BOOK III. sacred caverns; the imagery of which closely corresponds with the mythology of the Zend-Avesta. On the propitious sign of the rainbow is seated a winged Eros or Cupid, whom the ancient hierophants rightly deemed the oldest of the gods. On his left hand appears the Sun, with the flame of an altar rising towards it. On his right, kneels an adoring Magus. And, behind the votary, is seen a phallus or conical pillar surmounted by a bull's head. Beneath these are eighteen naked men and the whole groupe is supported by two pillars, the capitals of which are each composed of the duplicated head of a steer.' The head on the pillar certainly represents the tauric Mithras; viewed, as the great father always was viewed, in the light of the chief generative or regenerative power; for Porphyry tells us, that Mithras was depicted riding on the bull of Venus, who was the same as Isis, Astartè, or Mylitta; that, like that bull, he was the lord of generation and the creator of the world; that he was immediately connected with the mystic birth and egress of souls from the Moon, symbolized by a cow; and that he was styled Buclopus or the stealer of oxen, which name that writer seems to consider as equivalent to one who by stealth attends to generation. This tauric Mithras is declared to be the Sun:' and there was a notion, that he triplicated himself or produced a triple offspring; whence the Greeks denominated him Triplasius. But the man-bull Taschter is also said to be the Sun; while, in his human character of the producer of the deluge, he is said to have been assisted by three inferior attendants. The solari-tauric Mithras therefore is evidently the solar man-bull Taschter; and the triplication of the one relates solely to the three attendants of the other. 2 Such and so varied are the testimonies, which may be brought to the genuine antiquity of the mythological system, taught in the early history of the Zend-Avesta. * See the print in Bryant's Anal. vol. ii. p. 426. 3 Μιθρας ὁ ἥλιος παρα Περσαις. Hesych. Lex. CHAPTER IV. Pagan accounts of an universal deluge. WE have observed, that pagan accounts of the creation generally contain some strong allusions to the deluge: in a similar manner we shall find, that pagan accounts of the deluge are frequently marked by references to the history of the creation. The cause of this apparent confusion is in both instances the same. Agreeably to the established doctrine of a succession of similar worlds, the creation of the antediluvian system was not esteemed a proper creation or a production of something out of nothing; but was considered only as a new organization of matter subsequent to a flood, which had destroyed a former world, and on the surface of which the great father floated in profound repose during the period that intervened between that world and its successor. And, analogously to such an idea, the reappearance of the face of the earth, when the deluge retired into the central abyss, was viewed as the creation of a new mundane system out of the fragments of a prior system; the great father with his seven companions having again floated upon the face of the deep, during the appointed intermediate period, either on the lotos, or the sacred leaf, or the navicular sea-serpent, or the mystic ship. Hence, as the proper creation was believed to have been preceded by a flood, which de BOOK III. stroyed a former world; and as our present system was really preceded by a flood, and was in some sort a new production out of preexisting materials : it is obvious, that, according to the philosophy of Paganism, there was no essential difference between the real creation of the world and its renovation after the deluge. Such being the case, that heathen cosmogonies and heathen accounts of the flood would be much intermingled together, is in fact nothing more than what might have been naturally anticipated. If however we make due allowances for this circumstance, we shall still find, that many of the more ancient nations have preserved almost literal accounts of an universal deluge, which correspond in a very wonderful manner with the history of it as detailed by Moses. I. I shall begin with that of the Chaldeans or Babylonians, as we have it handed down to us, from the now lost history of Berosus, by Eusebius, Syncellus, Abydenus, and Josephus. Xisuthrus, or (as his name is sometimes written) Seisithrus, was, like Noah, the ninth in descent from the first-created man of the former mundane system. In his time happened the great deluge, the history of which is given in this manner. The god Cronus appeared to him in a vision; and gave him notice, that, on the fifteenth day of the month Desius, there would be a flood, by which all mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to commit to writing a history of the beginning, procedure, and final conclusion, of all things, down to the present term; and to bury these accounts securely in the city of the Sun at Sippara or Sisparnis. He then ordered him to build a vessel; to take with him into it his friends and relations; and to trust himself fearlessly to the deep. The command was implicitly obeyed. Xisuthrus, having carried on board every thing necessary to support life, took in likewise all kinds of animals, that either fly through the air or rove on the surface of the earth. He then asked the deity, whither he was to go; and was answered, To the gods: upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of mankind. Thus he obeyed the divine admonition. The vessel, which he built, was five stadia in length, and two in breadth. Into this he put every thing, which he had got ready; and conveyed into it last of all his wife, his children, and his friends. After the flood had covered the earth, and when at length it began to abate, Xisuthrus sent out some birds from the CHAP. IV. vessel; which, finding neither food nor place to rest their feet, returned to him again. After an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time: and they now came back with their feet tinged with mud. A third time he made trial with them; but they then returned to him no more: hence he formed a judgment, that the surface of the earth had appeared above the waters. He now therefore opened the vessel; and found, upon looking out, that it was driven to the side of a mountain. Upon this, he immediately quitted it, attended by his wife, his children, and his pilot.' First he paid his adoration to the earth: and then, having built an altar, he offered sacrifices to the gods. When these things had been duly performed, both Xisuthrus, and those who came out of the vessel with him, disappeared. They who remained within, finding that their late companions did not return, now quitted the ship with many lamentations, and called incessantly on the name of Xisuthrus. Him however they saw no more: but they distinguished his voice in the air, and could hear him admonish them to pay due regard to the gods. He likewise informed them, that on account of his piety, he was translated to live with the gods; and that his wife, and his children, and his pilot, had obtained the same honour. To this he added, that he would have them make the best of their way to Babylonia, and search at Sippara for the writings which were to be made known to all mankind. The place, where these things happened, was in Armenia. The remainder, having heard his words, offered sacrifices to the gods; and, taking a circuit, journeyed towards Babylonia. Berosus remarks, that the remains of the vessel were to be seen in his time upon one of the Corcyrèan or Cordyèan mountains in Armenia; and that people were wont to scrape off the bitumen with which it had been outwardly coated, and to use it by way of an alexi Berosus would hardly suppose confessedly driven at the will of interpreter would run into the a pilot (nußegvτns), where a vessel was totally shut up, and Hyg. Fab. 14. be the pilot of BOOK III. pharmic and amulet. In this manner, they returned to Babylon; and, having found the writings at Sippara, they began to build cities and to erect temples. Thus was Babylon inhabited again." II. The Greek account of the deiuge, which may also be esteemed the Syrian, is no less explicit, as it stands preserved by Lucian, than that of the Babylonians. This generation and the present race of men, says he, were not the first : for all those of that former generation perished. But these are of a second race; which increased from a single person, named Deucalion, to its present multitude. Concerning those men they relate the following tale. Being of a violent and ferocious temper, they were guilty of every sort of lawlessness. They neither regarded the obligation of oaths, nor the rights of hospitality, nor the prayers of the suppliant: wherefore a great calamity befell them. The earth suddenly poured forth a vast body of water; heavy torrents of rain descended; the rivers overflowed their banks; and the sea arose above its ordinary level: until the whole world was inundated, and all that were in it perished. In the midst of the general destruction, Deucalion alone was left to another generation, on account of his extraordinary wisdom and piety. Now his preservation was thus effected. He caused his sons and their wives to enter into a large ark, which he had provided; and afterwards went into it himself. But, while he was embarking, swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other animals that live upon the face of the earth, came to him in pairs. These he took in with him: and they injured him not; but, on the contrary, the greatest harmony subsisted between them through the influence of the deity. Thus they all sailed together in one ark, so long as the waters prevailed. Such is the narrative of the Greeks: but the Syrians of Hierapolis add to it a wonderful account of the whole deluge being swallowed up by a vast chasm in their country. Deucalion, they say, when all these matters had taken place, erected altars, and built a temple to Juno over the chasm. I myself saw this chasm; and, at that time, it was but a small aperture beneath the 1 Syncell. Chronog. p. 30, Abyd. apud Euseb. Chron. p. 8. Joseph. Ant. Jud. lib. i. c. 3. § 6. |