that is, 1. before the flood; 2. in the Ark, during its continuance; and 3. in the postdiluvian world; the first-born, the father and the son of gods, glowing with fire, twice born, the haunter of mountains, Eros, the god of love. On this last point, however, it may be further observed, that the Hindoos have a dirge commemorative of the death of the Indian Cupid, - Eros, the Menû, previously to his enclosure in an ark, and being set afloat on the ocean.' They fell, indeed, into the Egyptian error, of making death precede his entombment in the Ark, which was therefore converted into a coffin; a deviation from truth, which arose naturally enough from the practice of resorting for interment to those cairns, or other monuments, which combined in themselves the sanctuary and the sacred Mount. Enough, too, has been alleged to show, that the Pythian priestess in Eschylus, although she may seem to throw off her allegiance to the sun, is in fact only reverting to the original religio loci, when she enumerates as the special objects of her worship, the nymphs of the Corycian cave, the asylum of the deified men, and Bacchus, who presided 1 As. Res. iii. 137. In a fragment attributed by Plutarch to Euripides, and by Stobæus to Sophocles, the same deity is said to be called Venus and Bacchus, besides other things equally dissimilar in the popular sense, but equally explicable by referring to first principles. Οὐ Κύπρις μόνην, ̓Αλλ ̓ ἔστι πολλῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπώνυμος, Ἔστιν δὲ Λυσσαμαινὰς (which may be derived from Heraclitus was of opinion, that Pluto and Dionusus were the same; and Plutarch says, that his name in Egypt was Serapis, which is the same as Osiris, or, as some explain it, the Soros of Apis the Bull. — De Is. et Osir. Op. Phor. iv. 483. over the place, and the neighbouring fountains, and the god of the ocean: for the Corycian cave contained a river, and it was in a mountain near the sea, and we are assured that it was considered truly sacred, and deemed a fit habitation for the gods.2 Bromius, like Dionusus, comes from India, which coincides with the story of his conquests there; it is derived from Bramha, or Brumha and so is Bacchus from Baghavat, the preserving power. As. Res. iii. 118. 2 Totus autem augustus et vere sacer, habitarique a diis et dignus et creditur. Pomponius Mela de Situ Orbis, c. 13. Æschylus makes a distinction, which is not here observed: it was the abode, not of the gods, but of dæmons, or deified men. GERASTE. - РНЕАСІА. -TREASURY OF ATREUS. SUN AND MOON WERE SO CALLED. FIRE AND WATER EQUALLY EMBLEMS OF PURIFICATION AND OF DESTRUCTION. Ir now only remains to show, that the same explanation, which serves to account for the names of Pan and Bacchus being applied to Apollo, will be of equal use in elucidating the origin of his other title, the Grynian Titan. Virgil calls him Grynæan too'; and therefore in that obscure passage of Lycophron, where it is a question whether he wrote Grenos or Grynos, the latter is most probable: the poet alludes to an ancient strife and victory of the fireworshippers. Now certainly the first of these terms will admit of a very consistent interpretation for Geranos was the name of a circular dance already noticed, similar to that which for a long time continued to be used in the Celtic islands of the West. A recent authoress has described 1 Eclog. vi. 72. 2 Γρηνός, οι γρυνὸς ἀρχαίαν ἔριν. — Lyc. Cassand. 1362. ἀρχαίαν may also mean Arkite; for Arca is certainly derived from apxǹ ; and so is Αρκας. * Miss Beaufort's Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland, p. 8. the ceremony, which she herself witnessed. When the cattle were driven through the blazing fire, the young people followed, and each seizing a lighted brand, they formed a sort of irregular winding dance, waving the flaming torches over their heads, and shouting in a sort of rude chorus. In the same way, no doubt, the young women of Delos danced round the altar of their god after the annual sacrifice for every year, a ship was sent for that purpose to the sacred island; and on her return she was greeted with loud acclamations, and during her voyage no one was allowed to be put to death; for it was a rite commemorative of preservation and deliverance.' Several circumstances mentioned by Virgil lead to the same conclusion. The first sacrifice offered by Æneas there was a bull to Neptune. It was his favourite sanctuary; and an oracle issued from a subterranean cell, which must have been constructed in the bosom of the mountain, for Cynthus trembled all around." island had been once in motion, which is another instance of the confusion which arises from blending together in one object the symbols of the Ark and the mountain, on which it rested. The sanctuary, which gave its whole value to the island, The 1 So much is acknowledged by the idle tale about the Minotaur, which only proves, that the cause was not historical, but purely mystic; and the real import of the fable has been already shown. Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus 2 3 Nereidum matri et Neptuno Ægeo. Æneid, iii. 73. Totusque moveri Mons circum et mugire adytis cortina reclusis. Ibid. 91. 4 So also the ship was called Theoris, which is eo opos, the mountain of God. was the symbol of the floating ark, which became fixed, when the person, afterwards worshipped as Apollo, was born by issuing from its womb. But the moon was born there first; which indicates the state of transition from Arkite to Solar rites; and Apollo's first exploit was the conquest of the diluvian Python, which was undoubtedly a struggle for divine honours, notwithstanding the pains which Plutarch takes to contradict the injurious report.' Hoffman observes that it appears to be double, or, in other words, to have two horns, one of which was called the island Rhenia, and by the natives Fermene: now Mene is obviously the Moon, and Fer may be derived from Baris, like the islands. Pharos and Pharis. Lastly, Delos was in the centre of the Cyclades, or circular islands, and consequently an exact image of Meru in the Ilavratta of the Hindoos. But although these considerations show that the Geranos, or circular dance, may have had some share in the ancient strife, to which the poet alludes, yet the passage in Plutarch points out the true reading; for it appears that the theologians of Delphi made no scruple of declaring, that the strife was in fact about the oracle, which, being a source of profit to the priests, was the bone of contention between the rival sects. In Greek Gruon, or Geruon, signifies something which 1 Περὶ τοῦ χρηστηρίου μάχην γενέσθαι.—Plut. de Defect. Orac. c.15. 2 Rhyn in Celtic is a hill. Lluyd's Archæol. Brittan.; and so the Rhenus, or Rhine, is spelt in the Dutch language. 3 Theophrastus, lib. iv. c. 4. 4 Cycladum media. Pliny, iv. 12. 3 Γρύνος from Γρυων, like κυνος from κυων. 6 Γηρύειν, φωνεῖν, λέγειν, Hesych. : the Dorians use Γαρύειν. |