A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology Volume I Part 9

It is said, that Danaus was a native of the city Chemmis; from whence he made his expedition to Greece. ?a?a?? ?e?t??. Herodotus. l. 2. c. 91.

Navem primus ex aegypto Danaus advexit. Pliny. l. 7. c. 56. He brought a colony with him. ?e???s? de t??? pe?? ?a?a?? ????e?ta? ????? e?e??e?, scil. e? ????pt??. Diodorus. l. 1. p. 24.

All the heads of the Dorian race from Egypt. Fa????at? a? e??te? ?? t??

????e?? ??e??e? ????pt??? ??a?e?ee?. Herodotus. l. 6. c. 53.

The Lacedaemonians esteemed themselves of the same family as the Caphtorim of Palestine: hence they surmised, that they were related to the Jews, 1 Maccabees, c. 12. v. 20, 21. Josephus: A. J. l. 12. c. 4. p. 606. Perseus was supposed to have been a foreigner. ?? de ? ?e?se?? ????? ?e?eta?, a?t??

? ?e?se?? e?? ?ss????? e?e?et? ?????. Herodotus. l. 6. c. 54.

It is said of Cadmus, that he came originally from Egypt, in company with Phnix. ?ad?? ?a? F????? ap? T??? t?? ????pt???. Euseb. Chron. p. 15.

Eusebius in another place mentions the arrival of Cadmus with a company of Satae. They founded Athens, the princ.i.p.al city of Greece: also Thebes in Botia. They were of Egypt; but he says, that they came last from Sidon. It is in a pa.s.sage, where he speaks of a former race in Attica before those of Egypt called Satae: ???? t?? et????sa?t?? ?ste??? e?e? Sa?t??, ?a?

?at????sa?t?? t?? t?? ???ad?? ?t??p???? ????a?, ?a? ta? T?a?. S?d?????

?a? ??t?? ap????? e? ?ad?? t?? ????????. Chron. p. 14. The antient Athenians wors.h.i.+pped Isis: and were in their looks, and in their manners particularly like the Egyptians. ?a? ta?? ?dea??, ?a? t??? ??es??

????tat??? e??a? t??? ????pt????. The whole of their polity was plainly borrowed from that country. Diod. Sic. l. 1: p. 24, 25, 26.

It is said by Sanchoniathon, that Cronus, in his travels over the earth in company with his daughter Athena, came to Attica; which he bestowed upon her. Euseb. P. E. lib. 1. c. 10. p. 38.

This is not unlike the account given by the Scholiast upon Lycophron concerning Cecrops: from whence the legend may receive some light. ?????

a?' (? ?e????) ap? Sae?? p??e?? ????pt?? ta? ????a? s?????se. Sa?? de ?at'

????pt???? ? ????a ?e?eta?, ?? f?s?? ?a?a?. Lycoph. v. 111. Schol.

Hence it is, that almost the whole of the mythology of Greece is borrowed from Egypt. ?a????? de, f?s?, t??? ?????a? e??d?ases?a? t??? ep?fa?estat???

????pt??? ???a? te, ?a? Te???. Diodorus. l. 1. p. 20. All their rites and ceremonies were from the same quarter.

?a??????a? de a?a, ?a? p?pa?, ?a? p??sa???a? p??t?? a????p?? ????pt???

e?s??, ?? p???sae???, ?a? pa?a t??t?? ?????e? ea???as?. Herod. l. 3. c.

58.

?pe?ta ?????? p????? d?e????t??, ep????t? (?? ?????e?) e? t?? ????pt??

ap???e?a ta ????ata t?? Te??. Herod. l. 2. c. 52. See also l. 2. c. 4.

?a? pa?ta ta ????ata t?? Te?? e? ????pt?? e?????e e? t?? ???ada. Herod. l.

2. c. 50. Hence it is said that the Corybantes, with their mother Comba, came and settled at Athens: ???? ?ptat???? eta ?te???. Nonni Dionys. l.

13. And that the priests at Athens, styled Eumolpidae, were from Egypt.

Diodorus Siculus. l. 1. p. 25. One of the Egyptians, who brought these rites to Greece, is mentioned under the name of Melampus: as the Egyptians are, in general, under the character of Melampodes. ????s? ?a? d? ?e?ap???

est??, ? e????sae??? t?? ?????s?? ???a, ?a? t?? T?s?a?, ?a? t?? p?p??

t?? fa????. Herod. l. 2. c. 49. He is likewise said to have first introduced physic: by which this only is meant, that physic too came from Egypt.

To the same purpose may be consulted Lucian de Suria Dea. ???t?? ??

a????p?? ????pt??? ?t?. Eusebius. P. Evan. lib. 10. c. 4. p. 469. and c. 5.

p. 473. Clemens Alexand. l. 1. p. 361, 381. Diodorus Siculus. l. 1. p. 20.

p. 62, 63. and p. 86, 87. Tatia.n.u.s a.s.syrius. p. 243, 274. Thucydides. l. 1.

c. 2, 3.

A

NEW SYSTEM

OR AN

a.n.a.lYSIS

OF

ANTIENT MYTHOLOGY.

OF

ANTIENT WORs.h.i.+P,

AND OF

ETYMOLOGICAL TRUTHS

THENCE DEDUCIBLE:

EXEMPLIFIED IN THE NAMES OF CITIES, LAKES, AND RIVERS.

?st? p?? ?a? p?ta??? t??, ? ?at' ?fe?e?a?, ?spe? ????pt???? p??? t??

?e????, ? ?ata ?a????, ?? Tetta???? p??? ???e???, ? ?ata e?e???, ??

S???a?? p??? t?? ?st???, ? ?ata ????, ?? ??t????? p??? t??

??e????.----MAX. TYRIUS. Dissert. viii. p. 81.

As the divine honours paid to the Sun, and the adoration of fire, were at one time almost universal, there will be found in most places a similitude in the terms of wors.h.i.+p. And though this mode of idolatry took its rise in one particular part of the world, yet, as it was propagated to others far remote, the stream, however widely diffused, will still savour of the fountain. Moreover, as people were determined in the choice of their holy places by those preternatural phaenomena, of which I have before taken notice; if there be any truth in my system, there will be uniformly found some a.n.a.logy between the name of the temple, and its rites and situation: so that the etymology may be ascertained by the history of the place. The like will appear in respect to rivers and mountains; especially to those which were esteemed at all sacred, and which were denominated from the Sun and fire. I therefore flatter myself that the etymologies which I shall lay before the reader will not stand single and unsupported; but there will be an apparent a.n.a.logy throughout the whole. The allusion will not be casual and remote, nor be obtained by undue inflexions and distortions: but, however complicated the name may appear, it will resolve itself easily into the original terms; and, when resolved, the truth of the etymology will be ascertained by the concomitant history. If it be a Deity, or other personage, the truth will appear from his office and department; or with the attributes imputed to him. To begin, then, with antient Latium. If I should have occasion to speak of the G.o.ddess Feronia, and of the city denominated from her, I should deduce the from Fer-On, ignis Dei Solis; and suppose the place to have been addicted to the wors.h.i.+p of the Sun, and the rites of fire. I accordingly find, from Strabo and Pliny, that rites of this sort were practised here: and one custom, which remained even to the time of Augustus, consisted in a ceremony of the priests, who used to walk barefoot over burning coals: [569]G????? ?a? p?s? d?e??as?? a???a??a?, ?a?

sp?d?a? e?a???. _The priests, with their feet naked, walked over a large quant.i.ty of live coals and cinders_. The town stood at the bottom of Mount Soracte, sacred to Apollo; and the priests were styled Hirpi. Aruns, in Virgil, in his address to Apollo, takes notice of this custom:

[570]Summe Deum, magni custos Soractis, Apollo, Quem primi colimus; cui pineus ardor acervo Pascitur, et medium freti pietate per ignem Cultores multa premimus vestigia pruna; Da, Pater.

The temple is said to have been founded on account of a pestilential [571]vapour, which arose from a cavern; and to which some shepherds were conducted by (?????) a wolf. Were I to attempt the decyphering of Ferentum, I should proceed in a manner a.n.a.logous to that above. I should suppose it to have been named _Fer-En, ignis, vel Solis fons_, from something peculiar either in its rites or situation. I accordingly find, that there was a sacred fountain, whose waters were styled Aquae Ferentinae,--cui numen etiam, et divinus cultus tributus [572]fuit. Here was a grove, equally sacred, mentioned by [573] Livy, and others; where the antient Latines used to hold their chief a.s.semblies. As this grand meeting used to be in a place denominated from fire, it was the cause of those councils being called Feriae Latinae. The fountain, which ran through the grove, arose at the foot of mount [574]Alba.n.u.s, and afterwards formed many [575]pools.

The antient Cuthites, and the Persians after them, had a great veneration for fountains and streams; which also prevailed among other nations, so as to have been at one time almost universal. Of this regard among the Persians Herodotus takes notice: [576]Se??ta? p?ta??? t?? pa?t?? a??sta: _Of all things in nature they reverence rivers most_. But if these rivers were attended with any nitrous or saline quality, or with any fiery eruption, they were adjudged to be still more sacred, and ever distinguished with some t.i.tle of the Deity. The natives of Egypt had the like veneration. _Other nations_, says [577]Athanasius, _reverenced rivers and fountains; but, above all people in the world, the Egyptians held them in the highest honour, and esteemed them as divine._ Julius Firmicus gives the same account of them. [578]aegyptii aquae beneficium percipientes aquam colunt, aquis supplicant. From hence the custom pa.s.sed westward to Greece, Italy, and the extremities of Europe. In proof of which the following inscription is to be found in Gruter:

[579]Vascaniae in Hispania FONTI DIVINO.

How much it prevailed among the Romans we learn from Seneca. [580]Magnorum fluviorum capita veneramur--coluntur aquarum calentium fontes; et quaedam stagna, quae vel opacitas, vel immensa alt.i.tudo sacravit. It mattered not what the nature of the water might be, if it had a peculiar quality. At Thebes, in Ammonia, was a fountain, which was said to have been cold by day, and warm at night. ? ????? [581]?a?e?ta? t?? ?????. _It was named the fountain of the Sun._ In Campania was a fountain Virena; which I should judge to be a compound of Vir-En, and to signify ignis fons, from being dedicated to the Deity of fire, on account of some particular quality. I accordingly find in [582]Vitruvius, that it was a medicinal spring, and of a strong vitriolic nature. The Corinthians had in their Acropolis a [583]Pirene, of the same purport as Virena, just mentioned. It was a beautiful fountain sacred to Apollo, whose [584]image was at the head of the water within a sacred inclosure.

We read of a Pyrene, which was a fountain of another nature; yet of the same etymology, however differently expressed. It was a mountain, and gave name to the vast ridge called Saltus Pyrenaei. It is undoubtedly a compound of [585]Pur-ain, and signifies a fountain of fire. I should imagine, without knowing the history of the country, that this mountain once flamed; and that the name was given from this circ.u.mstance. Agreeably to this, I find, from Aristotle de Mirabilibus, that here was formerly an eruption of fire. The same is mentioned by Posidonius in Strabo; and also by Diodorus, who adds, [586]?a e? ??? d?a t? s?e???? ??????a? ?????a?a. _That the mountains from hence had the name of Pyrenaei._ Mount aetna is derived very truly by Bochart from Aituna, fornax; as being a reservoir of molten matter. There was another very antient name, Inessus; by which the natives called the hill, as well as the city, which was towards the bottom of it.

The name is a compound of Ain-Es, like Hanes in Egypt; and signifies a fountain of fire. It is called Ennesia by Diodorus, who says that this name was afterwards changed to aetna. He speaks of the city; but the name was undoubtedly borrowed from the mountain, to which it was primarily applicable, and upon which it was originally conferred: [587]?a? t?? ???

??sa? ??t??? e?t?sa?t?, p?? t??t?? ?a???e??? ????s?a?. Strabo expresses the name Innesa, and informs us, more precisely, that the upper part of the mountain was so called, ?? de [588]??t?a??? pa?a????sa?te? t?? ????sa?

?a???e???, t?? ??t??? ??e????, ???sa?. _Upon this, the people, withdrawing themselves, went and occupied the upper part of Mount aetna, which was called Innesa._ The city Hanes, in Egypt, was of the same etymology; being denominated from the Sun, who was styled Hanes. Ain-Es, fons ignis sive lucis. It was the same as the Arab Heliopolis, called now Mataiea.

Stephanas Byzantinus calls the city Inys: for that is manifestly the name he gives it, if we take away the Greek termination, [589]???ss??, p????