tion, even admitting it to be one, only applies to a particular lunar myth;1 male horned solar gods are certainly unknown to Hellenik Aryan mythology. The Bull-horned god, when brought forth, is 'crowned with crowns of serpents,' which also often appear on Vases and elsewhere in the snakebound locks of the Bakchai.2 The wide field of Ophiolatry, or the 'worship of serpents devoid of wisdom,3 will be subsequently noticed ;* suffice it to observe here that two of the principal aspects of the Serpent in religious-mythology are (1) a deadly venomous beast, a creature hateful and hostile to man and to good divinities, such as the Vedic Ahi, the choking-snake; the Azidahâka, or biting snake of the Persians; and the Giant Apap, or great serpent of Egypt; and (2) a creature 1 As to Iô, whose story is of high antiquity since Homeros constantly calls Hermes Argeiphontes, it is to be observed that she was connected with the Outer-world generally, and with Kam in particular at a very early period. Her son Epaphos (cf. the Phoenician Pappa, Paphos, and the Egyptian Apepi or Apap, the Great Serpent. The Bull-horned god is serpent-crowned, Eur. Bak. 100) in mythic history is discovered by Io in Syria, becomes king of Egypt, and marries Memphis, daughter of Neilos (cf. Ais. Prom. Des.). It has been doubted whether Io and Dionysos appeared on the Hellenik stage as horned, or whether they were merely supposed to be so, but on the whole I think that horns were actually represented (vide Elmsley in Bakchai, v. 920. Speaking of the stage Dionysos he remarks, 'Cui similem Ioni tribuerat Aeschylus in Prometheo.' Io says, 'Forthwith my form and senses were distorted, and I became horned as ye see,' Prom. Des. 691-1), as on the Vases (British Museum, Nos. 580, a. 1423). It is generally said that the connection between Io and Kam'seems to be an invention of later times,' but there is no proof of this; and, on the other hand, an early historic inter- also to be observed that in Kam we 3 Wis. xi. 15. 1 Inf. VIII. ii. Serpent. friendly to man, connected with life, love and heat, such as the Egyptian serpent of good, the divine serpent of Phoenicia, the healing serpent of Moses, symbol of the All-healer, the serpent of the Hellenik goddess Hygieia, the personification of health, the twining serpents of the kerukeion (caduceus) of Hermes, and the harmless denizens of the Epidaurian temple of Asklepios, the blameless physician,' and son of Apollon, whose staff is serpent-twined, as are those of the Boiotik Trophonios and Herkyna.1 The sun-god, as the giver of life, was represented under the type of a serpent,'2 and serpents were prominent features in the Dionysiak processions,3 and in the cult of the horned Sabazios, the Phrygian phase of Dionysos. Tree and serpent worship,' again, so widely spread, and so much discussed, is undoubtedly, to a great extent, phallic in nature. The sun, the bull, and the serpent in his friendly aspect, are all vivifying and lifeproducing, and therefore the serpent of life is fitly twined around the horns of the tauriform sun-god, whose very solar phase even is but an expression of his deeper and wider life-power and vital heat, as the spirit of the breathing and animated universe. It is not, perhaps, altogether clear,' remarks Canon Rawlinson, why the serpent has been so frequently regarded as an emblem of life. Some say, because serpents are long-lived; others, because the animal readily forms a circle, and a, circle was the emblem of eternity. But, whatever the reason, the fact cannot be doubted.' 5 The Zulus,' says Dr. Tylor, work out in the fullest way the idea of the dead becoming snakes, a creature whose change of skin has so often been associated with the thought of resurrection and immortality." And similarly, we read in a curious passage 6 Inf. VIII. ii. Serpent. 6 Primitive Culture, ii. 7. of Sanchouniathon, Taautos, and in common with him the Phoenicians and Egyptians, attributed divinity to the nature of the dragon and of snakes; for he esteemed the animal the most spiritual of all living things, and of a fiery nature, because it shows an unsurpassed quickness of motion through its spirit, without feet and hands, or any other external members, by means of which other living things effect their movements. And it is also exceedingly long-lived, and not only retains its youth by putting off old age, but also it is wont to receive a great increase of strength, and when it has fulfilled its apportioned span of life it is dissolved into itself, as in the sacred books likewise Taautos himself has recorded.'1 'And be ye crowned, as ye rave with wreaths of oak or pine, and adorn your garments of spotted faun-skins with fleeces of white haired curls [or sheep,' according to another reading], and purify yourselves with the insulting wands; immediately the whole earth will join the choric dance.' As the infant Dionysos was snake-crowned, so the Bakchai are to be wreath-crowned. Dionysos is said to have invented buying and selling, the diadem or royal crown, and the triumph.3 All three inventions point to the East; buying and selling reminds us of the commercial Phoenicians; while the diadem and the triumph speak of the ancient monarchies of the Nile and Euphrates, and of those oriental nations who put beautiful crowns upon their heads.'4 There must have been some reason why Dionysos was traditionally credited with such inventions, and if, as the combined force of the evidence shows was the case, his cult was imported from localities where they were in use, the solution is at once obtained. The connection between the pine and Dionysos 1 Sanch. ii. 12; vide inf. VIII. ii. Dragon, Serpent. 2 Vs. 109-14. 3 Plinius, vii. 57. has been already noticed.' The spotted faun-skins are to be still further variegated by being ornamented with little tufts of wool, a favourite style of adornment among the ancients, and which has been well compared with the spots of ermine now similarly used.2 The fleece of wool, pokos, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, was one of the symbols in the Dionysiak Mysteries. The insulting wands' are the narthex stalks, and the purification which they afford is one apparently connected with fire, since, as before noticed, Prometheus was said to have stolen. the sacred fire from heaven in a narthex stem; they are styled insulting probably with a double reference (1) to the conduct of Prometheus as regards Zeus, and (2) to the use made of them by the Bakchai against their opponents.5 The choric earth-dance has been noticed. The Chorus, identifying the cult of Dionysos, Rhea and Kybele, proceed to connect it with the Island of Krete, which presented an extraordinary mixture of races and consequently of religions. The mysterious Kouretes and Korybantes are represented as the ministers of this joint ritual, and it is therefore necessary to refer to some extent to their origin. I may first remark that the Kabeiroi, Kouretes, Korybantes, Daktyloi, Idaioi and Telchines are, according to the Natural Phenomena Theory, simplyclouds; and those who desire to see the reasonings which lead to this misty conclusion should refer to the Rev. G. W. Cox's important work, the Mythology of the Aryan Nations. I have thought it unnecessary to allude to his views on this 1 Sup. sec. ii. 2; vide inf. VIII. ii. Cone. 2 Vide VIII. ii. Spots. Protrept. ii. 18. 1 Cf. Hel. 1361; vide inf. VIII. ii. Fennel-giant. 5 Cf. v. 147 with v. 762; vide Loukianos, The Dionysiak Discourse. 6 V. 121. 7 Cf. Poseidon, xxx. xxxi. My conclusions were, that the Mizraimic Kaphtoureem first colonised the island at a remote period; that the Kydones, a Japhetic tribe, subsequently established themselves in the north-western portion of it; that these two races were both found there by the Phoenician colonists; and that, lastly, other Hellenik tribes. settled in the country.' point in detail, inasmuch as the arguments in favour of the Semitic connection of these personages and of Dionysos, when viewed in their totality, present the same kind of evidence which is available in support of the right way of putting together a child's dissected map; we feel convinced that it is correctly done by a double proof, namely, (1) every piece fits exactly in its place, and (2) will not fit elsewhere. I trust that the reader, while duly observing detail, will also as he proceeds weigh the combined force of the connected evidence. To return to the Kouretes and Korybantes. The family pedigree of the latter is as follows. From Zeus, the broad, bright heaven, and the nymph Elektra, a feminine personification of Eliktor the Beaming-Sun, also called Phaethon, and corresponding with Dionysos Antauges the Sparkler, proceed three children, Dardanos, Iasion, and Harmonia.1 Dardanos sailed to Samothrake, the special home of Semitic Mysteries, and, crossing thence to the Troad, received a grant of land from Teukros, son of the river Skamandros and the nymph Idaia, and first king of Troia. He thus became the ancestor of the Troians, and was an associate of Kybele and initiated in her Mysteries. Iasion is represented as the beloved of Demeter and of Kybele, a circumstance shewing the early identification of the two: the myth is of great antiquity, for the passion of Demeter for him is alluded to by Homeros2 as a familiar instance of the danger of association between mortals and immortals. To Iasion Zeus discovers the celebrated Samothrakian Mysteries, and his son is Korybas, the child of Kybele and ancestor of the Korybantes, who crosses with his mother into Asia and introduces her worship there, a circumstance illustrative of the fact that the cult of the Mother of the Gods was not Phrygian in origin. Harmonia, the sister of Dardanos and Iasion, 1 Cf. Schol. Apoll. Rhod. i. 916. K 2 Od. v. 125. |