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1 Histoire Abrege de Differens Cultes, vol. ii.
2 A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, and its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients. By Richard Payne Knight, Esq. New Edition. To which is added An Essay on the Worship of the Generative Powers during the Middle Ages of Western Europe. Illustrated with 138 Engravings. 4to, London, 1869.
3 Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. i, p. 320.
4 The Vanaprastha were Brahminical anchorites, who inhabited the deserts, lived on vegetables, devoted themselves to contemplation, macerated the body, fought with devils and giants (as a natural consequence), and were insensible to heat and cold. They were called later, by the Greeks, Gymnosophists; and although they went perfectly naked, no throb or involuntary movement was ever seen in any part of their bodies. Women who were barren oftentimes came and touched their shrivelled member, hoping thereby to become fruitful. Not the slightest emotion was noticed at such times.
The old ascetics would have regarded with contempt the practices of Christian monks, who were indeed children when compared with their Eastern ancestors.--The Monks before Christ, by John Edgar Johnson; and Description of the Character, Manners and Customs of the People of India, by Abbe J. A. Dubois.}
5 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 219.
6 Rural Bengal, p. 203.
7 See Ennemoser's History of Magic (Bohn), vol. ii, p. 33.
8 Herodotus, Euterpe, § 104. It was a practice at least 2,400 years before our era, and is even then an ancient custom. Nevertheless it appears to have been found only among nations cognate with the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. The neglect of it by Moses and by the Israelites whom he conducted to the border of the land of Canaan, is a strong presumption against its previous employment by the patriarchs.--Ed.
9 See Bunsen's God in History, vol.i, p. 299.
10 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. IV. (Clement of Alexandria), p.27.
11 The Hebrew word bara, translated "created," has also the sense of "begotten." See Gesenius.
12 See Fashar, by Dr. Donaldson, 2d edition (1860), p. 45 et seq.
13 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., pp. 225, 255, 288.
14 History of Herodotus, vol. i., p. 600.
15 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv., pp. 412, 413; and King's Gnostics, p. 31. See also Bryant's Ancient Mythology, vol. iv., p. 201. The last named work contains much curious information as to the entension of serpent-worship.
16 See The Serpent Symbol in America, by E.G. Squier, M.A. (American Archaeological Researches, No. I, 1851), p. 161 et seq.; Palenque, by M. de Waldeck and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1866), p. 48.
17 Lajard, Memoires de l'Institut Royal de France (Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres), t. xiv., p. 89.
18 Wood's Natural History of Man, vol. i., p. 185; also Squier's Serpent Symbol, p. 222 et seq.
19 I have a strong suspicion that, in its primitive shape, the Hebrew legend, as that of the Mexicans, gave the serpent-form to both the father and the mother of the human race.
20 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 46. Rudra, the Vedic form of Siva, the "King of Serpents," is called the father of the maruts (winds). See infra as to identification of Siva with Saturn.
21 The idea of circularity appears to be associated with both these names. See Bryant, op. cit., vol. iii., p. 164, and vol. ii., p. 191, as to derivation of "Typhon."
22 Lajard, loc. cit., p. 182. See also Culte de Mithra, p. 35.
23 In the Bacchanalia the serpent's head is seen at the open lid of the box. See Dom. Martin's "Explication," etc., pl. II., p. 29.
24 "Wise (phronimoi) as serpents, and harmless (or pure) as doves."--Matthew x. 16. By serpents the masculine and by doves the feminine attribute are represented.
25 See Memoires de l'Institut (Academie des Inscriptions), tom. xvii., p. 97.
26 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. v., p. 65.
27 Do., p. 243.
28 Sanchoniathon (translated by Cory), in The Phoenix, p. 197.
29 Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. Art., "Apple-Tree."
30 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., pp. 260, 313.
31 Horace, 8th Satire. See also Ante-Nicene Library, vol. iv., Clement of Alexandria, p. 41.
32 See Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 108. This seems to have been the symbolical significaiton of the fig throughout the East from the earliest historical period; as the pomegranate symbolized the full womb.
33 History of Herodotus, Book i., Appendix, Essay 10, § iv.
34 Tennent's Ceylon, vol. ii., p. 520.
35 Op. cit., p. 12.
36 As to the sacred Indian fig-tree, see Ginguiaut's Religions de l'Antiquite, vol. i., p. 149, note.
37 Faber's Pagan Idolatry, vol. i., p. 422; vol. iii., p. 606.
38 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 32.
39 Lajard, Le Culte de Mithra, p. 50.
40 This superstition is found among peoples--the Kafirs, for instance--who do not appear to possess any trace of planetary worship.
41 This is evident from the facts mentioned above, notwithstanding the use of this animal as a symbol of wisdom.
42 In connection with this subject, see St. Jerome, in his letter on Virginity to Eustochia.
43 Christ and other Masters, vol. i., p. 305.
44 Lajard, op. cit, pp. 52-60. The destruction of purity in the world by the Serpent Dahaka is stated in the 9th Yacna, v. 27. We have probably here the germ of the fuller legend, which may, however, have been contained in the lost portion of the Zend-Avesta.
45 The turning of Aaron's rod into a serpent had, no doubt, a reference to the idea of wisdom associated with that animal.
46 The Fallen Angels, 1857.
47 See supra.
48 Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii. p. 264, et seq.; and compare with the Gnostic personification of "truth"; for which see King's Gnosticsand their Remains, p. 39.
49 Lajard, op. cit., p. 96.
50 Jehovah threatens death, but the Serpent impliedly promises life, the former having relation to the individual, the latter to the race.
51 Lajard, op. cit., p. 60, note.
52 Several of the Essenes, who appear to have had some connection with Mithraism, taught this doctrine.
53 It is well known to biblical critics that this legend formed no part of the earlier Mosaic narrative.
54 Faber's Pagan Idolatry.
55 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. i., as to the primeval Hermes.
56 Smith's Dictionary of Mythology. Art. "Hermes."
57 Genesis xxxi. 45 to 53. Jacob called the heap or cairn of stones Galeed, a circle, and the statue Mizpeh, or a pillar.
58 Linga means a "sign" or "token." The truth of the statement in the text would seem to follow, moreover, from the fact, that the figure is sacred only after it has undergone certain ceremonies at the hands of a priest.
59 Said also to mean a tamarisk tree. It is asserted to have been worshipped in subsequent times.
60 Genesis xxi. 33.
61 Even if the statement of this event be an interpolation, the argument in the text is not affected. The statement sufficiently shows what was the form of worship traditionally assigned to Abraham.
62 "The deity Uranus devised Baetylia, stones having souls"--lithous empsuchous).
63 May it not have been the "Religious War" which is recorded as having taken place in the different countries of the archaic period, from India to the remoter West?--Ed.
64 Rawlinson's Five Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 617; ii., p. 247.
65 The later Hebrews affected the Persian religion, in which the Sun was the emblem of worship. Abraham evidently had a like preference, being a reputed iconoclast. The lunar religionists employed images in their worship.--Ed.
66 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book i., chap. viii., § 2.
67 The serpent-symbol of the exodus [Numbers xxi.] is called a "seraph."
68 Moses is set forth as the son-in-law of Jethro or Hobab, the Kenite, a priest; and probably became his disciple. At Horeb he learned, by a sacred vision, or initiation, the sacred name. As the Kenites were scribes or hierophants (I Chronicles ii. 55), it is very probable that they had the knowledge of this name, in common with the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, and the sacerdotal orders of other Asiatic nations.--Ed.
69 The ark was the depositum of divine or generative power for the preservation of the human race. The dove always accompanies it.
70 The History of Israel (English translation), vol. i., p. 532.
71 See Sanchoniathon (Cory, op.cit.)
72 "But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, wherewith being deceived, they worshipped serpents void of reason, and vile beasts, thou didst send a multitude of irrational beasts upon them for vengeance, that they might know that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be condemned."--Wisdom of Solomon, xi. 16.
73 Much discussion has taken place as to the nature of these animals. For an explanation of the epithet "fiery," see Sanchoniathon, "Of the Serpent" (Cory, op. cit.).
74 Numbers xxi. 8, 9.
75 "Having come to the interior of the desert, the people were exposed to the attacks of Burning Serpents, as the original text reads, the bite of which caused great pain; and not a few of the sufferers died, which again produced an immense excitement in the camp. Moses was ordered to ressort to the means of the Phoenician Esculapius, whose symbol, the brass serpent, was erected in the camp, which produced the desired effect."--History of the Israelitish Nation, by Isaac M. Wise, p. 102.
76 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv., p. 435.
77 Ditto, P. 434.
78 Egypt, vol. iii., p. 426.
79 God in History, vol. i., pp. 233-4.
80 Exodus xxxiv. 22.
81 Numbers xix. 1-10.
82 As to the God Seth, see Pleyte, La Religion des Pre-Israelites (1862).
83 The Sanscrit, Maha vuse, a great sage, seems to be a plausible etymology. Musa as it is pronounced, is the Arabic name; and it may have an affinity with the Muses of Thessaly and the ancient sage Musaeus.--Ed.
84 According to Pleyte, the Cabalists thought that the soul of Seth had passed into Moses (op. cit., p. 124). It is strange that the name of the Egyptian princess who is said to have brought up Moses is given by Josephus as Thermuthis, this being the name of the sacred asp of Egypt (see supra). We appear, also, to have a reference to the serpent in the name Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, from whom the descent of Moses was traced.
85 Fragments, Book xxxiv. See, also, in connection with this subject, King's Gnostics, p. 91.
86 Bunsen's God in History, vol. i., p. 234.
87 Ewald notices this fact. See op. cit., p. 454. See, also, Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. ii., p. 338.
88 Egypt, vol. iii., p. 433.
89 Op. cit., vol. iv., p. 434.
90 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., p. 208.
91 Ditto, vol. iii., p. 427.
92 As Tet becomes Thoth, so Mo-ses becomes in the Hebrew Mo-shesh.
93 The Brazen Serpent made by Moses, it will be remembered, was the symbol of this divinity; and it was worshipped till the time of King Hezekiah, by whom it was broken in pieces.--Ed.
94 Op. cit., p. 319.
95 Op. cit., vol. vi., p. 328.
96 As to the use of this symbol generally, see Pleyte, op. cit., pp. 109, 157.
97 On these points, see M. Raoul-Rochette's memoir on the Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules, in the Memoires de l'Intstitut National de France (Academie des Inscriptions), tom. xvii., p. 47 et seq.
98 Op. cit., vol. i., p. 60; vol. ii., p. 201.
99 Pleyte, op. cit., p. 172.
100 Chap. v. 26.
101 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., p. 249.
102 Egypt, p. 217.
103 See ditto, pp. 226-99.
104 It has been suggested that the ram was introduced as an astrological symbol. By the precession of the equinoxes, the sign Aries became the emblem of the Sun, as the genitor of the new year, and so a proper effigy of the Deity. The appearance of the lamb or ram would, of course, create confusion and misapprehension, as well as controversy among those who did not understand astronomy.--Ed.
105 Rawlinson's History of Herodotus, Book i.; appendix, essay x.
106 Ditto, ii.; appendix, viii. 23,
107 Op. cit., p. 89 et seq.
108 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., pp. 342, 260.
109 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i., p. 423.
110 Op. cit., vol. i., p. 388.
111 In the temple of Hercules at Tyre were two symbolical steles, one a pillar, and the other an obelisk. See Raoul-Rochette, op. cit., p. 51, where is a reference to a curious tradition preserved by Josephus, connecting Moses with the erection of columns at Heliopolis.
112 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., p. 299.
113 Rawlinson's Herodotus, Book i.; appendix, essay x.
114 Rawlinson, op. cit., Book i.; appendix, essay x.
115 Mau, the name of the Egyptian God of Truth, certainly signifies "light" but probably only in a figurative sense.
116 The importance ascribed to the mechanical arts may, perhaps, lead us to look for the formal origin of this character in the "wedge," which was the chief mechanical power the ancients possessed.
117 Faber, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 20.
118 Bryant, in his Ancient Mythology, has brought together a great mass of materials bearing on this question. The facts, however, are capable of quite a different interpretation from that which he has given to them.
119 Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 339.
120 Compare this with the figuurative description of the garden of delights of "The Song of Songs."
121 The Hebrew term GN, or garden, appears to be closely related to the Greek word gune, or woman. Indeed, in the ancient languages the former is used as a metaphor for the latter. See Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 52; vol. ii., p. 553.
122 Egypt, vol. iv., p. 257.
123 Egypt, p. 209.
124 This notion furnishes an easy explanation, founded on the human sacrifices to the Phoenician deity, of the curious verse in Genesis as to the avengging of Lamekh. Lamekh here referred to was not father of Noah. Compare Genesis iv. 18-24, with v. 25-29.
125 Op. cit., vol. i., pp. 266-7.
126 For explanation of this myth, see Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iii., p. 437.
127 Ditto, p. 413.
128 Want of space prevents me from tracing the developments which the primeval goddess of fecundity underwent; but to the idea embodied in her may be traced nearly all the female deities of antiquity.
129 Faber, op. cit., vol. ii., p 246.
130 Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 307.
131 The story of Jonah, the xxx, dove or symbol of femininity, going to Joppa, a seaport where Dag-on the fish-god was worshipped, and having entered a ship is swallowed by a Ceto or great fish, betrays a suspicious relationship to the same cultus. The fish was revered at Joppa as the dove was at Nineveh. Was there an esoteric meaning?--Ed.
132 Faber's op. cit., and Bryant's Ancient Mythology, ii., pp. 317 et seq.
133 On this question, see the Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii., p. 265; also "Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus," in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. (1832), 216 et seq.
134 This question is fully considered by Dr. Muir, in his Sanskrit Texts, part iv., p. 54 et seq.
135 Ditto, pp. 161, 343.
136 Rural Bengal, pp. 152, 187 et. seq. This association of the mountain and the river is found also in the Persian Khordah-Avesta. See (5) Abun-Yasht, v. 1-3.
137 See Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 70; also Sherring's Benares, pp. 75, 89. Here the serpent is evidently symbolical of life. In the Mahabharata, Mahadeva is described as having "a girdle of serpents, ear-rings of serpents, a sacrificial cord of serpents, and an outer garment of serpent's skin." (Dr. Muir, op. cit., part iv., p. 160.)
138 Op. cit., p. 70.
139 Ditto, p. 62.
140 Mr. Sellon, in the Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii., p. 273.
141 It should not be forgotten that the Vedic religion was not that of all the Aryan tribes of India. (See Muir, op. cit., part ii., p. 377, 368-383) ; and it is by no means improbable that some of them retained a more primitive faith, Buddhism or Rudraism; i.e., Sivaism. See also Baldwin's Prehistoric Nations.
142 Op. cit., p. 62. To come to a proper conclusion on this important point, it is necessary to consider the real position occupied by Gautama in relation to Brahminism. Burnouf says that he differed from his adversaries only in the definition he gives of Salvation (du salut). (Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, p. 155.)
143 Fergusson, op. cit., pp. 67, 222, 223.
144 See Guigniaut, op. cit., vol. i., p. 293, 160 note.
145 Schlagenweit, Buddhism in Thibet, p. 120.
146 These are figured in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xviii.
147 Higgin's Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 332 et seq. See also p. 342 et seq.
148 Op. cit., vol. iii., p. 1 et seq., 25.
149 Mr. Hunter points out a conection between Sivaism and Buddhism. Op. cit., p. 194.
150 See Mr. Fergusson, op. cit., p. 70. The serpent is connected with Vishnuism as a symbol of wisdom rather than of life.
151 Op. cit., p. 71.
152 Hence Siva, as Sambhu, is the patron deity of the Brahmanic order; and the most intellectual Hindus of the present day are to be found among his followers. (See Wilson, op. cit., p. 171. Sherring's Sacred City of the Hindus, p. 146 et seq.)
153 The bull of Siva has reference to strength and speed rather than to fecundity; while the Rig-Veda refers to Vishnu as the framer of the womb, although elsewhere he is described as the fecundator. (See Muir, op. cit., part iv., pp. 244, 292, also pp. 64, 83.
154 This question has been considered by Burnouf, op. cit., p. 547 et seq. But see also Hodgson's Buddhism in Nepaul, and Paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 18 (1860), p. 395 et seq.
155 See Sherring, op. cit., p. 89.
156 Schlagenweit, op. cit., p. 181.
157 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. vii., p. 566.
158 As to the identity of Siva and Saturn, see Guigniaut, op. cit., vol. i., p. 167 note. Kivan, a name of Saturn, is really the same word as Siva.
159 Sherring, op. cit., p. 305 et seq.
160 It should be noted that many of the so-called "circles" are in reality elliptical.
161 On this subject, see Higgin's Anacalypsis, vol. i, p. 315 et seq.
162 We must look to the esoteric teaching of Mithraism for the origin and explanation of much of primitive Christian dogma.
163 The serpent elevated in the Wilderness is said to be typical of Christ. (John iii. 14, 15). A Gnostic sect taught that Christ was Seth.
164 Didron's Christian Iconography (Bohn), pp. 272, 286.
165 It is a curious fact that Buddhist deities are often represented in the Vessica and with the nimbus. (See Hodgson's figures, plates v. and vi. in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 18.)
166 Didron, pp. 27, 231.
167 Didron, p. 29.
168 History of Magic (Bohn), vol. i., p. 253 et seq.
169 The "Black Virgins" of the French cathedrals prove, when examined critically, to be basalt figures of the goddess Isis. The Virgin Mary succeeded to her form, titles, symbols, rites, and ceremonies. Thus the devotees of Isis carried into the new priesthood the former badges of their profession, the obligation to celibacy, the tonsure, and the surplice. The sacred image still moves in procession as when Juvenal laughed at it--vi. 530--"grege linigero circumdatus et grege calvo"-- escorted by the tonsured, surpliced train. Her proper title, Domina, the exact translation of the Sanscrit Isi, survives, with a slight change in the Madonna. By a singular permutation, the flower borne by each, the lotus, ancient emblem of fecundity, now renamed the lily, is interpreted as significant of the opposite quality. The tinkling sistrum, a sound so well pleasing to the Egyptian goddess, is replaced by that most hideous of noises, the clattering bell. The latter instrument, however, came directly from the Buddhist usages, where it forms as essential an element as of yore in early Celtic Christianity, when the holy bell was the actual type of the Godhead to the new converts. The bell in its present form was unknown to the ancients; its normal shape is Indian, and the first real bell-founders were the Buddhist Chinese. Again, relic-worship seems from the third century to have been virtually the present form of Christianity in the East. A fragment of the bone of a Buddha is indispensable in the founding of a temple of that faith.
It is astonishing how much of the Egyptian and the second-hand Indian symbolism passed over into the usages of the following times. The high cap and hooked staff of the god became the bishop's mitre and crosier; the term nun is purely Egyptian, and bore its present meaning; the erect oval, symbol of the Female Principle of Nature, became the Vesica Piscis, and a frame for divine things; the Crux Ansata, testifying the union of the Male and Female Principle in the most obvious manner, and denoting fecundity and abundance, is transformed, by a simple inversion, into the Orb surmounted by the Cross, and the ensign of royalty. (Gnostics and their by C. W. King, pp. 71, 72.)