CHAPTER XX

.

THE PENTACLE.

By way of conclusion, and at the risk of running too deep into occult learning, I will give some account of a remarkable magic figure, of interest to the physician, about which little appears to be generally known, but which is often referred to in certain out-of-the-way lines of study. I refer to the pentacle, or triple triangle, the pentalpha of Pythagoras, the formulator of a celebrated system of philosophy, the basal idea of which is that all things sprang from numbers. A representation of it in its simple form is given herewith. On inspection, it will be observed that the figure has five arms, or points, five double triangles, with five acute angles within and five obtuse ones without; so that, if five—a number made up of the first even (2) and the first[533] odd one (3)—be possessed of the virtue which the occult philosophers have asserted, the pentacle must have much. It is, in fact, the famous legendary key of Solomon, which has played a remarkable rôle in history. Tennyson, one of the few well-known authors by whom reference to it is made, speaks of it when he makes one of his characters (Katie) thoughtlessly draw (it can be done through one stroke)—

“With her slender-pointed foot, Some figure like a wizard’s pentagram, On garden gravel.”[534]

[Illustration: FIG. 27.—THE PENTACLE.]

I have said that little is generally known about the pentacle. Here is some evidence: Ruskin defines it to be “a five-pointed star, or a double-triangle ornament, the symbol of the trinity”[535]—a wrong definition, but not quite as bad as that given in Mollett’s handsome work, to wit: “A figure formed of two triangles, intersected so as to form a six-pointed star.”[536] The opinion is expressed by Bayard Taylor that the magical powers attributed to it could be explained by the fact that, being made up of three triangles, it was a “triple symbol of the trinity.”[537] This may be true, but it was regarded as possessing mysterious powers long before Christianity originated.

A common mistake—the one evidently made by Mollett—of even learned writers (as, for example, Oliver[538] and Fairholt[539]) is to confound the pentacle with the seal of Solomon (called also the shield of David), which consists of two equilateral triangles so arranged as to form a six-pointed star.

By the German writers on magic and kindred subjects, the pentacle is often called _Drudenfuss_,—that is, wizard’s foot,—a term which Mackey[540] takes to be a corruption of the word for Druid’s foot, by which people it was in use, being often worn, as a symbol of deity, on their sandals. As Bayard Taylor, however, says: “_Drud_, from the same root as Druid, was the old German word for wizard.” In Mr. Blake’s interesting book,[541] a representation of a very old coin is given, on which the mystic figure appears.

The pentacle has been observed on a figure of Anubis, in Egypt. It is stated[542] that it was used on coins of Antiochus Epiphanes, and also[543] of Lysimachus. I have seen it stated somewhere that it is one of the old sect marks of the Hindus; but this is an error, I believe. By referring to Coleman’s[544] or Birdwood’s[545] work, it will be found that it is Solomon’s seal which has been so used. It was one of the totems of the American Indians. Dawson[546] gives a picture of it as seen sculptured on the Roches Percées, a remarkable solitary mass of sandstone on the plains west of Manitoba.

I have said that the pentacle has been observed on a figure of Anubis. It would appear to have been well known and highly prized by the early Egyptians, or rather, perhaps, I should say Egypto-Chaldeans, if a recent writer, Mr. Robert Ballard, is to be believed. He declares that “it is the geometric emblem of extreme and mean ratio, and the symbol of the Egyptian pyramid, Cheops.”[547] Let a pentacle be formed within a circle. Around the interior pentagon of it describe a circle. Around this circle form a square. “Then will the square represent the base of Cheops.” Again, draw two diameters to the outer circle, intersecting at right angles, and each parallel to a side of the square. “Then will the parts of those diameters, between the square and the outer circle, represent the four apothems of the four slant-sides of the pyramid.” Still again, connect by lines the angles of the square with the outer circle at the four points indicated by the ends of the diameters. Then “the star of the pyramid is formed, which, when closed as a solid, will be a correct model of Cheops.”

Mr. Ballard, it is to be feared, like Mr. Piazzi Smyth, has not the power to perceive coincidences and after-thoughts. His book, however, is decidedly original and interesting.

[Illustration: FIG. 28.—THE PENTACLE AND THE GREAT PYRAMID.]

I may observe that if the plan of the great pyramid was fashioned after the pentacle, and Mr. Proctor be right in saying that it is identical with “the ordinary square scheme of nativity,”[548] the figure of the astrologers used in casting horoscopes, it follows that the pentacle furnishes also a key to the latter. Then, if it be a fact that the pyramid was designed by and constructed under the superintendence of early Chaldeans, one has reason to infer that the pentacle was of Oriental origin. Probably it was at first a symbol of the sun,—a purpose for which it has been used by different bodies of mystics, and others.

It is interesting to notice that the figure was one of the symbols of the great hero-myth, Quetzalcoatl, a light-god according to some, but really, according to Reville,[549] a god of the wind, who was generally represented in the form of a feathered serpent. Thus Dr. Brinton says: “In one of the earliest myths he is called _Yahualli ehecatl_, meaning ‘the wheel of the winds,’ the winds being portrayed in the picture-writing as a circle or wheel, with a figure with five angles inscribed upon it, the sacred pentagram. His image carried in the left hand this wheel, and in the right a sceptre with the end recurved.”[550]

The pentacle has been accorded great potency, and used extensively to keep off witches and all sorts of evil influences, including the devil himself, and hence it has served purposes very similar to those to which the horseshoe has often been put. Aubrey says that it was formerly used by the Greek Christians, as the sign of the cross is now, “at the beginning of letters or books for good luck’s sake,”[551]—something which old John Evelyn was wont to do in his works, and as Southey placed the puzzling monogram,[552] meant, perhaps, to have similar significance on the title-page of his book, “The Doctor.” One is found in the western window of the south aisle of Westminster Abbey, which, doubtless, the black monks, as they chanted in the choir, often looked on with superstitious emotion. It may be seen on many a cradle and threshold at the present day in the Fatherland.

The readers of Goethe’s great work will remember that Dr. Faust had one on his threshold, and that, when he began to perceive that there was something decidedly suspicious about the character of the “poodle,” he remarked that

“Für solche halbe Höllenbrut Ist Salomonis Schlüssel gut.”

How Mephistopheles himself got in was afterward explained by his showing that one of the angles of the “Drudenfuss” was left open.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.—HYGEIA, A SYMBOL OF HEALTH.]

Disciples of the Samian sage, cabalistic[553] Jews and Arabians, and others, especially Gnostics, long viewed the pentacle as a symbol of health, and made use of it as an amulet, calling it Hygeia, the name of the goddess of health. It was so called, and to some extent, likely for a similar reason, regarded as a sacred symbol of health, because it could be resolved, it was believed, into the Greek letters which form the word Hygeia; and these were placed one on each point of the figure.[554] It was accepted, in fact, as a sort of rebus of the name of the celebrated daughter of Æsculapius. The scholarly and ingenious reader may be able to trace, more or less definitely, this reputed similarity. It is an interesting feature of what is certainly a very remarkable figure.

FOOTNOTES

[1] That scholarly old writer, Ashmole, well says: “What some light braines may esteem as foolish toyes, deeper judgments can and will value as sound and serious matter.” Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652.

[2] Ecclesiasticus, xxxix, 1.

[3] Natural History, xxi.

[4] Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, p. 197. London, 1844.

[5] A Dictionary of Terms in Art. London, 1854.

[6] _Ibid._ Article, “Attribute.”

[7] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 219. London, 1882.

[8] Royal Masonic Cyclopædia. London, 1877.

[9] The Greek form of the name is Asclepios or Asklepios, Ἀσκληπιὸς. The Latin form being the one in general use, I will adhere to it in this essay.

[10] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. iii, p. 23.

[11] Iliad, xi.

[12] Ch. xxxviii, v. 3.

[13] Cicero would appear to have duly prized the physician. I recall a passage of his to the effect that in no way can man approach so near to the gods as by conferring health on his fellows.

[14] Natural History, xxix, 7.

[15] _Ibid._, xxix, 8.

[16] Natural History, xxix, 8.

[17] _Ibid._

[18] De Medicinâ.

[19] Natural History, xxix, 1.

[20] Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

[21] Metamorphosis, xv. Translation by Mr. Welsted.

[22] Although there is little evidence to show that serpent-worship was indigenous in Rome, Fergusson holds that “such an embassy being sent on the occasion in question indicates a degree of faith on the part of the people which could only have arisen from previous familiarity.” Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 19.

[23] The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. ii.

[24] Livy, x, 47.

[25] _Ibid_., xxix, 11.

[26] In his Life of Publicola, Plutarch gives an interesting account of its origin. The sacrifice of corn and trees on a field belonging to the Tarquins, in the Campus Martius, had much to do with it. These being cast into the river, found lodgment at shallows where the island is, which favored alluvial accumulations. See also Livy, ii, 5.

[27] It is stated by Sir George Head that it is twelve hundred feet in length and four hundred in breadth. Rome—A Tour of Many Days, vol. iii, p. 106. London, 1849.

[28] A hospital established by Gregory XIII in 1581 and several residences are also on the island.

[29] God of fields and shepherds. The Temple of Æsculapius was the most ancient, having been dedicated A.U.C. 462.

[30] Pilgrimage of the Tiber, p. 63. London, 1875. Tiberius ascended the throne, A.D. 14. Plutarch, writing half a century later, says of the island: “It is now sacred to religious uses.” Life of Publicola. He states that several temples and porticoes had been built on it, but makes no reference to a prison.

[31] Natural History, xxix, 8.

[32] _Ibid._

[33] The Very Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Donovan states, in his learned work, that “the temple (of Æsculapius) being recorded by the Regionaries must have existed in the fifth century.” Rome, Ancient and Modern, and its Environs, vol. iv, p. 431. Rome, 1842.

[34] Zoological Mythology, or Legends of Animals, vol. i, p. 416. London and New York, 1872.

[35] It appears that the serpent has still devotees in Italy. It is said that what is called a snake festival is held once a year in a little mountain-church near Naples. Those attending carry snakes around their necks, arms, or waists. The purpose of the festival is to preserve the

## participants from poison and sudden death, and to bring them good fortune.

[36] The port of Epidaurus not being within several miles of the grove of Æsculapius, it is very improbable that a serpent found its own way from the latter to the Roman ship.

[37] Lives of Illustrious Men.

[38] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 213. London, 1794.

[39] Natural History, xxix, 23.

[40] As by Aristophanes in Plutus. In Liddell & Scott’s Lexicon Πἁρώας is defined to be “a reddish-brown snake sacred to Æsculapius.”

[41] Thierleben. Grosse Auflage. Dritte Abtheilung. Erster Band. Seite 348. Leipzig, 1878.

[42] General Zoology, part ii, p. 452. London, 1802.

[43] Coronella venustrissima.

[44] Animal Kingdom, vol. ix, p. 263.

[45] Reptiles and Birds, p. 92. New York, 1870.

[46] The Medical and Surgical Reporter for January 5th and 12th, 1884.

[47] Travels in the Morea, vol. ii. London, 1830.

[48] Mr. Thos. W. Ludlow, of Yonkers, N. Y., has two interesting letters on the subject in the New York Nation, September 28, 1882, and February 15, 1883. No comprehensive account has as yet appeared in either the English, French, or German language. An interesting article on “Æsculapia as Revealed by Inscriptions,” by Prof. A. C. Merriam, in Gaillard’s Medical Journal for May, 1885, partly meets the want.

[49] Geography, viii. Translation in Bohn’s Library.

[50] Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.

[51] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 212.

[52] Στὸ Ἱερὸν, sacred place.

[53] Mr. Ludlow says, in one of his letters, and also informs me privately, that Mr. Kavvadias has found the theatre to be without the peribolus of the Sacred Grove. Following Pausanias, Mr. Leake states it to be within the enclosure.

[54] There is reason to hope that Mr. Kavvadias will make valuable discoveries in excavating its ruins.

[55] Anything about a physician which might be the means of conveying disease from one to another is seriously objectionable. Woolen material is not the proper thing in the outside clothing, and one attending cases of contagious diseases should not wear gloves, unless he is wont to wash his hands well after each visit.

[56] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 213.

[57] Travels in Morea, vol. ii, p. 428. The Æsculapian priest is not represented as an honest personage in the “Plutus” of Aristophanes. He stealthily gathers the cakes from the altars and “consecrates these into a sack.”

[58] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 27.

[59] See note in succeeding chapter.

[60] Professor A. C. Merriam, in Gaillard’s Medical Journal, May, 1885.

[61] Professor Merriam’s article; also L’Asclépieion d’Athenès, by Paul Girard, Paris, 1882. An interesting little book, in which much may be learned about asclepia and the asclepiades. The Athenian asclepion was quite famous, and existed until beyond the fifth century.

[62] Natural History, xxii, 2.

[63] In reference to the asclepia or asclepions, as he calls them, Draper says: “An edict of Constantine suppressed those establishments.” And again: “The asclepion of Cnidus continued until the time of Constantine, when it was destroyed along with many other pagan establishments.” History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, pp. 386 and 397. Revised edition. New York, 1876.

[64] Asclepion is from Asclepios, the Greek form of the name of the god of medicine. In Greek it is ἀσκληπιεῖον, meaning Temple of Asclepios. Æsculapium is of similar meaning.

[65] Vitruvius, who flourished in the first century before our era, expresses the opinion that “natural consistency” suggests the selection of situations affording the advantages of “salubrious air and water” for “temples erected to Æsculapius, to the goddess of health, and such other divinities as possess the power of curing diseases.” It materially helped the divinities. See second edition of his work on Architecture, p. 11, by Joseph Swift. London, 1860.

[66] Encyclopædia Britannica, ninth edition.

[67] See William Adams’ edition of the Genuine Works of Hippocrates. Two volumes. London, 1849.

[68] Hygeia and Panacea, both daughters of Æsculapius.

[69] Treatment.

[70] _Op. cit._, p. 777.

[71] In Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[72] Most of the votive inscriptions which have been discovered by Mr. Kavvadias at the Epidaurian Asclepion do not fortify this opinion, but they do not serve to disprove it, because others of a different character may be found. Moreover, the practice there may have been less scientific than at Cnidus, Cos, and elsewhere. However, the inscriptions brought to light by Mr. Kavvadias are, generally speaking, poor enough. One runs thus: “Cures of Apollo and Æsculapius. Concerning Kleo, who was _enceinte_ for five years. This woman, after being _enceinte_ for five years, came as a suppliant to the god, and lay down to sleep in the sacred chamber. As soon as she had gone forth from it and from the sanctuary, she gave birth to a male child. When the baby was born, he washed himself in the fountain and set to creeping around his mother.”—See Ἐφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, No. 4, 1883.

[73] Genuine Works of Hippocrates (Adams), p. 229.

[74] “The Father of Medicine” was, of course, one of the asclepiades. He was born, it is believed, in the year 460 B.C., and lived to be very old. His genealogy is preserved in his works. As given in Adams’ edition, he is of the fifteenth generation, in a direct line, from Æsculapius. He was of the Podalirius branch. In this connection I may remark that, if Hippocrates took the oath of the asclepiades, he must have given it a decidedly liberal interpretation, for it looks as if he divulged to the whole world all the mysteries of the healing art of great consequence then known.

[75] It is improbable that Hippocrates was but a fair example of the asclepiades of his day. He has said himself: “Physicians are many in title, but very few in reality.” (The Law.)

[76] On the Sacred Disease.

[77] _Ibid._

[78] On Fractures.

[79] Iatrum.

[80] On Fractures.

[81] On Articulations.

[82] On Regimen in Acute Diseases.

[83] On Ancient Medicine.

[84] On Regimen in Acute Diseases.

[85] In the fifth century B.C.

[86] The Law.

[87] It is a beautiful Biblical passage (date about 400 B.C.) which reads “The sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.” Malachi, iv, 2.

[88] See Chaldean Magic, p. 180. François Lenormant. London, 1877.

[89] Iliad, i.

[90] Chryseïs.

[91] Agamemnon.

[92] _Op. cit._, i.

[93] Iliad, xvi.

[94] It was doubtless from the idea of deliverance from suffering that the term Pæon was applied to Thanatos, or Death, as was sometimes done.

[95] Æsculapius.

[96] Παιών or Παιήων, savior, healer, or physician.

[97] Odyssey, iv.

[98] Æneid, vii.

[99] Metamorphosis, i.

[100] Ἰητήρ ἀμύμων.

[101] Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

[102] The stadium equals 600 feet; 625 Roman or 606¾ English feet make a stadium.

[103] Cicero informs us that there were three distinguished physicians of the name. “The first Æsculapius,” says he, “the god of Arcadia, who passes for the inventor of the probe and the manner of binding up wounds, is the son of Apollo. The second, who was slain by a thunderbolt and interred at Cynosura (in Arcadia), is a brother to the second Mercury. The third, who found out the use of purgatives and the art of drawing teeth, is the son of Arsippus and Arsinoë. His tomb may be seen in Arcadia and the grove that is consecrated to him, pretty near the river Lusius.” On the Nature of the Gods, iii.

[104] The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History, vol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740. Translated from the French. The account of Æsculapius given is one of the best I have met with.

[105] Iliad, iv, lines 193-4. _Vide supra._

[106] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 212.

[107] Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

[108] Walden, p. 85.

[109] The Greek for raven or crow is κορώνη.

[110] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.

[111] _Ibid._

[112] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.

[113] Geography, xiv.

[114] According to Homer, it was at Tricca and round about that his two sons bore sway. Iliad, ii.

[115] Diana.

[116] Pythian Ode, iii.

[117] As Grimm remarks, children brought into the world, like Macduff, by abdominal section, usually become heroes. Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 383.

[118] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 210.

[119] Because of this occurrence it is said that the name of the Mount was changed from Myrtium to Titthium, from Τιτθη, a nurse.

[120] Heroes were often indebted to dogs for kind offices. The Hindu Saramâ is the bitch which aids such when lost in the forests, grottoes, or darkness. See De Gubernatis’ Zoological Mythology, p. 98. Grimm even says: “A widely-prevalent mark of the hero-race is their being suckled by beasts or fed by birds.” Teutonic Mythology, p. 390.

[121] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 210.

[122] _Ibid._

[123] Pythian Ode, iii.

[124] Leech was formerly a common name for the physician; such was the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon _læce_ and the Gothic _leikeis_.

[125] History of Greece, vol. i, p. 179.

[126] Lenormant says that the Oriental Gandarvas, or celestial horses, which represented the rays of the sun, gave the name and the first idea of the Grecian Centaurs. Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 13. Mr. Sayce holds that “Hea-bani, the confidant and adviser of Gisdhubar, is the Kentaur Kheiron.” The Ancient Empires of the East, p. 156. New York, 1884.

[127] Iliad, xi.

[128] Pythian Ode, vi.

[129] This may have been a fraxinus, or true ash,—a famous tree in mythical history. The mountain-ash, or rowan-tree (_Pyrus aucuparia_), however, has been believed from time immemorial to possess great magical powers. It averted fascination, evil spirits, and diseases. Faith in it is still wide-spread. See Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore, by Walter K. Kelly, p. 158 _et seq._ London, 1863.

[130] Iliad, xix.

[131] _Ibid._, xi.

[132] Nemean Ode, iii.

[133] It is worthy of remark that, while the form of Chiron, or Cheiron, serves as a pharmacist’s symbol, he has, probably, bequeathed his name to the healer of wounds and the like,—the surgeon. The word surgeon is from the Latin, _chirurgus_, or, rather, the French, _chirurgien_. Chirurgeon has some standing as an English word. The Latin, _chirurgus_, is usually said to have come from the Greek, χειρουργικος, a word compounded of χειρ, the hand, and ἐργος, worker, meaning one who works with the hand. It seems likely, however, that the name of the Centaur, χειρων, suggested the application of the word to the surgeon.

[134] Diodorus, iv; Pindar’s Pythian Ode, iii.

[135] Apollodorus, ii.

[136] Hyginus. Poet. Ast., ii.

[137] Natural History, xxix.

[138] Æneid, vii.

[139] Pythian Ode, iii.

[140] Natural History, xxix.

[141] Republic, b. iii.

[142] _Ibid._

[143] This policy is inculcated in the “Institutes of Menu.” The incurable Hindu is directed to proceed toward the invincible northeast, living on air and water. Exposure in battle is also advised.

[144] Herodicus introduced the new practice. He was a sickly trainer, and did what he could to keep well; “and so,” says Plato, “dying hard by the help of science, he struggled on to old age.” Republic, b. iii.

[145] Pythian Ode, iii.

[146] History of Greece, vol. i, p. 159.

[147] Pindar and various tragedians.

[148] Republic.

[149] Says Ahura-Mazda: “The man who has a wife is far above him who begets no son; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man.” Zend Avesta.

[150] Iliad, ii.

[151] Hand-Book of Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 12.

[152] Strabo, xii, 5.

[153] A toga of limited dimensions.

[154] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 131.

[155] Cyprus. London, 1877.

[156] Handy-book of the British Museum, 1870.

[157] βακτηρίον. A bacterion is now a disease-germ. A marked instance of how the sense of words may become changed.

[158] Of course, it is possible enough that Æsculapius carried a staff at times. The Greeks, however, were not so much given to the practice as some other peoples, as the Egyptians (see Rawlinson’s Egypt and Babylon, p. 240. New York, 1885), or the Babylonians, of whom Herodotus (i, 195) says that “every one carries a walking-stick carved at the top into the form of an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something similar.”

[159] Ὀμφαλός means navel. Umbilicus was derived from it. The Jews regarded Jerusalem as the navel of the earth (see Ezekiel, v, 5), and also every other people has flattered itself as having it within its possessions. (See chap. iv of Rev. Dr. William F. Warren’s Paradise Found. Sixth edition. Boston, 1885.)

[160] Strabo, ix, 3.

[161] Republic, iv.

[162] See Pindar’s Pythian Ode, iv.

[163] Strabo, ix, 3.

[164] In most of the Oriental countries, including Egypt, there was always more or less of a belief in one great divinity. “The Supreme Omnipotent Intelligence” of the Hindus was “a spirit by no means the object of any sense, which can only be conceived by a mind wholly abstracted from matter.” (Institutes of Menu). El was a name given the Ineffable One by the Phœnicians and other peoples. Il or Ilu and Jaoh, the “being,” the “Eternal,” the “Jehovah” of the Hebrews, were designations of him used by the Babylonians, and from him, it was believed, the great trinity, Anu, Hea, and Bel emanated. Some, however, especially in early times, confounded him with Anu. Baal, the “Lord,” was a common designation of him in Syria and elsewhere.

[165] Dictionary of Mythology. London, 1793.

[166] Anantas.

[167] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 519.

[168] The reader is doubtless familiar, through the Bible, with consecrated stones. A Maççeba was a necessary mark of every “high place.” Jacob set one up (Gen., xxxi, 45).

[169] See Lenormant’s Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 230. A pillar, cone, or tree-stem, more or less ornamented, constituted the Ashêrah of the Syrians and others, which many of the Israelites long looked on with favor (see Numbers, xxv, and 2 Judges, xxii), and which is in the authorized version of the Bible translated “grove,” as in the phrase, “the women wove hangings for the grove” (2 Judges, xxxiii, 7). It was the image of the goddess of fertility and life, the Istar of the Babylonians, The Baal-peor of the Moabites, Midianites, and others, and the Priapus of the Greeks and Romans were practically similar. I may add that the _Phallus_ (derived from Apis, the Egyptian sacred bull), the _linga_ of the Hindus, has been taken by many peoples as emblematic of the widely-worshipped, active, renovating power in nature, the sun; just as an oval or round figure, the _cteis_ of the Greeks, the _yoni_ of the Hindus, has been of the passive power, the earth. (See Cox’s Mythology of the Aryans). The latter is the Mipleçeth, or “abominable image for an Ashêrah,” spoken of in the Bible (1 Kings, xv, 13, and 2 Chronicles, xv, 16). The whole subject is well presented in a little book by Messrs. Westropp and Wake,—Ancient Symbol Worship. New York, 1874.

[170] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 442.

[171] A name given to Hermes.

[172] Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 329. London, 1873.

[173] “Aaron’s rod” is similarly constituted, but of different import.

[174] Gemmæ Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.

[175] Mercury of the Romans was not much, except the god of commerce.

[176] The posture only approximates that assumed in the act of generation. In this act the two serpents, in the words of Aristotle, “are folded together with the abdomens opposite.... They roll themselves together so closely that they seem to be one serpent with two heads.” Natural History, p. 103. Bohn’s edition. London, 1862.

[177] Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 38.

[178] Natural History, xxix, 12.

[179] Æneid, iv.

[180] Zoological Mythology, p. 406.

[181] See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 23. Edition by Hodges. London, 1876.

[182] McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical and Religious Literature.

[183] Historic Devices, Badges, and War-Cries. London, 1870.

[184] Natural History, xxix.

[185] _Ibid._

[186] Myths of the New World, p. 3. New York, 1868.

[187] Household Tales.

[188] See Hyginus. Poet. Astr., ii, 14.

[189] The literal meaning of _nagas_ is snakes. In his Indian Arts (London, 1882), Dr. Birdwood says: “The worship of the snake still survives everywhere in India, and at Nagpur was, until very recently, a public danger, from the manner in which the city was allowed to be overrun with cobras.” p. 83.

[190] “Serpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,” in Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.

[191] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 460.

[192] Egyptian Mythology, p. 36. London, 1863.

[193] Numbers, xxi, 9.

[194] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 8. A splendid illustrated publication, issued by the government. It treats principally of East Indian matters. London, 1873.

[195] Brazen. See 2 Kings, xviii, 4.

[196] From the Greek ἀγαθός, good, and δαίμων, god, soul, fortune.

[197] Uarda, vol. ii, p. 38.

[198] One of the Pharaoh’s “treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus, i, 11.

[199] On the Egyptian obelisk, originally from On (Heliopolis), the great seat of learning, now in the city of New York, in whose shadow, doubtless, Joseph at times made love to the high-priest’s daughter, and Moses learned the meaning of hieroglyphics, occurs the phrase, “Tum, lord of the city of On;” and, what is of more interest in this connection, one which reads, “The god Tum, who gives life.” I may add a stanza from a hymn addressed to Tum:—

“Come to me, O thou sun; Horus of the horizon, give me help. Thou art he that giveth help; There is no help without thee.”

—Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.

[200] See 2 Kings, xviii, 5.

[201] Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. ii, p. 376. Second edition. London, 1881.

[202] It is well known that this is not the correct form of the name. It was lost at an early day, and is not to be found in the New Testament in any form. It was not to be spoken. Much interest has always been taken in this remarkable word. According to a recently-translated Assyrian inscription, the correct form of the name is Ya-u, or Yâhu. Mr. Hodges dwells on this highly-interesting discovery in his edition of Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 28.

[203] _Op. cit._, p. 377.

[204] Book of Wisdom, ii, 6.

[205] _Ibid._, xv, 12.

[206] The power of healing was a prominent and popular characteristic of the god of the Hebrews. “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex., xv, 26); “I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jer., xxx, 17); “He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds” (Ps. cxlvii, 3); “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed” (Jer., xvii, 14); and other similar passages are met with in the Bible. Indeed, the curing of diseases has always been largely resorted to when the claim of divinity has been brought forward. It is a deceptive test.

[207] Naia tripudians.

[208] Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[209] Herodotus, ii, 74.

[210] Note to ii, 74, in George Rawlinson’s edition of Herodotus.

[211] The reader may turn with advantage to Dr. J. S. Phené’s interesting illustrated essay on “Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship,” in the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. viii, p. 321. London, 1875.

[212] Hymn to Apollo. Translation by C. C. Conwell, M.D. Philadelphia, 1830.

[213] No doubt the great home of the Indo-Europeans furnishes a closely corresponding myth. But there is good reason to hold that the main features of the great astronomical myths antedated the Vedas. Grecian mythology was largely derived from Egypt and Phœnicia.

[214] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 197.

[215] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 3.

[216] Murray’s Mythology, p. 117.

[217] Chaldean Magic, p. 114.

[218] A graphic account of this mystic creature is given in an extant fragment of Berosus. He introduced all civilizing arts. See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 59. Hodges’ edition.

[219] Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122.

[220] “The Origin of Serpent-Worship,” in the Journal of the Victoria Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.

[221] Dr. Brinton gives the name as Michabo. He gives an interesting account of this great Algonkin myth in his American Hero-Myths. Philadelphia, 1882.

[222] Partly true.

[223] Indian Myths, p. 45. Boston, 1884.

[224] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 458.

[225] Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 75. London and New York, 1882.

[226] _Ibid._, p. 77.

[227] Myths of the New World, p. 107.

[228] It is interesting to observe that, according to Miss Emerson, “it is probable that the Indian derived the sacred symbols of his worship from the configuration of the constellations.” Indian Myths, p. 316.

[229] Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 7. London, 1881.

[230] The Great Pyramid, p. 100. London, 1883.

[231] In an article on the “Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians,” Mr. Sayce says: “Next to the planets in importance was the polar star, called Tir-anna, or Gagan-same, or ‘Judge of the Heaven,’ to which a special treatise was devoted in Sargon’s Library.” See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 206.

[232] Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.

[233] The constellation of Draco lies near to and to the north of “the Dipper,” or Great Bear, and is easily distinguished.

[234] _Op. cit._, p. 101.

[235] Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles is shorter, and was probably suggested by the same thing. Iliad, xviii.

[236] See pictures of such in Astronomical Myths, by Blake, London, 1877. Also, in Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies.

[237] It is believed that it is referred to in Job, in the verse reading, “His spirit hath adorned the heavens and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent” (xxvi, 13, Douai version). The authorized is not literal.

[238] The Shield of Hercules. Translation by Elton.

[239] Translated Pleiades. Job, ix, 9; xxxviii, 31; and Amos, v, 8.

[240] Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122. See also his edition of Herodotus, vol. i, p. 600.

[241] Those interested in this symbol should consult Schliemann’s Troy and its Remains.

[242] The swastika was so formed by Indians. See illustration in Emerson’s Indian Myths, p. 10.

[243] Totem is an Algonkin word, signifying to have or possess. It represented, among the Indians, the social unit or clan, the gens of the Romans.

[244] Fortnightly Review, vol. vi and vii. N. S.

[245] The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, 1870.

[246] Strabo, xiii, 1.

[247] 1 Chronicles, xix, 2.

[248] Indian Myths, p. 44.

[249] The History of the Heavens. Translated from the French by J. B. de Freval. Two volumes. London, 1741, vol. i, p. 42. The first volume is a very able and interesting mythological production.

[250] Beginnings of History, p. 114.

[251] Myths of the New World, p. 120.

[252] “The Origin of Serpent Worship,” in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.

[253] By Plutarch, in Isis and Osiris.

[254] In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement that “Taautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians,” it is said of the animal that it is “the most inspired of all the reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of those external organs by which other animals effect their motion.” See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges.

[255] Proverbs, xxx, 19.

[256] Mr. Spencer says: “The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.” “Origin of Animal Worship, etc.,” in Fortnightly Review, vol. vii, p. 536. N. S.

[257] Uarda, vol. ii, p. 249.

[258] Myths of the New World, p. 108.

[259] _Op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 38.

[260] Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore, p. 148. London, 1881.

[261] See Exodus, vii, 10-13.

[262] The spinal marrow was believed by some in ancient times to be the seat of life. Plato entertained that view. See Timæus, 74, 91.

[263] In that hoary Egyptian work, The Book of the Dead (ch. 155), occurs this remarkable passage: “All creation is, when dead, turned into living reptiles.”

[264] Rev., xvi, 9.

[265] Pantheon, p. 271. Am. edition. Baltimore, 1830.

[266] For much of interest about the laurel, see Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics, p. 404, by Richard Folkard, Jr. London, 1884.

[267] Thessaly.

[268] The literal meaning of Telesphorus is “bringing to an end;” of Euemerion, “prosperous, or glorious;” and of Acesius, “health-giving.”

[269] Pantheon.

[270] Tooke states that by _genius_ is generally meant “that spirit of nature which produces all things, from which generative power it has its name.... The images of the genii resembled, for the most part, the form of a serpent. Sometimes they were described like a boy, a girl, or an old man.” Pantheon, p. 240.

[271] Zend Avesta.

[272] Herodotus, i, 140.

[273] See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. ii, p. 245.

[274] Phædo.

[275] Grimm justly remarks that sacrifice was a common feature of heathen medicine; “great cures and the averting of pestilence,” says he, “could only be effected by sacrifice.” Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1150.

[276] The Past in the Present, p. 164. New York, 1881.

[277] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.

[278] Pantheon, p. 271.

[279] See Levit., xvi _et seq._

[280] Ch. ii, 39.

[281] Ammon, Knuphis, or Agathodæmon of later times.

[282] Ancient History of the East, vol. i, p. 326.

[283] The language of the Hebrews is essentially the same: _es_ or _ez_ means a goat.

[284] ἀίξ.

[285] The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History, vol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740.

[286] New System of Mythology, vol. iii, p. 456. Philadelphia, 1819.

[287] Now called Beyrout.

[288] Damascius, in his Life of Isidorus, uses the phrase “Esmun, who is interpreted Asclepius.”

[289] Daughters of Titan, by Astarte.

[290] See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 14. Edition by Hodges.

[291] From the Semitic word _Kabir_, great.

[292] Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 19.

[293] Chambers’s Encyclopædia.

[294] The temple of the god at Carthage was of great splendor and renown. See Dr. Davis’s Carthage and its Remains, ch. xvii. London, 1861. Says the Doctor: “The Temple of Æsculapius was as prominent a feature of Carthage as the Capitoline hill was at Rome, or as St. Paul’s is in London” (p. 369). It was on a rocky eminence (the Byrsa). Ruins of the staircase still remain.

[295] The city of Hermopolis received also the name of Esmun. In the Book of the Dead (ch. cxiv) the deceased is represented as saying, while adoring Thoth, Amset, and Tum: “I have come as a prevailer, through knowing the spirits of Esmun.” Thoth presided over this nome.

[296] Bunsen maintains that the Cabiri were the seven archangels of the Jews, originally “the seven fundamental powers of the visible creation.” Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. iv, p. 256.

[297] See Prof. Lesley’s interesting work, Man’s Origin and Destiny, first edition. Philadelphia, 1868. For some reason the chapter on Arkite symbolism is not given in the second edition.

[298] Primitive Culture, vol. i, p. 218. London, 1871.

[299] Saturnal, i, 20.

[300] The Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 98. Oxford, 1803.

[301] In Phœnicia he was the seven viewed collectively as “the soul of the world.” Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 229.

[302] Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 221.

[303] Æneid, vii, line 773.

[304] Tiele takes such a view of Anubis. See History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 65.

[305] Nearly all ancient Hebrew, as well as Assyrian, proper names are expressive of something about the birth or life of the bearers.

[306] Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome. Third edition. London, 1854.

[307] The Hebrew word, like the Latin _vir_, means man in a distinguished sense (virile), and may come from the Egyptian _ash_, tree of life.

[308] Caleb, or city of the dog, on the coast of Phœnicia, has been accorded the credit of the name of the god. See the Abbé Banier’s Mythology and Fables of the Ancients, etc. (translation), vol. iii, p. 160.

[309] Possibly the first syllable of Æsculapius, like the Hebrew _ishi_, salutary, and _asa_, to heal, may have been from the Egyptian _usha_, health-bringing,—doctor. See Gerald Massey’s Book of Beginnings, vol. ii, p. 301. London, 1881.

[310] Hence the name, Canicular Year.

[311] It does not now rise heliacally until the middle of August. But, 4000 years ago it rose so about the 20th of June, and just preceded the annual rising of the Nile.

[312] History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 185. Anubis had various functions which cannot be spoken of here. He bore the souls of men to the nether world, like Hermes, of the Greeks, and assisted Horus in weighing them. A passage in the Book of the Dead reads, “He is behind the bier which holds the bowels of Osiris.” Evidently he might be regarded as the god of undertakers.

[313] Typhon, or Set, was regarded, indeed, by the Egyptians as the god Sothis, or Sirius. See Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. i, p. 429. But Typhon was not, in early times, regarded as simply the personification of evil. See Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 350.

[314] Zend Avesta. Edition by James Darmesteter, in two parts, or volumes, in The Sacred Books of the East, edited by Max Müller, vol. i, p. 83. Oxford, England, 1883.

[315] Iliad, xxii.

[316] Such a staff is, indeed, shown by Wilkinson, and is given by Cooper in his essay, already quoted. From the presence of the hawk and uræus, one might more properly accord it to Horus.

[317] Physic and Physicians, vol. i, p. 6. London, 1839.

[318] Princess, vol. i, p. 210.

[319] _Ibid._

[320] See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 112. Edition by Hodges.

[321] Bunsen, in Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. ii, p. 89.

[322] See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 113.

[323] Ancient Empires of the East, p. 76.

[324] Herodotus, ii, 84. Translation by Rawlinson.

[325] _Ibid._, ii, 77.

[326] Princess, vol. i, p. 17.

[327] History of Ancient Egypt, vol. ii, p. 528. London, 1881.

[328] Encyclopædia Britannica, ninth ed.

[329] Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[330] Ancient Empires of the East, p. 76.

[331] Jer., xlvi, 11.

[332] Herodotus, iii, 1, 129.

[333] Polydamna. Helen’s enforced sojourn in Egypt is fully described by Herodotus (ii, 113-116), Thone, Thon, or Thonis, the historian speaks of as the “warden of the Canopic mouth of the Nile.” The town of Heracleum bore the name.

[334] Odyssey, iv.

[335] _Ibid._

[336] Natural History, vii.

[337] Homer and the Iliad, vol. i.

[338] Beginnings of History, p. 536.

[339] Bunsen holds that Esmun and he were originally the same; “as the snake god he must actually be Hermes, in Phœnician, Tet, Taautes.” Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 256.

[340] In the cut he appears counting the years on a palm-branch—the ideograph for year. (Fig. 12, p. 101.)

[341] Ibis religiosa, Hab of the Ancient Egyptians.

[342] Ibis falcinellus, the glossy ibis.

[343] Book of the Dead, ch. lxxviii. Translation by Birch, in vol. v of Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place, etc. The hawk is the usual symbol of Horus, just as the ibis is of Thoth.

[344] Tiele pronounces Horus to be “the God of Light, the Token of Life.” History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 54.

[345] Manual of Mythology, p. 346. London, 1873.

[346] Often spoken of as the Hercules of the Egyptians.

[347] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 154.

[348] See Diodorus Siculus, i, 25; and Tacitus, xiv, 81.

[349] Says Gibbon: “Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection, glorified in the name of the City of Serapis.” The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xxviii.

[350] See his Essay, p. 50.

[351] Egypt of the Past, p. 15. London, 1881.

[352] The capital of Lower Egypt.

[353] Uarda, vol. i, p. 203.

[354] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 94. London, 1882. Tiele remarks that Imhotep was not only called Asklepios by the Greeks, “but likewise the Eighth, thus showing that they regarded him as one of the Kabirs” (p. 95). I may add that the worship of the Kabirs, in the character of cosmic deities, was early established in the region where Memphis stood. Bunsen, indeed, identifies Ptah and his seven sons with the Kabirs. See Egypt’s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 217.

[355] Vulcan of the Romans.

[356] Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 333.

[357] Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 386.

[358] See Fig. 13, p. 104. The characters of this name are all phonetic; but very many are pictorial or symbolic. Examples of symbolic characters will be given in the chapter on amulets.

[359] An offering; food, peace, welcome.

[360] Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. i, p. 400.

[361] Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 99.

[362] See his work on Egypt, etc., in Asiatic Researches, vol. iii, p. 392.

[363] Cooper says that they were the two deities of the morning and evening twilight, and “were the origin of the Dioscuri of the Greeks.” Archæic Dictionary. London, 1876.

[364] Zoological Mythology, vol. i, p. 353.

[365] Evil has always been associated with darkness. Harmful demons have always disliked light.

[366] Mythology of the Aryans, vol. i, p. 391.

[367] See Wilson’s edition, vol. iii, p. 307.

[368] _Ibid._, p. 103.

[369] Ormazd, believed to have been originally identical with Varuna of the Vedas.

[370] Believed to be the Asclepias acida, or Sarcostemma viminalis, whose juice yields an intoxicating liquor.

[371] Zend Avesta, vol. i, p. 141.

[372] Demon.

[373] Evil Spirits.

[374] Zend Avesta. Translation by Darmesteter, vol. ii, p. 92.

[375] The name is given in the cuneiform characters as found in Norris’s Assyrian Dictionary, p. 853. It is spelled phonetically. The first three wedges are the sign or determinative of deities.

[376] The devotion of Nebuchadnezzar to him is indicated in the Bible (see 2 Chron. xxxvi, 7, and Daniel, i, 2). The great king went so far as to say: “Merodach deposited my germ in my mother’s womb.” Records of the Past, vol. v, p. 113.

[377] In an article entitled “Nemrod et les Ecritures Cuneiformes,” M. Joseph Grivel has occasion to speak of the names of the god. Amar-ud, which is apparently the same as Nimrod, is a synonym of Merodach. See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 136.

[378] The older Bel was Elum, father of the gods.

[379] Chaldean Magic, and the Beginnings of History. To M. Lenormant mainly belongs the credit of opening up the valuable stores of learning wrapped in the Accadian and closely allied idioms.

[380] A series of small volumes, twelve in number, issued a few years ago, in London.

[381] Silik-mulu-khi is rather a descriptive title than a name. It is the designation used in the magical and mythological texts of the Accadian inscriptions.

[382] Of this serpentine god of life and revealer of knowledge, Sir Henry Rawlinson remarks that “there is very strong grounds for connecting Hea, or Hoa, with the serpent of Scripture and the paradisiacal traditions of the tree of life.” See George Rawlinson’s second edition of Herodotus, vol. i, p. 600.

[383] Chaldean Magic, p. 19.

[384] Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People, p. 59. London, 1885.

[385] Another symbol of this god was the thunderbolt in the form of a sickle, with which he slew the dragon of the deep.

[386] Chaldean Magic, p. 190.

[387] Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 139.

[388] Herodotus, who visited the country, states that the Babylonians “have no physicians; but when a man is ill they lay him in the public square and the passers-by come up to him; and if they ever had his disease themselves, or have known any one who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in their own case or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed to pass the sick man in silence, without asking him what his ailment is” (i, 197). From this it would seem that Herodotus might rather have said that the Babylonians were all doctors, or presumed to be. However, it is thought that Jeremiah refers to the practice in Lamentations, i, 12, when he says: “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.” A similar plan was certainly practiced elsewhere than in Babylonia. Strabo says that the Egyptians resorted to it (xvi), and in St. Mark it is said that the people “laid the sick in the streets” (vi, 56) in order to be healed by Jesus as he passed along.

[389] Deuteronomy, xi, 18.

[390] Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 140.

[391] Was this gonorrhœa or diabetes? See Leviticus, xv.

[392] Ana.

[393] Hea.

[394] Chaldean Magic, p. 4.

[395] Chaldean Magic, p. 20.

[396] _Ibid._, p. 22.

[397] Lenormant remarks that the assimilation was probably made when Mardux had become emphatically the god of the planet Jupiter, “the great fortune” of the astrologers, which justified them in connecting with his other attributes the favorable and protecting office of Silik-mulu-khi. He was originally a solar deity.

[398] Chaldean Magic, p. 190.

[399] Jeremiah, v, 15.

[400] Or Shinar. See Gen., xi, 2. Essentially Babylonia.

[401] See Smith’s Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 19. Revised edition, by Mr. Sayce, 1880.

[402] The Semitic language, called Assyrian, as the one spoken by the Babylonians, including part of the Chaldeans, before the people of Assur (see Gen., x, 11) became a nation, which was later than the time of the great King Sargon (B.C. 2000); and here I may say that cuneiform inscriptions are largely Assyrian. I may add that Lenormant takes Assur to be Nimrod, and the latter Mardux, reduced to the position of a hero.

[403] Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. iii, p. 466.

[404] Kaldu, or Kaldi, was the name of a tribe of Accadio-Sumerians that rose to prominence about nine centuries before our era. The title was subsequently given to the whole race.

[405] Zend Avesta, vol. i, p. 85.

[406] _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 44.

[407] North American Indians, vol. i, p. 78.

[408] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.

[409] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.

[410] Bacchus.

[411] Fire was duly esteemed by the ancients. The worship was closely related to that of the sun. Atar of the Zend Avesta means fire, and a personification of it, spoken of as the son of Ahura-Mazda, is characterized as “the god who is a full source of glory, the god who is a full source of healing” (vol. ii, p. 8). The Parsis and also the Hindus were forbidden to blow a fire lest the effete emanations from the system, present in the breath, might contaminate the flame. Menstruating women were forbidden even to look at it.

[412] Zoological Mythology, vol. i, p. 410.

[413] See Gen., ii, 7. Hippocrates appears to take _pneuma_, the breath, and the soul and vital principle to be the same. It is still a common thing to hear the breath spoken of as the divine and immortal element in man.

[414] Ninevah and its Remains, vol. ii, p. 233. London, 1849. See Ex., xxviii, 33-34, and 1 Kings, vii, 41-42.

[415] Fir-trees were regarded with much favor in the East. Ezekiel likens the Assyrian nation to a great cedar, envied by “all the trees of Eden,” none being “like unto him in his beauty.” Ez., xxxi, _passim_.

[416] Medical virtues are inherent in fir-trees. Hence, there was a good foundation for the Accadian superstition. It is curious to observe that “among the Dakotah tribe of Indians the white cedar-tree is believed to have a supernatural power, and its leaves are burned as incense to propitiate the gods.” See Emerson’s Indian Myths, p. 241.

[417] Beginnings of History, p. 90.

[418] Mr. Sayce gives the name as Lubara. See Ancient Empires of the East, p. 157.

[419] According to Mr. Black, disease and death have been referred by the unscientific to three great sources, namely: (1) the anger of an offended external spirit; (2) the supernatural powers of a human enemy; (3) the displeasure of the dead. See Folk-medicine, p. 4, published by the Folk-lore Society. London, 1883.

[420] The Origin of Primitive Superstitions. Philadelphia, 1881.

[421] See Sayce’s Ancient Empires of the East, p. 146.

[422] Chaldean Magic, p. 64.

[423] Says Tiele: “The operation or the sun is two-fold, beneficial and terrible; it quickens or it destroys life. The Greeks united both characteristics in Phœbus Apollo.” History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 45.

[424] 2 Samuel, xxiv.

[425] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 15.

[426] It appears that the idea of the devil is first brought into clear relief in the Book of Wisdom, where it is said: “By the envy of the devil death came into the world” (ii, 25). The Hebrew demonology is usually said to be of Iranian origin, but it may just as likely have sprung from a Turanian source, either directly or through their Semitic kin in Babylonia.

[427] Job, ii, 7.

[428] Set, called Typhon by the Greeks, the embodiment of physical and moral evil, was regarded as the Egyptian god of death. Plagues were attributed to him.

[429] The plague maiden of Teutonic folk-lore is somewhat like Dibbara. See Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1185.

[430] Chaldean Account of Genesis, vol. viii.

[431] Psalms, xci, 6.

[432] 2 Sam., xxiv, 13 _et seq._, and 2 Kings, xix, 35.

[433] The wife of Hea, the queen of the gods, Davkina, was a health goddess. In an inscription Marduk is sent to a dying man, and it is further said:—

“Sprinkle holy water over him. He shall hear the voice of Hea. Davkina shall protect him; And Marduk, eldest son of Heaven, shall find him a happy habitation.”

See Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 142. She was invoked by women in labor.

[434] This figure is copied from one given by W. R. Cooper in his essay on “Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt.” See Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.

[435] The Art of Preserving Health. First published in 1744. One of the very few great medical poems.

[436] Tobias, viii, 10.

[437] American Hero-Myths, p. 19. 1882.

[438] This arrangement of the serpent is seen in an Egyptian priestess, a picture of which is given in Cooper’s essay, already referred to.

[439] It has been published, I think, in pamphlet form, but the copy I have was issued in 1882 in connection with the March and April numbers of a monthly published in the interest of Jefferson Medical College and her alumni, The College and Clinical Record. There are a dozen octavo pages of it.

[440] Animal Kingdom, vol. ix, p. 309.

[441] See Tooke’s Pantheon, p. 296.

[442] See Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology (translation), pp. 588, 1150.

[443] For Cooper’s view of her origin, see quotation, p. 93.

[444] Maut, Mat, or Mut, is to Amen-Ra what Artemis was to Zeus, and Juno to Jupiter. She might be viewed as a form of the more familiar Isis, and from close relationship is often confounded with Neith.

[445] From address referred to on page 125.

[446] Princess, vol. ii, p. 296.

[447] See Plato’s Timæus.

[448] The famous one brought from the East to Scotland and called the “Lee-Penny” has an interesting history. Sir Walter Scott speaks at length of it in his work, “The Talisman.” Says the great novelist: “Its virtues are still applied to for stopping blood and in cases of canine madness” (p. 287).

[449] By Josephus.

[450] The name signifies highland.

[451] The Great Pyramid, p. 159.

[452] It stands out prominent in the first chapter of Genesis. The whole host of heaven was created for earthly purposes.

[453] The reader of the Book of Daniel learns much of the repute of the Chaldeans as astrologers. The Romans were in the habit of calling all astrologers Chaldeans. That people, I may say, never gave the class legal countenance.

[454] In an old Accadian tablet bearing on the observance of the Sabbath by the king, it is said, among other things: “Medicine for his sickness of body he may not apply.” See Smith’s Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 89.

[455] According to the Bible narrative, which Lenormant says is “a tradition whose origin is lost in the night of the remotest ages and which all the great nations of Western Asia possessed in common, with some variations” (Beginnings of History, p. xv), the luminaries were placed in the heavens “to divide the day from the night and to be signs for the time of festivals, the days and the years” (Gen., i, 14). This is from the Elohist version, which, with the Jehovist, may be found in Lenormant’s work. The ordinary version was drawn from the two.

[456] Architecture, p. 219, 2d ed. By Joseph Swift. London, 1860.

[457] It is well to state that the astrologer was the forerunner of the astronomer. In his interesting book on The Astronomy of the Ancients, Sir J. Cornwall Lewes says: “The word ἀστρολογος signifies an astronomer in the Greek writers. The word _astrologus_ has the same sense in the earlier Latin writers. In later times the distinction which now obtains between the words astrology and astronomy was introduced” (p. 292).

[458] The Greeks generally gave Atlas the credit of introducing it. See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 82. Hodges’ edition.

[459] Tetrabiblos, i, 2.

[460] In “A Plea for Urania,” issued in 1854, it is said that “less than two hundred years ago an individual who entered upon the profession of doctor of medicine, either in England or any of the European countries, was obliged to pass an astrological examination” (p. 246).

[461] Canterbury Tales.

[462] Gemmæ Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.

[463] Fascinum and penis are Latin synonyms.

[464] This is still done in parts of China and elsewhere in the East.

[465] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 32. London, 1880. Republication by the Folk-lore Society. First issued 1686-’87.

[466] See Psalms, lxviii, 4, and lxxxix, 8.

[467] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 92.

[468] Chaldean Magic, p. 43.

[469] Indian Arts, p. 104.

[470] The star of Babylon is frequently spoken of in the Inscriptions. The star of Marduk is the same. It is Dilgan, or Jupiter.

[471] Act I, Scene 2.

[472] ABRACADABRA is not the same as abraxas, but may have been derived from it. In the third century, and later, it was regarded as a capital remedy for malarial fevers.

[473] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 94.

[474] The letter Alpha = 1, Beta = 2, Rho = 100; Alpha = 1, Xi = 60; Alpha = 1, and Sigma = 200.

[475] Egyptian Mythology, p. 93.

[476] Chambers’ Encyclopædia.

[477] The Care and Culture of Children, Philadelphia, 1880.

[478] It is worth while to observe that Raphael was, according to the Cabbala, the angel of the sun.

[479] Tobias, iii, 25.

[480] Nearly all savage and semi-civilized peoples have viewed the heart as a very mysterious organ. Not a few have regarded it as the epitome or soul of the individual. In sacrifice it has played an important rôle. See Albert Reville’s work on The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, p. 43. New York, 1884.

[481] There is the ring of the Zend Avesta and the cuneiform inscriptions about it also.

[482] Cyprus, p. 384. London, 1877.

[483] 1 Sam., vi, 4 _et seq._

[484] Chaldean Magic, p. 50.

[485] The Past in the Present, p. 19 _et seq._ 1881.

[486] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages. New York, 1883.

[487] A practice long in use. See p. 110.

[488] Urine of oxen. The supposed virtue sprang from certain mythological notions.

[489] It was probably connected with the god Sbat and the Egyptian Seb or Cronus, the father of Osiris. See Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. xvi, pp. 136 and 160. London, 1883.

[490] The Princess, vol. i, p. 210.

[491] Chaldean Magic, p. 41.

[492] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 49.

[493] Uarda, p. 118.

[494] Institute of Menu, p. 154.

[495] Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 254.

[496] A Book of Beginnings. London, 1881.

[497] _Ibid._, p. 101.

[498] T served some as a symbol of the generative power. John Davenport says that it was “used indiscriminately with the Phallus: it was, in fact, the Phallus.” Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs, p. 13. London, 1869. Privately printed. Payne Knight states that the male organs represented as “the cross, in the form of the letter T, sometimes served as the emblem of creation and generation.” Worship of Priapus, p. 48.

[499] History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 259.

[500] See Occult Sciences, p. 222. A volume of the Encyclopædia Metropolitana. London, 1855.

[501] Superstitions Connected with Medicine and Surgery. London, 1843.

[502] Historiaum, iv, 81.

[503] North American Indians, vol, i, p. 70. Philadelphia, 1857.

[504] _Ibid._

[505] Indian Myths, p. 230.

[506] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 7.

[507] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 27.

[508] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 307.

[509] History of Sign-Boards, p. 341. Second edition. London, 1866.

[510] Schesch.

[511] Princess, vol. i, p. 296.

[512] The Records of the Past, vol. xi, p. 159. London, 1878.

[513] Ex., xxx, 25-35. In the revised translation apothecary becomes perfumer.

[514] Introductory Lectures and Addresses on Medical Subjects, p. 54. Philadelphia, 1859.

[515] Mr. Sayce, writing in 1884, states that “the fragments of a work on medicine closely resembling the Egyptian Papyrus-Ebers have recently been found” (at Babylon). Ancient Empires of the East, p. 173.

[516] Incorporated in the year 1800. Date of the present charter, 1843.

[517] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 7. London, 1860.

[518] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 13.

[519] Letters and Lives of Eminent Persons, vol. ii, p. 386. London, 1813.

[520] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 2.

[521] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 2.

[522] Canterbury Tales.

[523] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 3.

[524] Hudibras.

[525] Occult Sciences, p. 40.

[526] The Gold-Headed Cane. By Dr. McMichael. London, 1828.

[527] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 11.

[528] Finger-Ring Lore. By William Jones, p. 191. London, 1877.

[529] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 210.

[530] See Sharpe’s Egyptian Mythology, p. 19.

[531] Exodus, i, 16.

[532] Princess, vol. i, p. 37.

[533] One was not regarded as a number.

[534] The Brook.

[535] Art Culture, p. 468. New York, 1874.

[536] Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archæology. Boston, 1882.

[537] In his notes to Faust.

[538] The Pythagorean Triangle. London, 1875.

[539] Dictionary of Terms in Art.

[540] Encyclopædia of Freemasonry. Philadelphia, 1875.

[541] Astronomical Myths. London, 1877.

[542] Broughton’s Italy, vol. ii.

[543] Notes and Queries, vol. ix, p. 511, third series.

[544] Mythology of the Hindus. London, 1832.

[545] Indian Arts. London, 1880.

[546] Fossil Men and their Modern Representatives, p. 272. London, 1880.

[547] The Solution of the Pyramid Problem, p. 92. New York, 1882.

[548] The Great Pyramid, p. 35.

[549] The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, p. 57. New York, 1884.

[550] American Hero-Myths, p. 121.

[551] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 51.

[552] An equilateral triangle divided into three equal triangles by lines meeting from the three angles.

[553] Professors of the Cabbala, a mystic philosophy, believed that there was a secret meaning in Holy Writ and a higher meaning in the law, and pretended to be able to perform miracles by the use of names and incantations. Auerbach gives an interesting account of them in his novel, “Spinoza.” He gives this as an instance of their mode of reasoning: “The Hebrew word for Messiah contains the same number as the Hebrew word for serpent, in which form Satan seduced Eve; the Messiah will, therefore, bruise the head of the serpent and banish sin and death from the world.”

[554] The word _Salus_, the synonymous Latin name, was also used in the same way. In Mrs. Pelliser’s work it is thus seen. It is there spoken of as a device used by Marguerite of France, wife of Henry IV and the last of the Valois.

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