ANCIENT EGYPT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
NOTES TO BOOK 9
[1] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 107.]
[2] [Translated by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. Extracted from Bancroft, Native Races. 'The Codex Chimalpopoca, or Chimalpopoca MS., after Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom, i., p. 53. This Codex Chimalpopoca, so called by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, is an anonymous manuscript in the Mexican language. What we really know of this much-talked-of document is little, and will be best given in the original form. This manuscript, or a copy of it, fell into the hands of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg in the city of Mexico, in the year 1250.']
[3] [Ibid.]
[4] [2 Esd. 7:30-33. 'At the end of that time, my son the Messiah shall die, and so shall all mankind who draw breath. Then the world shall return to its original silence for seven days as at the beginning of creation, and no one shall be left alive. After seven days the age which is not yet awake shall be roused and the age which is corruptible shall die. The earth shall give up those who sleep in it, and the dust those who rest there in silence; and the storehouses shall give back the souls entrusted to them. Then the Most High shall be seen on the judgement-seat, and there shall be an end of all pity and patience.' The NEB version.]
[5] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 106.]
[7] [Source. Unable to trace.]
[8] [Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 3, p. 153. 'The Okanagans believe in a good spirit or master of life, called Elemeliunikillanwaist or Skyappe; and in a bad spirit, Kishtsainah or Chacha; both moving constantly through the air, so that nothing can be done without their knowledge. The Okanagans have no worship public or private, but before engaging in any thing of importance they offer up a short prayer to the good spirit for assistance; again, on state occasions, a pipe is passed round and each one smokes three whiffs toward the rising sun, the same toward the setting, and the same respectively toward the heaven above and the earth beneath. Then they have their great mythic ruler and heroine, Scomalt, whose story is intimately connected with a kind of Okanagan fall or paradise lost. Long ago, so long ago that the sun was quite young and very small and no bigger than a star there was an island far out at sea, called Sarnahtumiwhoolah, or the White Man's Island. It was inhabited by a white race of gigantic stature, and governed by a tall fair woman called Scomalt; and she was a great and strong medicine, this Scomalt. At last the peace of the island was destroyed by war, and the noise of battle was heard, the white men fighting the one with the other; and Scomalt was exceedingly wroth. She rose up and said: Lo, now I will drive these wicked far from me; my soul shall be no longer vexed concerning them, neither shall they trouble the faithful of my people with their strivings anymore. And she drove the rebellious together to the utter most end of the island, and broke off the piece of land on which they were huddled, and pushed it out to sea to drift whither it would. This floating island was tossed to and fro many days, and buffeted of the winds exceedingly, so that all the people thereon died, save one man and one woman, who, seeing their island was ready to sink, made themselves a canoe and gat them away toward the west. After paddling day and night for many suns, they came to certain islands, whence steering through them, they came at last to where the mainland was, being the territory that the Okanagans now inhabit; it was, however, much smaller in those days, having grown much since. This man and woman were so sorely weather-beaten when they landed that they found their original whiteness quite gone, and a dusky reddish color in its place. All the people of the continent are descended from this pair, and the dingy skin of their storm-tossed ancestors has become a characteristic of the race. And even, as in time past the wrath of the fair Scomalt loosed the island of their ancestors from its mainland, and sent it adrift with its burden of sinful men, so in a time to come the deep lakes, that like some Hannibal's vinegar soften the rocks of the foundations of the world, and the rivers that run forever and gnaw them away, shall set the earth afloat again; then shall the end of the world be.']
[9] [Ps. 29:10. 'The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.']
[10] [Rit. ch. 64, 13-15. Renouf's tr.]
[11] [Turner, Samoa, p. 12. 'Tangaloa
of the heavens and his son Lu built a canoe or vessel up in the heavens. They
were aided by a carpenter called Manufili. When finished it was taken down and
set on the Laueleele, or surface of the earth. There was no sea at that time.
Lu had a wife called Gaogao o le tai, expanse of sea. She had a son who
was also called Lu, and when he grew up the vessel was given to him. When she
next brought forth it was a lot of all kinds of shell-fish. Lu said to his
mother, "What is the use of having all these things lying there bare in the
sun?" "Leave it with me to make a lake for them," was her reply; and then
she told him to go and get his vessel in order, and be ready to get into it when
the sea was made.
The sea was the product of the next birth. Lu caught two fowls, and when the sea
rose took them with him into the vessel. He was not many days afloat, some say
six, when his vessel rested on the top of the mountain called Malata, in Atua,
east end of Upolu. Lu lived there at the village called Uafato, and had there
his Sa Moa, or preserve fowls, which were not to be killed. Another story
says that Lu came from the west with his fowls, and that from his crew all the
islands of the group were peopled. He was said to have come from Pulotu, Papatea,
Pau, Vau, Aoao, and Ngaelu. Others say he came with his fowls direct from Tafiti
apaau, or the Winged Fiji.
Two of the people of Tangaloa of the heavens came down to fish. As they were
returning with two baskets of fish, the fowls of Lu leaped up to peck at the
fish. The lads caught and killed the precious preserve, or Sa Moa, and ran off
with them to the heavens.
In the morning Lu missed the fowls, and went off in search of them. He saw from
the unbroken early morning cobwebs across the roads east and west, that no one
had passed along there. He suspected the fishing party from the heavens, and
away he went up there from the top of the mountain. He had nothing in his hand
but his fly-flapper.
In the first heavens he smelled roast fowl, and presently he came upon the two
culprits as they were eating, and believed that they were crunching the bones of
the very fowls of which he was in search. He charged them. They did not deny,
but commenced to lay the blame the one on the other, and hence the proverb to
this day: "It was not I, but you." He set upon both of them with his fue, or
fly-flapper, and hence the word to fue, or to fly-flapper, is used as a
milder term to express beating or killing.
Away the lads fled, and he after them up through the nine heavens, laying out on
them with his fue. When they reached the tenth heaven, Tangaloa made his
appearance and called out, "What is all this about? Don't you know this is Malae
totoa, the place of rest? There must be no fighting here."
In the tenth heaven no strife was allowed; the place was kept beautifully clean,
no rubbish to be seen about the roads, and there were no clubs hanging in the
houses.
Lu told the cause of his anger: his Sa Moa or preserve fowls had been stolen,
and he had found the thieves in the very act of eating them. Tangaloa said, "It
is indeed very bad; but now that you have left behind all the places where wars
may be fought out, and have come to this heaven of peace, let your wrath abate,
spare these men, and you shall go back with the title of King of heaven,
and take my daughter Langituavalu, Eighth heavens, to be your wife."
"Very good," said Lu; "let these men live, and let us be at peace, and conform
to the custom of Malae totoa."
A handsome dowry was got up, the marriage took place, and Tangaloa told Lu to
name the earth Samoa when he came down, and so keep in remembrance his
preserve fowls.
The two came down, had a child, and named him Samoa, and from them these islands
have been peopled. Hence also the proverb from this lady coming from heaven and
having children on earth: "The heavens are swinging and touching the earth." Of
any one who marries a person far away it is also said, "It is like Langituavalu."
At the marriage of Langituavalu and Lu, Tangaloa ordered all his people to
contribute a fine white mat each, with which to form her dowry. A great feast
was also provided, but only those were admitted who had contributed a white mat.
When the festive day came there were many outside who were chagrined that they
had not made an effort to get the white mat, and so have been permitted to share
in the grand celebration, to the music of which they could only listen outside
and in the distance.']
[12] [Ibid., see note above.]
[13] [Turin Papyrus.]
[14] [Renouf,
HL, pp. 222-3. 'Another text says, "I am yesterday, I am to-day, I am
to-morrow." "Hail to thee, Ptah-tanen, great god who concealeth his form, ....
thou art watching when at rest the father of all fathers and of all gods
Watcher, who traversest the endless ages of eternity. The heaven was yet
uncreated, uncreated was the earth, the water flowed not; thou hast put together
the earth, thou hast united thy limbs, thou hast reckoned thy members; what thou
hast found apart, thou hast put into its place; God, architect of the world,
thou art without a father, begotten by thine own becoming; thou art without a
mother, being born through repetition of thyself. Thou drivest away the darkness
by the beams of thine eyes. Thou ascendest into the zenith of heaven, and thou
comest down even as thou hast risen. When thou art a dweller in the infernal
world, thy knees are above the earth, and thine head is in the upper sky. Thou
sustainest the substances which thou hast made. It is by thine own strength that
thou movest; thou art raised up by the might of thine own arms. Thou weighest
upon thyself, kept firm by the mystery which is in thee. The roaring of thy
voice is in the cloud ; thy breath is on the mountain-tops; the waters of the
inundation cover the lofty trees of every region Heaven and earth obey the
commands which thou hast given; they travel by the road which thou hast laid
down for them; they transgress not the path which thou hast prescribed to them,
and which thou hast opened to them Thou restest, and it is night; when thine
eyes shine forth, we are illuminated―
O let us give glory to the God who hath raised up the sky, and who causeth his
disk to float over the bosom of Nut, who hath made the gods and men and all
their generations, who hath made all lands and countries, and the great sea, in
his name of Let-the-earth-be! .... The babe who is brought forth daily, the
ancient one who has reached the limits of time, the immovable one who traverses
every path, the height which cannot be attained."']
[15] [Huxley, NC, 1890, pp. 14-15.]
[16] [Egypt's Place in Universal History.
See vol. 3, p. 379. 'The Chinese language is the farthest point beyond that of
the formation of the Egyptian language, which represents, as compared with it,
the middle ages of mankind, the Turanian and Chamitic stages of development. The
Chinese, who migrated before the deluge, have no reminiscences any more than the
Egyptians, of the great catastrophe which we know by the name of the Flood of
Noah.'
Ibid., vol. 4, p. 435. 'The Egyptians, having emigrated before the
catastrophe which overwhelmed Northern Asia, had no knowledge of any great
interruption of human life in the primeval land. It is clear, therefore, that
what the Greeks knew of it cannot have come from Egypt.
Our previous researches will not permit us to doubt that the oldest Hellenic
tradition about the flood of Deukalion was a legendary reminiscence of that
great historical deluge. It was neither an originally ideal myth, nor the
offshoot of some event in the history of the Thracian Greeks. The coins of
Apamea with the ark on them, of the genuineness of which there is no question,
and the stories about Annakos, king of Iconium, who foretold the deluge, prove
the Noachian story to have been in circulation not only in Syria but Asia
Minor.'
And on Plato's Timaeus, he says this:
Ibid., vol. 4, pp. 461-9. 'THE ATLANTIC TALE, AND ITS BEARING ON THE
ASIATIC REMINISCENCES OF THE EGYPTIANS, AND ON PRIMITIVE HISTORY AFTER THE
DELUGE.
In analyzing Philo's accounts of the theogony and kosmogony of the Phoenicians,
we have met with some passages about the origines of mankind. These, however,
were always either theogonical ideas in disguise, or else purely local
reminiscences.
The case is still worse in regard to our knowledge of the corresponding
traditions of the Egyptians themselves. No mention is made in any of them of
historical anthropogony, everything connected with this subject occurs among the
divine origines. It is barely possible that the Egyptians should have considered
themselves as autokhthones, children of the soil, and yet that there should have
been no trace of this belief either in what they say on their monuments when
speaking of themselves as contrasted with the other races and nations, or in
what the Greeks say when treating of the origines of this, to them, so
remarkable a people.
But the celebrated passage in the Timaeus says the very reverse, and we take
this opportunity of laying it before our readers in full. It has from early
times given rise to the most opposite interpretations. Plato's residence in
Egypt has been so fully confirmed by astronomy and his own account of the
religious and political condition of the country that it is admitted to be
historical, while the invention of later writers, that the Hellenic pupil of
Sokrates learned his philosophy from the Egyptians, is generally repudiated.
The communication made to Solon by the priests of Sais, in the introduction to
the Timaeus, may fairly be considered as only the vehicle for introducing the
story. Some ancient sage must be mentioned, and Solon seemed to answer the
purpose as well as any other.
But in regard to the substance of the communication, it is assuredly not an
invention of the philosopher, which would have been a pitiful piece of deceit,
but a straightforward account of what he himself heard at Sais. It might however
be mere vainglorious boasting on the part of the priests, as their assertion
certainly was that they could show to Solon Athenian names of his
"fellow-citizens" who lived 9000 years before that time and 1000 before the
Egyptian origines. Let us hear the account itself.
The remarkable passage is as follows (p. 21. e.):
"There is in Egypt," said Solon, "in the Delta where the Nile branches off into
two streams, the so-called Saitic nome. Its principal town is Sais, the same of
which King Amasis was also a native. The inhabitants consider it to have been
founded by a Goddess known to the Egyptians under the name of Neith, and to the
Greeks, as they assert, of Athena. They state that the Athenians and themselves
were the greatest friends, and that there was some blood-relationship between
them. Solon said that he was treated with the greatest respect, but that when he
inquired of the best informed among the priests about the ancient times, he
found that neither he nor any other Greek, so to speak, knew anything at all
about these matters. Once upon a time, when he wished to draw them out into
conversation about the ancient histories, he began by talking about the early
history of this country, and about Phoroneus, who is called the First, and about
Niobe, and after the Flood about Deukalion and Pyrrha, and the manner of their
preservation. He then tried to enumerate the genealogies of their descendants,
and by endeavouring to bring back to his recollection the number of years that
had elapsed since those events, to calculate the chronology. Thereupon one of
the oldest of the priests exclaimed: 'Solon, Solon! you Greeks will always be
children: an old Greek never existed.' Upon hearing this he replied, 'What do
you mean?' 'You are all,' the other continued, 'of modern minds: for you have no
faith based upon the tradition of early times, no knowledge of any kind which
has grown hoary with age. And the reason of it is this. There have been many and
various races of men which have fallen into decay, and there will be many more.
The principal causes of these catastrophes are fire and water, some of lesser
importance arising from various other circumstances. There is a fable current
among you, that Phaethon, the son of Helios, once on a time drove his father's
chariot, but that failing to take his father's course he set the world on fire,
and perished by lightning. This is told rather in the form of a myth, but the
truth is, that the stars which revolve round the earth in the heavens suffer a
perturbation, and then, at vast intervals, whatever is on the earth perishes in
the great conflagration. "When these portents occur, naturally those who live on
the mountains and on lofty dry spots perish in greater numbers than those who
dwell about the rivers and seas. We, for instance, are preserved by the Nile,
who is our preserver generally, on these occasions also, for he helps us out of
our trouble. If, on the other hand, the Gods mean to ravage and destroy the
earth by water, the herdsmen and shepherds who live on the mountains probably
are saved, while those who live in cities are carried away by the stream into
the sea. But with our country the case is different; the water does not overflow
our fields, but on the contrary everything is so arranged that it rises from
below. It is in this way and for these reasons, as they say, that the oldest
traditions are preserved among us. The truth, however, is, that in all countries
where there is not a great excess of rain or intense heat to interfere with it,
there is a race of men sometimes more, sometimes less numerous. Now what-ever
happens among you, or among us, or in any other place that we know anything
about, anything beautiful or great, or important in any other way, all is
recorded in our temples from the earliest times, and so has been preserved. But
scarcely had writing and the other necessities of civilised states been invented
among you and elsewhere, when there came down from heaven at certain intervals a
Flood, like a pestilence, sparing only the ignorant and uneducated, so that you
had to start afresh from the beginning, as though you were a young people, and
knew nothing as to what had occurred here or in your own country in ancient
times. The genealogies of your country, Solon, at all events, which you have
just gone over are very like children's stories.
For in the first place you only record a single flood, whereas there have been a
great many; and then you do not seem to know that your country was inhabited by
the fairest and noblest race of men, from whom you and the whole of your present
inhabitants are descended, but a very small remnant of them having survived. You
have forgotten all this, because the few survivors out of the great numbers who
perished left no written records behind them. For, Solon, before that great
catastrophe took place the present Athenian State was very glorious in war, and
very celebrated also for the excellence of its laws. There it was that the
noblest deeds were performed, and there was the most perfect constitution of all
those which now exist of which we have any knowledge.'
"When Solon heard this he was astounded, as he said, and earnestly entreated the
priests to tell him everything in detail and in regular order about his old
countrymen. Whereupon his informant continued: 'There is no objection to this,
Solon, and I will tell it you for your own sake and for the sake of your city,
but most especially for the sake of pleasing the Goddess who has taken under her
protection your country and this, and has cherished and nurtured it : yours
indeed, in the first instance, a thousand years before ours, she having received
the germ from the Earth and from Hephaistos, and ours afterwards.
"'Now our sacred books contain a record of our institutions for 8000 years; but,
as regards your countrymen 9000 years ago, I will briefly tell you about their
laws and the most celebrated of their exploits. The more especial details of all
these matters we will go into some other time at our leisure, when we have the
records themselves before us. Consider for a moment the laws as compared with
those in force here, and you will find many analogies to those which then
existed in Greece. In the first place the sacerdotal caste, separated from all
the rest. Then the caste of artisans, each of which worked by itself and never
mixed with the others. Then the shepherds, the hunters, and the husbandmen. The
military caste again you will find distinct, upon whom the only duty imposed by
law is that of making war. The art of arming with shields and spears, which was
practised by us before the inhabitants of Asia, we as well as they learned from
the Goddess, but first of all she taught you. Lastly, as regards knowledge, you
see how much importance the law attaches to principles, seeing that everything
relating to the order of social life, including divination and the art of
medicine for the preservation of health, is by it provided out of these divine
things, and all the other sciences which result from them are applied for the
benefit of mankind. Now, the whole of these institutions and ordinances the
patron Goddess first put in force among you, she having founded your state
before this, and previously selected the spot on which you were born; foreseeing
that the favourable nature of the climate and seasons would produce the most
intelligent men. For, as she loves war as well as wisdom, she selected that spot
for the foundation of a state which she knew would produce men most like
herself. Under such, laws as these and a yet more excellent form of government
you then lived, excelling all other men in virtue, as those should excel who are
descended from and fostered by the Gods. There are many great works of yours
here recorded, which excite our admiration. But there is one especially which
surpasses all the rest in grandeur and glory. The records state that your
country once checked the advance of a mighty power, which threatened all Europe
and Asia, bursting in upon them from the Atlantic ocean. For at that time the
Atlantic was navigable ; and beyond the straits which you in your legends call
the Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger than Libya and Asia put
together. Seafaring men at that time could pass from it to the other islands,
and from them to the opposite continent, which extended along that ocean
properly so-called. For the sea which is inside the straits of which we have
just spoken seems to have a narrow entrance, but the other is properly termed an
ocean, and the land abutting on it a continent. Now on this great island in the
Atlantic there was a vast and wonderful kingdom, which extended over the whole
island and many other islands and parts of the continent. Besides this, it
extended on our side over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as
Tyrrhenia. Now this whole united empire attempted at that time to subjugate your
country and ours, and all the regions inside the straits, at one swoop. Then,
Solon, the power of your country surpassed all the rest of the world by its
bravery and its strength. Outstripping them all in courage and military skill,
whether as the leader of the Greeks, or where compelled to act single-handed on
being deserted by the others, they were exposed to the greatest dangers, but
drove back the aggressors and erected columns to commemorate their victory. They
also prevented the other countries which had not been subjugated from being
enthralled, and to those inside the Pillars of Hercules they gave entire
freedom. But at a later period extraordinary earthquakes and floods took place,
and in one fatal day and night the whole of your fighting men there collected
together were swept off from the face of the earth, and at the same moment the
Atlantic island sunk into the ocean. This is the reason why that sea is now
inaccessible and the navigation difficult, owing to the depth of the sand which
accumulated when the island disappeared.'"
Now in regard to the purport of this story, this enigma, the solution of which
has occupied the attention of the first thinkers and mathematicians, of
ingenious scholars and students of history in all times from Cicero to Humboldt,
I think our Egyptian researches will enable us to form a somewhat better
conclusion as to certain points under discussion, on one side or the other, than
has hitherto been possible.
There is nothing improbable in itself in reminiscences and records of great
events in Egypt 9000 years b. c, if we consider them as even isolated
recollections of a time not strictly chronological. For, as we have seen, the
origines of the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt go back to the ninth
millennium, or at all events there were distinct unions and a common government.
There w r ere therefore reminiscences also of great natural and historical
events which affected Egypt. That here alluded to must be one of them. It is
true that Egypt is not considered exactly as having been subjugated by the
Atlantic conqueror, but it is said that Africa (Libya), "as far as Egypt,"
belonged to his kingdom. Asia is clearly the seat of this advanced empire, and
the conflict extended, either by sea, or by way of Spain and Gaul, as far as
Etruria.
There never was but one such conqueror, as we established when examining
critically the early Hebrew times: Nimrod the Kushite, or Kossian, whose date
cannot be later than the beginning of the sixth or the end of the seventh
millennium B.C. It would be more natural to identify him with the conquest
alluded to by the priests of Sais: for, if he was an Ethiopian, he must have
passed through Egypt on his way to Asia and Europe. Now if (as we decidedly
think is the original meaning of the Biblical account) he came from the land of
the Kossians he was a Turanian ; but the Iberians are Turanians, and may have
come to Egypt from Spain across the Cyrenaica. Atlantis recalls Atlas,
consequently may point to Northern Africa. That the first conqueror in history
was a Scythian is reported by Justin, on the authority of Pompeius Trogus, who
had access to Asiatic source?
This is what may be said in regard to the historical foundation of the Egyptian
story about that conquest. As to the island of Atlantis, which is stated to have
disappeared, I look upon it as a pure fiction, the origin of which was the
notion of a violent separation between the two continents at Gibraltar, which
was taken for granted as an event of early times. This ancient story may very
well have grown, at Sais, sooner or later, into the above fabulous form.
Now if the priests of Sais did say anything about a primeval Athens, and made
Kekrops contemporary with it, they either imposed upon Solon or Plato, or them
both. But the whole, or the greater part, of this story bears upon it so
palpably the Platonic stamp, as fore-shadowing the position of Athens in the
Persian war, and as the model of an aristocratical reforming constitution to be
re-established, that we need only read his Kritias to be satisfied on that head.
What is there but lightly touched upon is here embellished almost like a
Cyropaedia, and is obviously treated as a philosophical myth.'
Ibid., vol. 4, p. 559. 'No reminiscence of this Flood exists in Egypt, although
her oldest traditions would seem here and there to retain the echoes of a
knowledge of some violent convulsions of nature, the traces of which man had
tried to efface.']
[17] [See above note.]
[18] [Source. Unable to trace.]
[19] [Fresh Light from the Monuments, p. 47. Massey errs here. Wrong p. no., and no ref to Egyptian legend of deluge.]
[21] [Baldwin,
Ancient America, p. 179. 'An extract preserved in Proclus, taken from a
work now lost, which is quoted by Boeckh in his commentary on Plato, mentions
islands in the exterior sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and says it was
known that in one of these islands "the inhabitants preserved from their
ancestors a remembrance of Atlantis, an extremely large island, which for a long
time held dominion over all the islands of the Atlantic Ocean."
Brasseur de Bourbourg claims that these traditions, on both sides of the
Atlantic, mean the same thing. The "island of Atlantis," larger than Libya and
Asia Minor together, was the extended portion of the American continent. These
concurring traditions can not be devoid of historical significance. The constant
references by ancient Greek writers to the Atlantes, who are always placed at
the extremity of Europe and Africa, on the ocean which bears their name, may
reasonably be regarded as vague and faded recollections of such a history
connected with that ocean as that implied by what was said of their island in
the annals of Egypt. In sup port of his view of what is meant by the traditions,
he adds this philological argument:
"The words Atlas and Atlantic have no satisfactory etymology in
any language known to Europe. They are not Greek, and cannot be referred to any
known language of the Old World. But in the Nahuatl language we find immediately
the radical, atl, which signifies water, war, and the top of the head.
(Molina, Vocab. en lengua mexicana y castellana, etc.) From this comes a
series of words, such as atlan, on the border of or amid the water, from
which we have the adjective Atlantic. We have also atlaca, to combat or
be in agony; it means likewise to hurl or dart from the water, and in the
preterit makes atlaz. A city named Atlan existed when the continent was
discovered by Columbus, at the entrance of the Gulf of Uraba, in Darien, with a
good harbor; it is now reduced to an unimportant pueblo named Ada?']
[22] [Rit. ch. ?]
[23] [Rit. ch. 3.]
[24] [Rit. ch. h. 4.]
[25] [Maspero, Egyptian Archaeology, p. 120. 'The master is of superhuman proportions, and towers above his people and his cattle. Some prophetic tableaux show him in his funeral bark, speeding before the wind with all sail set, having started on his way to the next world the very day that he takes possession of his new abode.']
[26] [Rit. ch. 58.]
[27] [Rit., ch. 98. Renouf's tr.]
[28] [Rit. ch. 130.]
[29] [Rit. ch. 99.]
[30] [Rit. ch. 106. Renouf's tr.]
[31] [Rit. ch. 110. Renouf's tr.]
[32] [Rit. ch. 110.]
[33] [Rit. ch. 102.]
[34] [Rit. ch. 97.]
[35] [Rit. ch. ?]
[36] [Rit. ch. 18.]
[37] [Rit. ch. 18.]
[38] [Rit. ch. ?]
[39] [Renouf, Rit. ch. 60.]
[40] [Rit. ch. 125.]
[41] [Mapsero, Pyramid Texts, 'Teta,' 274.]
[42] [Rit. ch. 64, lines 5-8.]
[43] [Rit. ch. 136A.]
[44] [Rit. ch. 136A, line 1.]
[45] [Rit. ch. 99.]
[46] [Rit. ch. 106.]
[47] [Rit. ch. 98, Renouf.]
[48] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 79. See p. 137.]
[49] [Rev. 5:1. 'And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.']
[50] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 79. See p. 155.]
[51] [Papyrus of Nu.]
[52] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103.]
[53] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 106.]
[54] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 107.]
[55] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 105.]
[56] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 105.]
[57] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 109.]
[58] [Rit. ch. 58.]
[59] [Rit. ch. ?]
[60] [Rit. ch. ?]
[61] [Rit. ch. 1. 30.]
[62] [Rit. ch. 99.]
[64] [Budge, Papyrus of Anhai, pl. 8.]
[65] [Gen. 6:5-8. 'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.']
[66] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103.]
[67] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 106.]
[68] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 107.]
[69] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103.]
[70] [Rit. ch. 57, 1, 2.]
[71] [Rit. ch. 149.]
[72] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 111.]
[73] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 105.]
[74] [Book of Atum-Ra, i.e., 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 110.]
[75] [Source.]
[76] [Gen. 9:25. 'And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.']
[77] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 110.]
[78] [Rit. ch. 80.]
[79] [Source. Unable to trace.]
[80] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See pp. 107-8.]
[81] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 107.]
[82] [Ibid. RP, 6, 103. See p. 108, line 25.]
[83] [PSBA, vol. 6, p. 131.]
[84] [Rit. ch. 132.]
[85] [Horrack, 'Lament of Isis and Nephthys,' RP, 2, 119.]
[86] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 75.]
[87] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 111.]
[88] [Smith, 'Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends,' RP, 7, 133. See p. 140.]
[89] [Rit. ch. 86, line 5.]
[90] [Papyrus of Ani, ch. 86, pl. 25.]
[91] [Rit. ch. ?]
[92] [Rit. ch. 135. Renouf's tr.]
[93] [Source, and see also Grant, Nightside of Eden, who quotes this passage.]
[94] [Fornander, Account of the Polynesian Race, and Ellis, Polynesian Researches.]
[95] [Fornander, Account of the Polynesian Race, vol. 1, p. 42. 'In the Hawaiian legend of "Kumuhonua," it is said "that when, after the flood ('Kai a Kahinalii'), Nun left his vessel in the evening of the day, he took with him a pig, cocoa-nuts, and awa (piper methyst) as an offering to his god Kane. As he looked up he saw the moon in the sky, and he thought that that was the god, saying to himself: 'You are Kane, no doubt, though you have transformed yourself to my sight.' So he worshipped the moon, and offered his offerings. Then Kane descended on the rainbow and spoke reprovingly to Nuu, but on account of the mistake Nuu escaped punishment, having asked pardon of Kane. Then Kane ascended to heaven and left the rainbow as a token of his forgiveness."']
[96]
[Gen. 7:6-11. 'And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of
waters was upon the earth.
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into
the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every
thing that creepeth upon the earth,
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as
God had commanded Noah.
And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the
earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth
day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken
up, and the windows of heaven were opened.']
[97] [Cook, 'Hymn to the Nile,' RP 4, 108.]
[98]
[Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, p. 178-9. 'A remarkable
inscription, the contents of which throw from all sides an unsuspected light on
Tehuti-mes and his solitary youth. He had been banished to the almost
inaccessible marsh-country of Buto, in order to remove him from the sight of his
subjects, and to destroy all remembrance of him.
The date of the laying of the foundation-stone of a temple is given as follows:
According to the express order of the king himself, this was set down in
writing, concerning the communication orally carried on as to the erection of a
memorial-building, on the three sides which bend toward the canal, .... for I
(the king) wished to raise a memorial to my father Amen-Ra in Apet, to erect
(his) dwelling, which glorifies the horizon, to restore (the temple territory
of) Kheft-her-neb-s, the favourite abode of my father from the beginning. I
wished to execute this for him, the Theban Amen-Ra, on this territory, of hard
stone, and of a gigantic size. But because [the canal was there, which conducts]
the water to the shrine of the god Nun, on the arrival of his season, I built
him another temple, with a loving heart, and caused him to be brought in
thither. What I did for him happened for the first time (i.e. had never been
done before). The shrine stands ready in the east of that temple. Then I found
that the circuit wall was built of brick, and that the ground was [deeply
hollowed out, so that the ground sank in] give more room for the water to this
temple. It had to be cleaned out.
I had the dirt removed and the dams pulled down which were near it .Thus the
space was now clear. I caused this site to be built upon, on which the
surrounding wall stood, in order to erect on it this memorial-building, desiring
to found a splendid temple to [the god Amen of] Apet. It was to be constructed
anew. The (official) drawing of (the architect) made the beginning. Never have I
placed the like on the monument of any other. I say this in all truth, for I
know every one who knows nothing about me, and speaks lies. But that which has
happened is no feigned invention in place of the truth, nor an intentional
deception calculated to bear the appearance of truth. He knows me, whoever
agrees with me about this. I gave the order to place cord and pegs in readiness
(for laying the foundation-stone) in my presence. The beginning of the day of
the new moon was fixed for the festival of the laying of the foundation-stone of
this memorial.
In the year 24, on the last day of the month Mekhir, on the festival of the 10th
day of Amen's [festival on his splendid feast of southern Apet ....] there was a
sacrifice offered to the god (at) his great place. After this I wont in, to
accompany the father Amen. The god went thither on his feet, to celebrate his
beautiful festival. And the Holiness of this god was wonderful to behold. [Then
drew near the form] of this god. The cord and the pegs were ready. Then his
Holiness placed me before him, towards this memorial. And I began. Then was the
Holiness of this god was full of joy at this memorial, on account of my love for
him. Then [the Holiness] of this god went further, and the beautiful feast was
celebrated to my lord. Then I came forward, yes I, to complete the business of
the laying of the foundation stone, because .... ... [before] him. He went out,
and the work of the first
stroke of the hammer for the laying of the foundation stone was to be performed.
Then the Holiness of this divine one wished himself to give the first stroke of
the hammer .... [to keep out the water] of the inundations of the fields .... of
the pickaxe. The lines of the fields were drawn all that he had done. Then was I
full of joy, when I saw the great wonder, which my father had done for me ... My
heart was in a joyful humour at that beautiful procession, to make a beginning
of this memorial. There was laid in the foundation-stone a document with all the
names of the great circle of the gods of Thebes, the gods and the goddesses ....
and all men rejoiced. After this .... of copper was prepared for him.']
[99] [Inscription, ibid., p. 178. See above note.]
[100] [Ibid., verse 5. Massy errs here as no such quote exist in this work.]
[101] [Ibid., verses 9 and 11. Ditto. See above note.]
[102] [Rit. ch. 58. See also pl. 16 in Papyrus of Ani.]
[103] [Rit. ch. ?]
[104] [Rit. ch. ?]
[105] [Rit. ch. ?]
[106] [The Egyptian History?]
[108] [Cheyne, EBB,
col. 1296-7. 'ENOS, or rather (so RV) Enosh = man;
enws [BADEL]). Son of Seth, and grandson of Adam (Gen. 4:26, 5:7, 9-11, 1
Ch. 1, 1). It was he who began to call on the name of Yahwe (Vg., B. Jub.; so
We.,) i.e., Enos introduced forms of worship. He is thus represented as the
first and greatest of founders, worthy to be the father of a city-builder (see
CAINITES, 3). This tradition cannot, however, be very ancient. Early myths
always ascribe forms of worship to the teaching of a god; cp. the statement (see
CAINITES, 3) that Marduk erected the temples, and the epithet given to the
Moon-god, mukin nindabe, appointer of sacrifices (4 R. 9 33; see Del.
Ass. HIVB). Enos, therefore (a name that is merely a synonym of Adam, man ),
which Hommel traces to the Amelon ( = Bab. amil, man ) of Berossus, must have
been substituted for some other name. On the original position of Gen. 4:25, see
CAINITES, 12.
The MT reading is possibly (Di,), if not certainly, to be rendered 'Then was
profaned,' the object being to avoid contradiction of the statement in Ex. 6:3
(P). Such a phrase, however, is unparalleled in the Genesis narratives. 'Began,'
occurs again in 9:20, 10:8, where, it is true, according to R. Simon (Ber. robba
23), it has the sense of profanation. The alteration of involved a disparagement
of Enos similar to that inflicted upon ENOCH (1, end) and NOAH (1, end) in
certain circles. According to an Aggada, in the time of this patriarch, and in
that of Cain, the sea flooded a great tract of land (Ber. rabbet, as
above). The same extra ordinary view is implied in Tg. Onk. and Jon. and is
adopted by Rashi. T. K. C.']
[109] [Fargard, 2, 1. 131.]
[110] [Gen. 6:16. 'A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.']
[111] [Rit. ch. 17.]
[112] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP 6, 103.]
[113] [Horapollo, Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 21. 'To signify the rising of the Nile, which they call in the Egyptian language NOUN, and which, when interpreted, signifies New, they sometimes pourtray a LION, and sometimes THREE LARGE WATERPOTS, and at other times HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER. And they depict a LION, because when the sun is in Leo it augments the rising of the Nile, so that oftentimes while the sun remains in that sign of the zodiac, half of the new water [Noun, the entire inundation?] is supplied; and hence it is, that those who anciently presided over the sacred works, have made the spouts [?] and passages of the sacred fountains in the form of lions. Wherefore, even to this day in prayer for an abundant inundation ... And they depict THREE WATERPOTS, or HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER, because they make a waterpot like a heart having a tongue,—like a heart, because in their opinion the heart is the ruling member of the body, as the Nile is the ruler of Egypt, and like [a heart with?] a tongue, because it is always in a state of humidity, and they call it the producer of existence. And they depict three waterpots, and neither more nor less, because according to them there is a triple cause of the inundation. And they depict one for the Egyptian soil, as being of itself productive of water; and another for the ocean, for at the period of the inundation, water flows up from it into Egypt; and the third to symbolise the rains which prevail in the southern parts of Ethiopia at the time of the rising of the Nile. Now that Egypt generates the water, we may deduce from this, that in the rest of the earth the inundations of the rivers take place in the winter, and are caused by frequent rains; but the country of the Egyptians alone, inasmuch as it is situated in the middle of the habitable world, like that part of the eye, which is called the pupil, of itself causes the rising of the Nile in summer.' See also BB 1:32 for other refs to this chapter.]
[114] [Book of Enoch, 5, 7. 'And the ark floated forty days. And altogether they were in the ark 120 days.']
[115] [In the 7th book of Genesis. See note below.]
[116] [Gen. 7:20. 'Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.']
[117] [Gen. 7:19. 'And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.']
[118] [Gen. 9:20-24. ' And Noah
began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two
brethren without.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and
went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were
backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.']
[119] [Rit. ch. 1.]
[120] [Rit. ch. 28.]
[121] [Smith, 'Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends,' RP, 7, 133. See p. 140, col. 3.]
[122] [Source.]
[123] [Source.]
[124] [Source.]
[125] [SAFJ, vol. 2, pt. 5, p. 95. 'The myths of the Ovaherero, a tribe dwelling in a part of Hereraland "which had not yet been under the influence of civilisation and Christianity," have been studied by the Rev. H. Reiderbecke, missionary at Otyozondyupa. The Ovaherero, he says, have a kind of tree Ygdrasil, a tree out of which men are born, and this plays a great part in their myth of creation. The tree, which still exists, though at a great age, is called the Omumborombonga tree. Out of it came, in the beginning, the first man and woman. Oxen stepped forth from it too, but baboons, as Caliban says of the stars, "came otherwise," and sheep and goats sprang from a flat rock. Black people are so coloured, according to the Ovaherero, because when the first parents emerged from the tree and slew an ox, the ancestress of the blacks appropriated the black liver of the victim. The Ovakuru Meyuru or "old ones in heaven," once let the skies down with a run, but drew them up again (as the gods of the Satapatha Brahmana drew the sun) when most of mankind had been drowned.' From Lang, Myth, Ritual & Religion, vol. 1, p. 171.]
[126] [Gen. 8:20. 'And Noah builded
an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl,
and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not
again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing
living, as I have done.']
[127] [Puranas. Source.]
[128] [Kennedy, Hindu Mythology, p. 228 (see Hislop's Two Babylons, p. 135); Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 22. Moor says: 'Considering VISHNU as TIME, he corresponds with the HORUS of Egypt. There are legends of his sleeping, awaking, and turning on his side, evidently alluding to the Sun at the solstices; also to the phenomena of the overflow and receding of the Ganges, so similar to that of the Nile in Egypt. On the 11th day, (sometimes on the 14th, which is the day of the full moon,) of the bright half of the lunar month Cartica, VISHNU is fabled to rise from his slumber of four months. A festival is held in honour of this day, and at an auspicious moment, astrologically determined, the Deity is awakened by this incantation, (or mantra).']
[129] [See Budge.]
[130] [Rit. ch. 36A.]
[131] [Smith, 'The Chaldean Account of the Deluge,' TSBA 3 (1873): 213-34. See also RP, 7, 133.]
[132] [Ibid., lines 106-8. 'Brother saw not his brother, it did not spare the people. In heaven the gods feared the tempest, and sought refuge; they ascended to the heaven of Anu.']
[134] [Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 3. pp. 87-88.
'We pass now to a train of myths in which the Coyote again appears, figuring in
many important and somewhat mystical roles. Somebody of many tribes. To him,
though involuntarily as it appears, are owing the fish to be found in Clear
Lake. The story runs that one summer long ago there was a terrible drought in
that region, followed by a plague of grasshoppers. The Coyote ate a great
quantity of these grasshoppers, and drank up the whole lake to quench his
thirst. After this he lay down to sleep off the effects of his extraordinary
repast, and while lie slept a man came up from the south country and thrust him
through with a spear. Then all the water he had drunk flowed back through his
wound into the lake, and with the water the grass-hoppers he had eaten; and
these insects became fishes, the same that still swim in Clear Lake.
The Californians in most cases describe themselves as originating from the
Coyote, and more remotely, from the very soil they tread. In the language of Mr
Powers whose extended personal investigations give him the right to speak with
authority "All the aboriginal inhabitants of California, without exception,
believe that their first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their
respective present dwelling-places, and, in very many cases, that these
ancestors were coyotes." "The Potoyantes give an ingenious account of the
transformation of the first coyotes into men: There was an age in which no men
existed, nothing but coyotes. When one of these animals died, his body used to
breed a multitude of little animals, much as the carcass of the huge Ymir,
rotting in Ginnungagap, bred the maggots that turned to dwarfs. The little
animals of our story were in reality spirits, which, after crawling about for a
time on the dead coyote, and taking all kinds of shapes, ended by spreading
wings and floating off to the moon. This evidently would not do: the earth was
in danger of becoming depopulated; so the old coyotes took counsel together if
perchance they might devise a remedy. The result was a general order, that, for
the time to come, all bodies should be incinerated immediately after death. Thus
originated the custom of burning the dead, a custom still kept up among these
people. We next learn what indeed might have been expected of animals of such
wisdom and parts that these primeval coyotes began by degrees to assume the
shape of men. At first, it is true, with many imperfections; but, a toe, an ear,
a hand, bit by bit, they were gradually builded up into the perfect form of man
looking upward. For one thing they still grieve, however, of all their lost
estate their tails are gone. An acquired habit of sitting upright has utterly
erased and destroyed that beautiful member. Lost is indeed lost, and gone is
gone for ever; yet still when in dance and festival, the Potoyante throws off
the weary burden of hard and utilitarian care, he attaches to him self, as
nearly as may be in the ancient place, an artificial tail, and forgets for a
happy hour the degeneracy of the present in simulating the glory of the past.
The Californians tell of a great flood, or at least of a time when the whole
country, with the exception of Mount Diablo and Reed Peak, was covered with
water. There was a Coyote on the peak, the only living thing the wide world
over, and there was a single feather tossing about on the rippled water, The
Coyote was looking at the feather, and even as he looked, flesh and bones, and
other feathers, came and joined themselves to the first, and became an Eagle.
There was a stir on the water, a rush of
broad pinions, and before the widening circles reached the island-hill, the bird
stood beside the astonished Coyote, The two came soon to be acquainted arid to
be good friends, and they made occasional excursions together to the other hill,
the Eagle flying leisurely overhead while the Coyote swam.']
[135] [Matthews, AA, 1883, p. 208.]
[136] [Rit. ch. 64.]
[137] [Rit. ch. 57.]
[138] [CR, vol. 8, p. 517.]
[139] [Source.]
[140] [Source.]
[141] [NG 2:253. Unable to trace in Barddas. But see note 2349.1 in relation to a flood/ark.]
[142] [NG.]
[143] [Rit. ch. ?]
[144] [Source.]
[146] [Source.]
[147] [Lefebure, 'Book of Hades.' RP, 12, 1. See p. 16.]
[148] [Rit. ch. ?]
[149] [Bhagavata Purana, 1, 3, 15.]
[150] [Unable to trace in Barddas.]
[151] [Chabas, 'The Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. Unable to trace.]
[152] [Smith, 'Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends,' RP, 7, 133. See p. 147.]
[153] [Ibid., 133. See p. 148.]
[154] [Ibid., 133. See pp. 148-49.]
[155] [Lockyer, Dawn of Astronomy, p. 348, note 3. 'On this point I am permitted to print the following extract from a letter received from my friend Sir John Kirk, K.C.B.: "I send you a photo, taken in 185S, in the delta of the Zambezi, of a house built on high poles. The people there live in such houses. There is a ladder by which they mount, and all their belongings are kept above. Such houses I have since seen at the mouth of the River Rufiji, opposite the island of Monfia, to the south of Zanzibar. The reason in both cases for such a type of house is that the country at one time is flooded, and also to avoid mosquitoes. Similar structures are used, I am told, in Madagascar. At Lake Nyassa I believe there are village communities living in the lake, on artificial islands of piles."']
[157] [Rit. ch. 100.]
[158] [Diodorus, 1, 49. 'At the top of the
ascent there is a circular border of gold crowning the monument, three hundred
and sixty five cubits in circumference and one cubit thick; upon this the days
of the year are inscribed, one in each cubit of length, and by each day the
risings and settings of the stars as nature ordains them and the signs
indicating the effects which the Egyptian astrologers hold they produce.'
Oldfather's tr., vol. 1, p. 175.
'There, they say, are the wonderful sepulchres of the antient kings, which, for
state and grandeur, far exceed all that posterity can attain unto at this day.
The Egyptian priests say that, in their sacred registers, there are entered
seven-and-forty of these sepulchres; but in the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, there
remained only seventeen, many of which were ruined and destroyed when I myself
came into those parts, which was in the hundred-and-eightieth olympiad. And
these things are not only reported by the Egyptian priests, out of their sacred
records but many of the Grecians, who travelled to Thebes in the time of Ptolemy
Lagus, and wrote histories of Egypt, (among whom was Hecateus), agree with what
we have related. Of the first sepulchres, (wherein they say the women of Jupiter
were buried), that of king Osymandyas was ten furlongs in circuit at the
entrance of which they say, was a portico of various coloured marble, in length
two hundred feet; and in height, five-and-forty cubits: thence going forward,
you come into a four-square stone gallery, every square being four hundred feet,
supported, instead of pillars, with beasts, each of one entire stone, sixteen
cubits high, carved after the antique manner. The roof was entirely of stone;
each stone eight cubits broad, with an azure sky, bespangled with stars. Passing
out of this peristylion, you enter into another portico, much like the former,
but more curiously carved, and with more variety. At the entrance stand three
statues, each of one entire stone, the workmanship of Memnon of Sienitaa. One of
these, made in a sitting posture, is the greatest in all Egypt, the measure of
his foot exceeding seven cubits; the other two, much less than the former,
reaching but to his knees; the one standing on the right, and the other on the
left, being his daughter and mother. This piece is not only commendable for its
greatness, but admirable for
its cut and workmanship, and the excellency of the stone. In so great a work
there is not to be discerned the least flaw, or any other blemish.
Upon it there is this inscription: "I am Osymandyas, king of kings; if any would
know how great I am, and where I lie, let him excel me in any of my
works."' Booth's tr., vol. 1, p. 53.]
[159] [Rit. ch. 149.]
[160] [Rit. ch. 108.]
[161] [Rit. ch. 108.]
[162] [The Bible and its Monuments,
p. 117. 'COLUMN II.
2. On the fifth day two sides were raised
3. In its enclosure (hull) fourteen ribs
4. Also fourteen they numbered above
5. I placed its roof and enclosed it
6. Sixthly I made it firm, seventhly I its passages.']
[163] [Later version by Professors Haupt and Sayce.]
[164] [Col. 2. See note 162 above.]
[165] [Muhammad ibn Khavand, The Rauzat-us-Safa: or, Garden of Purity, quoted in O'Neill. See note below.]
[166] [O'Neill, The Night of the Gods, vol. 1, p. 173.]
[167] [Gen. 6:16. 'A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.']
[168] [Rit. ch. 109.]
[169] [Brown, Phainomena of Aratus, lines 342-48.]
[170] [Shelley, Hellas, a Lyrical
Romance, p. 52 of London, 1886 ed. 'The world's great age begins anew,
The golden years return,
The earth doth like a snake renew
Her winter weeds outworn.
Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam,
Like wrecks of a dissolving dream.']
[171] [Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 264.]
[172] [Histories, bk. 2. 145 'Thus far I have spoken on the
authority of the Egyptians and their priests. They declare that from their first
king to this last-mentioned monarch, the priest of Vulcan, was a period of three
hundred and forty-one generations; such, at least, they say, was the number both
of their kings, and of their high-priests, during this interval. Now three
hundred generations of men make ten thousand years, three generations filling up
the century; and the remaining forty-one generations make thirteen hundred and
forty years. Thus the whole number of years is eleven thousand, three hundred
and forty; in which entire space, they said, no god had ever appeared in a human
form; nothing of this kind had happened either under the former or under the
later Egyptian kings. The sun, however, had within this period of time, on four
several occasions, moved from his wonted course, twice rising where he now sets,
and twice setting where he now rises. Egypt was in no degree
affected by these changes; the productions of the land, and of the river,
remained the same; nor was there anything unusual either in the diseases or the
deaths.' Tr. Rawlinson.
'So far in the story the Egyptians and the priests were they who made the
report, declaring that from the first king down to this priest of Hephaistos who
reigned last, there had been three hundred and forty-one generations of men, and
that in them there had been the same number of chief-priests and of kings: but
three hundred generations of men are equal to ten thousand years, for a hundred
years is three generations of men; and in the one-and-forty generations which
remain, those I mean which were added to the three hundred, there are one
thousand three hundred and forty years. Thus in the period of eleven thousand
three hundred and forty years they said that there had arisen no god in human
form; nor even before that time or afterwards among the remaining kings who
arose in Egypt, did they report that anything of that kind had come to pass. In
this time they said that the sun had moved four times from his accustomed place
of rising, and where he now sets he had thence twice had his rising, and in the
place from whence he now rises he had twice had his setting; and in the meantime
nothing in Egypt had been changed from its usual state, neither that which comes
from the earth nor that which comes to them from the river nor that which
concerns diseases or deaths.' Tr. Macauley.
Ibid, bk. 2.142.
'The Greeks regard Hercules, Bacchus, and Pan as the youngest of the gods. With
the Egyptians, contrariwise, Pan is exceedingly ancient, and belongs to those
whom they call "the eight gods," who existed before the rest. Hercules is one of
the gods of the second order, who are known as " the twelve;" and Bacchus
belongs to the gods of the third order, whom the twelve produced. I have already
mentioned how many years intervened according to the Egyptians between the birth
of Hercules and the reign of Amasis. From Pan to this period they count a still
longer time; and even from Bacchus, who is the youngest of the three, they
reckon fifteen thousand years to the reign of that king. In these matters they
say they cannot be mistaken, as they have always kept count of the years, and
noted them in their registers. But from the present day to the time of Bacchus,
the reputed son of Semelé, daughter of Cadmus, is a period of not more than
sixteen hundred years; to that of Hercules, son of Alcmêna, is about nine
hundred; while to the time of Pan, son of Penelopé (Pan, according to the
Greeks, was her child by Mercury), is a shorter space than to the Trojan war,
eight hundred years or thereabouts.' Tr. Rawlinson.
'Among the Hellenes Heracles and Dionysos and Pan are accounted the latest-born
of the gods; but with the Egyptians Pan is a very ancient god, and he is one of
those which are called the eight gods, while Heracles is of the second rank, who
are called the twelve gods, and Dionysos is of the third rank, namely of those
who were born of the twelve gods. Now as to Heracles I have shown already how
many years old he is according to the Egyptians themselves, reckoning down to
the reign of Amasis, and Pan is said to have existed for yet more years than
these, and Dionysos for the smallest number of years as compared with the
others; and even for this last they reckon down to the reign of Amasis fifteen
thousand years. This the Egyptians say that they know for a certainty, since
they always kept a reckoning and wrote down the years as they came. Now the
Dionysos who is said to have been born of Semele the daughter of Cadmos, was
born about sixteen hundred years before my time, and Heracles who was the son of
Alcmene, about nine hundred years, and that Pan who was born of Penelope, for of
her and of Hermes Pan is said by the Hellenes to have been born, came into being
later than the wars of Troy, about eight hundred years before my time.' Tr.
Macauley.]
[173] [Rit. chs. 114 and 123.]
[174] [Rit. ch. 114.]
[175] [Rit. ch. 116.]
[176] [Rit. ch. 123, notes.]
[177] [Rit. ch. ?]
[178] [Plutarch, Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 47.]
[179] [Discuss.]
[180] [Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, bk. 2, 291-300. 'With these words she took an oath by the waters of Styx, which to all the gods is most dread and most awful, that the Harpies would never thereafter again approach the home of Phineus, son of Agenor, for so it was fated. And the heroes yielding to the oath, turned back their flight to the ship. And on account of this men call them the Islands of Turning though aforetime they called them the Floating Islands. And the Harpies and Iris parted. They entered their den in Minoan Crete; but she sped up to Olympus, soaring aloft on her swift wings.' Tr., R. C. Seaton.]
[181] [Pilotes.]
[182] [Histories, bk. 2. 156. 'This, as I have said, was what
astonished me the most, of all the things that were actually to be seen about
the temple. The next greatest marvel was the island called Chemmis. This island
lies in the middle of a broad and deep lake close by the temple, and the natives
declare that it floats. For my own part I did not see it float, or even move;
and I wondered greatly, when they told me concerning it, whether there be really
such a thing as a floating island. It has a grand temple of Apollo built upon
it, in which are three distinct altars. Palm-trees grow on it in great
abundance, and many other trees, some of which bear fruit, while others are
barren. The Egyptians tell the following story in connection with this island,
to explain the way in which it first came to float: "In former times, when the
isle was still fixed and motionless, Latona, one of the eight gods of the first
order, who dwelt in the city of Buto, where now she has her oracle, received
Apollo as a sacred charge from Isis, and saved him by hiding him in what is now
called the floating island. Typhon meanwhile was searching everywhere in hopes
of finding the child of Osiris." (According to the Egyptians, Apollo and Diana
are the children of Bacchus and Isis; while Latona is their nurse and their
preserver. They call Apollo, in their language, Horus; Ceres they call Isis;
Diana, Bubastis. From this Egyptian tradition, and from no other, it must have
been that Æschylus, the son of Euphorion, took the idea, which is found in none
of the earlier poets, of making Diana the daughter of Ceres.) The island,
therefore, in consequence of this event, was first made to float. Such at least
is the account which the Egyptians give.' Tr. Rawlinson.
'This house then of all the things that were to be seen by me in that temple is
the most marvellous, and among those which come next is the island called
Chemmis. This is situated in a deep and broad lake by the side of the temple at
Buto, and it is said by the Egyptians that this island is a floating island. I
myself did not see it either floating about or moved from its place, and I feel
surprise at hearing of it, wondering if it be indeed a floating island. In this
island of which I speak there is a great temple-house of Apollo, and three
several altars are set up within, and there are planted in the island many
palm-trees and other trees, both bearing fruit and not bearing fruit. And the
Egyptians, when they say that it is floating, add this story, namely that in
this island, which formerly was not floating, Leto, being one of the eight gods
who came into existence first, and dwelling in the city of Buto where she has
this Oracle, received Apollo from Isis as a charge and preserved him, concealing
him in the island which is said now to be a floating island, at that time when
Typhon came after him seeking everywhere and desiring to find the son of Osiris.
Now they say that Apollo and Artemis are children of Dionysos and of Isis, and
that Leto became their nurse and preserver; and in the Egyptian tongue Apollo is
Oros, Demeter is Isis, and Artemis is Bubastis. From this story and from no
other Æschylus the son of Euphorion took this which I shall say, wherein he
differs from all the preceding poets; he represented namely that Artemis was the
daughter of Demeter. For this reason then, they say, it became a floating
island.' Tr. Macauley.]
[183] [Chamberlain,
Kojiki, vol. 1, sect. 3, pp. 18-19. 'Hereupon all the Heavenly Deities
commanded the two Deities His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites and Her
Augustness the Female-Who-Invites, ordering them to "make, consolidate, and give
birth to this drifting land." Granting to them an heavenly jewelled spear, they
[thus] deigned to charge them. So the two Deities, standing upon the Floating
Bridge of Heaven, pushed down the jewelled spear and stirred with it, whereupon,
when they had stiffed the brine till it went curdle-curdle, and drew [the spear]
up, the brine that dripped down from the end of the spear was piled up and
became an island. This is the Island of Onogoro.'
Note: '"Self-Curdling," "Self-Condensed." It is supposed to have been one of the
islets off the coast of the larger island of Ahaji.']
[184] [Satow, Pure Shinto, p. 68.]
[185] [Moor, Hindu Pantheon.]
[186] [Chamberlain, Kojiki, pp. 18, 19. See note 183 above.]
[187] [Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru. '"Our father the Sun, seeing men in the state I have mentioned, took pity and was sorry for them, and sent from heaven to earth a son and a daughter of his to indoctrinate them in the knowledge of our father the sun that they might worship him and adopt him as their god, and to give them their precepts and laws by which they would live as reasonable and civilized men, and dwell in houses and settled towns, and learn to till the soil, and grow plants and crops, and breed flocks, and use the fruits of the earth like rational beings and not like beasts. With this order and mandate our father the Sun set these two children of his in Lake Titicaca, eighty leagues from here, and bade them go where they would, and wherever they stopped to eat or sleep to try to thrust into the ground a golden wand half a yard long and two fingers in thickness which he gave them as a sign and a token: when this wand should shrink into the ground at a single thrust, there out father wished them to stop and set up their court."' Livermore's tr., vol. 1, p. 42. Quoted in New Iberian World, I. 136.]
[188] [Natural History, 6, 26 (30). 'Babylon, which is the capital of the Chaldaean races, long held an outstanding celebrity among the cities in the whole of the world, and in consequence of this the remaining part of Mesopotamia and Assyria has received the name of Babylonia. It has two walls with a circuit of 60 miles, each wall being 200 ft. high and 50 ft. wide (the Assyrian foot measures 3 inches more than ours). The Euphrates flows through the city, with marvellous embankments on either side. The temple of Jupiter Belus in Babylon is still standing—Belus was the discoverer of the science of astronomy; but in all other respects the place has gone back to a desert, having been drained of its population by the proximity of Seleucia, founded for that purpose by Nicator not quite 90 miles away, at the point where the canalised Euphrates joins the Tigris. However, Seleucia is still described as being in the territory of Babylon, although at the present day it is a free and independent city and retains the Macedoman manners. It is said that the population of the city numbers 600,000; that the plan of the walls resembles the shape of an eagle spreading its wings; and that its territory is the most fertile in the whole of the east. For the purpose of drawing away the population of Seleucia in its turn, the Parthians founded Ctesiphon, which is about three miles from Seleucia in the Chalonitis district, and is now the capital of the kingdoms of Parthia. And after it was found that the intended purpose was not being achieved, another town was recently founded in the neighbourhood by King Vologesus, named Vologesocerta. There are in addition the following towns in Mesopotamia: Hippareni—this also a school of Chaldaean learning like Babylon—situated on a tributary of the river Narraga, from which the city-state takes its name (the walls of Hippareni were demolished by the Persians); also Orcheni, a third seat of Chaldaean learning, is situated in the same neighbourhood towards the south; and next Notitae and Orothophanitae and Gnesiochartae.' Bostock's tr.]
[189] [Diodorus, The Library of History, I. 28-29. 'They report, that afterwards many colonies out of Egypt were dispersed over all parts of the world: that Belus (who was taken be the son of Neptune and Lyhra) led a colony into the province of Babylon, and fixing his seat at the river Euphrates, consecrated priestly and, according to the custom of the Egyptians, freed them from all public taxes and impositions. These priests the Babylonians calChaldeans, who observe the motions of the stars, in imitation of the priests, naturalists and astrologers of Egypt. That Danaus likewise took from thence another colony, and planted them in Argos, the most antient city almost of all Greece.' Booth's tr., vol. 1, p. 33 of 1804 ed.]
[190] [Enoch, ch. 64. 'In those days
Noah saw that the earth became inclined, and that destruction approached.
Then he lifted up his feet, and went to the ends of the earth, to the
dwelling of his great-grandfather Enoch.
And Noah cried with a bitter voice, Hear me; hear me; hear me: three
times. And he said, Tell me what is transacting upon the earth; for the earth
labours, and is violently shaken. Surely I shall perish with it.
After this there was a great perturbation on earth, and a voice was heard
from heaven. I fell down on my face, when my great-grandfather Enoch came and
stood by me.
He said to me, Why have you cried out to me with a bitter cry and
lamentation?
A commandment has gone forth from the Lord against those who dwell on the
earth, that they may be destroyed; for they know every secret of the angels,
every oppressive and secret power of the devils, and every power of those who
commit sorcery, as well as of those who make molten images in the whole
earth.
They know how silver is produced from the dust of the earth, and how on the
earth the metallic drop exists; for lead and tin are not produced from
earth, as the primary fountain of their production.
There is an angel standing upon it, and that angel struggles to prevail.
Afterwards my great-grandfather Enoch seized me with his hand, raising me
up, and saying to me, Go, for I have asked the Lord of spirits respecting this
perturbation of the earth; who replied, On account of their impiety have their
innumerable judgments been consummated before me. Respecting the moons have they
inquired, and they have known that the earth will perish with those who dwell
upon it, and that to these there will be no place of refuge for ever.
They have discovered secrets, and they are those who have been judged;
but not you my son. The Lord of spirits knows that you are pure and good,
free from the reproach of discovering secrets.
He, the holy One, will establish your name in the midst of the saints, and
will preserve you from those who dwell upon the earth. He will establish your
seed in righteousness, with dominion and great glory; and from your seed shall
spring forth righteousness and holy men without number for ever.' Laurence's tr.]
[191] [Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 1, pp. 353. 'The Muyscas of the high plains of Bogota were once, they said, savages without agriculture, religion, or law; but there came to them from the East an old and bearded man, Bochica, the child of the Sun, and he taught them to till the fields, to clothe themselves, to worship the gods, to become a nation. But Bochica had a wicked, beautiful wife, Huythaca, who loved to spite and spoil her husband's work; and she it was who made the river swell till the land was covered by a flood, and but a few of mankind escaped to the mountain-tops. Then Bochica was wroth, and he drove the wicked Huythaca from the earth, and made her the Moon, for there had been no moon before; and he cleft the rocks and made the mighty cataract of Tequendama, to let the deluge flow away. Then, when the land was dry, he gave to the remnant of mankind the year and its periodic sacrifices, and the worship of the Sun. Now the people who told this myth had not forgotten, what indeed we might guess without their help, that Bochica was himself Zuhe, the Sun, and Huythaca the Sun's wife, the Moon.']
[192] [Rit. ch. 175. Budge's tr.]
[193] [Bancroft,
Native Races, vol. 3, pp. 71-3. 'In the year and in the day of obscurity
and darkness, yea, even before the days or the years were, when the world was in
a great darkness and chaos, when the earth was covered with water, and there was
nothing but mud and slime on all the face of the earth behold a god became
visible, and his name was the Deer, and his surname was the Lion-Snake. There
appeared also a very beautiful goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the
Tiger-Snake. These two gods were the origin and beginning of all the gods.
Now, when these two gods became visible in the world, they made, in their
knowledge and omnipotence, a great rock, upon which they built a very sumptuous
palace, a masterpiece of skill, in which they made their abode upon earth. On
the highest part of this building there was an axe of copper, the edge being
uppermost, and on this axe the heavens rested.
This rock and the palace of the gods were on a mountain in the neighborhood of
the town of Apoala in the province of Mizteca Alta. The rock was called The
Place of Heaven; there the gods first abode on earth, living many years in great
rest and content, as in a happy and delicious land, though the world still lay
in obscurity and darkness.
The father and mother of all the gods being here in their place, two sons were
born to them, very hand some and very learned in all wisdom and arts. The first
was called the Wind of Nine Snakes, after the name of the day on which he was
born; and the second was called, in like manner, the Wind of Nine Caves. Very
daintily indeed were these youths brought up. When the elder wished to amuse
himself, he took the form of an eagle, flying thus far and wide; the younger
turned himself into a small beast of a serpent shape, having wings that he used
with such agility and sleight that he became invisible, and flew through rocks
and walls even as through the air. As they went, the din and clamor of these
brethren was heard by those over whom they passed. They took these figures to
manifest the power that was in them, both in transforming themselves and in
resuming again their original shape. And they abode in great peace in the
mansion of their parents, so they agreed to make a sacrifice and an offering to
these gods, to their father and to their mother. Then they took each a censer of
clay, and put fire therein, and poured in ground beleno for incense; and
this offering was the first that had ever been made in the world. Next the
brothers made to themselves a garden, in which they put many trees, and
fruit-trees, and flowers, and roses, and odorous herbs of different kinds.
Joined to this garden they laid out a very beautiful meadow, which they fitted
up with all things necessary for offering sacrifice to the gods. In this manner
the two brethren left their parents house, and fixed themselves in this garden
to dress it and to keep it, watering the trees and the plants and the odorous
herbs, multiplying them, and burning incense of powder of beleno in
censers of clay to the gods, their father and mother. They made also vows to
these gods, and promises, praying that it might seem good to them to shape the
firmament and lighten the darkness of the world, and to establish the foundation
of the earth, or rather to gather the waters together so that the earth might
appear as they had no place to rest in save only one little garden. And to make
their prayers more obligatory upon the gods, they pierced their ears and tongues
with flakes of flint, sprinkling the blood that dropped from the wounds over the
trees and plants of the garden with a willow branch, as a sacred and blessed
thing. After this sort they employed themselves, postponing pleasure till the
time of the granting of their desire, remaining always in subjection to the
gods, their father and mother, and attributing to them more power and divinity
than they really possessed. Fray Garcia here makes a break in the relation that
he may not weary his readers with so many .absurdities but it would appear that
the firmament was arranged and the earth made fit for mankind, who
about that time have made their appearance. For there came a great deluge
afterward, wherein perished many of the sons and daughters that had been born to
the gods; and it is said that when the deluge was passed the human race was
restored as at the first, and the Miztec kingdom populated, and the heavens and
the earth established.']
[194] [Book of Enoch, ch. 66. 'In
those days the word of God came to me, and said, Noah, behold, your lot has
ascended up to me, a lot void of crime, a lot beloved and upright.
Now then shall the angels labour at the trees; but when they proceed to
this, I will put my hand upon it, and preserve it.
The seed of life shall arise from it, and a change shall take place, that
the dry land shall not be left empty. I will establish your seed before me for
ever and ever, and the seed of those who dwell with you on the surface of the
earth. It shall be blessed and multiplied in the presence of the earth, in the
name of the Lord.
And they shall confine those angels who disclosed impiety. In that burning
valley it is, that they shall be confined, which at first my
great-grandfather Enoch showed me in the west, where there were mountains of
gold and silver, of iron, of fluid metal, and of tin.
I beheld that valley in which there was great perturbation, and where the
waters were troubled.
And when all this was effected, from the fluid mass of fire, and the
perturbation which prevailed in that place, there arose a strong smell of
sulphur, which became mixed with the waters; and the valley of the angels, who
had been guilty of seduction, burned underneath its soil.
Through that valley also rivers of fire were flowing, to which those angels
shall be condemned, who seduced the inhabitants of the earth.
And in those days shall these waters be to kings, to princes, to the
exalted, and to the inhabitants of the earth, for the healing of the soul and
body, and for the judgment of the spirit.
Their spirits shall be full of revelry, that they may be judged in their
bodies; because they have denied the Lord of spirits, and although they
perceive their condemnation day by day, they believe not in his name.
And as the inflammation of their bodies shall be great, so shall their
spirits undergo a change for ever.
For no word which is uttered before the Lord of spirits shall be in vain.
Judgment has come upon them, because they trusted in their carnal revelry,
and denied the Lord of spirits.
In those days shall the waters of that valley be changed; for when the angels
shall be judged, then shall the heat of those springs of water experience an
alteration.
And when the angels shall ascend, the water of the springs shall again
undergo a change, and be frozen. Then I heard holy Michael answering and saying,
This judgment, with which the angels shall be judged, shall bear testimony
against the kings, the princes, and those who possess the earth.
For these waters of judgment shall be for their healing, and for the death of
their bodies. But they shall not perceive and believe that the waters will be
changed, and become a fire, which shall blaze for ever.' Laurence's tr.]
[195] [Smith, 'Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends,' RP, 7, 133. See p. 135.]
[196] [Ibid., 133. See p. 140.]
[197] [Ibid., 133. See p. 148.]
[198] [Gen. 8:20. 'And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.']
[199] [Gen. 10:32, 11:1-2. 'These are the
families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by
these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain
in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.']
[200] [Boscawen, 'Legend of the Tower of Babel,' RP, 7, 129. See p. 130.]
[201] [Ibid., 129. See p. 132.]
[202] [Job 40:19. 'He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.']
[203] [Pioneer, Allahabad, October 22nd, 1897.]
[205] [Romily,
From My Verandah, p. 107-20. 'How an Eagle and a Snake both wished to
Marry the same Woman.
A long time ago there lived some few miles inland from the coast a large eagle.
He did not often come down to the sea, but sometimes the people saw him and were
afraid, on account of his great age and enormous size. Their fathers and
grandfathers had known him, and there was no bird in all the country which could
compare to him. His home was in the dense bush inland where the people feared to
go. The same sorts of birds, beasts, and reptiles, which frequented the coast,
lived there, but they practised magic, could speak all human languages, and were
all of terrific size. But sometimes a wandering hunter would travel so far
afield as to reach these haunted localities, and would return to his people with
tales of what he had seen, which amazed and frightened them. The eagle was
regarded as king of this country, and there was no such tree to be seen in the
whole land as the one in which his nest was built. But he had no one to mate
with, as no other eagle could compare with him for strength and wisdom. As he
flew over the hills he pondered on this matter, and one day, as he was circling
high above the town on the coast, he discerned a young woman more beautiful than
any he had ever seen before. She was tall, and of a good figure. Her five
petticoats of grass were each of a different colour, her hair had sweet-smelling
flowers arranged in it, and she was covered with ornaments. The eagle had no
sooner seen her, than he decided that she and no other must be his wife. But he
had to wait for an opportunity to catch her, as she was sitting amongst her
relations on the platform of the house. At last she took up a water-pot and put
it on her shoulder, and stepped down on to the ground. The eagle saw his chance,
and swooped down suddenly upon her, and carried her away quite easily, but did
not in any way hurt her. Her father and mother, seeing what had happened, ran
out and tried to follow him, as he flew but slowly.
For many miles they followed, till they reached the "border of the enchanted
country. Here they stopped, for they were afraid to proceed, and soon the sun
went down, and in the darkness they lost sight, as they supposed for ever, of
their daughter. Sadly they returned home and told the story to their friends.
The eagle flew slowly on, holding the girl gently so as not to hurt her, and
when he arrived at his nest he put her in it and sat down by her side. She
reproached him with what he had done, but he said:
"Have I hurt you? I am the king of all this country, and there was no one fit to
wed with me, until I beheld you. I saw how beautiful you were, and I said, "Here
is my wife," and with that I carried you off, and flew slowly, lest your father
and mother who followed me should find my tree, and know where I had brought you
to. Now," he continued, "you must marry me, and we will reign over this
country."
The girl understood that she could not refuse, and by this time she liked the
eagle on account of his strength. So she consented cheerfully to remain with
him. Every day he got food, which she cooked, and in course of time a son was
born to them. Their life continued happily for some years, and the boy got big
and strong.
But one day her boy saw smoke rising in the direction of the sea, and he asked
his mother where it came from, and what it meant.
His mother replied: "That is the smoke from my village, where my father and
mother live."
"Let us go," he cried, "and see our relations."
But his mother said: "No; they think I am dead."
But the boy cried so much to be allowed to go that his father said: "My wife and
my son, you shall visit your relations once more, but first I must go out and
catch fish, and when the fish are cooked you shall go."
So next day he went out and brought back many fish, which his wife cooked, and
the following day the fish were put into a bag, and the eagle flew down to the
ground, carrying his wife and his son.
Before they started he said: "I have got some instructions to give you, which
you must carefully obey. Follow the path you are on now till the sun is above
your head, and you will come to a place where two paths meet. You must be sure
to take the left-hand path. If you take the other, you will get into the country
of the big snake, and he will try and take you away from me."
His wife promised to obey his orders, and she and the boy began to walk along
the path.
"In five days' time I shall expect to see you back," said the eagle, and this
his wife also promised. They walked until noon, when, as the eagle had
told them, they saw two diverging paths, one on the right and one on the left.
The boy said to his mother, ''This is our road," pointing to the left-hand
path.
" No," said his mother, "it is the other one."
The boy insisted on it that she was wrong, but his mother would not listen to
him, and took the wrong road, the one leading to the right. For some time they
walked and saw nothing, but when they turned a corner of the path they both
stopped, for a monstrous snake lay coiled upon it. It was a larger snake than
had ever been seen before. The mother was frightened, but the boy laughed, and
told his mother not to be afraid. She wished to turn back, but he said: "No, let
us go on; I should like a snake like that to play with."
"No," said his mother, "you know what your father said about the snake; if you
touch him, he will take us away with him."
But the snake did not molest them, and they walked on steadily, seeing many
small snakes by the way.
The boy got impatient at seeing so many, and said: "Mother, I must have a snake
to play with.''
"No, no," she replied; "come on quickly."
But they had got but a very short distance farther along the path, when they saw
a snake, compared to which the first one was small. He was coiled up in their
path, and the woman did not dare to pass him.
"What shall we do?" she cried. ''I dare not go on, and I cannot return on
account of the snakes behind us. This must be the king; there can be no snake in
the world so big as this one."
But the boy only laughed, and said, "Come on, mother, I must have a snake to
play with, and I am going to have that one;" and with that he ran forward and
caught hold of the king of the snakes.
His mother cried to him not to touch him, but her son did not heed her; but as
soon as he touched it, the snake rose up on his tail with a great hiss and said:
"Now that your son has touched me, you must remain with me. You are my wife, and
he is my son.''
On hearing these words, they both sat down and began to cry.
"Do not cry," said the snake, "it must be as I wish, and you cannot get away
from me."
But they still sat and cried.
"Follow me," said the king of the snakes; "where I go you must follow;" and with
that he uncoiled himself, and slowly proceeded along the path in the direction
in which they had been travelling.
She and her boy followed, but as they went the woman took a fish out of her
basket and threw it on the ground. From time to time she repeated the same
thing, and after a time she had thrown twelve fish on to the ground.
After they had gone about a mile, the woman said: "Snake, my husband."
"Yes," said the snake, "what do you want?"
"I have dropped my fish," she said, "and I am tired and cannot go back for
them."
"Never mind," said the snake; "if you are tired, sit down here, and I will go
back for your fish."
So they sat down, and the snake returned in the direction from which they had
been coming. But as soon as he was out of sight the woman jumped up and said,
"Now run," and they ran as fast as they could till their breath failed them, and
they had to stop. But they still walked on, though they could not run. The snake
picked up all the fish, and came back to where he had left them sitting; but
when he arrived he found no one. He marvelled at this, but he could scent their
tracks along the path, and throwing away the fish he had gathered, he pursued
the fugitives at a great pace.
After a time he saw them, but still they could not run, and he soon caught them
up.
"Why did you run from me?" he said.
She replied: "My little boy ran, and I followed him; I want to get to the
village tonight, as I do not want my son to sleep in the bush."
"No," said the snake, "you cannot run from me. I can go faster than you can, and
wherever you go I will follow your tracks, even if I have to cross the whole
country. Do not think you can escape from me."
"Very well, my husband," the woman said; "what you wish me to do, I will do."
The snake appeared pleased, and once more went on ahead, the two as usual
following close behind him. This time the woman waited till they were not far
from the village, and then she began to throw more fish out of her basket. When
she had got rid of all her fish, she called out to the snake, and said:
"Snake, my husband, I have dropped some more fish behind, and I am too tired to
go back for them."
"Very well," said the snake; "you sit down here, and I will go back and pick
them up for you."
So for the second time they sat down till the snake was out of sight, and then
the woman jumped up, and seizing her boy by the hand, began to run very fast
until they reached the village. They ran through the crowd till they reached her
fathers house. Her parents recognized her at once, and were very glad to see
her, and came out to meet her.
"Is that you, my daughter?" they cried. ''What has kept you so long? where have
you been all this time?"
"Never mind me," said his daughter; "I will tell you all about it some time. I
have been away a long time, and have seen many things; but you must hide me and
my boy now, for the king of the snakes is chasing me, and says I must be his
wife, though I am already married to the king of the eagles. He will follow me
wherever I go."
The father and mother thereupon took them out in a canoe to the house in the
Water, and when they got there they covered them up with mats, so as to
hide them.
When the snake had picked up his second lot of fish, he returned to the place
where he had left the boy and his mother. But when he saw they had gone he was
angry, and threw away all the fish again, and went very fast in the direction of
the village. He soon reached it, and saw a number of people there.
He said to them: ''Where is my wife and boy?"
"They have not been here," said the people.
"We do not know your wife and boy."
"Yes," he said, "they are here; I smelt their tracks through the bush, and I can
smell them now. Where are they?"
The people were afraid, and made no reply.
The king of the snakes followed the tracks to the water's edge, and then swam
off to the house in which the woman he wished to marry and her boy had been
hidden.
"Are you here?" he cried. "I can smell you."
The woman he was pursuing saw that it was of no further use trying to hide
herself, and so she said:
"Yes, we are here. What are you going to do?"
"I am going to remain here," he replied. "You see it is no use trying to escape
me."
She understood that she could not escape him, and for some days the snake
remained in the house.
When three days had passed she became anxious to return to her proper husband
the king of the eagles. A day had been fixed on which she was to return, and she
began to think how she could fool the snake and escape from him. She did not
like him, and wished to get back to her own husband.
After awhile she thought of a plan. She called her two sisters to her, and said
to them: "To-morrow you go out hunting, and take my husband, the snake, hunting
with you. When you are gone I will escape with my boy, and return to my proper
husband, who is king of the eagles."
Her sisters cried, but said: "Yes, we will do what you wish."
Next day the snake and her two sisters went out hunting, and when they were gone
the woman took her boy and went into the bush towards the place
where her rightful husband dwelt.
All that day they walked, and in the evening they reached the tree where the
king of the eagles lived. The king came down and picked them up, and placed them
once more in his nest. His wife told him all her adventures since she had left
him, and though he said she was a foolish woman for not obeying his orders about
the road, he was not angry with her.
When the king of the snakes returned from hunting, he found that his so-called
wife and son had fled. He was very angry, and all the people said: "She was not
your wife; she was the wife of the king of the eagles."
The snake said: "No, she is my wife, and I will catch her yet."
He picked up the scent of the woman and her son, and followed it till he reached
the tall tree where they lived with the eagle king. No sooner had he
arrived there than he looked up, and on the top of the tree in the nest he saw
them all three together.
"Eagle," said he, "where is my wife and boy; what are they doing on your tree?"
The eagle replied: "Who are your wife and son? I do not know them."
"Yes," said the snake, "you know them; they are on the tree with you. They came
through my country and touched me, and now they are my wife and son."
''No," said the eagle, "they did not wish to go through your country; they took
the wrong road."
"She is my wife," cried the snake, "and that is my boy; I will have them."
"No," replied the eagle. "Many years ago I took her from her village, and the
boy is my son; I will not give her up."
"If you do not give her up," said the king of the snakes, "I will coil myself
round your tree and break it down, and then I will kill you and take her away."
"Very good," replied the eagle king; "break my tree if you can, but you shall
not have my wife."
When the snake king heard this, he was angry, and coiled himself tightly round
the tree, and bit by bit began to break it down. When he had taken off the
branches, the tree began to shake and crack. The trunk was crushed, and it
seemed as though the snake would bring the whole tree down.
"Eagle king! Eagle king!" cried his wife, "what are you doing? If the snake king
pulls down our tree we shall all be killed."
"Never mind," said the eagle king; "he cannot pall down my tree." And with these
words he spat at the king of the snakes, and immediately the tree was restored
to its former condition. Again and again did the snake try to break down the
tree, but each time that the eagle spat at him the damage was repaired.
The snake was now very angry, and said: "Why do you not come down and fight me?"
"Very well," said the eagle king; "I will come and fight you."
After saying these words, he flew down slowly till he saw his chance, and seized
the snake king in his talons, and lifted him off the ground, and flew to a
great height with him. When he had got to the height of a tall tree, he let go
his hold of the snake and lot him fall on the ground; but the snake
laughed as he fell, and when the eagle flew down to him he was still laughing.
"You thought you had killed me," said the snake, laughing; "but I will have your
wife yet."
The eagle was angry at this, and said: "You shall never have my wife; I will
fight you till one of his is dead."
The snake said: "We have been playing together; pick me and pick me up again, I
do not mind it."
The eagle took him at his word, and flying down slowly caught him again, and
began to fly up into the air with him.
The snake laughed, and said: "Do you think you can kill me?"
"Yes," said the eagle, "this time I will kill you."
He flew with him higher and higher, and still the snake laughed.
"Are we not high enough?" said he.
"No," said the eagle; "I am going much higher.''
At this the snake began to cry, for he was getting frightened. But the eagle
flew higher and higher still, and the snake cried louder and louder.
"You cannot kill me," said the snake, when he saw that the eagle did not mind
his cries.
"Then I will go higher still," said the eagle; "so high that when you fall you
must die."
"Do not go higher," entreated the snake. "I give up your wife and boy to you;
they shall belong to you if you will fly down slowly with me."
"They belong to me already," said the king of the eagles, "and I am going up
higher still with you before 1 let you fall." At this the snake began to cry
very loudly, but the eagle flew up and up till he could not be seen from the
earth, in spite of his great size, and then he let the snake king fall. Down he
came, and was utterly broken to pieces. When the eagle saw that he had gained
the victory, he returned to his wife, and said to her: "Now you can go wherever
you choose, as I have killed the snake king, and there are no more enemies you
need be afraid of."']
[206] [Samoa, pp. 330-31. 'The spirits of the dead were supposed to go eastward but they did not know where. Spirits were also thought to roam the bush. Nohi was the name which they gave to their great god. They say that after creating the human race at Eromanga, he went away to another land. When they first saw white men they concluded that they were made by the same great spirit, and to this day call foreigners, whether white or black, by the name of Nobu. They say that "once upon a time" men walked like pigs, and the pigs walked erect! The birds and some reptiles had a meeting about it. The lizard said he thought the pig should go all fours, and the men walk erect. The "water-wagtai " disputed this. It ended in the lizard going up a cocoa-nut tree, falling on the back of the pig, and making it stoop, and creep as it now does, and ever since pigs creep, and men walk erect! The first of the human race, they say, was a woman, then her son, and from them sprung the race of men. They have many tales about the doings of that woman and her son.']
[207] [O'Neill, Night of the Gods, vol. 1. pp. 513, 517.]
[208] [Gen. 4:26. 'And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.']
[209] [Irenaeus, Against Heresies, bk 1, ch. 30:10. 'laldabaoth, again, being incensed with men, because they did not worship or honour him as father and God, sent forth a deluge upon them, that he might at once destroy them all. But Sophia opposed him in this point also, and Noah and his family were saved in the ark by means of the besprinkling of that light which proceeded from her, and through it the world was again filled with mankind. laldabaoth himself chose a certain man named Abraham from among these, and made a covenant with him, to the effect that, if his seed continued to serve him, he would give to them the earth for an inheritance. Afterwards, by means of Moses, he brought forth Abraham's descendants from Egypt, and gave them the law, and made them the Jews. Among that people he chose seven days/ which they also call the holy Hebdomad. Each of these receives his own herald for the purpose of glorifying and proclaiming God; so that, when the rest hear these praises, they too may serve those who are announced as gods by the prophets.' ANCL, 5, pp. 109-10.]
[210] [Shaitan—see Grant, Nightside of Eden, and my essay 4.]
[211] [Rit. ch. 175.]
[212] [Tablet S. 954, British Museum. Budge, Babylonian.]
[213] [Sayce,
HL, p. 511. 'Hymn to Nergal.'
'"2. (In the ....) may it be, in thy
heart may it be, in thy liver may it be!
3. (In the ....) may it be, in thy liver may it be, in thy heart may it be!
4. Among the fat oxen thou enterest not on this side.
5. thou bringest not out.
6. Among the sheep the .... thou enterest not on this side.
7. To the sheep the strong sheep thou bringest not out.
8. lord, thou enterest not the temple of beer.
9. The clothing (bursumtu) of the place of the oracle thou gatherest not
together.
10. lord, the place of sovereignty (situlti) thou enterest not.
11. Her, even the servant who knows the word of the oracle, thou seatest not.
12. lord, the park of Istar thou establishest not.
13. The little ones thou leadest not out of the park of Istar.
14. The place where the bond (enu) is fixed thou enterest not.
15. The small child (mar a) who knows the bond thou bringest not out.
16. The .... thou dost not remove, its cow (lati) thou dost not destroy.
17. reclining with evil intent, the offering (kurbanna) thou dost not kiss.
18. in the place of his lord (?) thou dost not smite."']
[214] [Sayce, HL, p. 454. 'Gis Zida, "the eternal wood." In W.A.I. iv. 25, 12, it seems to mean "a mast." The Lady of the Magic Wand was Allat, the queen of Hades.']
[216] [Gen. 3:2-7. 'And the woman
said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.']
[217] [Source.]
[218] [Taylor, 'Collection of Chaldean Oracles,' CLJ, no. 22. ''The Chaldeans call the god (Dionysus or Bacchus) Iao in the Phoenician tongue (instead of the intelligible light), and he is often called Sabaoth, signifying that he is above the seven poles, that is the Demiurgus. Lyd. de. Mens. 83—Tay.' See Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 241 of 1832 ed.]
[220] [Source.]
[221] [Book of Enoch, ch. 24. 'I
went from there to another place, and saw a mountain of fire flashing both by
day and night. I proceeded towards it; and perceived seven splendid mountains,
which were all different from each other.
Their stones were brilliant and beautiful; all were brilliant and splendid
to behold; and beautiful was their surface. Three mountains were towards
the east, and strengthened by being placed one upon another; and three were
towards the south, strengthened in a similar manner. There were likewise deep
valleys, which did not approach each other. And the seventh mountain was in the
midst of them. In length they all resembled the seat of a throne, and
odoriferous trees surrounded them.
Among these there was a tree of an unceasing smell; nor of those which
were in Eden was there one of all the fragrant trees which smelt like this. Its
leaf, its flower, and its bark never withered, and its fruit was beautiful.
Its fruit resembled the cluster of the palm. I exclaimed, Behold! This
tree is goodly in aspect, pleasing in its leaf, and the sight of its fruit is
delightful to the eye. Then Michael, one of the holy and glorious angels who
were with me, and one who presided over them, answered,
And said: Enoch, why do you inquire respecting the odour of this tree?
Why are you inquisitive to know it?
Then I, Enoch, replied to him, and said, Concerning everything I am desirous of
instruction, but particularly concerning this tree.
He answered me, saying, That mountain which you behold, the extent of
whose head resembles the seat of the Lord, will be the seat on which shall sit
the holy and great Lord of glory, the everlasting King, when he shall come and
descend to visit the earth with goodness.
And that tree of an agreeable smell, not one of carnal odor, there
shall be no power to touch, until the period of the great judgment. When all
shall be punished and consumed for ever, this shall be bestowed on the righteous
and humble. The fruit of the tree shall be given to the elect. For
towards the north life shall be planted in the holy place, towards the
habitation of the everlasting King.
Then shall they greatly rejoice and exult in the Holy One. The sweet odor
shall enter into their bones; and they shall live a long life on the earth as
your forefathers have lived; neither in their days shall sorrow, distress,
trouble, and punishment afflict them.
And I blessed the Lord of glory, the everlasting King, because He has
prepared this tree for the saints, formed it, and declared that He would
give it to them.']
[222] [Rit. ch. 17.]
[223] [Rhys, Arthurian Legend.]
[225] [See following note.]
[226] [Preserved in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, bk. 1. ch.1. 'Of these men, he says, were begotten (through intercourse), with their mothers, Memrumus and Hypsuranius; the women of those times without shame having intercourse with any man they might chance to meet. Then, says he, Hypsuranius dwelt in Tyre, and he invented huts constructed of reeds and rushes, and (found out the use of) papyrus. And he fell into enmity with his brother Usous, who first invented a covering for the body, of the skins of wild beasts which he could catch.' From Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 6. See NG 1:479.]
[227] [Gen. 6:1-2. 'And it came to
pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were
born unto them,
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair;
and they took them wives of all which they chose.'
Book of Enoch., ch. 7:10-11. 'Then they took wives, each choosing for
himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching
them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees.
And the women conceiving brought forth giants,']
[229] [Source.]
[230] [Gen. 5:32. 'And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.']
[231] [Gen. 6:4. 'There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.']
[232] [Gen. 6:3. 'And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.']