Part 13

The like rites prevailed in Cyprus, which had in great measure been peopled by persons of these [676]families. One of their principal cities was Curium, which was denominated from [677]Curos, the Sun, the Deity, to whom it was sacred. In the perilous voyages of the antients nothing was more common than for strangers, whether shipwrecked, or otherwise distressed, to fly to the altar of the chief Deity, [Greek: Theou philiou, kai xeniou], _the God of charity and hospitality_, for his protection. This was fatal to those who were driven upon the western coast of Cyprus. The natives of Curium made it a rule to destroy all such, under an appearance of a religious rite. Whoever laid their hands upon the altar of Apollo, were cast down the precipice, upon which it stood. [678][Greek: Euthus estin akra, aph' hês rhiptousi tous hapsamenous tou bômou tou Apollônos]. Strabo speaks of the practice, as if it subsisted in his time. A like custom prevailed at the Tauric Chersonesus, as we are informed by Herodotus. [679][Greek: Thuousi men têi Parthenôi tous te nauêgous, kai tous an labôsi Hellênôn epanachthentas, tropôi toiôide. Katarxamenoi rhopalôi paiousi tên kephalên. Hoi men dê legousi, hôs to sôma apo tou krêmnou diôtheousi katô; epi gar krêmnou hidrutai to Hiron. ktl.] _The people of this place worship the virgin Goddess Artemis: at whose shrine they sacrifice all persons, who have the misfortune to be shipwrecked upon their coast: and all the Grecians, that they can lay hold of, when they are at any time thither driven. All these they without any ceremony brain with a club. Though others say, that they shove them off headlong from a high precipice: for their temple is founded upon a cliff._

The den of Cacus was properly Ca-Chus, the cavern or temple of Chus, out of which the poets, and later historians have formed a strange personage, whom they represent as a shepherd, and the son of Vulcan. Many antient Divinities, whose rites and history had any relation to Ur in Chaldea, are said to have been the children of Vulcan; and oftentimes to have been born in fire. There certainly stood a temple of old upon the Aventine mountain in Latium, which was the terror of the neighbourhood. The cruelties of the priests, and their continual depredations, may be inferred from the history of Cacus. Virgil makes Evander describe the place to Æneas; though it is supposed in his time to have been in ruins.

[680]Jam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem, Disjectæ procul ut moles, desertaque montis Stat domus, et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam. Hic spelunca fuit, vasto submota recessu, Semihominis Caci, facies quam dira tegebat, Solis inaccessum radiis: semperque recenti Cæde tepebat humus; foribusque affixa superbis Ora virûm tristi pendebant pallida tabo. Huic monstro Vulcanus erat pater.

Livy mentions Cacus as a shepherd, and a person of great strength, and violence. [681]Pastor, accola ejus loci, Cacus, ferox viribus. He is mentioned also by Plutarch, who styles him Caccus, [Greek: Kakkos]. [682][Greek: Ton men gar Hêphaistou paida Rômaioi Kakkon historousi pur kai phlogas aphienai dia tou stomatos exô rheousas.] As there were both priests, and priestesses, in temples of this sort, persons styled both Lami, and Lamiæ; so we read both of a Cacus, and a Caca. The latter was supposed to have been a Goddess, who was made a Deity for having betrayed her brother to Hercules. [683]Colitur et Caca, quæ Herculi fecit indicium boum; divinitatem consecuta, quia perdidit fratrem. In short, under the characters of Caca, and Cacus, we have a history of Cacusian priests, who seem to have been a set of people devoted to rapine and murder.

What we express Cocytus, and suppose to have been merely a river, was originally a temple in Egypt called Co-Cutus: for rivers were generally denominated from some town, or temple, near which they ran. Co-Cutus means the Cuthite temple, the house of Cuth. It was certainly a place of inquisition, where great cruelties were exercised. Hence the river, which was denominated from it, was esteemed a river of hell; and was supposed to have continual cries, and lamentations resounding upon its waters.

[684]Cocytus, named of lamentation loud Heard on its banks.

Milton supposes the river to have been named from the Greek word [Greek: kôkutos]: but the reverse is the truth. From the baleful river and temple Co-cutus came the Greek terms [Greek: kôkutos], and [Greek: kôkuô]. Acheron, another infernal river, was properly a temple of Achor, the [Greek: theos apomuios] of Egypt, Palestine, and Cyrene. It was a temple of the Sun, called Achor-On: and it gave name to the river, on whose banks it stood. Hence like Cocutus it was looked upon as a melancholy stream, and by the Poet Theocritus styled [685][Greek: Acheronta polustonon], _the river of lamentations_. Aristophanes speaks of an eminence of this name, and calls it [686][Greek: Acherontios skopelos haimatostagês], _the rock of Acheron, dropping blood_.

* * * * *

OF

MEED OR [Greek: MÊTIS],

AND THE

GODDESS HIPPA.

One of the most antient Deities of the Amonians was named Meed, or Meet; by which was signified divine wisdom. It was rendered by the Grecians [Greek: Mêtis] in the masculine: but seems to have been a feminine Deity; and represented under the symbol of a beautiful female countenance surrounded with serpents. The author of the Orphic Poetry makes Metis the origin of all [687]things: which Proclus expresses [688][Greek: tên dêmiourgikên aitian]: and supposes this personage to be the same as Phanes, and Dionusus, from whom all things proceeded. By Timotheus Chronographus, in his account of the creation, this divinity was described as that vivifying light, which first broke forth upon the infant world, and produced life and motion. His notion is said to have been borrowed from Orpheus: [Greek: Ephrase de (ho] [689] [Greek: Orpheus) hoti to phôs rhêxan ton aithera ephôtise pasan tên ktisin; eipôn, ekeino einai to phôs to rhêxan ton aithera to proeirêmenon, to hupertaton pantôn, hou onoma ho autos Orpheus akousas ek Manteias exeipe MÊTIS, hoper hermêneuetai BOULÊ, PHÔS, ZÔODOTÊR. Eipen en têi autou ekthesei tautas tas treis theias tôn onomatôn dunameis mian einai dunamin, kai hen kratos toutôn Theon, hon oudeis horai.] The account is remarkable. Hippa was another Goddess, of the like antiquity, and equally obsolete. Some traces however are to be still found in the Orphic verses above-mentioned, by which we may discover her original character and department. She is there represented as the nurse of [690]Dionusus, and seems to have been the same as Cybele, who was worshipped in the mountains of [691]Phrygia, and by the Lydians upon Tmolus. She is said to have been the soul of the [692]world: and the person who received and fostered Dionusus, when he came from the thigh of his father. This history relates to his second birth, when he returned to a second state of childhood. Dionusus was the chief God of the Gentile world, and worshipped under various titles; which at length came to be looked upon as different Deities. Most of these secondary Divinities had the title of Hippius, and Hippia: and as they had female attendants in their temples, these too had the name of Hippai. What may have been the original of the term Hippa, and Hippus, will be matter of future disquisition. Thus much is certain, that the Greeks, who were but little acquainted with the purport of their antient theology, uniformly referred it to [693]horses. Hence it was often prefixed to the names of Gods, and of Goddesses, when it had no relation to their department; and seemed inconsistent with their character. We have not only an account of [Greek: Arês Hippios], Mars the horseman; but of Poseidon Hippius, though a God of the sea. He is accordingly complimented upon this title by the Poet Aristophanes.

[694][Greek: Hippi' Anax Poseidon, hôi] [Greek: Chalkokrotôn hippôn ktupos] [Greek: Kai chremetismos handanei.]

Ceres had the title of Hippia: and the Goddess of wisdom, Minerva, had the same. We read also of Juno Hippia, who at Olympia partook of joint rites and worship, with those equestrian Deities Neptune, and Mars. Pausanias mentions [695][Greek: Poseidônos Hippiou, mai Hêras Hippiou bômoi]: and hard-by [Greek: têi men Areôs Hippiou, têi de Athênas Hippiou bômos.] In Arcadia, and Elis, the most antient rites were preserved: and the Grecians might have known, that the terms Hippa and Hippia were of foreign purport from the other titles given to Juno at Olympia. For they sacrificed here to [696]Amonian Juno, and to Juno Paramonian; which were also titles of Hermes. Hippa was a sacred Egyptian term, and as such was conferred upon Arsinoë, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus: for the princes of Egypt always assumed to themselves sacred appellations. [697][Greek: Hippia Arsinoê, hê tou Philadelphou gunê.] As the Grecians did not inquire into the hidden purport of antient names, they have continually misrepresented the histories of which they treated. As Ceres was styled Hippa, they have imagined her to have been turned into a [698]mare: and Hippius Poseidon was in like manner changed to a horse, and supposed in that shape to have had an intimate acquaintance with the Goddess. Of this Ovid takes notice.

[699]Et te, flava comas, frugum mitissima mater Sensit equum: te sensit avem crinita colubris Mater equi volucris.

The like is mentioned of the nymph [700]Ocuroë: also of Philyra, who was so changed by Saturn. He is said to have taken upon himself the same shape, and to have followed her neighing over the mountains of Thessaly.

[701]Talis et ipse jubam cervice effudit equinâ Conjugis adventu pernix Saturnus, et altum Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto.

All these legendary stories arose from this antient term being obsolete, and misapplied. Homer makes mention of the mares of Apollo, which the God was supposed to have bred in Pieria:

[702][Greek: Tas en Pieriêi threps' argurotoxos Apollôn.]

And he has accordingly put them in harness, and given them to the hero Eumelus. Callimachus takes notice of the same mares in his hymn to the Shepherd God Apollo.

[703][Greek: Phoibon kai Nomion kiklêskomen, exet' ekeinou,] [Greek: Exet' ep' Amphrusôi zeugêtidas etrephen hippas,] [Greek: Êitheou hup' erôti kekaumenos Admêtoio.]

These Hippai, misconstrued mares, were priestesses of the Goddess Hippa, who was of old worshipped in Thessaly, and Thrace, and in many different regions. They chanted hymns in her temples, and performed the rites of fire: but the worship growing obsolete, the very terms were at last mistaken. How far this worship once prevailed may be known from the many places denominated from Hippa. It was a title of Apollo, or the Sun, and often compounded Hippa On, and contracted Hippon: of which name places occur in Africa near Carthage[704]. [Greek: Hête dê Kirta polis entautha kai hoi duo Hippônes.] Argos was of old called Hippeion; not from the animal [Greek: Hippos], but [705][Greek: apo Hippês tou Danaou,] _from Hippa the daughter of Danaus_. That is from a priestess, who founded there a temple, and introduced the rites of the Goddess whom she served. As it was a title of the Sun, it was sometimes expressed in the masculine gender Hippos: and Pausanias takes notice of a most curious, and remarkable piece of antiquity, though he almost ruins the purport of it by referring it to an horse. It stood near mount Taygetus in Laconia, and was called the monument of Hippos. The author tells us, [706]_that at particular intervals from this monument stood seven pillars, [Greek: kata tropon oimai archaion,] placed_, says he, _as I imagine, according to some antient rule and method; which pillars were supposed to represent the seven planets_. If then these exterior stones related to the [707]seven erratic bodies in our sphere, the central monument of Hippos must necessarily have been designed for the Sun. And however rude the whole may possibly have appeared, it is the most antient representation upon record, and consequently the most curious, of the planetary system.

It is from hence, I think, manifest, that the titles Hippa, and Hippos, related to the luminary Osiris; and betokened some particular department of that Deity, who was the same as Dionusus. He was undoubtedly worshipped under this appellation in various regions: hence we read of Hippici Montes in Colchis: [Greek: Hippou kômê] in Lycia: [Greek: Hippou akra] in Libya: [Greek: Hippou oros] in Egypt: and a town Hippos in Arabia Felix. There occur also in composition[708], Hippon, Hipporum, Hippouris, Hippana, Hipponesus, Hippocrene. This last was a sacred fountain, denominated from the God of light, who was the patron of verse, and science: but by the Greeks it was referred to an animal, and supposed to have been produced by the hoof of an horse. The rites of Dionusus Hippius were carried into Thrace, where the horses of Diomedes were said to have been fed with human flesh. Deianira is introduced by Ovid, as asking Hercules, if he did not well remember this practice.

[709]Non tibi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago, Efferus humanâ qui dape pavit equos?

Abderus, the founder of Abdera, is supposed to have been a victim to these animals: of which Scymnus Chius gives the following account.

[710][Greek: Tôn d' epi thalattêi keimenôn estin polis] [Greek: Abdêr', ap' Abdêrou men ônomasmenê,] [Greek: Tou kai ktisantos proteron autên; hos dokei] [Greek: Hupo tôn Diomêdous husteron xenoktonôn] [Greek: Hippôn phtharênai.]

These horses, [Greek: xenoktonoi], which fed upon the flesh of strangers, were the priests of Hippa, and of Dionusus, styled Hippus, or more properly Hippius. They seem to have resided in an island, and probably in the Thracian Chersonese: which they denominated [711]Diu-Medes, or the island of the Egyptian Deity Medes. From hence the Grecian Poets have formed a personage Diomedes, whom they have made king of the country. There were opposite to Apulia islands of the same name, where similar rites prevailed. The priests were here Cycneans, and described as a species of swans, who were kind to people of their own race, but cruel to [712]strangers. A Diomedes is supposed to have been a king in these parts, and to have given name to these islands. It is said by Scymnus Chios above, that Abderus, who was devoured by the horses of Diomedes in Thrace, built the city, which bore his name. The Grecians continually supposed the personage, in whose honour a city was built, to have been the founder. I have mentioned, that Abderus signifies the place of Abdir, which is a contraction of Abadir, the serpent Deity Ad-Ur, or Adorus. And it is plain from many passages in antient writers, that human sacrifices were common at his shrine; and

## particularly those of infants. By Abdera being a victim to the horses of

Diomedes is meant that the natives of that place, which stood in the vicinity of the Chersonesus, were obliged to submit to the cruel rites of the Diomedean [713]priests. The very name must have come from them; for they worshipped the Deity under the titles of Meed, Hippa, and Abadir; and various other appellations.

There is an account given by [714]Palæphatus of one Metra, who in the more authentic manuscripts is called [Greek: Mêstra], Meestra. It is said of her, that she could change herself into various forms, particularly [Greek: ek korês genesthai boun, kai authis kuna, kai orneon,] _that she would instead of a young woman appear an ox, or a cow; or else be in the shape of a dog, or of a bird_. She is represented as the daughter of Eresicthon: and these uncommon properties are mentioned by Ovid[715], who sets them off with much embellishment. The story at bottom is very plain. Egypt, the land of the Mizraim, was by the Greeks often styled [716]Mestra and [717]Mestraia: and by the person here called Mestra we are certainly to understand a woman of that country. She was sometimes mentioned simply as a Cahen, or priestess, which the Grecians have rendered [Greek: kuna], a dog. Women in this sacred capacity attended at the shrine of Apis, and Mneuis; and of the sacred heifer at Onuphis. Some of them in different countries were styled Cygneans, and also Peleiadæ, of whom the principal were the women at [718]Dodona. Many of them were priestesses of Hippa, and upon that account styled Hippai, as I have shewn. Hence the mythologists under the character of Meestra have represented an Egyptian priestess, who could assume many departments, which were misconstrued different shapes. She could become, if we may credit Ovid,

Nunc equa, nunc ales, modo bos.

or according to Palæphatus, [Greek: boun, kuna, kai orneon]: _a cow, a dog, and a bird_. The whole of this related to the particular service of the priestess; and to the emblem under which the Deity was worshipped.

* * * * *

RITES

OF

DAMATER, OR CERES.

I shall now proceed to the rites of Ceres: and the general character of this Goddess is so innocent, and rural, that one would imagine nothing cruel could proceed from her shrine. But there was a time, when some of her temples were as much dreaded, as those of Scylla, and the Cyclops. They were courts of justice; whence she is often spoken of as a lawgiver.

[719]Prima Ceres unco terram dimovit aratro, Prima dedit leges.

She is joined by Cicero with Libera, and they are styled the Deities, [720]a quibus initia vitæ, atque victus, _legum, morum_, mansuetudinis, humanitatis, exempla hominibus, et civitatibus data, ac dispertita esse dicantur. The Deity, to whom she was a substitute, was El, the Sun. He was primarily worshipped in these temples: and I have shewn, that they were from Achor denominated Acherontian; also temples of Ops, and Oupis, the great serpent God. Hence it is said by Hesychius, that Acheron, and Ops, and Helle, and [721]Gerys, and Terra, and Demeter, were the same. [Greek: Hê] [722][Greek: Acherô, kai Ôpis, kai Hellê, kai Gêrus, kai Gê, kai Dêmêtêr,] [723][Greek: to auto.] Ceres was the Deity of fire: hence at Cnidus she was called [Greek: Kura], [724]Cura, a title of the Sun. Her Roman name Ceres, expressed by Hesychius Gerys, was by the Dorians more properly rendered [725]Garys. It was originally a name of a city, called [Greek: Charis]: for many of the Deities were erroneously called by the names of the places where they were worshipped. Charis is Char-Is, the [726]city of fire; the place where Orus and Hephastus were worshipped. Hence as a personage she is made the wife of [727]Vulcan, on account of her relation to fire. Her title of Damater was equally foreign to Greece; and came from Babylonia, and the east. It may after this seem extraordinary, that she should ever be esteemed the Goddess of corn. This notion arose in part from the Grecians not understanding their own theology: which bad originally, became continually more depraved, through their ignorance. The towers of Ceres were P'urtain, or [Greek: Prutaneia]; so called from the fires, which were perpetually there preserved. The Grecians interpreted this [Greek: purou tameion]; and rendered, what was a temple of Orus, a granary of corn. In consequence of this, though they did not abolish the antient usage of the place, they made it a repository of grain, from whence they gave largesses to the people upon any act of merit. [728][Greek: Topos ên par' Athênaiois, en hôi koinai sitêseis tois dêmosiois euergetais edidonto; hothen kai Prutaneion ekaleito, hoionei purotameion; puros gar ho sitos;] In early times the corn there deposited seems to have been for the priests and [729]diviners. But this was only a secondary use, to which these places were adapted. They were properly sacred towers, where a perpetual fire was preserved. Pausanias takes notice of such a one in Arcadia. [730][Greek: Dêmêtros, kai Korês hieron, pur de entautha kaiousi, poioumenoi phrontida, mê lathêi sphisin aposbesthen.] He mentions a like circumstance at the Prutaneion in Elis[731]: [Greek: Esti de hêi Hestia tephras kai autê pepoiêmenê, kai ep' autês pur ana pasan te hêmeran, kai en pasêi nukti hôsautôs kaietai.] Attica at first was divided into separate and independent hamlets: each of which had its own Prutaneion, and Archon. These Archons were priests of the [732]Prutaneia; and were denominated from their office. Archon is the same as Orchon, and like Chon-Or signifies the God of light, and fire; from which title the priests had their name. In Babylonia, and Chaldea, they were called Urchani.

As in these temples there was always a [733]light, and a fire burning on the hearth, some of the Grecians have varied in their etymology, and have derived the name from [Greek: pur], Pur. Suidas supposes it to have been originally called [Greek: Puros tameion]. [734][Greek: Prutaneion, puros tameion, entha ên asbeston pur.] The Scholiast upon Thucydides speaks to the same purpose. [735][Greek: Alloi de phasin, hoti to Prutaneion puros ên tameion, entha ên asbeston pur.] _Others tell us, that the Prutaneion was of old called Puros Tameion, from [Greek: pur], pur: because it was the repository of a perpetual fire_. It was sacred to Hestia, the Vesta of the Romans; which was only another title for Damater: and the sacred hearth had the same name. [736][Greek: Hestian d' an kuriôtata kaloiês tên en Prutaneiôi, eph' hês to pur to asbeston anaptetai.] I have mentioned, that these places were temples, and at the same time courts of justice: hence we find, that in the Prutaneion at Athens, the laws of Solon were [737]engraved. These laws were described upon wooden cylinders: some of which remained to the time of [738]Plutarch.

Many of these temples were dedicated to the Deity under the name of Persephone, or Proserpine, the supposed daughter of Ceres. They were in reality the same personage. Persephone was styled [Greek: Kora], Cora; which the Greeks misinterpreted [Greek: Parthenos], the virgin, or damsel. How could a person, who according to the received accounts had been ravished by Pluto, and been his consort for ages; who was the reputed queen of hell, be styled by way of eminence [Greek: Parthenos]? [Greek: Kora], Cora, which they understood was the same as Cura, a feminine title of the sun: by which Ceres also was called at Cnidos. However mild and gentle Proserpine may have been represented in her virgin state by the Poets; yet her tribunal seems in many places to have been very formidable. In consequence of this we find her with Minos, and Rhadamanthus, condemned to the shades below, as an infernal inquisitor. Nonnus says,

[739][Greek: Persephonê thôrêxen Erinnuas.]

_Proserpine armed the furies_. The notion of which Furies arose from the cruelties practised in these Prutaneia. They were called by the Latines, Furiæ; and were originally only priests of fire: but were at last ranked among the hellish tormentors. Ceres the benefactress, and lawgiver, was sometimes enrolled in the list of these dæmons. This is manifest from a passage in Antimachus, quoted by Pausanias, where her temple is spoken of as the shrine of a Fury.

[740][Greek: Dêmêtros, tothi phasin Erinnuos einai edethlon.]