Part 15

Osiris is a title often conferred upon the great patriarch himself: and there is no way to find out the person meant but by observing the history, which is subjoined. When we read of Osiris being exposed in an ark, and being afterward restored to day; of his planting the vine, and teaching mankind agriculture; and inculcating religion, and justice; the person alluded to stands too manifest to need any farther elucidation. And when it is said of Osiris, that he went over most parts of the habitable globe, and built cities in various regions; this too may be easily understood. It can allude to nothing else, but a people called Osirians, who traversed the regions mentioned. They were principally the Cuthites, who went abroad under various denominations: and the histories of all the great heroes, and heroïnes of the first ages will be found of the same purport, as the foregoing. Osiris is supposed to have been succeeded in Egypt by Orus. After Orus came Thoules; who was succeeded by [789]Sesostris.

PERSEUS.

Perseus was one of the most antient heroes in the mythology of Greece: the merit of whose supposed achievements the Helladians took to themselves; and gave out that he was a native of Argos. He travelled to the temple of [790]Ammon; and from thence traversed the whole extent of Africa. He subdued the [791]Gorgons, who lived in Mauritania, and at Tartessus in Boetica; and defeated the Ethiopians upon the western ocean, and the nations about mount _Atlas_: which [792]mountain he only and Hercules are said to have passed. Being arrived at the extremity of the continent, he found means to pass over, and to get possession of all the western islands. He warred in the East; where he freed [793]Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus king of the eastern Ethiopia, who was exposed to a sea-monster. Some imagine this to have happened at [794]Joppa in Palestine, where the [795]bones of this monster of an extraordinary size are supposed to have been for a long time preserved. He is said to have built [796]Tarsus in Cilicia, reputed the most antient city in the world; and to have planted the peach tree at [797]Memphis. The Persians were supposed to have been his descendants. He travelled through Asia Minor, to the country of the [798]Hyperboreans upon the Ister, and the lake Mæotis; and from thence descended to Greece. Here he built Mycene, and Tiryns, said by many to have been the work of the Cyclopians. He established a seminary at Helicon: and was the founder of those families, which were styled Dorian, and Herculean. It is a doubt among writers, whether he came into Italy. Some of his family were there; who defeated the giant race in Campania, and who afterwards built Argiletum, and Ardea in Latium. Virgil supposes it to have been effected by Danae, the mother of this Hero:

[799]Ardea ---- quam dicitur olim Acrisioneïs Danäe fundâsse colonis.

But [800]Servius says, that Perseus himself in his childhood was driven to the coast of Daunia. He is represented as the ancestor of the Grecian Hercules, supposed to have been born at Thebes in Boeotia. In reality neither [801]Hercules, nor Perseus, was of Grecian original; notwithstanding the genealogies framed in that country. The history of the latter came apparently from Egypt, as we may learn from Diodorus[802]: [Greek: Phasi de kai ton Persea gegonenai kat' Aigupton.] Herodotus more truly represents him as an [803]Assyrian; by which is meant a Babylonian: and agreeably to this he is said to have married [804]Asterie, the daughter of Belus, the same as Astaroth and Astarte of Canaan; by whom he had a daughter Hecate. This, though taken from an idle system of theology, yet plainly shews, that the history of Perseus had been greatly misapplied and lowered, by being inserted among the fables of Greece. Writers speak of him as a great [805]Astronomer, and a person of uncommon knowledge. He instructed mariners to direct their way in the sea by the lights of heaven; and particularly by the polar constellation. This he first observed, and gave it the name of Helice. Though he was represented as a Babylonian; yet he resided in Egypt, and is said to have reigned at Memphis. To say the truth, he was worshipped at that place: for Perseus was a title of the Deity; [806][Greek: Perseus, ho Hêlios]; _Perseus was no other than the Sun_, the chief God of the Gentile world. On this account he had a temple of great repute at [807]Chemmis, as well as at Memphis, and in other parts of Egypt. Upon the Heracleotic branch of the Nile, near the sea, was a celebrated watch-tower, denominated from him. His true name was Perez, or Parez, rendered Peresis, Perses, and Perseus: and in the account given of this personage we have the history of the Peresians, Parrhasians, and Perezites, in their several peregrinations; who were no other than the Heliadæ, and Osirians abovementioned. It is a mixed history, in which their forefathers are alluded to; particularly their great progenitor, the father of mankind. He was supposed to have had a renewal of life: they therefore described Perseus as inclosed in an [808]ark, and exposed in a state of childhood upon the waters, after having been conceived in a shower of gold.

Bochart thinks that the name both of Persis and Perseus was from [Hebrew: PRS], Paras, an Horse: because the Persians were celebrated horsemen, and took great delight in that animal. But it must be considered that the name is very antient, and prior to this use of horses. P'aras, P'arez, and P'erez, however diversified, signify the Sun; and are of the same analogy as P'ur, P'urrhos, P'oros, which betoken fire. Every animal, which was in any degree appropriated to a Deity, was called by some sacred [809]title. Hence an horse was called P'arez: and the same name, but without the prefix, was given to a lion by many nations in the east. It was at first only a mark of reference, and betokened a solar animal, specifying the

## particular Deity to whom it was sacred. There were many nations, which were

distinguished in the same manner; some of whom the Greeks styled Parrhasians. Hence the antient Arcadians, those Selenitæ, who were undoubtedly an Amonian colony, had this appellation. A people in Elis had the same. The Poets described the constellation of Helice, or the Bear, by the title of Parrhasis, Arctos, and Parrhasis Ursa. This asterism was confessedly first taken notice of by Perez or Perseus, by which is meant the Persians.

[810] Versaque ab axe suo Parrhasis Arctos erat.

In the east, where the worship of Arez greatly prevailed, there were to be found many nations called after this manner. Part of Media, according to [811]Polybius, had the name of Parrhasia. There were also Parrhasii and Parrhasini in [812]Sogdiana; and [813]the like near Caucasus: also a town named [814]Parasinum in the Tauric Chersonesus. The people styled [815]Parrhasians in Greece were the same as the Dorians and Heraclidæ; all alike Cuthites, as were the antient Persians. Hence it is truly said by Plato, that the Heraclidæ in Greece, and the Achæmenidæ among the Persians were of the same stock: [816][Greek: To de Hêrakleous te genos kai to Achaimeneous eis Persea ton Dios anapheretai.] On this account [817]Herodotus makes Xerxes claim kindred with the Argives of Greece, as being equally of the posterity of Perses, the same as Perseus, the Sun: under which character the Persians described the patriarch, from whom they were descended. Perseus was the same as Mithras, whose sacred cavern was styled Perseüm.

[818]Phoebe parens--seu te roseum Titana vocari Gentis Achæmeniæ ritu; seu præstat Osirin Frugiferum; seu Persëi sub rupibus antri Indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram.

OF MYRINA,

AND THE

AMAZONIANS OF LIBYA.

From a notion that the Amazons were a community of women, historians have represented the chief personage of their nation as a [819]female. She is mentioned by some as having flourished long before the æra of [820]Troy: and it is by others said more precisely, that she lived in the time of Orus, the son of Isis and Osiris. This removes her history far back; so as to make it coeval with the first annals of time. Her dominions lay in the most western parts of [821]Africa, at the extremity of Atlas; where the mountain terminated in the ocean, to which it gave name. This country was called Mauritania; and was supposed to have been possessed by the Atlantes and Gorgons. The Grecian writers, who did not know that the same family went under different titles, have often made the same nation at variance with itself. And as they imagined every migration to have been a warlike expedition, they have represented Myrina as making great conquests; and what is extraordinary, going over the same ground, only in a retrograde direction, which Osiris had just passed before. Her first engagement was with the Atlantes of Cercene: against whom she marched with an army of 30,000 foot, and 2,000 horse; whom she completely armed with the skins of serpents. Having defeated the Atlantes, she marched against the Gorgons, whom she likewise [822]conquered; and proceeding forward, subdued the greater part of Africa, till she arrived at the borders of Egypt. Having entered into an alliance with Orus, she passed the Nile, and invaded the Arabians, whom she defeated. She then conquered the Syrians, and Cilicians, and all the nations about Mount Taurus; till she arrived at Phrygia, and the regions about the river Caïcus. Here she built many cities,

## particularly Cuma, Pitane, and Priene. She also got possession of several

islands; and among others, of Lesbos and Samothracia, in which last she founded an asylum. After these transactions, Myrina, accompanied with Mopsus the diviner, made an expedition into Thrace, which was the ultimate of her progress; for she was supposed to have been here slain. According to Homer she died in Phrygia: for he takes notice of her tomb in the plains of Troas; and represents it as a notable performance.

[823][Greek: Esti de tis proparoithe poleôs aipeia kolônê,] [Greek: En pediôi apaneuthe, peridromos entha kai entha;] [Greek: Tên êtoi andres Batieian kiklêskousin,] [Greek: Athanatoi de te sêma poluskarthmoio Murinês.]

The tomb of this heroïne was in reality a sacred mound, or high altar; and Myrina a Gentile divinity. In her supposed conquests we may in great measure see the history of Osiris, and Perseus, reversed, and in some degree abridged; yet not so far varied, but that the purport may be plainly discerned. Indeed there is no other way to obtain the hidden meaning, but by collating the different histories, and bringing them in one view under the eye of the reader.

HERCULES.

Similar to the foregoing are the expeditions of Hercules, and the conquests which he is supposed to have performed. After many exploits in Greece, the reputed place of his nativity, he travelled as far as mount Caucasus near Colchis, to free Prometheus, who was there exposed to an eagle or vulture. Upon the Thermodon he engaged with the Amazons, whom he utterly defeated; and then passed over into Thrace. Upon his return into Greece he was ordered to make an expedition into Iberia, a region in the farthest part of Spain; where Chrusaor, a prince of great wealth, resided. Hercules accepts of the commission; but, I know not for what reason, goes first to Crete, and from thence to [824]Libya; and what is extraordinary, proceeds to Egypt. This makes the plan of his supposed rout somewhat irregular and unaccountable. After some time spent in these parts, he builds the city Hecatompulos, said before to have been built by Osiris: and then traverses the whole of Africa westward, till he arrives at the Fretum Gaditanum. Here he erects two pillars; which being finished, he at last enters Iberia. He defeats the sons of Chrusaor, who were in arms to oppose him; and bestows their kingdom upon others. He likewise seizes upon the oxen of Geryon. He then marches into the country of the Celtæ, and [825]founds the city Corunna, and likewise [826]Alesia in Gaul. He afterwards fights with the giants Albion and Bergion near Arelate, in the plain styled Campus Lapideus; where are the salt waters of Salona. He then passes the [827]Alpes; and upon the banks of the Eridanus encounters a person of shepherd race; whom he kills, and seizes his [828]golden flocks. In his way homeward he visits Hetruria, and arrives at the mountain Palatinus upon the Tiber. From thence he goes to the maritime part of Campania, about Cuma, Heraclea, and the lake Aornon. Not far from hence was an adust and fiery region; supposed to have been the celebrated Phlegra, where the giants warred against heaven: in which war Hercules is said to have [829]assisted. Here was an antient oracular temple; and hard by the mountain Vesuvius, which in those days flamed violently, though it did not for many ages afterwards. During his residence here he visited the hot fountains near Misenus and Dicæarchea; and made a large causeway, called in aftertimes Via Herculanea, and Agger Puteolanus. After having visited the Locrians, and the people of Rhegium, he crossed the sea to Sicily; which sea he swam over, holding by the horn of an ox. At his arrival some warm springs burst forth miraculously, to give him an opportunity of bathing. Here he boxed with Eryx; defeated the Sicani; and performed many other exploits. What is remarkable, having in Spain seized upon the cattle of Geryon, he is said to have made them travel over the Pyrenean mountains, and afterwards over the Alpes, into Italy; and from thence cross the sea into Sicily; and being now about to leave that island, he swims with them again to Rhegium: and ranging up the coast of the Adriatic, passes round to Illyria, from thence to Epirus; and so descends to Greece. The whole of these travels is said to have been completed in ten years.

He was also reported, according to [830]Megasthenes and others, to have made an expedition into [831]India, and to have left many memorials of his transactions in those parts. He travelled likewise into the region called afterwards Scythia; the natives of which country were his [832]descendants. He also visited the Hyperboreans. In all these peregrinations he is generally described as proceeding alone: at least we have no intimation of any army to assist in the performance of these great enterprises. He is indeed supposed to have sailed with six ships to [833]Phrygia: but how he came by them is not said; nor whence he raised the men, who went with him. At other times he is represented with a club in his hand, and the skin of an animal upon his shoulders. When he passed over the ocean, he is said to have been wafted in a golden [834]bowl. In Phrygia he freed Hesione from a Cetus, or sea monster, just as Perseus delivered Andromeda. He is mentioned as founding many cities in parts very remote: the sea-coast of Boetica, and Cantabria, was, according to some writers, peopled by [835]him. By Syncellus he is said to have resided in Italy, and to have reigned in [836]Latium. The Grecians supposed that he was burnt upon Mount Oeta: but the people of Gades shewed his Taphos in their [837]city, just as the Egyptians shewed the Taphos of Osiris at Memphis, and elsewhere. Hence it was imagined by many, that Hercules was buried at Gades. The philosopher Megaclides could not be brought to give the least assent to the histories of this [838]hero: and Strabo seems to have thought a great part of them to have been a [839]fable. In short, the whole account of this personage is very inconsistent: and though writers have tried to compromise matters by supposing more persons than one of this name, yet the whole is still incredible, and can never be so adjusted as to merit the least belief. How they multiplied the same Deity, in order to remedy their faulty mythology, may be seen in the following extract from Cicero. [840]Quanquam, quem potissimum Herculem colamus, scire velim: plures enim nobis tradunt ii, qui interiores scrutantur et reconditas literas. Antiquissimum Jove natum, sed item Jove antiquissimo: nam Joves quoque plures in priscis Græcorum literis invenimus. Ex eo igitur et Lysito est is Hercules, quem concertâsse cum Apolline de tripode accepimus. Alter traditur Nilo natus, Ægyptius; quem aiunt Phrygias literas conscripsisse. Tertius est ex Idæis Dactylis, cui inferias afferunt. Quartus Jovis est, et Asteriæ, Latonæ sororis, quem Tyrii maxime colunt; cujus Carthaginem filium ferunt. Quintus in [841]Indiâ, qui Belus dicitur. Sextus hic, ex Alcumenâ quem Jupiter genuit; sed tertius Jupiter: quoniam, ut docebo, plures Joves accepimus.

Hercules was a title given to the chief deity of the Gentiles, who have been multiplied into almost as many personages, as there were countries, where he was worshipped. What has been attributed to this god singly, was the work of Herculeans; a people who went under this title among the many which they assumed; and who were the same as the Osirians, Peresians, and Cuthites. They built Tartessus in Boetica, and occupied great part of Iberia. They likewise founded [842]Corunna in Cantabria, and [843]Alesia in Gaul: of which there are traditions to this day. Some of them settled near [844]Arelate; others among the [845]Alpes: also at Cuma, and Heraclea in Campania. They were also to be found at Tyre, and in Egypt; and even in the remotest parts of [846]India. In short, wherever there were Heraclidæ, or Herculeans, an Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has been variously represented. One, while he appears little better than a sturdy vagrant; at other times he is mentioned as a great benefactor; also as the patron of science, the [847]God of eloquence, with the Muses in his train. On this account he had the title of [848]Musagetes; and the Roman general Fulvius dedicated a temple which he had erected to his honour, and inscribed it [849]_Herculi Musarum_. There are gems, upon which he is represented as presiding among the Deities of [850]Science. He is said to have been swallowed by a Cetus, or large fish, from which he was after some time delivered. This history will hereafter be easily decyphered. He was the chief deity of the [851]Gentile world; the same as Hermes, Osiris, and Dionusus; and his rites were introduced into various parts by the Cuthites. In the detail of his peregrinations is contained, in great measure, an history of that people, and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks have described as a warlike expedition; and have taken the glory of it to themselves. He is said to have had many sons. One of these was [852]Archemagoras; by which is meant the father or chief of the Magi. There are many others enumerated: the principal of whom are said to have been; [853]Sardus, or Sardon; Cyrnus, Gelonus, Olynthus, Scythus, Galathus, Lydus, Iberus, Celtus, Poimen. As these are all manifestly the names of nations, we may perceive by the purport of this history, that the Sardinians, Corsicans, Iberians, Celtæ, Galatæ, Scythæ, &c. &c. together with those styled Shepherds, were Herculeans; all descended from that [854]Hercules, who was the father of Archemagoras the chief of the Magi.

DIONUSUS.

The history of Dionusus is closely connected with that of Bacchus, though they were two distinct persons. It is said of the former, that he was born at [855]Nusa in Arabia: but the people upon the Indus insisted, that he was a native of their [856]country; and that the city Nusa, near mount Meru, was the true place of his birth. There were, however, some among them, who allowed, that he came into their parts from the west; and that his arrival was in the most antient times. He taught the nations, whither he came, to build and to plant, and to enter into societies. To effect this, he collected the various families out of the villages in which they dwelt, and made them incorporate in towns and cities, which he built in the most commodious situations. After they were thus established, he gave them laws, and instructed them in the worship of the Gods. He also taught them to plant the Vine, and to extract the juice of the grape; together with much other salutary knowledge. This he did throughout all his [857]travels, till he had conquered every region in the East. Nor was it in these parts only, that he shewed himself so beneficent a conqueror; but over all the habitable [858]world. The account given by the Egyptians is consonant to that of the Indians: only they suppose him to have been of their own country; and to have set out by the way of Arabia and the Red Sea, till he arrived at the extremities of the East. He travelled also into [859]Lybia, quite to the Atlantic; of which performance Thymætes is said to have given an account in an antient Phrygian poem. After his Indian expedition, which took him up three years, he passed from Asia by the Hellespont into Thrace, where Lycurgus withstood him, and at last put him to flight. He came into Greece; and was there adopted by the people, and represented as a native of their country. He visited many places upon the Mediterranean; especially Campania, and the coast of Italy, where he was taken prisoner by the Hetrurian pirates. Others say, that he conquered all [860]Hetruria. He had many attendants; among whom were the Tityri, Satyri, Thyades, and Amazons. The whole of his history is very inconsistent in respect both to time and place. Writers therefore have tried to remedy this by introducing different people of the same name. Hence Dionusus is multiplied into as many [861]personages as Hercules. His history was looked upon as very interesting; and therefore was the chief theme of all the antient [862]bards. His flight, styled [Greek: phugê Dionusou], was particularly [863]recorded. He was the same as Osiris; and many of the later mythologists acknowledged this truth. [Greek: Aiguptioi men gar ton par' autois theon Osirin onomazomenon phasin einai ton par' Hellêsi Dionuson touton de muthologousin epelthein pasan tên oikoumenên--Homoiôs de kai tous Indous ton theon touton par' heautois apophanesthai gegonenai.] _The Egyptians_, says [864]Diodorus, _maintain that their God Osiris is no other than the Dionusus of Greece: And they farther mention, that he travelled over the face of the whole earth--In like manner the Indi assure us, that it is the same Deity, who wan conversant in their [865]country_.

Dionusus, according to the Grecian mythology, is represented as having been twice born: and is said to have had two fathers and two mothers. He was also exposed in an [866]ark, and wonderfully preserved. The purport of which histories is plain. We must however for the most part consider the account given of Dionusus, as the history of the Dionusians. This is twofold. Part relates to their rites and religion; in which the great events of the infant world, and the preservation of mankind in general, were recorded. In the other part, which contains the expeditions and conquests of this personage, are enumerated the various colonies of the people, who were denominated from him. They were the same as the Osirians and Herculeans; all of one family, though under different appellations. I have shewn, that there were many places which claimed his birth; and as many, where was shewn the spot of his interment. Of these we may find samples in Egypt, Arabia, and India; as well as in Africa, Greece, and its islands. For the Grecians, wherever they met with a grot or a cavern sacred to him, took it for granted that he was born there: and wherever he had a taphos, or high altar, supposed that he was there [867]buried. The same is also observable in the history of all the Gods.