Chapter III

("The Birth of Aphrodite") I shall explain what an important part the invention of this girdle played in the development of the material side of civilization and the even vaster influence it exerted upon beliefs and ethics. It represents the first stage in the evolution of clothing; and it was responsible for originating the belief in love-philtres and in the possibility of foretelling the future.

It would lead me too far from my main purpose in this book to discuss the widespread geographical distribution and historical associations of the customs of baptism and pouring libations among different peoples. I may, however, refer the reader to an article by Mr. Elsdon Best, entitled "Ceremonial Performances Pertaining to Birth, as Performed by the Maori of New Zealand in Past Times" (_Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, Vol. XLIV, 1914, p. 127), which sheds a clear light upon the general problem.

The whole subject of baptismal ceremonies is well worth detailed study as a remarkable demonstration of the spread of culture in early times.

[107: Donald A. Mackenzie, "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria," p. 44 _et seq._]

[108: Dr. Alan Gardiner has protested against the assertions of "some Egyptologists, influenced more by anthropological theorists than by the unambiguous evidence of the Egyptian texts," to the effect that "the funerary rites and practices of the Egyptians were in the main precautionary measures serving to protect the living against the dead" (Article "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings' _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_). I should like to emphasize the fact that the "anthropological theorists," who so frequently put forward these claims have little more justification for them than "some Egyptologists". Careful study of the best evidence from Babylonia, India, Indonesia, and Japan, reveals the fact that anthropologists who make such claims have in many cases misinterpreted the facts. In an article on "Ancestor Worship" by Professor Nobushige Hozumi in A. Stead's "Japan by the Japanese" (1904) the true point of view is put very clearly: "The origin of ancestor-worship is ascribed by many eminent writers to the _dread of ghosts_ and the sacrifices made to the souls of ancestors for the purpose of _propitiating_ them. It appears to me more correct to attribute the origin of ancestor-worship to a contrary cause. It was the _love_ of ancestors, not the _dread_ of them" [Here he quotes the Chinese philosophers Shiu-ki and Confucius in corroboration] that impelled men to worship. "We celebrate the anniversary of our ancestors, pay visits to their graves, offer flowers, food and drink, burn incense and bow before their tombs, entirely from a feeling of love and respect for their memory, and no question of 'dread' enters our minds in doing so" (pp. 281 and 282). [See, however, Appendix B, p. 74.]]

[109: For, as I have already explained, the idea so commonly and mistakenly conveyed by the term "soul-substance" by writers on Indonesian and Chinese beliefs would be much more accurately rendered simply by the word "life," so that the stealing of it necessarily means death.]

[110: Barton, _op. cit._ p. 105.]

[111: The evidence set forth in these pages makes it clear that such ideas are not restricted to the Semites: nor is there any reason to suppose that they originated amongst them.]

[112: Albert J. Carnoy, "Iranian Views of Origins in Connexion with Similar Babylonian Beliefs," _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, Vol. XXXVI, 1916, pp. 300-20.]

[113: This is Professor Carnoy's summary of Professor Jastrow's views as expressed in his article "Sumerian and Akkadian Views of Beginnings".]

[114: Jastrow's interpretation of a recently-discovered tablet published by Langdon under the title _The Sumerian Epic of Paradise, the Flood and the Fall of Man_.]

[115: I have already (p. 43) mentioned the fact that it is still preserved in China also.]

[116: Henry Whitehead (Bishop of Madras), "The Village Deities of Southern India," Madras Government Museum, Bull., Vol. V, No. 3, 1907; Wilber Theodore Elmore, "Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism: A Study of the Local and Village Deities of Southern India," University Studies: University of Nebraska, Vol. XV, No. 1, Jan., 1915. Compare the sacrifice of the fore-leg of a living calf in Egypt--A. E. P. B. Weigall, "An Ancient Egyptian Funeral Ceremony," _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, Vol. II, 1915, p. 10. Early literary references from Babylonia suggest that a similar method of offering blood was practised there.]

[117: William Ellis, "Polynesian Researches," 2nd edition, 1832, Vol. I, p. 373.]

[118: See H. Vincent, "Canaan d'apres l'exploration recente," Paris, 1907, p. 395.]

[119: "Les Premieres Civilizations," Paris, 1909, p. 404: Memoires de la Delegation en Perse, Tome VIII, archeol.; and Mission Scientifique au Caucase, Tome I.]

[120: W. J. Perry, "The Relationship between the Geographical Distribution of Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," _Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_, Vol. 60, Part I, 24th Nov., 1915.]

[121: The evidence for this is being prepared for publication by Captain Leonard Munn, R.E., who has personally collected the data in Hyderabad.]

[122: Annual Report of the Archaeological Department, Southern Circle, Madras, for the year 1915-1916. See for example Mr. A. H. Longhurst's photographs and plans (Plates I-IV) and especially that of the old Siva temple at Kambaduru, Plate IV (b).]

[123: As I shall show in "The Birth of Aphrodite" (