most unequivocal proof of the derivation of
ecclesiastical romance from pagan mythology exists in the legend of the
French St. Denis or Dionysius. The name of the holy Areopagitc happens
to be borrowed, as was usual among the Greeks, from the name of Diony-
sus or Bacchus. Hence the god was mistaken for the saint : or rather the
attributes and calamities of the one were devoutly ascribed to the other.
Dionysus is cut in pieces by the Menades on the top of mount Parnas-
sus : Denis is put to death in the same manner on the summit of Mont-
martre. Dionysus is placed on a tomb, and his death is bewailed by wo-
men : the mangled limbs of Denis are collected by holy females, who weep-
ing consign him to a tomb over which is built the abbey-church that bears
his name. Dionysus experiences a wonderful restoration to life, and quits
* Topog. ii. e. i. p. 716. apud Lcdwicli's Ant. of Irel. p. G9.
* Topog. Ibiil. p. 717 — 728. iipud Lcdwicli. p. 70.
' Mr. Ledwich tliinks, that the demons were Culdees, so denominated hy the popisli
bigotry of (iiraldus. This conjecture docs not accord witli tlie language used elsc« hera
by that autlior. lie, wlio speailain in the land of Shinar.
Here, unwilling to be dispersed in separate communities over the face of
the whole globe, and actuated by a desire of remaining one great unbroken
tody politic, they began to build a vast pyramidal lower and to lay the
THE ORIGIN OK PAGAN IDOLATRY. 36l
found.uions of a city which sliould be the metropolis of their future empire, chap- i.
But God, whose purpose of a general and unconnected population of the
world tiiey thus sou^lit to traverse, miraculously frustrated their design.
He coutounded then language, so that they became unintelligible to each
other; and ihui coaipellcd them to relinquish their project, and to with-
draw in separate bodies to the various regions of the earth which had been
allotted to them.
III. Such is the plain account of this important transaction, which has
been delivered to us iiy inspired authority : ami such is the manner, in which
it has been commonly understood, previous to the new hypothesis struck
out by the late Mr. Bryant ". As nothing that falls from that learned
writer can be unworthy of attention, however we may be disposed to dili'cr
from it; I shall first briefly state his system, and then adduce my reasons
for rejecting it in favour of the generally received opinion.
1. He supposes, that, when mankind had sufficiently multiplied to carry
into effect the divine purpose of colonizing the whole world, they separated
from each other in Armenia after an orderly and regular manner ; and
retired quietly, by their families and their tribes, to their appointed settle-
ments. This first postdiluvian event he conceives to be described at large
in the tenth chapter of Genesis.
All however were not ecpially obedient. The children of Cush under
the command of the ambitious Nimrod, disapprovuig of the countries ^\hich
had been allotted to them, marched off towards the east through the defiles
of the lofty Tauric range; circuited the southern extremity of the Caspian
sea ; and then, wheeling towards the south-west, reached at length the
Babylonic plain of Shinar. These wanderings Mr. Bryant supposes to have
occupied a considerable space of time, so that the adventurers did not
arrive in Babylonia until a few years before the birth of Abraham. Hence,
as various turbulent spirits IVom the other patriarchal families would pro-
bably have joined them and \^, xtx^a;. Ilcsych. Lex.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 363
from Armenia could not possibly reach Babylonia //'o^w the cast unless they chap.
bad first journeyed circuitoiislif.
When the Cuthites had been broken and dispersed from Shinar, they
wandered in detached masses to many different parts of the world.
"Wherever they came, they were alike superior in arts and arms to those
whom they invaded. Their penal dispersion seems to have been no real
punishment to them : for they were universally victorious ; and, wherever
they established themselves, they compelled the subjugated nations to
apostatise from the pure patriarchal worship and to adopt the peculiar
superstition of wiiich they were the inventors. Hence Mr. Bryant accounts
for the strong resemblance perceptible between the theological systems of
so many different countries. All these regions had been conquered by de-
tached bands of Cuthites ; and the same idolatrous superstition had been
equally introduced by the same agents into all of them '.
2. In viewing any hypothesis, the mind is almost involuntarily led, first
to estimate its probability, and then to consider liow far it will adequately
account for certain actually existing phenomena. Now in each of these
inquiries, which are immediately connected, we seem to feel ourselves dis-
appointed ; we seera to have causes assigned, which are not equal to the
effects produced.
While the Cuthites were wandering in tlie east, from the time of their
quitting Armenia until within a few years of the birth of Abraham ; the
tribes, which had obediently retired to their several allotments with the
divine blessing on their heads, would have been rapidly growing up into
well politied and comparatively powerful nations. The Cuthites mean-
while would also be increasing in population : and let us grant (what uni-
versal experience however forbids us to grant), that they increased during
their nomade state in an equal degree with the tribes which had peaceably
organized themselves in their respective countries. In this case, or even
with a much smaller population, it is easy to conceive, that men of their
hardy habits might be more than a match for the quiet Ashurites and might
without much difficulty drive them out of the land of Shinar.
' Bryant's Anal. vol. iii.
56-^ THE ORIGIN OF PAGAK IDOLATRT.
sooK VI. Hitherto then we have met with no very serious impediments, so far as
the probability of the matter is concerned : but now we shall begin to find
much that is hard of belief. This single tribe, while ensjased in building
the tower, is miraculously broken into small fragments, and scattered over
the face of the whole earth. Mr. Bryant himself insists strongly, from the
testimony of pagan writers, on the extreme alarm felt by the different mem-
bers of it when thus supernaturally visited ; and describes them, as fleeing
with confused rapidity in every direction. Now, under such circum-
stances, is it credible, that these poor dispirited panic-stricken disjointed
fugitives should inmiediately attack the surrounding well-settled nations ;
not only attack, but universally subdue them ; not only subdue them, but
compel the vanquished to renounce the patriarchal religion of Noah and to
adopt instead of it the idolatrous superstition invented by the conquerors ?
Mr. Bryant's great and valuable work does indeed chiefly treat of the theo-
logy of Greece, Egypt, and Phenicia : but in fact, as we have seen, the
identical system, which was established in those countries, was equally
established with more or less perfection in every quarter of the globe ; so
that, if we wish to account for the universal adoption of it on the present
theory, we shall be obliged to suppose, that these miserable petty bands of
fugitive Cuthites, striking oflF from Babel in all directions, achieved the con-
quest of the whole world, and invariably proved themselves superior to the
nations as they existed in the days of Abraham '.
Yet this is the least difiiculty, which the hypothesis requires us to en-
counter. I.ct us then grant, that small bands of warlike marauders, when
they had a little recovered from their first panic, might subdue consider-
able nations, which had been little accustomed to the arts of war and which
had hitherto been hap])i!y devoted to the arts of peace: for no doubt, as
all history abundantly testifies, much may be effected by small compact
bodies of intrcjjid adventurers against communities very far exceeding them
in numerical strength. Still how can we believe, that men under t//cir
peculiar circumstances could universally succeed in overthrowing pure
' Mr. Bryant, Tor instance, brinpR a fragment of llic Cusliile Slicplierds iinmcdiately
from Babel to ligypt, and makes them conquer that country without the least difiiculty.
THE ORroiN OF PAGAN IDOLATHY. 365
theism and in compelling the adoption of their own monstrous superstition?
It is far more easy to conquer the body than the mind. Hence it rarely
happens, that, when a large unwarlike civilized people has been subdued by
a comparative handful of military rovers, the former has exchanged its own
religion for that of the latter. On the contrary, the very reverse is ordina-
rily the case : the civilized are indeed overthrown by the arms of the rude ;
but the rude, in the course of a few generations, adopt the theology of the
civilized. So that, whenever this does not occur, Iwo religions subsist in
the vanquished country, and the victors appear like an unblending colony
in the midst of the conquered. Instances of these varied effects of subju-
gation may be adduced from the several cases of the Goths and the Ro-
mans, the Turks and the Greeks, the Monguls and the Hindoos, and the
Tatars and the Chinese.
I have here plainly argued on the supposition, that no more reluctance
existed on the part of those who were vanquished by the Cushites than what
usually exists in men to change the religion of their fathers ; a reluctance
however so strong, that in Scripture it is even mentioned proverbially ' :
yet I have argued on no higher supposition. How much then will the in-
credibility be augmented, when we recollect the singularly unfavourable
circumstances under which the Cuthites are supposed to have attempted
and accomplished the proselytism of the whole world. Pagan tradition,
Mr. Bryant himself being judge, will prove, how generally the failure at
Babel was known, and how decidedly it was ascribed to the special inter-
position of an offended Deity. Now, though such is the infatuation of
idolatry, that no judgments will wean from it those m Iio have once em-
braced it ; yet the nations, which had not apostatised with the builders of
the tower but which had peaceably adhered to the old patriarchal theology,
vanquished as they were in battle, would shrink \\ ith horror from a foreign
superstition which they knew to be branded by the vengeance of heaven.
We may easily conceive, that the Cuthites might satisfy themselves witij
respect to their portentous dispersion on the delusive principles of their
own philosophical apostasy : but it is not so easy to conceive, that their
' Hath a nation changed their gods, xvhich are yei iio gods ? Jerera. ii. 11.
3f>6 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. arguments would satisfy an irritated and vanquished population, which to
the natural hatred of a violently imposed yoke added the full conviction
that their detested and tyrannical conquerors were impious wretches marked
out for the genei'al abhorrence of the faithful by the finger of Jehovah him-
self.
3. These are the difficulties which Mr. Bryant's system has to surnwunt,
even supposing that mere abstract ratiocination could alone be opposed to
it, even admitting the Mosaical account to be so ambiguous that we are
fairly at liberty to ascribe the building of the tower either to all mankind or
to a single tribe. But, in fact, no such ambiguity exists : the narrative of
the inspired historian, after all the pains bestowed upon it by this great
scholar to make it speak a language suitable to his theory, palpably declares,
when understood according to its plain and obvious tenor, that the whole
race of mankind was assembled together in the plains of Babylonia and
was concerned in building the pyramid. This interesting and important
topic has been so very ably discussed by Mr. Penn, that he seems to me to
have set the question at rest for ever. I have merely to abstract his argu-
ments, corroborating them with some additional remarks which have
escaped the notice of that acute and satisfactory writer '.
(1.) The first step necessarily taken by Mr. Bryant is to propose an
alteration of our common English version ; for, as it stands at present, it
directly contradicts his hypothesis. Hence he would render the passage,
which treats of the building of the tower, in the following manner. 1. And
every region zvas of one lip and mode of speech. 2. And it came to pass,
in the journeying of people from the cast, that they found a plain in the
land of Hhinur, and thcij dxcelt there. 3. A>id one man said to another :
Go to ; let us malce brick, and Ourn them thoroughly. And they had brick
for stotie ; and slime had they for mortar. 4. And they said: Go to ; let
us build us a city and a toner, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let
us make us a mark ("or signal), that we may not be scattered abroad upon
tlte surf ne of every region. 5. Aiul the Lord came doxcn to see the city
' S*e Jlemnrlis on the ca^^tern origination of innnhind by fTriinvillc runn, Ks'i In Oriental
Xollact. vol. ii. numb. 1 and 2.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 367
a>id the tmcer, which the children of men xcere building. 6. And the Lord chap. i.
said : Behold, the people is one, and they have all one lip (or pronunciation),
and this they begin to do ; and now nothing zvill be refrained from than,
which they have imtgined to do. 7. Go to; let us go down, and there confound
their lip, that they may not understand one another's lip for prommciation).
8. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence over the face of every
region : and they left off to build the city. 9. Therefore is the name of it
called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the lip of the whole
land: and from thence did the Lord scatter thetn over the face of every
region for of the whole earth).
Mr. Bryant has, I think, in some points improved our common transla-
tion ; but none of these bear upon the question, which is at present before
us : and to that question I would strictly confine myslf.
That the Hebrew word Aretz, like the Greek Ge and the Latin Terra,
denotes either the earth in general or a j-egion in particular, is indisputable:
and it may properly be added, that the Hebrew phrase Col Aretz, precisely
like the English phrase all the xvorld, means either the whole inaterial
globe or all its living inhabitants. The only point therefore is, whether
Mr. Bryant is warranted by the context in giving to the expression such a
turn as he has done. In the first verse, according to his translation, we
read, And every i-egion was of one lip and mode of speeech ; and, in the
ninth, The Lord did there confound the lip of the whole land. By this
method of rendering, he plainly means to insinuate, that, at the epoch of
the tower, every region peopled by the supposed antecedent tnigrations of
the three great families had but one dialectic pronunciation, so tliat tlie
members of those families, however locally separated, could as yet under-
stand each other ; but that, when the Cuthites were supernaturally visited,
the lip oi the whole land occupied by tlitm, tliat is, the pronunciation of the
whole land of Shinar, was alone confounded. Now the context, as viewed
in the original, is utterly incapable of bearing such a gloss.
What Mr. Bryant variously renders in these two verses every region and
the whole land, annexing to the two phrases very different ideas, is in
reality one and the same expression Col Aretz. Hence it is evident,
by every rule of good composition, that the language of Col Jrctz,
368 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
^''- mentioned in the first verse as being uniformly the same, must be
the identical language of Col Areiz, which in tlie ninth verse is said to
have been confounded : for we are first told, that Col Aretz had but one
language ; and afterwards we are told, that the originally one language of
Col Aretz was confounded at Babel, Sucli being the case, whatever Col
Aretz means in the one passage, it evidently must mean the very same in the
other. Consequently, if in the first verse it be translated every region, it
must in the ninth verse also be translated every region : or, inversely, if in
the ninth verse it be translated the whole land, it must in the first verse
also be translated the whole land. And again, whatever idea is annexed to
the expression in the one passage, the same must likewise be annexed to it
in tlie other. So that, if in ihe ninth verse it mean the xchole land of Shinar,
such also must be its meaning in the first verse : and, on the contrary, if
in the first verse it mean every region or the whole earth (which are syno-
nymous), such also must be its meaning in the ninth verse. Now, in the
ninth verse, it might mean the xcliok haul of Shinar : but, in the first, it
cannot : because as yet the future builders of the tower have not arrived in
Babylonia,' and consequently as yet the land of Shinar has not been men-
tioned. The phrase therefore in the first verse must determine the mean-
ing of the phrase in the ninth ; not the phrase in the ninth, the meaning of
the phrase in the first. But the phrase, as it occurs in the first verse,
clearly means every region or tJic whole earth in the sense of all mankind :
consequently, we are told in the first verse, that, antecedently to the build-
ing of the tower, all mankind were of one lip and mode of pronunciation.
Hence it must undeniably follow, that the phrase, as it occurs in the ninth
verse, must equally mean the whole earth in the sense oi all mankind : con-
sequently, we are told in tlic ninth verse, that the lip of all mankind was
confounded at BabcI.
Tills however could not liavc occurred, if all mankind had not been
assembled at Babel : for it were idle to suppose, that the lip of all the
families, which (according to Mr. Bryant) had quietly retired to their
allotted settlements long before the building of the tower, and which of
course had no concern in that daring enterprizc ; that the lip (I say) of all
the families upon the face of the earth should suddenly have been con-
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 569
founded, because God thought proper to use that mode of effecting the chap. i.
dispersion of the rebellious Cuthitcs alone. All mankind, therefore, must
have been assembled at Babel; all mankind must have been engaged in
building the tower ; all mankind must have jointly formed the Ofie people
or community, mentioned by the sacred historian ; and all mankind must
have been dispersed from that central point to every quarter of the habi-
table globe.
(2.) This conclusion renders Moses consistent with himself; but the
theory of Mr. Bryant makes him wholly inconsistent, as will soon appear
if we attend to his account of the dispersion contained in the tenth
chapter.
In that part of his narrative he no less than thrice informs us, that the
descendants of Noah, in the three lines of Japhet and Ham and Shem,
divided the habitable world among them, not only according to their fami-
lies and their nations, but likewise according to their languages '. Hence
it is evident, that the confusion of tongues, whatever might be its precise
nature which I stop not now to consider, must have taken place anterior
to that division of the earth ; which is described in the tenth chapter, and
which Mr. Bryant contends to have been long prior to the events of Babel,
But we are assured by Moses, that there was but one language before the
building of the tower; so that all mankind could then converse intelligibly
together : and he afterwards tells us, that this language or mode of pro-
nunciation, or whatever it might be, was miraculously confounded ere the
tower was completed ; so that they, who before could understand each
other, were mutually unintelligible *, Now, let this have been effected in
what way it might, a diversity of languages, as to all the substantial pur-
poses of intercommunication, was here most undoubtedly introduced : lor
they, who could understand each other, spoke wiiat may be fairly called the
same language; and they, who could ?iot understand each otlier, spoke what
may effectively at least be styled different languages.
If then we put these several matters together, Mr. Bryant's system will
be plainly irreconcileable with the result necessarily deduced from them.
• Gen, X. 5, 20, 31. ' Gen. xi. 1, 6, 7, 9.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 3 A
370 TliE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATUr.
»ooK VI. The earth was divided by the posterity of Noah, according to their lan-
guages : consequently, at the time of this division various languages were
in use among them. Tliere \\as but one language however in the world
before the building of the tower : and that language was so confounded
during the progress of the work, that men became unintelligible to each
other. This circumstance, which is described as a confusion of the Ian-
guage of the whole earth or of all mankind, produced a separation of the
originally one people or single community : and the separation led to a
general dispersion of the builders, who had before spoken the same lan-
guage, but who now spoke different languages. Hence it is evident, that
the division of the earth, which is set forth in the tenth chapter, did not
precede the building of the tower, as Mr. Bryant contends : but, on the
contrary, that it succeeded it; that it was in reality produced by the mira-
culous confusion of lip, which took place at Babel ; and that it was not
effected, until the originally one people had been scattered from the plain of
Shinar over the face of the whole globe.
Such is the account, which Moses gives of these important transactions :
and it exactly accords with the gentile traditions, which have come down
to us. They represent all the early postdiluvians, as being concerned in
the building of the tower; they describe their king, as being an universal
monarch or the sovereign of the world ; they speak of a miraculous con-
fusion of languages ; and they declare, that this confusion produced a ge-
neral dispersion of the confederates '. The same opinion was entertained
by the Jews, as we may gather very unequivocally from Joseph us. That
writer does not suppose, that a mere single tribe had wandered to Babylonia
where they became the exclusive architects of the tower : but he intimates,
agreeably no doubt to the ordinary belief of his countrymen, that all the
children both of Shem and of Ham and of Japliet, when they descended
from the mountains of Armenia, collectively established themselves in the
plain of Shinar*.
■ .Toscph. Ant. Ju.l. lib. i. c. I-. Euscb. Pricp. Evan. lil>. ix. c. 1 k Syncell. Chronog.
p. 4i. CtUrcn. Ilia. Con.p.nd. p. 11. Asiat. lies. vol. ii. p. 48, ,TO. Ei.acb. Chron.
,„ * Ant. Jiul. lib. i. c. 5.
p. J J;
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 371
(3.) What lias been said is in itself siifiicicnt to demonstrate the erro- ciup. i.
neousness of Mr. Bryant's theory : which supposes first a general and
orderly, and then a jmrticular and disorderly, dispersion of the early post-
diluvians; vviiich ascribes the building of the tower to a single tribe; and
which exhibits that tribe, as alone afl'ected by tiie miraculous confusion of
lip. Yet, to render the discussion more complete, it will be proper to
notice some other matters, which are immediately connected with it, or
which may rather be said to form a constituent part of it.
Towards the commencement of the JNIosaical history of the tower, Mr.
Bryant renders the original Hebrew It came to pass in the journeying of
people. By this version he would insinuate the meaning of the passage to
be ; that some one people, now first mentioned after the great body of
mankind had quietly retired to their allotted settlements, suddenly invaded
the land of Shinar, and there became exclusively the architects of the Baby-
Ionic tower. Such a gloss is indeed necessary to the system advocated by
that learned writer; but a bare inspection of the original is sufficient to
prove its inadmissibility. The absolutely literal translation of the passage
is, It came to pass in the journeying of them : and the sense of it is accu-
rately expressed in our common version. It came to pass as they journeyed.
No mention is made of ISIr. Bryant's uexvly-appearing people : and, so far
from a hitherto-unhcard-qf body of actors being brought upon the stage,
the pronoun them or they plainly refers to some persons already specified
in the narrative. These persons, accordingly, we find regularly noticed in
the exordium ; from which Mr. Bryant, by the unauthorized introduction
of the word people, entirely separates the connected sequel. Mow the whole
earth, or all mankind^, xvas of one lip and of one mode of speech. And it
came to pass, in the journeying of them. Thus view the wiiole passage
together; and the sense is most palpably altogether different from that,
which Mr. Bryant would impose upon it. The pronoun them does not
describe a people, now heard of for the first time : but it obviously relates
to the whole earth or to all mankind. We are told in short, that, when all
• Thus the Persian Targiim, which Walton has printed in the fourth volume of his Poly-
glott, accurately expresses the sense of the original. Fuit universtis pnpulus terra tmus
termonis et verborum uniunnodi.
37'2 IHE ORIGIN Of PAGAN IDOLATRY,
mankind spoke an universally intelligible language, they ; that is to say,
by every rule of grammar, all matikiiid: they arrived, in the course of their
journeying, at the plain of Shinar. Here, acting as 07ie people or as a single
commioiity, they proceeded to build a city and a tower. But God mira-
culously confounded their language ; that is to say, the language of the
uliole earth or of all mankind previously described as being one : and thus
scattered them over the face of the globe : them, that is to say, still the all
mankind, who had spoken originally a single language, and who mutually
intelligible had travelled to Shinar'. Nothing can be more plain and un-
equivocal than the whole narrative. It proceeds step by step from the
exordium to the conclusion. But, in so doing, it shews, that the architects
of Babel were all mankind ; not a single tribe ox people, which is suddenly
brought forward to our notice.
IV. Here however it may be asked, If the Ark rested upon a mountain
in Armenia, how could all mankind reach Babylon by a journey from the
east ? To this question it might be amply sufficient to reply, that, as Be-
rosus positively declares the founders of that great city to have travelled
from Armenia by a circuitous route, and as there is no more difficulty in
ascribing such a route to all mankind collectively than to a single tribe
particularly : it might be sufficient to reply, that, when the children of Noah
left mount Ararat, they first journeyed eastward; and afterwards, wheeling
in circle, arrived in the plain of Shinar by a westward progress. Such an
answer would certainly be plausible, because it might seem to be supported
by tlie pilgan testimony of Berosus : for, if the founders of Babel travelled
from Armenia /« a circle, as he says they did, and as the very geography
of the country shews they must have done ; then of course, by whatever
route they might arrive in the plain of Shinar, their journey thither could
not liave been directly from the north. Here therefore I think Mr. Pcna
wrong in saying, that Mr. Bryant's theory rests mainly on the supposed
arrival of a people from the cast: for such, in exact accordance with Be-
rosus, migiit fqually iiave been the progress of those who built the tower,
• Such is tlic sense, which Simon rightly ascribes to the passage : to projkisci eorim, id
est omnU terra;.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 373
whether they comprized all mankind or Mcrc confined to a single tribe.
But, as tliis imagined oriental progress has been the grand substratum of
another hypothesis, though assuredly not of that which we have been con-
sidering; and, as Mr. Penn is clearly right in his proposed version of the
phrase, so generally rendered and understood from the east : I shall pro-
ceed to point out, what seems to have been the actual route of the Noa-
chidge when they descended from the heights of Armenia; noticing by the
way the theory, to wliich I have just alluded.
From the supposed declaration that the founders of Babel travelled thi-
ther in a westerly direction, and from the undoubted circumstance that this
journey is the first recorded movement after the deluge, Dr. Sliuckford and
more recently Mr. Wilford have argued, that the Ark could not have rested
upon the mountains of Armenia, but that the Ararat of Moses is to be sought
far to the east of Babylon. Here, accordingly, it is supposed to be found :
and the high land at the source of the Ganges, which coincides geographi-
cally with the poetical INIeru, and which is constantly said by the natives
to have received the ark of Satyavrata, is determined to be the true scrip-
tural Ararat.
It is superfluous on the present occasion to repeat the arguments, by
which I have already shewn that the Ararat of Moses must certainhj be
placed in the land of Armenia, however we may be able to reconcile such
a situation with the progress of the early postdiluvians': I have rather to
point out, on how very sandy a foundation that hypothesis rests, which
would argue the remote oriental scite of Ararat from the circumstance of a
•westerly journey to Babylon. Even allowing such a journey to have taken
place, the concession would be rather adverse than favourable to the theory
now before us : for, since Berosus declares from the old Chald^an records
that the founders of the tower reached the plain of Shinar by a circular
route ; it is obvious, tiiat, if they had really set out from the Indian Meru,
they must have approached the plain, not from the east, but either from the
north or the south. I am however fully persuaded with Mr. Penn, that
this oriental journey never had any existence, and that it has entirely origi-
' Vide supra book ii. c, 1, ^ IV.
374 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. nated from a verj' commonly received erroneous translation. The word
rendered the east springs from a root, which denotes priority either of place
or of time: and it came to signify (?//e ea*^, because by the ancients that
quarter was deemed the front or fore part of the world. But, agreeably
to its origin, it does not merely signify the east: it equally conveys the idea
oi priority in point of time. Accordingly, the very same word is in other
passages rightly translatedyV-owz the beginning or at the first, not Jrom the
east: and, as IMr. Penn has excellently shewn, this is by no means the only
place, in which the faulty rendering from the east has been thoughtlessly
adopted from the Greek interpreters. These indeed, by a mistranslation,
bring the builders of the tower from the east: and, as their error has been
received into more than one modern version, so it has formed the basis of
more than one speculative hypothesis. But, among the ancients, we find
a very different sense ascribed to the original expression. The old Chal-
dee Paraphrase of Onkelos, the Targum of Jerusalem, Aquila, and Jerome,
all agree to render it in the beginning or at the first : and the Jewish his-
torian Joseplius, while he is wholly silent respecting any oriental migration,
simply intimates, that, when the posterity of Noah quitted the heights of
Armenia, the place where they Jirst established themselves was the plain
of Shinar '. Hence, I think, we may safely pronounce, that the passage
ought to be translated as follows. And the whole xcorld was of one lip and
of one mode of speech. And it came to pass, when they vwisr Journeyed,
that (hey found a plain in the land cf Shinar.
This version, when taken in connection with the general picceding con-
text, gives us a clear and regular account of the most early postdiluvian
transactions. And that account serves finally to demonstrate the errone-
ousness of Mr. Bryant's system : that there were txco dispersions of man-
kind ; the one general and shortly after the deluge, the other particular and
immediately after the frustrated attempt at Babel. First, the family of
Noah quit the Ark on tlie summit of mount Ararat. Next, they remain,
during a certain jjcriod, in the land of Armenia; until their numbers have
sufficiently increased, and the lower grounds are suflicicntly dried, to encou-
• His expression is n-fUTo*. Aiit. JuJ. lib. i. c. 5.
)
THE OltlOIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 575
rage or require an emigration. Tiicn, while tliey as yet all speak the same chap. r.
language, they undertake their ^V*^ journey in one great body or com-
munity. This journey brings them to the plain of Shinar. Here they
make a halt, with a firm determination not to separate iVom each other,
but jointly to found a single universal empire. For that purpose, they
proceed to build a city and a pyramidal temple. But, their plan being in
direct and known contradiction to the divine purpose, God miraculously
confounds their speech, so that they are no longer intelligible to each other:
and the consequence is, that from the centrical point of Babel they are scat-
tered over the face of the wliols earth.
Respecting the particular route by which they arrived in the pLiin of
Shinar, Moses then is wholly silent : but, as Berosus declares it to have
been circuitous or circular, and as there seems to be no reason why we
should reject his testimony, it will not be foreign to the present discussion
if we make some inquiries into the matter.
]\f r. Penn, with his usual felicity, and guided only by a geographical view
of the country, supposes their line of march to have been directed by the
course of the great river Euphrates. This mighty stream, rising in the
mountains of Armenia, flows originally in a westerly direction : then it
turns to the south : and at length, bending eastward, it reaches Babylon
from the north-west. Its progiess therefore is circuitous: and, as the ap-
proach to Shinar from Armenia would be most easily and naturally effected
by following its winding course ; so, in that case, the route of the emigrants
would minutely correspond with the description given of it by Berosus.
Such is Mr. Penn's very happy conjecture : but there are some parti-
culars, which seem almost to convert it to a moral certainty.
The entire tenor of the argument, which pervades the present work, tends
to establish the position, that the idolatry of the whole world emanated from
Babylon. But this circumstance necessarily requires us to suppose, that
the builders of the tower were well acquainted with the course of their
sacred river Euphrates : because one of the most prominent features of
the mythology framed by them is the descent of the holy stream from the
mountain of the floating Moon. Now, had ihey reached Babylon by tJie
opposite, circuit which Air. Bryant ascribes to the Cuthites in order that he
376 THE ORIGI>f OF PAGAN IDOJ.ATRY,
BOOK VI. may bring them /ro??i the cast, tliey would entirely have left the Euphrates;
and the necessary consequence would have been a total ignoi~ance of its
source; for, judging by the direction of its current as it approaches the
plain of Shinar, they would have been inclined conjecturally to place its
fountains rather in the west than in the north. They did however know,
that it arose in Armenia ; because they could not have framed their mj'-
thologic system •zvithout such knowledge : and they could not have attained
this knowledge, unless they had pursued its course during their emigration
to Babylon. Hence we seem obliged to conclude with Mr. Penn, that their
line of march was along the circuitous valley of the Euphrates, which would
conduct them by easy steps to the plain of Shinar.
There is yet another particular, though of a more conjectural nature;
which, if it possess any solidity, will again bring us to the very same con-
clusion. That great linguist, Sir William Jones, has ascertained, that
Sanscrit was one of the three primeval languages which originated in the
first postdiluvian empire of Iran; an empire, which must certainly be iden-
tified with the Eabylonic empire of Nimrod. Now the real eastern name,
which the Greeks have thought proper to express Euphrates, is well known
to be Phrat : and, accordingly, it is so written by Moses. But, in the
Sanscrit, Vratta, pronounced Vrat ', denotes a circle. Hence it is not
unreasonable to conjecture, that the holy stream of the Babylonians was
called Phrat or J^rat from the well-ascertained form of its course ; the
river Phrat being equivalent to the river of the circle: and hence I
think it far from impossible, that Berosus actually described his forefathers
as travelling from Armenia bi/ the Phrat ; that by this he meant the river,
which bore a name expressive of its course ; that his Greek translator,
knowing the import of the word and mistaking a proper for a common
name, accurately cnougli rendered \i peri.v or circularly; and that thus the
founders of the tower arc said in tlic Greek version of Berosus to have
travelled circularly/, while Berosus himself had really cxliibited them as tra-
velling alo/ig the course of the Phi at or l^rat.
* In the pronunciation of Sanscrit words, tlic final n is quiescent, like the unaccented
final c of the Trench. Sec Moor's Iliad. I'luitli. p. IV^.
CHAPTER II.
Respecting the Epoch and Duration of the primeval Iranian
Empire, and the peculiar Form of its Civil Policy,
The seat of the Assyrian empire, of the Babylonico-Assyrian empire,
and of the Medo-Persian empire, was, in a large sense, the region, which,
by its present inhabitants, is still denominated Iran.
Of this noble district the boundary line, in its utmost extent, followed
the entire course of the Euphrates, including some considerable towns
and provinces on the western side of the river. Arriving at the sea, it
coasted Persia or Iran proper and other Iranian provinces to the delta of
the Sindhu or Indus. From that point it ascended with the river to its
source in the mountains of Cashgar : whence again it descended with the
Jailiun or Gihon, until that stream loses itself in the lakes of Khwarezm.
Thence it passed to the Caspian sea, of which it skirted the whole southern
extremity. Next it mounted along the banks of the Cur or Cyrus to the
ridges of Caucasus, from which it dropped to the eastern shore of the
Euxine. And from that shore, by the several Grecian seas, it returned,
including the lower Asia, to the fountains of the Euphrates'.
• Sir W. Jones's Disc, on the Pers. Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 4r3, 41. See a map of this
country in Ouseley's Epit. of Persiaa History.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 3 B
COOK VI.
378 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
Such was Iran in its greatest extent : and it obviously comprehended
within its limits the empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. It likewise
nearly coincided with that extensive Asiatic region, which the Hindoos
denominate Cusha-chvip-'within or the hither land of Cash: for we may
collect from a variety of circumstances, that Cusha-dwip extends, from the
shores of the Mediterranean and the mouths of the Nile, to Serhind on the
borders of India '.
I. The empire of Nimrod and his Cushim, from whose long-rooted pre-
dominance Cusha-dwip clearly received its appellation, seems to have
comprehended a considerable part of centrical Iran almost from its very
commencement : for its limits, even during the life-time of its founder, are
marked out by the inspired historian with great precision. We are told,
that the mere beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and E?'ech, and Accad,
and Calneli, in the land of Shinar^: so that his infant empire was commen-
surate with that large and fertile district, containing three subordinate cities
as well as the metrojiolitan Babylon.
But, though such was the beginning of his kingdom, its power did not
remain stationary, nor was Babel long the seat of government. The dis-
persion indeed took from him a large proportion of his subjects ; but he
had still a sufficient number remaining very greatly to extend his domi-
nions northward. Mortified at the check which he had received, and dis-
gusted with his late metropolis which had witnessed it, he went out of the
land of Shinar into the region, which was chiefly peopled by the children
of Ashur, and which from that patriarch took the name oi Ashur or Assyria.
Here he built a new capital u|)on the Tigris or Iliddckcl ; and, calling it
after his own appellation Ninus (for Nimrod or the rebel was a term of
reproach), he reigned henceforth at Nineveh ' : here also he built three
other towns, Rehoboth, Culah, and Resen; which last, tliough but of infe-
rior note, is yet declared by Moses to have been a great city "'•.
When he thus removed his seat of empire, we have no reason to sup-
pose tliat he therefore relinquished his hold upon the rich province of
* Asiat. lies. vol. iii. p. 5t. * Gen. x. 10. ' Sec Halcs's Cliron, vol. ii. p. 50.
♦ Gen. X. 1], 12. Sec IIiilcs's Chron. vol. iii. p. 1«), 'JO.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. '^79
Shinar or Babylonia : the words of the historian seem evidently enough to cuap. h.
imply the very contrary. Moses is describing the progress of his power:
his kingdom commenced indeed with Babel and three other cities; but
Assyria, with a new metropolis and three inferior towns, was soon added
to it. He reigned therefore from the confines of Armenia to the shorts of
the Erythr^an sea ; and, though prevented from attaining universal sove-
reignty, he was still by far the greatest of the early postdiluvian raonarchs.
He was not only the founder of Babylon : but that mighty and ancient
empire, which from the locality of its capital Nineveh has usually been
styled the Assyrian empire, and which many have erroneously esteemed a
kingdom in the Shemite line of Ashur, was in reality but a continuation of
his primeval Cuthic sovereignty. The province indeed, where the metro-
polis was situated, was chiefly peopled by the descendants of Ashur; just
as the provinces of Aram and iVladui and Elam were chiefly peopled by the
children of the patriarchs who bore tliose names : but the governing dy-
nasty, and the associated military nobility, were certainly of the line of
Cush. Hence, as the power of the Cushim extended over the whole em-
pire of Iran ; and as the military nobility of that house must have pos-
sessed lordships in every part of it, much in the same manner as the Nor-
man barons parcelled out the Saxon realm of England among themselves:
the entire region, over Mhich they presided, though comprehending the set-
tlements of Aram and Ashur and INIadai and Elam, is yet not imi)roperly
denominated by the Hindoo geographers Cusha-dwip ; as it is sometimes
styled by the Greek writers Ethiopia, and by the inspired penmen the land
of Cush. This region in short, so designated, was the empire indeed of
Cush : but it was by no means entirely occupied by his posterity.
Babylon, the scene of Ninirod's humiliating discomfiture, appears to
have long remained in a neglected state and (except perhaps during the
short dynasty of the Arabian invaders, as they have been called) to have
sunk to the condition of a provincial town : whence, many years after-
wards, Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned over the revived Cutliic empire which
was formed by the union of the later Assyrian and Babylonian monarchies,
claimed to have been the founder of that ancient city, which he rebuilt and
made tlie seat of his government. He xias indeed its founder, in the same
380 * THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY."
BOOK VI, sense that Constantine was the founder of Constantinople ; accordingly, he
himself speaks of having built it for the house of the kingdom ' ; but we
know, that its I'eal and original founder was Nimrod. The language how-
ever, used by Nebuchadnezzar, sufficiently proves, that Babylon had been
for ages consigned to obscurity : and it thus confirms the declaration of
IVIoses, that Nimrod forsook it ere its buildings were completed, and that
he made the Assyrian Nineveh his capital.
In this view of the early Cuthic empire, I have followed the marginal
reading of our English translation, which, I think, undoubtedly conveys
the sense of the original : for IVIoses does not tell us, that out of that land
went forth Ashur and built Nineveh ; but that out of that land he, namely
Nimrod, "went forth into Ashur or Assyria and built Nineveh. The whole
context of the passage requires such a translation. Closes is not treating
of the man Ashur ; which would here be perfectly out of place, since he
is describing the various settlementb of Ham : but he is plainly marking
out the limits of the Cuthic empire, which was founded by Nimrod the
grandson of that patriarch. Hence, when he teaches us that the beginning
of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel and its dependencies ; we are naturally
led to expect, by every law of good writing, that he will next give us some
information with regard to its progress. And this he docs very satisfac-
torily, if we adopt the marginal translation of our English Bible ; for he
tells us, that Nimrod began his kingdom with Babel, that he qfterxvards left
it when it became a marked object of divine wrath, and that he went into
Assyria where he built Nineveh : but, if wc abide by the other version, wo
throw the whole narrative into confusion; for we make the historian de-
scribe indeed tiic beginning of Nimrod's kingdom, but we exhibit him as
immediately quitting his subject and as abruptly jlfing off to a supposed
building of Nineveh by Ashur. Nor is this the only objection. All man-
kind, as we have seen, were assembled in the land of Shinar : therefore all
mankind, at the time of the dispersion, eqtudhi abaniloncd the unfinished
Babylon, and equally went out of the land where it was situated. Hence,
if all iiidijD'erentli/ proceeded from this centrical point; it is hard to say,
• Don, iv, 30»
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 381
why the particular emigration of Ashur should have been thought more
worthy of special notice, than the particular emigration of any other
patriarch. Had Jalmr been the founder of Nineveh, we should have been
told so in the proper place, when Moses came to treat of the settlements of
Shcm : never surely would a good writer so Hagraiitiy have departed from
order and method, for no better apparent reason than to give us the pal-
pably impertinent information that Ashur did certainly emigrate from the
land of Shinar '.
These arguments are the arguments of Bochart : and they arc unans^er-
able on the supposition, that all mankind were engaged in the building of
the tower. A\'ilh Mr. Bryant, however, they have no weight : because he
maintains, that the Ciishim alone were the architects of Babel. Such be-
ing his system, he contends earnestly for the version which stands in tlie
text of our English Bible : and he would understand the passage to inti-
mate, that Ashur was originally settled in the land of Shinar, that Nimrod
and the Cushim violently drove him out, and that he then retired northward
and built Nineveh.
The \\hole of this gloss depends of course upon the solidity of the sys-
tem, which supports it. But that system has been shewn to be altogether
untenable : and it has been proved, that, not the Cushim merely, but all
mankind were assembled under one head in the land of Shinar. The sys-
tem consequently being unsound, the dependent gloss falls with it: and, as
all mankind were concerned in building the tower, the arguments of Bo-
chart remain in full force. But those arguments compel us to suppose,
that the person, who went out of Shinar and built Nineveh, was not Ashur,
but Nimrod. The result therefore of the whole is, that the Cuthic empire,
even during the life of that mighty hunter of men, extended from Armenia
• The marginal translation of our English Bible, which represents Nimrod as the founder
of Nineveh, is supported by the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem, Theopliilus bishop of
Antioch, and Jerome, among the ancients ; and by Bochart, Ilyile, Warsiiam, Wells, Le
Chais, tiie writers of the Universal History, and Hales, among the moderns. See Halcs's
Chronol. vol. i. p. 447. Dr. Hales however has unfortunately adopted Mr. Bryant's hypo-
thesis, that there was a dispersion of mankind antecedent to the buikling of the tower, and
that the Cuthim alone were the architects of Babel.
382 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. to the Persian gulph; thus comprizing uithin its early limits the entire
centrical and richest portion of Iran, or Cusha-dwip within, or (in the no-
menclature of the Greeks) Asiatic Ethiopia '.
' jMr. Brj-ant condescends to use an argument in favour of his theory, which is utterly
unworthy of that great scholar.
He says, that the marginal version, advocated by Bochart, describes Nimrod as going
out into Ashur or Assyria. But, by the hypotliesis, Ashur, witli the rest of mankind, was
at Shinar. Hence, as he had neither occupied nor conferred his name upon the land of
Assyria at the time when Nimrod went out, it is a contradiction to say, that Nimrod mi-
grated into Assyria i because as yet there was no land so denominated — Or, inversely,
since Nimrod went out into the land o( Ashur, Ashur must have been in that land^rmo!(s
to the going out of Nimrod. But, if that were the case, then Ashur could not have been
dispersed from Babel, and therefore could have had no concern in the building of the
tower. Because Nimrod, when miraculously driven from Babel, went out into a land
already denominated Ashur because it was already occupied by the Ashurites.
This argument, he contends, will cut botli ways. We must either acknoxvledge or deny,
tliat the Ashurites were in Assyria when Nimrod went out into it. If we acknoxdedgc it ;
then the assembling at Babel was not universal, because the Ashurites could not have been
there. If we deny it ; then there was no land of Ashur into which Nimrod could have gone
out, because as yet the country luid neither been occupied nor named by the Ashurites.
Such is the dilemma, between the horns of which Mr. Bryant would place his opponents.
The whole of this I cannot but consider as most egregious trifling. A single word is
sufficient to answer it. When Moses says, that Nimrod went out into the land of Ashur,
he plainly means only to intimate, according to a very common and familiar mode of speech,
tluit he went into the land which was so denominated at the time when he wrote his his-
tory. He simply wished to inform us, xvhere Nimrod retired : and the obvious mode of ac-
complishing it was to specify the country, by the name under which it was then known. Let
us see however, to what whimsical contradictions Mr. Bryant's argument will lead us, if it
be of general application : and of general application it must be, otherwise it is palpably in-
conclusive. Moses assures us, that the three first mentioned rivers of the antediluvian Pa-
radise watered the llircc several lands of Havilali, Cusli, and Ashur. Now we must either
acknouiledge or deny, that the Havilim, the Cushim, and the Ashurim, were in these three
regions, when they were watered by the three antediluvian rivers. If we acknowledge it;
then children of tUi: postdiluvian Ilavilah and Cush and Ashur lived hr/orc the deluge. If
we deny it ; then there were no such countries as those specified by Moses which could
liavc been watered by the Paradisiacal rivers, because as yet they had neither been occu-
pied nor named by tlieir respective possessors. Moses therefore, by this dilemma, stands
clearly convicted of error !
THE ORIGIN OK PAGAN IDOLATRV. 383
II. At the epoch whence the astronomical canon of Ptolemy com- chap. n.
mences, or in the 3'car 747 before the Christian era, the last Assyrian king-
dom under Tiglath-Pileser, and the last Babylonic kingdom under Nabo-
nassar, sprang up synchronically out of the Assyrian empire : but that em-
j)ire, once so extensive under a very ancient dynasty as to comprehend the
vhole of Iran or Cnsha-dwip, had already undergone a great revolution
and had sustained tlie loss of some of its most important provinces. It
vill be proper to inquire into tlic nature and chronological era of these
events.
1. Ctesias gives a long list of Assyrian kings, ending with Thonus Con-
colcrus : and, next in succession to them, he places a dynasty of Median
kings, the length of whose several reigns lie regularly specilies ; beginning
with Arbaces, and ending with Astyages the grandfather of the great Cyrus '.
By thus bringing down the JNIedian dynasty to the days of Astyages and
Cyrus, he provides us with a fixed point to reckon from : and the result of
a retrograde calculation from that point will be, that Arbaces must have
founded the kingdom of Media in tlie year A. C, 821 \ But the long
Assyrian dynasty tciniinated about the time, when the Median dynasty
commenced. Hence, v\ hatever was the fate of Assyria itself and whoever
might be its rulers upon the extinction of its ancient dynasty ; it is plain,
that, about this period, some great revolution must have taken place in tlie
Iranian empire, and tliat the hitherto subject province of Media became an
independent kingdom.
The rise of the Median empire is detailed at large by Herodotus : and,
by viewing his account conjointly with that of Ctesias, we shall probably
arrive at the whole truth. He tells us, that, when the Assyrians had been
lords of upper Asia for the space of 5'10 years, the Medes set the example
of a revolt from their authority; and that this example was speedily fol-
lowed by the other provinces. For a season, the Medes vere in a state of
great anarchy : but at length, having experimentally learned the inconve-
nience of it, they unanimously elected Dejoces to be their sovereign '»
* Jackson's Chronol. Ant. vol. i. p. 247— 25*. ' Ibid. p. 253,
* Ilerod. Hist, lib. i. c. 95—98.
BOOK VI.
384 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
Here we are explicitly informed, that the independent kingdom of Media
was founded in consequence of a revolutionary defection from the para-
mount Assyrian empire : and we may further collect not obscurely, that
that empire then fell to pieces ; because the historian adds, that its other
provinces soon followed the example of the Medes. The whole of this
exactly corresponds with the arrangement of Ctesias : for that author de-
scribes the ancient Assyrian dynasty as becoming extinct, shortly before the
Median dynasty commenced with Arbaces ; and such extinction is precisely
what might have been expected from the convulsed state of the empire, as
exhibited by Herodotus.
But we must now attend to an important chronological discrepance be-
tween these two writers, who have hitherto so excellently harmonized to-
gether. Herodotus makes Dejoces the great grandfather of Astyagcs, and
thus gives only four Median sovereigns from the founder of the monarchy
to Astyagcs both inclusively : Ctesias, on the contrary, places Arbaces at
the head of the dynasty, and from him to Astyages inclusively gives nine
Median sovereigns. The consequence is, that, according to the length of
reigns as stated by Herodotus, the Median revolt must have taken place in
the year A. C. 710; and, as the anarchical interregnum may be shewn to
have lasted six years, the first king must have been called to the throne in
the year A. C. 704 ' : while, according to the length of reigns as stated by
Ctesias, the government of the first king must have conmienced in the
year A. C. 821; and therefore the Median revolt must have taken place
six years earlier in the year A. C. 827. Abp. Usher and Dr. Hales pre-
fer the arrangement of Herodotus ; nor is it without much appearance of
reason, for there certainly xi^as a revolt of tlic Modes from the Assyrian em-
pire about the year A. C. 710, shortly after and in consequence of the
• Ilcrod. lib. i. c. 102—107. .Jackson's Clnonol. Aiu. vol. i. p 25.^, 2.5i. Herodotus
has not cxpreaslij given the length of the anarciiical interregnum, but he lias furnlslied the
d'lta. He reckons the Scythian dominion in IMcdia 28 years, and the whole lengtli of the
Median dynasty from Dejoces to Astyages inchisive 12S years more; or 156 j'ears in all.
But the reigns of his four kings amount only to 150 years. Conseciucntly, these, being
subtracted from the gross sum of 1 56 years, will leave six years for the poriod of anarchy.
>Sce llalcs's Ciironoi. vol. iii. p. 8.5.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 385
disastrous expedition of Sennacherib against Judah : but, after a long con-
sideration of the subject, I feci assured, that there were two Median re-
volts ; that Herodotus has blended them together into one. ; and that he lias
therefore brought down the rise of the monarchy from the era of the first
to the era of the second, wholly suppressing the five earliest kings, and
ascribing to the sixth monarch whom he calls Dejoccs what was really per-
formed by the first monarch whom Ctesias calls Arbaces: hence I am led
to adopt the arrangement of Ctesias.
The grounds of my whole opinion are these. The ancient Assyrian
dynasty certainly came to an end about or before the year A. C. 8*21 : ac-
cordingly, Dr. Hales very properly makes what he calls the third Assyrian
dynasty commence at that time '. Now this is in eftect to allow, that a
great revolution then took place. But precisely such is the declaration of
Ctesias : whence, with much appearance of probability, he makes Arbaces
become the first sovereign of Media directly after the extinction of the an-
cient Assyrian dynasty, the Medes having availed themselves of so favour-
able an opportunity to raise the standard of independence. And in this
outline of history he agrees with Herodotus ; who describes the rise of the
Median kingdom, as occurring when the Assyrian empire was falling to
pieces by the general defection of its provinces. No extinction however of
any Assyrian dynasty took place in tlie year A. C. 710 : so that, by fixing
the original revolt of the Medes to that epoch, we take away from the rise
of their kingdom one of its leading characteristics, namely the dissolution of
a governing Assyrian empire. "We moreover, by such an arrangement,
violate the concinnity of another part of history: for, as we shall presently
see, the independence of Persia commenced much about tlie time which
Ctesias assigns for the commencement of Median independence : and we
are assured, that it commenced just in tlie same manner, namely after a
period of anarchical violence and subsequent to the domination of a very
ancient imperial monarchy : hence the epoch of Persian independence must
also, as circumstantial evidence very plainly determines, be the epoch of
Median independence. Now witii this epoch the account given by Ctesias
' Hales's Clironol. vol. iii.,p. 58.
Pag. IdoU VOL. HI. SC
3S6 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. exactly agrees, both chronologically and circumstantially : but the account
given by Herodotus does not thus agree. I am led therefore to prefer the
former to the latter : and thence, with Ctesias, I place the rise of Median
independence between the years A. C. 827 and 821 ; rather than, with
Herodotus, between the years A. C. 710 and 70-1. Such then is what I
believe to be the true epoch of the grand Median revolt : but there un-
doubtedly must have been a second revolt ; which Usher and Hales rightly
fix from Herodotus to the year A. C. 710, which that historian has con-
founded with the ^7'*^ revolt at the rise of the monarchy, and which took
place in consequence of the favourable opportunity afforded by the disaster
of Sennacherib. The order of events seems to have been, as follows.
Not long after the middle of the ninth century before Christ, the old As-
syrian dynasty became extinct witli Thonus Concolerus, and the empire
fell asunder by the defection of its provinces. About the same time arose
the comparatively small kingdom of Assyria under what Dr. Hales calls
the third Assyrian dj/naslt/ : while ]\ledia, after having experienced the in-
convenience of revolutionary discord, became an independent state under
the government of Arbaces. The new Assyrian kingdom however increased
so rapidly in strength, that it was enabled to reconquer either the wliole or
a considerable part of INIedia, thus reducing the tiien sovereign of that
country to the rank of a tributary vassal. This circumstance may be col-
lected from Holy Writ : and it is that identical testimony of Scripture ;
which has led chronologers, too hastily (I think), to place the rise of Me-
dian independence so low as the year A. C. 710, and to pronounce all the
five first Median princes enumerated by Ctesias mere prefects of the Assy-
rian monarch. When Shalmancser had conquered the Israelites of the ten
tribes, he carried them awaif, we arc told; and placed them in Halah, and
in Ilubor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the J\Iedes\ Now
this happened between the years A. C. 721 and 719. Consequently, Me-
dia must then have been subject to the king of Assyria. Jiut we know,
that Media was independent during the reigns of Astyagcs and liis inmie-
diate predecessors. Hence it must have recovered its independence sub-
• ' 2 Kings xvii. 5, G.
THK ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 387
aequent to tlie year A. C. 719. Accordingly we learn from the chronolo- chap. i^.
gical numbers of Herodotus, though he has unfortunately blended the
second Median revolt with the Jirst, that the Medes finally threw oft" the
Assyrian yoke in the year A. C. 710: which is the exact time, when we
might expect such an exploit to be achieved by a high-spirited nation pant-
ing after the independence which it had recently lost ; for it was the very
year of Sennacherib's miraculous disaster in the land of Judah and of his
consequent assassination by his sons.
On these grounds, I am led to fix what I esteem the original Median
revolt to about the year A. C. 827, and the accession of the first indepen-
dent Median king at the close of the six years anarchy to the year A. C. 8i£ J.
Whence I conclude, that, as the revolt followed the extinction of the old
Assyrian dynasty in the person of Thonus Concolerus, the dynasty in ques-
tion must have become extinct, and the great Assyrian empire must have
begun to be revolutionized, some short time previous to the year A.C. 827.
2. The propriety of such a conclusion will be decidedly confirmed by an
inquiry Into the true epoch of Persian independence.
When Sir Isaac Newton came to calculate backward the reigns of th/e
recorded Persian kings, he found, that he was unable to place the rise of
their monarciiy higher than the year A. C. 790 ": and so just were his
principles, that, it we compute those reigns as enumerated by the Persian
historians themselves, we shall actually be brought for their commencen^ent
very nearly to the self-same year.
The Persian writers describe the Pishdadian dynasty, as being the first
that governed their country with regal authority : and, although tliey make
it consist of no more than eleven kings, they fobulously exhibit the reigns
of those kings as stretching through the incredible space of 24.50 years. To
the Pishdadian succeeded the Caianian dynasty, which comprehended ten
sovereigns : and to their joint reigns the more moderate, though still ex-
cessive, period of 734 years is attributed '.
Now, if we direct our attention to the two last princes of this second
dynasty, we shall happily obtain a sure chronological resting place, from
' Newton apud Jones. Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 47.
* Jehan Ara in Ouseley's Epit. of anc. his. of Persia, p. 3, 15.
588 THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN- ICOtATRY.
Boui VI. which we may be enabled to take a rational backward view of the prepos-
terously extended reigns of their predecessors. The tenth Caianian mo-
narch is Secander Zul-Karnein : and this personage, though he is said to
Jiave been the son of a former king namal Darab, is sufliciently identified
with the Macedonian Alexander both by his appellation Secander and by
the circumstance of his mother being described as the daugiiter of Philip
king of Greece. Such being the case, his immediate predecessor Dara
mast undoubtedly be the Darius of classical story '. Accordingly, though
Secander be thus arranged as the last prince of the Caianian dynasty,
IMirkhond and the other Persian writers unanimously agree, that that
dynasty really ended when Dara was conquered by Secander : and, though
the author of the Jehan Ara has follow^ Ferdousi in exhibiting Secander
as a son of Darab by a daughter of the Macedonian Philip, the more an-
cient and authentic Tabari rightly pronounces him to be the son of the
Grecian monarch '. The proper Caianian dynasty therefore, M'hen the
foreign Secander is excluded, contains only nine kings : and thus it iloubt-
less ended in the yfear A. C. 331, with the murder of Dara or Darius
Godoman.
This point being ascertained, we have now twenty kings from Caiumuras
to Dara, both inclusive ; namely, eleven Pishdadians and nine Caianians :
and the joint duration of their reigns is to be calculated retrospectively
jrom tlic year A. C. 331, which is a known chronological epoch. Now,
on a grand sum of ten different regal dynasties, comprehending on the
whole 454 kings and extending through the vast space of 10105 years, it
has been accurately computed by Dr. Hales, that the average length of a
reign may be estimated at 2'^^ years '. In the present case, let us take the
round number of 23 years, as the average length of our tv\cnty Persian
reigns ; and, at that rate, calculate them backward from the murder of
-Dara in the year A. C. 331. Sucii an operation will give, as their joint
aniount, tlic sum of 40"O years : and, consequently, those 46"0 years added'
•Julian Ara in Ouscley's Epit. of anc> liis, of Persia- p. 25.
^ IIalu«'s Clironoj. vol. iii. p. 48, 49. Ouseli-y's Epit. p. VG.
' Uak's's Chronol. vol. i. p. W4, 305.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. S89
to 331 years will give the year A. C. 791 as the comiiienccment of the <="*»••"•
Pislidadian dynasty with Caiumuras.
Hence it appears, that if Me adopt the arrangement of Ctesias, the in-
dependent monarchy of Persia will have arisen about "0 years after the
independent monarchy of Media ; and this agreeably to the declaration of
Herodotus, that the INIedes led the xoai) in the revolt from the Assyrian
empire, and that their example was soon followed by the other provinces :
but, as it is not impossible that 23 years may have been too short an
average, the insurrection of Persia probably followed the insurrection of
Aledia after a smaller interval than 30 years '. An average, for instance
of 9.^ years to a reign, would place the accession of Caiumuras in the year
A. C. 81 1, and thus allow only ten years between that event and the pre-
vious accession of the Median Arbaces *.
The rise then of the two independent kingdoms of Media and Persia may
be deemed so far synchronical, as just to allow the rise of Media to precede
' We may fairly take more than 23 years as the average of a reign, if it be necessarj' :
for one of Dr. Hales's ten exemplar dynasties gives 26| years; another, 25 years; and
another, Si years.
* Dr. Hales seems to me to have greatly erred, and that too in the teeth of his own
very valuable calculation of the average length of a reign, when he throws back the rise
of the Pishdadian dynasty as high as the time of Abraham, and when he makes its second
king Hushang to be the Chedorlaomer of Moses. I sec not how it is possible by any fair
rules of computation, unless we arbitrarily insert here and there a purely gratuitous inter-
regnum, to throw the accession of Caiumuras much higher than I have done. This un-
fortunate arrangement of that excellent writer has led him to take a most unwarrantable
liberty with the list of Assyrian kings, as exhibited by Ctesias. At one fell swoop he anni-
hilates 2\ reigns out of the 36 ; merely because, according to his own settlement of the
rishdadian dynasty and his identification of Hushang with Cliedorlaomer, the roniaining
12 will then be found JuUij ivjficient : and then, to fill up the gap in tlie Assyrian supre-
macy during the fictitious paramount rule of the Pislidadians, he places an enormous in-
terregnum of 985 years between Zinzirus the sixth from Ninirod and Mitlireus whom he
would identify with the second Ninus, notwithstanding Mithreiw is the twenty filth king
in the catalogue of Ctesias and the younger N'inus the first king. Chronol. vol. iii p. 21,
29, 30, 35, 53, 54. Respecting the petty Elamitic king Chedorlaomer, whom Dr. Hales
would have to be the mighty sovereign of all Iran, more shall be said in the proper place.
See below § VI. 2. (2.)
390 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BOOK VI. ^^^^ pf Persia, and thus to harmonize with the assertion of Herodotus that
the Medes led the way in the revolt : and this chronological hypothesis will
be found exactly to tally with circumstantial evidence.
According to Herodotus, the first king of Media was called to the throne
by way of remedying the evils of anarchy ; and that anarchy had been the
consequence of a revolt of the provinces from the Assyrian empire. In a
similar manner, Caiumuras, according to the Persian writers, was elevated
to the seat of government by the free voice of the people, who were wea-
ried out by the troubles of a grievous preceding anarchy '. So again, ac-
cording to Ctesias, the Median dynasty had arisen upon the extinction of
the ancient Assyrian dynasty whicli had for ages swayed the sceptre of Iran.
In a similar manner, however the national vanity of the Persian writers has
led them to throw back the accession of the Pishdadian Caiumuras to the
extravagant distance of 3170 years from the murder of Dara or Darius
Codoman; they have still a most vivid tradition of a powerful empire,
which in the government of Iran long preceded even their first independent
dynasty. Now, if we put these matters together, it will, I think, be abun-
dantly evident, that the provincial anarchy, out of which the IMedian king-
dom arose, is the identical provincial anarchy, out of which the Persian
kingdom also arose; and that the powerful empire, which had preceded
the one, is the very same empire as that, which had preceded the other.
Such circumstances tally for too exactly to be the result of mere accident.
Consequently, since circumstantial evidence proves the synchronical rise
of the two independent kingdoms of Media and Persia, since the Pishda-
dian dynasty of tlie latter kingdom must have commenced between the
years A. C 811 and 791, and since the ancient Assyrian dynasty must
have terminated in the person of Thonus Concolerus some short time pre-
vious to the year A. C. 827 : wc may rest tolerably certain, that Ctesias
was accurate in placing eight Median kings before Astyages and in thus
fixing the rise of the Median dynasty to the year A. C. 821.
The result therefore of tlie preceding investigation is, that the two inde-
jjcndcnt kingdonis of Media and Persia sprang up very nearly synchroni-
' Ilalcs's Clironul. vol. iii. p. 30.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 591
cally, tlic rise of the one being anterior to the rise of the other only by a ciiap. ii.
few years; and that they alike owed their origin to the falling asunder of
a great Iranian empire, of which they had before been mere provinces.
3. The metropolis of that great empire was Nineveh: and, as Nineveh
was situated within the limits of Assyria, the empire itself was generally
distinguished, at least in the west, by the name of the Assi/r'um empire.
We have now therefore to inquire, what was the fate of Assyria proper,
when the great empire was dissolved by the revolt of its provinces, when
its governing dynasty became extinct in the person of Thonus Concolerus,
and when the two kingdoms of Media and Persia established their inde-
pendence. ,
A new Assyrian dynasty rose up most undoubtedly in the place of that,
which had become extinct: and I am inclined to believe, for reasons which
will hereafter appear, that its founder dethroned the last prince of the an-
cient dynasty, and assumed the imperial name of Ninus. This was origi-
nally the appellation of him; who, by way of reproach, was styled Nimrod
or t/ie rebel: accordingly, when he went forth from Babylonia into the land
of Ashur and there built a second capital, he denominated it after himself
Nineveh or Nins town. The same title, according to Ctesias, was assumed
by the first prince of the second Assyrian dynasty : and it was now, if I
mistake not, again borne by the founder of what Ur. Hales properly calls
the third Assyrian dijnasty. I take it, that in both instances the ground of
its assumption was a politic appeal to the prevailing superstition : each
younger Ninus, at the head of his own dynasty, claimed to be a divine
Avatar or transmigratory reappearance of the hero-god Ninus, who was the
primeval founder of the empire '.
Dr. Hales fixes the accession of this prince to the year A. C. 821 ; which
is the same year as that, in which, according to the arrangement of Ctesias,
Arbaces mounted the independent throne of Media : and he supposes Jo-
nah to have prophesied to the Ninevites in the year A. C. 800 ; while Abp.
' I am inclined to suspect, that the title was originally assumed by Nimrod himself
much on the same political principles. The word Nin denotes a son : and, agreeably
to the doctrine of Avatarism, the founder of Babel seems to have given out, that he was
a manifestation of the promised seed of the woman emphatically called tfie son.
392 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT;
Usher prefers the year A. C. 808, as the era of that memorable warning.
All these dates ought, I think, to be thrown somewhat earlier: and for sucb
an alteration the book of Jonah itself affords some internal evidence, throw-
ing at the same time a considerable degree of light on those early transac-
tions which I am now discussing.
As the Median dynasty of Arbaces commenced in the year A. C. 821,
and as 6 years of anarchy elapsed between the revolt of the Medes and
their election of a king ; the old Assyrian dynasty must have become ex-
tinct, and the new or third Assyrian dynasty must have arisen, some time
previous to the year A. C. 827. The accession of the first king of this new
dynasty seems to have been the signal for revolt to the provinces : and so
general was the defection, that his authority appears to have extended but
little beyond the walls of the metropolitan Nineveh. His wise and vigor-
ous administration, however, must ere long have reduced to obedience the
whole both of Assyria and of the subject kingdom of Babylonia : for, abouS
the year A. C. 771, we find his successor Pul in such power as to invade
the remote western kingdom of Israel '. The head of this new dynasty
was certainly the prince, to whom the prophet Jonah was sent : and the
scriptural account of that remarkable transaction exactly agrees with what
has been advanced.
Jonali must have flourished during the reign of Joash king of Israel :
for, as he foretold that God would save the ten tribes by the hand of Jero-
boam the son of that king, and as consequently the deliverance was not
effected until after the accession of Jeroboam, Jonah must have been con-
temporary with Joash*. But the reign of Joash, including the time that
he ruled jointly with his father Jehoahaz, cxtcmlcd from the year A. C.
841 to the year A. C. 82.5. Therefore Jonah must at least have nourished
during some part of that period, however much earlier or later he may
have lived. Thus it is evident, that he was contemporary with the first
king of the new Assyrian dynasty : for that king, as we have seen, began
to reign a short time previous to the Median revolt in the year A. C. 827,
' 2 Kings XV. 19. llales's Chronol. vol. iii. p. 58, GO. Usscr. Annal. in A. A. C. 771.
' a Kings xiv, 25—27. Vmr. Annal. in A. A. C. 825, 808.
THE ORIGIN OF PACrAN IDOLATRr. 393
having mounted the throne with the extinction of the former Assyrian dy- ^uap. n.
nasty undei* Thonus Concolcrus. Such being the case, I am inclined to
believe, that Jonah was sent to Nineveh soon after the accession of the new
prince; when the whole of Iran was in a state of confusion, when the pro-
vinces were revolting on every side, wlien the metropolis itself was yet
feverish with revolutionary anarchy, and when the tottering authority of
Ninus was scarcely recognized beyond its walls. The era therefore of the
solemn warning may probably be fixed to somewhere about the year A.C.
827 or S26. And now let us attend to the scriptural account of the trans-
action.
Jonah is sent to cry against Nineveh, because the wickedness of its in-
habitants had come up before the Lord. But the special nature of this
wickedness is afterwards described, in the regal proclamation itself, as
mainly consisting in atrocious deeds of revolutionary violence '. Nineveh
therefore, as well as its revolting provinces according to the accurate ac-
count which is given of them both by Herodotus and the Persian historians,
had been, and indeed was still, convulsed by civil discord and anarchy :
in short, both it and the whole expiring empire were in a state not dissi-
milar to that, which was exhibited by France and its metropolis in the
course of its blood-stained revolution. There was now however a king in
Nineveh: but it is long after a storm, ere the waves are hushed to peace;
and the new sovereign probably found it no easy matter to govern a turbu-
lent citv accustomed to sanguinary licence. This condition, together with
the unpopular loss of the provinces, humbled the iieart of Ninus; and thus
prepared him to listen to the admonition of a stranger prophet. The
peculiar state therefore of Nineveh and the empire will fully account for
a circumstance, which must otherwise appear not a little extraordinary.
An idolatrous oriental sovereign, inflated by prosperity and corrupted by
flattery, would probably have forthwith put to death any person, much
more therefore an unknown foreigner ; who had dared to convey to him a
message, which Jonah, under the evident impression of very natural fear,
was at length constrained reluctantly to deliver : but the same sovereign,
' Jonah i. 2. iii. 8.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 3l[)
394 THE ORlGrN" OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
»ooK VI. when humbled by adversity, is a very different character; and good policy,
no less than his better inclination, would lead Ninus to hear the prophet's
message with reverence, and to give it all the effect among his turbulent
subjects which the royal authority could enable him to do. The state of
Kineveh will likewise account for another circumstance, and that circum-
stance in return will throw light upon the then condition of the Assyrian
empire. When the mighty Pul, about fifty years afterwards, invades the
realm of Israel, he is accurately styled Me ^i«^- of Assyria^ : but Ninus,
■when he conversed witli Jonah, is distinguished by the humbler title of the
king of Ni/itveh *. This difference of appellation is not merely accidentaL
Ninus, by the general revolt of the provinces, was scarcely more than sove-
reign of the metropolis and its immediately dependent district : but Pul
was lord at once of Assyria and Babylonia ; and, as appears by his inva-
sion of Israel, had likewise stretched his sceptre over the whole of Aram.
It is not unreasonable to believe, that so rapid a growth of empire was the
reward which God was pleased to bestow upon the piety of Ninus and his
penitent subjects. Though pagans, they humbled themselves before an
,. obscure prophet of Jehovah: and for this remarkable act of faith, wliich
obtained the high commendation even of Christ himself, they not only saved
their city from instant destruction, but received the divine blessing upon
their future entcrprizcs.
The general result then of the wliole is, that the ancient Assyrian empire
fell asunder some short time jjrevious to the year A. C. 827 ; that the whole
of Iran was then convulsed with revolutionary madness; that the smaller
kingdom of Assyria sprang up synchronically with the extinction of the
old Assyrian dynasty ; and that, about the years A. C. 8'i! 1 and 811 or
75)1, the hitherto vassal provinces of Media and Persia became indepen-
dent sovereignties.
III. I now proceed to inquire, what historical notices we have of the
great Assyrian or Iranian empire; wliich immediately preceded the three-
smaller kingdoms of Assyria and Media and Persia, and wliicii must have
been dissolved shortly after the middle of the ninth century before the
Christian era.
' V Kings XV. 19. » Jonah iii. G.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 395
I, Sir Isaac Newton, not being able to throw back the rise of the Per- chap. h.
sian monarcliy higher than the year A. C. 790, conjectured, that in the
preceding ages the government had been divided among several petty states
and principalities : and, in this conjecture, Sir William Jones, who like
myself could not i)lace the commencement of the Pishdadian dynasty much
higher than Sir Isaac had placed the rise of the monarchy, for a season
acquiesced; notwithstanding he felt it to be highly unsatisfactory. A for-
tunate discovery at length dispelled the mist, in which the early history of
Persia had so long been shrouded.
Through one of the most intelligent Musulmans in India, Sir William
Jones became acquainted with a rare and interesting tract, entitled the
Dabktan, and composed by a Mohammedan traveller named Mohsan.
This man had contracted a friendship Mith several learned Persians, who
had retired into India to avoid persecution for their religious opinions:
and he had perused a variety of books compiled by them, which are now
extremely scarce. From them he learned, that a mighty monarchy had
been established in Iran for many ages before the accession of Caiumuras;
that its sovereigns composed what was called the Muhubad'ian dymisty,
from Mahabad its reputed founder; and that a long succession of princes,
among whom Mahbul or Maiia-Beli is particularly mentioned, had raised
it to tiie zenith of human glory '.
Now it is obvious, that this account decidedly shews the absurdity of
throwing back \\ ith the Persian romancers the commencement of the Pish-
dadian dynasty to the fifth generation from Noah, and tends to prove
that I have justly ascribed its rise to about the end of the ninth century
before Clirist : for the long-lived Mahabadian dynasty, which preceded the
Pishdadian, is manifestly the governing dynasty of that great Iranian em-
pire out of the ruins of which sprang up the smaller kingdoms of Media
and Persia and Assyria; wiiiic the renowned Mahbul or Maha-lkli is
clearly that mighty Bclus, who is celebrated by the Hellenic writers as the
founder of Babylon. Hence it is certain, that tiiis Mahabadian dynasty
must have swayed the sceptre of that empire, which, from tlic seat of its
' Asiat. Kes. vol. ii. p. 47, IS.
396 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. government, came to be called the Assyrian : for, though its first capital
was Babylon, its second and permanent metropolis ^vas Nineveh. But
Babylon and Nineveh were both founded by the scriptural Nimrod.
Therefore Belus. or the most ancient Ninus, or the Mahabadian Beli whose
name is declared to stand preeminent among the other princes, must have
been the same person as Nimrod : and the old empire, so long governed
by the Mahabadian dynasty, must have been the Cuthic empire of Nim-
rod; which, as I have just observed, acquired the title of Assyrian from
the circumstance of Nineveh in the land of Assyria becoming its capital.
We learn then from the Dabistan, that, when this great empire was dis-
solved, the Pishdadian dynasty arose in Persia : and, accordingly, the wri-
ters of that country tell us, that their Pishdadian dynasty, like the contem-
porary IMedian dynasty of the Arbacidas, sprang up out of the midst of
civil discord and confusion. Hence therefore we at length distinctly per-
ceive, that Persia, anterior to the rise of the Pishdadian dynasty, so far from
being divided into several petty independent states, was really a province
of the great Iranian or Assyrian empire: and that the Mahabadian dy-
nasty, which had aboriginally governed it, did not consist of native Persian
sovereigns ; but was entirely composed of Assyrian princes, truly begin-
ning with Nimrod though simulatively (as we shall hereafter see) with
Noah, and ending about the middle of the ninth century before Christ with
. Thonus Concolerus.
2. The Dabistan only informs us in general terms, that the Mahabadian
dynasty had been established in Iran for many ages before the accession
of the first Pishdadian Caiumuras, and that it comprehended a long suc-
cession of powerful kings : the precise length therefore of its continuance
must be ascertained from a difTcrcnt quarter; and this will be found very
an)ply to corroborate the general assertion of the Persian record.
Of the sovereigns, who ruled the primeval Iranian or Assyrian empire,
wc have a list furnished by Syncellus, Alexander Polyhistor, and Ctcsias.
Syncellus and Polyhistor first give us a catalogue of the seven earliest
kings, beginning with Nimrod or Belus or the elder Ninus. These are
tlcscribcd by Svncellus, as reigning Jointly '2'2A\ years : but Polyhistor
allows no more than \00 years for the full amount of their reigns. The
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 397
latter calculation seems preferable to the former; because it was taken from chap. ii.
the Chaldean annals of Bcrosus. They next exhibit a dynasty of six Ara-
bian kings, as reigning over Babylonia for 216 years. With these, though
we shall hereafter hear something more of them, we have no present con-
cern : for they evidently appear to have effected a temporary conquest of
Chald^a alone, after the Iranian seat of government had been removed
from Babylon to Nineveh '. The dynasty therefore of the seven earliest
princes joins immediately, in point of chronological succession, to the dy-
nasty of the thirty six Ninevile sovereigns, as detailed by Ctesias, But
this dynasty, we are told, flourished for the space of 1305 years: at the
close of which the old empire fell asunder ; and, after an interval of dis-
cord, the kingdoms of Media, Persia, and Assyria, sprang up (as we have
already seen) out of its ruins. If therefore we add together lyo years, or
the length of the earliest Iranian dynasty, and 1305 years, or the length of
the second Iranian dynasty; we shall have the gross sum of 1495 years
for the entire duration of the great Iranian empire, from its foundation bv
Nimrod, to its dissolution under Thonus Concolerus about tlic miiidle of
the ninth century before Christ ^. Such, consequently, exclusive of the
patriarchal ages that preceded Nimrod, was the duration also of the Maha-
badian dynasty ; which ruled over Iran before the rise of the Pishdadian
dynasty at the accession of Caiumuras, and which (we see) is accurately
described in the Dabistan as having enjoyed the sovereignty yc/r many ages
previous to that event. Now the Maiiabadian or Assyrian dynasty termi-
nated about the middle of the ninth century before Christ, Hence, as its
entire duration from Nimrod to Thonus comprehended 149.5 years, the
empire of Nimrod at Babel must have commenced soon after the middle of
tlie twenty fourth century before Christ; that is to say, somewhere between
the years A. C. 2350 and 'j,.30.
The seven earliest kings must have been Nimrod and his lineal descend-
ants : and the next thirty six kings must either have sprung from a younger
branch of the house of Nimrod, or must have been members of another
Cuthic family which ascended the throne upon the extinction or abdication
• Vide infra c. 5. § V. 5. » Jackson's Clironol, Ant. vol. i. p. 233—236, 247—253.
398 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAX IDOLATRY.
BOOS VI. of the royal house of the founder. The first sapposition, which would make
the children of Nimrod in two successive branches reign over the empire
during its whole continuance, is the most probable : because the Persian
record acknowledges no break in the dynasty of the IMahabadians ; but
speaks of it, from beginning to end, as being properly but one.
With \^ hatever accuracy or inaccuracy the catalogue of Iranian princes
may have been constructed by Berosus and Ctesias, the average length of
their several reigns is perfectly reasonable and such as may well accord
■ with genuine history. The reigns of 43 kings, extending through a period
of I4i}5 years, will give an average of about 34|: years to each reign:
which, when we consider that the empire was founded before the life of
man had dwindled down to its present standard, cannot be deemed much
too high.
It may here be proper to observe, that there is no real contradiction be-
tween the account, which ascribes to the Iranian sovereignty in Babylon
and Nineveh a duration of about 15 centuries, and the assertion of Hero-
dotus, that the Assyrians of Nineveh had been lords of upper Asia no more
than 510 years when the diodes revolted from their authority : the former
estimates the entire length of tlie empire ; the latter speaks only of the con-
quest of a particular district during the period of its continuance.
3. Having thus identified the I\Iahabadian dynasty with that whicii ruled
over tlic ancient Assyrian empire and which was founded by Nimrod or
Belus or IMaha-Beli, we must next direct our attention to a very old and
remarkable monarchy, noticed by Justin and hinted at by Strabo.
(I.) The former of these writers, who abstracted the universal history
which witli equal diligence and ability had been compiled by Trogus Pom-
pcius, mentions a king of the Scythians named Taiuius ; who, prior to the
rise of the Assyrian empire under Ninus, had extended his dominion even
as far as Egypt'. By the Scythic Tanaus, like the Egyptian Pharaoh, we
must certainly understand a dynasty of kings rather than a solitary mo-
narch : for the domination of the Scythians was not confined to a single
warlike and successful reign. Justin tells us, that, at three diilerent suc-
' Justin. Hist. lib. i. c. 1.
THE OniGI.V OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 599
cessive periods, they were tlic dominant power in Asia ; wliilc tlicy them-
selves never submitted to the disgrace of a foreign yoke. The first of these
periods is tliat, with which alone we are at present concerned : and it is
thus described from the ancient documents furnished by Trogus.
A'exoris, king of Egypt, having declared war against the Scythians be-
cause they refused to acknowledge liis supremacy; that gallant pcojilc, great
alike in wisdom and in arms, niarciied to encounter him. 'Jiieir rapid ap-
proach terrified the invader : so that, ingloriously leaving his whole army
behind, he tied with precipitation to his own country. The victorious Scy-
thians followed him, but were prevented by the morasses from penetrating
far into Egypt. They returned therefore into Asia, which tiiey conquered
and made tributary. Nor was this a mere marauding excursion : so firmly
was their dominion established, that their paramount imperial authority
continued during the space of 15 centuries. At length Ninus threw off the
yoke, and became the founder of the Assyrian empire '.
We have here a most curious piecfe of ancient history, corrupted indeed,
yet amply sufficient for the purpose on account of which it is adduced. It
seems then, that, antecedent to a revolt of Assyria under Ninus, there was
a very powerful empire in the Scythic line; which domineered over all Asia
as known to the early western nations, and which had excursively penetrated
even as far as Egypt.
('2.) Justin is not the only writer, who notices this primeval Scythic mo-
narchy : Strabo, when enumerating the dominant powers of the east, speaks
of the old Scythians, as being a most warlike and powerful race ; thougii
be acknowledges, that the early accounts of them, as well as those of the
Persians and the Medes and the Assyrians, are deeply tinged \\ ith fabulous
inaccuracy \
In this assertion he is perfectly right : the fact of a primitive Scythic
empire may be indisputable, thougii tlie details of it do not bind us to en-
tire acquiescence in all points. His testimony is chiefly valuable, as to the
fact and the age of its existence. We may observe, that he specifies thl
Persians, the Medes, and the Assyrians, in a retrograde chronologicae
' Just Hist. lib. ii. c. 3. * Strab. Gcog. lib. xi. p. 507.
400 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY.
sooK VI. order, as being masters of Asia. Hence it is manifest, that the true order
is, first the Scythians, then the Assyrians who are viewed as comprehending
the Babylonico-Assyrians, then the Wedes, and lastly the Persians, Thus
again we find a Scythic empire antecedent to the Assyrian empire.
IV. And now the question is, who these Scythians could be, that, de-
scending from their native Armenian Caucasus, founded the primeval mo-
narchy in Iran.. It will not, I trust, be very difficult to afford a satisfactory
answer.
The excessive length of their domination clearly proves, that they could
not have established it prior to the epoch of Nimrod or the Jirst Ninus :
and the same circumstance equally proves, that they could not have esta-
blished it prior to the epoch of that second Ninus, with whom, after the in-
terval of ] 90 years from the beginning of Nimrod's reign, commenced what
is called the second Assyrian dynasty in Nineveh. Of this the reason is
obvious : fifteen centuries, reckoned back from the accession of either of
these early Nini, would carry us many ages before the era of the flood. It
can only remain therefore, that the Ninus and tlie Assyrian empire, which
■were immediately preceded by the Scythic domination, were a third Ninus
and a much later Assyrian empire than that which was founded by Nim-
rod. Now such an empire, as we have seen, rose up synchronically with
the kingdoms of Media and Persia, about the middle of the ninth century
before Christ. Consequently, the Ninus, with whom it commenced and
who flourished in the days of the prophet Jonah, must have been that
Ninus ; who, according to the documents of Trogus, first broke the long
Asiatic domination of the Scythians. But the empire, which fell to pieces
at the beginning of /»> reign by an universal spirit of revolt throughout the
provinces, was undoubtedly that ; which has generally been styled the
Assi/rian from the scite of its capital Nineveh, which was originally founded
by Nimrod, and which expired under Thonus Concoicrus. Ilence, as tiie
princes of that empire and the princes of a distinct Scythic empire could not
buth have been lords of Asia during the self-same period of time; and yet
as tlie princes of that empire and the princes of a Scythian dynasty arealike
declared to have been lords of Asia previous to tlie rise of an Assyrian nw-
narcliy, which can only be that that arose about tlic middle of the ninth
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 401
century before Christ : I see not what conclusion we can draw, except this ; cuap. n.
that the princes of the old Assyrian empire from Nimrod to Thonus, and
the princes of the Scythian dynasty mentioned by Trogus and hinted at by
Strabo, were the self-same race of men.
Accordingly, with this conclusion every particular will be found to agree-
The domination of the Scythic princes lasted, in round numbers, 1500
years : the domination of the old Assyrian or Nimrodiun dynasties lasted,
if the reigns be exactly summed up, 1494 years. The domination of the
Scythic princes was broken by revolt : the domination of the old Assyrian
dynasties was also broken by revolt. At the close of the Scythic domina-
tion, commenced that Assyrian kingdom which afterwards in its turn ob-
tained the lordship of Asia : at the close of the old Assyrian domination,
commenced that identical Assyrian kingdom which rose up when the
Scythic yoke was broken. Thus minute is the correspondence in every par-
ticular '.
' It must however be remarked, that Justin, though accurate in the duration which he
assigns to the Scythian empire, has confounded tlie l/iiid Ninus with the second. This has
clearly arisen, partly from his misapplication of the chronological numbers which were
handed down to him, and partly from the circumstance of the Scythian empire acquiring
the name oi Assijriati when Nineveh became the seat of government. The Scythian rule,
lie tells us, lasted fifteen centuries; which sum has been produced by adding together 190
years and 1305 years or the two successive periods of the first and second Cuthico-Assy-
rian dynasties. At the close of that term, Ninus threw oft' the yoke and founded the As-
syrian empire : this, he informs us, continued for the space of thirteen centuries. Now
the period of fifteen centuries, ascribed to the primeval Scytliian empire, proves, as we
have just seen, that the Assyrian Ninus, who rose up at the close of it, must have been the
contemporary of the prophet Jonah; and consequently that his dynasty did not begin to
reign, until after the middle of the ninth century before Christ. But Justin knew, that a
period of thirteen centuries was ascribed to an Assyrian empire, which likewise began with
a Ninus. Hence, akiiough these thirteen centuries are really the last 1300 years of the
fifteen centuries during which the Scythian Assyrians under two successive dynasties were
lords of Asia ; Justin, by mistaking the third Ninus for the second, assigns to the dynasty
founded by the third a duration which trtdtj belongs to the dynasty founded by the second.
In other words, he reckons the thirteen centuries twice over ; and by this error apparently
tiirows back the rise of the Scythian empire to an epoch before the deluge. Compare
Justin. Hist. lib. i. c. 1, 2. with lib. ii. c. 3.
Puif. Idol. VOL. III. S E
402 THE ORICrX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
But, if the Scythic dynasty be the same as the Nimrodian dynasties, then
the Nimrodian dynasties must have been composed of Scythic princes: and,
since the Scythians are described as having nationally obtained the lordship
of Asia ; not only the royal family must have been Scythic, but likewise the
military nobility and the most efficient part at least of the soldiery. Now
WQ know from Scripture, that Nimrod and his immediate followers were of
the house of Cush or Cuth, whence they were called Cushim or Ciiikim.
The imperial Cuthim therefore of Holy Writ must inevitably be the same as
the imperial Scythians or Scuthim of Trogus. Whence it will follow, that
the Scythians were not of the house of Japhet through the line of Magog,
as one writer after another has taken for granted on the mere unsupported
assertion of Josephus ; but that they were members of the house of Ham,
through the line of Cush. Such being the case, we may be morally sure,
that the descent of the Scythians from the Armenian Caucasus, previous to
their acquiring the sovereignty of Asia, really means, however it may be
disguised, the descent of the Cuthim, at the head of the subjugated Noa-
chidjB, from mount Ararat into the Babylonian plain of Shinar ; and that
the national ap[)ellation of Sci/t/iians or Scuthim is the self-same worti,
pronounced only with a sibilant prefix, as Cuthim or Cushim. Conse-
quently, though the primeval empire of Iran may not have been improperly
called an Assyrian empire from the locality of its capital Nineveh, and
though its sovereigns may have been thence familiarly styled Assyrian
kings : those sovereigns, as we may both gather from the scriptural ac-
count of the foundation of Babylon and Nineveh by the Cuthic Nimrod,
and as we positively learn from the ancient documents consulted by
The .subjoined table will distinctly shew the nature and origination of Justin's error.
1. First Cuthico-Assyrian dynasty lasts 190 i,p, • • ., ■ , , ,„,> ,. ,
•'•'■' f riicse jointly give the 1500 years, which
^ ' ( Justin ascribes to his primeval Scythian
2. Sccona Cuthico-Assyrian dynasty lasts V
■' •' 1 empire.
1305 years. ^ '
3. Third Assyrian dynasty commences with v'"'''"' 'nist-'l''"S '•''« ""'■•'l 'Ivnasty for the
the third Ninus, about the middle of the ' '*<-''^'""'' "scribes to it a duration of 1300
ninth century before Christ. i y*"""^ = ^^'^''''^ '« ''"-' "^"'' duration of the
■^ second.
tHE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY, 403
Trogiis, really constituted a double dynasty of Cuthic or Scuthic princes *. chap. n.
They, and their military nobility, were of an entirely ditierent stock froui
the subjugated multitude of Asbur and Aram and JMadai and Elan), much
as our early Norman kings and nubility were perfectly distinct from the
Saxon English whom they governed : and so systematically was this dif-
ference of origin remembered and preserved, that, at the close even of
fifteen centuries, the overthrow of the Iranian empire by the revolt of its
provinces was considered as the subversion of a Scuthic monarchy.
I need scarcely remark, that these Scuthic lords of Asia, being the same
as the Nimrodian double dynasty of Assyrian kings which ended with
Thonus Concolerus, must also be identified with the Mahabadian dynasty
which was paramount in Iran previous to the rise of the Pishdadian dynasty.
Hence the most eminent of tlie iVIahabadian princes is said to have been
Maha-Beli, who is plainly no oilier than the great 13elus or Ninwod : and
hence the Hindoos properly call the whole of Iran Cusha-dxvip from the
Cushim or Cuthim who were its first rulers. Tlie subject shall now be pur-
sued more in detail.
1. Epiphanius, who has transmitted to us a most curious epitomfe of the
early Scythic history, tells us, that those nations, which extended southward
from that part of the world where Europe and Asia incline to each other,
were universally distinguished by the ancient appellation of Scijthians : and
he adds, that these were the prime arcliitects of the tower, and the founders
of Babylon. He further tells us, that Scythism prevailed ifrom the deluge
to the building of the tower, and that it was followed by what he calls Hel-
lenism or lonism. He likewise mentions the Scythian succession, which
he connects with the Scythian tide : and he informs us, that they botii
lasted until the time of Serug\ We meet with the like account in the
Paschal Chronicle and in the Chronicle of Eusebius : and it has evidently,
I think, been drawn from the same ancient records, as those which were
' This double dynasty, in the same Cuthic house, is described, as we have just seen,
under the appellation of thejirst and second Assyrian dynasties : the one lasting 190 years ;
the other, 1305 years.
' Epiph. adv. haer. lib, i. p. 6, 8, 9.
404 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI, consulted by Trogus for the materials of his Scythic history *. Henoe it
appears, not only that the Scythians established a dominant empire in Asia
anterior to that later Assyrian monarchy which commenced with the third
Ninus ; but likewise that they occupied the whole of Iran quite down to
the southern or Erythrfean sea, and that within those limits they were
known from the most remote antiquity by the name of ScythcB or Souths.
Now this identical region is the oriental land of Cash, mentioned in
Holy Scripture as being watered by the Hiddekel or Tigris : it, is likewise
the eastern Ethiopia of the Greek writers ; for, as it is well known, they
invariably call those persons Ethiopians wherever situated, whom the in-
sjjired historians of the Old Testament denominate Cushi?n : and it is also
the Cusha-ihoip within of the Hindoo geographers, who by this appellation
distinguish it from the Cusha-dzdp idthout or the African Cash-land or
the ■western Ethiopia of the upper Egypt. But, in Scripture, the land of
> Cush was no doubt so styled from the circumstance of its having been
planted by the descendants of Cush : and, in a similar manner, Cusha-
dwip in its widest extent is occupied, according to the Hindoos, by the
children of Cusha or Ciiasa or Cus or Cush. Thus we find, that the self-
same tract of country is alike declared by the Hindoos and by the scrip-
tural writers to have been ruled by the offspring of a person named Cush
or Cusha: whence, so far as I can judge, it will inevitably follow, that the
Indian Cusha or Chasa, as the name is sometimes variously written, must
be identified with the scriptural Cush. And this conclusion will be yet fur-
ther strengthened by otlicr circumstances. Tlie Indian Cush is said to be
the son of Bralima, who is one of those three great hero-gods that spring
from a fourth yet older deity and \\ith their parent are declared to have
been manifested in the persons of the urk-preserved IMenu and his three
sons ; Cush therefore is described by the Hindoos, as being the grandson
of Noah and the olVspring of one of iiis tliree children : exactly the same is
the account, which Moses gives of the scriptural Cush ; he makes him tiie
son of Ham; the son of Noah, liic Indian Cush is represented, as being
an ancestor of llama; and the names of Cush, JiJisr, and Jiaiiia, still
• Cliron. raBcliiU. p. 13, 23, 19. Euscb. Chron. p. 13.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 405
remain unchanged in the Sanscrit, and are still highly revered among the chap. u.
Hindoos : here again we may obsei-ve the close accordance of the IMosaical
narrative; Cush is said to be the father of Raamah, and the brother of
MixT still throughout Egypt denominated Jllcs?: Sucfi multiplied coinci-
dences cannot be accidental : and I think Sir William Jones perfectly justi-
fied by circumstantial evidence in expressing his conviction, that the Cush
of Moses and the Cush of Valmic were one and the same personage '.
The Hindoo Cusha-duip then and the scriptural land of Cush are alike
coincident with Iran, and are alike said to be held by the descendants of
the patriarch from whom they severally received their appellations. But
this very Iran or Cusha-dwip is described, as having been occupied from
the most remote antiquity by the ScytliEe or Scuths, who under that iden-
tical name founded there a great empire which chronologically preceded the
later Assyrian monarchy. Hence it seems impossible to avoid concluding,
that the Scuths of Iran were the self-same people as those, whgm the
scriptural writers denominate Cushim and the Hindoos Cushas or Chasas.
Such must inevitably be our conclusion, so far as the point of national
identity is concerned, which is the most important matter to be established.
But this is not all : since the ancient appellation of this Iranian people is
declared to have been Scythoi or Scuths, and since we know that the same
people have always from their great ancestor been called Cushim or
Cushas ; we are in a manner compelled to suppose, that Scuthce, Cushim,
and Cushas, are one patronymic title, derived alike from the name of
Cush. And such we shall actually find to be the case. What the Hebrews
and the Hindoos pronounced Cush, the Babylonians pronounced Cuth :
and this change of the sh into the th is a distinguishing mark, as it is well
known, of the Chaldee dialect from the pure scriptural Hebrew. Sciith
therefore is but Cuth with the sibilant breathing pietixed, as we may per-
petually observe it prefixed in innumerable other words * : and Cuth is but
the Babylonic variation of Cush. Accordingly, the very same eastern race,
' Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 427, 432. See also Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 54, 55, 131, 139.
vol. ii. p. 132. vol. i. p. 427. vol. vi. p. 456, vol. viii. p. 287, 299, 302.
* Thus we have Indi and Sindi, Indus and Sinhhu, i| and sex, 'mla and septem, i^vu and
terpo, and the like.
406 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN" IDOLATRY.
BOOB VI. which occupied the heights of the Indian Caucasus, and which the Greeks
from that circumstance denominated Indo-Scuths or Indo-Sci/thcE, are called
by the Hindoos Chasas or Chasyas or Cossais or Chusas : while their
country, by the Greeks expressed Caucasus, is styled by the Persians Coh-
Cas and by the Hindoos Clias-Ghar ; both which appellations equally de-
note the mountain of Cas or Chas or Chus or Cush, who is the acknow-
ledged ancestor of this warlike people '. The same family are allowed also
to have communicated their name to Cashmir, and Castzvar: and the
country, which Ptolemy styles Casia, is still inhabited by Chasas *. But
these all came within the limits of that region ; which the Greeks, from its
inhabitants, were wont to denominate Indo-ScutJda.
Branches of the same powerful race inhabited the two more westerly
Caucasi ; that on the Caspian, and that on the Euxine sea : and the Greeks,
accordingly, still called them Scutlis : but here again we may trace the
title without the sibilant prefix. When we recollect the limits of Iran or
Cusha-dwip within ; we can scarcely doubt, that the Caspian sea, which
w ashes the foot of a Caucasus or a Coh-Cas, received its name from tliosc,
M horn the Greeks denominated Souths, but wlio styled themselves Casus or
Cushas or Cuths or Goths. And, in a similar manner, when we find the
Sculhic realm of Colcliis spoken of as a Cutdic region and INIedea and her
father called Cuta'ics or Cutlihais ; we are apparently required by analogy
to suppose, that Scutli and Cuth and Cut and Cush arc still to be viewed
as one title '.
'liius we have arrived at the conclusion, that the Scythians, who founded
the primeval empire of Iran, and who were the dominant power of Asia
long before the rise of the later Assyrian monarchy, were those, whom tlie
scriptural writers style Cushiin and tiic Hindoos Cushas because they were
the (lesceiulaiits of tlie patriarch Cush or Cuth : and, agreeably to this con-
clusion, they arc represented by Epiphanius, as the architects of the tower
and the builders of Babylon. Here then, if any thing were wanting, we
• Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 455, 456. * Il>id. p. '^5G.
' Sec Apo)l. Argon, lib. ii. vcr. l^Ol, AOi; 109G, 1271. lib. iii. vcr. 228. lib. iv, vcr. 512.
JOrjAx. Argon, vcr. 810, yoi, lUOt.
THE ORIGIIT OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 407
should have an additional proof, that the Scuths and the Cuths were the chap. h.
very same, both nationally and nominally. The Scuths, who occupied Iran
or the eastern land of Cash, were the founders of the tower and city of
Bahel : the Cuths or Cushini, under the command of Nimrod, are said by
Moses to have been at the head of that general confederacy of the children
of Noah ; which, by their direction and subject to their controul, engaged
in the self-same project. Hence the Scuths of Iran are palpably the de-
scendants of the Babylonic Cuthim : and the Scythian empire, which Justin
describes as preceding the Assyrian and as subsisting for the long space of
fifteen centuries, must clearly be the empire of the Cuthim which commenced
at Babel. We have now tlierefore, in singular harmony with Holy Scrip-
ture, discovered that most ancient monarchy in Iran, which was founded
by the Scuths or Cushim, and which subsisted after the dispersion until the
rise of the later Assyrian empire under the third Ninus.
2. Here however it will be proper to inquire, what can be meant by
Epiphanius and Eusebius and the Avriter of the Paschal Ciironicle, when
they assert, that Scythism lasted from the flood to the building of the tower,
and that then Hellenism or lonism commenced : for it might seem from
such an assertion, that the Scuthic or Cuthic empire terminated at the very
epoch, where (according to Scripture) it began.
(1.) On this point we must carefully observe, that those authors very
accurately speak of Scythism and lonism, not as tivo successive empires,
but as two successive heresies or forms of false and apostatical religion.
The first they describe, as prevailing from the deluge to the building of tlie
tower : the second they represent, as commencing with the earliest founda-
tion of that edifice. Now, except that the Scythic heresy is carried up too
high, we have nothing here that at all contradicts either Scripture, which
makes the settled Cuthic empire begin at Babel ', or Trogus, who had
learned from old documents that it lasted fifteen hundred years and was
then succeeded by an Assyrian monarchy.
It is obvious, that the remarkable system of idolatry, which they of the
dispersion carried to every part of the globe, could not have been contrived
• Gen. X. 10.
408 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. and adopted in a single day : it must have been the work of time ; and several
years must have elapsed, ere it was brought to perfection. By Scythism
therefore I understand idolatry in its incipient and more simple state ; as It
originated in Armenia, and as it continued on the gradual increase during
the period of the journey to Sliinar : while by Hellenism I understand the
same idolatry, matured and broug/it to a regular though complicated form
at the building of the first pyramidal temple. I suspect, that this Scythism
was the theology, which I have denominated Buddliic or Tautic or Sayna-
nhan, and to which the unmixed Scythcc seem ever to have been peculiarly
attached : and that Hellenism or lonism was that more complex system,
which I have styled Brahmenical or Osiric or Bacchic, and which the mixed
tribes preferred to the other system. It was not therefore the Scythic eni'
pire that terminated with the building of the tower ; for that was, in fact,
the era of its commencement: but the more simple Scythic superstition was
then very generally exchanged for that intricate modification of idolatry,
wliich from one of its leading principles received the name of lonism or
Yunism. This principle was the worship of the great mother from whom
all things were said to be produced ; who became the Yoni or the female
element of fecundity, nhen the deluge overflowed the old world ; who after-
wards floated upon the surface of the waters in the form of the ship Argha;
and who at length, as the flood retired, flew away in the shape of the mystic
lona or dove. But, though lonism was so commonly preferred to Scythism
that it is described as even entirely supplanting it, such preference was not
quite universal. Many of the leading Scuths adhered to the more ancient
superstition, wliich gave the preiinfinence to the great father, as the new
modification largely extolled the dignity of the great mother from whose
Momb tlie chief hero-god iiinisclf and his triple ofl'spring were alike pro-
duced. Accordingly, as I have just observed, Buddhism iias ever been the
favourite religion of the unmixed Scuths : and they have more than once,
as in the invasion of Hellas by Xerxes and that of Egypt by Cambyses (for
the Persians were an eminent branch of the Scuths), shewn their hearty
contempt for the literal worsiiip of idols, by demolishing the images and
slaying tliC sacred bull of the Ionic theology.
• Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 12j— 132,
THE ORIGIN OF TAGAN IDOLATRY. 409
I am much mistaken, if some dissention on these points did not prevail cuap. n,
at Babel itselt': and I think tiicrc is reason for believing, that the alterca-
tion between the rival sects aided the confusion of languages in producing
the dispersion. The Hindoos have a most curious legend relative to this
matter, uhich occurs in the Servarasa, and which throws a very strong
light on the old history that describes loni&ni as supplanting Scythism at
the era of the tower.
When Sati, after the antediluvian close of her existence as the daughter
of Daesha, sprang again to life in the character of the mountain-born Par-
vati, wlio floated as the ship Argha on the surface of the flood ; she was
reunited in marriage to Siva. This divine pair, like the classical Jupiter
and Juno, had once an unlucky dispute on the comparative influence of
the sexes in producing animated beings : and, to settle the difTerence, they
each resolved, by mutual agreement, to create apart a new race of men.
Those produced by Siva (the story is palpably told by an Ionic theologian)
devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the male deity : but their
intellects were dull, tiieir bodies feeble, their limbs distorted, and their
complexions of various hues. Those, on the contrary, to whom Parvati
gave birth, adored the female power only : and they had universally fine
shapes, beautiful complexions, and an engaging aspect. The former, fronj
the object of their worship, were called L'uigajas or adorers of the mule
principle: the latter, similarly from tiic object of their veneration, were
denominated Vonijas or adorers of the female principle. A furious contest
ensued between them ; and the Lingajas were defeated in battle : which
so irritated Siva, that he would have instantly destroyed the Yonijas, had
not Parvati interposed in their behalf. They were spared only on con-
dition of emigrating from the scene of action. This, accordingly, they left:
and they settled, as we are taught by the Puranas, partly on the borders
of Varaha dwip or Europe, where they became the progenitors of the
Greeks ; and partly in the two. dwipas of Cusha, Asiatic and African. In
the Asiatic Ciisha-dwip they long supported themselves by violence and
rapine : Parvati however, or their tutelary goddess Yoni, always protected
Pag, IdoL VOL. I IX, 31'
410 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
BOOK VI. them ; and at length, in the fine country which they occupied, they became
a flourishing nation '.
This legend is not very difficult to be understood ; though the ancient
history, which it contains, is told in an allegorical sort of manner. The
Yonijas are evidently the votaries of lonism or Hellenism ; while the Lin-
gajas are the adherents of Scythism. Their contest ends in a dispersion :
yet the Yonijas, besides colonizing Greece and the African Ethiopia, suc-
ceed in founding a powerful empire in Cusha-dvvip within or the Asiatic
Ethiopia ; which, as we have seen, coincides geographically with Iran.
Here then we have again the old Scythic empire ; which arose at the era
of the tower, which supported itself by rapine and violence, which was
seated within the limits of Iran, and which flourished until the rise of the
later Assyrian monarchy.
Thus it appears, that, when Scythism gave place to lonism at the era of
the tower; it \vas not, that the Scythic empire then terminated, but that a
more complicated system of idolatry was adopted by the mixed multitude
of which it was cotnposed. And this exactly accords witli what we have
found to be matter of fact. The pure Scythians, who branched oft' from
Babel and who seem in the first instance to have seated themselves in the
Armenian and the Indian Caucasi, retained the simplicity of the early super-
stition, and venerated the great father under the names o{ Buddha and Saca
and Teut and Samun and Cadam: while those, who remained in centrical
Iran, dominant over the Ashurites and Elamites and other descendants of
Shem, and who established the great Scythic empire which lasted from the
era of the tower to the rise of the later Assyrian monarchy, continued, as
every part of their mythologic history testifies, to be zealous votaries of the
Yoni or lonah or navicular female principle assuuiing the form of a dove.
Agreeably to this ancient Indian tradition, we find, that the Scuths of Iran,
in addition to their family name, took the title of lo/ihii or (as the Hindoos
would express the word) Yonijas from their favourite goddess ; and that
tlieir captain Nimrod eminently called himself Ion, or loiiatt, or the prin-
cipal Yonija. The author of the Paschal Chronicle assures us, according
' Asiat. lies. vol. iii. p. 125—132.
THE OUICIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 41]
to the accurate information which he had been at the pains to collect, that chap. u.
the lonim were the chiels of the Scythic empire, that they were the descend-
ants of lonan wiio was one of the leading architects of the tower when the
languages of men M'ere confounded '. Hence the lonah or dove M'as the
national banner of the Assyrian empire, as it liad already been of the Scy-
tliic empire ; and, as such, it is alluded to in more than one place of Holy
Scripture '. This banner was the sign or token, which was adopted from
the very commencement of the building of the tower, and which served as
a rallying point lest the huge heterogeneous multitude should be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth'.
(•2.) W'iiilc Epiphanius informs us, that the Scythic heresy prevailed from
the Hood to the tower, he adds, that the Scythic succession and the Scythic
name terminated in the days of Serug *.
We have here a most curious piece of ancient history, M'hich throws
much light on the early postdiluvian transactions. By the Scythic succes-
sion I understand the first Cuthico-Assyrian (hj nasty in the direct line of
the house of Niinrod; and, by the Scythic name, the Scythian or Cathie
appelUition of the empire at large. We are taught therefore, that the first
Cuthic dynasty became extinct in the days of Serug; and that, at the same
time, the original Scythic name or title of the empire fell into disuse, bein"
supplanted by some other title which henceforth was more conunonly borne
by the empire. In both these particulars the old records consulted by
Epiphanius are perfectly accurate. According to Berosus, the first dy-
nasty, which commenced at Babylon, reigned lyo years. Now, as we shall
presently see, this dynasty arose with Nimrod about the year 613 after the
flood : and, as its duration was IflO years, it terminated in the year 803
after the same epoch. But Serug, as we shall also see, was born in the
• Chron. Pascli. p. 49.
* See Jerem. xv. 38. xlvi. IG. I. 16. Zcpli. iii. 1. The word, wliicli In these several
passages is rendered in our English version oppressing or oppressor, ought to be translated
of the dove.
^ Gen. xi. \. Our English translators render the word a name : but a name could not
prevent dispersion, though a tohen might. Vide supra book v. c. 3. ^ I. 8,
4 Epiph. adv. hacr. lib. i. p. 8,
412 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
BcoK VI. year 663, and died in the year 893, after the flood '. Hence it is manifest,
that the Scythic succession or first Cuthic dynasty terminated in the days
of Serug. At this same period, with the accession of the second dynasty
under the second Ninus, the name of the empire was changed : and, the
Scythic title, though never entirely forgotten, was henceforth superseded
by the Assyrian *•
(3.) It remains only to account for the assertion, that the Scythic heresy
prevailed from the flood to the tower : and this also may be done w ithout
much difficulty.
In the very nature of things, false religion could only originate from a
corruption of true religion. Uut corruption creeps in so gradually, that it
is not easy to ascertain the precise place where the true is altogether smo-
thered by the false. In addition to this circumstance, the votaries of Scy-
thism would naturally wish to render their system more venerable by
claiming far it the highest antiquity; just as the Buddhists contend, that
their tiieology, which is substantially the same as Scythism, has existed
from the beginning. Hence Scythism would be carried up to the flood :
and, as Noah is made the first king of every ancient nation, so he would
himself be deemed a Scyth and would be viewed as the most early post-
diluvian manifestation of Buddha. Accordingly we find, that the ark-
preserved Deucalion of Syria is by Luclan denominated a Scytliiau : not
as being ixallif a Scuth or Cuthite, for that gentile name was taken from
his grandson Cuth ; but as being reputcdli/ the founder of the Scythic the-
ology and the head of what Kpiphanius calls the Sci/thic succession or
dijnasty. We likewise find, that, under the title of Alaha-Bad or the great
Biiddlui, which is in a manner equivalent to the title of the Scuth or the
great Scythic, he is mailc the first sovereign of the primeval empire of
Iran; and is said to iiave been the contriver of a very singular polity,
which is ascribed indeed to him for the sake of enhancing its authority,
but wliich ill truth was struck out l)y that Machiavellian schemer Nimrod.
Agreeably to such opinions, which no doubt were industriously dissemi-
• See Append. Tab. Ill and IV.
' Tims, in modern timcfi, the nfri(i;il title of The Ilnh/ Roman empire has been almost
forgotten in tiie more familiar name of T/ie (Jcnnau empire.
THE onrGiN- of pagan idolatht. 413
natecJ, Noali, as we have repeatedly seen, was always viewed, as the Archi-
magc or Archdruid or first IlicrophaiU or original founder of the rei^ninc
idolatry; and every other Archimage or Ilierophant was esteenied his suc-
cessor and not unfrequently his incarnate representative.
V. Truth is so uniform and simple, that, if one position be firmly esta-
blished, it commonly leads to a clear development of all other connected
matters. Now the position, which I consider as finally determined, is
the universal assemblage of mankind at Babel in one great communitu :
and this position, if I mistake not, will lead to the ascertaining of a very
important era ; the era of the tower, and consequently the era of Nimrod's
Scythic empire, for Babel is said to have been the beginning of his king-
dom.
1. The assemblage at Babel was so universal, and the emigration from
Armenia was so complete, that I almost doubt whether we can admit of
any exceptions. My reasons for such an opinion are these.
The language of the historian necessarily implies iiniversalitij. But to
this it may be answered, that no rule is so general as to be wliollij xcithout
exception. Allowing then the cogency of such a reply, we may ask,
JVIiat persons icould most probably be excepted from the general rule ?
The obvious answer is; Noah and his three sons if they zoere alive at the
time of the emigration, and the line of patriarchs from Shctn to faithful
Abraham.
Now of these the latter certainly cannot be excepted, because we find
the ancestors of Abraham seated at Ur in the Babylonic land of the Chus-
dim or Chaldeans; which of course would not have been the case, unless
they had emigrated at the time of the first journey from Armenia to Shi-
nar»: our inquiry therefore is exclusively limited to the former.
If then we suppose Noah and the three great patriarchs to have been
alive at the epoch of the emigration, it is on every account in the highest
degree improbable that they should have joined in such enterprize : for
both their advanced age, particularly that of Noah, would render them
averse from a long and perilous journey ; and they would be perfectly aware
• Gen. xi, 2% 31.
414 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
BOOK VI. that an emigration in one body was in direct opposition to the purposes of
heaven, so that we cannot bring them to Babel without most incredibly
making them hoary rebels against the God whom they served in their
youth.
But the question is, whether they could have been alive at the epoch of
tlie emigration : and this question every consideration obliges me to answer
in the negative. When Ave recollect the regal maxims of patriarchal go-
vernment, the high veneration in which Noah was held as an universal
sovereign, and the subordinate reverence which his three sons would enjoy
as the tliree kings of the divided world : it is strangely incredible to sup-
pose, that Nimrod, the very youngest of the sons of Cush the grandson of
Noah, should obtain such a degree of influence during the lives of the four
great patriarchs, as to persuade all mankind, with some trifling individual
exceptions we will say, to acknowledge him as their supreme head and
under his sole controul to quit their aboriginal settlements. Such a revo-
lution must have been the work of time : and, from the place which Nim-
rod holds in the genealogy as the son apparently of his father's old age, the
very seeds of it could not have been sov\ n until many years after the deluge.
These seeds would require a considerable time to grow up to maturity, for
extensive influence is not acquired in a day : and it seems necessary to be-
lieve, that the prescriptive authority of Noah and his three sons was dis-
solved by the hand of death, ere the machinations of Nimrod developed
themselves in action, and ere that ambitious ciiicftain persuaded all men to
follow him from Armenia.
The conclusion, to which we are led by such reasoning, will acquire the
semblance of almost absolute certainty, if we next advert to a matter, which
is too prominent to be overlooked. AVc have seen, that the idolatry of
the whole earth must have been brought ready fashioned from Babel. But
a leading feature of that idolatry is the astronomical worship of Noaii and
his three sons, viewed as transmigrativc reappearances of Adam and his
three sons. Now it is obvious, that this idolatry, M'hethcr under the more
simple form of i'.uildhic Scythism or under tiie more con)plicated form of
]jrahmcnic lonisni, could nut have been introduced so long as Noah and
hi.s triple ollsjjring were alirc: for they certainly could not have been Iran-
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATIIV. 415
slated to the heavenly bodies, and have been venerated as defunct hero-gods
now become celestial speculators, until alter their death ; agreeably to the
very accurate account, which llesiod gives us of the posthumous canoniza-
tion of the first race of mortals'. Scythism however preceded the tower;
lonism commenced with the tower; and, at the time of the dispersion, each
modification of the same hero-worship was conveyed" to every quarter of
the globe, where accordingly we have found it in actual existence. Hence
it is manifest, that Noah and liis three sons must have died, not only before
the building of the tower, but likewise before the emigration from Armenia:
because, without the admission of this circumstance, it is utteily impossible
to account for the rise of idolatry at the precise period when it 7nust have
risen.
With this opinion, which is deduced from mere reasoning, positive and
direct historical testimony will be found perfectly to accord. Epiphanius
tells us, from the same documents whence he borrowed his Scythic history,
that Noah resided in Armenia to the time of his death; that his descend-
ants multiplied there until the fifth generation, for the space of 659 years;
and that in that filth generation, and not before, when now their numbers
were greatly increased, they left the land of Ararat, and journeyed to Shi-
nar*. The ancient Babylonic history, compiled by Berosus from the na-
tional archives, sets forth also the very same fact. Xisuthrus, we are
informed, was trnnslated to heaven, or in plain English died, previous to
the emigration from Armenia to Shinar; so that the ancestors of those wiio
founded Babylon journeyed witliout him, he himself not witnessing even
the commencement of their journey. Nor is this all : we are assured, that
the wife and children of Xisuthrus were likezvise translated or died, before
the emigration took place'. I think indeed, that the records consulted by
Epiphanius allot too long a period for tlie continuance of mankind in Ar-
menia, when they extend it to 6j9 years : but we have here direct testi-
mony to i\\e fact, that Noah and his sons died previous to the emigration,
which was the whole that I was bound to establish. We have moreover,
in the Babylonic account, the dcatli of those patriarchs described to us
• Hesiod. Oper. et dier. lib. i. ver. 108—125. * Epiph. adv. hacr. lib. i. p. 5, 6.
» Euseb. Chron. p. 8. Svnccll. Chronog. p. 30. Euseb. Pracp. Evan. Jib. ix. c. 12.
CQAI'. lit
4-16 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
aooK VI. perfectly according to the genius of hero-worship : they were translated to
heaven, and became the gods of their posterity.
Thus the universality, which Moses ascribes to the assembling together
at Babel, is complete. For there are but two probable exceptions to the
general rule; the four great patriarchs, and the ancestors of Abraham in
the line of Shem : and, of these, the four patriarchs died previous to the
emigration from Armenia ; and the ancestors of Abraham certainly were at
Babel. In fact, it was their lapse into at least partial idolatry, which ren-
dered the call of Abraham necessary'.
The emigration then from Armenia did not take place, until after the
deatli of the four great patriarchs. But Noah died in the year after the
flood 350 : and, as Sliem died in the year after tiie flood 502, we may con-
clude that his two brothers departed much about the same time. Hence,
tliough the records consulted by Epiphanius seem to have allotted too long
a space to the residence of mankind in Armenia when they extend it to
659 years, yet the emigration could not have commenced before the year
502 after the flood.
'llic next great event to the emigration from Armenia was the dispersion
from Babel and the subsequent division of the earth. This is indefinitely
stated by Moses to have occurred in the days of Peleg : for that patriarch,
it seems, received his name, which signifies division, from the circumstance
of the earth being divided in the course of his life-time \ I say inckfi-
nitcly ; because we have proof positive, that the division cauld not have
taken place at the epoch of Peleg's birth, as some have imagined. In the
tenth chapter of Genesis mc have a list of the several patriarchs, among
whose children the earth was divided : hence all those patriarchs must have
* See Josh. xxiv. 2. wliorc the idolatry of Abraliam's ancestors is exprcs.sly asserted.
* Ocn. X. 25. Mr. Catiott, in liis Trcatisi; on the deluge, wildly supposes, that tlio
tlivision of the earth, from wliich Peleg received his name, was not its territorial distribu-
tion among the children of Noah, l)ut the disruption of South-America from the continent
of Africa : just as if such an event, supposing it to have then actually happened, could have
been known to the single community settled in the very Iieart of Asia on the banks of the
Euphrates. As Moses is treating of tlio territorial division of the earth when lie mentions
the name of I'elcg, the general context obviously requires US to conclude, that thai is the
division to wliich the name relates.
THE ORIGIN OF TAGAN IDOLATRr. 417
been born previous to the era of such division. But in this list arc enumc- chap, h-
rated no less than thirteen sons of Joiitan, the younger brother of Pelcg '.
Consequently, as Abp. Usher acutely remarks, the division must have been
accomplished many years after Peleg's birth *. And this will accord with
the language used by IVIoses : for he does not tell us, that the eartii was
divided at the precise point when Peleg was born, but only that it was
divided in his days or during his life-time. Nor is there any difficulty with
respect to the conferring of the name. The significant appellations of the
patriarchs were sometimes given by prophetic anticipation, as in the cases
of Noali and Japhet : and the circumstance of Pelcg's having thirteen
nephews alive at the era of the dispersion sufficiently proves, that such also
must have been the case with him. Now Peleg lived 239 years. The
division therefore must have been made so far on in his life, as to allow his
younger brother to be the parent of thirteen adult sons.
2. But here we are encountered by a difficulty. According to the chro-
nology of the Hebrew Pentateuch, Peleg was born in the year 101 after
the flood, and died in the year 340 after the same era : so that he was not
only born, but even died, many years before the death of Shem ; which
took place in the year 502 after the flood. Hence it appears, that Peleg,
in whose days the earth was divided, is made to die long before the death
of Shem ; which death of Shem preceded, as we have seen, not only the
division but even the anterior emigration from Armenia. It is certain
therefore, if the Hebrew chronology be accurate, that mankind must have
quitted Armenia, must have built the tower, and must have been dispersed
over the face of the whole earth, not merely during the life-time of Shem,
but even during the life-time of Noah himself: for Peleg, according to that
chronology, died in the year 340 after the flood, w-hile Noah did not die
until the year 350 after the same epoch '.
The more I have considered the early postdiluvian chronology of the
Hebrew Pentateuch, the more convinced I am that the oriental Christians
• Gen. X. 25 — 30. * Annal. in ann. mund. 17.57.
^ See Append. Tab. I.
Pag. Idol, vol.. in. 3G
418 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT.
MOB VI. did wisely in rejecting it as palpablj' corrupt and erroneous '. If we adopt
it, we shall find ourselves hampered on every side with invincible difficul-
ties and contradictions. We must believe, that, when the awful catas-
trophe of the flood was but as an event of yesterday, a general apostasy,
itself always a gradual work of time, took place from pure religion. We
must believe, that Noah and his three sons were translated to the sphere
and erected into demon-gods, while as yet they were living mortals upon
the face of the earth. We must believe, tliat, notwithstanding they were
extravagantly venerated as gods, they were yet disobeyed as men and as
princes : for we must admit, that all their children rebelled against them,
threw off with a high liand the yoke of their patriarchal authority, and
. marched away in a body under the command of Nimrod. ^Ve must be-
lieve, that they accomplislicd this feat, and built a stupendous pyramid of
brick each side of which measured a furlong, at so early a period, that it
seems physically impossible for an adequate number of persons to have
been then produced from only three original pairs *. We must believe,
that they were not only ccjual to such cntcrprizcs, but tl:at the mere be-
ginning of their empire comprized four cities ; and that four others, one of
the least noted of \\hich is styled a great citrj, were soon afterwards
erected '. We must believe, that a great-grandson of Noah, evidently the
youngest of the children of ('ush, acquired the wonderful influence, which
we have seen him exerting, not only while the sovereign patriarch and his
triple otl'spring were all living and wiiile tlie latter were in their full strength
and vi'Tour, but during his own mere boyhood : so tliat a raw stripling
should have been the conductor of a successful rebellion against the deep-
rooted and prescri|jtive authority of those ; whom yet, though he had
llirown oli' their rule as princes, he persuaded his lawless followers to
worship as gods. W'c must believe, that Abraham, who is described, as
dying in a good old age, an old vian and full of years, as the term of
human life then was ; tliat this identical aged Abraham yet died 35 years
' Dr. IIiilcs liiis sonic valuable reasoning on tliis point. I (luite agiec \\\{\\ liini in
rejecting the early iiosttliluvian chronology of the Hebrew rentateuch. iSec ChronoL
vol. i. !>. 71 — 8i'.
^ t;trab. Gcog. lib. xvi. r- 73S, ^ Gen. x. 10—12,
THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATinr. 419
Lcfore his remote ancestor Shem, 3 years before Selali, and no less tlian < "ap. «.
75 years before Eber '. We must believe, that he survived his own father
l^erah no more than 40 years : when yet we are assured, that he was 75
years old when he left Haran where Terah bad died, and tiiat he himself
died at the age of 17.5 years ; which of course would make him survive his
father a whole century \ We must finally believe, in addition to all these
palpable contradictions, that Abraham was contemporary with Noah for
the space of 58 years and with Shem during his whole life : that Isaac was
born only 42 years after tlie death of Noah, and that he was contemporary
with Shem 1 10 years: and, as not tlie least mention is made of any inter-
course between Abraham or Isaac and those venerable patriarchs, that
both Abraham and Isaac and the various nations among which they so-
journed were alike ignorant of, and indifferent about, their very existence.
All these matters, to say nothing of the rise of various comparatively power-
ful monarchies within the four first centuries after the flood, wc must be-
lieve, in some instances contrary to the parallel testimony of the Pentateucli
itself^ if we choose to abide by the Hebrew chronology'. Hence I have
no scruple in rejecting it ; if not for other more consequential reasons, yet
for this palpable and direct one : the chronology makes Abraham survive
his father only 40 years ; the history makes him survive him a whole cen-
tury*.
' Gen. XXV. 8. Sec Append. Tab. I.
* Gen. xi. 31, 32. xii. 4. xxv. 7. Our translators, as if sensible of this difficulty, fender
Gen. xii. 1. the Lord had said ; by way of implying, I suppose, tliat the call of Abraham
was antecedent to the death of Terah. But this is purely their awn gloss : the original
runs the Lord said ; and the plain order of events is, the emigration from Ur to Haran,
the death of Terah in Ilaran, and the emigration of Abraham from Haran wiien 7.5 years
old. See Append. Tab. I. ^ Sec Append. Tab. I.
* I do not speak, as ignorant of the manner in which Abp. Usher attempts to get over
this difficulty and yet to retain the chronology of tlie Hebrew : but I am not satisfied with
it, notwithstanding the approbation wliich it has received from the very learned Dr.
Hales.
Usher deducts 75 years, the age of Abraham, when he left Haran, from 205 years, the
age of Terah at the time of Iiis death : and the result being 1:50, he pronounces Terah to
bave been 130 years old when Abraliam wa^ born. But it is said, that Terah lived 70
420 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
In rejecting the chronology of the Hebrew Pentateuch, we are by no
means however left without resource. Josephus, the Greek interpreters,
years, and begat Abraham, Nahor, and Haraii : how then are the two numbers, 70 and
130, to be reconciled ? To solve the difficulty, the Abp. asserts, that Haran was the eldest
son, and that he only was born when his father was 70 ; that Nahor was the second son,
and was bom at some indefinite time afterwards ; and that Abraham was the youngest,
and was born when his father was 130 years old. Now this very unnatural mode of ex-
plaining the declaration, that Terah was 70 when he begat Abraham Nahor and Haran,
is in itself plainly gratuitous, unless it can be supported by some weighty argument : the
argument adduced therefore is this. Sarah was only 10 years younger than Abraham
(Gen. xvii. 15 — 17.) ; but Sarah was the same person as Iscali, who was the daughter of
Abraham's brother Haran (Gen. xi. 29) : therefore Haran, though mentioned last, must
have been considerably older than his brother Abraham ; otherwise Abraham could not
possibly have been no more than 10 years senior to his wife and niece Sarah or Iscah :
consequently, it was Haran, not Abraham, that was born when his father Terah was 70
years of age.
It is obvious, that the whole of this argument rests upon the position, that Sarah nms the
iame penon as Iscah and therefore the daughter of Haran. But the position eVie^ requires
proof; nor does the text referred to (Gen. xi. 29.) at all determine the matter. It is
said indeed, that Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah ; and it is likewise said, that
Nahor espoused his niece Milcah : but not the slightest intimation is given, that Sarah the
wife of Abraham was the same person as Iscah. Would wc therefore ascertain the rela-
tionship of Sarah to Abraham, we must dii-cct our attention elsewhere. Now Abraham
himself says of her, &he is my sister: sfic is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter
of my mother (Gen. xx. 12). Hence it appears, that she was not his ?ticcc (the point neces-
sary to Usher's hypothesis), but his half-sister, being the daughter of Terah by a second
wife. Such being the case, the whole argument deduced from the comparative ages of
Abraham and Sarah rests upon a saiuly foundation, and we have no proof whatsoever that
Haran was the elder brother of Abraham. See Usser. Anna), in A. P. J. 2718,2728.
Hi,l( s's Chronol. vol. i. p. 23, 21-
The Abp. and Dr. Hales are sensible of the importance of this last text: consequentl}',
iliiy attempt to do away its force. Tor this purpose, they contend, that, when Abraham
describes Sarah as being the daughter of his father, he really means his grandaughtcr. I
need scarcely remark, tliat we have here a wholly gratuitous conjecture, though a con-
jecture doubtless very necessary to the theory in question : I can discern however not a
kihadow of autliority for making it. Since we read, that Terah was 70 jears old when he
begat Abraham Nahor and H;iian ; the nauiral presumption is, that Abraham was the
eldest and that his two brotlicrs were l)orji two or three years Hul)se(|uently : and, since we
ttre told, that Sarah was the daughter ol\i the abstract, I should feel myself
' Tacit, de mor. Germ. c. 7, 11, 3D.
THE ORIGiy OF PAGAN IDOLATRr. 431
compelled to suppose, that such an empire as that of Nimrod must, from
first lo last, have rested at least upon the principles of the feudal system
and of a division into castes : for it arose upon the universal subjugation of
mankind to the single fixmily of Cush, assisted probably by that of Mizr or
rather (to speak more correctly) by some enterprizing individuals of the
Mizraimic branch ' ; and, even after the dispersion, paramount as it was
from the borders of Armenia to the Erythri^an sea, and extending itself both
east and west beyond the opposite boundaries of the interamnian country,
it still reigned supreme over Elam and Ashur and Aram and the chief part
of the house of Arphaxad. The arrangement I should suppose to have
been made most probably in some such manner as the following. Such of
the Cuthim, as remained in centrical Iran and adhered to the fortunes of
Nimrod, would constitute the sacerdotal and military castes ; while the
families, which were subjugated by them, would compose the bulk of the
population, and would range themselves naturally under the two large divi-
sions of artizans and agriculturists. Now, as these families settled, not
promiscuously, but after their tongues, in their lands, and after their na-
tions* ; the Cushim, in order to maintain their sovereignty, must have been
very much intermingled with them, constituting in each province the priest-
hood and the nobility- But, as the whole empire was under one head, this
intermixture could not have taken place without creating the feudal system ;
just as a similar intermixture produced long afterwards the feudal system
in western Europe. For the various fan)ilies or nations could not have
been governed without such an intermixture : and the empire could not
have preserved its unity, unless the Cutliic princes and nobility, who ad-
ministered the provinces and districts, had acknowledged the paramount
authority of the king.
Here then we have the substance of the feudal system, by whatever names
its descending steps might be distinguishcil. It seems most probable, ac-
cording to the oriental phraseology, that the governors of provinces would
be styled kings or emirs ; while the great Cuthite would be denominated
• I infer tliig from the familiarity of the Hindoos with the names of Ciu/ia, Rama, and
Misr ; though we know, that the Misraim, as a l>odj, peopled Egypt.
* Gen. X. 31.
CHAP. II.
4j2 the origin of pagan idolatry,
HOOK VI. king of kings or eni'tr of emirs \ Thus, with subordinate regal authority
like that exercised by the ancient dukes of France and the electors and
princes of the Germanic body, there would be a king of Ashur, a king of
Elam, and a king of Aram, each with his Cuthic nobility and free soldiers
in a regular gradation downwards : and, as population increased, and as
the limits of each province were extended, there would probably be several
kings of Aram or of Ashur or of Elam, according to the ditferent new set-
tlements which might be established.
2. But, though such conclusions have been fairly enough drawn from
what I have termed the philosophy of politics, it may still be reasonably in-
quired, whether they rest upon any circumstantial evidence. It shall now
therefore be my business to adduce those direct proofs of the supposed fact,
whicli I have been able to collect.
(1.) Trogus informs us, that, while the Scuths ruled over Asia, they were
content with exacting a moderate tribute, more as a badge of sovereignty
than as a reward of victory *. Now this implies, that their empire was not
compact and homogeneous ; but that each province was under the rule of
a prince, who paid, rather a feudal acknowledgment of supremacy, than a
heavy pecuniary tax, to the head of the monarchy. And accordingly we
find, that the constitution ended, just as such constitutions ordinarily must
end ; unless a vigorous government, as was the case in France, render the
empire homogeneous by bringing the vassal principalities under the ivime-
diatc sway of the crown. At the end of fifteen centuries from the rise of
the monarchy under Nimrod or the first Ninus, the dynasty, which had
commenced with the second Ninus, was brouglit to a close, most pro-
bably by the deposition of the last feeble sovereign : a third Ninus, who
seems to have been previously a feudal Assyrian emir and who had
acted pcrl,aps as a sort of count palatine to the emperor, stepped into
the vacant tlu'onc : his uburi)ation was the signal of an almost general
revolt : and the provinces, following the example of Media under the Arba-
cida?, threw off the yoke of even nominal submission, and hoisted the standard
of independence.
■ Ezra vii. 12. » Just. Hist. Phil. lib. ii. c. 3.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN' IDOLATRY. 4j3
Yet, in the whole of this great revolution which took place during; the latter chap. h.
half of the ninth century before Christ, whether the ancient capital or the
hitherto subordinate kingdoms be considered, there would be no real change
of actual national governors, though the second dynasty of the Cuthico-
Assyrian princes had ceased to reign. The southern Scutlis of Iran, who
have so often been confounded with their northern brethren of Ton ran,
would surely not evacuate a country, where they had been naturalized dur-
ing a period almost double to that, which has elapsed since the Norman
conquest of England to the present day : they would doubtless remain where
they were ; and, divided as the Scythian or old Assyrian empire now was
into several independent sovereignties, they would still be the monarclis of
those sovereignties and would still constitute the priesthood and military
nobility as they had always done. Accordingly, when Nineveh was deserted
and when Babylon once more became the queen of the east, we find them
still the paramount or governing caste, just as they had been during the
fifteen centuries of avowed Scuthic domination.
In the year A. C. 747, where the canon of Ptolemy commences, the As-
syrian empire, under the dynasty founded by the third Ninus, was divided
into the two kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon. But, in the space of eighty
years, these two sovereignties were again united under Asaraddin or Esar-
Haddon : and henceforth, or at least after the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the
Assyrio-Babylouic empire of Iran was distinguished in the west by the
name of the Babylonic empire. Now the governing people of this monarchy
were those, wliom the Greeks chose to style Chaidtaiis, but who in Holy
Writ are more accurately denominated Chasdim or Clnisdim. They seem
to have communicated their name to a great part of the province of Baby-
lonia, and likewise to the contiguous eastern province of Cissia or Chusis-
tan ; doubtless because they abounded more in those regions than in other
parts of the empire. This district was eminently the Asiatic Ethiopia, or.
land of Cush, or southern Scuthia : though the appellation of Cusha-dzvip
was properly enough extended to the whole country of Iran even according
to its utmost limits; for the posterity of Cush were scattered throughout
the whole of it, and their authority pervaded every part of it. But it is
evident from Scripture, that these Cliusdim or Chaldeans formed the sacer-
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. ^1
434 THE oRiciK or pagax idolatrt.
BOOK VI. dotal and military castes of the Babylonic empire : for, on the one hand,
we find them described, as being professionally a body of philosophical
Magi and astrologers and sorcerers ; and, on the other hand, we find them
exhibited as a race of intrepid soldiers, who constituted the most efficient
part of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar '. The king himself, as the head of
the military order, is styled the ChuscU * : and, though the sovereign of the
whole Iranian empire, he is yet emphatically denominated the king of the
Chusdim '. In a similar manner, the realm of Babylonia is called the
realm of the Chusdim'^: and Babylon, which was both founded and re-
founded by the Chusin), is distinguished as the beauty of the Chtisdim's
excellency '. The provincial humiliation of this southern branch of the
Cuthic house when Nineveh became the seat of empire, and th^ir restora-
tion to metropolitan importance under Nebuchadnezzar, are forcibly alluded'
to by Isaiah. He tells us, as Bp. Lowth properly renders the passage,
that they were a people of no account until Babylon was rebuilt and made
the seat of government; but that then they speedily became of the very
first importance *. Om* conmion translation most strangely gives them no
existence until that period : but they had been both known and felt long
before the days of Ncbuchachiczzar ; and the manner, in which they arc
mentioned, sliews very plainly, both who they were and where they had
always d\ult. So early as the days of Job, they were accustomed to make
predatory excursions out of Babylonia into the great western wilderness of
Arabia": and Abraham, who (we know) came out of the land of tlie Nim-
rodic Chusim, is expressly said by iMoscs to have gone forth to Ilaran from
Vx of the Chuidim '. Hence it is evident, that, in the days of Moses, the
land of the Chusim and the lanti of tlic Chusdim were the same country;
• Dan. ii. 2. iv. 7- v. 7, 11. .Tcrcm. xxxix. 8. lii. 8. 2 Kings xxiv. 2. xxv. 4, 10, 26.
Ilab.i. C.
' Ezra V. 12. ' 2 Chron. xxx. 17. * Dan. ix. 1.
' Isaiah xiii. 9. ' Isaiah xxiii. 13.
' .lob. i. 17. C'lialil^a was at this tinif unikr the rule of the C'uthic Sliei.hcrds, who
afterwards invaded Palestine and I'gJiit under the name of Arabs or Phcnicians or Hue-
Sos. See below book vi. c. 5. § V. 5.
• fan. xi. fil.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 435
and, consequently, that the Babylonic Chusim were the very same people
as the Babylonic Chusdim. The only difference, in fact, between the two
names is this : the one is uncompoundcd, and the other compounded. The
Chusim are simply the Cut/is or Sciiths : the Chus-Diini are the godlike
Chusim '.
Thus, by comparing the account which Trogus gives us of the Scuthic '
polity with the account which Scripture gives us of the later ]5abylonic
polity, we fmd, that the government of the Iranian cmi)irc must from first
to last have been feudal; that, wiiatcvcr might have been the number of
the inferior castes, there were two higher castes in it, the priesthood and
the military nobility ; and that both these castes were of the nation or
family of the Chusdim or Cushim.
(2.) Additional light will be thrown upon the nature of the old Cuthic
polity, if we attend to some early matters recorded by the sacred histo-
rians.
We are told, that, in the days of Abraham, the four kings of Shinar and
Ellasar and Elam and the Mixed Nations made war upon the five kings of
Sodom and Gomorrha and Adinah and Zeboiim and Bela. These they
subdued ; but, at the end of twelve years, their new vassals rebelled. Tliey
returned therefore in the fourteenth year : and, after smiting various scat-
tered tribes apparently of the Scuthic or giant race, they succeeded in com-
pletely routing their opponents.
I confess myself utterly unable to follow Mr. Bryant in what he has
written upon this subject: for he magnifies, into a supposed mighty eflbrt
of the children of Shem to throw off" the yoke of Ham, what is evidently a
' Some have deduced the Cluisdim from Chesed, one of tlie sons of Nalior the hrothei-
of Abraham, mentioned Gen. xxii. 22. But this is an impossibility : for, even at the time
when Abraham, then under 75 years of age, left Babylonia, tlie city where his family had
dwelt was called Ur of the Chusdim. Hence it is evident, that the Chusdim were not only
in existence, but a people of considerable importance, when Chesed, Abraham's nephew,
xias a mere boy. Besides this, the ruling people in Babylonia, from first to last, were most
undoubtedly the Cushim or Scuths, not the children of Chesed. The Chusdim therefore,
who communicated their name to the whole province, and sometimes even to the whole
empire, must, unless we make history contradict itself, be the same as the Chusim or
Cuths.
436 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IPOLATRY,
BOOK VI. mere marauding uar between petty princes ; and he places this imagined
successful effurt in the days of Abraham, when we know, from the testi-
mony of history relative to the long paramount duration of the Cuthico-
Assvrian empire, that no such effort was ever made or at least made with
any degree of success '. That the four kings were mere petty princes, is
plain enough from their complete overthrow by Abraham. As we have
not the least intimation that he was miraculously assisted like Gideon, and
as he confidently pursued and absolutely beat all the four with only 318
men ; after allowing him every advantage from his unexpected nocturnal
attack, it is impossible to believe, that with such a handful he could rout
four great kings, and that when he had routed them he should drive them
all the way before him to the neighbourhood of Damascus. Such exploits,
as Mr. Bryant exhibits the affair, arc more like the chivalrous deeds of an
Orlando or an Amadis, than the credible occurrences of sober history. We
may safely measure the united strength of the four kings, both by the house-
hold troops of Abraham, and by the power of their five opponents. Abra-
- . ham completely beat tliem with 3 1 8 men : and the dominions of all the
five Canaanitish kings were comprized within the area occupied by the pre-
sent asphaltitc lake.
The invaders then were mere contemptible reguli, whose entire forces
V'ould have been routed with ease by a single Roman cohort : but the next
question is, who they were, and whence they came.
As their return home was in a northern direction from the vale of Sodom,
for Abraham pursued ihem to the vicinity of Dan)ascus ; they must be sup-
posed to have come out of a region which lay to the north of Jud^a. Eu-
polemus accordingly, an old pagan author preserved by Kuscbius, says, that
they were Armenians *. This I doubt, on account of the great distance of
y\rmenia : yet this writer may afibrd us an uscfiil clue to their real country.
The Greeks not unfrequcntly confounded Arminni or Armenia with Aram
or Syria ' : wlicncc I take the Armenians of Eupoleinus to have been really
Arimeans. But Aram between the rivers was a province of the great Cu-
' Bryant's Annl. vo). iii. p. 71 — Of?. * Euscb. Prxp. Evan. lib. ix. c. 17.
' Strab. Gcog. lib. i. p. 11. lib. wi. p. 78i, 785.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 437
tliic empire : and it was afterwards extended far to the west, so as to com- cuap. n.
prize Damascus, which was the capital of maritime Aram. Into this latter
region Abraham pursued the defeated kings : and oat of this region they
evidently came, when they invaded the land of Canaan.
Such then was their country : the next question is, who they themselves
were. With respect to this point, I think it clear, that they were fcudatoiy
vassals of the great Cuthic empire, which was now pushing itself westward
beyond the Euphrates: and, if such an opinion can be satisfactorily esta-
blished, we shall have gone far to prove, that the polity of that empire was
of the description which has been supposed. Here the testimony of Jo-
sephus is peculiarly valuable. lie tells us, that the invaders were Assy-
rians, and that the invasion took place when the Assyrians were masters of
Asia '. The purport of such an account cannot be mistaken : these Assy-
rians were the Cuthic lords of Iran; who from the locality of Nineveh
assumed the title of Assyrians, when, as Epiphanius informs us, the old
Scuthic name became obsolete in the days of Serug. It seems then, that
the invading kings were members of the great Cuthico-Assyrian monarchy ;
which, according to Trogus, ruled over Asia during the period of fifteen
centuries : for the Cuths were masters of Asia at the very time, that Jo-
eephus ascribes that predominance to the Assyrians ; whence the Scuths of
Trogus, and the Assyrians of Josephus, must be the same. Now it is
evident, that this invasion could not have been conducted by the great
Cuthic sovereign himself headin'•
strongest marks of exact veracity in the inspired penmen.
(3.) Hitherto I have only combined various scattered notices, and have
drawn from them certain deductions relative to the polity of the old Cuthic
empire : I shall now bring forward a direct and compact proof, that the
division into castes was coeval with its foundation ; which will necessarily
involve the fact, that, as the great Iranian kingdom was governed by the
sacerdotal and military castes, as these two castes were of the Scuthic or
Cuthic house, and as they could not have administered the government
without being scattered throughout the different provinces the population
of which consisted of totally distinct races from their ov\n, the feudal
system must inevitably have been established tln-oughout the v\hole
country.
We have seen, on the authority of the Dabistan, that the Pishdadian
dynasty of Persia was preceded by the Mahabadian ; which for many ages
had swayed the sceptre of Iran, and v\hich must clearly be identified with
that Cuthic or Scuthic line of kings wlio were lords of Asia during fifteen
centuries from Nimrod to Thonus Concolerus. Now Maha-Ikd, the pre-
tended founder of this dynasty, vvho was at once the first king of Iran and
the monarch of the whole earth, is said to have received from the Creator
and to have promulgated among men a sacred book in a heavenly lan<-
guage : and his subjects believed, that fourteen Maha-Bads, or fourteen
transmigratory manifestations of tiie same IMaha-Bad, liad appeared or
would appear in human shapes for the government of the world. Thus
conversing with the Deity, and acting by his immediate authority, Maha-
Bad divided the people, who composed his universal sovereignty and who
therefore comprehended the whole race of mankind, into four castes or
orders ; the religious, the military, the commercial, and the servile : and
to these he assigned names, which Sir William Jones assures us are 2iii-
questionably the same in their origin with those now applied to the four
primary classes of the Hindoos.
From the preceding account of the first monarchy of Iran, Sir William
argues most justly, tiiat Maha-Bad is palpably the same ciiaractcr as the
Indian Menu; that the fourteen Maha-Bads are the fourteen manifcsta-
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 3 K
44G THE ORIGIN O* PAGAN IDOLATRY.
tions of !Menu ; that the celestial book of Maha-Bad is the celestial book
of Menu ; that the four castes, into which Maha-Bad divided mankind, are
the four castes, into which Menu similarly divided mankind ; and conse-
quently that the Hindoos, when they first planted Hindostan, brought with
them the early history and polity of Iran from which they had emigrated,
and exhibited them as their own local history and polity. He adds, that
tlie word Maha-Bad is evidently a Sanscrit compound, being equivalent to
the great Bad or the great Buddha : so that we have an additional proof,
if any were necessary, of the identity of Maha-Bad and Menu ; for Menu
and Buddlia are certainly the same person '.
Here then, in singular conformity with the records consulted by Trogus
and Epiphanius, we find also in the east a very full account of an ancient
monarchy, which had subsisted in Iran long before the rise of the later
Assyrian empire and the dynasty of the Pishdadians : for it is incontro-
vertible, that the Mahabadian sovereignty can only be the same as the
Scuthic sovereignty of Trogus and Epiphanius. Here therefore we have
the polity of the Cuthic empire unequivocally described to us: and this
polity proves to be the identical polity ; which, botii from the philosophy
of government and from such scattered notices as we had been able to col-
lect, we had argued must have been established throughout the primeval
empire of Iran.
VII. It is most curious to observe, how completely the Persic, and
thence ultimately the Hindoo, records unfold the Machiavellian politics of
Nimrod and his Cuthic associates.
Maha-Bad, as he appears in the Dabistan, is clearly Noah or the Menu-
Satyavrata of the Hindoos, though blended, like that Menu, with the ante-
rior character of Adam or Menu-Swayambhuva. Nimrod places him at
the head of the dynasty, which he liimself really founded ; carefully inti-
mates, that he was ti)e sovereign of the whole world ; and thus insinuates,
that mankind ought to remain in one unbroken community, and that the
successor of Noah was by right an universal monarch like\» ise. In a simi-
lar manner and for a similar purpose, as wc learn from Epiphunius, Scu-
• Disc, on tlie Vers. Asiat. llcj. vol. ii. p. 59.
THE ORIGIN OK PAGAN IDOLATRV. 443
thisin, which in the progress of increasing corruption became lonisui, was cnw. n,
studiously carried up as high as the deluge ; tliat so the odium of innovat-
ing, either in politics or religion, niight be speciously avoided. Agreeably
to such a plan, the division of mankind into castes, which, by forming the
sacerdotal and military orders out of the house of Cush, placed in the
hands of that great family the whole autliority of the state, was represented
at first as highly agreeable to the venerable Noah ; afterwards it was de-
clared to be his special ordinance, and no mere novel contrivance of ambi-
tion; and at length, by the aid of the priesthood, the plea of divine right
was called in, and the division into castes was declared to be an institution
of the Deity himself speaking from heaven to the first king Maha-Bad.
Accordingly, as it was well known that Noah had actually conversed with
God, and as it can scarcely be doubted that he had preserved many ante-
diluvian books in the Ark, he was fabled to have received from the Creator
a book of' regulations in a celestial language, which marked out the par-
ticular polity and the general laws under which the empire was to be go-
verned. Now this very book is still in existence : for Sir William Jones,
and with good reason, does not scruple to identify Maha-Bad's book of
regulations w ith Menu's book of divine institutes or ordinances. In that
volume then, which the learned orientalist has translated into English, we
have in fact an accurate sketch of the constitution, which was framed for
the oldest empire in the world. It contains many good regulations ; for
government cannot subsist without tiiem : but the master key note, which
runs through the whole, is the inculcating of an excessive veneration for
the sacerdotal and military orders. Exactly according to the plan, which
(as Bp. Warburton truly remarks) was adopted by all the ancient legisla-
tors, and which no doubt was borrowed from the Babylonic prototype, the
prescribed polity is made to rest upon the authority of heaven ; and the
four divinely a[)pointed castes are represented as springing from Brahma
himself, incarnate in' the person of the first man Menu. Hence the divi-
sion was an ordinance of God : and, if the inferior castes presumed to re-
sist the two superior, they would fight not against man, but against the
Deity. Nor was it solely into Ilindostan that these original laws were
carried from Iran : to omit other countries, they were conveyed as the
444 fHE ORIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
books of Taut or Thoth into Egypt, the inhabitants of which were equally
divided into castes ; and, as Sir William Jones //a//" supposes, they consti-
tuted in Crete the famous laws of Minos or Menus '. But, though Maha-
Bad is thus made the ostensible founder of the Iranian empire and the
primeval author of the division into castes, we by no means lose sight of
Nimrod himself. Among the sovereigns who are celebrated as aggran-
dizcrs of the monarchy, we see him proudly conspicuous under the name
of Mah-Bul or Maha-Beli or the great Belus ; that well-known founder
of Babylon, who seems to have studiously attempted to blend his own cha-
racter with that of Noah, and who (unless I be greatly mistaken) gave
himself out to be a transmigratory reappearance of the first Beli or Maha-
Bad vouchsafed to mortals for the government of the Universe *. This is
the blaspheming monarch, who (according to Hindoo tradition) was slain
by Vishnou bursting from the midst of a shattered column or pyramid,
and who in the pride of unlimited sovereignty was beguiled of empire by
the same deity under the humble disguise of a dwarf. Both these Avatars
are referred by Sir William Jones to the history of the tower: and, as the
first of them seems to describe the bloodshed and discord which prevailed
between the rival sects of Scuthists and lonists, with a reference possibly
to some miraculous interference unnoticed in Scripture ; so the second in-
geniously represents the marring of the whole project, when on the very
point of completion, by the unseen finger of God perceived only in the
supernatural confusion of languages '.
Thus it was not without reason that the Scythians claimed the highest
antiquity in the list of nations, for they were the founders of the first em-
pire after the deluge. Nor was their argument against the Egyi)Uan claim
([uite so absurd as it appears to be. They contended, that, as they inha-
bited a mountain whence rivers flowed in every direction, they must be
[)rior to the Egyptian* who inhabited a region formed in a great measure
by the Nile ♦. By this mountain they meant Ararat or Meru, where their
• Prcf. to Instit. of Menu p. !). Vide supra book iii. c. 5.
» As such, he would also claim to be a manifestation of the promised son of the
woman.
J Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 235, *26. * Just. Hist. lib. ii. c. 1.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 445
empire commenced while Egypt was yet a desert, and which still was occu- ««*?■ rt.
pied by the same race as those who were the prime architects of Babel.
I think with Mr. Pinkerton, that what Herodotus says of the newness of
the Scythians is solely to be understood of their newness on tlie west of tlie
Euxine sea '.
• Herod. Hist. lib. it. c 5. Pinkerton's Diss, on the Gotlis. part i. c, 2. p. 28.
n
CHAPTER III.
Respecting the primitive Division of the World among the
Children of Noah, the Triads of the Gentiles, the Confusion of
Languages, and the Mode of the Dispersion from Babel.
JVJlosks has furnished us with a very explicit account of the primitive
division of the world among tlie children of Noah, when they were con-
strained to emigrate from the plain of Shinar and to disperse themselves
over the face of the whole earth. From this it appears, that, although their
emigration was reluctant, yet it was not disorderly. Compelled as they
were to relinquish their design by a preternatural confusion of utterance,
they did not branch off from the central point in accidentally promiscuous
masses ; but retired, with some exceptions, according to their jamlUes and
their tongues and their nations. In the main, the children of Japiiet kept
together, distinct from those of Shem and of Ham; and afterwards, as they
advanced into the wide regions allotted to their great progenitor, divided
and subdivided themselves agreeably to their several patriarchal heads.
The descendants of the other two brethren had their settlements very much
intermingled throughout southern Asia : but even between them a line of
distinction may be drawn, sufficiently strong to establish the general accu-
racy of the Mosaical account, 'ihe confusion, to which 1 alluilc, origi-
THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRT. 447
nated from the restless ambition of the sons of Ham : who, particularly in chap. in.
one great branch, have in all ages been the disturbers and conquerors and
civilizers and corrupters of the world.
I. Agreeably to the prophetic intimation of future enlargement, Japhet
colonized the whole of Emope, all those northern regions of Asia which
have been vaguely distinguished by the names oiTartary and Siberia, and
in process of time by an easy passage across Behring's straits the entire
continent of America. The descendants of each patriarch, in all the three
lines, were naturally designated by the appellation of their particular fore-
father : and, as it has often been shewn, it is most curious to observe, how
long the names of the ancestors specified by Moses have been preserved
among their children.
1. Gomer seems evidently to have been the father of those, who were
originally c&\\&^ Gomerians ; who, with a slight variation, retained their
primeval title, as Comariaus, Cimmerians, Cimbri, Cymry, Cumbri, Cam'
Iri, and Umbri ; but who, in lapse of years, bore the superadded name of
Celts, Ciauls, Galatce, and Gaels. These, spreading themselves from tiie
regions north of Armenia and Bactriana, wliere we find some remains of
them so late as the time of Ezekiel, extended themselves over nearly the
whole of the continent of Europe, and first planted the two great isles of
Britain and Ireland '. Hence we meet with Cimmerians or Cimbri in
northern Asia, from which they are described as making excursions after
the manner of the Saca3 : hence also we find them round the sea of Azoph,
upon the Danube, in Germany, in Jutland or the Cimbric chersonese, in
Italy, in Spain, and still in the Welsh mountains : and hence, briefly to
sum up the whole, while they are by ancient authors positively identified
with the Celts or Gauls, they are declared to have once extended from the
western ocean to the Euxine sea ant' from Italy as far north as the Baltic*.
' Ezek. xxxviii. 6. DIonys. Perieg. ver. 700. Pomp. Mel. lib. i. c. 2. Plin. Nat.
Hist. lib. vi. c. 16. Ptol. Gcog. lib. vi. c. 11—13. .Toscpb. Ant. Jud. lib. i. c. 6. j 1.
* Strab. Geog. lib. i. p. 6, 61. lib. xi. p. 491-, 511. lib. xii. p. 573, BS'^i. lib. vii. p. 292—
294, 309. lib. V. p. 244. lib. xiv. p. 647, 648. Herod. Hist. lib. iv. c. 12. Diod. Bib.
lib. V. p. 308, 309. OdjEs. lib. xi. ver. 13. Pomp. Mel. lib. i. c. 2. Solin. c. 21. Appian.
de bell. civ. lib. i. p. 625. Tacit, de mor. Germ. c. 37, 45. Pinkerton's Dissert, on the
Gothi. p. 45—50.
448 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. In Italy they were sometimes by abbreviatioa called U7nhri : for we are
told by Florus and Pliny, that the Umbri were the oldest inhabitants of
that country; and by Solinus and Tzetzes, that they were Gauls by origin
and therefore of the same race as the Cimbri or Cumri '. So likewise the
ancient Irish traditions, while they rightly bring into the western isle a co-
lony of Scuths or Scots, acknowledge that these invaders found the country
already inhabited : and, as the Irish and the Welsh languages are equally
dialects of the Celtic, it is sufficiently plain, as the legends indeed them-
selves teach us, that the Gaels of the smaller island were driven out from
among the Cymry of the larger ^.
2. Magog, Tubal, and Mesech, as we learn from Ezekiel, had their ha-
bitations far to the north of Judfea' : and there accordingly we may still
trace them very unequivocally, as the ancestors of the great Sclavonic or
Sarmatian house and of the scarcely less extensive Tartar family. The
name of Magog still exists in the national appellations of JMogli and MoH'
guls and Mongogians : while tiiose of Tubal and Mesech are preserved in
Tobolski and Moschki and Moscoxo and Muscovite ^
•i l;.ia :u :
' Flor. lib. i. c. 17. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iii. c. 14. Solin. c. S. Tzetz. in Lyeopli.
ver. 1356.
* Vallancey's Vindic. prcf. p. SQ. Lloyd's Arcli. Brit, in praef.
^ Ezek. xxxviii. 2, 15.
* Parsons's Rem. of Japhet. p. Gl, G^, 67. Dr. Parsons, Gen. Vallanccy, and other
writers on the antiquities of Ireland, make the Scuthic invaders of that island to be Mago-
gians ; by which, in the extremity of the west, they bring togetlier Magog and Gomer.
For this opinion I cannot find even a shadow of evidence. Joscphus does indeed pro-
nounce the Scythians to be of the line of Magog ; and his opinion luis been cciioed by
Eustathius, .Jerome, Thcodoret, and a host of modern writers : but for his opinion he gives
no authority whatsoever. With him the notion plainly originated from tlio circumstance
of llic Tnuranian Scutiis lying norllnmrd of Judra, where Ezekiel places Magog: but in
reality Magog planted the wide regions far again to the north o/'Sci/thia, with which the
(jrecks were very little acquainted. It is curious to note the different opinions, which
have been entertained on this subject. Ambrose nwkes Magog the father of the Goths;
which is virtually to repeat the assertion of Joscphus, for the Goths and the Scythians were
the same people: luiHcbiuK, oftiie Cells and Gauls: the author of the Alexandrine Chro-
nicle, of the AquitHiii or I5as
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 463
»arily been produced by the revolutions of empires, must have sprung from chap. nt.
tlie three persons, whom IMoses, in perfect accordance with old gentile tra-
dition, denominates Shem, Ham, and Japhet.
Yet, as he truly observes and as all history testifies, the three races,
though distinct in a considerable degree, were never even from the first
wholly separate. Japhet, the father of the Tartars or Sclavonians, moving
northward, preserved himself in a great measure unblended ; and had little
intercourse with the posterity of his brethren, until the liuns precipitated
themselves upon Europe and the Monguls upon southern Asia. Eut the
oriental colonies of Ham and Shem were always simultaneous : and, as Ham
with very few tiifling exceptions wielded the sceptre, his children were in
numerous instances completely blended with the children of Shem. Mixed
likewise they were with Japhet, as we shall presently see ; but not, until a
comparatively modern period, in a degree by any means equal. Hence the
languages of Ham and Shem became to a certain extent common : and
hence in Iran they subsisted distinct from each other, while the Sclavonia
appears only in many detached words alike adopted into them both. But
this, which Sir William found to be actually the case, is precisely what we
might have expected from history. The descendants of Japhet, with the
exception of various straggling individuals who still chose to adhere to the
fortunes of Nimrod, tchotly evacuated Iran, withdrawing themselves into
northern Asia and western Europe : but that centrical region was entirely
peopled by the children of Shem in the several lines of Ashur, Elam
Arphaxad, and Aram ; while branches of the numerous posterity of Cush
partly occupied Babylonia and Cliusistan, and partly as the priesthood and
military nobility spread themselves throughout the whole empire which from
them received the general appellation oi Cusha-dwip or the land of Cush or
Asiatic Ethiopia or southern Scythia '.
9. This laborious and highly satisfactory investigation of Sir William
Jones decides, so far as I am able to judge, a long controverted point ;
which, without the peculiar sort of knowledge possessed by him, never
could have been finally decided.
' Disc, on Orig. of Nat. As. Res. vol. iii. p. 422, 426, 427, 428, 433, 434.
464 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOR VI. Moses, if we literallj' translate his expressions, tells us, that, previous to
the confubior. which took place at Babel, all the world were of one. lip and
of uniform xvords\ This one lip therefore and these uniform words were
of course the thing, that was confounded ;- the thing, which, being con-
founded, necessarily produced the dispersion : for the men, who before un-
derstood each other, became now, to a certain extent at least, mutually un-
intelligible. The most common opinion has been, that a real change of
speech was effected : and, with regard to the number of tongues then pro-
duced, while the Rabbins have supposed no less than seventy two agree-
ably to their mode of reckoning up the families of the dispersion, it is more
modestly urged by M\\ Mede that the new languages could not have been
fewer than the heads of Nations ; that is to say, seven from Japhet,
four from Ham, and five from Shcm. This interpretation however is
allowed, neither by Mr. Bryant, nor by the doctors of the Hutchinsonian
school : and it is contended, that either a mere change of pronunciation, or
a difference of religious sentiment, or both the one and the other conjointly,
effected the dispersion from Babel. Such an exposition was indeed abso-
lutely necessary for the hypothesis of Mr. Bryant : for, as he only allows
the Cuthites to have been assembled in Shinar, he of course must deny,
that all mankind suffered a penal confusion of language for the sin of one
family. Accordingly he maintains, that, when the end was produced, the
effects of ti)e miracle ceased : and he attempts to prove, that no real con-
fusion of language took place, by the counnon argument of those who ad-
vocate his opinion. Abraham, in the course of his life, travelled all the
way from ChaldSla to Egypt by the circuitous route of Syria : but, where-
ever he came, he found no difficulty in making himself understood without
the aid of an interpreter : language therefore could 7iot have been the thing,
that zvas confounded.
It seems a little extraordinary, that so very inconclusive an argument
shuuld have been used by so very able a man : for it is obvious, that no-
thing is proved by it, but that dialects of the same language, which dialects
were no doubt Chaldce, Syriac, Hebrew, and Arabic, were universally
• Gen. xi. 1.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 455
spoken from Babylon to lower Egypt. We learn nothing from it, as to cuap. m.
what tongues were used northward throughout Touran and Tartary, or
eastward throughout Bokhara and Hindostan. Had Abraham travelled
in either of those directions, his native Chaldee might or niiglit not have
been understood, for any thing that the present argument proves or dis-
proves. The question therefore must be decided by a far different process,
than either an inconclusive argument or a disputable translation of the Mo-
saical phraseology.
Now the researches of Sir William Jones are in effect the very process,
by which alone the matter can be settled : and it is remarkable, that they at
once finally decide the question, account for the circumstance which has
been noticed in the history of Abraham, and establish the number of pri-
mary languages which originated at Babel. He has discovered, we have
seen, three primary tongues, into which, so far as such points can be posi-
tively determined, all other tongues ultimately resolve themselves. These
three he pronounces to be radically and essentially different from each other,
both in words and in grammar and in construction, so that no two of them
could have originated from the third : and all the three he finds existing to-
gether in that centrical region, whence the several families m hich spoke them
must have branched off, and where Moses fixes the production of some pre-
ternatural dialectical confusion which was the efficient cause of that emi-
gration. Hence, I think, it will necessarily follow, both that the confusion
at Babel must have been a real confusion of language, not merely a tem-
porary inarticulateness of pronunciation ; and that the number of primary
languages, which then arose, was precisely three, answering, though not
with absolute exclusiveness, to the three great patriarchal houses. Hence
also we must understand the languages, mIucIi are said by Moses to have
been severally spoken in the various families of those three houses, as mere
dialects of one or other of the primary tongues ; which, in process of time,
received such alteration, that even the families of the same house became
unintelligible to each other.
Whether the Hebrew or Arabic was the original antediluvian tongue,
cannot with certainty be pronounced : yet, since God never works a super-
fluous miracle, and since every end of the dispersion would be effectually
Pag. Idol. VOL. HI. 3 N
466 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. answered by suffering the primitive language to remain unaltered in one
house and by suddenly producing two other languages hitherto unknown ; I
think it highly probable at least, that one of the three tongues was in a great
measure the very tongue spoken by Noah and Adam. Be this however as
it may, the language, which Sir William calls Arabic, was spoken with mere
dialectical variations from the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt : so that it
is easy to perceive the reason, without having recourse to the theory of
Mr. Bryant and the Hutchinsonians, why Abraham, wherever he travelled,
found no difficulty in making himself understood.
I may observe in conclusion, that the researches of Sir William Jones
once more compel us to suppose, in strict harmony with the most obvious
import of the Mosaical narrative, that all mank'wd were once assembled to-
gether in Iran, that they were all equally implicated in the building of the
tower, and that they were all equally the subjects of a penal confusion of
language.
V. The remembrance of this grand triple division of the world, which
seems, under the influence of divine inspiration, to have been ordained by
Noah himself, though it was not eflected until many years after his death,
was never obliterated from the minds of his posterity.
' 1. Moses speaks of it, as no matter of revelation, but as a thing perfectly
well known and universally acknowledged at the period when he flourished.
He tells each of the assembled Iraclites to recollect the days of old, and to
consider the years of many generations ; to ask his father, and he w ill shew
him ; to consult his elders, and they will communicate to him the very
saiijc information. JVhen the Most Ilig/i divided to the nations their in-
heritanee, xehen he separated the sons of man ; he set the bounds of the
people zvith a reference to the children of Israel. For the Lord^s portion
is his people ; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance'. We have here a most
curious [)iece of history, which was no invention of Moses for the purpose
of national aggrandisement, but wliich was a matter of public notoriety at
the time wlicn he committed it to writing. The sons of man, it appears,
were separated by divine autliority ; and each of the three gicat houses,
' Dcut. xxxii. 7, 8.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 46?
with their subordinate families, had its own peculiar portion assigned to it. cuap. hi.
Yet thie arrangement was made, with express reference to a nation not yet
in existence : and a certain territory, well known to all the rest of man-
kind, was reserved out of the grand triple division, as the lot of God"s
future people. The district in question, considered as a holy land, was
necessarily crossed by the children of Misr and Phut during their progress
into Africa : but the occupying of it seems to have been religiously ab-
stained from by all the descendants of Noah ; until the posterity of the
abandoned Canaan, associated with some individuals of the giant or Cuthic
race, had the hardyhood to seize upon it. Then we find God, reclaiming
his usurped peculium, and solemnly bestowing it upon the patriarch of the
yet future chosen nation. Agreeably to this account of Moses, the Ca-
naanites, from beginning to end, if we note their history, have evidently all
the timid feelings of conscious usurpers. They were aware, that they pos-
sessed what did not of right belong to them : hence their dread of Jacob, to
whom the land \\as given ; and hence their shrinking apprehensions, both
when the Israelites crossed the Red sea and when at length they appeared
upon the eastern frontier '.
The solemn division of the earth among his three sons appears to have
been one of the last acts of the divinely-inspired royal patriarch. Eusebius
at least, and others of the fathers, most probably on the authority of an-
cient Jewish tradition, inform us, that it took place in the nine hundred and
thirtieth year of Noah's life or about twenty years before his death ; that is
to say, in the three hundred and thirtieth year after the deluge \ Tlie
ordinance however was slighted by Nimrod and his Cuthites, who conceived
the project of an universal empire over which they themselves should pre-
side : nor was it carried into execution, until God himself interposed and
scattered mankind ov r the face of the whole eartii.
I see no reason to reject the testimony of Eusebius and the fathers,
though it is not positively said in Scripture that the divine will was com-
municated by the mouth of Noah : both because it is most natural to sup-
• Gen. XXXV. 5. Exod. xv. 14 — 17. xxiii. 27. Deut. ii. 25. xi. 25. Josh. ii. 9.
* Euseb. Chron. p. 10. Synccll. Chronog. p. 89. Epiph. Oper. vol. ii. p. ~0'i.
468 THE ORTGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
»6oK VI. pose, that he of all others should be the organ ; and because the old tradi-
tions of the Gentiles all agree respecting this point. Among the Greeks,
Cronus, who in his postdiluvian character is certainly Noah, was thought
to have divided by lot the whole world between his three sons, Jupiter,
Neptune, and Pluto '. These were the primeval hero-gods or deified an-
cestors of mankind ; who, according to Hesiod, flourished in that golden
age, with which every new mundane system commences : and, agreeably to
such an arrangement of their chronology, Plato mentions an ancient legend,
in which it is said, that the gods formerly divided among them all the vari-
ous regions of the earth, each amicably receiving by lot his proper portion*.
The same triple division is noticed in a fragment of the Chaldaic or Persic
oracles of Zoroaster, preserved by Proclus : and it is added, that the divi-
sion was ordained by the Nous or Intelligence of the father '. Here we
have that sort of play upon words, which I have more than once had occa-
sion to point out. N^uh or Menuh is the real oriental name of Noah. But,
in the material system, Noah or the great father was deemed the Mind or
Soul or Intellectual I'rinciple of the Universe. Hence, in the Sanscrit,
Menu is at once the title of the ark-preserved hero-god and a word which
denotes Mind or Intelligence : hence, in the Greek, ISfuh hellenized into
Nous or Nods equally signifies Mind, and was used to express the Soul of
the World : and hence, in the Latin, ]\Iens or Mcncs still bears the same
meaning, and is employed to designate the same imaginary mundane Intel-
lect. The ancient oracle therefore in question does in effect tell us, that
the earth was divided into three parts by the will of the general father
Nous or Nuh or Menu. Trom this triple division originated no doubt the
three worlds of tiic Hindoo mythology, which the arkite god Siva is de-
scribed as su[)portiug by his energy : and from the satne source, received
through the medium of Paganism, was borrowed the Rabbinical division of
the Universe into the very same number of worlds*.
2. As the earth was thus divided into three portions among those, who
were esteemed the principal gods of the Gentiles ; so from the number of
■ Callim. Hymn, in .Tov. vcj. CI. Mom. Iliad, lib. xv. vci-. 187—189.
* Pint, in Crit. vol. iii. p. 109. ' StiinU-v's CIuiI. Plillos. p. \.\.
* Moor's Hind. I'unlli, p. 40, lOl. Pearson on the creed. jVrt. i. note ^.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 469
those gods, emanating from a yet older god who was sometimes said myste-
riously to liave triplicated hi(nsclf, were derived the various triads of Pa-
ganism. Each of these, with its paternal unity, was thought to appear at
the beginning of every new mundane system, for the purpose of governing
the world and of replenishing it with inliabitants after the flood by which the
former system had been dissolved. I have often had occasion to notice this
opinion, which more or less distinctly pervades the whole of Paganism : it
may not however be improper to bring together into one point of view seve-
ral difl^erent instances of it.
Among the Hindoos, we have the triad of Brahma- Vishnou-Siva, spring-
ing from the monad Brahm : and it is acknowledged, that these personages
appear u|)on earth at the comiHcncement of every new world in tlie human
forms of Menu and his three sons '. Among the votaries of Buddha, we
find the self-triplicated Buddha declared to be the same as the Hindoo
Trimurti*. Among the Buddhic sect of the Jainists, we have the triple
Jina, in whom the Trimurti is similarly declared to be incarnate'. Among
the Chinese, who worship Buddha under the name of Fo, we still find this
god mysteriously nuiltiplied into three persons, corresponding with the
three sons of Fo-hi who is evidently Noah*. Among the Tartars of the
house of Japhet who carried off into their northern settlements the same
ancient worship, we find evident traces of a similar opinion in the figure of
the t/iple god seated on the lotos, as exhibited on the famous Siberian
medal in the imperial collection at Petersburg: and, if such a mode of re-
presentation required to be elucidated, we should have the exposition fur-
nished us in the doctrine of the Jakuthi Tartars, who, according to Strah-
lenberg, are the most numerous people of Siberia; for these idolaters wor-
ship a triplicated deity under the three denouiinations of Artugoii and
Schti(ro-tciigo>2 and TungaraK This Tartar god is the same even in appel-
' Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. \^\. vol. v. p. 2W. vol. viii. p. 397. Maur. Ind. Ant. vol. i.
p. 97. vol. ii. p. 288. vol. iv. p. 676, 746. Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 92, 128.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. \9\. vol. vi. p. 263. vol. ix. p. 212. vol. i. p. 28.5.
' Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 196.
♦ Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 376. Du Halde's China, vol. iii. p. 271.
' Parsons's Rem. of Japhet. c. vii. p. 18i— 103.
470 THE ORIGIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. lation with the Tanga-tanga of the old Peruvians; who, like the other tribes
of America, seem plainly to have crossed over from the north-eastern ex-
tremity of Siberia. Agreeably to the mystical notion so familiar to the
Hindoos, that the self-triplicated great father yet remained but one in
essence, the Peruvians supposed their Tanga-tanga to be one in three and
three in one : and, in consequence of the union of hero-worship with the
astronomical and material systems of idolatry, they venerated the Sun and
the Air, each under three images and three names '. The same opinions
equally prevailed throughout the nations, which lie to the west of Hindos-
tan. Thus the Persians had their Ormuzd, Mithras, and Ahriman ; or, as
the matter was sometimes represented, their self-triplicating Mithras.
The Syrians had their ^lonimus, Aziz, and Ares*. The Egyptians had
their Emeph, Eicton, and Phtha '. The Greeks and Romans had their
Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; three in number though one in essence, and
all springing from Cronus a fourth yet older god. The Canaanites had
their Baal-Shalisha or self-triplicated Baal *. The Goths had their Odin,
Vile, and Ve; who are described as the three sons of Bura the oftspring
of the mysterious cow*. And the Celts had their three bulls, venerated as
the living symbols of the triple Hu or Menu. To the same class we must
ascribe the triads of the Orphic and Pythagorean and Platonic schools ;
each of which must again be identified with the imperial triad of the old
Chaldaic or Babylonian philosophy. This last, according to the account
which is given of it by Damascius, was a triad shining throughout the whole
world, over which presides a monad *. Here again, though couched in the
jargon of astronomical Sabianism, we have an allusion to the triple divi-
sion of the world among those, who were the children of tlie single great
father, but who in the sphere were venerated as the threefoUt Sun. These
three, thus springing from a monad, are the three younger Noiis or Intel-
ligences, produced from that primeval Nous; who was himself an univer-
sal intellectual sovereign, but who delegated his authority to his three ema-
' Acosta apud Rem. of J.ipli. e. viii. p. 218, 219.
* Julian, apud Boch. Can. lib. i. c. 42. p. 662, 663.
^ .Tanihl. tcrnaliy prevented,
from emerging out of their depressed condition, and froai attaining tiie
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRY. 479
higher dignities of the state. Herodotus assures us, that the soldiers never chap, m.
followed mechanical occupations, but that the son regular!}' succeeded his
father in the profession of arms : and Plutarch declares, that none but the
priests and the military nobles could be chosen king or could fill any of the
great offices of state ; all the others were excluded by the very circumstance
of their birth. This last author adds, what strongly shews the intimate
connection between the two governing castes and displays the very spirit
of the system, that, as the kings were indift'erently elected out of the priest-
hood on account of their wisdom and out of the soldiery on account of
their valour, whenever the choice fell upon a military noble, he was imme-
diately conducted to the college of the priests, where he was fully in-
structed in their secret allegorical philosophy. On the whole therefore,
there can be no reasonable doubt, that the present national constitution of
Hindostan is precisely the same as that which once was established in
Egypt'.
Just the same arrangement prevailed among the Celts both of Gaul and
Britain. The Druids occupied the first rank ; and the soldiers or cquitcs,
as Cesar calls them, the second : while the bulk of the people was reduced
to servitude *. Here we have only three classes : but such, if we ascend
from species to genus, is the true number both in Egypt and in Hindostan *
for the various castes, which follow the two superior, whether they be two
or three or five or a hundred in number, are but ramifications of the o-reat
mass of the governed as contradistinguished from their sacerdotal and mili-
tary governors. All the vulgar accordingly, which in more advanced
states would branch out into numerous different mechanical classes, are
conipendiously, though philosophically', described by Cesar under the
general name of the common people : and these, he assures us, like the main
body both in Egypt and in Hindostan, were degraded by their imperious
lords to the condition of mere serfs.
The Egyptians and the Celts were not the only ancient nations, that
resembled the Hindoos in this form of constitution. Strabo tells us, that
• Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 161—168. Diod. Bibl. lib. i, p. 66—68. Plut. dc Isid.
* Caesar, de bell. Gallic, lib. vi. c. 13, 14.
4S0 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN inOLATRY.
the Iberians were divided into four castes ; and though the arrangement is
not exactly the same as that of the countries which I have last noticed, we-
may distinctly perceive that it has originated from a precisely similar po-
licy. The first class was that of the royal family ; and out of it the whole
army received its officers : the second was that of the priests : the third
was that of the soldiers and agriculturists : the fourth was that of the serfs
or villains '. Tliis form is palpably a mere variation, which originated from
the circumstance of one great family acquiring an exclusive right to the
crown. When such was the case, the relatives and connections of that
family constituted the highest order of military nobility : the priests retained
their ancient place with respect to the people at large, though the single
reigning house had now obtained an official precedency : the soldiers or
gentry, whom Strabo properly describes as agriculturists because they were
all landholders subject to honourable military service, followed the priests as
usual : and the degraded multitudes till formed the remainder of the nation.
A similar division into castes prevailed throughout many parts of Thrace,
Scythia, Persia, and Lydia. This information we have received from He-
rodotus, who had himself noticed the circumstance*.
Much the same system will again present itself in the polity of ancient
Rome. We learn from Dionysius, that the king was esteemed both the
first soldier and the first priest in his dominions ; an idea, which survived
the republic and continued even after the establishment of Christianity,
Next came the priesthood and the nobility, of both which classes the sove-
reign was officially a member. As for the priesthood, it was immediately
connected with, and indeed emanated out of, the nobility : for it was a
general law, that none but the nobles should be employed in the great
offices cither of state or of religion ; and it was an indispensable qualifica-
tion of those who composed the sacerdotal college, tl)at they sliould be men
of tiic vciy best families. The priests then and the nobles, with one of
their own body presiding as a king, were the governors : and subject to
them were the plebeians, who, it is well known, were viewed as mere de-
pendent clients upon tlie patricians, and who were for ages, by the fault of
I
' Slrab. Gcog. lib. xi. p. 501. * Ilerod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 167.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 481
their birth, excluded systematically from every place of trust both in church chap. lu.
and state '. This, in a warlike people who soon learned to feel their
strength, gave birth to endless squabbles between the hereditary governors
and governed ; while the dastardly sons of Egypt and of Hindostan quietly
submitted to the gaUing yoke, and contentedly bore the stigma of natal de-
gradation : but, in each case, the original outline of the constitution was
one and the same.
A similar arrangement has subsisted even to the present day among the
Sclavonic descendants of Japhet, no less than it once prevailed among his
Cimmerian children of the west. Throughout Russia, an hereditary nobi-
lity, who from time immemorial have been the great landholders, are,
under their sovereign, the almost uncontrouled lords of a peasantry, tied
down to the soil, and mingling not in matrimonial alliance with their supe-
riors : and, beside the nobles, the only freemen throughout the empire are
the priests, who have naturally succeeded to the constitutional privileges of
their heathen ])redecessors. The same remark, until even our own me-
mory, applied to Poland. The nobility were a totally distinct caste from
tlie commonalty : and, what strongly marked their different origin, every
privilege of the military order was attached, not to wealth, but to blood ;
so that, in the election of a king, who was always a member of the noble
class, many, who scarcely possessed wherewithal to purchase tomorrow's
meal, would give their vote purely in virtue of their birth, while an opulent
tradesman had no lot or portion among these acknowledged brethren by de-
scent.
If we next pass into America, which was doubtless peopled by the Tar-
tarian children of Japhet from the north-eastern extremity of Asia, we shall
still find evident traces of the same constitution in the two principal em-
pires of the new world. In Mexico the king was wholly served by his own
order of nobility ; and it was even death for a plebeian to look him stead-
fastly in the face; tlie priests meanwhile formed a regular hierarchy, and
dwelt together in cloisters attached to tlieir temples. So likewise, in Peru,
the royal family, which constituted the nobility, were revered as an en-
tirely distinct race by the abject plebeians ; and they studiously preserved
* Dion. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. ii. c. 9, 13, 21.
Pag. Idot. VOL. III. S P
482 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. the purity of their high blood, by intermarrying solely among themselves.
With these, in the government of the commonalty, were associated the
priesthood ; who, as in IMexico, were no straggling individuals, but a well
organized fraternity.
We may lastly observe traces of the same arrangement even in some of
the islands scattered over the great Pacific ocean; which, as the religion
of the natives abundantly testifies, must have been peopled by some roving
clans from the eastern shores of Asia. In the Sandwich islands, the whole
authority is vested in the hereditary chiefs, to whose class the king belongs :
while the priesthood is a regularly organized body, exclusively confined to
some particular families, and bearing a close resemblance to the Druids or
the ^lagi or the Brahmens. The members of it dwell together in cloisters,
Bnd mingle not with the people : the Archimage or High-priest of the
order bears the official name of Orono, and is honoured by the multitude
to adoration : and his son, even when an infant, is an object of similar
reverence, as being destined to succeed so the high dignity of his father '.
(1.) Tiuis have we travelled over the greatest part of the world : and it
Tnay be useful, at the close, to give a summary of what has been ascer-
tained in our progress, before we draw the apparently natural conclusion
from the whole inquiry.
We have learned then, with some trifling local variations which affect
not the spirit of the system, that the identical form of government, which
was cstablisiied in Iran by Ninn-od and his Cushim, still continued to pre-
vail alike, for ages after the dispersion, among the Hindoos, the Egyptians,
the Celts, the Iberians, the I'hracians, the Scythians, the Persians, the
Lydians, the Romans, the Tartaric Sclavonians, the Mexicans, the Peru-
vians, and tlic Sandwich islanders. We have further learned, that the old
constitution ot Iran, tluis so generally adopted, placed the allied sacerdotal
ami military castes at the head of the body politic; and reduced the whole
mass of the governed to a state of hereditary dogiadation, by which, from
the very circumstance of their birth, they were for ever excluded from all
authority whether civil or ecclesiastical : that it was a constitution in short,
as Holy Scripture testifies, by whicii one distinct race of men secured to
' Cook's ll)ird voyage, b. v. c. )<.
THE OKIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 48 j
themselves a paramount authority over a multitude of other distinct races, chap, nr.
We have consequently learned, hy joining these two particulars together,
thai, in ahnost every part of the world, the very constitution, which was
originally devised by Niinrod and his Cuthic associates, has prevailed more
or less ptrfectly even from the most remote antiquity : that is to say, pre-
cisely after the Iranian model, a strong line of demarcation has been drawn
between the governors and the governed ; so that the former should uni-
versally be composed of a sacerdotal caste and a military caste systemati-
cally acting togetlier, while the latter should universally consist of the great
mass of the people variously divided into other inferior castes according to
the progress of this or that society. We have also found, that such an
arrangement cannot be accounted for on the mere general principle, that
every community must necessarily resolve itself into the governors and the
governed : because, under a constitution of this sort, the great offices of
cliurch and state are not opoi to all whose talents may be a perfect quali-
fication for them ; but arc systematically confined to certain ruling faujilies,
while the mass of the subjugated plebeians is for ever necessarily excluded
from them. We have further learned, agreeably to such a marked and
humiliating distinction, that the two higher castes always esteemed them-
selves a totally different race from the numerous lower castes ; that they
carefully abstained from contracting marriages with them, lest the purity of
tlieir higli descent should be contaminated by an ignoble mixture ; that, in
the studied depression of the commonalty, they always acted togetlier; that
a king might either be a priest or a noble, and in fact that as a king he was
a member of both classes, but that lie never could be taken from one of the
lower castes ,' and that these two superior classes, by the united influence
of religion and arms and policy, ever guarded tlieir high privileges with the
most consummate art and the most jealous circumspection. And we have
lastly determined, both on abstract principles and on the sure evidence of
history, that such an order of things, however generally it may have pre-
vailed, never could have emanated out of the bosom of an homogeneous
society, but must have been the result of one distinct race acquirin;: the
dominion over another distinct race : for, as a mixed society gradually by
lapse of time becomes homogeneous, and as old ditt'erences of origin are at
484 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOK VI. length forgotten, there is always a strong tendency to destroy a constitution
of privileged and unprivileged castes, never to inti'oduce one where it was
previously unknown. Hence we find, that, while the pertinacity of Indian
habits still retains unaltered the primeval constitution of Iran, such forms
of government have successively vanished or are vanishing from off the face
of the earth, and have given place to a more liberal and equitable arrange-
ment. Even the government by castes, which at a comparatively recent
period was again introduced into western Europe by the conquests of the
Goths and the Saxons, has almost entirely disappeared : and the acquisi-
tion of the very inghest rank in the state and in the church, with the sole
exception of royalty itself, is offered indiscriminately to the laudable exer-
tions of talent and of virtue. But, in no single instance recorded by history,
did we ever observe the origination of castes from an homogeneous so-
ciety '.
(2.) Now from these premises the obvious conclusion seems to be this :
as the various kindred mythological systems of Paganism were all equally
carried off from the centrical region of Iran ; so the several political con-
stitutions, in which the unmixing castes of priests and soldiers were univer-
sally placed at the head of the community while the mass of the governed
were consigned to irremediable hereditary depression, were all equally
branches or transcripts of that ancient constitution established by Nimrod
and the Cuthim, which was so decisively marked by the very same exclu-
sive spirit and by the very same arrangement of the different orders. But,
if such a conclusion be legitimate, since the priests and soldiers of the Ira-
nian empire were undoubtedly Cuthim, wc are almost inevitably compelled
to suppose, that the liercditary priests and soldiers of the other empires,
fornictl by them of the dispersion, were Cuthim likewise : for, as the several
tribes would naturally go off under their wonted leaders both ecclesiastical
and military ; so no other liypothesis will satisfactorily account for the
curiously general adoption of the identical government by castes, which
' Mr. Volney, in the midst of a farrago of impiety and folly, viglitly traces the origin of
castes to the suhjugation of one race of men by another distinct race. In fact, no circum-
stance hut tliis mil account for the rise of so apparently strange an order of things.
Jliiine, chap. xi. p. £8.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 485
was sagaciously contrived by Niinrod and iiis brethren of the house of cuap. hi.
Cush.
2. A theory however like the present, which to some may wear the
aspect of a paradox, ouglit not to be liglitly adopted. It will naturally be
inquired, whether we have any J act s, beyond the palpable identity of the
several constitutions both in form and spirit, on which it can be satisfac-
torily established : whether we have any proofs, that the hereditary nobles
and priests of almost all nations were mutually allied by blood, that they
were universally descended from the same stock, and that they were of an
entirely ditferent race from the various nations which they respectively go-
verned : whether in short we have any direct testimony, that the two higher
castes, wherever they may be discovered, are branches of the family of
Cush : while the subjugated multitude, in nearly all parts of at least the
ancient world, is composed of the various separate descendants of the other
patriarchs ?
(1.) In a matter of such remote antiquity, it would be no great wonder
if I were unable to produce any positive demonstration beyond the remark-
able circumstances which have already been noticed ; and the theory might
perhaps be fairly let to stand upon the single point of a perfect mutual re-
semblance between a number of political constitutions, which could only
have originated from the depression of one race of men by another race.
For, where we always find, in such constitutions, first an order of priests,
secondly an order of military nobles, and thirdly a subjugated multitude
variously divided according to their several trades and occupations ; and
where we constantly perceive, that, in addition to the external form, the
spirit of these constitutions is universally that of excluding the lower orders
from all places of trust or authority and of systematically dooming them to an
unalterable state of servile depression : where we observe such to be uni-
versally the case, and when we find the prototype of all these constitutions
to have existed in Iran previous to the dispersion ; it is difiicult to avoiil
concluding, that they were alike carried off from Babylonia, and that their
several sacerdotal and military castes were composed of the brethren of
those who formed the two original higher castes of the primeval Cuthic
monarchy. But, though I may not, in every instance, be able to adduce
486 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IPOLATRY.
any additional facts to those which have been already specified ; it is truly
remarkable to observe, how much positive evidence has, in many cases,
actually come down to us. Let us proceed then to examine this evidence.
With respect to the Hindoos, Sir William Jones states it, as an undoubted
matter of fact, that their early history is no other than the early history of
Iran locally appropriated, and that the Brahmens and their brethren the
Chattries came out of Chaldt-a '. Such also is the the result, to which both
M. Bailli and General Vallancey found themselves inevitably brought by the
mere force of evidence * : and it perfectly accords with the traditions and
practices of the Brahmens themselves. Six hundred miles from Bengal,
they have an university for the instruction of their order : and the town,
where it is situated, bears the name of Cashi from their great ancestor Cash
or Cush ; whose appellation, as the acknowledged grandson of the ark-pre-
served Menu, is still familiarly preserved among them, and whom Sir Wil-
liam Jones scruples not to identify with the Cush of Moses. At this semi-
nary of learning they teach the Sanscrit and the Persic languages : and
still, after the lapse of so many ages, they continue to study their original
Chaklee, in which their ancient books of physic are chiefly written '. Ac-
cordingly, they tlicmselvcs own, that they arc not natives of India, but that
they of old descended into its plains through the pass of llcridwar : and
they additionally inform us, that their military caste is of the same family
as the Chasas or Chusas; whom the Greeks termed from their locality
Jndo-Scuths, and who claim the illustrious Chasa or Chusa as their com-
mon ancestor ^ The very name indeed of this caste points out its origin,
and tlius serves to shew the accuracy of the Hindoo testimony: its mem-
bers, wlio are declared brellncn of the Cliusas, style themselves CJtattries
or Khdtries or Csheltrks ; which is but Cushim or Chusas or Cuth'nn or
Cut him, somewhat variously written. It seems probable, if we njay argue
from old tradition relative to the conquests of the hero-god Rama, that the
' Asiat. Res. vol. ii. p. 55.
* Viiulic. of anc. hist, of Irel. prcf. p. xxiii. work. p. 222.
' Min. of Ant. Soc. Lend, upud Vallan. Ibid,
* Asiat. lies. vol. V. p. 259. vol. vi. p. ]:55, 4>5Q.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 487
forefathers of the present sacerdotal and military classes were chiefly Cuthim chap. m.
of the line of Raamah, and that they subjugated rather than planted the
lower India. Previous to their irruption, it was occupied by Sheniites of
the house of Joktan under the rule of other Cuthim ; who had preferred
that more simple superstition of Buddha, which Epiphanius denominates
Scuthisin. Hence the Buddhists of India make Shcm to be an incarnation
of their favourite god ; and strenuously contend, what indeed numerous
monuments throughout the country sufliciently prove, that their religion
preceded and was supplanted by the more complex system of Brahmenism
or lonism '. But, however this may be, we have sufficient evidence, that
the two higher castes of the Hindoos, the Brahmens and the Chattries, emi-
grated from Chaldca or Iran, and that they are descendants of the house of
Cush.
Such an origin will of course make them the brethren of the Samanfeans
or Jainists or Cuthic priests of Buddha ; whom, accordingly, Clemens and
Porphyry describe as being one sect of Indian philosophers, while they
represent the Brachmans as being the other *. Hence, although the Jains
are said to have once spread themselves over the whole of Hindostan and
to have contended with the intrusive Brahmens from Chaldca, they are yet
acknowledged to be of the same house as the military tribe, and are exhi-
bited to us as presiding in a community divided into separate castes '.
Agreeably to this circumstance, we find Hindoos in Bactriana : and, as the
Brahmens have engrafted the early history of Iran upon their peculiar na-
tional history; so the extensive range of country, which we have traced
under the names of Iran or Cusha-du-ip or Ethiopia, namely the whole
region south of the Caspian, was known also by the appellation of India
which was yet further extended so as to take in the Indo-Scythas of Cashgar
and Bokhara *.
This arrangement, which makes the titles of Cuth and Sindh convertible
(as, in fact, we always find them to be), will again exhibit to us the Magi
' Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 524'— 531.
* Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 305. Porph. de abst. lib. iv. § 17.
' Asiat. Res. vol. ix. p. 247, 277, 285.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iv. p. 39^. vol. i. p. ilS.
488 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
BOOK VI. and Nobility of Persia, as the brethren by blood of the Brahmens and Chat-
tries of India. Accordingly, we have every particular, that we could wish,
to identify them with each other. The Magi, so far as we can judge from
the accounts which have come down to us of them, were palpable Brah-
mens ; and their very locality proves them to have been a branch of the old
* Iranian priesthood, for Persia was a province of the Iranian empire ' : while
the mountaineer Persians of the military order have been incontrovertibly
demonstrated to be Scythians or Goths or Cuchas ; whence to this day they
call themselves Kisilblecs or Kisslans or Cassiin, and mightily value them-
selves on their ancient Scythian extraction as raising them high in rank above
the vulgar herd *.
We have now advanced far into the west of Asia : let us at once pro-
ceed to the extremity of Europe, and then measure back our steps to the
point which we left.
Sir William Jones, as we have recently seen, pronounces the Celts or
Cimmerians to be of the same great family as the Scuths or Cuths or Hin-
doos '. His assertion is erroneous, only as being too general and unUmited.
The Cimmerians, as a body, were certainly not of the Scuthic house ; a
point, which has been amply established by Mr. Pinkerton and Bp. Percy
before him : nationally, they were Gomerim of the house of Japhet. Yet,
thou^h Gomerim nationally, they were under the rule of a Cuthic priest-
hood and nobility: hence we read of certain Hyperboreans, who inhabited
a large island to the north of Gaul, being of the later Titanic or giant race ;
by which we must understand, agreeably to the usual application of the term,
the postdiluvian Cuthic family *. Unless I be much mistaken, these Cim-
merians set out from Cnsha-dwip on their progress westward, about the
same time that the children of Raamah invaded Hindostan : and this ex-
pedition of theirs under Cuthic leaders is plainly cnougli intimated in the
legends of the Brahmens with much accuracy and consistency, provided we
only take India in the extensive signification of all Iran or Cusha-dwip
* Herod. Hist. lib. i. c. 10. Rorlasc's Cornwall, book ii. c. 22.
* Pinkcrton's Dissert, p. 37. Vallan. Viiulic. prcf. p. xxv.
' Vide supra § IV. ,0.
* Schol. in I'iiid. Olyiup. iii. ver. 28. Died. Bibl.Iib. ii. p. 130.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 489
■within according to its definition as lately specified. Thus we are told, tiiat cuap. mi.
the Indian Atri carried the Vedas from the abode of the hero-gods on the
summit of Meru to the remote insular regions of the west : and there, ac-
cordingly, we find both Atri and the Vedas ; the one under the name of
Idris, the other under that of the holy books of the ruler of the mount \
Thus likewise we are told, that gods and men covjointli) migrated from
India to the same occidental country : and there again we find exactly
these two descriptions of persons ; a governing race who claimed to be of
the family of the gods, and a governed race who were reduced to the most
abject servitude *. The palpable difference between them was not un-
marked by the accurate eye of Cesar : and, some time before the literary
treasures of the east were fully opened to us. Dr. Borlase was so struck
with the perfect Aesemblance of the Druids to the Persian Magi and the
Indian Brahmens, that he declared it impossible to doubt their identity '.
Mr. Rowland argues much in the same way with regard to the Irish Druids ;
who, as usual, constituted the first of the three classes into which the com-
munity was divided: be feels assured, that they must have been Magi*.
Long indeed before our day, a similar remark had been made by Pliny :
for, while he intimates that the Druids were so extravagantly addicted to
Magic that they might have been the preceptors of the Persians, he scruples
not to apply to them the very name of Magi '. Dr. Borlase however is
somewhat perplexed by an unfortunate remark of Cesar, that the disciphne
of the Druids was thought to have been invented in Britain and to have
been thence carried over into Gaul ; on which account, they, who wished
to make themselves thoroughly masters of it, were accustomed to visit the
island for the purposes of study *. Now, if this remark be perfectly accu-
rate, or if it be so understood as to imply that the Druidical orfler origi-
nated in Britain ; it is obvious, that that order cannot then have been im-
ported iiito the country by the first settlers from Iran : so that, in that case,.
' Asiat. Res. vol. v. p. 260. Davies's Mythol. p. 266. Celt. Research, p. 173.
* Asiat. Res. vol. ix. p. 285.
^ Borlase's Cornw. b. ii. c. 1. p. 63. c. 4. p. 75. c. 22. p. U*. ♦ Men. Ant. p. 109*
' Plin. Nat. HisU lib. xxx. c. 1. lib. xvi. c. 44. * Caes. de bell. Gall. lib. vL c. 13.
Pag. Idol. VOL. III. 3Q
4.90 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
the Druids cannot be IVIagi, unless we exactly invert the progress of colo-
nization, and bring the ]\Iagi out of Biitain instead of the Druids out of
Iran ; a supposition, wliich so contradicts the whole history that it cannot
for a moment be tolerated. I must confess, that I do not see any thing in
the matter but what may be easily enough accounted for. In the days of
Cesar, the Celts or Cimmerians had been pushed by the encroaching Scy-
thians to the extremities of the west ; though in the time of Darius Hys-
taspis, they had only been attacked by them on the confines of Europe and
Asia '. Under such circumstances, the most learned of the Druids, wish-
ing to preserve their system in its utmost purity, would naturally retire as
far as possible from the scene of danger and tumult. Hence Britain would
long be their special sanctuary : and hence Cesar, finding that the Gallic
Di'uids went thither for instruction rather than the British Druids into Gaul,
would obviously be led to suppose that the religion originated in the island
and was thence brought to the continent. In progress of time, the same
causes produced a repetition of the same effects : and, when south Britain
was subjugated by the Romans, Anglesey became to the larger island what
the larger island had previously been to Gaul. It was the special recep-
tacle and university of the Druids, where they resided under the superin-
tendance of their Archdruid : and from this point the streams of their col-
lective wisdom continued to flow, until they were finally either eradicated
by the invaders or compelled to flee into Ireland and the northern isles *.
The Druids then may be safely pronounced a branch of the Magi or sacer-
dotal tribe of Iran : for, as the progress of the Cimmerians from upper
Asia to tlie utmost boundaries of the west may be distinctly traced in his-
tory, and as the resemblance between the Druids and the IMagi is too
n)arkcd and too univeisal to be the result of mere acciilcnt ' ; we may feel
assured, tiiat, when the Gomerians emigrated iVom Iran, they went oif under
the priesthood and military nobility to whose sway they were already ac-
customed. With this opinion agree the Iniditions of the Hindoos, wiio
■ Herod. Hist. lib. iv. c. 1, 11, 12.
' Tacit. Aniiiil. lib. xiv. c. '29, ^0. Rowland's IVlon. Ant. p. 70.
^ Tlu; rceuiiii)lancc is cxcflloiilly drawn out by Dr. Borlusc. Coniw. b. ii. c. 22.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 491
have wonderfully preserved the knowledge of early emigrations. We learn ''''*''• "
from them, that the Maghas or Maf^i of Iran were so styled from a title of
their god ; for Mag/ti is a name of Buddha or Mahabad. This personage is
deemed the common father of all the various families of the Maghas : who
are spread tiirough the eastern parts of Hindustan, the Burman empire,
Siam, and China, countries peculiarly devoted to the worship of Buddha ;
and who colonized and gave their name to the land of JMagadha, where
Buddha or Magha was sometimes thought to have been born. The sacer-
dotal order among these Maghas, viewed as a nation, is allowed to be com-
posed of Brahmens : and these bear also the ajjpcUation of iSncas or iia-
calas, because tiiey came into Hindustan from Sacam or Saca-dwip. But
the Sacas are acknowledged by all writers, both eastern and western, to be
of the same great house as the Chusas or Scuths or Goths : and their an-
cestors were seated of old in Cusha-duip within, or the oriental land of
Cush, or Iran in its largest sense. From this region, while some of them
migrated into Hindostan ; others, according to tlie Puranas, travelled west-
ward, and at one period occupied the lesser Asia called from them Saai'
dxvip. But here they did not finally settle : for Buddha, under the appel-
lation of Magha, is said to be the grandchild of the venerable Twashta in
the west; and the Sacas or Maghas are said to have penetrated far into
the occidental islands '. Now this cannot relate to the comparatively recent
conquest of Britain by the Saxons : because, in the state of the world at
that period, the Hindoos could not possibly have received any tidings of
such an event. It must refer therefore to a far more ancient colonizins of
the west by the old Cimmerians, under the rule of the Sacas or Maghas. .
Such being the case, the two higher castes among the Celts must clearly
have been of the same family as the two higher castes among tlie Iranians
and the Hindoos : for they are all equally Maghas. But tlie Maghas arc
Sacas ; and the Sacas are Scuths or Cliusas : they are likewise declared to
be of the same race as the military caste, as they have already been identi-
fied with that of the Brahmens *. Hence it will inevitably follow, that the.
• Asiat. Res. vol. ix. p. 74, 82. vol. vi. p. 508, 516. vol. viii. p. 368, .'?69, 2S7.
* Asiat. RcB. voL ii. p. 369. vol. vi. p. 456. vol. L\. p. 74.
492 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. Druids, the INIagi, the Biahmeiis, and the several military castes associated
with them in empire, were all of one family : and it will likewise follow,
in exact accordance with the theory which I advocate, that that family was
the Scuthic or Sacasenic house of Cush or Cusha or Cuth. As the Celtic
Druids of Gaul, and Britain, and Ireland, perfectly resembled the Magi,
in their doctrines and institutes ; and as they have been proved to be bre-
thren by blood of those Magi, whether settled in Iran or scattered over
eastern India: we shall not wonder to find them all distinguished by com-
mon appellations ; a circumstance, which tends additionally to prove that
the Druids were a branch of the Iranian Magi. Thus, if in the west the
members of the sacerdotal caste were styled Drui, or Denii/dii, or Draoi;
they were in Persia denominated Darn, or Drud, or Daruth : if in the
west, Baidlis ; in Persia, Bads, while the chief of the order, as the repre-
sentative of Maha-Bad or tlie great Buddha, bore the name of Mu-Bad or
Maha-Bad: if in the west, Readas; in Persia, Radi; or Riuuh: if in the
west, Sagans; in Persia and India, Sacas: and finally, if throughout the
east, Magi, or Magas or ]\/ag/ias or Hlogkas ; in the west, Mags, or
Mughs, or Mughs, or Miiclis '. Such coincidences are too marked and
too numerous to be merely accidental : the necessary conclusion from them
all is that, which has already been drawn.
But, if tlie Celtic Druids be bretliren of tlie Magi and the Brahmens,
since they occupy the two extremities of the east and the west, it seems
almost inevitably to follow, that tlie various intermediate sacerdotal and
military classes should likewise be branches of the same great family.
Hence wc find Clemens enumerating, as kindred philosophers, the priests
of the Egyptians, the Clialdeans or Chusdiui of the Babylonians, the Druids
of the Gauls, the Semaneans of the Bactrians, the wise men of tiie Celts,
the Magi of the Persians, the Sarmaneans of the Buddhists, and the Braii-
mens of the Hindoos*. Hence also we find Pythagoras constantly rcceiv-
iiif IDOLATRY. 493
and Thrace am) Delos and Imbros and Samothrace and Eleusis '. And cuKv.tn.
hence, as tl»e Hindoos represent Atri, as travelling with tlie Vedas into
tlie west ; so they equally describe him, as bearing them into Egypt and
as introducing them on the banks of Nile. Here he consigned them to the
care of his son Datta : and here we recognize both Datta and tlie Vedas
in Taut and in the mysterious books attributed to him*. With respect to
this last country, the origin of the two superior castes must not be ascribed
to the invasion and conquest of it by the Shepherd-kings, though they doubt-
less were of the same great family as those intruders. The reason is obvi-
ous. The castes still subsisted long after the Shepherd-kings had been
expelled ; which would not have been the case, had they been composed of
those pastoral warriors : and, as we shall hereafter see, they had equally
existed previous to the irruption of the Shepherds ; so that they must have
been coeval with the first planting of Egypt by the Mizraim. It is not
unworthy of observation, that Aristotle speaks of the Persian Magi, as
being prior in point of antiquity to the Egyptian priesthood '. In this he
is perfectly accurate : for tlie Magi or Cuthic priests of Iran were esta-
blished previous to the dispersion; while the Egyptian priests, like the
Brahmens and the Druids, were but an emigrating branch of them.
(2.) But the consanguinity of the two higher orders, in whatever quarter
of the world they may be found, is yet further proved by the very extraor-
dinary intercourse, which in old times subsisted between them: a circum-
stance easily accounted for, on the ground of their long-remembered mutual
relationship; but, on any other other su|)position, wholly inexplicable.
it has been shewn at large by General Vallancey, that, between the
ancient Irish and the ancient Persian histories down even to the time of
Darius Codoman, there is such a regular coincidence of successive parti-
culars, that we are compelled to believe the one a mere localized tJ-anscript
of the other*. But this transcription could not have taken place, unless
an intercourse had subsisted between the two countries as late as the days
of that prince ; and it is hard to conceive, how that intercourse could have
' Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. i. p. 302, 303, 30t. Jambl. de vit. Pytli. J 1.>1.
* Asiat. Res. vol. v. p. 260, 261. ^ Uiog. Lacit. Prooem. p. 6.
♦ Vallan. Vind. p. 319. et alibi.
494 THE ORIGIN OF PAOAN IDOLATHT.
BOOK VI. been kept up except through the medium of the intervening Magi and
Druids, Ireland must, from time to time, have received small colonies
from Persia : and the Cuthic leaders of these, who were freely suffered to
pass through the settlements of their acknowledged brethren, brought with
them, and locally adopted in the west as their own national history, what
was really the oriental history of their ancestors ',
Of such a friendly intercourse, strange as it may seem, it is easy to pro-
duce examples. Pythagoras, we find, without the least appearance of
either danger or apprehension or difficulty, visited alike the Druids, the
Magi, the Chaldeans, the Iberian Sacas, and the Brahmens: the shipwreck
of a Hindoo on the shore of the Red sea is said to have first opened the
maritime route to India : Ariovistus king of the Suevi, fifty nine years be-
fore Christ, presented Metellus Celer with some Hindoos, who had been
wrecked as they were crossing either the Baltic or the German ocean ;
and, in . more recent times, Hindoos have been seen near the lake Baikal,
at Moscow, and even at Tobolsk in Siberia \ So again : Sir William
Jones thinks there is sufficient evidence to prove, that Egyptian priests
have sometimes emigrated from the banks of the Nile to those of the
Ganges and the Jumna; where they were courteously received, and freely
allowed to settle, by their kindred the Brahmens '. Nor was the Celtic
priesthood less addicted to similar roving. Herodotus has preserved a
curious account of two sacred Hyperborean virgins travelling from the
north to Delos : the worship of the third Apollo was brought, according to
Cicero, by the Ilyperboreatig to Delphi: the Hyperboreans themselves,
accoi ding to Mnaseas, were Delphians ; that is to say, their sacerdotal
' The Ibllowing excellent remark of M. I'.ailli tlirovvs much light on this curious though
very natural localization of history. JVIien a nation, cither in a body or by colonies, changes
its habitation, in this ■peaceable migration it traniqmrts every tiling along xvith it, al-l its insti-
tutions, sciences, remembrance of' past transactions, and memory of its ancestors. The historii
of its first state has always preceded the history of its second. At length, its traditions are
altered by their antiquity: time has confounded the ivliole ; and the txm histories Jorm no
more than one. See then, howjiicls, true in themselves, become false as referred to the placesa
where they are sii/rposed to have happened. Lcttr. sur I'Atlantide. \>. '28.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p, 49. vol. x. p. 106 — 108, 116. Slraliicnbcrg's Siber. p. 103.
^ Maur. Ind. Ajit. vol. iii. p. G'2, G3.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAiV IDOLATRY. 495
order was of the same lineage as the Ionic or Cuthic Greeks : and the phi- cuap. m.
losophical Abaris journeyed from the great island of the Hyperboreans,
which lies to the north of Gaul and in which the solar god was worshipped
in a large circular stone temple, with a view of renewing the ancient league
of friendship between his brethren and the Delians '. Such journeys imply
all the confidence of acknowledged relationship and common interest be-
tween the several governing powers : and the mode, in which the travel-
lers were amicably passed forward from one nation to another, as detailed
with much particularity by Herodotus, points out the manner in wliich
these expeditions were accomplished*.
(3.) It was from this universal consanguinity, that we so perpetually
find the priests of very different countries distinguished by the same appel-
lations; while the appellations themselves are but various titles of the great
family, from which they were descended.
The members of that family were styled Cushim or Cusas, from their
ancestor CusJi ; Sacas or Sagas or Sacasenas, from their god Saca or
Buddha ; and, Palli or Pclasgs or PhUlsthn or Failas, on account of their
constant assumption of the favourite character of Shepherds. Now all
these names are sacerdotal appellations : and the reason, why they became
so, was the origination of the priesthood from the house of Cush, Thus,
in the ancient Irish, in the Japanese, in the Syriac, in the Ethiopic, in the
Aral)ic, in the Persic, and in the old Pelasgic dialect of Samothrace, Cois
or Ctishes or Cusis or Cass or Cusccs or Kish or Cotes equally denotes
a priest or ??iiniste?- of religionK Thus also, what strongly serves to cor-
roborate the hypothesis of the common descent of the sacerdotal and mili-
tary classes, Sugau, in the Chaldce of Babylonia whence it was latterly
adopted into the Hebrew, signifies both a magus and a nobleman: Sagati,
both in the Irish and in the language of the northern Americans, is a priest:
Zauag/iar, among the Persians, was the title of the Archimagus : Sagart,
in the P^thiopic, is a military grandee : and Sheidi, among the Arabs of
' Herod. Hist. lib. iv. c. 35. Cicer. de nat. deor. lib. iii. c. 23. Schol. in Apoll. Argon,
lib. ii. ver. 677. Died. Bibl. lib. ii. p. 1:50.
* Herod. Hist. lib. iv. c. 33—35.
' Vallan. Vind. p. 441, 442. Hesych. Lex. Koir,;.
496 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK vr. tjje desert, is equivalent to a chief or nobleman '. Tiius likewise, among
the Irish, the Phenicians, the Chaldeans, the Sicilians, and tlie Canaanites,
Filea or Phileagh or Phllach or Palic was equally employed to denote a
priest or magus *.
Such multiplied coincidences appear to be something more than acci-
dent : and, when we consider the origination of tlie sacerdotal and military
castes in every part of the world, it seems reasonable to ascribe these appel^
lations to the source which has been pointed out.
(4.) Before the subject be entirely dismissed, we must notice another
peculiarity, which is of too extraordinary a nature to be passed over in
silence. By the junction of hero-worship with astronomical Sabianism, the
great father was venerated in the orb of the Sun, and the great mother in
the crescent of the Moon : or, what was the obvious consequence of as-
cribing an hermaphroditic nature to the universal parent, this ancient cha-
racter was sometimes viewed, as the masculine genius of the ]\Ioon no less
than of the Sun. Hence those actions and sufferings, which properly be-
lona;ed to the chief demon god and goddess, were ascribed to the two prin-
cipal heavenly bodies : and, as all mankind were descended from the for-
' mer, all mankind would mystically be said to have sprung from the latter.
But so proud and wonderful a genealogy offered too fair an opening for
deceptively extending the influence of the governing powers, to be lightly
passed over and neglected. The higher classes, accordingly, soon arro-
gated to themselves, what, upon the principles of the established supersti-
tion, was equally common to all. They gave themselves out to be emi-
nently the children of the Sun and the Moon ; those deities, who were
acknowledged to be the grand objects of religious adoration : and, in virtue
of this descent, which exhibited them as of a wholly different race from
the sui)j()gatcfl vulgar, they seemed to build their authority upon the firm
basis of a riglit dearly divine. Now, if I mistake not, the very general
systematic assumption of such titles may be adduced as another argument
' Dan. ii. 4ft. iii. 2. Jcrcm. li. HT. Vallan. Vind. p. 410, d.W. Hyde de rcl. vet. Pcrs.
p. 279. Ad.iir'n Hist, of Arner. Ind. Ilcncc, from the wisdom of llio i)rioslhood, is de-
rived our Gothic word Sage and the Latin Saga.
* Vallunc. Vind. p. U5, UG.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 497
to prove the common oriefore a well-informed Pundit and shewed him the situ-
ation of his own country Cashmir, he instantly placed his finger on the
iiorlh-vvestern provinces of China as the region where the Chinas of Menu
first established themselves, and added that Rlaha-China or great China
• Instit. of Menu. c. x. J 43, 4t, 45, * Strab. Gcog. lib. xv. p. 723.
■" Strab. Gcog. lib. xii. p. 5.51. * Asiat. lies. vol. i. p. 23a
' Strab. Geog. lib. xi. p. 511, 512. Aniat. Res. vol. viii. p. 301. vol. vi. p. 517.
* Aeiat. Ue8. vol. iii. p. 72, Hi.
THE OUIGrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 503
Extended to the eastern and southern oceans ', The Ciratas seems to be
the Circassians and other neighbouring kindred tribes. Tlie Deradas are
the Derds ; wliom Strabo describes as a great nation of the mountaineer
Indians, stretching towards the east*. And the Chasas are most undoubt-
edly those, whom the Greeks caWed Incio-Sci/t lies : for they still occupy
the same tract of country, and still possess those high lands on the north
of Hindostan which bear the name of Cashmr or Chasa-? OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK VI. rians ; who of old occupied a part of Asia, and spread over the wliole of
central Europe. At this early period, those vast regions must rather have
been possessed, than peopled, by the Celtic tribes : and no doubt by far
the greatest portion of them must have been one continued forest. Hence
no serious impediment, on the part at least of tlie aboriginal inhabitants,
could have been thrown in the way of the intruders. They, accordingly,
pushed forward from the west of the Euxine : and, as the north presented
but little temptation, they directed their steps towards the more promising
districts of the south. The new adventurers were a branch of those Scy-
thians, whom the Hindoos denominate Palli or Shepherds: and the title
was perfectly well known and recognized among themselves also. Accord-
ingly, we find them making their first appearance in Thrace under the
name of Pelasgi. But we are not to build upon mere similarity of appel-
lations : j\lr. Pinkerton proves, from the direct testimony of the ancients,
that the Pelasgi were undoubtedly Scythians : so that, wherever we find
this daring tribe, there we also find a member of the great Scythic family'.
Their almost entire occupation of Thrace led the Greek writers to pro-
nounce the Thracians in general Scuths or Getcs ; and IMr. Pinkerton has
followed them in their ojjinion : I am inclined however to believe, that this
country, at the time of the Pelasgic invasion, was already peopled thinly
with the ciiikiren of the Japhetic Tiras; whom Moses places in the isles of
the Gentiles, and who seems to have communicated his patriarchal appel-
lation to Thracia or Tirasia '.
From this country the Pelasgi advanced into the still more southern ter-
ritories of Javan; where they appear to have met with no ciVectual resist-
ance. At least they made themselves masters of the whole of Greece :
and tliat at so early a [)eriod, that they have not unfi-cqucntly been mis-
taken for tlie Javanic aborigines '. The error no doubt arose from their
having occupied the country long before the arrival of their brethren, the
Ionic Hellenes, from Egypt and Phenicia : and their occupation of it was
at once so ancient and so complete, that they arc described as being the
' I'inkurton's Dissert, p. 58— VS). * 11)1(1. p. 52—5(5.
' Of fliis mistake I acknowledge myself to have been once guilty. Dissert, on the
Cabir. vol. ii. p. 359, 3G0.
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRY- 509
oldest people of Greece, and are said to have communicated the name of chap, jv.
Pelasgia not only to the Peloponnesus but even to the ^vhole of the Java-
nic peninsula '.
While some of them were seizing upon continental Greece, others esta-
blished themselves in the islands : and, as Samothrace and Iiiibrus and
Lemnos uere among their first settlements, they at length sent colonics
both to Crete and to the entire shore of Asia IVIinor *. In the w orship,
M-liich they introduced into Samothrace, they left the clearest traces of their
Indo-Scythic extraction : for it has been found, that both the barbarous
names of the Cabiric gods, and the mysterious formula Conx Om Pax,
are precisely the same as what are still received and used among the
Hindoos '.
From the Greek islands and the coast of Asia Minor some of them sailed
to Italy, under the conduct of Tyrrhenus or Tyrsenus ; who is variously
described as the son of Attis, or Hercules, or the ark-exposed Telephus *.
This Tyrrhenus or Toranath was either their god or a pretended incarna-
tion of him : for Attis was the same as Bacchus, and both Hercules and
Telephus were equally the great father. From him the colony took the
name of Ti/rrheni or Tuscans : and both their settlement and their progress
serve to shew at once their origin and the nature of their superstition. The
oracle of their ark-god charged them to direct their course to the western
Saturnia; and forbad them to rest, until they should find a sacred lake with
a floating island. This command was duly obeyed : and, when the lake
was discovered with its mysterious navicular appendage whicii was deemed
the navel of Italy, they bestowed upon it, from the name of their ancestor
Cuth united with that of the Indo-Scythic Ha, the appellation of Cutilia or
Cotylc \
Meanwhile the Pelasgic Scythaj, whom we liad left in Thrace, sent out
' Strab. Geog. lib. v. p. 221. lib. vii. p. 327. Herod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 56.
» Strab. Geog. lib. v. p. 220, 221. Pink. Dissert, p. 58—79-
3 Asiat. Res. vol. v. p. 297—301.
* Strab. Geog. lib. v. p. 221. Sophoc. apud Dion. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. i. c. 25. Tzetx.
in Lycoph. ver. 1237, 124-2, 1351. Hyg. Fab. 274.
i Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. lib. i. c. 15, 19. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iii. c. 12.
,'510 The origin of pagan idolatrt.
BOOK VI. fresh swarms towards the west. These occupied or planted the district of
lUvricum : and then, winding round the head of the Adriatic, they de-
scended into Italy ; where they joined their brethren the Tyrrheni, founded
the city of Rome, and became the ancestors of the future masters of the
world '. From such ancient transactions, which have been shewn by Mr.
Pinkerton to be positive historical facts, originated, I have no doubt, the
* fable of the Trojan descent of the Romans. The Dardanians or Iliensians,
as both direct testimony and as every part of their history demonstrates,
were a colony of Indo-Scythas*. Hence they were brethren of the Ro-
mans : and, as a tribe of Tyrrhenic Pelasgi are declared to have sailed from
those parts to Italy, it is easy to conceive, how the story of theEneid might
have been embellished or invented.
Others of the Pelasgi made themselves masters of the country, known
to the Romans by the name oi Cisalp'me Gaul: and thence, forcing their
w ay to the north-west, they drove the real Celts or Gauls towards the east,
and penetrated to the shores of the English channel and the German ocean.
f Here, according to the accurate distinction of Cesar, they varied their ap-
pcllution of Palli or Bhals or Pelasgi into Balags or Bolgs or Belgce.
These, and not the Gomerian Celts, as Mr. Pinkerton has distinctly shewn,
were the Gauls, who, during the early days of the republic, were so formi-
dable to Rome.
Having now reached tlie ocean, they beeamc a maritime people: and
their next enterprizc was to invade the south of Britain and Ireland. Suc-
cess still attended them : for the Celts, debased by the servitude of their
political system, were never able to resist the arms of a whole nation of
military nobles. All the south-cast of England, as we learn from Cesar,
was possessed by tlie Bclgx, who had driven ihe Celts back into the inte-
rior : and, in Ireland, we find them masters of tlie sea-coast and domineer-
ing over the original natives, under the appellation oi Fir-BolgK
(2.) .\t tlic time when the Scythians planted themselves round the Euxine,
the whole of middle Europe from that sea to the Atlantic ocean and from
' Pink. Dissert, p. 57, FA, 79— 8G. * Asiat. lies. vol. iii, p. 2i9.
' Piak. Dissert, p. 81.— 86, 121, 122, lit— 119.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN" IDOLATRY. 311
the Alps and the Danube to the Baltic was imperfectly colonized by the ciur. i».
Celtic descendants of Gomer : tliis is a fact, established by ancient liistory
beyond a possibility of doubt '. But, at the period when Cesar and after-
wards when Tacitus flourished (to say nothing of prior testimonies), all that
vast tract of country, which was comprehended within the limits of old Ger-
many, was occupied, with some trifling exceptions, by a singularly warlike
and intrepid race of men. Here then an important question arises respect-
ing the family, to which this great and military people is to be ascribed.
Cluverius and Pelloutier and Pezron suppose the Germans to be the chil-
dren of the aboriginal Celts or Cimmerians; and in this opinion, notwitii-
standing its direct contrariety to the evidence of the ancients, it was long
indolently acquiesced. Bp. Percy was, I believe, one of the first who con-
troverted it J for, upon examination, he found, that no two peojile were
more unlike in every particular than the Celts and the Germans, and that
all the old writers accordingly describe them as two entirely different races* ;
but the matter has since been completely set at rest by the laborious inves-
tigation of Mr, Pinkerton. Tiiat able inquirer begins with negatively de-
monstrating, that the Germans were neither Sarmatians nor Celts ' : and
then he proceeds to shew, by three grand arguments, that they were most
assuredly Scythians.
The first argument is that of identity of language : for the German,
while it is wholly different from the Celtic on the one hand and from the
Sclavonic on the other, is palpably the same as the Scythic or Gothic dia-
lect, into which the gospels were translated by Ulphilas, for the use of the
Woesian Goths, in the year 367 ; the same also as the present vulg.ir
tongue of the Crimea, which was in the very heart of the first settlement
of the Scythians when they began to migrate from Asia ; and the same
likewise, both in form and in structure and in numerous words, as the lan-
guage of the Persians, among whose tribes accordingly Herodotus actually
specifies the Germans*. The second argument is that of the universal tes-
' Pink. Dissert, p. 4.5— 51.
* Sec his lordship's admirable introductory preface to his translation of Mallet's Northern
Antiquities.
3 Pink. Dissert, p. 89—106. ♦ Ibid. p. 109— lit. Herod. Hist. lib. i. c. 125.
512 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATIiy.
BOOK VI. timony of ancient authors : these with one voice declare, that the Germans
and the Scythians were the same people ; and that, in consequence of the
decided predominance of the Germans, the Scythians were to be considered
as the ruling people of Europe '. The third argument is taken from the
similar manners of the Germans and the Scythians : these do not resemble
each other, merely in those vague and general points wherein all half-
civilized nations coincide, but in a great variety of arbitrary particulars
which could not have been the result of accident alone*.
On such solid grounds, the Germans may indisputably be pronounced
Scytliians : and, as it clearly appears both from Cesar and Tacitus that
they were an unmixed or homogeneous nation, for not the least vestige of a
servile caste, the invariable result of one people reducing another to a state
of subjection, can be discovered among them ; we must necessarily con-
clude, that, as the Scythians advanced westward from the Euxine, the Celts
retired before them, until they were finally driven to the extremities of Gaul
or compelled to take refuge in Britain. With this hypothesis some remark-
able facts will be found to agree very minutely. As the Scythic torrent
rolled westward, those ancient Celts, who happened to occupy insulated
and detached spots, would be left behind untouched, and would thus finally
be intercepted ami cut off from their retiring brethren. Such accordingly
Ave perceive to have been actually the case. The Cimbri or Cimmerians
had been shut nji in modern Jutland or the Cimbric Chersoncsus ; whence,
in the lime of Marius, uniting themselves with a branch of the Scythic
Teutons or Teutsch or Germans, they burst willi tremendous violence into
Italy '. And, in a similar manner, the Estyi had been left behind in some
projecting district on the southern shore of the Baltic : where, in the days
of Tacitus, they still remained, a Celtic tribe univci sally surrounded, save
to the north, by Scythic Germans *.
(3.) The Germans then of Cesar and Tacitus were Scythians, This be-
ing shewn, it may seem almost unnecessary to identify the Scythians witii
those formidable Goths, who subverted the western lloman empire, and
• rinkcrton's Dissert, p. 115—130. ' Ibiil. p. 131— M2.
* Plut. in vit. Marii. * Tacit, de mor. Germ. c. 45.
THE ORIGIN OF TAGAN IDOLATftY. 513
nho, with the exception of Russia and Poland and Hungary, founded tl>e cuap. it.
various kingdoms of modern Europe ; for it is superfluous to observe, that
they universally came out of Germany, crossing the Rhine to the west and
the Danube to the south : yet, that nothing may be wanting to complete
the matter, a few remarks shall be oft'ered upon that point also.
Mr. Pinkerton proves, that those, whom the Greek writers of one period
styled Getes, were the same people as those ; who, when better known,
were by the writers of another period denominated Goths. This was their
own acknowledged national appellation ; which by the earlier Hellenic his-
torians had, with a thinner sound, been expressed Getes. Hence it is
evident, that the Getes and the Goths were one family. But the Getes
were undoubtedly Scythians. The Goths therefore were Scythians like-
wise. In fact, Goth and South are but the same word differently pro-
nounced ; the one without, and the other with, the sibilant prefix '. The
Goths or Scythians of Germany then were the people, who harassed the
eastern, and who subverted the western, Roman empire. Yet there can
be no doubt, that their numbers were continually swelled by fresh acces-
sions from the east. The stream ceased not to flow, until the political
aspect of Europe was entirely changed : conquest naturally produced
castes : the victors became the military nobles : and the vanquished were
long degraded to the condition of serfs and villains. In the midst of this
great revolution, we may still perceive the two principal names which so
eminently predominated in Asia. The Chusas or Chasas, and tlie Sacas or
Sacasenas, of the Hindoo writers are the oriental Scuths and Sacas of the
Greeks : and the Scutiis and Sacas of the Greeks are the European Goths
and Saxons of more modern times.
Thus at length we are brought to the conclusion, that, since the Goths
and the Saxons are the descendants of the Chusas and the Sacae ; since
the Chusas and the Sacae are alike declared, in the Institutes of Menu, to
be branches of the Hindoo military caste ; since they themselves claim for
their patriarchal ancestor Chusa or Cusha ; and since the wide range, of
which they occupy a part, is by the Hindoos denominated Cusha-dwip
• Pink. Dissert, p. 7—1*.
Pag. Idol. 'vol. III. ST
514. THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
mf/iin and by the sacred writers the oriental landofCush : we are at length
brought to the conclusion, that the Goths and Saxons of Europe, lilce tha
Pelasp. i^^
arbitrary superior. The multitiide were not the serfs, but the free military
vassals or retainers, of their princes and higher nobility. Every part of
their constitution breathed an armed and unrestrained freedom : each indi-
vidual felt his strength and importance : and it is most curious to observe
the marked difterence in point of government, as delineated hy tlie masterly
pens of Cesar and Tacitus, between this nation of soldiers and their neigh-
bours the caste-divided Celts. Yet these warriors, who would scarcely
yield to any secular lord, freely submitted to the commands of their priest-
hood : nor did they think bonds or even stripes any degradation from such
sacred hands '.
• Ctesar. Comment, lib. yi. c. 21, 22, 23. Tacit, de mor. Germ. c. 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13,
14, 15, '21, 22, 25, 31, 38, 39. The complete liberty of the Gothic Germans, so loreiga
from that division into castes by which the inferior ranks were reduced to a state of abso-
lute servitude and political insignificance, is most pointedly described in a single sentence
of Tacitus. De minoribus rebus principes consultant : de majorihus, OMNES.
CHAPTER V.
Respecting the Shepherd-Kings of Egypt, and the various Settle-
nients of the Military Caste, in Consequence of their Expulsion.
J. sow come to treat of a very extraordinary people, whose history will
throw considerable light on some parts of Holy Scripture.
I. Tlic substance of what we know concerning them is thus recorded
by different authors.
1. If'c Iiad Jonncrly, says Manetho the Egyptian, a king named T\mdi\xs.
In his days, through tlic wrath of heaven, a race of men, whose origin was
unknown to us, sudden It/ made their appearance from the east. These in-
vaded our countjy : and such was their military prowess, that, in a very
short time and without encountering any inaterial 7'esistance, they reduced
it under their dovunion. Our nubility they completely subjugated : and,
not content xcith having obtained the mastery, they proceeded to burn our
cities and to overturn the temples of our gods. All the natives they treated
with the utmost cruelty : for they tnurdei-ed S07ne of them, and degraded to
abject servitude the children and the zvives of others. At length they nuule
one of their number to be king : and the name of this person was Salatis.
The new prince established himself at Memphis ; reduced both the upper and
the lorvcr province to the payment q/' tribute j and placed garrisons in all
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 527
conveyiient situations. But he most anxiously fortified those parts, xvhich
look tozvurds the east ; wisely foreseeing that the Assyrians, who were tlten
lords of Asia, might hereafter be tempted to invade his dominions. Hence,
having found in the Suitic name a town very advantageously situated on the
oriental side of the Bubastite liver, he fortified it with strong avails, and en-
trusted it to the charge of tivo hundred and forty thousand warriors. The
name of this city, as designated by the ancient theologians, was Auaris.
Hither he was tcont to resort in summer titne, partly to measure out the
corn which he received as tribute, partly to pay his soldiers their stipends,
and partly to train them to the use of arms that so he might strike terror
into his foreign neighbours. JVhen he had reigned 19 years, he died. He
was succeeded by Bean ; who reigned 44 years : he, by Apachnas ; who
reigned 36 years and 7 months : he, by Apophis ; rvlio i^eigned 6 1 years :
he, by Janias ; xcho reigned 50 years and 1 month : and he, by Assis ; who
reigned 4i) years and 2 months. These six were the first kings of this
dynasty : they xvcre perpetually engaged in war : and they seemed desirous.
of utterly rooting out the native Egyptians.
The name, by which the invaders were distinguished, was that o/'Huc-Sos
or Slieplierd-kiiigs ; for, in the sacred language. Hue denotes a king; and
Sos, in the common dialect, a shepherd. Some believe them to have been
Arabs. These, and their posterity, remained vmslcrs of E^ypt for the
space of 5\\ years : when a bloody war took place betzveen them and the
princes of the Thebais under the command of Alisphragmuthosis. The result
of it was, that the Shepherds were xvorsted, and were expelled out of the whole
of Egypt save the place already mentioned under the name o/' Auaris. This,
although spoken of as a city, was rather a province : for it comprehended ten
thousand acres, and teas large eiiough to contain all the multitude of the
Shepherds zcith their plunder and their provisions. 'J he xvhole of it zvas sur-
rounded by a lofty wall ; and it zvas considered by these tyrants, as their
principal strong-hold. Here they were besieged by Thumosis ', the son of
Alisphragmuthosis, zcith on army of four hundred and eighty thousand tnen:
but, despairing of being able to reduce them by force, he at length entered
' Or TetLmosis, as he Ls afterwariU called.
CUAP. V.
528 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK ri. into a compact with them, that they should evacuate Egypt and retire
without molestatiofi where thci/ pleased. Accordingly, they marched axvay
with all their families and all their possessions, to the number of tzvo hun-
dred and forty thousand souls ; and, striking into the desert, they made
directly for Syria. Through fear however of the Assyrians who were then
lords of Asia, they built a city in the land tioxo called Jad^a, which might
be capable of holding so many persons: and Jerusalem was the name, by
which they distinguished it '.
After they had retired into Palestine, a succession of native princes
reigned, we are told, in Egypt, for the space of 340 years and 7 months,
until the time of Sethosis or Egyptus and his brother Armais or Danaus*.
At this period, according to the Hellenic writers, another emigration took
place : for Cadmus and Danaus, Mith large bodies of their countrymen,
retired into Greece; while the Israelites, under the command of Moses,
vithdrcw into Palestine.
The historian, having now dislodged the Shepherd-kings from Auaris,
and having briefly noticed the line of native princes that succeeded them in
the government, introduces to our acquaintance a new race of foreigners.
These he describes, as being afflicted with the leprosy ; says, that they
rapidly increased to tlic number of eighty thousand ; and mentions, that
they were then put to hard labour in the stone-quarries on the eastern side
of the Nile. At length the rci;4ning king Amenophis, wiiom he makes the
third in succession from him who expelled the Shepherds ', granted to this
oppressed people the district Auaris, which had recently been evacuated by
the pastoral sovereigns. Here ihcy soon began to meditate revolutionary
projects: and, having chosen for their leader a certain Ilcliopolitan priest
named Osarsiph, they swore to obey him in all things. This person
enacted, that they should neither adore the gods of the Egyptians, nor ab-
stain frouj any of those animals which they accounted sacred ; but that they
should indifferently slay and cat all of them, and that they should inter-
marry with none but those who were engaged in the same project. When
he had made tliese regulations with many others highly offensive to the
• Joscpli. cont. Apion. lib. i. ^ \\. * Ibid, jj 15. ' Ibiil. § 15.
THE OaiGINr OF PAGAN IDOLATUr. 529
manners of Egypt, he ordered his followers to prepare for war against kincr chap. v.
Amenopliis. Wishing however for assistance, he sent to tlic Slicphcrds
wlio had been expelled from Auaris and who had since built Jerusalem ;
promising them, that, if they would help him against the Egyptians, he
would restore to them the district frouj which they had been dislodged by
Tethmosis. His invitation was readily accepted ; and the Shepherd-kings,
to the number of two hundred thousand men, immediately set out, and in
a short time reached Auaris. So formidable an irruption not a little
alarmed Amenophis : and he was the more inclined to despair in conse-
quence of a prophecy, which foretold, that certain strangers would join the
leprous multitude to whom he had given Auaris when evacuated by the
Sliepherds, and that they would jointly obtain the dominion of Egypt for
the space of thirteen years. Guessing that the prediction was now about
to be accomplished, he assembled the whole commonalty of the Egyptians;
and, having taken counsel with the leading men, he reverently gathered to
himself the sacred animals, and strictly charged the priesthood to hide the
statues of tlie gods. Then, although at the head of three hundred thou-
sand fighting men, he retired into Ethiopia without venturing to give the
enemy battle, lest he should seem to fight against the decrees of the deity.
The king of that country was under obligations to him, and received both
him and his followers with much kindness : here tlicrefore he determined
to remain, until the fatal period of thirteen years should have elapsed.
INIeanwhile the Shepherd-kings from Jerusalem, and their allies the Le[)crs,
used with the utmost barbarity the advantages which they had gained.
For they not only burned the towns and villages: but, as if in premeditated
mockery of the established religion, they employed the wooden statues of
the gods as fuel to cook the flesh of the sacred animals ; and tlicy com-
pelled the priests and prophets to slaughter those animals with their own
hands. Of this nefarious republic the founder and legislator, as it has
already been intimated, was Osarsiph, an llcliopolitan priest of Osiris:
but, when he had placed himself at the head of it, he changed his name,
and thenceforth was culled Moses. The thirteen years however soon ex-
pired : and then Amenophis and iiis son Rampses, descending from Ethi-
Pi'g. Idol. vol.. III. 3X
530 THE ORICIX OF PAGAN IDOLATRr,
BOOK VI. opia with a vast army, attacked the Shepherds and the Lepers, routed them
ia a great battle, and pursued them to the borders of Syria '.
2. Manetho is not the only writer, who mentions the evacuation of
Egypt by tlie Lepers under Moses and their imagined allies the Shep-
Jierds : Diodorus has left a most curious passage relative to the same
subject.
Formerly, says he, a pestilential disorder prevailed in Egypt, which most
were willing to ascribe to the zcrath of the deity. For, when strangers
Jrom various different quarters had intruded into tlte coiaitry xvho were
each addicted to the rites of a foreign religion, the ancient worship of the
native gods fell into discredit. Hence the aboriginal inhabitants began to
suspect, that they should never be free from the malady until they e.vpelled
the aliens. Upon this, as some writers tell us, the most noble and warlike
of those foreig7iers, being compelled to leave the country, emigrated into
Greece and certain other regions, under the command of several illustrious
leaders, among whom Danaus and Cadmus are especially celebrated. But
there was yet a very numerous division, winch marched off by land into the
district now called Judea. Oj' this colony one Moses was the leader, a man
of great xcisdom and fortitude. He, having occupied that country, built a
magnijicent temple at Jerusalem, and instituted a regular ceremonial of
divine worship. He likexcise ordained laws for his new republic ; and di-
vided the whole mu/titutk intotxvelve tribes, ansxoering to the txvelve ?fionths
of the year. All visible representations of the gods he strictly forbad;
teaching, that there is but one Deity, who pervades aiul governs all things,
and xvho cannot adequately be described by the human figure. The sacrifi-
cial rites and institutes, xohich he introduced, xvere of such a nature, that
they differed very essentially from those of all other people : and, as he pre-
sided over a banished nation, he determined, that their general habits of life
should be inhuman and unhospitable. He appointed a regular order of
priests for the service of the temple, and made them also the secular judges
of the commtuiily : whence they say, that he xms never himself the king of
the Jews. On the contrary, he vested the chief authority in the hands of
• Joscpli, cout, Apion, lib. i. i) 26, 27.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. .531
ft sovereign pontiff ; zcho, at the same time, as a messenger, interpreted the
behests of the Divinity '.
We have moreover some very singular perversions of the same piece of
history, handed down to us from the [)ens of other ancient authors.
Lysimachus tcHs us, that, while Bocchoris Mas ivinq of Eijypt, the nation
of the Jews, being infected by an inveterate leprosy, tied to the temples
and begged for food. Many dying by reason of the disorder, a great fa-
mine took place. Upon this the king consulted the oracle of Hamnion ;
and was charged to purge the land and the temples from the unclean race,
by which they had been polluted. He accordingly collected all the impure
persons, and delivered them into the hands of the soldiers : who, in pur-
suance of his orders, attached plates of lead to the incurable lepers and
drowned them in the sea; but drove out the others to perish in the wilder-
ness. These last, taking counsel together, elected Moses to be their
leader : and under liis guidance, after suffering many hardships in the de-
sert, they finally emerged from it and seized upon the land of Jud^a'.
IMuch the same story, witli sundry embellishments and one important
addition, is detailed by Tacitus. The Israelites, as usual, have the leprosy;
and, as a race hateful to the gods, are driven out of Egypt by Bocchoris.
In the desert Moses persuades them to submit to him, as a leader sent
from heaven. Here he supplies them with water from a rock, being led
to it by a herd of wild asses: and at length, after a journey of six days,
they reach tiie land of Judea on the seventh, drive out its former occu-
pants, and build a city and a temple. This great historian, as childish in
his details respecting the Jews as he is invaluable in his account of ordi-
nary matters, has preserved likewise some other legends, in which truth is
strangely intermingled with falsehood. It appears from them, that the
Jews were variously reported to have come from mount Ida in Crete; to
have emigrated from Egypt, during the reign of Ibis, under the command
of Hierosolynms and Judas ; and to have been very generally esteemed
descendants of the Ethiopians, whom fear and hatred had compelled to
change their habitations '.
' Diod. Bibl. Eclog. ex lib. xl. p. 921, 922.
* Lysim. apud Joseph, cont. Apion. lib. i. J 3i. ^ Tacit. Hist. lib. v. c, 2, 3.
CHAP, V
532 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. This last particular is the addition, to which I alluded as being singu-
larly important. We have already seen, that many foreigners were obliged
to quit Egypt at the same time with the Israelites : hence it was not unna-
tuiai, that ihe latter should often be mistaken for a race, with which they
had really no national connection. Now from the legend, adduced by
Tacitus, it appears that they were sometimes confounded with certain Ethi-
opians or Cushim ; who, like themselves, had been obliged to change their
habitations through the fear and hatred of the native Egyptians. This
fragment of history therefore teaches us, that a family of Ethiopians was
driven out of the country synchronically with the Israelites, and that these
Ethiopians were both hated and feared by the aborigiioal Mizraim.
It need scarcely be remarked, that the fable of drowning a race of lepers
in the sea, while such as escaped fled into the wilderness, has plainly been
taken from tlie destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Arabian gulph ;
the punishment being ingenioiisly transferred from the oppressors to the
oppressed : but it may not be improper to observe, that the malicious tale
of the Israelites being all afflicted w ith an inveterate cutaneous distemper,
which seems to have been so very generally taken up by the pagans, has
plainly enough originated from the circumstance of Moses being miracu-
lously struck with a temporary leprosy '. The remembrance of a preter-
natural revulsion of the Red sea has been preserved by those \\ho dwell
upon its coast, not only to the time of Diodorus, but even to the present
. day. Tiiat historian relates, that the Icthyophagi had a tradition, handed
down to them through a long line of ancestors, that the whole bay was once
laid bare to the very bottom, the waters retiring to the opposite shores;
but that they afterwards, with a most tremendous swell, returned to their
accustomed channel : and, even now, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
of Corondel, as we learn from Dr. Shaw, preserve the recollection of a
mighty army having been once drowned in the bay, which Ptolemy calls
Cii/sma *.
II. It remains for us to note the chronology .of the pastoral domination
in Egypt ; and we shall then, I believe, have all the direct information on
the subject that is extant.
' Exod. iv. G. * Diod. Bibl. lib. iii. p. Hi. Shaw's Travels, p. 3iO.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 5^3
The Shepherds are said in the whole to have been lords of Egypt for
the space of 5 1 1 years : and the joint reigns of the first six kings amount,
it" we follow Manetho as cited by Josephus, to ii59 years and 1 months ;
but, if we adopt the numbers as exhibited by Africanus, they amount to
284 years. ISIanetho places the firsi expulsion of these tyrants from Aua-
ris at the end of the 51 1 years ; but this, I tliink, is clearly an error. The
entire duration of their empire is but 5 1 1 years: and we fuul tliem a second
time paramount in Egypt, subsequent to their expulsion from Auaris.
Hence the 51 1 years must certainly terminate, not with their /«-a/, but with
theiry/««/, expulsion: and hence i\\e\v first expulsion ought to have been
placed, not at the end of the 511 years, but at the end of those i!J.9 years
and 10 months which are comprized within the reigns of their six earliest
princes.
Now Euseblus notices another succession of Shepherd-princes, ditfcrent
from that of the six earliest kings ; which comprehended the space of 106"
years, and which consisted of Jhur sovereigns. In this he agrees with He-
rodotus, save that that historian places only tzco kings within the period of
the 106 years. To these two kings Herodotus ascribes all the tyranny of
the Shepherds ; represents them as building the pyramids by the constrained
labour of their subjects; and intimates, that those vast edifices were ordi-
narily called by the name of the shepherd Philitis who then fed his cattle
in the country '. Hence there cannot be a doubt, that lie speaks of the
Shepherd-kings, and that his alleged period of 106 years must be identified
with the similar period specified by Eusebius. But this period dift'ers
widely, both from the entire period of 5 11 years, and from the nfinor pe-
riod of 259 years and 10 months which is the length of the Ju^st pastoral
domination. Hence we may safely pronounce it to be the period of the
second pastoral domination ; and may consequently determine it to be the
latter part of the 511 years, as the 259 years and 10 months are the former
part of the 5 1 1 years.
Prom the expulsion of the Jirst Shepherd-dynasty at the end of the 259
years and lu months, to the secession of Armais or Danaus into Greece,
'■ llcrod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 121—128.
CHAP. V,
I
534 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOK VI. i\Ianetho, as appears by summing up the reigns of the intervening princes
according to his specification of them, places a period of 340 years and
7 months. Hence, between the original entrance of the Shepherds into
Egypt and the secession of Danaus, we shall have a period of (JOO years
and 5 months : namely, the period produced, by adding together the 259
years and 10 months of the first pastoral dynasty and the 340 years and
7 months of the Egyptian kings who reigned until the emigration of Danaus.
But the entire duration of tlie pastoral tyranny and predominance was 511
years; and those 51 1 years commenced synchronically with the 600 3"ears
and 5 months. Hence tlie second conquest of Egypt by the Shepherds
must have been effected in the course of the 340 years and 7 months : and
hence, between the final overthrow of the pastoral tyranny at the end of
the 5 1 1 years and tlie emigration of Danaus at the end of the 600 years
and 5 months, there must have been a period of 89 years and 5 months ;
that is to say, the period produced by deducting 5 11 years from 600 years
and 5 months.
Now, from this statement and from the general history as detailed by
Manctho, it is obvious, that the large period of 511 years, which is de-
scribed as comprehending the whole duration of the pastoral tyranny,
divides itself into four smaller periods : the first is that of the dynasty of
the six kings, which comprizes '2.59 years and 10 months or in a round
number 260 years, and which terminates with the expulsion of the Shep-
herds from Auaris ' ; the second is the space, w hich elapses between the
expulsion of the Shepherds and the donation of the evacuated Auaris to
another race of shepherds who choose for a leader Osarsiph afterwards
called Moses ; the third contains the time, during which these other shep-
herds held Auaris until the e.ipelled Shepherds returned from Talcstine in
consequence of the invitation of Osarsiph ; and the fourth is the period,
during which the o/vov'wa/ Shepherds, having returned from Palestine, once
inon; reigned triumphant throughout I'-gvpt until they were at \cngi\\ finally
expelled fioin the counjry. 'Jhis last minor period is contracted by Ma-
• Africanus, as I have noted above, extends tlicir reigns to 281' years: but, for reasons
which will licrcafter appear, 2r>0 jt^''''. t'"' period assigned by IManctho and Syncullus>
tuust certainly be cuusidcrcd as lh«; genuine number.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 535
nctho within the narrow limits of 13 years: but, as Herodotus and Euse- chap. v.
bius both mention a period of 106" years during which the Shepherds exer-
cised an intolerable tyranny in the country, and as we shall presently find
that this number is established by the testimony of Holy Scripture, I have
no scruple in rejecting the 13 years of Manctho and in substituting for theia
the 106 years of Herodotus and Eusebius and Moses.
\Vc sliall now therefore have £.60 years for tiie dynasty of the first Slie{>-
Ixirds, and 106 years for another dynasty of the same Shei)hcrds after tliey
had returned from Palestine. Consequently, when these tuo sums are
deducted from the entire period of 511 years, we shall have 145 years for
those two intermediate minor periods of t/tc vacancy of the district Aiiaris
and its occupation bj the leprous sheplicnk until the return of its former
possessors.
Rfanetho however assures us, that, at length, both the leprous shepherds
under Moses, and the other Shepherds who had returned from Palestine-,
were synch ronicallij expelled from Egypt. Hence, as the entire duration
of the pastoral tyranny from first to last was 51 1 years, their expulsion of
course must have taken place at the end of those years. Cut the leprous
shepherds under Moses were clearly the Israelites; and the exodus of the
Israelites fell out in the year 1491 before tJie Christian era: the other
shepherds therefore must have first invaded Egypt 5 11 years before ths
epoch of the exodus. Tf then we count back 51 1 years, the epoch of the
first pastoral invasion from the east will be the year 'IQO'H before Christ.
Now that year, according to the Samaritan chronology which we have seen
reason to adopt in preference to the palpably corrupt chronologies of the
Hebrew and the Greek, eoinciiles with the sixth year before tlic birth of
Abraham, with the two hundred and ninety sixth year after the death of
Peleg, \\\i\\ about the three hundred and sixth year after the dispersion
from Babel wiiich happened during the life-time of that patriarch, and with
the three hundred and twenty third year after the rise of the Cuthic empire
of Iran under Nimrod at the commencement of tlie 1500 years specified
by Justin '. Hence it appears, that Manetho was perfectly accurate ia
• Sec Append. Tab. HI. and V.
536 THE ORIGI>T OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. saying, that the Shepherds invaded Egypt when the Assyrians (by whom
we are to understand the Cushim of Ashur and Elam and Aram, or in one
word the Cushim of Iran) were lords of Asia, and that they strongly forti-
fied the eastern frontier of Egypt by way of guarding against a not impro-
bable invasion. For tiiey well knew, that the Cushim had already pushed
westward beyond the Euphrates into the further Aram or Syria : and, in
the course of their domination, they could not be ignorant of the attempt
made by Chedorlaomer and three other vassals of the Iranian empire, in
the days of Abraham, to subjugate the whole of Palestine as far as mount
Seir and Kadesh and El-Paran on the very confines of Egypt. Thus har-
moniously does profane history correspond with sacred.
"^ As for Egypt previous to the first irruption of the Shepherds, it is de-
scribed by IManetho as a well-ordered kingdom : for at the head of it was
a sovereign, whom he calls Thiiaus or Tamnuiz ; and with him were asso-
ciated, in the administration of affairs, a regular priesthood and a military
nobility. The religion was that, which prevailed in the country even until
the establishment of Clu"istianity : for it was tlie superstition, which origi-
nated at Babel, which prevailed (as we learn from Berosus ') throughout
Chald^a, which immediately involved the doctrine of the Metempsychosis,
and which was largely built upon the symbolical veneration of the sacred
animals. This particular modification of idolatry was despised, it seems,
b}^ tiie invading Shepherds : who, though plainly distinct from the Israel-
itish shepherds and therefore themselves apostates from the truth, had not
as yet learned to adopt the complex theology of Egy|)t and Babylonia.
Their conduct in the former country was much the same as that of the Per-
sians, when they invaded Greece under Xerxes. Tlicse were menial ido-
laters indeed, and had deflected from the m orsliip of the one true Cod :
but, adhering to tlie ancient Scylhism or Bucliiliism of their Ibrefatliers,
they were disgusted with tliat gross and palpable image-worship, which had
been brought by the Ionizing Danai and Cadmians out of Egypt and Phe-
nicia. Sucli a peculiarity in the behaviour of the invading Shepherds must
be carefully borne in mind : for it is of importance towards ascertaining,
who they were and wiience they came.
* Euseb. CLron. p. 5. Syncell. Clxronog. p. 28, 29.
THE ORIGIN' OF PAGAN IDOLATRY- 537
This being the condition of Ef^ypt, ecclesiastical and civil, at the time chap, v.
of ihc Jirst pastoral irruption, we shall be prepared to expect some account
of its sovereigns anterior to that event. Accordingly, Manctho tells us,
that there had been fourteen dynasties in the country, subsequent to the
reign, of the hero-gods, before the arrival of the Shepherds: and these he
puts down, as constituting the fifteenth dynasty. The hero-gods were
doubtless the Noetic family ; and we may probably so enlarge their num-
ber as to comprehend Cusii and Nimrod : the dynasties therefore, which
succeeded them, were composed of literal Egyptian princes. Now, as
there were but about 306 years between the dispersion from Babel and tiie
arrival of the Shepherds in Egypt, and as we must deduct from tliat period
the term occupied by the Mizraim in marching from Shinar to the banks
of the Nile; the kingdom of Egypt could not have been founded much
more than two centuries and a half, when it was invaded by the pastoral,
warriors. Jlencc it is plainly impossible to comprehend witluii so short a
space fourteen successive dynasties. We must either suppose therefore,,
that Egypt « as divided into fourteen petty states, which would give four-
teen contemporaneous dynasties : or we must conclude, that the fourteen
pretended dynasties were really fourteen successive kings, thus enlarged
through a vain affectation of remote antiquity. The former most probably
was the case: and it Mill best account for the rapid subjugation of the.
country by the Shepherds '. When these became masters of it, and after-
wards when they were expelled both the first and second time by the native
iMizraim, the whole appears to have been united under a single sovereign t
for such seems to be implied, by the language of the sacred historian, in hia
account of Abraham's sojourning in Egypt; and still more in his circum-
stantial narrative of the transactions of Joseph, and his detail of what befell
the Israelites until the day of the exodus. But this is exactly what micflit
have been expected : for the Shepherds would naturally cling together in
one body politic; and the Mizraim could scarcely have driven them out,
* Yet, if we adopt the latter supposition, an average of 20 years for the reigns of 11>
kings will give 280 years for the duration of tiie Egyptian monarchy before the arrival of
the Shepherds ; agreeably to the preceding deduction, that it could not have been iounded.
fiiuch more than two centuries and a half before that event.
Fag. Idol, VOL. uz. 3 Y
538 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BoeRvi. unless they had practically learned from their enemies the benefit of
union.
III. Such, with the exception of some incidental particulars, is, I believe,
all the information that we have relative to that extraordinary people, who
conquered Egypt under the name of the Shep/ierd-khigs : but, before I pro-
ceed to discuss their history at large, it will be proper to notice what Mr.
Bryant has said on the subject.
1. The theory of this excellent writer contains much that is valuable, but
much also that appears to me exceptionable.
lie begins with confuting, from Sir John Marsham, the absurd notion of
Josephus, evidently advanced to promote the honour of his country, that
the invading Sliepherds were the Israelites, and that what Manctho after-
wards says of the real Israelites has by that historian been studiously thrown
out of place and disfigured. In no one particular do these two races of
Shepherds agree, except in the single point of their each sustaining the pas-
toral character. The royal Shepherds invaded Egypt by force of arms^
and amou.itcd in number to two hundred and forty thousand persons : the
Israelites came peaceably into Egypt to avoid the horrors of famine, and
at the time of their descent were but a single family of seventy souls. Tlie
royal Shepherds reduced tlie whole land to servitude, and acted the part
of relentless tyrants : the Israelites were themselves slaves, and were griev-
ously oppressed by the governing powers. The royal Shepherds were un-
willing to leave the country, and retired not until they were fairly driven
out by main force : the Israelites wished to depart, and were long pre-
vented from withdrawing by the obstinacy of the reigning prince. To this
ue may add, that the royal ^\\C[)hvah Jhioidcd .lerusaicm alter their expul-
sion : the Israelites occupied it long (//'ter it had been built. The royai
Shepherds niarched straight into Palestine : the Israelites wandered forty
years in the wilderness. The royal Slie[)herds returned into Egypt, and
were a second time expclletl : the Israelites left the country but once, and
never returned. In short, Manctho plainly specifics two entirely distinct
races, one of which .succeeded the other. Tlie iirst contjuercd Egypt by
force of arms, and chiefly occupied tlic district called yJutiris : tiie second
had a grant of Auaris from a native l''gyptian king, when it lay vacant in
consequence of the expulsion of its former inhabitants.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAJT IDOLATRY. 539
But, although the royal Shepherds arc thus plainly a different people from ciui-. *.
the Israelites of Scripture, the shepherds who succeed them in Auaris, per-
verted as tlieir history is in some particulars, must no less plainly be iden-
tified with the chosen people of God. They are described, as being com-
pelled to undergo hard labour : they arc placed in an evacuated district on
the eastern side of the Nile, just as the Israelites arc placed in the land of
Goshen which is similarly situated : they are said to have abhorred the
idolatry of the Egyptians, to have refused to worship their gods, and to
have intermarried only among themselves : they are representeil, as having
for their leader, at the time when they were planted in Auaris, an Hcliopo-
litan priest named Osarsipli ; in whom we immediately recognize, by a
slight metathesis, Sar-.Iosiph or the lord Joseph who married the daughter
of a priest of On or Heliopolis : and they are declared to have emigrated
from Egypt into Syria under the command of Moses ; who is evidently the
same person as the great Hebrew legislator, though he is confounded with
Osarsiph or Joseph, and though the servitude of the people is erroneously
exhibited as preceding instead oi succeeding their occupation of Auaris or
Goshen. On these grounds Mr. Bryant most justly pronounces i\\e second
race of shepherds, mentioned by the Egyptian historian, to be the children
of Israel ; who, accordingly, are described by Moses as being shepherds
and herdsmen '.
The next question is, who the royal Shepherds were, whom ]\Ianctlio dis-
tinguishes very accurately from the servile shepherds, and who preceded
them in the land of Auaris.
These Mr. Bryant supposes to have been the Cushim of Babylonia: and,
as the term of 51 1 years will carry us too far back if computed from their
expulsion out of Auaris by which they made room for the Israelitish shep-
herds, he pronounces it to comprehend the whole period, during which
both races of Shepherds dwelt in Egypt. Hence, if reckoned from the
exodus of Israel, it will bring us to the sixth year before the birlii of Abra-
ham, as the epoch of the first pastoral irruption. Having adjusted these
preliminaries, jNIr. Bryant gives the following detail as the genuine liistory
of what has been related by Manetlio.
* Ccn> xlvii. 1 — G,
540 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOTOX VI. In the days of Peleg, an orderly division of the earth took place, agree-
ably to tlie regulations of Noah. The Cushim however, displeased with
their allotment, marched off to the eastward of Armenia : whence, after
some time, they returned in a south-westerly direction ; and, arriving in
the plain of Siiinar, began to build the tower of Babel. In this attempt,
which was made not long after the birth of Abraham, they were miracu-
lously defeated : and, from Babylonia, they were scattered over the face of
the whole earth. One great branch of them marched straight to Egypt,
then occupied by the Mizraim; who had peaceably retired, like the other
children of Noah, to their appointed settlement, when the earth was regu-
larly divided in the time of Pelcg. At the period of the Cuthic irruption,
the JMizraim were a barbarous and uncivilized people, devoted to the basest
idolatry, associated together in no regular polity, and living like mere
savages in the land which they had occupied. As such, they were easily
subdued by the warlike and disciplined Shepherds, who constituted the
first ?'ffl/ dynasty of Egypt: for the fourteen dynasties, which are said to
have preceded them, nmst be rejected as allogethcv Jbl/ulous. The Cushim
remained masters of the country for the si)ace of £6() years according to
IManctho, or of 284 years according to the numbers exhibited by Africanus.
If the former of these periods be adopted, they were driven out 15 years
before the arrival of Joseph and 36 years before the descent of Israel : if
the latter be preferred, they were expelled only 1 '2 years before the descent
of Israel and 9 years after the arrival of Josepli. I'or the entire sojourn-
intr of the Israelites in Egypt was 215 years, and Joseph had resided in
the country 2 1 years when his family emigrated : so that, between the ex-
pulsipn of the Shepherd-kings and the descent of Israel, there will be eitlier
3G years or 12 years, according as we estimate the length of tiie pastoral
domination at 2()() years or at 284 years. When the Shepherds were
driven out, they left the land of Auaris or Goshen vacant: and tims, in the
course of God's providence, they made room for the Israelites ; who, w ith
their flocks and herds, were immediately ])laccd in the emi^ty country.
Here they remained and nuilliplied, until a new king arose who knew not
Joseph. This new king was the first sovereign of a new Egyptian dynasty;
who, as such, was unacfjuaintcd with the ineiils of that patriarch, and who
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 541
felt no sense of obligation to his family. Jealous of tlie growing power of «"*?•
Israel, he attempted to break the strength of the people by the most iniqui-
tous tyranny: but his dynasty was at length compelled to graut a free
egress to them ; and these second shepherds retired from the country after
an abode of 215 years. Then was completed the entire sum of 511 years,
Tvliieh IManetho specifies as the full period during which Egypt was occu-
pied by the Shepherds '.
2. Many of the objections, to which this theory is liable, will probably
have been anticipated in the course of its detail : they shall however be
given in regular order.
The Cushim arc brought bmyiediately from Bahijlonia to Egypt, which
they find already occupied by the Mizraim.
Now, as this is founded upon an hypothesis which has already been
proved erroneous, namely that the tower was built exclusively by the Cic-
shim and that a general division of the earth had previously taken place ;
it must necessarily fall with the basis upon which it rests : and, accord-
ingly, we shall find it utterly irreconcilcable with chronology. It has been
shewn, that the dispersion from Babel was general, and that it occurred in
the days of Peleg. But Peleg, as we learn from the accurate chronology
of the Samaritan Pentateuch, died 302 years before the birth of Abraham;
and the dispersion from Babel took place previous to the death of Peleg.
The Shepherd kings however, if we compute the 51 1 years of pastoral do-
minion backward from the exodus, entered Egypt 6 years before the birth
of Abraham. Hence it is evident, that their invasion of that country did
not take place until full 300 years after the dispersion from Babel : and
hence Manetho very rightly describes it as occurring, when the Assyrian
or Iranian empire was in its full strength *. Nor is this all : since the
Shepherds find Egypt already peopled by the Mizraim, and since the dis-
persion from Babel was general, they cannot have come immediately from
the land of Shinar ; because, in that case, they must have found Egypt
•wholly uninhabited.
They are alleged to have found the Mizraim in a completely barbarous
' Bryant's Anal. vol. ili, i See Append. Tab. V.
642 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATHT.
BooE VI. state ; n'it/ioiit politi/, ivitliout arts, xcithout knowledge, and mth a hast
superstition of their own edclusive invention.
On these points we of course know nothing, save what we can learn
fiom history. Now Manetlio is in a directly opposite story : for he not
only describes the Mizraim as being under a well-ordered monarchical go-
vernment, but he gives us to understand that they had a regular priesthood
and nobility. He moreover speaks of the numerous cities, which Avero
burnt by the fierce invaders ; represents the religion of Egypt, as being the
same symbolical superstition which we know to have prevailed in Babylonia
at a very early period ; and declares, that no less than fourteen native dy-
nasties had preceded the foreign dynasty of the Shepherds.
These fourteen di/nasties hozcever are at once struck off" the list, and
pronounced to be spurious.
That they cannot be fourteen successive dynasties, I readily allow ; be-
cause Egypt could not have subsisted, as a nation, much more than 250
years before the invasion of the Shepherds : but, if we may thus contradict
history because it is adverse to an hypothesis of our own, I see not what
certainty we can have in these matters.
The 5 1 1 7/ears of pastoral tyranny are made to extend long after the
expulsion of the oppressive Shepherds, so that they do not expire until the
exodus of the captive or Israelitish shepherds.
In this arrangement I think I\Ir. Bryant perfectly right, tliough I sec not
with what propriety it can be made u])on /?M'i)rinciples. Manethoexjiressly
says, that the tyranny of the Shepherd-kings, not merely the abode of two
different pastoral races, continued, from first to last, for the space of 511
years : so that, according to his account, the royal Shepherds must have
entered l''gyi)t at the commencement of that period and must have been
finally expelled at the close of it. Mr. Bryant, on the contrary, fixes their
final expulsion, and therefore the concluMon of their tyranny, at the end
of 2G0 or at the most 2S4 years ; extending, in direct contradiction of his
author, the period of 511 years far beyond the limits of pastoral oppression.
Yet is Mauctho no way inconsistent with himself, though he n)ay not have
detailed every particular with |)erfect accuracy : the fault rests, not with
the historian, but \\\\.\\ his eminently learned couunenlator. When the
THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 543
Shepherd-kings are expelled from Auaris, INfanetho gives us a very full cnxp. v,
account of what next followed : and, unless I greatly uiistake, he gives it
with quite a sufficient degree of exactness, to enable us, with much facility,
to develop the truth and to learn what he n»cans by fixing the period of
5 1 1 years as the entire duration of the pastoral tyranny.
But all tills narrative, save certain prominent matters relative to tht
Israelites, Mr. Bryant entirely suppresses ; describing it, as a sadly con-
founded history and as a lump of heterogeneous matter '.
Now it appears to me, that he ought at any rate to have adduced the
chaotic tale and to have suffered iiis readers to judge for themselves :
whereas, by his giving it so bad a character, it is great odds, whether any
person, except one who was writing on the subject, would think it worth
liis while to inquire what the unfortunate historian really did say. The tale
however told by JNIanetho, so far from being an unintelligible mass of con-
fusion, does in fact afford us the very light ^vhich we want for a right
understanding of the first part of his narrative. "We learn from it with
great clearness, that, after the She{)herd-kings had been expelled from
Auaris, they once more returned into Egypt, conquered it again, and re-
peated their former deeds of cruelty and oppression : that they were invited
to return by Osarsiph, who had taken the name o[ Aloses, and who had
Leen elected chief of the leprous or Israelitish shepherds : and that they
■were finally driven out synchronically with these latter shepherds, who re-
tired under the command of Moses-Osarsiph. Here we at once perceive,
how we are to understand the declaration of Manetho, that the tyranny
of the pastoral kings lasted, from beginning to end, for the space of 5 1 1
years. It began, when they first invaded Egypt: it ended, when they
uere ultimately expelled. But their yoke was broken, and their ultimate
expulsion commenced, synchronically with the exodus of Israel. Hence
the ill years of their tyranny must doubtless be computed backward from
the era of the exodus. This indeed, as we have seen, is the opinion of Mr.
Bryant; and he is perfectly right in advancing it: but, upon /;«' principles,
» Anal. vol. iii. p. 253. Dr. Hales does not suppress it ; but he far too hastily rejects it,
at unn-orthy of notios. Clironol. vol, iii. p. i'!2.
544 THE OniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY
BOOK vr. he had no warrant for entertaining it ; because he places the Jinal expul-
sion of the Shepherds antecedent to the occupation of Goshen by the
, Israelites, and from their final expulsion the 511 years of their tyranny
must assuredly be reckoned. With the important testimony of Manetho
to the fact of a second conquest of Egypt by the Shepherd-kings, which
Mr. Bryant so unaccountably throws aside as perplexed and nugatory, the
historical notices, preserved by Diodorus and Tacitus, will he found ex-
actly to agree. These writers mention, thatj when the Israelites quitted
the country, many other foreigners were likewise driven out contempora-
neously with them ; some of whom withdrew into Phenicia and Greece
under the command of Cadmus and Danaus. But, if the emigrating Cad-
mians and Danai were foreigyicrs, they must, as such, have pi-evioiisly
entered Egy|)t. So that, if we put these different matters together, it will
be sufficiently plain, that the various foreigners, who quitted Egypt synchro-
mcalli) with the Israelites and who are said to have emigrated into many
distinct regions, were the very same persons as the Shepherd-kings then
finallij expelled ; and consequently, as some of these foreigners were the
Danai and the Cadmians, that the Danai and the Cadmians were of the
stock of the Sl)epherd-kings.
Of this Mr. Bryant is fully sensible : and, accordingly, he pronounces
the Danai and the Cadmians and other kindred tribes to be of the pastoral
race; but, as it does suit his hypothesis to bring them out of Egypt contem-
poraneously "with the Israelites, he unhesitatingly decides that they left the
country much earlier, 7iamely about the time when the Shepherd-kings xvere
first driven out of Auaris '.
Here again I must complain of an unwarrantable disregard of histor}-,
from wliitli alone we can acfjuirc any knowledge of ancient facts. We ars
positively assured, that tlie Shepherd-kings left Egypt for the last time syn-
chronicully with the Israelites : we are also assured, that many foreigners^
whom Mr. Bryant himself acknowledges to have been tiie Shepherds, left
it at the same period. Yet, williout a shadow of authority and in absolute
eontradictiou to tlicsc direct testimonies, docs he venture to assert, that tiie
• AnaJ. vol. iii. p. 407, 108.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 545
Shepherd-kings, under the various names of Danai and Cadmians and the cj'^p- *•
like, did not evacuate Egjpt contemporaneously with the Israelites, but that
they were finally expelled previous to the descent of Jacob into that
country.
IV. Such are my objections to Mr. Bryant's arrangement of the pastoral
history : let us now see, whetlier a more consistent one cannot be jjroduced
by adhering closely to the united and harmonious declarations of Manctho,
Herodotus, Diodorus, Tacitus, and IVIoses.
We are informed by Manetho, that, while Egypt was in a state of pro-
found tran(|uillity, a fierce and warlike race suddenly invaded it under the
name of the ShtpJierd-kiiigs. These, during the reigns of six of their
princes which jointly amounted to 200 years, remained masters of the
country and governed it with the utmost tyranny. They were then besieged
by the native Mizraini in a walled district, denominated Auaris ; and at
length, with much difficulty, were expelled. Upon this they retired into
Palestine, where they built Jerusalem. Shortly after their secession, the
king of Egypt granted the land of Auaris, now wholly unoccupied, to an-
other race of shepherds, whom circumstantial evidence demonstrates to
have been the Israelites. Here these multiplied so rapidly, that they soon
found themselves in a sufficiently flourishing condition to prepare foe war
•with their sovereign. Desirous however of ensuring success, and distrust-
ing their own unassisted power, they called in the aid of the expelled Siiep-
herd-kings, and invited them to return and repossess themselves of Auaris.
The invitation was readily accepted : the whole of Egypt was conquered by
the allies : and its unfortunate prince was driven into the Thebais and
Ettiiopia.
1. .Manetho asserts, we see, that in this enterprize the Shepherd-kings
were leagued witii those, whom he calls the leprous shepherds, and who are
plainly the pastoral children of Israel. It is not impossible, that he may
be accurate in his assertion : yet, if such ever were the case, the credulous
Israelites were mere temporary tools in liie hands of an ambitious and
powerful family. We know, from the suit- luithority of Scripture, that the
period of their bondage, which Manctho erroneously places before tlieir
occupation of Auaris or Goshen, ought really to be placed after it. Ilence^
Pa^, Idoi. vot. III. 3 Z
546 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN TDOLATRr.
BOOK VI. as they left Egypt synchi^onically with the Shepherd-kings, those pastoral
warriors must clearly have been their taskmasters ; fur, during all the time
of their servitude, the native Mizraim were either exjjclled or subjected,
I think it however doubtful, to say the least, whether the Israelites ever
leagued themselves with the military Shepherds. Be this as it may, they
were dreadfully oppressed by them ; and, probably in conjunction with the
subjugated ]\Iizraim, Mere employed in burning bricks and in building for
their tyrants a variety of important structures. At length, after having
sojourned 215 years in Egypt, they were not (conjointly with the Shepherd-
kings) violently expelled by the Mizraim, as INlanetho erroneously repre-
sents the matter ; but, as we know from a higher authority, they \\ere
miraculously brought out by Moses notwithstanding the most violent reluc-
tance on the part of their oppressors. These oppressors were undoubtedly
the Shepherd-kings, for the reason which has already been assigned. Hence
the king and the host, that perished in the Red sea, must have been the
king and the host of the pastoral warriors, not those of the native Egyp-
tians : for these latter did not recover their independence, until the Shep-
herds were finally expelled ; and the Shepherds (we are unanimously
assured) were not finally expelled, until the day of the exodus.
We may now, by the clear light which Scripture throws on the trans-
I action, distinctly perceive, how the firmly rooted power of the pastoral
kings was subverted, and how the JMizraim were ultimately enabled to
drive them out from their country.
Their arm of strength was broken by the tremendous judgment, wiiich
plunged beneath the waves of the sea their sovereign and their choicest
warriors : and the dispirited residue of them were attacked by the native
^lizraim, who would not fail to improve so golden an opportunity. Then
commenced their y/««/ expulsion at the close of the 511 years, which
Manetho states to have been the entire period of their dominant tyranny :
but, as might naturally enough be supposed, this clearing the land of
strangers was not effected in a single day.
' 'J'he work bei^an with the recess of the Israelites : and, as wc arc so
positively told tliat many of the Shepherds lied at the same time into
Syria, I can perceive no reason why wc should reject the fact. I conclude
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 547
then, that, while Israel was conducted into the wilderness from the eastern
shore of the Red sea, tliose Shepherd-warriors, who were stationed next to
the isthmus in the nonies of the Casluhim and the Caphtorini, Hcd preci-
pitately into Palestine. By taking such a route, all encounter with tlie
chosen people would be avoided : and I am strongly inclined to believe,
that one reason, why the Israelites were divinely led into the wilderness of
Sinai, was to avoid this encounter with a warlike and exasperated enemy.
We shall hereafter find, if I mistake not, that the testimony of gentile
Avriters is confirmed by Holy Scripture : for the recess of the Shepherds
into Palestine from the eastern provinces of Egypt is more than once men-
tioned in the sacred volume.
Others of the Shepherds appear to have made a considerably protracted
resistance, although they were now no longer masters of the country.
Manetho allots 259 years and 10 months for the first residence of the Shep-
herds in Egypt, at the end of which period they were expelled from the
district of Auaris : and thence he afterwards computes 340 years and 7
months to the time of Danaus ; whose emigration into Greece, with various
other similar emigrations, is said by Diodorus to have happened syxchro-
7ucally with the exodus of Israel. Now, if we add these two terms toge-
ther, the amount will be 600 years and 5 months; which exceeds the 511
years of pastoral tyranny by 89 years and 5 months : so that, if Manetho
be accurate in his numbers, the secession of the Danai must have taken
place about 90 years after the exodus. And such probably is the strict
historical truth, which by no means contradicts the general testimony of
Diodorus. For, when he intimates, that, synchronically with the departure
of Israel, there was an universal expulsion of foreigners from Egypt, among
w hom he eminently specifics the Danai and the Cadmians ; we are no way
bound to suppose, that this clearance of the country was eftected in a single
year. On the contrary, though viewed as one event in history, we may
easily conceive it to have been not the event of a moment. Hence I sup-
pose, that the 51 1 years of pastoral domination expired, whe9. ' Exod. ii. 4, 7, 8.
* See Exod. ii. 1. with the context preceding and succeeding.
' With this arrangement the accounts, tiiat have come down to us, of the time employed
«u buildinjj tilt pyraniidb will agree rcraarliabJy well. Accordiuj^ to I'liny, tho three
THK ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY. 557
6. Nor is the circumstantial evidence, that this period of 106 years syn-
chronizes with the scriptural period of the Israelitish bondage, less decisive
than the chronological.
According to Herodotus, the tyranny exercised over the native Mizraini
consisted mainly in forcing them to labour as builders: according to Moses,
the tyranny exercised over tlie Israelites was of the very same description.
According to Herodotus, the diet of the toiling Egyptians consisted of ra-
dishes, and onions, and garlic : according to Moses, the diet of the toiling
Israelites consisted of cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and
garlic '. According to Herodotus and INIanetlio, the oppressive tyranny,
under which the Egyptians groaned during the misrule of the Shepherds,
did not come upon them unexpectedly; but had been expressly foretold by
an oracle : according to Moses, the oppressive tyranny, under wliich the
Israelites groaned during the same period, could not have come upon thein
unexpectedly; for it had been expressly foretold to their ancestor Abra-
ham by an immediate communication from God *.
Now, if we put all tliesc dift'crcnt matters together, we cannot reasonably
doubt, that the 106 years, mentioned by Heiodotus, are the 106 years,
mentioned by Eusebius as the duration of the pastoral tyranny ; that this-
period of 106 years is the period of that second pastoral tyranny, which, as
we leain from Manetho, was exercised by the Shepherd-kings when thev
returned into Egypt by tlie invitation of Osarsiph ; and that the period of
X\\e second pastoral tyranny, which is thus identified with the 106 years of
Herodotus and Eusebius, must also be identified with the period of Israel-
itish bondage.
Hence, then we gather a very important fact, which decidedly proves,
agreeably to a prior conclusion, that the iiexo king xvho knezv not Joscpk
p)nraiiiids were reared in the space of 78 years and 4 months : and Herodotus mentions,
that the construction of the road for conveying the materials occupied 12} years. The
whole time therefore, consumed on those enormous fabrics, was about 91 yeaj-s: and 10(>
years was the length oi the second pastoral dynasty. See Hales's Chron. vol. i. p. 380,
S81. vol. iii. p. 4G0. Dr. Hales rightly ascribes the building of the pyramids to the
Shepherd-kings.
• Numb. xi. 5. » Gen. xv. 13—17.
558 THE ORIGIX OF PAGA>f IDOLATRY.
sooK VI. was the head of a foreign dynasty, not a native Egyptian sovereign.
Though Scripture mentions only the oppression of the Israelites, it is abun-
dantly clear from profane history that the ISlizraim were equally oppressed :
for, had the former been the sole victims, the Egyptians in the time of
Herodotus could not have held the tyrants in such detestation as to refuse
even to pronounce their names ; neither can any reason be assigned for the
origin of a story, told alike by that m riter and by Manetho, which exhibits
the Egyptians themselves as having once smarted under a most intolerable
domination. But, \{ both the Israelites and the Egyptians were oppressed,
and that too in the self-same m-Mmcr ; their oppressor, agreeably to the
testimony of Manetho, must have been ?i foreigner : and that foreigner was
clearly the nexo king; who was naturally, as such, unacquainted with
Joseph.
This conclusion, which w'holly exculpates the ]\Iizraiin from tyrannizing
over the Israelites as they have long most erroneously been thought to have
done. Mill serve as a key to certain passages of Scripture, which without it
are of less easy explication.
One of the precepts of Moses is, Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian :
and the alleged reason is. Because thou wast a stranger in his /aiid\
Now this must appear not a little extraordinary to any one, who under-
stands the history of the Israelitish bondage as it has commonly been
understood. The chosen people might indeed be forbidden to abhor an
Egyptian, on the broad principle of the forgiveness of injuries : but it seems
very strange, that the prohibition should be made to rest on such a basis
as the present; that they should be charged not to hate an Egyptian, be-
cause they had suffered from him a most iniquitous oppression. The mat-
ter however becomes perfectly intelligible, when the real state of the case
is known. So far from having been ill treated by the friendly Mizraim, the
Israelites from first to last had experienced nothing but kindness from them:
for, instead of being the oppressors of God's people, they had themselves
j^roaned under the very same intolerable yoke.
Accordingly \\c find another precept of the law specially built upon this
•* Deut. xxiii. 7.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. AS^
which ue have just seen elucidated : and it may be observed, tliat, w ith- chap. v.
out such elucidation, the additional precept involves a singularly glaring
contradiction. An Ammonite and a Moabite was never to enter into the
congregation of the Lord ; even the lapse of ten generations could not
render t/iem admissible. Do we inquire the reanoii of this rigorous exclu-
sion? it WAS prof essed/jj the evil treatment which the Israelites had received
at their hands. But the children of an Egyptian might freely enter into
the Lord's congregation, so early as the third descent : and why ? Because
Israel xvas a stranger in his land, where yet oppression was accumulated
upon oppression '. Here it is plain, that, according to the usual mode of
understanding the history of God's people in Egypt, the identical reason,
vhich is alleged for the eternal exclusion of an Ammonite or a Moabite,
is adduced for the admission of an Egyptian in the third generation: the
former were to be abominated and J'or ever shut out, because they mal-
treated the Israelites ; the latter was to be cherished and received as a
brother after a short prescribed interval, still because he also had mal-
treated the chosen race. But, let the history be rightly explained, and
every contradiction vanishes. Under an imperfect dispensation, which re-
quired an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the injuries of Moab and
Amnion were 7iever to be forgotten : but again, on the other hand, the fos-
tering friendship of the ever kind and hospitable Mizraim was eternally t, 'JOG.
» Jutt. Hibt. lib. xviii. c. 15.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 563
tliat patriarch, but because it happened to coincide with the familiar title «"*?. v.
of their tish-god.
"We do not find them mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures by the name
of Phauakim or Phcnicians : but we may observe the elements of that de-
nomination in the title of a very warlike tribe, which struck no small terror
into the hearts of the cowardly Israelites. The Anakim were certainly not
Canaanitcs, for they appear not in tlie very full enumeration of that family
which is given us by Moses ' : and, as we can find no more than two pro-
perly distinct races of men in Palestine when it was first visited by Abra-
ham, and as the Anakim were not Canaanites, they must have belonged to
the Phenician stock ; whence it is not improbable, that the word Phanakim
was formed from Anakim by the addition of a servile prefix which denotes
the\
In the time of Abraham, we may observe the two races generically de-
scribed under the appellations of the Canaanife and the Perizzite '. Now,
as the Perizzites were not of the house of Canaan *, as the various tribes of
the Canaanites are more than once distinctly enumerated, as we find seve-
ral other tribes not specified in this enumeration, and as all the inhabitants
of the land are succinctly mentioned under the generic titles of the Ca-
naanite and the Perizzite; we may safely pronounce those, who are not
of the Canaanitish, to be of the Peresian stock. But the Canaanites were
the primitive Sidonim (probably dispossessed by the Cuthic Sidonians from
the Erythrean sea), tbe Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girga-
sites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites,
and the Hamathites '. Hence, as we have no authority for pronouncing
any other tribes to be of the house of Canaan, and as we know from posi-
tive testimony that there was another distinct race of men in the land who
were the brethren of the Egyptian Shepherd-kings; we may determine, that
the name of Perizzite, as a generic appellation, comprehended the Anakim
(whence the title Phanakim), the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, the
' Gen. X. 15—18.
* It is a curious circumstance, that to this day India is called by the Tatars Anakak,
and by the Thibetians AnonhhenJ;. Asiat. Res. vol. \\. p. J-3.
' Gen. xiii. 7. ♦ See Gen. x. 15—18. « Gen. x. 15—18.
564 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOlATRr.
BOOK VI. Zanzummim, the Horim, the Kenim, the Kenizzim, and the Cadmonmi.
All these were of the Phenician or Ethiopic stock, emigrants from the
shores of the Erythr^an sea, but originally emigrants from a region lying
either to the east or to the north-east of maritime Babylonia. Hence we
find their general name of PeW.;.:/Ve, though disguised by our English mode
of writing it, essentially the same as the oriental Persi or Parsi or Farsi or
Persian : the same also, allowing for the regular interchange of the s and
the t or (I, as the Parada, pronounced Parad, of the Institutes of Menu;
in which ancient book, the tribe, distinguished by that appellation, is de-
clared to be allied by blood to the Cuttree or war-caste and to be of the
same great house as the Sacas and the Chusas.
Tlie members of the Peresian family lost none of their military prowess
by a transplantation to the south-west. Like their brethren, the Goths or
Scythians of the north-west, they were a most warlike race; who in Egypt
easily subjugated the IMizraim, and who in Palestine are described as
being of a towering stature far superior to that of the less martial Canaan-
ites. Agreeably to these testimonies, we find a distinct tradition among
the Phenicians that their ancestors had conquered Egypt. Sanchoniatho
mentions, that Cronus or Ilus, the masculine Ila of the Indo-Scythians,
marched from Phenicia into the south, where he reduced the land of Egypt
and gave it to the god Taut or Buddha '. This is merely a poetical mode
of relating an historical fact, agreeably to the notions and the usages of
the ancient pagans. Each new colony marched out under the special
guidance of the oracular ark-god ; and to his agency, as an imaginary
leader, every victory was ascribed. Hence the Goths are said to have
marched uito the west under the direction of Woden, by whom we must
understand either the fatidical great father or a prince who claimed to be
an incarnation of him : and hence, when Ilus conquers Egypt and gives it
to Taut, the plain English of the matter is, that the Phenician Buddhists
subjugated that country and introduced into it the worship of their favourite
Southic god \ The conquest in question was doubtless that eflccted by
' Sancli. npud Euseb. Praep. Evan. lib. i. c. 10.
* Of tlifsc Plunician Slu plicrds, Conoii truly says, that tlicy once possessed the empire
of Asia, and tlmt tlicy made Egyptian Thebes their capital. Couou. Narrut, xxxvii. p. 279.
THE ORIGIN" OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 565
the Shepherds, whose dynasty is thence rightly said by Africanus to have chap. v.
consisted of Phenicians : and we may now perceive the reason, wliy the
predominating superstition of Egypt was so violently persecuted by them.
Being of the number of the Scuthic seceders whom the Institutes of ]\Ienu
thence pronounces to be excommunicated, they had not, at the period of
tlie invasion, adopted tiie multifarious idolatry of lonism, but adhered to
the more simple Scythism or Buddhism of their ancestors. Accordingly,
like their brethren the Persians in after ages when they invaded Greece
under Xerxes, they destroyed the images and demolished the covered tem-
ples of the Ionizing JMizraim : for as yet, though they subsequently fell into
rank outward idolatry, they worshipped their god Buddha or Woden or
Taut, who was the same as Dagon or Siton, by the sole inward operation
of the mind. Such conduct appeared to the Mizraim, as the very height
of impiety : and their writers did not fail to stigmatize it accordingly.
3. Since the great father was worshipped among the Phenicians by the
name of Dagon, and since he was also venerated among the Philistines by
the same appellation, we are naturally led to suspect, that these two na-
tions were of a common origin : and, since we have further learned that the
Shepherd-kings were Phenicians, and since from Herodotus we have seen
reason to conjecture that the pastoral warriors whom the Egyptians called
Huc-Sos v.ere in their own dialect styled PhUitim; we are additionally led
to guess, that these Philitim were no other than the Philistim .so frequently
n)entioned in Holy Scripture. This however will be no better than a mere
vague conjecture, unless it can be shewn, both that the Philistim were once
in Egypt, and that they were of the same great house as the Phenicians.
In the days of Abraham, the Philistim can barely be said to have had
even a footing in the land of Canaan ; which yet, so early as the exodus
had received from them its well known appellation of Palesetli or Pales- ^
tine '. Beer-sheba, where Abraham made a covenant with the Philist^an
prince Abimelech, though situated at the very southern extremity of the
Holy Land, was not then reputed to be within the territories of the Philis-
Tlieir ancestors founded the vast Iranian monarchy ; and they themselves, under the name
of Palli or HuC'Sos, conquered the whole of Egypt.
' £sod. XV H.
566 T^E ORIGIN OF PAGAK IDOLATRT.
BOOK VI. titn : for, after the king had tliere conversed with the patriarch, he is stated
to have returned into the land of the Philistim, an expression which neces-
sarily implies that Beer- sheba was 7iot in that land; and Abraham appears
to have followed him, for we are immediately afterwards told that he so-
journed in the Philistines land many days '. Noav, as the Philistim at a
subsequent period spread themselves up the sea-coast as high as Ekron, so
that Beer-sheba became one of the most southerly towns of their dominions;
the progress of their settlements must have been from south to north : in
otlier words, they must either have come out of Egypt, or out of that isth-
mian tract of country which lies between Egypt proper and Palestine.
Hence it \\\\\ follow, tliat the land of the Philistim, into which Abimelech
returned from Beer-sheba, must have been a region situated on the eastern
side of the Nile. But this was the identical scite of Auaris or Goshen;
and Auaris or Goshen was the principal strong-hold of the Philitim or
Shepherd-kings. We seem therefore almost inevitably brought to the con-
clusion, that the land of the Philistim in the time of Abraham was the land
of Auaris, and consequently that the Philistim and the Philitim were one
and the same people. In this case, Abimelech, or his son, who in the days
of Isaac is represented as being lord of Gerar, must have been, as indeed
the history sufficiently implies, a petty Philistcan prince; who was a feuda-
tory to the Pharaoh of Egypt : for, during the entire lives of Abraham and
Isaac, Egypt was subject to the first dynasty of the Shepherd-kings; whose
cliief was of course the Pharaoh for the time being.
Agreeably to such a conclusion, we are positively assured in Scripture,
■ both that the Philistim did come out of Egypt, and that by descent they
were Cuthim : so that they at once emigrated from the same country, and
were members of the same great Ethiopic house, as tlie pastoral Pliiiitim or
Phcnicians ; a proof of identity, than which a stronger cannot be allbrded.
Moses informs us, that the Philistim came out of the Casluhim * ; and
Jeremiah speaks of them, as being the remnant of the land of Caphtor^.
But Cashih and Caphtor were two of the sons of Mizr : so that, as the
Philistim came out of their country, they must undoubtedly have come out
• Gen. «i. 32—34. » Gen. x. 14. » Jercm. xlvii. 4.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 567
of the land of Egypt; and, as the history of Abimclech's converse with cmp. v.
Abraham necessarily leads us to place the Philistim of that period on the
eastern bank of the Nile, the settlements of Casluh and Caphlor must have
been in the same tract of country '.
I am fully aware, that the expression, vhich Moses uses respcctin<>; the
Philistim when he details the children of Mizr, is in itself ambiguous : for
tl)e phrase, out ofxaJtom came tJic PJnUst'im, may import cither ge/wti/au^iad
descent or local emigra/lon. I know likewise, that Bochart and Wells and
other writers have understood it in the former of these senses : whence they
ascribe the Philistim to the house of Mizr, through the line of Casluh. It
may therefore be reasonably said, that, although an emigration of the Phi-
listim from Egypt into the south of the Holy Land will equally be proved
in whatever sense the ambiguous expression of IMoses be understood ; yet
we are not warranted in positively denying their genealogical descent from
the Casluhim and consequently from the patriarch Mizr, unless it can be
distinctly shewn from some other quarter that they are the children of a
different patriarch. T/ien indeed, but not toitil then, we may safely pro-
nounce, that the phrase in (juestion 7nust, in the passage before us, denote
local emigration ; and therefore that \i cannot, in that passage, denote gene-
alogical descent.
The justice of such an allegation is readily admitted : hence, before I
can decidedly set aside the mode of interpretation preferred by Bochart and
Wells, it is incumbent upon me to prove, that the Philistim were not de-
scended from Mizr but from an entirely different ancestor.
Now the proof required is very curiously furnished by the prophet Amos.
Are ye not as the children of the Cushim unto me, O children of Israel?
saith the Lord. Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egj/pt,
and the PhiUstun from Ca/)htor''y In the first clause of this |)assage,
Amos generally intimates, that tlie children of Israel are unto God as the
children of the Cushim, or that in some remarkable feature of their his-
' Deut. ii. 23.
* Amos ix. 7. The prophet acVls, nnd Aram from Kir. How the Arameans here
spoken of were Cushini, no less than their brethren the Philistim, has already been shewn.
See above, book vi. c. 2. J VI. 2. (2).
568 IME ORIGIIT OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK VI. tory the Cushim closely resemble the Israelites : in the second, he at once
verifies his gena^al assertion and points out the particular mode in which
they did resemble each other, by declaring, that, as the Israelites were
brought nationally out of Egypt, so the Philistim were brought nationally
from Caphtor. Here the important fact, of the national emigration of the
Philistim out of a certain district in the land of Egypt, is distinctly asserted :
and yet the Philistim themselves, as the tenor of the whole passage abun-
dantly shews, are declared to be by descent, not IMizraiin, but Cushim.
For, as the general assertion of the prophet respects the similitude between
the Cushim and the Israelites, and as the particular explication of that
assertion is borrowed from the national emigration of the Isiaelites com-
pared with the national emigration of the Philistim : it is obvious, that the
assertion is no way made good, unless we conclude the Philistim to be a
branch of the Cushim. The Israelites, in short, are declared to resemble
the Cushim ; because both the Israelites and the Philistim had nationally
emigrated from one country to another. But this circumstance affords no
proof whatsoever of a resemblance between the Cushim and the Israelites,
if the Philistim be of a different family from the Cushim. The Philistim
then, being Cushim, cannot be Mizraim : and, if they be not IVIizraim,
i\\c\\- coming out o/" the Casluhim caimot mean gc/iealogical descent : but,
if it do not mean genealogical descent, it can only mean local emigra-
tion.
Thus we find, that the Philistim were members of the house of Cush, and
yet that they were likewise emigrants from a district in Egypt. Such being
the case, they must previously have invaded Egypt ; otherwise, they could
not have come out of it : and, as they were Cushim, they must have migrated
into tlie land of the Mizraim from a land of Cusli. 13ut we read not of
any early invasion of Egypt, save by the Shepherd-kings from the east :
and these Shepherd-kings both called themselves in their own liialect P/ii-
lilim, and chiefly occupied that identical region on the eastern sitle of the
Nile wliich in the days of Abraham was also occu|)ic(i by the Philistim'.
• Dr. Hales rightly judges the Philistim to be the same as the Pah, and understands
tlicir coming out from Casluli and Caphtor precisely as I do. Anul. of Chron. vol. iii.
p. \ZG, 157. vol. i. p. ■1-21. vpl. ii. p. 157.
THE oniGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. SG'J
Hence, I think, wc have as direct a proof as can well be desired, that the ciup. v.
pastoral Piiilitim and the scriptural Pliilistim were the same people : and
with this result every incidental particular will be found minutely to cor-
respond.
The Philitim nationally evacuated the land of Auims, Ji?'st before the de-
scent of Jacob, and again a second time synchronically with the exodus of
the Israelites : the Philistim, in the days of Abraham, were Uiercly on the
outskirts of the Holy Land, stretching from its frontier to the precise terri-
tory occupied by the Philitim ; but, when the Israelites emerged from the
wilderness, they had successfully invaded and exterminated the whole nation
of the Avim '. The Philitim, when they originally seized upon Egypt, had
come out of the east ; and, since they are identified m ith the Phenicians who
are declared to have been emigrants from the Asiatic Cusha-dwip, they
must likewise have specially come out of the oriental laud of Cush : the
Philistim, since they have been proved to be members of the house of Cush,
must similarly have come out of the eastern Cusha-dwip or Ethiopia ; for
they could not have come out of the African Cusha-dwip, because, at the
period of the first pastoral irruption into Egypt (as we shall presently sec),
Cush had no settlements in Africa. The Philitim had invaded Egypt be-
fore the birth of Abraham; as appears from reckoning back tlie 511 years
of their domination from ihmrjifial expulsion at the epoch of the exodus :
the Philistim had done the same ; as appears from their only hovering on
the outskirts of the land of Canaan, while their territory stretched from
thence to the frontiers of Egypt, in the day that Abraham conversed with,
their king Abimelech. The Philitim, at this precise period, occupied a
district on the eastern side of the Nile: the Philistim did the same. The
Piiilitim retired into the Holy Land, when driven out of Egypt: the Phi-
listim did the same. The Philitim had retired thither previous to the arrival
of the Israelites from the desert: the Philistim had still done the same.
The Philitim are declared to be a branch of the Phenicians, who came out
of the Asiatic Cusha-dwip : the Philistim, who have been proved to be
Asiatic Cushim, and who were notoriously devoted to the service of the god
• Deut. ii. 23.
Pag. Idol, VOL. ill. 4C
570 THE OUIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. Dagon, are plainly one people with the Plianakim or Cuthico-Punic wor-
shippers of that same deity; consequently, they are one people also with
the Philitim. Lastly, the two names, PhUitbn and Philistim, are palpably
the same : and of this eastern title, since Herodotus describes Philitis as
being a shepherd, we may reasonably conjecture, that the Mizraimic word
IIuc-Sos was a translation. So that, whether we attend to origin or to
name, to chronology or to locality, we are alike compelled to identify the
Philitim or the Shepherd-kings with the Philisti^an emigrants from Caphtor.
But, if the Shepherd-kings be the same as the Philistim, they must have
been of the house of Cush. And this will exactly agree with their declared
identity with the Phenicians : for the Phenicians, who were of a kindred
origin with the Cuthic Philistim, were emigrants from the oriental Cusha-
dwip or Ethiopia.
Thus at length we perceive the strict accuracy of those ancient testimo-
nies, with which we set out. It was gathered from ditferent writers, that
the Shepherd-kings came out of the cast, that thev were Phenicians by de-
scent, that they were also Ethiopians or Cushim, and tliat tiiey were pro-
perly distinguished by the name of Philitim though the native IVJizraim
called them Huc-Sos. Each of these particulars has been found to be true.
The pastoral Philitim were the scriptural Pliilistim, who were a branch of
the house of Cush : and they are accordingly identified with the Plianakim
or Phenicians, who were brethren of the Philistim, and who came out of
tiie eastern Etliiopia or Cusha-dwip within.
4. We have seen however, that this martial people came into Palestine
by two successive emigrations ; the first from the nortii-east, the second
from the south-west : and the remembrance of these has been so distinctly
preserved, that we shall be enabled botii to trace their precise route and to
ascertain tlie country whence tliey oriythr^an sea, and
chiefly froni tliat part of it which bears tiie name of (he Persian gulph :
but, as Trogns assures us, they had previously travelled to the shores of the
Erythrean sea from what he emphatically calls their vftiive soil, being con-
.'^trained to leave it by some dreadful earllujuakes '. Now, as these Cushim
' JiiBt. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 3.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 571
are not described as i^eturning to their native soil when they again emigrated cuar. v.
to the north-west, that native soil must evidently have been situated to the
east or the north-east of their settlement on the Erythr^an sea. ilence,
in the first instance, they must have come, either out of the peninsula of
India, or out of that liigh land at the sources of the Indus and the Ganges
Mhich has ever been occupied by tiiose, whom the Greeks called Indo-
Scutlis and whom the Hindoos still denominate Chasas or Chusas.
To decide this alternative M'ill not be very difficult. The Institutes of
Menu pronounce the Chusas to be an excommunicated branch of the Cut-
tree or military caste. But the Cuttrees are certainly descendants of the
13abylonic Cuthim of Nimrod : for the early history of llindostan is in truth
the early history of Iran. The Chusas therefore, being a branch of the
Cuttrees, must also be Cuthim : and, accordingly, they yet claim for their
ancestor the patriarch Chusa or Cusha, who is described as the grandson
of the ark-preserved Menu and as the near kinsman of Misr and Hama.
Now the Philitim or Phenicians or Shepherd-kings were likewise, as we
Jiave seen, Cushim. Hence, as they must originally have emigrated either
from lower India or from the Indian Caucasus, we may safely, I think, de-
termine the latter region to have been the native soil mentioned by Trogus.
The Cuthic Shepherds therefore were Chusas, or (as the Greeks would call
them) Indo-Scuths, from the oriental Cash-Ghar or Coh-Cash or Caucasus;
for each of these words alike denotes the moKntain of Cuslt. Tiicy were
consequently Scythians of Touran, as contradistinguished from the Scythians
of Iran : and every part of their conduct demonstrates them to have been
a branch of those Cuthic seceders, who adhered to Buddhism and whom
their Iranian brethren viewed as outcasts. The religion of Egypt was the
same as that of Babylonia and llindostan : it was that more complex mo-
dification of idolatry, w hich may bo denominated lonisrii or Brahiiiciiism or
Onirism. If then the invading Shepherds had been Cuthim of Iran, they
would not have contumeliously interrupted the established worship of the
Mizraim : but such interruption Mas precisely in character with the Cuthim
of Touran, who had seceded from their brethren expressly on account of
their dislike of the Ionic superstition, and who were tlience declared to be
an unclean and excouiuiunicated race. Such being the origin of the Phi-
572 THE ORIGrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
^OK VI. litiin, it seems most probable, that, in their progress westward, they would
first descend from Caucasus following the course of the Indus ; in which
precise line of country Dionysius accordingly places those whom he calls
the southern Scythians ' : that they would next skirt the shores of the
Erythr^an ocean and the Persian guiph, until they reached the mouth of
the Euphrates : and that, finally circuiting by the ordinary route the great
Arabian desert, they would enter from the north the land to which they
ultimately communicated tlie name of Palestine, and thence invade Egypt
by way of the isthmus. This seems to be the route very plainly marked
out by those writers, who bring the Phenicians fi'om the east : and we shall
presently find, that various circumstances will arise to attest their accuracy.
When expelled from Egypt, they a second time migrated into Palestine :
and then of course their progress was from the south, as it had heretofore
been from the north.
5. As the Cuthic Phenicians or Philitim, when they left their native soil,
marched first from the Indian Caucasus to the shore of the Erythr^an sea,
and afterwards round the Persian gulph to Palestine and thence to Egypt;
it is manifest, tliat their route must have been directly through Chald^a and
the southern provinces of the great Iranian enipire. Here therefore a
question arises, how they could not only accomplish such an expedition,
but in the course of it even build cities and form permanent settlements at
the head of the Persian gulph. These actions necessarily imply, that,
when they left their native Caucasus, they effected a conquest of Chald^a
and the south of Iran, violently wresting those districts for a time at least
from the reigning head of the Cuthico-Assyrian empire.
Witii such a conclusion the ancient chronological documents, that have
been handed down to us by Africanus and SynccUus, perfectly agree :
and they will likewise serve to throw ligiit upon the remark of Manetho,
that the She|)herd-kings were occasionally thought to be Arabs from the
east.
We have seen, that tlie Scythic or Iranian empire, from Nimrod to
Thonus Concolerus, lasted 14y5 or (in the round number of Justin) about
' DJou. Pcricg. ver. 1086—1091. Schol. in loc.
THE ORIGIK OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 573
fifteen centuries : and we have further seen, that, during this period, it was <="*?• ▼•
governed by two successive dynasties apparently of the same Cuthic family;
the first reigning 190 years, and the second reigning 1305 years'. Now
we are told, that, at the close of the first dynasty, when in the days of Serug
the original Scythic name and succession terminated, a dynasty of six Ara-
bian kings reigned for the space of 215 years over Chald^a ; which country
therefore they must of course have wrested from its former lords \ Such
being the case, as the Cuthic empire commenced at Babel in the year 613
after the flood, and as the first Cuthic dynasty reigned 190 years, the Arab
princes, who made themselves masters of Chald^a at the extinction of that
dynasty, must have begun to reign in the year after the flood 803 : and, as
they continued to reign in Chaldea 215 years, the year 1018 after the
flood must have Avitnessed their expulsion or subjugation by the Cuthico-
Assyrian emperors of the second dynasty. Hence it appears, that these
Arabs governed Chaldea during the space which intervenes between the
years 803 and 1018 after the flood. But the Phenician Shepherd-kings,
who are sometimes said to have been Arabs from the east, invaded Egypt
6 years before the birth of Abraham ; and Abraham was born in the year
after the flood 942 : the Shepherds therefore must have invaded Egypt in
the year 936 after the same epoch. These Shepherds however have been
traced to Palestine from the Indian Caucasus, by the route of Chaldfea and
the shores of the Erythr^an sea ; which districts they must have held for a
considerable time, for we find them even building cities there. But the Arabs
held Chaldea from the year 803 to the year 1018 after the flood : and the
Phenician Shepherds, who had previously come out of that identical coun-
try, invaded Egypt in the year 936; that is to say, 133 years after the sub-
jugation of Chaldea by the Arabs, and 82 years before they lost the sove-
reignty of that country. Erom this statement therefore it is manifest, that
the Arabs must have been lords of Chaldea at the very time when the Phe-
nician Shepherds were building cities and firmly establishing themselves
round the head of the Persian gulph. Hence, as the Arab princes and the
Phenician Shepherds were masters of the very same country at the very
' Vide supra c. 2. J III. * Vide supra c. 2. § III. 2.
;i74 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK, VI. same time, it will inevitably follow, that they were one and the same
people under different names. Accordingly, as the conquerors of Chald^a
are spoken of under the name of Arabs ; so we learn from ]\Ianetho, that
the Shepherd-kings of Egypt were thought by some to have likewise been
Arabs.
And now the progress of these oriental invaders, from the Indian Cau-
casus through the southern provinces of Iran, will be easily accounted for.
Descending from their native mountains, they had subjugated Chaldea at
the close of the first Cuthic dynasty of the great Assyrian empire : and,
while some of them remained in tlie land which they liad thus gained by the
sword ; others, advancing westward round the Arabian desert and then
passing southward through the entire extent of the country which was first
colonized by the descendants of Canaan, appeared at length on the eastern
frontier of Egypt '.
How they came to be styled Arabs, can only be a matter of conjecture :
they most probably received the name from the circumstance of their ap-
pearing to the people of the west to issue out of the northern parts of the
Arabian desert. Under this appellation however, we more than once find
them mentioned by the ancients. The Shepherd-kings, as we have seen,
were indifferently said to be Arabs and Phenicians : the associates of Cad-
mus, in an exactly similar manner, were variously denominated PItemcians
and Araba'' : and the allies of Ninus, the founder of the second Cuthico-
Assyrian dynasty, are said to have been certain Arabs ; who, conjointly
with him, subjugated the province of Babylonia '. This occurred at the ex-
tinction of the first dynasty : and these Arabs, wlio received Chaldt'-a as
their portion, were evidently those Phenician or Indo-Scythic Shepherds, a
branch of whom afterwards made themselves masters of Egyi)t under the
name of IIuc-Sos or Palti.
6. If then tiie Pliilitim or Shepherd-kings really came out of northern
India, we may naturally expect, that some remembrance of tluir emigration
would be preserved both in the west and in the east. Nor shall we be dis-
' Sec Aiipcnil. Tub. V. * Strab. (leog. lib. vii. p. 321. lib x. p. 4 17.
' Died. Bibl. lib. ii. p. m.
I
THE ORIGIN OP PAGAN IDOLATRT. 575
appointed in our expectation : tiie notices of tliis memorable event shall be cdap. v,
considered in their order.
(1.) In the west we find a belief decidedly prevalent, that a colony of
Indians once settled in Egypt.
Plutarch mentions, that Dionusus was supposed to have brou— 227.
* In the Tamovatsa oi the Mahaculpa, we recognize t lie Tima lis or Tammuz of Manetlio:
the name lunvever, in tlio Indian rccoiJ, has been truiisferrcd fioni the conquered Miz-
rainiic kinj; lu the victuriuuit kSlic^jlicrU-pruicCa
THE ORIGIN OF fAGAN IDOLATRy. 581
verted into certainty ; and tliat in such a manner, as clearly to demonstrate chap. v.
that tlie very same events are related in the histories both of Egypt and of
Hindostan.
In the Institutes of Menu, the Pahlavas are mentioned, with the Sacas,
the Chusas, and other tribes, as being an excommunicated branch of the
military caste ; which originated in Iran, and wliich we know from Scripture
to have been composed of the children of Cusli '. The name of these
Cuthic Pahlavas is sometimes written Pali or Palli : and the word itself
signifies Shepherds or Herdsmen. Like most of the Touranian Scythians,
they were doubtless a nomade race : whence, from their employment, they
were styled Pali or Shepherds ; and this employment, which tied them
down to no particular soil, gave them great facility of locomotion. They
seem to have been proud of the appellation : so that, whenever they gained
the ascendancy, they were fond of styling themselves by an easy metaplior
Shepherds of the people ; thus converting the name of an occupation into a
regal title of honour. It will naturally be anticipated, that these Indian
Pali were the Shepherd-kings of the Mizraim, who by the compound appel-
lation Huc-Sos expressed both ideas ; and that the name Pali is the same
as the name PhiiUiin or Palitim, Philistim or Palistiin : whence it would
follow, as already conjectured, that the word Philitim is equivalent to Shep-
herds, and that Huc-Sos is a compounded translation of it.
Nor will this anticipation prove unfounded. We are told in the Puranas
that the Pali were once a very powerful people, who lived to the south-
west of Cashi near the river Naravindhya. Their virtuous king Irshu, on
account of the protection which he afforded to pilgrims, was attacked by
his brother Tarachya ; who reigned over the Vindhyan mountaineers, and
who was impious and malignant. Irshu was overpowered, and compelled
to leave his kingdom : but Siva or the masculine principle, to whose worship
he was peculiarly devoted, led the fugitive prince and the faithful Pali who
accompanied him to the banks of the Cali or Nila in Sancha-dwip or Rlis-
rasthan. Here they found certain Sharmicas or descendants of the patriarch
Sharnaa ; who was one of the three sons of the ark-preserved Menu, and who
• Instit. c. X. i 4-3, 44.
582 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
BOOK VI. must evidently be identified with the scriptural Shem '. These were
foreigners in the country as well as themselves : and they are said to have
travelled thither from the banks of the Cumudvati or Euphrates, subsequent
to the buildina; of the Padma-mandira or tower of Babel. Various idle
stories are told of them : but, in general terms, they are described as a
holy or divine race under the immediate care and instruction of heaven.
Among these the Pali settled, and soon spread themselves up the country as
hiffh as Mandera or INIeroe. Their kin^ Irshu was named Pali from the
people whom he governed : and, though he was naturally bloody-minded,
yet he so far overcame his disposition to evil, that he was rewarded by the
gods for his piety, and is even worshipped to this day in India as one of the
eis£ht resents of the world. The abode of his descendants is declared in
the Puranas to be still on the banks of the Nila, which no doubt is true so
far as the Nileotic Cushim or Ethiopians are concerned : and it is added,
that a country, which they occupied, was from them denominated Palisthan
or the land of Pali. One of their kings, who ruled both over Egypt and
Ethiopia, was called It or Ait. lie obtained a complete victory over the
natives, who are described as a sort of savage demons : and from him a
considerable part of tlie country received the name of Aiteya. Of the
Indian Pali there are now only a few miserable remains. By the Brah-
mens they are considered as outcasts : yet they are acknowledged to have
possessed a dominion in ancient times from the banks of the Indus even to
the peninsula of Siam. Accordingly, the Pali tongue is still the sacred
language of the Burman empire : and the old Buddhic theology of the Shep-
herds is still professed throughout the whole of its extent*.
It need scarcely be remarked how perfectly this narrative harmonizes
witli tlie traditions of the west. The Pali arc plainly tlie Cutiiic l^liilitim
or Pliilistim : their king Pali is the shepherd Pi)ilitis mentioned by Hero-
dotus, if we suppose the historian to speak of an individual: their king Ait
is the person, whom the Greeks, adding the termination of their language,
' The names of liis tlircc sons, according to the Hindoos, were Shanna, Charmn, and
Jj/ajicli ; and, as Moscs writes tlieni, S/icm, Cham, and Jaji/icl.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. G6— 88, l*. vol. ix. p. 33,
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 583
Styled the Indian Aetos : and Ai'.eija, as a name of Egypt communicated chap. v.
by him to the country, is what the Greeks wrote Aeiitt, aiHrming it to have
been an ancient appellation of Egypt derived from the title of that Indian '.
So again : the word Pali denotes Sliephcrds ; and the persons, who invaded
Egypt from the east, are spoken of as being Shcphcrd-kings : the Pali were
votaries of the Scythic or Buddhic superstition ; the Shepherds were the
same: the Pali subjugated the whole country; such also was the fortune
of the Shepherds. We are further told, that the land occupied by the Pali
was from them called Palistlian or the Shtpherd-country. This is plainly
the Paleseth of Holy Writ, and the Palestine of the Greek authors : a
name, which at the time of the exodus seems to have been confined to the
tract of land that reached from the eastern bank of the Nile to Gerar and
Gaza, but which at length was extended to the whole region that was pro-
mised to the Israelites. \e\. it was not peculiar to either of these coun-
tries. As the Pali or Phanakim settled on tiie shore of the Erythrfean sea^
in the course of their progress from upper India to Egypt; we thence find
a Palestine or Palisthan, stretching eastward from the Euphrates and the
Tigris, and thus coinciding with their territories on the Persian gulph: and,
as they afterwards migrated into various countries when they were finally
driven out by the Mizraim ; we meet with Pelestini in Italy, a tou n called
PhiUstina at the mouth of the Po, the Philistinean trenches and the Phi-
lislinean sands in Epirus, and a race of shepherds named Bhi/s or P/iils m
Abyssinia and Mauritania. The river Strymon also was distinguished by
the ephhet Palestinus : and, if there was a Palaibothfa or Paliputra in
northern India, there was no less a Palaipatne or Paliputra (as it is to
this day called by the natives) on the shore of the Hellespont *. As for the
children of Sharma, who dwelt in Egypt synchronically with the Pali, and
who came originally from the banks of the Eupiirates and the vicinity of
Babel; it need scarcely be remarked, that they arc clearly the Israelites or
the captive shepherds of Manetho, wlxise great ancestor Abraham was a
divinely-called emigrant from Ur in Chald^a.
" The coincidence is so palpable, that I give the words of Eustathiiis. Egypt, he says,
was formerly called Aitis, « timj uia Aith xaxsiicu. Schol. in Dion. Perieg. ver. 239.
» Asiat. Ees. vol. iii. p. 79, SI, HO, Ul.
584 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV.
»ooi: VI. Equally explicit are the Hindoo writers with regard to the planting of the
Nileotic Ethiopia or Cusha-dwip without. They tell us, that the settlers
in that country were a blameless, pious, and even a sacred, race ; that they
«ere fugitives from India; that their king was called Yatiipa ; and that
the land, which they occupied, was from him named Yatupeija '. Judging
by their character, I should take them to have been chiefly composed of the
sacerdotal order ; who, weary of the perpetual turmoils of lower Egypt, tra-
velled up the Nile in quest of a more peaceable habitation. These are the
blameless Ethiopians celebrated by Homer * : and, from Yatupa and YatU'
peya, the titles of their king and their country, it seems probable, that the
Greeks formed the names of king Ethiops and his domain Ethiopia.
7. The emigration of the Shepherd-kings from India by the coast of the
Erythrfean sea is coniirmed by several very curious incidental particulars.
(1.) As they themselves were called Pali or Philltiin; so the land, which
they occupied, was from them denominated Palisthan : but we are told by
Manetho, that their chief settlement in Egypt was likewise styled jliiaris;
and this is plainly the country, which in tlie days of Abraham was known
as the land of the Philisti^n and which in the time of Joseph bore also the
appellation of Goshen '.
Now the land of the Philistim is simply a translation of the Sanscrit
Pali-si han, which denotes the land of the Shepherds: but various are the
etymologies which have been proposed of the two other terms Croshen and
jliiaris. All these however are completely set aside by the proof that the
Shepherds came out of India: for, as such was the origin of the Pali; such
also, we may conclude, would be the origin of the names by wliich their
peculiar strong-hold was distinguished. Agreeably to this opinion, Mane-
tho tells us, that the word Auaris was taken from a certain ancient theo-
logy * : and he tells us riglit, for both it and Goshen arc Sanscrit names,
' Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 86—88.
' AixvfAotuf AiOioirijaf. Iliad, lib. i. vcv. 4'23. As they were priests, the poet aptly repre-
sents Jupiter and the gods as going to feast with them. I think, « ith tiie selioliast and
Diodorus Siculus, that the Ocean, here mentioned by Homer, is the Nile, by the Egyptians
called Occnmcs and Oceanus.
' Gen. xxi. 32. xlvi. 31.. ♦ Joseph, cont. Apion. lib. i. § li.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 585
bearing precisely such a sense as might have beea expected. They are '^''*''' ^*
terms of the same import as Palisthan : for all the three equally signify
/he Land of the Shepherds '.
(2.) Such appellations were doubtless conferred and used indifferently
by the Shepherds themselves : and, as they brought them from their orien-
tal settlements, they likewise naturally, with the true feelings of colonists,
endeavoured to stamp upon Egypt and Ethiopia the special character of
their own country. For this the land of ]\Iizraim offered many facilities,
and what was wanting in nature was completed by art.
The Nile was viewed as a new Ganges, rising in a high romantic land,
but flow ing at length through a rich valley fertilized by its periodical inun-
dations. Hence, both rivers are described, as rushing over three ranaes
of hills which are severally designated by common appellations : and, if
the one, in its descent from the head of Siva, be said to flow through the
stone-mouth of the sacred cow ; the other, in its fall from the great god
Zeus, is divided, by the point of the Delta, at Batn-el-Bakari or the Cow's
belly. Hence likewise, as the Asiatic stream has a Meru at its head ; so
the African stream has equally a Meru possessing the very same charac-
teristics. The former mountain is the northern, the latter is the southern,
Himalaya. Each is a sacred peak of the Moon : each is furnished with a
lake of the hero-gods : each is the peculiar abode of the immortals*.
But art was also brought forward, as the assistant of nature and of fiction:
and the Thebais became to Egypt what upper India is to lower. J'he
remains of archiiecture and sculpture in India, to adopt the words of Sir
William Jones, seem to prove an early connection between that country and
Africa. The pyramids of Egypt, the colossal statues, the Sphinx, and the
Hermes-Canis, indicate the style and mythology of the same indefatigable
workmen ; icho formed the vast excavations of Canarah, the various tem-
ples and images of Buddha, and the idols which are continually dug up at
Gaya or in its vicinity. The letters on many of those monuments appear,
partly of Indian, and partly of Abyssinian or Ethiopic, origin : and all these
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 88.
* Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 88; 89. Maur. Ind. Ant. vol. iii. p. 69. Iliad, lib. xvii. ver. 263.
where, by oucriTiot lolajxcio, tlie poet certainly means the Nile.
Fag. Idol, VOL. in. 4 E
BOOR VI.
586 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
indubitable facts may induce no ill-grounded opimon, that Ethiopia and IMn-
dostan xcere peopled or colonized by the same extraordinary race '.
(3.) To such facts may be added certain verbal mythologic coincidences :
which are so far of importance, that, although pagan idolatry was radically
the same in every quarter of the glolje ; yet, since different nations called
the great father by different names, the distinguishing him by the same
appellation may be esteemed no inconsiderable proof of national identity.
Now the Pali were formerly lords of all India, though their chief settle-
ments appear to have been on the high land to the north of it : and, from
this region, they spread themselves at once into Siam towards the east ;
into Italy and Ireland towards the north-west, under the names of Pelasgh
and Phaili; and into Egypt and Palestine towards the south-west, under
the appellation of Philitim or Philistim or Royal Shepherds. What then
was the title, which they bestowed upon the great father Buddha, when
they contemplated him as the god of agriculture and as the sovereign prince
in the belly of the hieroglvphical fish? In Boutan and Thibet, he is vene-
rated by tlie name of Dak-Po .: in the Burman empire, he is adored under
the title of Dagon. On the coast of tlie Erythr^an sea, he was known as
Dacon : and, when the Pali reached the shores of the Mediterranean, he
was still, as the god Dagon, revered by the Phenicians and the Philistim.
In Pelasgic Etruria, we again meet witii him as the agricultural earth-born
Tages or Dag-Esa, answering to the agricultural Dagon or Siton of the
Tyrians : and in Pelasgic Ireland, he finally presents himself to our notice
under the name of Dagh-due or the god Dagh *. I would not build upon
words independently of circumstantial evidence : but, since the Pali may
be alike traced in Siam, in Thibet, on the coast of the luythrean sea, in
Plienicia or Palestine, in Etruria, and in Ireland ; and since, in all those,
countries, the great father has been known by appellations kindred to-
Dagon : it is impossible not to feel, tliat this latter circumstance corrobo-
• Asiat. Res. vol. i". p. iST-
* La Croze p. i-'M. Vallanc. Vind. p. 160, 161, 50'2,.TO3. Symes's Ava. vol. ii. p. 110,
111. Hameltnn's Ate. of East Intl. vol. ii. p. 57. Seld. de diis Syr. synt. ii. c. 3. p. 190.
Soncli. apud Lustb. Prsp. Evan. lib. i. c. 10. Ciccr. dc divii^lib. ii. c. 23. Ovid. Metani.
lib. XV. VLT. 55'S — 55i).
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAV IDOLATRV. 587
rates the former, while at the same time the former amply accounts for cuap. v.
the latter.
;Much the same remark may be made on the Burman word Praxv. The
term itself denotes Lord; and it is at once a sovereign and a sacerdotal
title. But this very appellation was no less familiar to the ancient Egyp-
tians, than it is to the modern Burmans. Phra was tlie proper name,
under which they fust adored the Sun : and tlicy conferred the same title
both on their kings and on their priests. Thus the reigning sovereign was
always distinguished by the appellation oi Pharaoh; which, when not dis-
guised by the Masoretic points, is no other than Phra or Prazv : and thus
the priest of the solar god On bore the name of Potiphera, as being the
Petah-Phra or priest of t lie Sun '. The word was certainly imported into
Egypt by the Shepherd-kings, who were of the same great Cuthic family
as the Burmans.
A similar argument is afforded by the story of Perseus and Andromeda.
It is a Cuthic fable, relative to the protection of the great mother from tlie
fury of the oceanic monster Typhon, which sought to devour her : for Per-
seus, as I have already shewn, is the same character as Buddha or Her-
cules. But I am at present concerned only with the existence of the tale.
Now the scene of it is generally laid in the African Ethiopia : yet Ovid
speaks of Andromeda as being brought from among the Indians, and in his
narrative of the adventure seems to hesitate whether he should ascribe it
to the region of the Nile or of the Ganges*. Nor was his doubt purely
accidental : he had, I believe, very good reason for it. Perseus and An-
dromeda, Cepheus and Cassiop^a, were equally well-known characters in
the Asiatic and in the African Ethiopia. The Hindoos to this day call
' Syraes's Embass. to Ava. vol. ii. p. 62, 63. In the Burman empire, wc are furtlier
told, the name Pravi is always annexed to a sacred building. Hence I am inclined' to
suspect, that the word Pyraniid, which has generally been thought to be Greek, is in
reality Indo-Scythic. Prrm-m-Ida will be equivalent to the name of the holy mountain
Ida or Meru wiili Pravi prefixed to it: and every pyramid, as we have seen, was an ex-
press copy of that identical mountain. The Burman temples of Dagon or Buddha are
all pyramidal.
* Apollod. Bibl. lib. ii. c. -i. ^ 3. Ovid. Art. Amat. li)). i. ver. 53. Metam. lib. iv. vcr.
668. comp. lib. v. vcr. 1-7, 48, 60, 75, 187.
588 THE OniGlN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
sooK VI. them Parasica and Antarmada, Capeya and Casyapi : and all doubt of
their identity with tlie personages celebrated in the west is removed by the
curious circumstance of the Brahmenical constellation of Parasica and
Antarmada being the very same catasterism as that of Perseus and Andro-
meda '. Thus it appears, that the well known classical story was a fictioa
common both to Cusha-dwip within and Cusha-dwip without : and, since
the latter country was colonized from the former, it was evidently imported
from India by the Pali or Shepherd-kings *. Nor is this all : as the Phe-
nicians and Philistim occupied the whole sea-coast of the Holy Land, and
as these adventurers were by descent Cuthim or Ethiopians ; we find, that
Phenicia itself was sometimes deemed an Ethiopia, and that as such it was
feigned to be the region where Andromeda was delivered by Perseus from
the sea-monster. The Cuthim of Joppa even pretended to shew the very
skeleton of the cetas, to which the Ethiopic virgin was exposed : and it was
thought so great a curiosity, that it was transported to Rome, and exhibited,
during the edilesliip of Scaurus, for the edification of the gaping multitude'.
It was doubtless connected with the Philistean worship of Dagon and Der-
ceto: and, as the Piiilistim themselves were no other than the Pali, we
shall not wonder at their possessing the story of Perseus and Andromeda.
The same tale formed also a part of the popular mythology of the Ilien-
sians, who were a colony of Sacas or Palis from t'.ie Indian Ila-vratta or
^leru *. Not a single particular is altered : the names only of Fersens
and Andromeda are exciiangcd for those of Hercules and Ilesionii, At
lengtli, as was frequently the case, the legend found its way into the ficti-
tious martyrology of corrupt Christianity : and it is a curious circumstance,
that, notwithstanding the transmutation of Perseus into St. George, the
locality of tlie fable is still accurately preserved. The Christian hero, who
has been adopted as the chivalrous patron of the order of the Garter, is
said to have delivered the beautiful Sabra from a terrific dragon, to which
she was exposed in the land of Egypt or Ethiopia : but the scene of this
' Asiat. lies. vol. iii. p. 222.
* For tlic Indian fable of Parasica and Antarmada, sec Asiat. Res, voL iii. p. 219.
' Strab. Geog. lib. i. p. 42, iS. I'lin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxv.
* Asiat. lies. vol. vi. p. 51G,
THE OUIGIN OK PACAV IDOLATllY. 6S9
exploit appears to Imvc been sometimes laid at Berytli or Ecrytus- for cuap, w
there was a famous picture in that city of the sainted knight trampling tlie
dragon beneath his feet, while a young virgin kneels to liim in the act of
imploring assistance '. I think it probable however, that, independently
of classical romance, the Goths, those northern kinsmen of tlie Pali,
brought the legend with them into Europe from the Asiatic Ethiopia.
The fabled amour of Hercules with the dracontian nymph, in the wilds of
Scythia, seems to be only a variation of the story : and we have it, in its
perfect form, in the old chivalrous tale of Sir Bevis of Hampton ; who,
like the Cuthic warrior, slays a portentous dragon and delivers a fair
damsel *.
VI. When the Shepherds were finally driven out of Egypt, in conse-
quence of their power being broken by the awful catastropli^ of the Red
sea, they migrated, as we are told by Diodorus, into several different re-
gions : their history therefore will not be complete, until we have traced
their progress in this ultimate dispersion.
1. Diodorus particularly mentions the emigration of one of their noblest
tribes under Danaus, and he describes it as synchronizing with the exodus
of Israel : we collect however from Manetho, that it took place about 89
or 90 years after that event; the whole of which period, we may infer, was
occupied by the last struggle between the IMizraim and the Palitim, and
marked from time to time by a flight of this or that pastoral family.
With respect to Danaus himself, I am persuaded that no such individual
existed. The name was one of the many titles of the great father : and
from it, agreeably to a very general practice, the Danai borrowed their
national appellation. They are noticed in the Puranas, as one of the Cu-
thic tribes that accompanied the Pali in their western progress to Egypt :
and, under the name of Danavas, they are said to have been children of
Danu or Noah'. This ancestor of theirs is doubtless the Danaus of the
Greeks : and they emigrated under his command from Egypt, in no other
• Percy's Relics, vol. iii. p. 228. Selden's Notes to Polyolb. song iv.
* Percy's Relics, vol. iii. p. 217, 218. The legend of Memnon, who is alike ascribed to
the Asiatic and the African Ethiopia, affords another argument of a similar nature.
' Asiat. lies. vol. iii. p. 56, 121.
590 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
800K VI. sense than as under the special guidance of their tutelary divinity. Such
an idea was universally prevalent among the Cuths : their great god, pre-
siding in the holy ship Argha, was ever viewed as their preternatural leader,
and was tliought to direct their course from time to time by an oracular
communication. Hence arose the story of Danaus having sailed to Greece
in the ship Argo, which was the sacred diluvian vessel of Iswara or Osiris.
The purport of it was simply this : that the Danavas or Danai, when they
fled from Egypt, brought with them into Hellas the rites of Danu and the
Argha.
Here they found their brethren the Pelasgi, or the Pali of the north-west:
and they appear to have been so cordially received, that they were soon
completely intermingled with them. Thus we are twice told by Euripides,
that the Danai were formerly called Pelasgi: and we learn from other
writers, that the Argives, the Arcadians, and the Athenians, though in part
emigrants from Egypt, were yet all of the ancient Pelasgic stock '. This
was perfectly true in every sense of the expression : for, wliile one branch
of the Pali found tlieir way into Greece by land from the north, another
branch met them in the same country by water from the south. Hero-
dotus remarks, that the rites of Dionusus were brought into Greece from
Esypt; and he adds, that almost all the names of the Hellenic gods were
of Egyptian origin : yet he acknowledges, tliat mucli also was borrowed
from the noithcrn Pelasgi, who instituted the Mysterieu of the Cabiri in
Samothrace '. I apprehend, tliat, in reality, there was no material differ-
ence : for both the Pelasgi and the Danai came by different routes from
upper India. At least, the only difference which I can discover is this :
the old Pelasgi were Buddhists ; but the Danai, during their second resi-
dence in Egypt, appear to have embraced the more complicated religion,
and thence to have taken tlie title of lonim or Yoiiijas.
This irruption of Shepherds botli from the north and the south gave rise
to the proverbially pastoral character of Arcadia : but poets, with a greater
regard to stage-eOcct than historical verity, have in all ages thought fit to
' See various authorities collected in Alhvood's Liter. Ant. of Greece, p. 6G, 67.
* Herod, Hist. lib. ii. c. 49—52.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 59T
exliibit the stern nomadc warriors of Scythia disguised as a rustic inoffcn- ciur. v.
sivc race, whose ambition soared no higher than to tend tlieir lambs, to
elicit soft strains from their pipes, and to frame many an amorous ditty to
their mistresses. We may observe similar effects springing from the same .
cause, in the Hindoo and classical legends of the pastoral Crishna and
Apollo, and in the humour of so often ascribing fatidical powers and learned
mythologic discourses to a shepherd. The Pali were in truth a wise people,
and tiicy delighted in the military freedom of the nomade state : but they
certainly affected the regal, rather than the soft amatory, character. Hence,
as they were styled Shepherd-kings in Egypt, they introduced into the Greek
language one of their national titles in the sense of a sovereign prince.
They all claimed to be Anakim, and they invariably contrived to make
themselves lords of whatever country they occupied: the word Aiiax thcre»
fore was adopted into the Hellenic tongue, as equivalent to a ki^ig ; and it
was often, particularly by Homer, associated with the closely allied deno-
mination of shepherd of the people.
2. With Danaus, Diodorus mentions Cadmus as heading another body
of emigrants from Egypt.
This particular I understand precisely in the same manner as the last^
Cadmus, as we have already seen at large, was the Cadam or Codom or
Gaudama of the east ; under which appellation Buddha, the great god of
the Chusic Shepherds, is still worshipped in Ceylon and Ava. Greek tra-
dition sometimes brings the Cadmians from Egypt, and sometimes from
Phenicia : and we fuid the matter fully explained by tiie clear assertion,
that Cadmus originally came from the Thebais into Phenicia, and that
afterwards he migrated from Phenicia into Beotia. The account certainly
describes the travels, not of a hero, but of a nation under the guidance of
their tutelary god : and, accordingly, while some of the Cadmians came
into Greece, others of them remained in Palestine where they are men-
tioned by Moses under the name of tlie Cudnionites. A colony of them
likewise passed into Cilicia, conducted by the fabulous Cilix whom romance
converted into the brother of Cadmus : and, as Cadmus himself is feigned
to have retired among the Illyrians, we may be tolerably sure that Illy-
xicutn also received a baird of these martial wanderers. Such traditions,,
igiS THE ORIGIN OF PAGAW IDOLATRY.
tooK yi. if we do but substitute the people conducted for the conducting hero-god^
w ill become valuable portions of authentic histoiy.
3. The Danai and the Cadmians are the only two tribes specifically
mentioned by Diodorus ; but he intimates, that many others emigrated from
Egypt at the same period.
One of these planted Colchis on the Euxine: where, like the Danai and
the Cadmians in Greece, they found and were received by a colony of their
Scythic brethren from the Indian Caucasus. Hence, as might obviously
be expected, we have a double account of the origin of the Colchians. We
are told, on the one hand, by Tzetzes, that they were Indo-Scythians from
mount Caucasus : while, on the other hand, we are rightly taught by Dio-
dorus, in exact consistency with his declaration that many tribes as well
as the Danai and the Cadmians evacuated Egypt synchronically with the
exodus of Israel, that the Colchians upon the Euxine sea and the Jews be-
tween Arabia and Syria were alike the descendants of emigrants from the
banks of the Nile '. This expedition of the Shepherds in quest of a north-
ern settlement was recollected, in the time of Herodotus, both by the Col-
chians and the Egyptians ; though the tradition of the former, respecting
their own origin from the country of the latter, was naturally enough the
most vivid *. Agreeably to sucli a descent, we find the name of Cut or
Cuth occurring perpetually in the region of Colchis. One of its principal
cities was called Cula or Cut^a : and the country itself was denominated
by the inhabitants Cutah or Cuth or the land of Cuth '. Hence Mcd^a is
described as being a Cuth^an*: and hence, in the name oiAictcs the father
' Tzetz. in Lycopli. vcr. lYi. Diod. Bibl. lib. i. p. Q-U It was from the circumstance of
tlic Danai and the Israelites being equally the descendants of persons, wlio had synchroni-
cally evacuated the land of Egypt, that the notion originated, which prevailed in the dayg
of the Maccabees, that the Jews and tlie Lacedemonians were brethren. The mistake
was not unnatural : and the writings, to which the Spartan king appealed in proof of sucli
consanguinity, wore doubtless the public records; which rightly brought the ancestors of
the Lacedemonians out of Egypt, at the very time when the ancestors of the Jews had
fuiigrated from the same country. See I Mace, xii, C, 7, 11, 17, 20, 21.
* Ilerod. Hist. lib. ii. c. 101.
' Scliol. in Apoll. Argon, lib. iv. vcr. 401. Orph. Argon, ver. 818. Tzetz. in Lyc»
vcr. 174. * Lvc. Cassand. v«r. 174
fllE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. 595
of Med^a, wc again recognize the Cutliic title of the Indian prince Ait or
Aetos, who is said to have conducted the Shepherds into Egypt from Cusha-
dwip within. Such being the origin of the Colchians, we might expect that
they would be eminent votaries of the ship Argha : and upon this circum-
stance the Greeks seem to have built their fable of the Argonautic expe-
dition, which in fact is a disguised mythological history of the real Argoan
voyage of Noah.
4. It is worthy of observation, that, in speaking of the Colchians, the
scholiast on Pindar says, that they were Scythians or Souths who had emi-
grated from Egypt : and he describes them precisely in the same manner
as they had long before been described by Herodotus '. Here then we
have a direct proof, that the Scuths were the same race as the Cuthim or
children of Cush ; a point, which I have so often insisted upon in opposi-
tion to the vulgar error that they were the descendants of Japhet through
the line of Magog. They were of a kindred stock, it appears, with the
Shepherd-kings of Egypt ; but those invaders were Chusas, or Indie Ethi-
opians, from the Asiatic Cusha-dwip; and that identical region was the
native country of the Scuths or Goths, whence they have been traced all
the way into Europe by the singular industry of a very able modern
writer '.
I am however inclined to think, that the Colchians were not the only
Scuths ; who, emigrating from Egypt, settled on the shores of the Euxine
sea : I am rather willing to take the words of the scholiast in a somewhat
more extended meaning. There are circumstances, which lead me to con-
jecture, that the expelled Shepherds fixed themselves irregularly on the
coast all the way from the Phasis to the Palus Meotis, or at least that a
very eminent colony was established on the banks of the Tanais. These
would in part be the ancestors of the modern Cossacs, whose name and
whose manners alike prove them to be of the great Cossfean or Chuscan
family : though they would doubtless be mingled with the Pelasgic Scuths,
who had already seated themselves round the north of the Euxine ; and
though, in later ages, they have been swelled by an influx of Circassians,
• Schol. in Find. Pyth. Od. iv. ver. 376. » Mr. Pinkerton.
Pa^. Idol. VOL. III. 4 F
BOOK VI.
^94 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN JDOI-ATRy,
Tartars; Russians, Poles, Calnnics, and Armenians '. My chief reason
for supposing, tliat tlie Pelasgic Souths of the Palus Meotis were aug-
mented by a colony of the Pali from Egypt, is this. We are told by a
recent valuable traveller, that, in almost all its characteristics, tlie Don
bears a striking resemblance to the Nile. It has the same regular annual
inundation, covering a great extent of territory. The same aquatic plants
are found in both rivers. And the manner, in which they disembogue
themselves into the sea, by numerous mouths, forming several small islands,
as in the Delta, filled with swamps and morasses, is again the same*.
Now, on the supposition that a colony of Shepherds from Egypt planted
themselves on the banks of this river, it is obvious, that they would be
immediately struck with its palpable similitude to the river which they had
left behind them : and this resemblance would naturally lead them, after
the usual manner of colonists, to designate the stream which they had
found by some one or other of the various appellations of the Nile. A
branch then of that river, which flowed through the Delta, was called
Tunis: and the whole river was formerly distinguished by the name of
Nous, which is clearly the Sanscrit Naitsh. But Naush or Dco-Naush
was the Indian Dionusus : and he is feigned to have travelled over all the
world, and to have comn)unicatcd his title to every principal river'. From
him therefore tlie Nile was by the Pali called Naus or Da-Naus : and of
this sacred name Tanis may safely be esteemed a mere variation. The
Palic Danavas or Danai equally borrowed tlieir appellation from this an-
cient personage : for there can be little doubt, that Danu and Danaush
and Danaus were all one character. With these facts before us, let us
direct our attention to the new Nile of the Palus Meotis, and inquire what
name it has borne from the most remote antiquity. In our modern maps
it appears as the Don: but this word is a palpable corruption of Tanais,
by which appellation it was known to the (Ireeks; and, though wc arc
accustomed to write Don, the Cossacs to this day very accurately call one
»)f its channels Danttctz or 1'amicts*. Hence I am led to conjecture, that
• Clarke's Travels, vol. i. c. 13. » Ihid. p. 270, 271.
» Abiat. Itcs. vol. iii. p. 57, 2M., 215, 21-7. vol. vi. p. 50:5,
■♦ Clarke's Trav. vol. i. c. 12. p. 258.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRV. SQS
it received of old a colony of Pali from Egypt who very naturally bestowed ciiAr. v.
upon it a sacred name of the Nile: and I am further inclined to believe,
that the particular Palic tribe which settled on its banks was a branch of
the Danavas or Danai, It may be remarked, that Tanaus, which is the
same word as Danaiis, was well known as a regal title to the Scuths of
Touran; and that Danaiis, o\- Danaxv, or in its uncompounded form NociSy
is the real name of the great river Ister, which in England we are wont to
express Danube.
5. Others of the expelled Shepherds took refuge in the most westerrr
regions of Africa, which the Romans called Alauritania, and which at pre-
sent are known by the appellation of Alarocco. Hence we find also an
Ethiopia or Cusha-dwip on the shores of the Atlantic, no less than on those
of the Erythr(!;an ocean. This land is plainly that, to which Homer alludes,
when he speaks of the Ethiopians as being divided into two nations; the
one dwelling far to the east, and the other as far to the west '. And so,
accordingly, his language is interpreted by his imitator Virgil ; when he
describes the Ethiopians, as being the last nation towards the setting Sun,
and as tenanting the shores of the ocean \ These western Ethiopians were
by the Greeks usually called Atlantlans, from their great god and sacred
mountain Atlas : but the Atlantians are acknowledged by Diodorus to
have been Ethiopians'. The whole substance, and all the sacred names,
of their mythology were tiie very same as those of Greece and Phenicia :
and 1 may particularly notice, that the hero-god Atlas, who communicated
his appellation to them, was a prince no less of Hellas and Palestine than
of Ethiopic Alauritania*. This coincidence arose from the common origi-
■ Odyss. lib. i. ver. 22—25. « ^neid. lib. iv. ver. 180.
' Diod. Bibl. lib. iii. p. 186.
♦ In a similar manner, there was a Nusa in the extreme parts of Libya bordering on the
western ocean, where Bacchus was no less said to have been educated than in the remote
eastern Nusa of the Indian mount Meru. The fact was, that the Ethiopians of Mauritania
and of Hindostan were brethren by descent and were addicted to the very same supersti-
tion. Diod. Bibl. lib. iii. p. 201. Accordingly, there was a tradition, that the Maurita-
nians were the descendants of certain Indiana, who had migrated into western Africa with
Hercules. Strab. Geog. lib. xvii. p. 828.
S96 THE ORIGIN OF PACfAN IDOLATKY.
BOOK VI. nation of the Danai, the Palistim, and the Atlantians : they were all of the
same stock as the Cuthic Shepherd- kings of Egypt
Such a descent will account very satisfactorily for the language of a
curious fragment of Eschylus, which has been preserved by Strabo. It
describes the Ethiopians as dwelling on the shores of the Erythrean sea,
and yet as inhabiting a country where the Sun at the close of the day laves
his foaming steeds in the zvestern ocean '. Now tlie Erythr^an sea lies
far to the east, so that the poet seems to be guilty of a flat contradiction
when he places those who tenant its shores at the extremity of the xvest.
Yet this is by no means the case : the settlers on the Atlantic gave it the
name of the Erythrhan ocean, in remembrance of the sea from which their
ancestors had emigrated ; so that, as these were Ethiopians, there was like-
wise an Erythrean sea, at the utmost limits both of the west and of the east.
Accordingly we find an island named Erythra on the coast of Spain : and
we are told, that all the coast of that peninsula was colonized by Scuthic
Iberians, and Phenicians, and Persians or Perizzites \ Erythra contained
the city of Gadira or Cadiz : and we learn from Dionysius, that that towa
was once denominated Cotinusa, no doubt from the Coths or Ethiopians
who founded it '. The same family appellation meets us also in Mau-
ritania : for Strabo mentions a tract in that country bordering upon the-
ocean, which was called Cotes, and of which the inhabitants would of
course be styled Cotcaits as indeed the wwd is written in some
copies *.
0". From Spain the Pelasgic Shepherds migrated into Ireland, accoixiing
to the concurrent traditions of both those countries ; which, after making
due allowance for certain embellishments, may safely, I think, in the main
be believed. To this I am the more inclined from tiie testimony of tlic ac-
curate Tacitus; who gives it, as a well-grounded opinion, that the ancient
Iberi had passed over from Spain, and had colonized the western shores of
Britain '. Tor, if these w andering adventurers could sail to one island, there
• jTlstliyl. apud Strab. Gcog. lib. i. p. 33.
* Strab. Geog. lib. iii. p. 1G9. Plin. lib. iii. c. 1. ' Dion. Peiicg. vcr. 415«
♦ Sltab. Gcog. lib. xvii. p. 825, 827. ' Tac. in vit. Agric. c. 11..
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 597
can be nothing improbable in the traditions which bring them also to tiie chap. v.
Other. .
General Vallancey has given various authorities from the Spanish writers,
relative to the emigration of a colony from their shores to the large western
region now called Ireland, which they are said to have occupied and
peopled ' : and with these the accounts of the Irish themselves perfectly
correspond. The whole narrative is so curious, and agrees so well with the
assertion of Diodorus that various tribes of foreigners evacuated Egypt
synchronically with the exodus of Israel, that it highly deserves our attention.
It is in substance, as follows.
A Scuthic prince, called Niitl, settled with his followers in Egypt ; and
had lands assigned him, on the coast of the Red sea, by the king of the
country. He married Scota, the daughter of that Pharaoh, who was de-
stroyed with his whole army in pursuit of the retiring Israelites : and, shortly
after that awful catastrophti, he found it expedient to withdraw from Egypt
at the head of his Scuthic retainers. These adventurers first sailed to
Crete; whence they proceeded to tbe Euxine sea, on the shores of which
they found several different settlements of their brethren. Here however
they were harassed with continued wars; so that at length they again put
to sea, in hopes of finding a more quiet settlement in some other country.
While in doubt whither they should shape their course, they were informed
by a prophet, who was attached to their tribe, that they never should have
any certain repose until they arrived in an island situated far to the west.
Awed by the oracle, they forthwith steered towards the setting Sun : and
this course brought them to Guthia or Sicily ; where they continued, as
some say, three centuries, and which to the present day is inhabited by
certain of their posterity. From Guthia they sailed to Spain : and from
Spain they returned, under tlie command of Milesius, to Scythia on the
Euxine. Tiiis country they were obliged once more to evacuate on account
of the jealousy of tiie natives : and then thoy are said to have again landed
in Egypt, at the mouth of the Nile. Here the reigning Pharaoh gave his
daughter Scota to Milesius, as a former Pharaoh had given a former Scota
' Vallaa. Vind. p. 325— 328»
i98 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATIIY.
BOOK VI. to Niul. Ill T^gypt tliey remained only seven years : for their chief, recol-
lecting the prediction tliat they should have no rest until they found a
western isle, supposed himself divinely compelled to emigrate. The second
voyage is so exactly the counterpart of the first, as the marriage of Scota:
with Milcsius is so palpable a repetition of the marriage of Scota with Niul,
that I have no doubt of its being a spurious interpolation. Suffice it there-
fore to say, that, after a long residence in Spain, a prince named Ith pro-
posed, at a general council of the chiefs, that they should sail in quest of
the fated western island, whicii was to be the ultimate resting place of their
tribe. This voyage brought them to Ireland, M'hich they found already
occupied : and Itli was killed in a battle witii the natives. His followers
however at lenrjth made jjood their settlement, and established themselves
in the region which had been oracularly allotted to them '.
I am inclined to believe, that this very curious tradition is in the main
founded upon truth : for the internal evidence of its general veracity is so
strong, that it cannot easily be controverted. As for Niul and IMilesius,
they were characters similar to Danaus and Cadmus : and, accordingly,
the former of them is actually said to have been denominated Cadmis and
to have been the inventor of letters *. He was clearly the famous Hercules- "
Nilus ; who, as we learn from Sir Isaac Newton, planted Sicily, and after-
wards sailed westward through the straights of Clibraltar '. His marriage
indeed with Scota sulliciently demonstrates his real character ; while, at the
same time, it serves to prove the accuracy of the tradition. The word
Scota signifies a ship: and this ship, personified by a female, was doubtless
the sacred ship or Argo of Egypt and Ilindostan. Hence it is evident,
that the marriage of Niul or Cadmus with the ship is a legend of the same
import, as that of Danaus sailing in the ship Argo to (Jrcecc : both alike
denote, that the worship of the ship-goddess was carefully brought from
' Ibid. p. +9, 69, 63, 270, 292, 279, 299, 325. Introd. p. 11. Parsons'* Rem. of Japhct.
p. 108, 123, 121.
» Vallan. Vind. p. 2G3, 261.
^ Chronol. p. 181. lie is the fabulous ancestor, I appiclicnd, of the great Irish family
of O-Xcalf.
THE OUIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. o9t)
E^ypt by each tribe of Indo-Scuthic emigrants ; and, accord i ugly, the sacred <^"ai'- v.
vessel was no less venerated in Ireland, than in Egypt and India and CJrcccc
and Colchis. The purport therefore of the tradition is, that the Cutiis
emigrated westward under the supposed special guidance of the great father
and the great mother ; that they \Aere a branch of the Pali or She[)hcrd-
Icings ; and that, like the rest of their brethren, they evacuated J-gypt at
the same time with tiie Israelites.
It is singular, how every circumstance tends to corroborate this ren)ark-
able legend. In its general outline it is sanctioned by the express testimony
of Grecian history : and, if we descend to particulars, we shall fnid them no
less worthy of our attention.
The seeking of a settlement by the express direction of an oracle is per-
fectly in character with the habits of the Pelasgi and other Cuthic tribes.
Thus, as the Milesians are charged to wander until they find a western
island : so the Pelasgi arc not to rest until they find a lake with a floating
islet ; so the Iliensians and the Cadmians are to be guided by a cow to the
scites of their respective cities ; and so the INIexicans are oracularly com-
manded to establish themselves on the banks of a lake abounding with the
sacred lotos.
The Cuthic settlers of Ireland, as a branch of the Pali, Mere brethren of
the Phenicians and the Perizzitcs or Pharesians. Thus, as they were styled
in Egypt IIuc-Sos, they were denominated in Ireland Oic-Fhcni or Flicni-
Oic : and, as in Palestine they bore the name of Perizzitcs, in Ireland they
were celebrated as Farsai. Such titles they are said to have received from
their ancient king Fenius-Farsai : but this fabulous prince was no other
tlian the classical Phoenix and Perseus combined together '.
The settlers of Ireland were Pelasgic Cuthites. Thus they were styled
in the west, no less than in the east, Palis or Balis ; and tlie uord, both
in the Irish and in the Sanscrit, equally denotes Sbcplicrds : thus also, in
reference to their descent from Cush, they denominated themselves Cotlii or
CtUhim ; which is clearly the proper mode of expressing what the Greeks,
with the sibilant prefix, wrote Sad/icc *.
» Vallan. Vind. p. 256. * Orient. Collect, vol. ii. p. 3.
600 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
aooK VI. We are told, that the prince, who finally conducted the Pali into Ireland,
was named Ith. Thus the classical writers speak of an Indian king Ait or
It ; who led a colony of Indo-Scuth« into Egypt, and from whom the
country was called Actia: thus the Brahmens say, that king It invaded
Egypt at the head of the Indian Pali, and communicated to it the ap-
pellation of Aiieya : and thus the Cuthic Phenicians had a sovereign,
whom they denominated Ith-Baal or the loi'd Itli. The name was no
doubt an Indo-Scythic title of dignity : and its occurrence in the Irish
traililion affords an additional argument in favour of its general authen-
ticity.
On the whole tliercfore, I am willing to conclude, that the Cothi or
Fhcni of the Irish were one of the several Palic tribes ; which, according
to Diodorus, evacuated Egypt synchronically with the exodus of Israel : if
the reader deem the circumstantial evidence insufiicient, let him by all
means reject the conclusion. It need scarcely be remarked, that the na-
tives, whom the Cuthic invaders found when they landed in Ireland, were
Celts or Cimmerians or Gonierians mingled with the Fir-Bolg or Pelasgic
Scythians ; who had arrived there, as already stated, by way of the Danube
and the Rhine and the southern coast of England '.
7. In addition to these main settlements, the whole mediterranean shore
of Africa seccns to have been planted by the same daring race and about
the same period.
Sallust gives a very curious account of the matter from the Punic books
of king Ilicmpsal; and, in the midst of much confusion, we may distinctly
jjcrccive the following remarkable fact. On the death of a prince, whom
he names Jlcrcuks and places in Spain, his army, composed of Modes and
Persians and Armenians, was thrown into confusion and dispersed in a short
time under various leaders. Several of tiic bands, of which it was composed,
spread themselves along the sea-coast of Africa, then inhabited only by a
rude and barbarous race : and here, in after ages, they were known as
Moors and Numidians'.
' Vallanc. Viiid. p. 56. introd. Sec above book vi. c. ■!•. J II. 2. (1.)
» Sail, de bell. Jug. c. 20, 2).
THE ORIGIJf OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 601
This Hercules, erroneously placed in Spain, was the Shepherd-king so cuap. v.
awfully destroyed with his immediate followers in the Red sea : and tlic im-
mediate contusion and dissipation of the Pali, who came originally from
northern Persia and India, and who were the brethren of the Armenian
SacB, was the natural consequence of that great event.
Pag. Idol, VOL. in, AG
CHAPTER VI.
Respecting the Mode, in which Pagan Idolatry originated; the
Resemblance between the ritual Laio of Moses and the ritual
Ordinances of the Gentiles ; and certain Peculiarities in the
several Characters of the Messiah and the great Father.
^ OTHiNG remains but to ofl'er some remarks on the mode, in which
pagan idolatry may be supposed to have originated : and tliis I taiie to be
of considerable importance, as it will probably throw light on certain matterSj
which at different periods have occasioned no small speculation.
I, It Is difficult to conceive, that mankind after the Hood could plunge at
once from the pure religion of Noah into a system of gross and undisguised
idolatry. The corruption must have been gradual : and the changes, which
were introduced, must from time to time have been offcied by their con-
trivers under the specious plea of wise refinements and pious improveu)ents.
Hence, when the fust innovation was admitted ; the existing theology would
differ only from the religion of Noah, so far as that innovatioa was adopted ;
and, w hen a second or a third or a fourth was successively ingrafted upon
the pure worship of Jehovah ; the existing tlieology under each cliange
would, in like manner, differ from the religion of Noah precisely to the
amount of the several clianges in question. It is, 1 think, absolutely ne-
cessary to suppose, that some such progressive corruption as tliis took place;
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 60S
for it is utterly incredible, that the early postdiluvians could have been sud- «'«*''■ "•
dciily and universally led to apostatise tVoni the service of the one true God
lo that complicated system of idolatry which was carried frcm Babel to the
utmost limits of the habitable world.
With this hypothesis, what we have been able to glean from history lias
been found exactly to accord. We are told, that the heresy denominated
Scut/iiim prevailed from the flood to the building of the tower, and that then
the heresy denominated loiiism or Ilcllcmsm commenced. We are further
told, that the primeval religion of Iran consisted, in a firm belief, that One
Supreme God made the world by his power, and continually governed it by
his providence ; in a pious fear, love, and adoration, of him ; in a due
reverence for parent* and aged persons ; in a fraternal affection for the
whole human species; and in a compassionate tenderness even for the
brute creatbn '.
Now all this precisely agrees with what I had conjecturally laid down
from the very reason of the thing : and it fully corresponds with what may
be gathered from Scripture. We know from the sacred volume itself, that
the pricneval religion of Iran was just what the authorities of Mohsani
taught him that it was : and we may judge very accurately, from the
idolatry of the gentile world, what system of theology had supplanted the
pure theism of Noah. The corruption therefore took place in the interval
between the deluge and the dispersion: and tlie progress of this corruption
was divided, we see, into two grand stages, Scuthism and lonism. Hence
we may safely conclude, that Scuthism was the smaller, and lonism the
greater, corruption : and we may further conclude, that, as the rise of
Scuthism is carried back even to the deluge, innovation began to creep in
very early ; and that it was only by slow degrees, that even this first mode
of idolatry was enabled to rear its head. In fact, if we speak with absolute
propriety, we ought not to denominate it idolatry : for its votaries, to a
late period, abominated all graven images. 'J'hus the Shepherd-kings zeal-
ously destroyed the idols of the Mizraim : and thus, many ages afterwards,
Xerxes no less zealously demolished the palpable gods of Greece. Imagc-
* Jones's Disc, on Pors. Asiat. Res. yoI. ii. p. j3.
604 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRr.
300K VI. worship was at length indeed adopted by the votaries of Seuthism, for
Buddha or Saca has now for years been venerated under the form of a man
in a contemplative sitting posture ; and it may be added, tliat the Shepherd-
kings of Egypt during the period of the second dynasty certainly associated
with their own theology the Ionic or Brahmenical form, as is evident from
the nature of the religion which they imported into Greece : but such was
not the case originally. The Scuthists were apostate mental idolaters : but
the setting up of a visible graven image was reserved for the more daring
heresy of lonism '.
] . From the foregoing statement it is evident, that Idolatry was a gradual
corruption of Patriarchism : whence it seems necessarily to follow, that,
with due allowance for apostatic perversions, the great outlines of the latter
were really the great outlines of the former. Such being the case. Pagan
Idolatry will be Noetic Patriarchism in grotesque masquerade: and, from
the distorted features of the one, we may collect with tolerable accuracy the
genuine features of the otlier. In prosecuting this inquiry, Scripture will
be of prime importance to us : for there only have we any authentic in-
formation respecting the nature of uncorruptcd Patriarcliism.
(I.) Adam, we know, worshipped the one true God, and lield from time
to time direct communication with him. Wc know, that he was placed in
a garden ; which, from the description of it, must have been situated in
Armenia at tlie licad of the Eujihratus'and tlie Tigris. We know, that he
was taken out of the virgin Earth previous to its reception of seed in the
ordinary mode of cultivation. AVe know, that lie fell tlirougli the temptation
of a malignant being who assumed the visible form of a serpent. We know,
that God appeared to him immediately after the fall, and declared that the
seed of the woman should bruise the head of that reptile. We know, tliat,
when Eve produced her fust-born, she very unequivocally declared the
mode in which she untlcrstood the divine promise, by exclaiming (for sucli
is the strictly literal translation of the passage), 1 have gotten a man, even
Jehovah his very self. ^\ e know, that Adam was an universal father pre-
• The events of Babel seem plainly to be alluded to in certain remarkable passages of
the Psalma. See Psalm liii. and Iv. 1—11, 15, 20, 21.
THE ORIGIJf OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. ()().5
siding over an entire world. And we know, that, when our first parents chap. n.
were expelled from Paradise, the Cherubim were stationed in a tabernacle
(as the original Hebrew imports) before the gate of Eden, in order that
tliey might guard the way to the tree of life.
With respect to the Cherubim, the turn of the expression implies, that
their abode there was not of a temporary, but of a permanent, nature :
and, as we have not the slightest intimation given us that they were after a
season withdrawn, we can only conclude, so far as we take the written word
for our guide, that they remained where they were first placed even to the
time of the deluge. As to their particular form, Moses is silent: but
Ezekifl details it with great minuteness. Their predominant shape was
that of a bull ; from which arose however a winged human body, surmounted
with the faces of a man, a lion, a bull, and an eagle '.
It may perhaps b6 said, that the Paradisiacal Cherubim might not have
resembled those which were seen by Ezekiel, and that we have no right to
infer the iindescribed shape of the former from the described shape of the
latter.
To such a possible objection the answer is furnished by the prophet him-
self. In one place, after accurately delineating the form of the living
creatures which he beheld, he adds, I knew that tliey xvere Cherubim''.
Now, though he distinctly beheld their figures, yet in no one part of any of
his virions was he told what they were : how then was he enabled to pro-
nounce so decisively and so unhesitatingly upon their character r No doubt,
as it is well observed by Grotius and Spencer, he knew them to be Cherubim,
because he perceived that their form was precisely that of the Cherubim
over the ark of the covenant : for, though Ezekiel was but an inferior priest,
and though the high-priest alone entered into the sanctuary, it is not to
be supposed, but that the figure of those symbols were perfectly well
known by oral communication; to say nothing of the various consecrated
utensils and outer parts of the temple, which were profusely decorated with
those mysterious hieroglyphics. The Cherubim then of Ezekiel were clearly
the same in shape as the Cherubim of the Levitical sanctuary : and, a3
• Vide supra book ii. c. 6. } V. and Plate II. Fig. 6,- 7. * Ezek. x. 20^
605 rHE ORIGIU OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. both the latter and the Cherubim of Paradise were equally stationed in a
tabernacle, the presumption is, that in each instance the form of tlie Che-
rubim was the same.
But the matter is not left to mere presumption. In a prophecy respect-
ing the king of Tyre, the poet is led to borrow his imagery from Paradise-
The prince accordingly is described as the anointed Cherub that covereth,
while his realm is exhibited to us as the garden of Eden. Hence, with a
mingled reference to the covering Cherub of tiie Levitical sanctuary, and
to the similarly covering Cherub of the Paradisiacal tabernacle ; with a
reference also to the oracular precious stones of the Urim and Thummim,
and to that lofty mountain, which was the scite of the garden, and of which
mount Zion was an imitative transcript : he is styled tlie aminied covering
Cherub of Eden the garden of God ; he is said to have been stationed upon
the holy mountain ; and he is represented, as moving backwards and for-
wards in the midst of the stones of fire '. Now, whatever may be the pre-
cise import of the prophecy, the figurative allusion is so plain, that it can-
not be misunderstood : and, as the imagery is no doubt perfectly exact, and
as it is evidently drawn conjointly from the Cherubim of Paradise and the
Cherubim of the Levitical sanctuary, we cannot doubt, but that the former
were the very same both in shape and application as the latter. The
Cherubim then of Paradise resembled in figure the Cherubim of the sanc-
tuary. But the Cherubim of the sanctuary have already been shewn to be
the same in form, as the Cherubim which Ezckiel beheld in his visions.
Tlie Cherubim therefore of Paradise were also the same as the Cherubim
of Ezckiel : in other words, they were hicroglyi)hics, in which the bovine
shape predominated, though each was provided with four different heads ;
so that, if we except their quadruple aspect, they bore a close resemblance
to the fabulous centaur.
To this same conchision we arc likewise inevitably brouglitby the rules of
good writing. Ezckiel, in one part of his cou)posilioii, describes the figure
of the Cherubim with even laboured minuteness : and then, in anotiier part,
he figuratively calls the king of Tyre a covering Cherub xvhich had been
• Ezck. xxviii. ll—Ky.
THE ORIGIN' OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 607
placed in the garden of Paradise. Such being the case, it is strangely un- chap.
natural to suppose, that by the latter he meant something which Inul no
sort of resemblance to the former. If a classical poet had accurately de-
scribed a centaur, and liad afterwards in the course of his tale mentioned a
centaur ; we should of course, and with much reason, suppose that lie meant
the identical being which he had previously delineated. Apply only the
same canon of criticism to Ezekiel, and the result will be obvious.
Whether the Paradisiacal Cherubim surmounted an ark, is not specified
by Moses : but I think we may collect, that they did, from the remarkable
passage in Ezekicl which has last been considered. He speaks of the
Cherub in the garden of Eden, as being a cove7'itig Cherub. Now, as it
was well remarked by Jerome and after him by Lowth and Newcome, the
epithet cohering clearly relates to the circumstance of each Cherub in the
Levitical sanctuary covering with his wings the mercy-seat upon the ark '.
But Ezekiel applies the very same epithet to the Cherub in the garden of
Eden : it was no less a covering Cherub, than the Cherub in the Levitical
sanctuary. If then it were a covering Cherub, it must have covered some-
thing: and, since we find the Levitical Cherub distinguished by this epithet
because it covered the mercy-seat upon the ark ; I see not how we cart
reasonably avoid the conclusion, that the Paradisiacal Cherub was similarly
distinguished by Ezekiel for a similar reason. This conclusion is the more
satisfactory ; because, as I have already observed, the force of the original
Hebrew leads us to suppose, that the Paradisiacal Cherubim were stationed
in a tabernacle precisely in the same manner as the Levitical Cherul)im.
Since then each hieroglyphic is alike styled a Cherub, since the Cherubim
of Eden perfectly resembled in form the Levitical Cherubim, and since the
former were placed in a tabernacle no less than the latter : the presumption
would be, even independently of the argument drawn from Ezek.cl, that
they both alike overshadowed a sacred ark. But, Avhen to this it is added
that the Cherub of Eden is actually styled a covering Cherub, and whea
we find that the Levitical Cherub was similarly denominated from the ex-
press circumstance of its covering the mercy-seat upon tljc ark ; we seeia
• See Exod. xxv. 19—21.
COS THE OKIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.'
booK VI. to arrive at almost absolute certainty, that the Paradisiacal tabernacle had
an ark as well as the Levitical.
(2.) If from Adam we pass to the second father of mankind, we know,
that both before and after the deluge he conversed with God. We know,
that he moved upon the surface of the great deep, when the waters covered
the face of the whole earth. We know, that he sacrificed upon the summit
of a lofty mountain ; which geographically coincided with Paradise, and
which therefore (as it is often styled in Scripture) was peculiarly the holy
mountain of God. We know, that he was born out of the virgin Ark, as
Adam was born out of the virgin Earth. We know, that, if the Cherubim
of Eden remained until the deluge (and Scripture never intimates that they
wove earlier withdrawn), he and his family must have been well acquainted
with their figure : for, since in every particular they resembled the Cherubim
of the Levitical tabernacle, it is difficult to refrain from believing that their
use and intent were also the same. And we know, that, like Adam, he was
an universal father, presiding over an entire world.
(y.) So, witli respect to the Supreme Being, we know, tliat his Spirit, in
the day of the creation, moved upon the surface of the waters. We know,
that the word, by which this motion is exhibited to us, properly describes
the fluttering of wings, as when a bird broods over her young. We know
from innumeral)le passages of Holy AVrit, tliat Jehovah the Messenger,
through wliom alone communication has been kept up between the worm
man and Jehovah the Father, whenever he deigned to converse with his
creatures, manifested himself in a human form ; and that at length, when
the fulness of time was arrived, he dwelt permanently among us, in outward
aspect like a mere mortal. We iiave reason therefore from analogy to be-
lieve, that, when he conversed with Adam or with Cain or with Noah,
he similarly appeared to them under a human figure : and this opinion is
confirmed by the very remarkable phraseology, which Moses in one parti-
cular passage has been directed to use.
It is said, tiiat, after the fall, Adam and Eve heard the Voiee of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool oj the day. Such language, when the
general analogy of Scripture is considered, seems i)lainly to import, that tiie
jjcrson, who is tlius described as wallmig in the garden, is so spoken of, be-
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 6*09
cause he was really ivalking there in a human form, and because therefore chap, vi.
tlie sound of his footsteps might be distinctly heard by the guilty pair. Ac-
coidinaly, the whole conversation, which immediately afterwards takes
place between the Supreme Being, Adam and Eve, and the serpent, ahnost
necessarily implies, that the former was distinctly visible to each of the
latter : and, as we further advance in the narrative, the same opinion still
continues to force itself upon us ; for the action of making coats from skins
and of clothing with them our naked first parents seems obviously to be the
action of one, who in outward form resembled a man. Nor must we omit
noticing an important peculiarity in the language of Moses : he does not
say, that they heard the Lord God walking, but that thei/ heard the Voice
of the Lord God walking. By the Voice we are here to understand what is
elsewhere called the JVord: and by tlie JVord we must understand that
divine personage, who, assuming from time to time a human figure, was the
ministerial organ of intercourse between God and man. Such is the sense,
in which the passage is explained by the Targumists : they agree to render
it. They heard the JVord of the Lord God walkifig ; and the Jerusalem
Targum paraphrases the beginning of the next verse, 'J7ic JVord of the Lord
called unto Adam. The \\'ord therefore, that called, was the Word or
Voice, that walked : for the participle walking, as the Jews themselves
acknowledge, does not relate to the Lord God, but to the Voice '. But the
action of walking, as ascribed to the Voice or Word, necessarily implies a
visible personality; for a mere voice, in the sense of a sound or a noisCy
could not properly be said to walk : the Voice therefore must have been a
person. Nor will it be diflicult to determine, who that person was : by
the JVord of Jeliovah, the ancient Israelites, as it appears from the Tar-
gums, understood the great Messenger of the covenant, who is said by
Malachi to be the lord of the temple at Jerusalem ; and, under the Cliris-
tian dispensation, the term is applied by John to the Messiah, as being God
incarnate *. The Voice therefore, that walked in the garden of Eden, was
* Vox cnim est res ilia, de qua dicitur, quod ambulavcrit in horto. Maimon. Mor. Nc-
voch. par. i. c. 24r. Vide etiain Tzcror Hammor. sect. Bereshith. apud Owen. Exerc. x.
in Heb. vi. 1.
* Maladi. iii. 1. John i. 1—1 in
Pag. Idol, VOL. 111. 4 li
610 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY,
BOOK VI. that divine Angel or Messenger, mIioiu Jacob invocates as the special God
of liis family, and whom he had openly beheld in a bodily form : and the
^^ hole analogy of Scripture requires us to suppose, that it was in a bodily
form likewise that tlie same exalted personage successively revealed himself
to Adam and to Noah '. Lastly we know, that, in the very highest sense
of the word, God is the universal father of mankind, the common parent
and governor and preserver and renewer of the world and all that it con-
tains.
2. These various matters rte indeed learn from the testimony of INIoses :
but yet, though he was divinely inspired, it is obvious, that, in the detail of
historical facts, even inspiration itself could do no more than enable him to
deliver the truth free from all adventitious mixture of error. Now the
several historical facts, which constitute the subject of his early narrative and
whicli have been briefly touched upon in the foregoing statement, could not
but have been perfectly well known to the family of Noah : and, as Nimrod
the Cuthite was only the third in descent from that patriarch, they must have
been thoroughly familiar to hbn also ; and, if to /«w, they must have been
equally so to his contemporaries. T/iey would consequently stand upon
very dilTcrenl ground from ourselves: for u'c look back to such events, as
most remotely distant, and as wholly unlike any thing to which we have
been accustomed ; thei/, on the contrary, would view them as ordinary
recent transactions, and would be prepared to receive any plausible system
which should be built upon those acknowledged realities.
And now let us consider, whctlicr the very texture of Pagan Idolatry
docs not itself point out most distinctly the steps by which it was intro-
duced.
( 1 .) As Jehovah the Messenger was wont to manilcst himself in a human
form, each of those manifestations would clearly be what the Hindoos call
an Avatai- or descent of the Deity : and, as tlic early history of Iran has
been ingrafted upon the local history of Uindostan, we may feel sufficiently
sure, that the doctrine of Avulars was e([ually familiar to the Culhic founders
of Bubcl.
' Gen. xlviii. 1.5, IG. xxxii. 21 — .W. Ilosea xii. 3, 1, 5.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. Gil
Every one of such appearances then would be viewed, and rightly viewed, chap. vr.
as a descent of the (iodhcad. But, witli profanely speculative men, various
conjectures would soon arise respecting these extraordinary manifestations :
and high-vaulting ambition would ere long be ready to avail itself of tliem.
As one age could not positively know the precise aspect of the human
form, that served as a vehicle of the Divinity to another age : the Supreme
Being would be said to animate successively different bodies for the pur-
pose of comnumicuting with mortals. These appearances however were
but of a traiisitort/ nature ; when the behest of heaven was delivered, tlie
human figure was no more visible upon earth, either vanishing suddenly
from the eyes of the beholder or being openly taken up into heaven '. A
question therefore would speedily arise, whether a descent of a more per-
VHiitent description might not be reasonably expected : and the first pro-
phecy upon record would no less rightly than obviously produce an answer
in the aflirmativc. It was known, that some being of a highly mysterious
nature, man because of Moman born, yet differing from all other men be-
cause born only of woman, should in due time break the power of the ma-
lignant spirit, which had chosen the serpent for his bodily vehicle *. And
it was expected, as we may gather from the remarkable language of Eve on
the birth of Cain, that this being would be no less exalted a personage than
the Divinity himself. As he was to be born of woman, and consequently
as he was first to appear like an infant, the idea oi permanency would neces-
sarily be associated with such a manifestation : and, from the terms of the
prophecy, some would argue, that, as he was emphatically styled the seed
of the u-oman, he must needs be produced from a virgin ; while others,
viewing such an event as an impossibility, would adopt the lower opinion,
that he M'ould be born of woman only as eveiy other person is so born.
This last seems to have been the too hastily ado|)ted opinion of Eve. Im-
patient for the divine deliverer, Mho had been promised without any parti-
cular limitation of time, she no sooner beholds Cain, who was doubtless her
seed though he was likewise the seed of Adam, than she joyfully exclaims,
• See Gen. xviii. 33. Judg. vi. ] I — 2i. Dan. iii. 25. Luke xxiv. 31.
* Sec an admirable sermon of Bp, Horsley on the mode in which this prophecy woidd
be understood. Vol. ii. serra. 16.
612 THE OKIGIV OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
iooK VI. I have gottoi the man even Jehovah himself. Circumstances soon proved,
that she was mistakea : but her speecli was carefully remembered ; and the
great authority, which it derived from the utterer, was afterwards produc-
tive of most important consequences. JNlen looked out for a permanent
manifestation of the Redeemer; who, born either of a woman or of a vir-
gin, should lor a season visibly dwell upon earth, and at length, when his
high commission was accomplished, should be taken up into heaven as was
usual with the temporary human appearances of Jehovah.
W'liether this expectation produced hero-worship before the flood, I shall
not pretend to determine, though I think such a result far from impro-
bable : but it was manifestly the vehicle, by which it was brought into the
new world. As it was agreed on all hands, that there were temporary
manifestations of Jehovah, and that a pcnnaneiit one might assuredly be
looked out for ; and, as some contended that he would be born exclusively
of woman, while each party allowed that lie would at any rate be the oti-
spring of a woman : the corrupters of religion after the deluge began to
argue, witli much plausibility, from these acknowledged premises, that there
had already, been several permanent manifestations of Jehovah, and tiiat
hereafter there would be many more of a similar description. It was con-
tended, that every extraordinary personage, whose office was to reclaim or
to j)unish mankind, was an Avatar or descent of the Godhead : and, in
support of such an opinion, the testimony of Eve in favour of the fratricide
Cain would doubtless be alleged. One of these Avatars was Adam : ano-
ther of them was his lirst-born. Abel and Seth were the same : and the
rigl)teous Knoch, who was preternatu rally removed from human convtise
in the very mode in which the visible form of the Deity was wont to
ascend to heaven, was no doubt a most eminent and decided Avatar.
Similar honours were extended to Noah and his three sons: Niinrod was
also an Avatar: and, v^hcn idolatry had obtained a definite form, the God-
head was thought to be regularly incarnate, both in his representative the
permanent higli-priest, and in each warlike adventurer who headed a colony
or who rendered some distinguished service to his country.
(2.) While matters were thus prosperously in train, points of specious
similitude would be carefully sought out in order that the theory niight
acquire the greater plausibility.
tHE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 6l3
Adam was born from the virgin Earth : Noah was produced from his chap. vi.
allegorical mother the Ark, without the cooperation of a father. Each was a
preacher of righteousness : each dwelt upon the Paradisiacal mount of
God : each was an universal parent. If Adam introduced one world ;
Koah destroyed that world, and introduced another : and, as the actual
circumstance of iuo successive worlds led to the doctrine of an endless mun-
dane succession ; each patriarch was alike viewed as a creator, a preserver,
and a dissolver. Nor was their resemblance to the character of the Deity
in another particular omitted. God is said to have moved upon the face of
the chaotic waters : Noah likewise moved in the Ark upon the face of the
deluge ; and Adam was both feigned to have performed a similar voyage
from a more ancient world, and was viewed as floating upon the great deep
in the larger ship of tiie Earth. Each therefore, like the Spirit of Jehovah,
was Nai-ayan or lie that inoves upon the waters : and, as the word which
expresses that motion conveys the idea of the fluttering of a bird; the great
father, who is born out of the navicular egg, is described as a beautiful
sylph exulting in his golden wings.
(3. ) From such speculations it was but an easy and natural step to direct
hero-worship ; for, if these several eminent characters were permanent mani-
festations of the Deity, there could be no reason why they should not be
openly adored, as was the case with each temporary manifestation : and,
if any objection were raised, a subtle distinction would readily be made
between the incarnate Godhead and the recipient human body. Accord-
ingly we find, that this very distinction still subsists among the Hindoos :
and, in their theology, we are carefully instructed in the double nature of
each eminent personage that appears upon the earth.
(4.) This doctrine once admitted would inevitably bring with it the doc-
trine of the Metempsychosis. Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, might in out-
ward a[)pearance be different men : but they were really the self-same
divine person, who had been promised as the seed of the woman, succes-
sively animating various human bodies. As such, the whole of his cha-
racter must belong to them : and, what he has once performed upon the
earth, he will ;igain perform in new vehicles to all eternity.
(j.) Hence it was, that the great father, who is strictly one, though ma-
614 THE ORIGIN OF ?AGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI, nifesting Iiimself in different bodies and at different periods, was sometimes
reputed to be born of a virgin, and sometimes said to be simply the offspring
of a woman. Hence also, though the primeval ancestors of mankind were
elevated to the rank of hero-gods, they were supposed to have previously
descended from lieaven and to have entered into the human forms which
they occupied. Hence likewise the great father is so frequently repre-
sented as contending with a serj^ent ; which slays him, though he ulti-
mately triumphs over it and crushes its head : an idea afterwards curiously
transferred to the deluge, which was speciall}^ viewed as the work of the
evil principle. And hence he is so often exhibited to us, as a holy and just
person, a preacher of righteousness ; who should descend from heaven to
earth, in order that he might teach man his duty towards the Godhead.
(6.) While hero-worship was thus speciously introduced, the outward
ceremonial was carefully retained : and mankind found themselves un-
awares seduced into idolatry, M'hile as yet little apparent change had taken
place.
The divine institution of piacular sacrifice was duly observed : and, as
Adam and Noah had each offered up his oblation upon tlie holy Paradi-
siacal mount of God, the practice of sacrificing upon hills cither natural or
artificial was industriously kept up. The victim was indeed devoted to the
great transmigrating father of mankind : but the plea of such adoration
was, that the great father was a permanent incarnation of the promised
deliverer.
As the offering of piacular sacrifice necessarily implies an acknowledg-
ment of lost purity ; so the most solemn rites of tlie Gentiles were specially
directed, as we have seen, to the recovery of it. Man, l)cing a fallen crea-
ture, would in all ages equally require that change of heart anil disposition,
which by a natural figure of rhetoric is described as a rcgcncralion or a
new hirtl). The doctrine therefore of this necessary change, being iounded
upon our physical depravation, must inevitably iiavo subsisted in the Patri-
archal ('liurch, no less than in the Levitical and the Cin-istian : and, since
ba|)tism by water was used as an outward sign under the Law as well as
under the Gospel, and since that element lias at every period been deemed
the most apt symbol of purification ; wc may reasonably conclude, that it
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY, 615
was not unknown under the Patriarchal dispensation. Accordingly we
find, tiiat both the doctrine itself, and the external rite, form a very promi-
nent feature in the derived apostasy of Paganism : and, though a singular
perversion has taken place, yet even that perversion has originated from a
purer system. The deluge was viewed in the light of a tremendous bap-
tism, which was necessary to cleanse a guilty world from the stains which
it had contracted : and, when the earth emerged in renovated beauty from
a second chaos, it was thought to be born again by the agency of water.
In the theology of the Gentiles, this great event was intermingled with the
doctrine of a spiritual regeneration : and, while Noah was said to be born
anew from the womb of the Ark, he was likewise said to be born out of a
polluted world into the pure region of the forfeited Paradisiacal mountain.
Such matters, as we have abundantly seen, formed the basis of the Myste-
ries : and the new birth of each aspirant, which was ordinarily accompa-
nied by a baptism of water, not only related to the new birth from the Ark,
but likewise to an admission into a supposed state of greater mental know-
ledge and purity.
With the corrupted ordinances of Patriarchism were associated its equally
corrupted symbols. The bovine Cherubim were certainly known long be-
fore the deluge: and we have found considerable reason to believe, that
those, which were stationed before the gate of Paradise, covered a sacred
ark, just like those of the Levitical tabernacle. Their collective ei"ht
heads, as we shall find in the sequel, symbolized retrospectively the eight
members of Adam's family, and prospectively the eight members of tiie
family of Noah, severally viewed as the representatives of the Church gene-
ral : while the ark or boat, as it is invariably called both by Josephus, by
the Greek interpreters, and by the inspired writers of the New Testament,
shadowed out tlie Church, as designed to be commensurate with the greater
World, but as destined for a season to be commensurate witli the smaller
floating World. Accordingly, the ancient Jews, no less than the Gentile?,
deemed the World avast sliip, suspended, like the Ark, upon the surface
of the great abyss : and, from the thus universal prevalence of the notion,
I have little doubt that it was a primitive tenet of Patriarchism; true to a
certain extent, for the earth (we are told) is founded upon the floods, sulli-
CIIAP. VI,
61 6 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAX IDOLATRY,
BOOK VI. ciently true therefore for the purpose of symbolical imagery. The Che-
rubic hieroglyphics and the concomitant ark were adopted into Paganism
with no further alteration, than an apostate theology required. Each of
the difterent animals became a symbol of the great father : the bull, as pre-
dominating in the Cherub, became his principal and most universal symbol:
this bull was perpetually depicted in a compound state : and, as we may
perceive from the Bembine table which exactly accords with the narrative
of Diodorus, he was exhibited to public veneration in the sacred boat or
baris. That boat shadowed out at once the World and the Ark : and, as
the eight faces of the Cherubim overlooked the holy ark of a pure religion ;
so the eight Cabiri or great hero-gods, actually typified by those eight faces
(for the eight Cabiri were the members of the Noetic family viewed as a
reappearance of the numerically corresponding members of the Adamitical
family), were represented, not on dry ground, but floating together in the
mimic ship of a depraved theology.
(7.) Thus, in the first stage of nascent idolatry, the Godhead was given
out to have been successively incarnate in the persons of Adam and Noah;
to say nothing of those minor intermediate descents, which, in the old Ira-
nian system as preserved to this day in the superstition of Hindostan, occur
between the earliest and the latest Menu. But, as each of those patriarchs
had three sons, and as each son was deemed an Avatar no less than his
father : it was soon additionally said, that the great parent mysteriously
triplicated himself; so that with reference to the sire he was one, with refer-
ence to the ofl'spring ho was three.
They, wlio believe that the doctrine of the Tri-Unity was known from
the very beginning, will perceive in this circumstance a curlv^us confirma-
tion of their opinion : for doubtless, when we consider the manner in wiiich
Paganism was elicited from Patriarchism, the circumstance of Adam and
Noah, having each three sons, and thus doubly exhibiting an unity and a
trinity, would be eagerly laid liold of, and Avould be used precisely in the
mode which now presents itself to us, by those who were framing the new
Bystcui. 13ut on this point let every one judge, as he thinks fit : fur myself
I can only say, that, as I have no authority to dcvy that the doctrine of a
plurality of persons in tlic Deity was known to the antcdiluvimis and tlie
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATKY. 6 17
early postdiluvians ; so, from what I am able to judge of the evidence, I chap. tj.
have no suftlcient authority to assert the point. The expectation that the
Godhead would permanently become incarnate, and the actual knowledge
that in a temporary manner he had already more than once appeared under
a human form, do not necessarily involve the belief, that tlie descending
person rcas one out of three. But, when, at a subsequent period, Abraham
was visited by three anthropomorphic beings, one of whom he evidently
acknowledges to be Jehovah, while tlie other two seem to have been attend-
ing Angels; when the overthrow of Sodom is described by the extraor-
dinary phraseology of Jehovah raining doxai fire and brimstone from
Jehovah; when Abraham beheld in a scenical representation the future
sacrifice of one, who bore a relation to tlie Supreme Being similar (so far
as heavenly matters can resemble any thing human) to Isaac's relation to-
wards himself; and, when Jacob styles the God of his fathers an Angel or
Messenger, which necessarily implies that that divine being was sent by
some other person : when such events took place, and when such language
was held, it is, I think, impossible not to suppose, that the patriarchs were
then acquainted with a plurality of persons in the Deity ". No proofs like
these can I fuid of any anterior knowledge of the Holy Trinity, though I
pretend not to deny the possible existence of that knowledge : I would only
be understood to confess my entire ignorance of any satisfactory demon-
stration ; whence I am unwilling to assert what I am unable to prove.
(8.) The union of hero-worship with Sabianism arose chiefly from per-
verted astronomy : yet even for this further innovation a decent pretext
was not wantiuii.
Language, from its original poverty, not from its copiousness, was at first
highly figurative: and, in the east, it has very much retained this character
even to tl)e present day. Respecting the phraseology of the absolutely
first ages we can indeed speak only from conjecture : but, as time renders
language more full, and as a figurative mode of speech prevailed much
later than the era of the tower, we may be tolerably sure, that previous
' I assent to Up. Warburton's explanation of the mysterious sacrifice of Isaac, wliicli I
am persuaded is the true one. Div. Leg. book vi. sect. 5. § I.
Pag. Idol. VOL. lUt 4 1
618 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
VI. to that era conversation was not less figurative. Now we find, that, in
the prophetic dream of Joseph, the Sun and the ]\Ioon and eleven Stars
represented his father and his mother and his eleven brethren : and it is
plain, that such a manner of speaking was perfectly familiar ; for Jacob,
without the least hesitation, thus applies the vision of his favourite child *.
Descending lower, we find, that in a similar strain the great deliverer is
foretold under the title of « Star: and again, at a yet more recent period,
he is promised under the image of a Sun of righteousness, rising upon a
benighted world '. The same principle led David to style Jehovah himself
a Sun and a Shield: and, when the peculiar language of prophecy was
framed upon tliis model, revolutions in the governing powers of the world
were described by signs in the various heavenly bodies '. So strong indeed
is its vitality, that it prevails even yet in the blazoning of arms : and, as we
certainly received heraldry from our Gothic ancestors ; I strongly suspect,
tliat they received it, in its first rude form, from the Nimrodian Goths of
Babel, whose sign or national banner was a dove. The colours in the arms
of freemen or gentry are simply described as colours : but, in those of the
nobility, they are exhibited by the names of corresponding gems ; while, in
the shield of royalty itself, they are curiously set forth under the appella-
tions of the Sun and the Aloon and the Planets.
The use, which the astronomizing apostates would make of this figurative
language is sufiiciently obvious. At first, the Sun would be deemed a type
of God, next his abode, and lastly himself: and, when the Divinity was
held to be incarnate in the person of the great father, tiie same notions
would be transferred to this personage also. The seven planets, of whicU
the Moon was accounted one, would similarly be viewed as representatives
of the seven members of the two successive primeval families : and the
Moon especially, as the consort of the Sun, would be employed to symbolize
tlie mystic consort both of Ciod and of the great father. Siuiihir imagery,
in an uncorruptcd state, lias been handed down, as wc shall presently find,
cv(!ri to ('Inistianity itself.
3. Our information relative to the outward forms of tlie Patriarchal reli-
• Ccn. xxxvii. 9, 10. * Nuuib. xxiv. 17. Mahicli. iv. 2. ' Psalm Ixxxiv. 11.
THE OUIOrN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 6l0
jiton arc so very scanty, tluit it would be mere trifling to urge the point in ciup. vi.
too minute a manner : it may hoivever be safely said, that Paganism strictly
resembles Patriarchism in every outward particular which we do know of
the latter. Hence the one may justly be esteemed an imitative deprava-
tion of the other : and hence, both Scuthism and its Babylonic successor
lonism, are by Epiplianius not unfitly denominated heresies; by which he
might seem to intimate, that they were rather apostatical corruptions of a
prior religion than absolutely new systems of theology. We have already
found, that each had the doctrine of an incarnate God, each had a sacred
ark provided with cherubic symbols, each held the tenet of a new birth
outwardly typified by water, each recognixed the divine institution of sacri-
fice : and, if we proceed to other particulars, we shall still perceive the
same resemblance.
(1.) As every ancient patriarch was at once a king and a priest, so every
gentile sovereign was long accounted both a priest and a king '.
(2.) When Abraham was called away from among the idolaters of
Chald^a, we may be sure, that lie would retain genuine Patriarchism, re-
jecting only the superstitious corruptions of it: in the worship therefore of
him and his successors, we may trace the worship of Adam and of Enoch
and of Noah. Now the great ancestor of the Israelites, immediately upon
the divine grant to him of Palestine, not only sacrificed to Jehovah upon an
altar, but likewise studiously built that altar on the summit of a holy moun-
tain ; thus imitating the action of Adam and of Noah, when they sacri-
ficed on the top of the Paradisiacal mount of Ararat \ Nor was tliis cir-
cumstance purely accidental : the mountain of the sacrifice was clearly
viewed as a consecrated high place; for we find him afterwards returning
thither from his journey to the south, and again calling upon the name of
the Lord'. Such a mode of wortliip was sanctioned by Cod himself, as
we may learn by pursuing the history of Abraham. In the most trying
and awful transaction of his whole life, when he is directed to sacrifice his
son, the choice of place is not left to his own discretion ; but he is com-
* Virgil's Idem rex Anius, Phoehiqiie sacerdos, is familiar to every one : and it was
founded upon actual matter of fact.
* Gen. xii. 7, 8. ' Gen. xxil. 2.
620 THE ORIGIN Of PAGAN IDOLATRY-
BOOK VI. maniled to devote the victim on the mountain of Moriah'. I greatly doubt,
whether the name of this hill be Hebrew : with Mr. Wilford, I am much
inclined to believe, that it was a local Meru or imitative Paradisiacal Ara-
rat ; and, by the act of the patriarch, it was reclaimed from superstition,
and solemnly set apart for the future mysterious sacrifice of tlie promised
Saviour. In a similar manner, when Jacob fled from Laban and when he
was afterwards reconciled to his father-in-law, we find him offering a sacri-
fice, not in the plain, but on the summit of a mountain.
(3.) Another of the patriarchal sanctuaries was the hallowed grove,
which was meant as a transcript of the garden of Eden. Thus we are told,
that Abraham planted a grove in Beer-Sheba, and called there on the tia)?ie
of the Lord: and thus we find him dwelling under a tree in the plain of
ISIamre, when accosted by his three mysterious visitors*. I need scarcely
remark, how perfectly in both these particulars Paganism resembled Pa-
triarchism.
(4.) There is yet another point of similitude between them, which must
by no means be passed over in silence. Among the heathens, a rude stone
column anointed with oil was one of the most ancient symbols of the great
father. Whether, in the Patriarchal Theology, it was used, on account of
its firmness, as a type of the Divinity, 1 shall not pretend to determine :
though from some remarkable passages, I think it probable, that such was
the case. Jeliovah is more than once styled a rock; and that too, in ex-
press reference to the same title as applied to the deities of the Gentiles '.
The Redeemer also is spoken of as a rock and a stone; firm indeed and
immoveable, but which sliould give offence to both houses of Israel*.
« Gen. xxli. 2. * Gen. xxi. 33. xviii. 1, i; 8.
' He is the rock, /lis work is perfect — But Jcxlnirun lightfy esteemed the rock of his snivel'
flf)fi Of the rock that begnt thee thou art tinmineffiil, and hast Jbrgotten God that formed
ihfC—lJaai should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock
had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up ? For their rock is not as our rock, ei'en onr
enemies themselves being judges — For the Lord shall judge his people — and he shall say.
Where are their gods, the rock in tvhom they trusted. Deut. xxxii. 4, 1.5, 18, 30, 31, 36, 37.
See also 1 Sam. ii. 2. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. PsaJm xviii. 2, 31, 46. xxviii. I. xxxi. 3. xliL 9.
Ixxviii. 37- Isaiali xvii. 10. xsvi. 4.
* Isaiali viii. H. 1 Cor. x. 10. Dan. ii. 45. Matt. xxi. 42. 44.
IrtE OniGIN OK PAGAN IDOLATUT. 621
However this may be, it is at least sufficiently clear, that the stone pillar cbap. v».
anointed with oil was a patriarchal hieroglyphic connected with the wor-
ship of the Deity: for we find Jacob, setting up such a monument, and
distinguishing it by a name which signifies the house of God; and we again
find him erecting another pillar, when a solemn covenant was made in the
presence of Jehovah between himself and Laban '.
(.5.) Whether the ancestors of the house of Israel used in their worship
a sacred ark surmounted by Cherubim, does not certainly appear : but
there is reason to believe, that Laban, who was equally of the family of
Ebcr, had something of this kind, though he seems in a measure at least
to have abused it to the purposes of idolatry. When Jacob fled away from
him, Rachel is said to have stolen the Teraphim of her father: and these
Laban afterwards reclaims under the appellation of his gods ^. It appears
then, that the Teraphim were certain images which he worshipped : but it
is not equally manifest of what description they were. I am inclined to
believe, that they were the same as Seraphim; for in fact the very word
Teraphiin is no other than Seraphim pronounced aft^r the Chaldean man-
ner: but tlie Seraphim must clearly, I think, be identified with the Che-
rubim. This supposition best accords with what we read of the Teraphim
in other parts of Scripture. When Micah lapsed into idolatry, it was
plainly of such a nature as to be closely copied from the service of the
tabernacle : for he had a house or temple with an ephod, and he prevailed
upon a Levite to officiate as his priest. Now the images, which he placed
in this oratory, are styled Teraphim: and their locality answers so exactly
to that of the legitimate Cherubim, that it is not easy to conceive them any
thing else than a studied imitation of those primeval hieroglyphics '. Sucli
an opinion seems to be confirmed by the well-known passage in llosca ;
where it is foretold, that the children of Israel shall abide many dai/s with-
out a king, and uithout a prince, and without sacrifice, and without an
image, and without ephod, and without Teraphim *. The drift of the pro-
phecy is argued by Bp. Horsley to be this ; that the Jews, during the pe-
• Gen. xxviii. 17—22. xxxi. 45,51, 52. * Gen. xxxi. 19, 30.
3 Judg. xvii. 5—13. xviiu H, 17—31. •♦ Hosea iii. 4.
622 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. 'iod of their last dispersion, should be without access to God through a
Saviour, yet without falling into idolatry : but such does not appear to me
to be the n'/zd/e drift of it ; and, from a ( en accounted for. This resemblance is so close and so perfect,
that it is alike absurd to deny its existence and to ascribe it to mere acci-
dent. Tiie thing itself is an incontrovertible matter of fact : and it is a
fact, which miglit at lirst seem to be of so extraordinary a nature, that wc
are imperiously called u|)on to account i'or it.
\. Now there are but three modes, in which it can be accounted for.
' Job i. 21.
rHE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRy. 625
Either Paganism borrowed its ceremonial from the ritual Law of Moses : en*?, vi,
or the ritual Law of Moses was borrozced from the ceremonial of Pagan-
ism: or lastly neither was a transcript of the other; but the similitude he-
tween them arose from the circianstance of each being a copy oj a yet more
ancient ritual, even the ritual of the old Patriarchal church.
(].) The first of these hypotheses is held by Gale, Dickenson, Ritcr-
huse, and others of the same school. Their theory is, that the ritual of
Paganism was a mere servile imitation of the ritual of the tabernacle ; and
that the devil, emulating that remarkable mode of worship and strivini» xi^aTot, tx Ta 'E^jaVxa s»of*aTo! ©r^wSa xa^B^l»>Il', a^Xo ti fl' !ro; vaflui Toir«»* £it' »« eyJoa? xai e tor.ni xotrftcs" isti xai Jri^i vatlwi
636 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
BOOK VI. This language is deeply tinctured with pagan phraseology : and, obscure
as it in some measure is, it may yet without any very great difficulty be
sufficiently understood for our present purpose. Tlieha was the name of
the ark of Osiris, as well as of the ark of Noah : the Og.load was composed
of the navigators of that ark, whom the Egyptians vencratetl as their prin-
cipal hero-gods : and by the Intellectual IVorld is meant the World ani-
mated by the Soul of the great father. The term used by Clemens to
express Intellectual is No'ctos: but this, like the parallel words Menu and
Menes and Mais, is ultimately derived from the name of Noah or Nuh or
Noe. For Noah, as I have already observed, was deemed the Mind or
Soul of the World : whence his name, variously moditied, came to acquire,
both in Greek and Sanscrit and Latin, the sense of 3Iind or Intelligence.
The pagans confounded him with God : and Clemens, in the latter part of
the passage, seems to have adopted their phraseology, unconscious of its
full import.
This obvious similarity of the ark of the tabernacle to the sacred arks of
the Gentiles will account very satisfactorily for the conduct of the Philis-
tines in the time of Eli. Arguing from their own mode of worship, they
certainly mistook the Clierubim for the gods of the Israelites, and the ark
for their accustomed vcliiclc. Hence, when they became masters of this
symbolical piece of furniture, they immediately placed it before Dagon or
Buddha, whose rites with those of the ship Argha their ancestors had
brought from upper India. Knowing the general principle of heathen in-
tercommunity, they would naturally suppose the bovine cherubim to be
two hieroglyphics of the same import as their own piscine Dagon and Der-
ccto: and the ark of tlie covenant they would identify witli tlie mystic ark
of their national divinity. The discomfiture of Dagon however, and the
plagues which harassed themselves, soon convinced them, that the God of
vipnxTi*o(, avx'ifiarit/lof ti, xai aojaTot, JiiXarai 6fof, T« vvt LTripxiiaOw. Clem. Strom, lib. v.
p. 5fi3, .Oet. What Clemens means by the miiUllc clause of the passage, I pretend not to
determine. Possibly it may relate, agreeably to the notions of the Gentiles, to the uni-
versal monad of the second great father taking place transmigrativcly of the universal
ninnad of the first great father. In the technical language of criticism, it may certainly
)je termed locus vcxatissiiiiiie.
THE oniCIN- OP PAGAV IDOLATRY. Got
Israel disapproved of the fellowship which they projected for him. But
still, even in sending back the ark, they so far retained their former pre-
possession, that the mode, which tliey adopted, was the identical mode, in
•whicii their god, under his title of the Agriculturist, was wont to bo con-
veyed in solemn procession. Sanchonialho mentions, that in Phenicia his
image was inclosed within a portable shrine ; which was placed in a w a^-
gon, and thus drawn about by one or more yoke of oxen. The author of
the books of Samuel informs us, that, when the Philistines returned the
ark, they laid it in a new cart, which was drawn by two cows. In their
general idea they uere not very far mistaken. The Cherubim were not in-
deed the gods of the Israelites : but those iiieroglyphics and the ark which
they surmounted related to the same persons and the same history, as Da-
gon and Derceto and Argha did '.
(2.) In the superstition of the Gentiles we meet with moveable taberna-
cles, as well as with fixed temples : and the Israelites, even in the m ilder-
ness, seem perversely to have turned away from the tabernacle of Jehovah
to the tabernacle of Molech or Chiun *, Under the ritual Law it is ac-
knowledged, that the temple differed in nothing from the tabernacle except
in stability ' : and just the same remark equally applies to the portable
tents and the fixed temples of the pagans. Each was alike deemed the
abode of the divinity : and the identical sentiments, which were entertained
of them by the heathens, were also entertained of tiiem by the Israelites.
The former, as we have seen, viewed every temple as a symbol of the World,
including under that idea in its largest sense both heaven and earth and sea,
and in its smallest sense the mundane Ark resting on the summit of the holy
Paradisiacal mountain. The latter equally supposed both the tabernacle
and its completion the temple to represent the Universe ; the holy of holies
typifying Paradise or Heaven, and the other parts of the building severally
shadowing out thesubordinatepartsof the World: wiiile the elevated situation
of the temple on mount Zion, which (as we collect from Ezekiel and other
sacred writers) was a transcript of the holy hill of Eden where tiie Ark
• 1 Sara. iv. 6— S. v. 2—6. vi. 7—12. Euscb. Pracp. Evan. lib. i. c. 10.
* Amos V. 2.5, 26. ' Josepli. Ant. Jiid. lib. iii. c. G. J 1.
638 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATKY,
BOOK VI. grounded after the deluge, gives us reason to believe, that, like the pagaa
temples, it involved also the idea of the Ark '. To this last opinion I an>
led by the remarkable vision of Ezekiel, in which the temple of the last
ages appears to him standing securely on tlie top of its lofty mountain,
while the whole surrounding country is inundated by a mighty flood which
could not be passed over * : and, as for the first opinion, it is both set
forth very largely by Josephus, and is confirmed even by Holy Scripture
itself.
The Jewish historian tells us, that the Sanctuary represented Heaven ;
that the part granted to the priests, as being accessible to men, was a figure
of the Earth and of the Sea; that the curtain decorated with flowers alluded
to the Ground clothed with the variegated livery of nature ; and that the
candlestick with seven branches was a symbol of the seven then known
Planets'. He speculates in a similar manner respecting the dress of the
high-priest ; which, like the dress of a pagan hierophant or the habiliments
of the Egyptian Isis, he supposes to have been constructed with reference
to the Sun and tlie Moon and the several parts of the Universe*.
Now in the former part of his o[)inion, which I conclude to have been
the general opinion among his countrymen, he is certainly supported by
the Christian Scriptures : for we are taught by the writer to the Hebrews,
that the annual entrance of the high-priest into the Sanctuary represented
the one entrance of Christ into Heaven ; and we find, that throughout the
Apocalypse the machinery of the temple or the tabernacle is used to sha-
dow out the glories of Heaven and the joys of Paradise K But, if such be
tlie figurative import of tlic high-priest's passage into the Holy of Holies,
it is clear, that the ante-temple must have symbolized this terraqueous
World, and the Sanctuary Heaven itself: for, as the passage of Christ was
from l''artli to Heaven, tlic passage of the high-priest from the outer temple
into the Sanctuary could not possibly have typified it, unless the Earth had
been symbolized by the outer temple and Heaven by the Sanctuary.
• Joseph. Ant. Jud. lib. iU. c. 6. § 4. F,zck. xxviii. 13. Rev. xxi. 3. xxii. 2.
•» Ezek. xlvii, 1—12. * .Tosipli. Ant. .lud. lib. iii. c. 6. $ 4, 7. c. 7. § 7.
* Ibid. c. 7. } 7. ' Ilfb. ix. 1 — 12. Kcv. iv. xi. 19. xv. 5—8. xxf.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATUT. 6'39
And this conclusion will further tend to shew, that Joscphus may not ciur. vi.
have been very far wrong in the latter part of his opinion ; I mean that,
which regards the peculiar habiliments ot the high-priest. Since the pas-
sage of the high-priest from the outer temple into tlie Holy of Holies repre-
sented the passage of Christ from Earth to Heaven, the high-priest himself
must doubtless have been a type of Christ. But this idea was no way
peculiar to the Levitical Law ; it was rather adopted into it from ancient
Patriarchism ; as we may collect from the prevalence of a similar idea in
Paganism which is but corrupted Patriarchism, and as wc may infer not
obscurely from sacred Scripture itself. Among the Gentiles, the high-
priest or the officiating hierophant represented the demiurgic great- father,
of whom he was sometimes deemed even an incarnation : and, when dis-
charging the duties of his function, he wore a dress, which was designed
(we are told) to shadow out the different parts of the Universe. Now, in
the progress of idolatrous corruption, whatever the apostatising heathens
knew from early prophecy of the character of the future Messiah, they ap-
plied it all to their transmigrating great father, who was supposed from time
to time to become incarnate for the reformation or punishment of the world.
Hence, as the sacrificing priest of each patriarchal family represented the
Messiah ; who was known, according to tlie memorable testimony of Eve
and according to the express declarations of the inspired Christian writers,
to be the creative Jehovah : so every sacrificing priest among the Gentiles
similarly represented the demiurgic great father, who was decorated with
the attributes of God and his Christ. It was on this account, that the
sacerdotal office was esteemed so highly honourable by the votaries both
of the corrupted and the uncorrupted theology: and we may now perceive,
why, in the patriarchal ages, the eldest son of the family discharged the
functions of its priest; and why Esau is described as being a profane per-
son, on account of his selling his birth-right to his younger brother Jacobs
Among ourselves, we know full well, that no idea of proj'anencss at least
could attacii to such a negotiation: why then is Esau thus stigmatized?
The answer is obvious: in a s|)irit of daring infidelity, Esau doubted, wiie-
ther he was likely to derive much profit from a birth-right, uhich consti-
tuted him the priest of his house, and which thus made him the express
640 TBE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATET.
«ooK VI. representative of the Messiah, He consequently sold it, as a thing of but
very little value, for a mere mess of pottage : and thus, as the sacred his-
torian emphatically remarks, Esau despised his birth-right ; thus, in the
language of St. Paul, he became a profane person '. When the Law wa3
revealed from mount Sinai, God was pleased to change the primeval
arrangement and to allot the priesthood to a particular tribe : but the
memory of the ancient institution, which was apparently designed to exhi-
bit the relationship between God the Son and God the Father, was still
carefully preserved. All the hrst-born of Israel were holy unto the Lord :
and their sacerdotal obligation could only be aimuUcd by the special ordi-
nance of a solemn redemption \ This holiness was even extended to the
first-born of animals : and it was enacted, that all such as were clean should
be devoted in sacrifice, while all the unclean should either be slain or re-
deemed by a fit substitute.
(3.) Such was the strict analogy between the temples and the high-priests
of the Gentiles, and the temple and the high-priest of the Israelites; an
analogy, wliich is to be accounted for by their common derivation, though
through different channels, from one and the same patriarchal source.
Nor does the resemblance stop here: it may be yet further traced in ano-
ther interesting particular. Jehovah the Messenger was ever viewed as
the husband of the Church; ami the appointed symbol of that Church was
the mundane Ark, lloating, with its eight mariners, on the surface of the
deluge. This attribute was also ascribed to the demiurgic father, when
Patriarchism degenerated into Paganism. lie was deemed the consort of
the universal great mother; whose most eminent form was the ship Argha
u|)bornc on the waves of the diluvian ocean, and whose astronomical symbol
uas tlie lunar boat or crescent.
'i'he present point of coincidence will, I think, enable us to understand
some remarkable particulars in the machinery of the Apocalypse.
Wc find the pure Cliurcii described, as a woman clothed with the Sun
and standing upon the crescent of the Moon; while a tH)rrupted church is
cxhiljitcd to us, both under the image of a female floating upon the surface
* Gen. XXV. 32, 3*. Ilcb. xii. 16, * Exod. xiii. 2. xxil. 29. xxxiv. 20..
THE ORIGIN' OF PAGAN IDOLATRT. 641,
of many waters, and under that of a harlot using a monstrous beast as her cuap.vi.
vehicle. The former of these women, when about to bring forth her first-
born, is attacked by a monstrous serpent; which spouts out against iicr
and her offspring a deluge of water: but the earth opens its mouth, and
receives the mighty inundation into the centrical abyss. The latter of them
under the mystic name of the false prophet, together with her bestial sup-
porter, is said to be at length plunged alive into an infernal lake burning
with fire and brimstone.
I cannot but think it sufficiently clear, that the whole of this machinery
is palpably diluvian : and I believe it to have been derived from that re-
ceived imagery of the Patriarchal church, which by a corrupted channel
was admitted into Paganism. It is impossible not to perceive, that the
woman standing upon the crescent is the very figure of the Samian Juno
or of the Egyptian Isis, who were represented in a precisely similar manner
with reference to the lunar boat ': that the attack upon the woman and her
offspring by tlie deluging serpent, which is frustrated by the earth's absorp-
tion of the waters, is perfectly analogous to the attack of the diluvian ser-
pent Python or Typhon upon Latona and Horns, which is similarly frus-
trated by the destruction of that monster : and that the false church, bearing
the name of Mystery, floating on tiie mighty waters or riding on a terrific
beast, and ultimately plunged into the infcrnul lake, exhibits the very same
aspect as the great mother of Paganism, sailing over the ocean, riding on
her usual vehicle the lion, venerated with certain appropriate Mysteries,
and during the celebration of those Mysteries plunged into the waters of a
sacred lake deemed the lake of Hades. I take it, that, in the represen-
tation of the pure Church, an ancient Patriarchal scheme of symbolical
machinery, derived most plainly from the events of the deluge, and bor-
rowed with the usual perverse misapplication by the contrivers ot Pagan-
ism, has been reclaimed to its proper use : while, in the representation of
the false cliurch, which under a new name revived the old gentile demo-
nolatry, the very imagery and language of the gentile hierophants has with
singular propriety been studiously adopted *. I need scarcely remark,
• See Plate I. Fig. 13. * Rev, xii. xvH. 1—5. xix. 20.
Pug. Idol. VOL. III. 4 M
642 THE ORIGIN or PAGAN IDOLATRY,
that I am speaking solely of the apocalyptic machiney^y : of this the origin
will still be the same, however we may interpret the prophecies which are
built upon it '.
" The whole machinery of the Apocalypse, from beginning to end, seems to me very
plainly to have been borrowed from the machinery of the ancient Mysteries : and this, if
we consider the nature of the subject, was done with the very strictest attention to poetical
decorum.
St. John himself is made to personate an aspirant about to be initiated: and, accord-
ingly, the images presented to his mind's eye closely resemble the pageants of the Myste*
ries both in nature and in order nf succession.
The prophet first beholds a door opened in the magnificent temple of heaven: and into
this he is invited to enter by the voice of one, who plays the hierophant. Here lie wit-
nesses the unsealing of a sacred book: and forthwith he is appalled by a troop of ghastly
apparitions, which flit in horrid succession befoi-e his eyes. Among these are preeminently
conspicuous a vast serpent, the well-known symbol of the great father ; and two portentous
tL'ild-beasts, which severally come up out of the sea and out of the earth. Such hideous
figures correspond with the canine phantoms of the Orgies which seemed to rise out of
the ground, and with the polymor|ihic image* of the principal hero-god who was univer-
sally deemed the offspring of the sea.
Passing these terrific monsters in safety, the prophet, constantly attended by his angel-
hierophant who acts the part of an interpreter, is conducted into the presence of ajemale,
who is described as closely resembling the great mother of pagan theology. Like Isis
emerging from the sea and exiiibiting herself to the eyes of the aspirant Apulcius, tliis
female divinity, upborne upon the marine wild-beast, appears to float upon the surface of
many waters. She is said to be an open and sijstematical harlot ; just as the great mother
was tlie declared female principle of fecundity, and as she was always propitiated by literal
fornication reduced to a religious system : and, as the initiated were made to drink a pre-
pared liejuor out of a sacred goblet ; so this harlot Ls icpresentcd, as intoxicating the kings
of the earth with the golden cup of her prostitution. On her forehead the very name of
MYSTEKY is inscribed : and the label teaches us, that, in point of character, she is the great
universal mother of idolatry.
The nature of this Mystery the cffficiating hierophant undertakes to explain : and an im-
portant prophecy is most curiously and artfully veiled under the very language and imagery
of tlic Orgies. To tlic sea-born groat father was ascribed a three-fold state ; ho lived, he
died, and he revived : and these changes of condition were duly exhibited in the Mysteries.
To the sea-born wild-beast is similarly ascribed a three-fold state; he lives, lie dies, and
lie revives. While dead, he lies floating on the mighty ocean, just like Ilorus or Osiris or
Siva or Vishnou : when he revives, again like those kindred deities, he emerges from the
waves : and, whether dead or ulive, he bears seven heads and ten horus, corresponding ia
THE OUICIV OF PAOAN IDOLATRV. 643
(4.) We have seen, that among the pagans the entrance into the Ark cuap.vi.
was deemed an entrance into the grave : whence the quitting it was viewed
as a resurrection from tlie dead. We have also seen, that they ii!;ed the
grave synonymously with Hades ; which they phiced in the central cavity
of the earth, analogously to the mystic Hades in the central cavity of the
Ark. And we have further seen, tiiat, as they considered the entrance
into the Ark in the light of death and burial ; so they esteemed the deliver-
ance from its confinement, not only a resurrection, but a new birth by
water into a better state of existence. They likewise used a large fish, as
a symbol of the Ark, ascribing to the one what they ascribed to the other:
and, when they were about to initiate any person into the Mysteries, they
were accustomed to set him afloat in a small vessel on some consecrated
lake or river or arm of the sea.
It is curious to observe, how these ancient Patriarchal ideas have passed
by a different channel into a purer religion. St. Paul assures us, that,
when God raised up Jesus from the dead, that prophecy in the second
psalm. Thou art my ivn, this day have I begotten thee, received its accom-
plishment '. Now it is evident, that the only way, in which it can have
been accomplished by the fact of the resurrection, is by an admission, that
the two expressions. This day hare I begotten tliee and This day have I
raised thee from Jhe dead, are mystically of the same import. And, that
number with tlie seven ark-preserved Rishis and the ten aboriginal patriarchs. Nor is this
all: as the worshippers of the great father bore his special mark or stii;nia, and were dis-
tinguished by his name; so the worshippers of the maritime beast equally bear his mark,
and are equally decorated by his appellation.
At Icngtli however the first or dolrful part of these sacred Mysteries draws to a close,
and the last or Joi/ful part is rapidly approaching. After the prophet has beheld the
enemies of God plunged into a dreadful lake or inundation of liquid fire, which corre-
sponds with the infernal lake or deluge of the Orgies, he is introduced into a splendidlif
illuminated region expressly adorned with the characteristics of that Paradise which was
the ultimate scope of the ancient aspirants: while, xvithout the holy gate of admission, are
the whole multitude of the profane, dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers
and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketk a lye.
The comparison might have been drawn out to a greater length ; but these liints maj
«u&ce. * Acts xiii. 33.
644 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
KooK VI. such is the right interpretation, is very evident from other parts of Scrip-
ture. In a passage which I have already adduced, Job exclaims, Naked
came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither '. What
we literally translate thither, the Chaldee paraphrast explains very ri^fhtly
as meaning to the grave: yet the turn of the whole place figuratively iden-
tifies the grave with his mother's womb. Again, on the other hand, when
the inspired writers speak of the womb, they speak of it in terms which
properly belong to the earth. Thus the psalmist, describing his marvellous
formation in the womb of his mother, says, that his substance was curious!]/
xcrought in the lowest parts of the earth yet being imperfect'^. And thus,
when Solomon remarks, that the words of a tale-bearer go down into the
inner7nost parts of the belly, the Targum paraphrases the expression into
the depth of the grave '. Nor is this to be deemed a mere conceit of a
single fantastic expositor : on the contrary, it faithfully expresses the gene-
ral notions of the Jews. Among their writers, the mother's womb is called
a sepulchre; on the ground, that he, who is born and dies and is buried,
does but pass from one tomb to another *: and, when one of their Rabbins
asks the reason, w hy the grave and the womb are joined together by Solo-
mon in a single place; the answer is, because they both make returns alike
of living creatures, the womb at the birth, the grave at the resurrection '.
In strict analogy with such speculations, wc find Isaiah, without any break
or interruption, doubly foretelling the national restoration of Judali, under
the two successive parallel images of a birth from the womb and a resur-
rection from the grave *. The self-same ideas occur also perpetually in
the New Testament. Ti)us our Saviour teaches us, that they, who shall
be accounted worthy to obtain the resurrection from the dead, are the chil-
dren of God, being the children of the resurrection ^ Thus St. Paul styles
the risen Messiah the first-born from the dead: and, in evident allusion
to the pro|)hccy in the second psalm as explained by himself, he informs
us, that Christ was declared or constituted the son of God with pozcer hij
' •'"'' '• -'■ • Psalm cxxxis. 13— IG. ' Prov. xviii. 8.
* Olioloth. c. vii. m. 4-. See Kidder's Dcmonst. part i. p. f)8, 99.
' Mcnasg. Uen Israel de rcsur. lib. i. c. 3. § 1. apud Kidd. Dem. part ii. p. [88].
' Isaiah xxvi. 17—19. 7 Lukg xx. 35, 3G.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 645
the resurrection from the dead\ And thus St. Peter blesses the God and chap, vt,
father of our Loi-d Jesus Christ, zcho hath begotten us again, h\) the resur-
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and
vndejiled*. Of a siii)ilar nature are those passages of Scripture, whence
our church has been led to speak of the inw ard grace of baptism, as a death
tinto sin and a neu^-birth unto righteousness. Tlius we read of being bap-
tized into the death of Jesus Christ, of being buried with him by baptism
into death, of walking in -newness of life li/ce as Christ ivas liaised up front
the dead by the glory of the father, of being planted together in the likeness
of his death that we may also be in the likeness of his resurrection, of being
dead unto sin but alive unto God '. And thus believers are addressed, as
being buried with Christ in baptism, wherein also they are risen with him,
through the j ait h of the operation oj God, xvho hath raised him from the
dead*. Now the whole imagery of baptism, as we are tauglit by St. Peter, is
borrowed from the Ark and the deluge. Hence the entrance into the Ark
and the deliveiance by water must have shadowed out a death and a nezv-
birth. Each of these is truly of a spiritual nature ; but the apostatizing
Gentiles took them in a gross literal sense, though they never quite forgot
their high mysterious import ; for they claimed, by initiation ijito their
Orgies, to pass from a state of death and ignorance to a state of Para-
disiacal knowledge and purity.
The preceding remarks may serve to shew the singular propriety, with
which our Lord declares Jonah in the belly of the fish to have been a type
of himself inclosed within the cavity of the tomb : and they will at the same
time tend to elucidate the very extraordinary language, which the prophet
is described as using while in that situation. A large fish was a symbol
of the Ark ; but the Ark itself was viewed in the light of a sepulchral
cavern, which again was mystically identified with the centrical Hades.
Accordingly our Lord pronounces, that the floating fish of Jonah was a
type of the sepulchre, within which he was shortly to be confined ; and that
the duration of the prophet's inclosurc within the one shadowed out his own
• Coloss. i. 18. Ron), i. 4. '1 Pet. i. 3, 4.
J Bom. y'u 3, 4, 5, 8, 11. ♦ Coloss. ii. 12.
646 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY.
BOOK VI. pQj.responding inclosure within the other. The fish then, as a symbol of
the Ark, was a symbol hkewise of Hades or the grave : and the language
of Jonah, while shut up within it, is in perfect unison with Cin-ist's appli-
cation of it to his own sepulchre, mingled liowever with phraseology suit-
able to that floating coffin the Ark. / cried, by reason of mine affliction,
unto the Lord; and he heard me: out of the belly of Hades cried I, and
thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst
of the seas, and the floods compassed 7ne about : all thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. The zvaters compassed me about even to the soul, the depth
closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I zvent
dow7i to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her bars was about
tne for ever : yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord
my God \
It was no doubt with reference to this figurative mode of speech, which
from ancient patriarchal times \vas handed down to all the descendants of
Noah, that the primitive Christians, when they discussed the resurrection
or new birth by water from a prior state of death and corruption, were ac-
customed to style Jesus their fish and to speak of themselves as smaller
fishes born out of water and owing their safety to that friendly element *.
The language is not a little singular, though suflicicntly expressive of what
they meant.
I am much inclined to believe, that a remarkable event in the life of
Moses is to be understood in a very similar manner. We know, that that
great prophet and lawgiver was one of the most express and eminent types
of a future yet greater prophet and lawgiver : hence we are naturally led to
' Jonah ii. 1 — 6.
* Sed nos pisticuli, secundum ix6u» nostrum Jcsum Christum, hi aqua naschiiur. Ncc
ahter, quam in aqua pormanendo, salvi sumus. Tertuil. lib. de baptism, c. i. On which
I'araelius remarks: Facit ad intellectum hujus loci B. Optatus Afer lib. iii. adv. Parmen.
Uic (dc C'hrislo loquens) inquit : Est piscis, qui in buptisniatc per invocationcm fonlalibus
undis inscribitur; ut, quae aqua fucrat, a yiiicc etiani ;«'«/«« vocitetur. Cujus piscis no-
mcn, secundum appellationcm Graccam, in uno nomine per singulas litems turbam sanc-
torum nomiiium continet. Ix^i-? cnim (sic lego) Latino est Jcstix Chrhlus, Dei filiiis, sal-
xntor. Quod ipsiini rcpotit I?. August, lib. xviii. de civ. Dei c. 23. Voces autcm Graccoc,
^uae singulis vocis Ix^uj Uteris indicantur, hx sunt : \wii( Xftploj, ©w iiiu, culrif.
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 647
^upjTOse, that his inclosure within the ark was in every respect a significant chap. vi.
circumstance. I apprehend, tliat his pious parents, when compcllocl to
expose their offsprins:;, thought that the fittest method of solemnly commit-
ting him to the Lord was to copy the grand event in the life of Nouh.
Hence, as that patriarch entered into the ship in full reliance on the care of
a gracious providence ; so Amram and Jochebcd, in a like spirit of devout
faith, placed the infant Moses in an ark, and set him afloat on the waters
of the Oceanes or Nile. Such appears to have been the ruling idea uith
thetn in this transaction : but, unless I greatly mistake, it was so ordered
by heaven with a view that Moses might in every particular be a complete
type of Christ. His bulrush ark, which served him as coffin, was, like the
fish of Jonah, an image of the sepulchral cavern : so that his entrance into
'•^ as into a state of death and burial, and his deliverance from it like a .
resurrection from the grave, aptly shadowed out the death and the burial
and the resurrection of Christ '.
It is with the same reference to the deluge, thot the Hebrew poets so
perpetually represent a state of great trial and affliction under the imagery
of a mighty and overwhelming flood of waters : and as the future INIessiah,
is the prominent subject of the psalms, it is with the utmost projiricty that
he is so often exhibited, as either complaining to his heavenly Father that
the floods of imgodlif men made him afraid VinA that every xcave and storm
had gone over him, or as praising his Ahnighty Deliverer for sending from
above and drawing him out of many waters *. Such imagery is strictly patri-
archal : and to the same class we may ascribe those passages, which speak
of slaying the great dragon in the midst of the sea, or which palpably cltrive
their figures from the garden of Eden '. The Hebrews drew from the same
primitive wells as the pagans ; hence it is no wonder,, that the ideas of them
' Exod. ii. 1 — 10.
• See Psalm xviii. -t, 16. xxix. 10. xxxii. (j. xl. 2. xlii. 7. xlvi. 2, 9. Ixix. 1,2,15.
xcSi. 3,4. civ. 6. cxxiv. 4, 5. cxiiv. 7. Isaiah xxiv. 18, 19. xxviii. 2. lix. 19. Jerem.
xlvii. 2. Lament, iii. oi. Ezck. xxvi. 20. Amos v. 8. ix. 5, 6. Nahum i. 8. Sometimes x
tlie imagery is taken from tiie local inundation of a great river. See Isaiah viii. 7, 8.
Jerem. xlvi. 7, 8. and elsewhere.
' Sec Isaiah xxvli. 1. Amos ix. 3. ant\ Isajali xli. 18, 19. xi. 6—9. li. 3. Ezek. xxxi. 16;
xxviii. 13— IC. Rev. xxii. 1—3.
64S THi ORieiN or pacan idolatry,
BOOK VI. both should be so much alike ; the whole secret is, that the phraseology of
each was equally tinctured with ancient Patriarchism.
III. We shall now be prepared to account for the extraordinary resem-
blance, which subsists between the great father of pagan theology and the
Messiah of a purer system.
If we bring together into one point of view the different characteristics of
the former, as they may be collected from the various modifications of
Heathenism, they may be enumerated in the following manner. The great
father became incarnate, and was born of a virgin. His infancy was spent
among herds and flocks. His life was sought by a huge serpent, and he
was even slain by the monster: but he finally conquered his adversary, and
crushed his head beneath his heel. He descended from heaven for tho
purpose of reforming mankind, and is supposed to be of a mild and con-
templative disposition : yet is he also the god of vengeance, armed with the
powers of destruction against his irreclaimable enemies. He was a priest
and a king and a prophet : yet was he likew-ise himself the sacrifice, as
well as the sacrificer. He was the parent, tlie husband, and the son, of
the great universal mother; whose principal form was the Ark floating on
the surface of the deluge. He was the creator of each successive world ;
and before every creation he moved upon the boundless waters. When
slain, he was inclosed in acoflin and was said to have descended into Hades»
But, on the tliird day, he rose from the dead : and this resurrection was
eonsidered, as a new birth from a rocky sepulchral cavern. At length he
ascended to the top of a lofty mountain, whence he was translated to
heaven.
These various characteristics cannot have been borrowed from the history
of (Christ, for they were ascribed to the great father long before the advent
of our Saviour: the question Uicrcforc is, lioxv zee are to account for their
cxhte.nce ?
1. They have been noticed, though not to the extent to which they are
drawn out, by a Frenchman named Volncy ; who, being one of the sect of
infidel pliiloso|)hers, has imagined, that they might afford him a specious
argiiinent against tlie trutli of Christianity. The use, which he would make
■of them, is tliis.
, niF. OKlGiy OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 649
There is so strong a resemblance between the cliaracters of Jesus and of chap, vi,
Buddha, that it cannot have been purely accidental. But the character of
Buddha or Crisluia or the great father was already in existence, previous
to the alleged time of Ctirist's appearance upon eartli. The character
therefore of the heathen divinity cannot have been borrowed from that of
Christ. But, if it were not borrowed from that of Christ, the character of
Christ must have been borrowed from it. Hence it will follow, that, if we
tear off the disguise of a Jewish dress, we shall clearly perceive, that the
incarnate God of the Church, ^^hom Christians ignoranlly worsliip as the
creator of the world, is the very same person as the virgin-born great father
of Paganism. He is the Sun in the sign of the virgin : his very name of
Christ is no other than the Sanscrit Crislma : and the whole history of his
appearance upon earth is a mere fable. There are absolutely, says Mr.
Volncy, 710 other vioimmcnts of the cdistcnce of Jesus Christ as a human
being, than a passage in Joscphus, a single phrase in Tacitus, and the
gospels. But the passage in Josephus is unanimously admoioledged to be
apocryphal and to have been interpolated toxvards the close of the third
century : and that of Tacitus is so vague, and so evidently taken from the
deposition of the Christians before the tribunals, that it may be ranked in
the class of evangelical records. So that the existence of Jesus is fio better
proved, than thai of Osiris aid Hercules, or that of Fo or Buddha, with
xchom the Chinese continually confound him ; for they never call Jesus by
uny other name than Fo '.
I am willing to believe, that Mr. Volney's argument, though much cur-
tailed, has lost none of its force in my hands : wc have now to estimate the
amoant of that lorce.
(1.) According to this writer then, there is no sufficient evidence for the
literal m.uiifestation of Christ upon earth : because, exclusive of the gospels,
he is mentioned only in a spurious passage of Josephus, and in a single ex-
pression of Tacitus who manifestly wrote solely from the depositions of be-
Jlevers themselves.
With the place in Josephus I shall not concern myself, save only to ob-
» Vo]ney's Ruins, p. 229—239, 287, 2S3.
Pag. Idol. VOL. J 1 1. 4N
650 THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN IDOLATRT,
BOOR VI. serve that it is not utianimously acknowledged to be apocryphal : I shall
pass directly to the expression in Tacitus. Now, supposing that this author
had written solely from the depositions of Christians on their trial, it might
reasonably be asked, what bettor evidence could we have for the real
existence of Jesus as a human being? A great number of men is brought
before the tribunals of the Roman magistrates ; and these declare, that but
as yesterday an extraordinary person appeared in Jud^, who during his
life-time openly conversed witli thousands, and who at length was put to
death by the procurator Pontius Pilate. In such a declaration, which
respects a ^natter of fact, they obstinately persist, even in the face of the
most cruel torments. Now, though doubtless men have sometimes givea
up their lives in the cause of a false religion ; yet they have never done so,
except when they themselves were fully persuaded of the truth of it. But,
if we admit the paradox of Mr. Volney, we must be credulous enough to
believe, that not merely a single wrong-headed individual, but that whole
multitudes, chose rather to sutler the most cruel deaths, than to give up the
existence of a man, whom all the while they must have knoun perfectly
well had never existed at all. This may very possibly be swallowed by
the easy faith of an infidel : but a man of plain common sense, who is
accustomed to weigh motives a,ncl actions, will not be quite so easily satis-
fied. Docs Tacitus however write from the mere depositions of Christians?
It is said to have been a regular part of the atheistical system on the conti-
nent, to misquote and misrepresent ancient authors : and the honest prin-
ciple of it was this. Where one reader is capable of following the citer,
ten will be incapable : of those who are capable, where one takes the trouble
to do it, ten will not take the trouble : and of those who detect the fals-
hood, where one steps forward to expose it, ten will be silent. It may
therefore 7iever be detected : and, if it be detected, the voice of a single in-
dividual, when the efforts of a whole conspiracy are employed to drown it,
will be heard to but a very little distance. Whether Mr. A^olncy made any
such calculation with respect to the passage in Tacitus, I shall not pretend
to say : but most certain it is, that the passage itself alVords not the slightest
ground for his gloss upon it. Tacitus, a grave historian, simply relates a
well-known recent fact; which it was perfectly easy to contradict, had
THE OUrciN OF PAGAN IDOLATRY. 651
there been no foundation for it. Tlic fact, which 1)C specifics without say- chap, vt.'
ing a single syllable about depositions, is as follows. A man, named Christ,
Mas the author of the Christian superstition. This person started up in
Jud^a, one of the Roman provinces : and he was put to death, during the
reign of Tiberius, by the procurator Pontius Pilate '. Such are the parti-
culars, which Tacitus details about 70 years after the time when tlfey are
said to have happened. Now, on I\{r. Volncy's hypothesis that they never
260
ruinating with their expulsion from Auaris or Goshen j
II. Tiie period between their expulsion and the arrival of Joseph 15
III. The residence of Joseph in Egypt before the descent of Jacob and> ^
his family .> ..3
IV. The sojourninn; of the Israelites in Egypt from the descent of Jacob, }
until the rise of the new king that knew not Joseph i
V. The domination of the second dynasty of Siieplierd-kings, com-
mencing 37 years after the death of Joseph and his brethren and J> 106
all that generation, and terminating with the Exodus of Israel . . .
511
VI. An additional period, procured from Manethcj^'s numbers, between"
the breaking of tlie Pastoral tyranny in the Red sea and tiie einigra-i
tion of the l)aiiai into Greece. During tliis period, Egypt is gra-V on <
dually evacuated by those bands of foreigners mentioned by Diodo-/
rus and Tacitus ; the Danai being the last of the pastoral race, that'
were expelled by the native Mizraim.
Coo. 5 m.
.PPENDIX.
Cy69
TABLE V.
A chronological View of the different historical Mailers treated of in
the course of this Work,
A. p. D
2
137
267
350
401
440
502
531
559
570
A. A.C.
293()
2801
2G71
2588
2537
2498
2436
2407
2379
2368
EVENTS.
Arpliaxad bom.
I'uialk'l jShemites \ Elam, Asluir, Lud, Aram.
Willi A r- i *^ ^Tiibal, Mcsliech, liras.
pliaxad. J Hanimites | Cush, iMizi, Pliut, Canaan,
Selah born.
SIiemite-Araineans ^ Uz,. IIul, Getlicr, Mash.
Japlielic-Gomeriaus J Ashkenaz, Riphalli, Togarmali.
Japhetic- J avanites j Elishah^ Tarshish, Dodanim.
Sebah. Havilali, Sablal), Raamah,
Sabtecha, Niinrod or ISin. JS'innort
appears to have been the child of his
lather's old age : he synchronizes there-
lore with a later generation^ though in-
point of descent lie belongs to this.
5 Lud, Anain, J^ehab, Naj)htuh,
I Pathrus, Casluh, Caphtor.
rSidon, Heth, .lebus, Amor, Girgas,
Hammite-Canaanites-v Hivi, Arki,
(.Hamath.
Eber bona.
Parallel )
generation [ IIaniniite-Cuthic-Iiaaniites| Sheba^ Dedatu
with Eber. j
Noah dies.
Peleg born.
Parallel
Parallel
generation
with Se-
lah.
). Hammite-Cushim
Hammite-Mizraitn
Sini, Arvad, Zeniar,
Parallel 1 Shemite-Arphaxad- C , , .
generation hte-Selhite-Eberite J '^'^'''="'-
with Peleg. )
Arpliaxad dies.
Sheni dies : and about the same time we may place the deaths of Ham
and Japhet.
Reu born.
p II I ■\ rAlinodad, Shelcph, Hazarma-
f Shemite-Arphaxadite-Sel-T vfth, Jarah, Hadoram, Uzal,
g,eiera on r j,j(g.£[jcrite.Joktanites, i Diklah, Obal, Abiinad, Sheba,
""''^^^"•3 fOphir, Havilah,Jobab.
Emigration of mankind from Armenia in one great body under the influ-
ence of Nimrod and the Cuthiui. Descent of Justin's Scutliiai from
the Armenian Caucasus.
Sclah dies.
670
APPENDIX.
A. P. D. A. A. C.
2325
6lt
(530
640
G63
671
770
793
803
2308
634 2304
22D8
227J
2267
2168
214.';
2135
872
8y3
20fi6
2015
EVENTS,
Rise of ihe Ciithic or Scuthic empire at Babel under Niinrod, the first
Niniis or Beliis : which, under two successive kindred dynasties jointly
styled in the Persian annals (he Muhabadiun dynasti/, possesses the
soverei;;nty of middle Asia during 1495 years or in a round number 15
centuries.
About this time, the dispersion of mankind from Babel occurs, which
Peleg just lives to see ; his thirteen nephews by his younger brother
Joklan being now heads of separate families, agreeably to Gen. x. 25 — 30.
About this time, Nimrod, having gone forth out of Shinar into .the land
of Ashur, founds Nineveh on Nin's town; which he so calls from his
own name Niii or Niuus. Gen. x. 9 — 11.
Peleg dies, having witnessed the division of the earth in consequence of
the dispersion, agreeably to the prophetic intimation conveyed by his
name. Gen. x. 25.
Serug born.
Eber dies.
Reu dies.
Nahor born.
End of the first Cuthico-Assyrjan dynasty, which commenced with
Nimrod or the first Ninus ; its duration being 190 years — Rise of the
second Cuthico-Assyrian dynasty with the second Ninus, the duration of
which is 1305 years. Here, in the days of Serug, terminates the origi-
nal Scuthic succession and Scuthic name : a new dynasty, most pro-
bably in a younger branch of the house of Ninnod, obtaining the throne
of Iian ; and the old Scuthic title being almost entirely superseded by
the Assyrian — Conquest of the low country of Babylonia by the Arabian
or Phcniciau kings; who had ])reviously descended from the Indian
C:\ucasus, fcllowing the course of the river Sindh until they reached the
shores of the Erythrean sea. These are said by Diodorus to have
been the allies of the second Ninus : so that he seems to have rebelled
apaiiist the last prince of the original Cuthic house, to have called in the
Pheiiician Shepherds to his aid, and to have rewarded tlu ni \\\\\\ the
maritime provinces round the head of the Persian gulph which appa-
rently adhered to the old dynasty. Ileio the pastoral warriors reign,
acknowledging perhaps the feudal superiority of the Assyrian emperor,
for the space of 215 years — About this time, we may conceive the Scu-
tiiic Shepheids of 'I'ouran to begin to push westward and to form settle-
ments round the Euxiuc sea : whence, under the name of Pelasgi or
i'alli or Holies rir He/gfr, they grndnnlly forced themselves into Greece,
the (jreek islands, Asi:i minor, (ierinany, Italy, western Gaul, Scandi-
navia, south-eastern Britain and perhaps Ireland.
Terali Ixirn.
Serug dies, having witnessed the end of the original Scuthic name and
succession — About this time, a great brunch of the Indian Palli or Phe-
nician Sliepherils Icavi- tiicir selllenKnls in IJabyloiiia and round the
h(:ad of the I'l rtian iMdpli, ailvance westward luund ihe Arabian desert,
.iu>\ enter into tlie hind of Canaan from the noilh. Here they become the
l>areniH of the maritiuic Pheniciaiis, the Anakim, the Perizzim, and the
ATPENDIX.
671
A. r. D. A. A. C.
936
941
94'i
1003
2002
1997
i9y()
1930
1012
1926
1017
1921
1018
1920
I0Q.5
1026
1913
1912
1041
1897
1042
1896
EVENTS.
Repliaini ; who, from their lofty Scythian stature and superior military
prowess, were, in a succeeding age, viewed by the terrified Israelites as
a race of t^iiints.
I'lie Cutliic I'lienicians, liaving marched throiigli the whole length of (he
land of Canaan, invade Kgv|)t under the name of I'alli or Philistini or
Huc-Sos or Ethiopic Shepherd-kings — They make the land of Goshen
or Auaris (heir strong hold.
\ahor dies,
Abraham born, 6 years at'tor the invasion of Egypt by the Shepherds.
Abraham emi<;ratrs from IJr of the Babyloiiic Chiisdim to llaran, 14
years (according to Halts) before he emigrates from llaran to the land
of Canaan. By this providential arrangement, he and his family are
withdrawn from the troubles, which must have occurred in Chaldea
when the military dynasty of the Plienician Shepherds from upper India
were compelled to abdicate — Of this emigration from Chaldea, with the
subsequent arrival of Abraham's pc^tcrity in Egypt and their being con-
cerned ill building the pyramids, the Hindoo'* ])()ssess no inaccurate tra-
dition. Alter the building of the first Padma-Mandir or the Habylonic
tow-er on the banks of the Euphrates, certain children of Sliarma or
Shem arrived, after a long journey, on the banks of the Nile. Here
they raised a lofty pyrannd of earth, in professed imitation of the original
Asiatic Padma-Mandir.
Chedoriaomcr and other vassals of the great Iranian empire, whose
feudatory principalities lay in Aram, subjugate the petty kings of
Canaan.
Terah dies — Abraham leaves Haran, and emigrates into the land of
Canaan.
End of the Arabian or Cuthico-Plienician dynasty in Babylonia, at the
close of 215 years after its commencement. It was subverted no doubt
by the head of the Iranian or Cuthico-Assyriau empire, now extending
itself in every direction.
The petty kings of Canaan revolt from Chedorlaomer and his co-estates.
Chedorlaomer and his co-estates attack and completely rout the Ca-
naanitish kings ; smiting, at the same time, the Hephaim, the Zuzim, and
other tribes of the giant or Scuthic race — 'I'his occasiois the jealousy
of their brethren, the Shepherd-kings of Egypt : who accordingly, as
we learn from Manelho, carefully fortified their eastern frontier; lest
the Assyrians or Cuiliic Iranians, then lords of Asia, should iiuade
them — Abraham, with only 318 men, overtakes and defeats Chedor-
laomer and the other vassals of Iran on their return northward into
Aram,
Destruction of Sodom and Goniorrha — Abraham, w ho flourished in the
tenth generation after the flood as Noah did in the tenth generation
after the creation, is thence venerated by the Cuthic Phenieians as an
incarn ition or periodical Avatar of the great transmigrating father II or
Buddha.
Isaac bom — Abraham, in the south of the land of Canaan, converses
with Abimelech, a feudatory prince of the Philistim or Palli or Shep-
67S
APPENDIX.
A. P. D.
A. A. C
1082
185fi
1102
1117
117!)
1190
1836
1S21
17.59
1742
1199
1211
1739
1727
1222
1224
1716
1714
1231
1232
1707
170()
1237
124!)
1701
1(J89
1304
1341
1.597
1340
l:H7
1304
\.y.y2
1.591
1.57 1
13(i(,
1.57'-;
I3G7
lc>71
EVENTS.
licids; whose strong hold was Auaiis on the eastern bank of the Nile:
whither, accordinglv, Abinielech returns at the close of the conference.
Gen. xxi. 22 — 34.
Isaac marries Rebekah — About this time, African Ethiopia or Cusha-
(iwip without is planted by a colony of the Siiepherd-kings from Egypt.
These colonists are the blameless Ethiopians of Homer : and, from the
circumstance of the hero-gods being said to visit them, we may infer,
that tliey were chiefly of the sacerdotal caste ; who, wearied with the
turbulent scenes exhibited in lower Egypt, retired into the Thebais and
thence into Abyssinia.
Jacob and Esau born.
Abraiiam dies, 477 years after the death of Peleg.
.Facob flees to Haran, through fear of his brother Esau.
Expulsion of the first dynasty of the Shepherd-kings of Egypt by the
native Mizraim. They retire in Palestine after reigning in Egypt 200
years.
Jacob returns with his faViiily into the land of Canaan.
Joseph is sold into Egypt, tiien 17 years old and upwards. Gen.
xxxvii. 2.
Isaac dies-
Joseph stands before Pharaoh, than 30 years old and upwards. Gen.
xli. 46 — Commencement of the 7 years of plenty.
Commencement of the 7 years of famine.
Jacob and his family descend into Egypt, during the .second year of
famine, wlieu as yet 5 full years remain to be completed. Gen. xlv. 6—
They aic placed in Goshen or Auaris, now standing vacant by the expul-
sion of the Shepherd-kings.
The last year of famine.
Jacob dies, having resided 17 years in Egj'pt, at the age of 147 years.
Gm. xlvii. 28.
Joseph dies, at tiie age of 1 10 years. Gen. 1. 22.
'the Sheplicrd-kings )-eturn from Palestine into Egypt, and found a
sec(ind pasloral dynasty — 'i'he new king or regal sovereignty rises up,
tliat knew n'>t Josepli; wiien ;ill the brethren of that ))atriaith, and all
llie nit'ii of iiis generation were dead. Ivxod. i. (i, B — 'i'lie servitude of
Israel and (according to Herodotus and Manetho) of the native Mizraim
commences, in the course of which the pyramids are built — The king of
the mitive Mizraim, with the priests, the sacred animals, and a consider-
able body of his subjects, takes refuge among the fiiendly Cuthic Shep-
herds of African iMhiopia.
Ainrani marries Jocliebed.
.Nliiiam Ixirii.
Aaron born, pri-vious Jo the (^dict relative to tiie destruction of the
I'-iaelitisii male children.
I'linraoh decrees, that all tlie new-born male children of the Isratlifes
shall be cast into liie river.
.\Iost8 born, exposed in an ark, watched by liis sister then a young
woman, and preserved by i'haraoh's daughter.
APPENDIX.
673
4. P. D.
1407
1447
1448
1487
1525
153G
1938
A. A.C.
1531
1491
2054
2108
1490
1451
1413
140i
1000
884
8.30
Pag.
EVENTS.
Moses flees into the land of Midian.
Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh ; the one bein^; then 80, and the
other 83, years of a£;e. Exod. vii. 7 — Plagues of Egypt — Exodus of
Israel — Pharaoh and the flower of his pastoral cliivah'y are drowned in
the Red sea — Tiie final expulsion of the Shepherds by the native Miz-
raim commences, at the close of 5 1 1 years from their original invasion
of Egypt : their first dynasty having reigned 2'iO years ; their second
dynasty, according to Herodotus and Eusebius verified by Scripture,
having reigned lOti years ; and a period of 145 years having elapsed be-
tween their first expulsion and their return, during the greatest part of
which the captive or leprous or Israelitish Shepherds occupy the land of
Goshen or Auaris — A large body of the Shepherd-kings march back
into the southern parts of die land of Canaan : where, joining their
brethren the Anakim and other tribes of the Indo-Scythic stock, they
push northward along the sea-coast ; and, under the name of Phi/isti/u
or Patistim or Shepherds, are for many years formidable to the com-
monwealth of Israel — During the next 89 years, the pastoral kings are
gradually expelled by the Mizraim ; first one tribe being driven out, and
then another. They retire to Phenicia, Greece, Colchis, the mouths of
the river Tanais, Mauritania, and the northern sea-coast of Africa.
The Israelites are terrified by the report of the spies, who give a for-
midable account of the gigantic stature of the Cuthic Anakim now
rendered yet more powerful by the accession of the Shepherds or Phi-
listini from Egypt.
The Israelites euter the land of Canaan, 40 years after the Exodus.
Cushan-Rishathaim, king of the Mesopotamian Aram and a potent vas-
sal of the great Iranian empire, reduces Israel to subjection; in pur-
suance of the policy, which had been adopted so early as the days of
Cliedorlaomer.
The expulsion of the Shepherd-kings from Egypt is completed by the
retiring of the Danai into Greece, who bring with them the worship of
the ship Argo or Argha.
Solomon extends his dominions from the frontiers of Egypt to the great
river Euphrates, agreeably to the promise of God made to Abraham.
Gen. XV. 18. 1 Kings iv. 1 Kings iv. 21 — This was effected, in the
course of divine providence, by the gradual decay of the Cutliico-
Assyrian empire of Iran now hastening to its dissolution. The Euphrates
therefore, at the present period, was the boundary of the two empires of
Israel and Iran.
About this time, Hazael becomes king of the maritime Aram, having
been previously anointed to the office by Elijah during the life-time of
his ma.tter and predecessor Benhadad. 1 Kings xix. 15. This action of
the prophet shews, that Aram was now an independent kingdom, its
sovereign no longer receiving his investiture from the head ot the de-
clining empire of Aram.
Dissolution of the Culhico-Assyrian empire 1495 years after its com-
mencement at Babel — Rise of the Assyrian kingdom ; and commence-
Idol, VOL. III. 4 Q
674
ArPENDIX.
A. P. D.
A. A.C.
2111
827
2112
826
2117
821
2127
811
2191
747
2212
72G
2227
711
2228
710
23G8
570
EVENTS. ,
ment of the third Assyrian dynasty with the third Ninus, whom Justin
has confounded with the second Ninus.
First Median revolt, and commencement of the anarcliical interregnum.
Admonitory denunciation of Jonah to the revolutionized Ninevites
under the third Ninus, shortly after tlie dissolution of the Cuthico- Assy-
rian empire.
Commencement of the independent kingdom of Media under the dynasty
of the Arbacidae, which led the way to the general revolt.
Commencement of the independent kingdom of Persia under the Pish-
dadian dynasty, on the extinction of the great Mahabadiau or Cuthico-
Assyriau dynasty which had previously ruled over all Iran. This perhaps
ought to be placed a few years higher, yet so as to succeed the Median
revolt in A. A. C. 827-
Era of Nabonassar — Division of the Assyrian kingdom into the two
kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon, the latter however apparently depen-
dent upon the former.
Accession of Shalmaneser — About this time, Media, either wholly or
partially, is reduced under the Assyrian yoke : for, almost immediately
afterwards, A. A. C. 721 or 7 19, Shalmaneser places the captive Israel-
ites in the cities of the Medes, as if to supply the depopulation or emi-
gration produced by his conquest of die country. 2 Kings xvii. 9.
Sennacherib's miraculous overthrow, and subsequent assassination.
Accession of Esar-Haddou — Second Median revolt, which is the natural
consequence of Sennacherib's disaster.
Nebuchadnezzar becomes the second founder of Babylon.
APPENDIX,
675
TABLE VI.
Texts of Scripture cited or illustrated in the Course of this Work.
GENESIS
Voi
i 1.
i. y, 10 I.
i. «6 I.
ii. 16 I.
ii. 23,24 II[.
iii. 17, 18, 19 II.
iii. 21 I.
iii. 22 1.
iii. '24 III.
iv.7 I.
V. 29 II.
vi. 2, 4 II.
^'•^ {Ii.
vi. 16 III.
'"•11,13 |J};
'"■12 {Iii.
vii. 17—20 II.
viii. 10, 12 I.
viii. 14 II.
viii. 20,21,22 1.
ix.1,7 I.
ix. 3 I.
ix. 18,22 I.
ix. 20—27 I.
ix. 25 HI.
ix. 25— 27 III.
X. 2 III.
x.5,20,31 III.
x.6 I.
X. 8, 9,10 III.
X. 8— 12 III.
X. 10 -'ill.
^III.
X. 10, 11,12 j{}[-
^IH.
X. 14 Mil.
(ill.
155
Page
152-
282
109
471
72
16
470
109
294
485
129
15
219
18
292
242
243
86
129
255
236
243
469
70
471
96
89—99
457
457,458
449
369
97
240
362
75
407
424
418
478
456
523
566
Vol.
X. 15, 18 III.
X. 25 III.
X.25— 30 HI.
X. 30 II.
xi.l III.
Mil.
xi.l— 9
.wii. 6 III. 449
xvii. 10, 11, 16 III. 197
•• ^. JU- ••53
•^"'•24 \ui. 438
xviii. 33, 34, 35 II. 496
.xix. 37 I- 310,312
xxi. 3 111. 197
xxiii. 4—7, 13—14 .. III. 75
xxiii.4— 15 III. 197
... .„ ni. 502
"'""• '2 I III. 207
xxiv. 2 III. 434
XXV. 4, 10,26 HI. 434
1 CHRONICLES
V.9
338
678
APPENDIX.
2 CHRONICLES
Vol. Page
i. 13 I. 294
viii. 17, 18 III. 453
i,\. 10 III. 453
xf. 15 I. 437
xii. 1— 9 I. 87
fl. 8S
^"••^ I III. 57S
xxix. 23 I. 479
XXX. 17 III. 434
xxxii. 13, 14 II. 497
EZRA
V. 12 III. 434
vi. 2 III. 449
vii. 12 III. 432
ESTHER
i. 19 III. 449
JOB
1. 5, 15 II. 185
i. 17 III. 434
CHI. 024
'•^' illl. (J44
»xii. 15, 19 H- 185
xxxi. 26, 27, 28 II. 185
PSALMS
xviii. 2, 31, 4(j III. ri20
xviii. 4, Ui III. f)47
xxviii. 1 III. (i20
xxix. 10 III. 647
xxxi. S III. G20
xxxii. a III. 047
xxxix.3 — 10 in. Ol 1.
xl. 2 111. 047
xlii. 7 111.017
xlli. 9 III. 02U
jdvi. 2,9 111. 647
Vol. Page
liii III. 604
Iv. 1—11, 15, 20, 21.. in. 0()4
Ixix. 1,2, 15 III. 047
Ixxiv. 11 III. 6l8
Ixxiv. 20 111.273
Ixxviii. 37 HI. 620
xc. 4 I. 233
xciii. .■^, 4 III. 647
civ. 6 III. 647
• o JIL 174
<=^'-28 |ii. 251
cvi. 35— 38 II. 173
cxxiv.4, 5 111.647
cxliv. 7 HI- 647
PROVERBS
xviii. 8 III. 644
ISAIAH
i. 29 III.
ii. 10—21 III.
vi I.
vii. 14 II.
viii. 8 II.
viii. 7, 8 III.
viii, 14 III.
ix. 6, 7 II.
xi 4—9 II-
xi.6— 9 III.
xiii. 9 Ill-
xiii. 17 \^^-
xiv 1" ^"^-
(in;
xvii. 10 JH.
xxii. IH.
xxiii. 3 H-
xxiii. 13 IH.
xxiv. 13 IH.
xxiv. Iri, I!) HI.
xxvi. 4 IH.
xxvi. n— 19 IH-
488
231
198
448
100
100
647
620
100
10
647
434
449
349
202
274
(i23
620
4;59
248
434
196
017
020
OU
APPENDIX.
675
Vol. Page
xxvii. 1 III. 647
xxviii. 2 III. G47
xxxvi. 18— CO 11. 497
xxxvii. )3, 14 II. 497
xxxvii. 38 I. 310,31*!!
xli. 18, 19 III. 6 17
xlv. 5, G, 7 !• 1 J5
xlv. 6, 7 III. 98
xlvii. 10 I. 101
xlvii. 12, 14, 15 I. 78
xlviii. 1(J I. 108
ri.3 III. 647
Ivii. 3—10 III. 198
h-ii. 7, 8 III. 309
lix. 19 111. 647
Ixiii. 9 I. 108
Ixv. 3, 4, .5 III. 2S1
Ixv. U II, 322
Ixvi. 17 III. 231
JEREMIAH
n. 11 111,365
ii, 27 III. 29^1
vii. 18 II. 322
xiii. 4,5,7 I. 3S8
XV.3B III. 411
six. 5 I. 409
XXV. 26 II. 497
xxsii. 35 I. 409
xxxix. 8 III. 434
xliv. 1 III. 456
xliv. 15— 19 II- 322
xlvi. 7,8 III. 647
xlvi. 8, 9 III. 457
xlvi. 10 I. 333
xlvi. 16 III. 411
xlvii. 2 111. 647
, .. ^ f ni- 456
^^""•'^ 1111.566
1.3 I. 311
1. 16 III. 411
li. 7, 17, 18 I. 7B, 101
U. 19 1. 7a
Vol. Page
li. 11 III. 419
11.27 I. 311
''•^' in. 497
11.42 n. 104
ii. 57 III. 496
li. 63,64 I. 338
lii. 8 III. 4i4
LAMENTATIONS
iii. 54 III. 647
EZEKIEL
i I, 448
i, 5, 10 I. 421
i. 28 III. 634
viii. 7—12 I, 208
viii. 8—12 Ill, 259
^'"•^^ {n. 4n
viii. 14 II. 257
X I. 448
X. 14 I. 421
X. 20 III. ()05
XX. 17 I. 437
XXV. 19— 21 III. 607
xxvi. 20 III. 647
- ,r, ,-, ^^- 350
xxvin. 12-17 J III. 606
xxviii. 13 III. 633
xxviii. 13, 14 III. 202
xxvm. 13-16 I III. 647
xxix, 2—16 I. 99
XXX. 4, 5 III. 457
xxxi. 16 III. 647
xxxviii. 2, 15 111.448
xxxviii. 6 111.447
xlvii. 1—12 111.638
680
APPENDIX.
DANIEL
Vol. Page
ii II. 32
ii. 2 111.434
ji. 45 111.620
ii. 48 III. 496
iii II. 32, 33
iii. 2 III. 490
iii. 23 III. 611
iv. 7 111.434
iv. 20 IIl.SSO
iv. 30 111.2+0
V. 7, 11 III. 434
V. 2S III. 449
viii. 2 III. 4.52
vjii. 20 III. 449
ix. 1 III. 434, 449
X. 4 I. 301
xi. I III. 449
HOSEA
iii.4 111.621
viii. 3—6 I- 436
X.5— 8 I. 437
(I. 108
x"-=^5 )III.6iO
xiii. 2 I. 436
AMOS
V. 8 ni. 647
V.25 111.637
ni. 8.>, 491
"•-^ liir.637
ix. .3,5,6 111.647
ix.7 m.439,567
JONAH
i 2 III. .393
ii.2-6 111.646
ili.6 III-W
iii.8 Ill-ay^
NAHUM
Vol Pa'r-
i. 8 III. 647
ZEPHANIAH
iii. 1 III. 411
ZECHARIAH
ii. 8— 11 I. 108
xiv. 4 III. 206
MALACHI
^ I. 108
I III. 609
iv. 2 III. 618
ii. 8—11
MATTHEW
i. 18—25 111,659
ii II. 99
xi. 21 11. 173
xix. 4,5,6 III. 72
.\x. 22,23 III. 657
xxi.42, 44 III. 620
xxiv. 3 III. '206
xxxiv. 37—39 HI- 633
MARK
vii.7 I- 4f!3
X. 6,7,8 in. 72
x. 38,39 111.657
APPENDIX.
eai
LUKE
Vol. Pigc
i. 46—38 III. fi59
xii. 50 III. t)57
xvii. 26—30 IF. 172
XX. 35, 36 III. 644
xxiv.31 111.611
JOHN
'•^-•* nil. 6oy
ix. 2 III. 301
ACTS
i. 12 III. 206
\ii. 43 11. 85
xiii. 33 HI. 643
svi. 16, 17, 18 I. 7
ROMANS
• « .,« il- 54, 101
'•21-28 -J HI. (55, 73
vi. 2— 11 111.645,647
»iii. 10— 13 III. 657
1 CORINTHIANS
i. 21 I. 54, 100
vi. 16 III. 72
,.10 HI- 6G0
X. 21 II. 322
XV. 47—49 III. 633
EPHESIANS
Vol. Poge
ii. 12 I. 54
iii. 12 III. 65
V. 14 111.657
V.31 III. 72
COLOSSIANS
i. 18 IIT.64.'?, 6.57
ii. 12 111.645,657
ii.8,9 III.659
iii.2 III. 657
1 TIMOTHY
i.4 111.659
iv. 1— 3 III. 329
HEBREWS
h. 1—12 HI. 638
is. 22 I. 484
X. 4 I. 488
xi. 4 I. 436
xi. 8— 11, 13, 17— 19,7 T 4„-
24,26,28,39,40 5^' ^°'
xi. 19 I. 489
xii. 1,2 I. 487
xii. 16 III. 640
1 PETER
i.3,4 Ill- fi45
ii.24 HI. 657
iii. 20, 21 III. 181,632
Pag. Idol.
VOL. III.
4R
6m
APPENDIX.
2 PETER
II. 5
iii. 8
Vol. Page
I. 271
I. 233
REVELATION
i— xxii III. 64 1— fi43
iv III. 339
iv.3, 6— 9 III. 634
V. 8, 9jlO 111.634
r<.(. Pngt
vii. 15 III. 635
xi. 19 III. 634,639
xii Ifl. 641
XV. 5—8 III. 639
xvii. 1 III. 292
xvii. 1—5 III. 641
xvii. 5 I. 77
xviii. 17—19 Ill- 292
xix. 20 HI. 641
fl. 351
"'" tin. 639
xxi. 3 III. 639
x.\ii I. 351
vxii. 1—3 III. 647
xxii. 2 III. 639
1
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