A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology. Volume II
By Jacob Bryant
ANCIENT HEROES.
Καθολου δε φασιν (ὁι Αιγυπτιοι) τους Ἑλληνας εξιδιαζεσθαι τους επιφανεστατους Ἡρωας τε, και Θεους, ετι δε και αποικιας τας παρ' ἑαυτων. Diodorus Sicul. l. 1. p. 21.
It has been my uniform purpose, during the whole process, which I have made in my system, to shew, that the Grecians formed Deities out of titles; and that they often attributed to one person, what belonged to a people. And when they had completed the history, they generally took the merit of it to themselves. By means of this clue we may obtain an insight into some of the most remote, and the most obscure parts of antiquity. For many and great achievements have been attributed to heroes of the first ages, which it was not possible for them singly to have performed. And these actions, though in some degree diversified, and given to different personages, yet upon examination will be found to relate to one people or family; and to be at bottom one and the same history.
OSIRIS.
If we consider the history of Osiris, he will appear a wonderful conqueror, who travelled over the face of the whole [776]earth, winning new territories, wherever he came; yet always to the advantage of those whom he subdued. He is said to have been the son of Rhea: and his chief attendants in his peregrinations were Pan, Anubis, Macedo, with Maro, a great planter of vines; also Triptolemus much skilled in husbandry. The people of India claimed Osiris, as their own; and maintained, that he was born at Nusa in their [777]country. Others supposed his birth-place to have been at Nusa in [778]Arabia, where he first planted the vine. Many make him a native of Egypt: and mention the rout of his travels as commencing from that country through Arabia, and Ethiopia; and then to India, and the regions of the east. When he was arrived at the extremities of the ocean, he turned back, and passed through the upper provinces of Asia, till he came to the Hellespont, which he crossed. He then entered [779]Thrace, with the King of which he had a severe encounter: yet he is said to have persevered in his rout westward, till he arrived at the fountains of the Ister. He was also in Italy, and Greece: from the former of which he expelled the giants near Phlegra in Campania. He visited many places upon the ocean: and though he is represented as at the head of an army; and his travels were attended with military operations; yet he is at the same time described with the Muses, and Sciences in his retinue. His march likewise was conducted with songs, and dances, and the sound of every instrument of music. He built cities in various parts; particularly [780]Hecatompulos, which he denominated Theba, after the name of his mother. In every region, whither he came, he is said to have instructed the people in [781]planting, and sowing, and other useful arts. He particularly introduced the vine: and where that was not adapted to the soil, he taught the natives the use of ferment, and shewed them the way to make [782]wine of barley, little inferior to the juice of the grape. He was esteemed a great blessing to the Egyptians both as a [783]Lawgiver, and a King. He first built temples to the Gods: and was reputed a general benefactor of [784]mankind. After many years travel they represent him as returning to Egypt in great triumph, where after his death he was enshrined as a Deity. His Taphos, or high altar, was shewn in many places: in all which he in aftertimes was supposed to have been buried. The people of Memphis shewed one of them; whereon was a sacred pillar, containing a detail of his life, and great actions, to the following purport. [785]My father was Cronus, the youngest of all the Gods. I am the king Osiris, who carried my arms over the face of the whole earth, till I arrived at the uninhabited parts of India. From thence I passed through the regions of the north to the fountain-head of the Ister. I visited also other remote countries; nor stopped till I came to the western ocean. I am the eldest son of Cronus; sprung from the genuine and respectable race of (Σωος) Sous, and am related to the fountain of day. There is not a nation upon earth, where I have not been; and to whose good I have not contributed.
This is a very curious piece of antient history: and it will be found to be in great measure true, if taken with this allowance, that what is here said to have been achieved by one person, was the work of many. Osiris was a title conferred upon more persons than one; by which means the history of the first ages has been in some degree confounded. In this description the Cuthites are alluded to, who carried on the expeditions here mentioned. They were one branch of the posterity of Ham; who is here spoken of as the eldest son of Cronus. How justly they conferred upon him this rank of primogeniture, I will not determine. By [786]Cronus we are here to understand the same person, as is also represented under the name of Soüs. This would be more truly expressed Σωον, Soön; by which is meant the Sun: All the Amonian families affected to be styled Heliadæ, or the offspring of the Sun: and under this title they alluded to their great ancestor the father of all: as by Osiris they generally meant Ham. Σωον, Soön, is the same as [787]Zoon, and Zoan, the fountain of day. The land of Zoan in Egypt was the nome of Heliopolis: and the city Zoan the place of the Sun. The person then styled here Soüs can be no other than the great Patriarch under a title of the Sun. He is accordingly by Philo Biblius called Ousoüs in an extract from Sanchoniathon. He makes him indeed reside, where Tyre was afterwards built; but supposes him to have lived at a time, when there were great rains and storms; and to have been the first constructor of a ship, and the first who ventured upon the [788]seas. In respect to the travels of Osiris we shall find that the posterity of Ham did traverse at different times the regions above-mentioned: and in many of them took up their abode. They built the city Memphis in Egypt; also Hecatompulos, which they denominated Theba, after the name of their reputed mother. They also built Zoan, the city of the Sun.
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 Bœtica; 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 Bœotia. 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]: Φασι δε και τον Περσεα γεγονεναι κατ' Αιγυπτον. 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]Περσευς, ὁ Ἡλιος; 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 פרס, 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]Το δε Ἡρακλεους τε γενος και το Αχαιμενεους εις Περσεα τον Διος αναφερεται. 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]Phœbe parens—seu te roseum Titana vocari
Gentis Achæmeniæ ritu; seu præstat Osirin
Frugiferum; seu Persëi sub rupibus antri
Indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram.
[776] Diodorus Sicul. l. 1. p. 13, 14.
[777] Ὁμοιως δε τους Ινδους τον θεον τουτον παρ' ἑαυτοις αποφανεσθαι γεγονεναι. Diod. Sic. l. 4. p. 210.
[778] Diodorus. l. 1. p. 14.
[779] Diodorus. l. 1. p. 17.
[780] Ibid. p. 14. This city is also said to have been built by Hercules. Diodorus. l. 4. p. 225.
Primus aratra manu sollerti fecit Osiris,
Et teneram ferro sollicitavit humum. Tibull. l. 1. El. 8. v. 29.
[782] Ζυθος, εκ των κριθων πομα. Diodorus. l. 1. p. 37.
[783] Βασιλευοντα δε Οσιριν Αιγυπτιους ευθυς απορου βιου και θηριωδους απαλλαξαι, καρπους τε δειξαντα, και νομους θεμενον αυτοις. Plut. Is. et Osir. p. 356.
[784] Eusebius. Pr. Ev. l. 1. p. 44, 45.
[785] Diodorus Sic. l. 1. p. 24.
[786] Both the Patriarch, and his son Ham, had the name of Cronus, as may be learned from Sanchoniathon. Εγεννηθησαν δε και εν Παραιᾳ Κρονῳ τρεις παιδες, Κρονος ὁμωνυμος τῳ πατρι, κτλ. Euseb. Præp. l. 1. c. 10. p. 37.
Paraia is the same as Pur-aia, the land of Ur; from whence the Gentile writers deduce all their mythology.
[787] See Radicals. p. 42.
[788] Ῥαγδαιων δε γενομενων ομβρων και πνευματων,—δενδρου λαβομενον τον Ουσωον, και αποκλαδευσαντα, πρωτον τολμησαι εις θαλασσαν εμβηναι. Euseb. Pr. Ev. l. 1. c. 10. p. 35.
[789] Euseb. Chron. p. 7. l. 43.
[790] Strabo. l. 17. p. 1168.
[791] Τας Γοργονας επ' ωκεανον ουσας τον περι πολιν Ιβηριας την Ταρτησσον. Schol. in Lycophr. ad v. 838.
[792] [Atlas] Apex Perseo et Herculi pervius. Solin. c. 24.
[793] Andromedam Perseus nigris portârit ab Indis. Ovid. Art. Amand. l. 1. v. 53.
[794] Pausan. l. 4. p. 370.
[795] Pliny mentions these bones being brought from Joppa to Rome in the ædileship of M. Scaurus; longitudine pedum 40, altitudine costarum Indicos elephantos excedente, spinæ crassitudine sesquipedali. l. 9. c. 5.
[796] Deseritur Taurique jugum, Perseaque Tarsus. Lucan. l. 3. v. 225. See Solin. c. 38.
[797] Perseam quoque plantam —— a Perseo Memphi satam. Plin. l. 15. c. 13.
Of Perseus in Cilicia, see Chron. Pasch. p. 39.
[798] Pindar. Pyth. Od. 10. v. 49 and 70. Εις το των Μακαρων ανδρων εθνος. Schol. in v. 70.
[799] Virgil. Æn. l. 7. v. 409.
Ardea a Danae Persei matre condita. Plin. Hist. Nat l. 3. p. 152.
[800] Servius in Virgil. Æn. l. 8.
[801] Diodorus Sic. l. 1. p. 21.
[802] Ibidem.
[803] Herodotus. l. 6. c. 54. See Chron. Paschale. p. 38.
Some make him a Colchian. Ἡλιῳ γαρ φησιν ὑιους γενεσθαι δυο εν τοις τοποις εκεινοις, ὁις ονοματα ην Περσευς και Αιητης· τουτους δε κατασχεσιν την χωραν· και Αιητην μεν Κολχους και Μαιωτας, Περσεα δε Ταυρικης Βασιλευσαι. Schol. in Apollon. Argonautic. l. 3. v. 199.
[804] Ἡ δε Περσου γυνη Αστερια παις ην Κοιου και Φοιβης· ὁι Κοιος δε και Φοιβη ΟΥΡΑΝΟΥ παιδες. Schol. in Lycophron. v. 1175.
[805] Natalis Comes. l. 7. c. 18.
[806] Schol. in Lycophr. v 18.
Lycophr. v. 17.
Τον χρυσοπατρον μορφνον—τον Περσεα. Schol. in Lycophr. v. 838.
[807] Εγγυς της Νεης πολιος. He is said to have introduced here Gymnic exercises. Herodot. l. 2. c. 91. And to have often appeared personally to the priests. Herodot. ibid.
Herodotus of the Dorians. l. 6. c. 54.
[808] Εν λαρνακι ξυλινῳ. Schol. in Lycophr. v. 838.
Εν κιβωτῳ τινι. Chron. Pasch. p. 38. from Euripides.
The father of Danae ενειρξας αυτην εις την Κιβωτον μετα του ΠΑΙΔΟΣ καθηκεν εις το πελαγος. Schol. in Pind. Pyth. Od. 10. v. 72.
[809] All salutary streams were consecrated to the Sun. There were some waters of this nature near Carthage, which were named Aquæ Persianæ. See Apuleii Florida. c. 16. p. 795, and p. 801. They were so named from Perez, the Sun, to whom they were sacred.
[810] Ovid. Trist. l. 1. eleg. 3. v. 48. See Natalis Comes. l. 7. c. 18.
[811] Polyb. l. 5. p. 389.
[812] Plin. Hist. Nat. l. 6. c. 16. See Q. Curtius, and Strabo.
[813] Parrhasii in Hyrcania. Strabo. l. 11. p. 775.
[814] Plin. Hist. Nat. l. 2. c. 98.
[815] Of Parrhasians in Arcadia. Strabo. l. 8. p. 595. See Plin. Hist. Nat. l. 4. c. 6.
Ὑιος Δινυττα Δαμαρχος την δ' ανεθηκεν
Εικον', απ' Αρκαδιας Παῤῥασιος γενεαν.
Pausan. l. 6. p. 471. See also l. 8. p. 654.
[816] Plato in Alcibiad. vol. 2. p. 120.
[817] Herodot. l. 7. c. 150.
[818] Statii Theb. l. 1. v. 717.