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Juno

That is, Heaven and the Earth: their sons were Titan and Saturn, who was also called Chronos. Rhea or Cybele was the wife of Saturn. Vesta, the second, was the daughter of Saturn. A multiplicity of Jupiters, for almost every nation had a Jupiter of its own. was the wife of Jupiter; they were the son and daughter of Saturn and Hebe. Mars and Vulcan were the children of Juno. Ceres was the daughter of Saturn and Cybele. Proserpine was her daughter, and Pluto her brother. The next in order were Apollo, the Muses, Diana, Bacchus, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Vulcan, and Mercury. Of the sea divinities, Neptune and Amphitrite, the Tritons, the Sirens, Proteus, &c. Passing several of minor importance, I shall conclude with the following: Pan, Pluto, Charon, and Cerberus. In explaining the history of these, such as are here omitted, will be necessarily brought forward in their proper places.

The Theogony of the Egyptians,

Is differently arranged by different writers, and this is no more than might naturally be expected with regard to a system which had its rise in error, and was destitute of any settled principles, which might give it uniformity, permanency and consistency; so that what was deemed the regular order of descent, of these imaginary personages, varied at distant periods. The most generally approved arrangement of the divinities of Egypt is the following; but it is evidently one of the lower period of Egyptian idolatry.

There is not the least doubt that the descendants of Ham, long after their settlement in Egypt, continued to worship the true God; nay, it is asserted by writers of high authority, that the people of Egypt refused to contribute to the expences of an idolatrous worship, saying that they owned but one God. This God they called Cneph. Their ideas of God may be gathered from the symbols by which they expressed him in the earliest

ages. The most ancient symbol of the deity was a figure that declared him to be one and eternal: this symbol was the circle, which having neither beginning nor ending was at once the most expressive and the most simple and innocent device that could have been thought of. We find that the priests of that day were careful to remind the people that this eternal being was the author of every good which they enjoyed; and the emblem of the eternal first cause was always united with the other signs that had reference either to their civil or religious occupations.

To the circle they in time added leaves and fruits, to intimate that the blessings of the earth primarily emanated from this supreme and beneficent source. Life and health were by the earliest Egyptians expressed by a small serpent: they therefore added one, and sometimes two serpents to the circle, thereby intimating that God is the author and sustainer of life in all its varied forms, expressing as well as an emblem could express it, the language of the apostle, "In him we live and move and have our being." A sentiment expressed also by the Greek poets, as the apostle candidly acknowledges. This emblem has its finishing stroke in the figure named Agathodæmon, or the good spirit, which consisted of the circle, two serpents, and a pair of large wings fully expanded, denoting the swiftness of the supreme Being, or by the nearest approach that a mere figure could make to such an idea, it seemed intended to acknowledge his omnipresence.

The placing of a symbol, or an idea of God, so beautifully and so accurately descriptive of the attributes of the divine being as this, after a personification of deity that obviously belonged to a period and to a system of idolatry; refers us for the origin of such arrangement to an age in which the primary intention of these symbols was lost, and both priests and people were immersed in' gross ignorance and darkness; or in which the former from interested motives were practising a system of deceit and falsehood. Such was the state of things in

Egypt, when the Greek sages visited that country in order to obtain some clearer ideas and juster notions of the nature of the Gods they were taught to worship.

To this period belongs the following classification of: the Egyptian Deities.

The Egyptian Theogony, or descent of the Gods.

Phthah, Agathodæmon, Neith, Re, or Phre. Rhea. Ioh. Apopis, Cronus, or Saturn. Thoth, Osiris, and Isis. The children of Osiris and Isis, viz. Horus and Bubastis; and Buto, the ideal nurse of these nonentities.

To these, which seem to be the chief, above forty others might be added, several of which will come under notice as we proceed in this investigation.

Without bewildering ourselves in the mazes of Grecian learning, with respect to the genealogical order of the Egyptian deities, let us take common sense for our guide in making use of a few facts that are well attested, and within our reach. In doing this I believe we shall discover that the genealogical order of these pretended deities is precisely the order in which the public representations succeeded each other; or, as was the case at a later period, according to the place which these signs held in the estimation of the people. To this mode of investigation I am naturally led when I consider that the deities of the Egyptian were primarily no other than the personifications of the signs or emblems used in the periodical representations. Thus while the Egyptians confined their attention to agriculture alone, those signs by which agriculture was regulated were naturally esteemed of the first importance; indeed they were for some time the only ones. Among these Thaut or Thoth, the dog, was the chief in order of priority, as well as of importance; though in the above list he is placed many

degrees below Phthah, in the scale of genealogical precedence. That Thoth once stood first on the list is obvious, from the first month of the Egyptian year being named after him; as well as for the reasons which I have here assigned.

For a long time her redundant harvests were the source of wealth to Egypt, but by degrees the people turned their attention to other articles of trade, besides that of corn; and they succeeded admirably in manufacturing the articles of thread and linen, so that the fine linen of Egypt was in great request among the neighbouring countries. The scriptures more than once allude to the fine linen and the thread of Egypt. The olive was also cultivated with great success by this people. At the same time the people of Tyre and Sidon, cities of Phoenicia, had brought various manufactures to very great perfection. These they exchanged with the Egyptians for their surplus corn, by trading in which the inhabitants of those maritime cities greatly enriched themselves. The prophet alludes to this when he says of Tyre," the harvest of the river was thy revenue;" a more expressive term could not have been used to desig nate the harvests of Egypt.

The extension of trade and manufactures occasioned the establishment of fairs at stated periods; to these the people of other countries resorted for the purpose of selling the produce or the manufactures of their respective countries, or exchanging them for such articles of use, of ornament, or of luxury, as were exhibited in these fairs, and were not to be obtained at home. As many articles of hardware for domestic use and for the use of the husbandman, together with working tools for the mechanic, and trinkets and ornaments of female requisition, constituted a large portion of the wares publicly exposed on these occasions, for this annual assembly, the attractive nature of many of the splendid manufactures exhibited, as well as for the real utility of others, occupied a pre-eminent place in the esteem of the people; and now though Theth, the regulator of husbandry, was still at

tended to, he was attended to from necessity, while the sign that announced the arrival of this fair, was anticipated with eagerness, and hailed with tokens of pleasure. This fair was published by exhibiting a Horus, in the character of a smith-that is, carrying in his hands a hammer and pincers, or other insignia of the smith's craft. Horus is now a very different character to what he was when with his hawk's or dog's head and nilometer in his hand, he indicated the commencement of the inundation, and the necessity of measuring its progressive increase. His name is also now changed as well as his office, and he is now known by the following epithets, viz. Vulcan, Mulciber, Ephaistos, Acmon, and Phthah, respecting which last name an Egyptian priest asserted that it is synonimous with Vulcan."

These names are not mere arbitrary sounds, but epithets that are very significant: but their meaning is not to be sought for in Greek authors nor Greek lexicons, nor at all in the Greek; but in the Hebrew language. But we must first divest these names of their Grecian disguise.

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These names sufficiently identify Vulcan with the Horus of the Egyptians, who has been also plainly iden tified with their great god Phthah: and the fascinating personage who in time, so completely threw into the back ground their dog-god, Thoth; thus affording an ancient illustration of the modern proverb" every dog has his day."

We are now prepared to enter into an examination of one of the Grecian theological legends, having sufficiently proved its Egyptian genealogy. The Grecian history of

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