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diff --git a/22038-8.txt b/22038-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bff579 --- /dev/null +++ b/22038-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11624 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Evolution of the Dragon, by G. Elliot Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Evolution of the Dragon + +Author: G. Elliot Smith + +Release Date: July 10, 2007 [EBook #22038] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Dave Maddock and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file made using scans of public domain works at the +University of Georgia.) + + + + + + + + + +THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON + +BY G. ELLIOT SMITH, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. + +PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +Manchester: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + +LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY + +London, New York, Chicago, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras + +1919 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Some explanation is due to the reader of the form and scope of these +elaborations of the lectures which I have given at the John Rylands +Library during the last three winters. + +They deal with a wide range of topics, and the thread which binds them +more or less intimately into one connected story is only imperfectly +expressed in the title "The Evolution of the Dragon". + +The book has been written in rare moments of leisure snatched from a +variety of arduous war-time occupations; and it reveals only too plainly +the traces of this disjointed process of composition. On 23 February, +1915, I presented to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society +an essay on the spread of certain customs and beliefs in ancient times +under the title "On the Significance of the Geographical Distribution of +the Practice of Mummification," and in my Rylands Lecture two weeks +later I summed up the general conclusions.[1] In view of the lively +controversies that followed the publication of the former of these +addresses, I devoted my next Rylands Lecture (9 February, 1916) to the +discussion of "The Relationship of the Egyptian Practice of +Mummification to the Development of Civilization". In preparing this +address for publication in the _Bulletin_ some months later so much +stress was laid upon the problems of "Incense and Libations" that I +adopted this more concise title for the elaboration of the lecture which +forms the first chapter of this book. This will explain why so many +matters are discussed in that chapter which have little or no +connexion either with "Incense and Libations" or with "The Evolution +of the Dragon". + +The study of the development of the belief in water's life-giving +attributes, and their personification in the gods Osiris, Ea, Soma +[Haoma] and Varuna, prepared the way for the elucidation of the history +of "Dragons and Rain Gods" in my next lecture (Chapter II). What played +a large part in directing my thoughts dragon-wards was the discussion of +certain representations of the Indian Elephant upon Precolumbian +monuments in, and manuscripts from, Central America (_Nature_, 25 Nov., +1915; 16 Dec., 1915; and 27 Jan., 1916). For in the course of +investigating the meaning of these remarkable designs I discovered that +the Elephant-headed rain-god of America had attributes identical with +those of the Indian Indra (and of Varuna and Soma) and the Chinese +dragon. The investigation of these identities established the fact +that the American rain-god was transmitted across the Pacific from India +via Cambodia. + +The intensive study of dragons impressed upon me the importance of the +part played by the Great Mother, especially in her Babylonian _avatar_ +as Tiamat, in the evolution of the famous wonder-beast. Under the +stimulus of Dr. Rendel Harris's Rylands Lecture on "The Cult of +Aphrodite," I therefore devoted my next address (14 November, 1917) to +the "Birth of Aphrodite" and a general discussion of the problems of +Olympian obstetrics. + +Each of these addresses was delivered as an informal demonstration of +large series of lantern projections; and, as Mr. Guppy insisted upon the +publication of the lectures in the _Bulletin_, it became necessary, +as a rule, many months after the delivery of each address, to rearrange +my material and put into the form of a written narrative the story +which had previously been told mainly by pictures and verbal comments +upon them. + +In making these elaborations additional facts were added and new points +of view emerged, so that the printed statements bear little resemblance +to the lectures of which they pretend to be reports. Such +transformations are inevitable when one attempts to make a written +report of what was essentially an ocular demonstration, unless every one +of the numerous pictures is reproduced. + +Each of the first two lectures was printed before the succeeding lecture +was set up in type. For these reasons there is a good deal of +repetition, and in successive lectures a wider interpretation of +evidence mentioned in the preceding addresses. Had it been possible to +revise the whole book at one time, and if the pressure of other duties +had permitted me to devote more time to the work, these blemishes might +have been eliminated and a coherent story made out of what is little +more than a collection of data and tags of comment. No one is more +conscious than the writer of the inadequacy of this method of presenting +an argument of such inherent complexity as the dragon story: but my +obligation to the Rylands Library gave me no option in the matter: I had +to attempt the difficult task in spite of all the unpropitious +circumstances. This book must be regarded, then, not as a coherent +argument, but merely as some of the raw material for the study of the +dragon's history. In my lecture (13 November, 1918) on "The Meaning of +Myths," which will be published in the _Bulletin of the John Rylands +Library_, I have expounded the general conclusions that emerge from the +studies embodied in these three lectures; and in my forthcoming book, +"The Story of the Flood," I have submitted the whole mass of evidence to +examination in detail, and attempted to extract from it the real story +of mankind's age-long search for the elixir of life. + +In the earliest records from Egypt and Babylonia it is customary to +portray a king's beneficence by representing him initiating irrigation +works. In course of time he came to be regarded, not merely as the giver +of the water which made the desert fertile, but as himself the +personification and the giver of the vital powers of water. The +fertility of the land and the welfare of the people thus came to be +regarded as dependent upon the king's vitality. Hence it was not +illogical to kill him when his virility showed signs of failing and so +imperilled the country's prosperity. But when the view developed that +the dead king acquired a new grant of vitality in the other world he +became the god Osiris, who was able to confer even greater boons of +life-giving to the land and people than was the case before. He was the +Nile, and he fertilized the land. The original dragon was a beneficent +creature, the personification of water, and was identified with kings +and gods. + +But the enemy of Osiris became an evil dragon, and was identified with +Set. + +The dragon-myth, however, did not really begin to develop until an +ageing king refused to be slain, and called upon the Great Mother, as +the giver of life, to rejuvenate him. Her only elixir was human blood; +and to obtain it she was compelled to make a human sacrifice. Her +murderous act led to her being compared with and ultimately identified +with a man-slaying lioness or a cobra. The story of the slaying of the +dragon is a much distorted rumour of this incident; and in the process +of elaboration the incidents were subjected to every kind of +interpretation and also confusion with the legendary account of the +conflict between Horus and Set. + +When a substitute was obtained to replace the blood the slaying of a +human victim was no longer logically necessary: but an explanation had +to be found for the persistence of this incident in the story. Mankind +(no longer a mere individual human sacrifice) had become sinful and +rebellious (the act of rebellion being complaints that the king or god +was growing old) and had to be destroyed as a punishment for this +treason. The Great Mother continued to act as the avenger of the king or +god. But the enemies of the god were also punished by Horus in the +legend of Horus and Set. The two stories hence became confused the one +with the other. The king Horus took the place of the Great Mother as the +avenger of the gods. As she was identified with the moon, he became the +Sun-god, and assumed many of the Great Mother's attributes, and also +became her son. In the further development of the myth, when the Sun-god +had completely usurped his mother's place, the infamy of her deeds of +destruction seems to have led to her being confused with the rebellious +men who were now called the followers of Set, Horus's enemy. Thus an +evil dragon emerged from this blend of the attributes of the Great +Mother and Set. This is the Babylonian Tiamat. From the amazingly +complex jumble of this tissue of confusion all the incidents of the +dragon-myth were derived. + +When attributes of the Water-god or his enemy became assimilated with +those of the Great Mother and the Warrior Sun-god, the animals with +which these deities were identified came to be regarded individually and +collectively as concrete expressions of the Water-god's powers. Thus the +cow and the gazelle, the falcon and the eagle, the lion and the serpent, +the fish and the crocodile became symbols of the life-giving and the +life-destroying powers of water, and composite monsters or dragons were +invented by combining parts of these various creatures to express the +different manifestations of the vital powers of water. The process of +elaboration of the attributes of these monsters led to the development +of an amazingly complex myth: but the story became still further +involved when the dragon's life-controlling powers became confused with +man's vital spirit and identified with the good or evil genius which was +regarded as the guest, welcome or unwelcome, of every individual's body, +and the arbiter of his destiny. In my remarks on the _ka_ and the +_fravashi_ I have merely hinted at the vast complexity of these elements +of confusion. + +Had I been familiar with [Archbishop] Söderblom's important +monograph,[2] when I was writing Chapters I and III, I might have +attempted to indicate how vital a part the confusion of the individual +_genius_ with the mythical wonder-beast has played in the history of the +myths relating to the latter. For the identification of the dragon with +the vital spirit of the individual explains why the stories of the +former appealed to the selfish interest of every human being. At the +time the lecture on "Incense and Libations" was written, I had no idea +that the problems of the _ka_ and the _fravashi_ had any connexion with +those relating to the dragon. But in the third chapter a quotation from +Professor Langdon's account of "A Ritual of Atonement for a Babylonian +King" indicates that the Babylonian equivalent of the _ka_ and the +_fravashi_, "my god who walks at my side," presents many points of +affinity to a dragon. + +When in the lecture on "Incense and Libations" I ventured to make the +daring suggestion that the ideas underlying the Egyptian conception of +the _ka_ were substantially identical with those entertained by the +Iranians in reference to the _fravashi_, I was not aware of the fact +that such a comparison had already been made. In [Archbishop] +Söderblom's monograph, which contains a wealth of information in +corroboration of the views set forth in Chapter I, the following +statement occurs: "L'analyse, faite par M. Brede-Kristensen (_Ægypternes +forestillinger om livet efter döden_, 14 ss. Kristiania, 1896) du _ka_ +égyptien, jette une vive lumière sur notre question, par la frappante +analogie qui semble exister entre le sens originaire de ces deux termes +_ka_ et _fravashi_" (p. 58, note 4). "La similitude entre le _ka_ et la +_fravashi_ a été signalée dejà par Nestor Lhote, _Lettres écrites +d'Égypte_, note, selon Maspero, _Études de mythologie et d'archéologie +égyptiennes_, I, 47, note 3." + +In support of the view, which I have submitted in Chapter I, that the +original idea of the _fravashi_, like that of the _ka_, was suggested by +the placenta and the foetal membranes, I might refer to the specific +statement (Farvardin-Yasht, XXIII, 1) that "les fravashis tiennent en +ordre l'enfant dans le sein de sa mère et l'enveloppent de sorte qu'il +ne meurt pas" (_op. cit._, Söderblom, p. 41, note 1). The _fravashi_ +"nourishes and protects" (p. 57): it is "the nurse" (p. 58): it is +always feminine (p. 58). It is in fact the placenta, and is also +associated with the functions of the Great Mother. "Nous voyons dans +fravashi une personification de la force vitale, conservée et exercée +aussi après la mort. La fravashi est le principe de vie, la faculté qu'a +l'homme de se soutenir par la nourriture, de manger, d'absorber et ainsi +d'exister et de se développer. Cette étymologie et le rôle attributé à +la fravashi dans le développement de l'embryon, des animaux, des plantes +rappellent en quelque sorte, comme le remarque M. Foucher, l'idée +directrice de Claude Bernard. Seulement la fravashi n'a jamais été une +abstraction. La fravashi est une puissance vivante, un _homunculus in +homine_, un être personnifié comme du reste toutes les sources de vie et +de mouvement que l'homme non civilisé aperçoit dans son organisme. + +"Il ne faut pas non plus considérer la fravashi comme un double de +l'homme, elle en est plutôt une partie, un hôte intime qui continue son +existence après la mort aux mêmes conditions qu'avant, et qui oblige +les vivants à lui fournir les aliments nécessaires" (_op. cit._, p. 59). + +Thus the _fravashi_ has the same remarkable associations with +nourishment and placental functions as the _ka_. As a further suggestion +of its connexion with the Great Mother as the inaugurator of the year, +and in virtue of her physiological (uterine) functions the +moon-controlled measurer of the month, it is important to note that "Le +19^e jour de chaque mois est également consecré aux fravashis en +général. Le premier mois porte aussi le nom de Farvardîn. Quant aux +formes des fêtes mensuelles, elles semblent conformes à celles que nous +allons rappeler [les fêtes célébrées en l'honneur des mortes]" (_op. +cit._, p. 10). + +But the _fravashi_ was not only associated with the Great Mother, but +also with the Water-god or Good Dragon, for it controlled the waters of +irrigation and gave fertility to the soil (_op. cit._, p. 36). The +_fravashi_ was also identified with the third member of the primitive +Trinity, the Warrior Sun-god, not merely in the general sense as the +adversary of the powers of evil, but also in the more definite form of +the Winged Disk (_op. cit._, pp. 67 and 68). + +In all these respects the _fravashi_ is brought into close association +with the dragon, so that in addition to being "the divine and immortal +element" (_op. cit._, p. 51), it became the genius or spirit that +possesses a man and shapes his conduct and regulates his behaviour. It +was in fact the expression of a crude attempt on the part of the early +psychologists of Iran to explain the working of the instinct of +self-preservation. + +In the text of Chapters I and III I have referred to the Greek, +Babylonian, Chinese, and Melanesian variants of essentially the same +conception. Söderblom refers to an interesting parallel among the +Karens, whose _kelah_ corresponds to the Iranian _fravashi_ (p. 54, Note +2: compare also A. E. Crawley, "The Idea of the Soul," 1909). + +In the development of the dragon-myth astronomical factors played a very +obtrusive part: but I have deliberately refrained from entering into a +detailed discussion of them, because they were not primarily the real +causal agents in the origin of the myth. When the conception of a +sky-world or a heaven became drawn into the dragon story it came to +play so prominent a part as to convince most writers that the myth was +primarily and essentially astronomical. But it is clear that originally +the myth was concerned solely with the regulation of irrigation systems +and the search upon earth for an elixir of life. + +When I put forward the suggestion that the annual inundation of the Nile +provided the information for the first measurement of the year, I was +not aware of the fact that Sir Norman Lockyer ("The Dawn of Astronomy," +1894, p. 209), had already made the same claim and substantiated it by +much fuller evidence than I have brought together here. + +In preparing these lectures I have received help from so large a number +of correspondents that it is difficult to enumerate all of them. But I +am under a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Alan Gardiner for calling my +attention to the fact that the common rendering of the Egyptian word +_didi_ as "mandrake" was unjustifiable, and to Mr. F. Ll. Griffith for +explaining its true meaning and for lending me the literature relating +to this matter. Miss Winifred M. Crompton, the Assistant Keeper of the +Egyptian Department in the Manchester Museum, gave me very material +assistance by bringing to my attention some very important literature +which otherwise would have been overlooked; and both she and Miss +Dorothy Davison helped me with the drawings that illustrate this volume. +Mr. Wilfrid Jackson gave me much of the information concerning shells +and cephalopods which forms such an essential part of the argument, and +he also collected a good deal of the literature which I have made use +of. Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., of Cambridge, lent me a number of books +and journals which I was unable to obtain in Manchester; and Mr. Donald +A. Mackenzie, of Edinburgh, has poured in upon me a stream of +information, especially upon the folk-lore of Scotland and India. Nor +must I forget to acknowledge the invaluable help and forbearance of +Mr. Henry Guppy, of the John Rylands Library, and Mr. Charles W. E. +Leigh, of the University Library. To all of these and to the still +larger number of correspondents who have helped me I offer my most +grateful thanks. + +During the three years in which these lectures were compiled I have +been associated with Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, F.R.S., and Mr. T. H. Pear in +their psychological work in the military hospitals, and the influence of +this interesting experience is manifest upon every page of this volume. + +But perhaps the most potent factor of all in shaping my views and +directing my train of thought has been the stimulating influence of Mr. +W. J. Perry's researches, which are converting ethnology into a real +science and shedding a brilliant light upon the early history of +civilization. + +G. ELLIOT SMITH. + +9 December, 1918. + + +[1: "The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilisation in the East and in +America," _Bulletin of the John Rylands Library_, January-March, 1916.] + +[2: Nathan Söderblom, "Les Fravashis Étude sur les Traces dans le +Mazdéisme d'une Ancienne Conception sur la Survivance des Morts," Paris, +1899.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. INCENSE AND LIBATIONS 1 + + CHAPTER II. DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS 76 + + CHAPTER III. THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE 140 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + FACING PAGE + Fig. 1.--The conventional Egyptian representation of the burning + of incense and the pouring of libations 2 + + Fig. 2.--Water-colour sketch by Mrs. Cecil Firth, representing a + restoration of the early mummy found at Medûm by Professor + Flinders Petrie, now in the Museum of the Royal College of + Surgeons in London 16 + + Fig. 3.--A mould taken from a life-mask found in the Pyramid of Teta + by Mr. Quibell 17 + + Fig. 4.--Portrait statue of an Egyptian lady of the Pyramid Age 18 + + Fig. 5.--Statue of an Egyptian noble of the Pyramid Age to show the + technical skill in the representation of life-like eyes 52 + + Fig. 6.--Representation of the ancient Mexican worship of the Sun 70 + + Fig. 7.--A mediæval picture of a Chinese Dragon upon its cloud + (after the late Professor W. Anderson) 80 + + Fig. 8.--A Chinese Dragon (after de Groot) 80 + + Fig. 9.--Dragon from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon 81 + + Fig. 10.--Babylonian Weather God 81 + + Fig. 11.--Reproduction of a picture in the Maya Codex Troano + representing the Rain-god _Chac_ treading upon the Serpent's + head, which is interposed between the earth and the rain the + god is pouring out of a bowl. A Rain-goddess stands upon the + Serpent's tail 84 + + Fig. 12.--Another representation of the elephant-headed Rain-god. He + is holding thunderbolts, conventionalized in a hund-like form. + The serpent is converted into a sac, holding up the + rain-waters. 84 + + Fig. 13.--A page (the 36th) of the Dresden Maya Codex. 86 + + Fig. 14.--A. The so-called "sea-goat" of Babylonia, a creature + compounded of the antelope and fish of Ea.--B. The "sea-goat" + as the vehicle of Ea or Marduk.--C to K--a series of varieties + of the _makara_ from the Buddhist Rails at Buddha Gaya and + Mathura, circa 70 B.C.--70 A.D., after Cunningham + ("Archæological Survey of India," Vol. III, 1873, Plates IX and + XXIX).--L. The _makara_ as the vehicle of Varuna, after Sir + George Birdwood. It is not difficult to understand how, in the + course of the easterly diffusion of culture, such a picture + should develop into the Chinese Dragon or the American + elephant-headed god 88 + + Fig. 15.--Photograph of a Chinese embroidery in the Manchester + School of Art representing the Dragon and the Pearl-Moon + Symbol 98 + + Fig. 16.--The God of Thunder (from a Chinese drawing (? 17th + Century) in the John Rylands Library) 136 + + Fig. 17.--From Joannes de Turrecremata's "Meditationes seu + Contemplationes". _Rome: Ulrich Han_, 1467 137 + + Fig. 18.--(a) The Archaic Egyptian slate palette of Narmer showing, + perhaps, the earliest design of Hathor (at the upper corners + of the palette) as a woman with cow's horns and ears (compare + Flinders Petrie "The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty," Part + I, 1900, Plate XXVII, Fig. 71). The pharaoh is wearing a belt + from which are suspended four cow-headed Hathor figures in + place of the cowry-amulets of more primitive peoples. This + affords corroboration of the view that Hathor assumed the + functions originally attributed to the cowry-shell. (b) The + king's _sporran_, where Hathor-heads (H) take the place of the + cowries of the primitive girdle 150 + + Fig. 19.--The front of Stela B (famous for the realistic + representations of the Indian elephant at its upper corners), + one of the ancient Maya monuments at Copan, Central America + (after Maudslay's photograph and diagram). The girdle of the + chief figure is decorated both with shells (_Oliva_ or + _Conus_) and amulets representing human faces corresponding to + the Hathor-heads on the Narmer palette (Fig. 18) 151 + + Fig. 20.--Diagrams illustrating the form of cowry-belts worn in + (a) East Africa and (b) Oceania respectively. (c) Ancient + Indian girdle (from the figure of Sirima Devata on the Bharat + Tope), consisting of strings of pearls and precious stones, + and what seem to be (fourth row from the top) models of + cowries. (d) The Copan girdle (from Fig. 19) in which both + shells and heads of deities are represented. The two objects + suspended from the belt between the heads recall Hathor's + sistra 153 + + Fig. 21.--(a) A slate triad found by Professor G. A. Reisner in the + temple of the Third Pyramid at Giza. It shows the Pharaoh + Mycerinus supported on his right side by the goddess Hathor, + represented as a woman with the moon and the cow's horns upon + her head, and on the left side by a nome goddess, bearing upon + her head the jackal-symbol of her nome. (b) The Ecuador + Aphrodite. Bas-relief from Cerro-Jaboncillo (after Saville, + "Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador," Preliminary Report, 1907, + Plate XXXVIII). A grotesque composite monster intended to + represent a woman (compare Saville's Plates XXXV, XXXVI, and + XXXIX), whose head is a conventionalized Octopus, whose body + is a _Loligo_, and whose limbs are human 164 + + Fig. 22.--(a) _Sepia officinalis_, after Tryon, "Cephalopoda". + (b) _Loligo vulgaris_, after Tryon. (c) The position usually + adopted by the resting Octopus, after Tryon 168 + + Fig. 23.--A series of Mycenæan conventionalizations of the Argonaut + and the Octopus (after Tümpel), which provided the basis for + Houssay's theory of the origin of the triskele (a, c, and d) + and swastika (b and e), and Siret's theory to explain the + design of Bes's face (f and g) 172 + + Fig. 24.--(a) and (b) Two Mycenæan pots (after Schliemann). (a) The + so-called "owl-shaped" vase is really a representation of the + Mother-Pot in the form of a conventionalized Octopus (Houssay). + (b) The other vase represents the Octopus Mother-Pot, with a + jar upon her head and another in her hands--a three-fold + representation of the Great Mother as a pot. (c) A Cretan vase + from Gournia in which the Octopus-motive is represented as a + decoration upon the pot instead of in its form, (d), (e), (f), + (g), and (h) A series of coins from Central Greece (after Head) + showing a series of conventionalizations of the Octopus, with + its pot-like body and palm-tree-like arms (f). (i) _Sepia + officinalis_ (after Tryon). (h) and (l) The so-called "spouting + vases" in the hands of the Babylonian god Ea, from a cylinder + seal of the time of Gudea, Patesi of Tello, after Ward ("Seal + Cylinders, etc.," p. 215) 180 + + Fig 25.--(a) Winged Disk from the Temple of Thothmes I. (b) Persian + design of Winged Disk above the Tree of Life (Ward, "Seal + Cylinders of Western Asia," Fig. 1109). (c) Assyrian or + Syro-Hittite design of the Winged Disk and Tree of Life in an + extremely conventionalized form (Ward, Fig. 1310). + (d) Assyrian conventionalized Winged Disk and Tree of Life, + from the design upon the dress of Assurnazipal (Ward, Fig. + 670). (e) Part of the design from a tablet of the time of + Dungi (Ward, Fig. 663). (f) Design on a Cretan sarcophagus from + Hagia Triada (Blinkenberg, Fig. 9). (g) Double axe from a gold + signet from Acropolis Treasure, Mycenæ (after Sir Arthur Evans, + "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 10). (h) Assyrian Winged + Disk (Ward, Fig. 608). (i) "Primitive Chaldean Winged Gate" + (Ward, Fig. 349). (k) Persian Winged Disk (Ward, Fig. 1144). + (l) An Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk crudely + conventionalized (Ward, Fig. 691). (m) Assyrian Tree of Life + and Winged Disk in which the god is riding in a crescent + replacing the Disk (Ward, Fig. 695) 184 + + Fig. 26.--(a) An Egyptian picture of Hathor between the mountains + of the horizon (on which trees are growing) (after Budge, + "Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. II, p. 101). (b) The mountains + of the horizon supporting a cow's head as a surrogate of + Hathor, from a stele found at Teima in Northern Arabia, now in + the Louvre (after Sir Arthur Evans, _op. cit._, p. 39). + (c) The Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash rising between the + Eastern Mountains, the Gates of Dawn (Ward, _op. cit._, p. + 373). (d) The familiar Egyptian representation of the sun + rising between the Eastern Mountains (the splitting of the + mountain giving birth to "the ridiculous mouse"--Smintheus). + (e) Part of the design from a Mycenæan vase from Old Salamis + (after Evans, p. 9). (f) Part of the design from a lentoid gem + from the Idæan Cave, now in the Candia Museum (after Evans, + Fig. 25). (g) The Eastern Mountains supporting the pillar-form + of the goddess (after Evans, Fig. 66). (h) Another Mycenæan + design comparable with (e). (i) Design from a signet-ring from + Mycenæ; (after Evans, Fig. 34). (k) The famous sculpture above + the Lion Gate at Mycenæ 188 + + +ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. + + PAGE + Fig 1.--Early representation of a "Dragon" compounded of the + forepart of an eagle and the hindpart of a lion (from an + Archaic Cylinder-seal from Susa, after Jequier) 79 + + Fig. 2.--The earliest Babylonian conception of the Dragon Tiamat + (from a Cylinder-seal in the British Museum, after L. W. King) 79 + + Fig. 3.--Wm. Dennis's drawing of the "Flying Dragon" depicted on the + rocks at Piasa, Illinois 94 + + Fig. 4.--Two representations of Astarte (Qetesh) 155 + + Fig. 5.--_Pterocera bryonia_, the Red Sea spider-shell 170 + + Fig. 6.--(a) Picture of a bowl of water--the hieroglyphic sign + equivalent to _hm_ (the word _hmt_ means "woman"--Griffith, + "Beni Hasan," Part III, Plate VI, Fig. 88 and p. 29). (b) "A + basket of sycamore figs"--Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," Vol. + I, p. 323. (c) and (d) are said by Wilkinson to be hieroglyphic + signs meaning "wife" and are apparently taken from (b). But (c) + is identical with (i), which, according to Griffith (p. 14), + represents a bivalve shell (g, from Plate III, Fig. 3), more + usually placed obliquely (h). The varying conventionalizations + of (a) or (b) are shown in (d), (e), and (f) (Griffith, + "Hieroglyphics," p. 34). (k) The sign for a lotus leaf, which + is a phonetic equivalent of the sign (h), and, according to + Griffith ("Hieroglyphics," p. 26), "is probably derived from + the same root, on account of its shell-like outline". (l) The + hieroglyphic sign for a pot of water in such words as _Nu_ and + _Nut_. (m) A "pomegranate" (replacing a bust of Tanit) upon a + sacred column at Carthage (Arthur J. Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and + Pillar Cult," p. 46). (n) The form of the body of an octopus as + conventionalized on the coins of Central Greece (compare Fig. + 24 (d)) 179 + + Fig. 7.--(a) An Egyptian design representing the sun-god Horus + emerging from a lotus, representing his mother Hathor (Isis). + (b) Papyrus sceptre often carried by goddesses and + animistically identified with them either as an instrument of + life-giving or destruction. (c) Conventionalized lily--the + prototype of the trident and the thunder-weapon. (d) A + water-plant associated with the Nile-gods 180 + + Fig. 8.--(a) "Ceremonial forked object," or "magic wand," used in + the ceremony of "opening the mouth," possibly connected with + (b) (a bicornuate uterus), according to Griffith + ("Hieroglyphics," p. 60). (c) The Egyptian sign for a key. + (d) The double axe of Crete and Egypt 191 + + Fig. 9.--The Egyptian emblem for gold, the sign _nub_ 222 + + + + +Chapter I. + +INCENSE AND LIBATIONS.[3] + + +The dragon was primarily a personification of the life-giving and +life-destroying powers of water. This chapter is concerned with the +genesis of this biological theory of water and its relationship to the +other germs of civilisation. + +It is commonly assumed that many of the elementary practices of +civilization, such as the erection of rough stone buildings, whether +houses, tombs, or temples, the crafts of the carpenter and the +stonemason, the carving of statues, the customs of pouring out libations +or burning incense, are such simple and obvious procedures that any +people might adopt them without prompting or contact of any kind with +other populations who do the same sort of things. But if such apparently +commonplace acts be investigated they will be found to have a long and +complex history. None of these things that seem so obvious to us was +attempted until a multitude of diverse circumstances became focussed in +some particular community, and constrained some individual to make the +discovery. Nor did the quality of obviousness become apparent even when +the enlightened discoverer had gathered up the threads of his +predecessor's ideas and woven them into the fabric of a new invention. +For he had then to begin the strenuous fight against the opposition of +his fellows before he could induce them to accept his discovery. He had, +in fact, to contend against their preconceived ideas and their lack of +appreciation of the significance of the progress he had made before he +could persuade them of its "obviousness". That is the history of most +inventions since the world began. But it is begging the question to +pretend that because tradition has made such inventions seem simple and +obvious to us it is unnecessary to inquire into their history or to +assume that any people or any individual simply did these things without +any instruction when the spirit moved it or him so to do. + +The customs of burning incense and making libations in religious +ceremonies are so widespread and capable of being explained in such +plausible, though infinitely diverse, ways that it has seemed +unnecessary to inquire more deeply into their real origin and +significance. For example, Professor Toy[4] disposes of these questions +in relation to incense in a summary fashion. He claims that "when burnt +before the deity" it is "to be regarded as food, though in course of +time, when the recollection of this primitive character was lost, a +conventional significance was attached to the act of burning. A more +refined period demanded more refined food for the gods, such as ambrosia +and nectar, but these also were finally given up." + +This, of course, is a purely gratuitous assumption, or series of +assumptions, for which there is no real evidence. Moreover, even if +there were any really early literature to justify such statements, they +explain nothing. Incense-burning is just as mysterious if Prof. Toy's +claim be granted as it was before. + +But a bewildering variety of other explanations, for all of which the +merit of being "simple and obvious" is claimed, have been suggested. The +reader who is curious about these things will find a luxurious crop of +speculations by consulting a series of encyclopædias.[5] I shall content +myself by quoting only one more. "Frankincense and other spices were +indispensable in temples where bloody sacrifices formed part of the +religion. The atmosphere of Solomon's temple must have been that of a +sickening slaughter-house, and the fumes of incense could alone enable +the priests and worshippers to support it. This would apply to thousands +of other temples through Asia, and doubtless the palaces of kings and +nobles suffered from uncleanliness and insanitary arrangements and +required an antidote to evil smells to make them endurable."[6] + +It is an altogether delightful anachronism to imagine that religious +ritual in the ancient and aromatic East was inspired by such +squeamishness as a British sanitary inspector of the twentieth century +might experience! + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--The conventional Egyptian representation of the +Burning of Incense and the Pouring of Libations (Period of the New +Empire)--after Lepsius] + +But if there are these many diverse and mutually destructive reasons in +explanation of the origin of incense-burning, it follows that the +meaning of the practice cannot be so "simple and obvious". For scholars +in the past have been unable to agree as to the sense in which these +adjectives should be applied. + +But no useful purpose would be served by enumerating a collection of +learned fallacies and exposing their contradictions when the true +explanation has been provided in the earliest body of literature that +has come down from antiquity. I refer to the Egyptian "Pyramid Texts". + +Before this ancient testimony is examined certain general principles +involved in the discussion of such problems should be considered. In +this connexion it is appropriate to quote the apt remarks made, in +reference to the practice of totemism, by Professor Sollas.[7] "If it is +difficult to conceive how such ideas ... originated at all, it is still +more difficult to understand how they should have arisen repeatedly and +have developed in much the same way among races evolving independently +in different environments. It is at least simpler to suppose that all +[of them] have a common source ... and may have been carried ... to +remote parts of the world." + +I do not think that anyone who conscientiously and without bias examines +the evidence relating to incense-burning, the arbitrary details of the +ritual and the peculiar circumstances under which it is practised in +different countries, can refuse to admit that so artificial a custom +must have been dispersed throughout the world from some one centre where +it was devised. + +The remarkable fact that emerges from an examination of these so-called +"obvious explanations" of ethnological phenomena is the failure on the +part of those who are responsible for them to show any adequate +appreciation of the nature of the problems to be solved. They know that +incense has been in use for a vast period of time, and that the practice +of burning it is very widespread. They have been so familiarized with +the custom and certain more or less vague excuses for its perpetuation +that they show no realization of how strangely irrational and devoid of +obvious meaning the procedure is. The reasons usually given in +explanation of its use are for the most part merely paraphrases of the +traditional meanings that in the course of history have come to be +attached to the ritual act or the words used to designate it. Neither +the ethnologist nor the priestly apologist will, as a rule, admit that +he does not know why such ritual acts as pouring out water or burning +incense are performed, and that they are wholly inexplicable and +meaningless to him. Nor will they confess that the real inspiration to +perform such rites is the fact of their predecessors having handed them +down as sacred acts of devotion, the meaning of which has been entirely +forgotten during the process of transmission from antiquity. Instead of +this they simply pretend that the significance of such acts is obvious. +Stripped of the glamour which religious emotion and sophistry have woven +around them, such pretended explanations become transparent subterfuges, +none the less real because the apologists are quite innocent of any +conscious intention to deceive either themselves or their disciples. It +should be sufficient for them that such ritual acts have been handed +down by tradition as right and proper things to do. But in response to +the instinctive impulse of all human beings, the mind seeks for reasons +in justification of actions of which the real inspiration is unknown. + +It is a common fallacy to suppose that men's actions are inspired mainly +by reason. The most elementary investigation of the psychology of +everyday life is sufficient to reveal the truth that man is not, as a +rule, the pre-eminently rational creature he is commonly supposed to +be.[8] He is impelled to most of his acts by his instincts, the +circumstances of his personal experience, and the conventions of the +society in which he has grown up. But once he has acted or decided upon +a course of procedure he is ready with excuses in explanation and +attempted justification of his motives. In most cases these are not the +real reasons, for few human beings attempt to analyse their motives or +in fact are competent without help to understand their own feelings and +the real significance of their actions. There is implanted in man the +instinct to interpret for his own satisfaction his feelings and +sensations, i.e. the meaning of his experience. But of necessity this is +mostly of the nature of rationalizing, i.e. providing satisfying +interpretations of thoughts and decisions the real meaning of which +is hidden. + +Now it must be patent that the nature of this process of rationalization +will depend largely upon the mental make-up of the individual--of the +body of knowledge and traditions with which his mind has become stored +in the course of his personal experience. The influences to which he has +been exposed, daily and hourly, from the time of his birth onward, +provide the specific determinants of most of his beliefs and views. +Consciously and unconsciously he imbibes certain definite ideas, not +merely of religion, morals, and politics, but of what is the correct and +what is the incorrect attitude to assume in most of the circumstances of +his daily life. These form the staple currency of his beliefs and his +conversation. Reason plays a surprisingly small part in this process, +for most human beings acquire from their fellows the traditions of their +society which relieves them of the necessity of undue thought. The very +words in which the accumulated traditions of his community are conveyed +to each individual are themselves charged with the complex symbolism +that has slowly developed during the ages, and tinges the whole of his +thoughts with their subtle and, to most men, vaguely appreciated shades +of meaning.[9] During this process of acquiring the fruits of his +community's beliefs and experiences every individual accepts without +question a vast number of apparently simple customs and ideas. He is apt +to regard them as obvious, and to assume that reason led him to accept +them or be guided by them, although when the specific question is put to +him he is unable to give their real history. + +Before leaving these general considerations[10] I want to emphasize +certain elementary facts of psychology which are often ignored by those +who investigate the early history of civilization. + +First, the multitude and the complexity of the circumstances that are +necessary to lead men to make even the simplest invention render the +concatenation of all of these conditions wholly independently on a +second occasion in the highest degree improbable. Until very definite +and conclusive evidence is forthcoming in any individual case it can +safely be assumed that no ethnologically significant innovation in +customs or beliefs has ever been made twice. + +Those critics who have recently attempted to dispose of this claim by +referring to the work of the Patent Office thereby display a singular +lack of appreciation of the real point at issue. For the ethnological +problem is concerned with different populations who are assumed _not_ to +share any common heritage of acquired knowledge, nor to have had any +contact, direct or indirect, the one with the other. But the inventors +who resort to the Patent Office are all of them persons supplied with +information from the storehouse of our common civilization; and the +inventions which they seek to protect from imitation by others are +merely developments of the heritage of all civilized peoples. Even when +similar inventions are made apparently independently under such +circumstances, in most cases they can be explained by the fact that two +investigators have followed up a line of advance which has been +determined by the development of the common body of knowledge. + +This general discussion suggests another factor in the working of the +human mind. + +When certain vital needs or the force of circumstances compel a man to +embark upon a certain train of reasoning or invention the results to +which his investigations lead depend upon a great many circumstances. +Obviously the range of his knowledge and experience and the general +ideas he has acquired from his fellows will play a large part in shaping +his inferences. It is quite certain that even in the simplest problem of +primitive physics or biology his attention will be directed only to some +of, and not all, the factors involved, and that the limitations of his +knowledge will permit him to form a wholly inadequate conception even of +the few factors that have obtruded themselves upon his attention. But he +may frame a working hypothesis in explanation of the factors he had +appreciated, which may seem perfectly exhaustive and final, as well as +logical and rational to him, but to those who come after him, with a +wider knowledge of the properties of matter and the nature of living +beings, and a wholly different attitude towards such problems, the +primitive man's solution may seem merely a ludicrous travesty. + +But once a tentative explanation of one group of phenomena has been made +it is the method of science no less than the common tendency of the +human mind to buttress this theory with analogies and fancied +homologies. In other words the isolated facts are built up into a +generalisation. It is important to remember that in most cases this +mental process begins very early; so that the analogies play a very +obtrusive part in the building up of theories. As a rule a multitude of +such influences play a part consciously or unconsciously in shaping any +belief. Hence the historian is faced with the difficulty, often quite +insuperable, of ascertaining (among scores of factors that definitely +played some part in the building up of a great generalization) the real +foundation upon which the vast edifice has been erected. I refer to +these elementary matters here for two reasons. First, because they are +so often overlooked by ethnologists; and secondly, because in these +pages I shall have to discuss a series of historical events in which a +bewildering number of factors played their part. In sifting out a +certain number of them, I want to make it clear that I do not pretend to +have discovered more than a small minority of the most conspicuous +threads in the complex texture of the fabric of early human thought. + +Another fact that emerges from these elementary psychological +considerations is the vital necessity of guarding against the +misunderstandings necessarily involved in the use of words. In the +course of long ages the originally simple connotation of the words used +to denote many of our ideas has become enormously enriched with a +meaning which in some degree reflects the chequered history of the +expression of human aspirations. Many writers who in discussing ancient +peoples make use of such terms, for example, as "soul," "religion," and +"gods," without stripping them of the accretions of complex symbolism +that have collected around them within more recent times, become +involved in difficulty and misunderstanding. + +For example, the use of the terms "soul" or "soul-substance" in much of +the literature relating to early or relatively primitive people is +fruitful of misunderstanding. For it is quite clear from the context +that in many cases such people meant to imply nothing more than "life" +or "vital principle," the absence of which from the body for any +prolonged period means death. But to translate such a word simply as +"life" is inadequate because all of these people had some theoretical +views as to its identity with the "breath" or to its being in the nature +of a material substance or essence. It is naturally impossible to find +any one word or phrase in our own language to express the exact idea, +for among every people there are varying shades of meaning which cannot +adequately express the symbolism distinctive of each place and society. +To meet this insuperable difficulty perhaps the term "vital essence" is +open to least objection. + +In my last Rylands lecture[11] I sketched in rough outline a tentative +explanation of the world-wide dispersal of the elements of the +civilization that is now the heritage of the world at large, and +referred to the part played by Ancient Egypt in the development of +certain arts, customs, and beliefs. On the present occasion I propose to +examine certain aspects of this process of development in greater +detail, and to study the far-reaching influence exerted by the Egyptian +practice of mummification, and the ideas that were suggested by it, in +starting new trains of thought, in stimulating the invention of arts +and crafts that were unknown before then, and in shaping the complex +body of customs and beliefs that were the outcome of these potent +intellectual ferments. + +In speaking of the relationship of the practice of mummification to the +development of civilization, however, I have in mind not merely the +influence it exerted upon the moulding of culture, but also the part +played by the trend of philosophy in the world at large in determining +the Egyptian's conceptions of the wider significance of embalming, and +the reaction of these effects upon the current doctrines of the meaning +of natural phenomena. + +No doubt it will be asked at the outset, what possible connexion can +there be between the practice of so fantastic and gruesome an art as the +embalming of the dead and the building up of civilization? Is it +conceivable that the course of the development of the arts and crafts, +the customs and beliefs, and the social and political organizations--in +fact any of the essential elements of civilization--has been deflected a +hair's breadth to the right or left as the outcome, directly or +indirectly, of such a practice? + +In previous essays and lectures[12] I have indicated how intimately this +custom was related, not merely to the invention of the arts and crafts +of the carpenter and stonemason and all that is implied in the building +up of what Professor Lethaby has called the "matrix of civilization," +but also to the shaping of religious beliefs and ritual practices, +which developed in association with the evolution of the temple and the +conception of a material resurrection. I have also suggested the +far-reaching significance of an indirect influence of the practice of +mummification in the history of civilization. It was mainly responsible +for prompting the earliest great maritime expeditions of which the +history has been preserved.[13] For many centuries the quest of resins +and balsams for embalming and for use in temple ritual, and wood for +coffin-making, continued to provide the chief motives which induced the +Egyptians to undertake sea-trafficking in the Mediterranean and the Red +Sea. The knowledge and experience thus acquired ultimately made it +possible for the Egyptians and their pupils to push their adventures +further afield. It is impossible adequately to estimate the vastness of +the influence of such intercourse, not merely in spreading abroad +throughout the world the germs of our common civilization, but also, by +bringing into close contact peoples of varied histories and traditions, +in stimulating progress. Even if the practice of mummification had +exerted no other noteworthy effect in the history of the world, this +fact alone would have given it a pre-eminent place. + +Another aspect of the influence of mummification I have already +discussed, and do not intend to consider further in this lecture. I +refer to the manifold ways in which it affected the history of medicine +and pharmacy. By accustoming the Egyptians, through thirty centuries, to +the idea of cutting the human corpse, it made it possible for Greek +physicians of the Ptolemaic and later ages to initiate in Alexandria the +systematic dissection of the human body which popular prejudice forbade +elsewhere, and especially in Greece itself. Upon this foundation the +knowledge of anatomy and the science of medicine has been built up.[14] +But in many other ways the practice of mummification exerted +far-reaching effects, directly and indirectly, upon the development of +medical and pharmaceutical knowledge and methods.[15] + +There is then this _prima-facie_ evidence that the Egyptian practice of +mummification was closely related to the development of architecture, +maritime trafficking, and medicine. But what I am chiefly concerned with +in the present lecture is the discussion of the much vaster part it +played in shaping the innermost beliefs of mankind and directing the +course of the religious aspirations and the scientific opinions, not +merely of the Egyptians themselves, but also of the world at large, for +many centuries afterward. + +It had a profound influence upon the history of human thought. The vague +and ill-defined ideas of physiology and psychology, which had probably +been developing since Aurignacian times[16] in Europe, were suddenly +crystallized into a coherent structure and definite form by the musings +of the Egyptian embalmer. But at the same time, if the new philosophy +did not find expression in the invention of the first deities, it gave +them a much more concrete form than they had previously presented, and +played a large part in the establishment of the foundations upon which +all religious ritual was subsequently built up, and in the initiation of +a priesthood to administer the rites which were suggested by the +practice of mummification. + + +[3: An elaboration of a Lecture on the relationship of the Egyptian +practice of mummification to the development of civilization delivered +in the John Rylands Library, on 9 February, 1916.] + +[4: "Introduction to the History of Religions," p. 486.] + +[5: He might start upon this journey of adventure by reading the article +on "Incense" in Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_.] + +[6: Samuel Laing, "Human Origins," Revised by Edward Clodd, 1903, p. +38.] + +[7: "Ancient Hunters," 2nd Edition, pp. 234 and 235.] + +[8: On this subject see Elliot Smith and Pear, "Shell Shock and its +Lessons," Manchester University Press, 1917, p. 59.] + +[9: An interesting discussion of this matter by the late Professor +William James will be found in his "Principles of Psychology," Vol. I, +pp. 261 _et seq._] + +[10: For a fuller discussion of certain phases of this matter see my +address on "Primitive Man," in the _Proceedings of the British Academy_, +1917, especially pp. 23-50.] + +[11: "The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilization in the East and in +America," _The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library_, Jan.-March, 1916.] + +[12: "The Migrations of Early Culture," 1915, Manchester University +Press: "The Evolution of the Rock-cut Tomb and the Dolmen," _Essays and +Studies Presented to William Ridgeway_, Cambridge, 1913, p. 493: +"Oriental Tombs and Temples," _Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and +Oriental Society_, 1914-1915, p. 55.] + +[13: "Ships as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture," Manchester +University Press, 1917, p. 37.] + +[14: "Egyptian Mummies," _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. I, Part +III, July, 1914, p. 189.] + +[15: Such, for example, as its influence in the acquisition of the means +of preserving the tissues of the body, which has played so large a part +in the development of the sciences of anatomy, pathology, and in fact +biology in general. The practice of mummification was largely +responsible for the attainment of a knowledge of the properties of many +drugs and especially of those which restrain putrefactive changes. But +it was not merely in the acquisition of a knowledge of material facts +that mummification exerted its influence. The humoral theory of +pathology and medicine, which prevailed for so many centuries and the +effects of which are embalmed for all time in our common speech, was +closely related in its inception to the ideas which I shall discuss in +these pages. The Egyptians themselves did not profit to any appreciable +extent from the remarkable opportunities which their practice of +embalming provided for studying human anatomy. The sanctity of these +ritual acts was fatal to the employment of such opportunities to gain +knowledge. Nor was the attitude of mind of the Egyptians such as to +permit the acquisition of a real appreciation of the structure of the +body.] + +[16: See my address, "Primitive Man," _Proc. Brit. Academy_, 1917.] + + +Beginning of Stone-Working. + +During the last few years I have repeatedly had occasion to point out +the fundamental fallacy underlying much of the modern speculation in +ethnology, and I have no intention of repeating these strictures +here.[17] But it is a significant fact that, when one leaves the +writings of professed ethnologists and turns to the histories of their +special subjects written by scholars in kindred fields of investigation, +views such as I have been setting forth will often be found to be +accepted without question or comment as the obvious truth. + +There is an excellent little book entitled "Architecture," written by +Professor W. R. Lethaby for the Home University Library, that affords an +admirable illustration of this interesting fact. I refer to this +particular work because it gives lucid expression to some of the ideas +that I wish to submit for consideration. "Two arts have changed the +surface of the world, Agriculture and Architecture" (p. 1). "To a large +degree architecture" [which he defines as "the matrix of civilization"] +"is an Egyptian art" (p. 66): for in Egypt "we shall best find the +origins of architecture as a whole" (p. 21). + +Nevertheless Professor Lethaby bows the knee to current tradition when +he makes the wholly unwarranted assumption that Egypt probably learnt +its art from Babylonia. He puts forward this remarkable claim in spite +of his frank confession that "little or nothing is known of a primitive +age in Mesopotamia. At a remote time the art of Babylonia was that of a +civilized people. As has been said, there is a great similarity between +this art and that of dynastic times in Egypt. Yet it appears that Egypt +borrowed of Asia, rather than the reverse." [He gives no reasons for +this opinion, for which there is no evidence, except possibly the +invention of bricks for building.] "If the origins of art in Babylonia +were as fully known as those in Egypt, the story of architecture might +have to begin in Asia instead of Egypt" (p. 67). + +But later on he speaks in a more convincing manner of the known facts +when he says (p. 82):-- + +When Greece entered on her period of high-strung life the time of first +invention in the arts was over--the heroes of Craft, like Tubal Cain and +Daedalus, necessarily belong to the infancy of culture. The phenomenon +of Egypt could not occur again; the mission of Greece was rather to +settle down to a task of gathering, interpreting, and bringing to +perfection Egypt's gifts. The arts of civilization were never developed +in watertight compartments, as is shown by the uniformity of custom over +the modern world. Further, if any new nation enters into the circle of +culture it seems that, like Japan, it must 'borrow the capital'. The art +of Greece could hardly have been more self-originated than is the +science of Japan. Ideas of the temple and of the fortified town must +have spread from the East, the square-roomed house, columnar orders, +fine masonry, were all Egyptian. + +Elsewhere[18] I have pointed out that it was the importance which the +Egyptian came to attach to the preservation of the dead and to the +making of adequate provision for the deceased's welfare that gradually +led to the aggrandisement of the tomb. In course of time this impelled +him to cut into the rock,[19] and, later still, suggested the +substitution of stone for brick in erecting the chapel of offerings +above ground. The Egyptian burial customs were thus intimately related +to the conceptions that grew up with the invention of embalming. The +evidence in confirmation of this is so precise that every one who +conscientiously examines it must be forced to the conclusion that man +did not instinctively select stone as a suitable material with which to +erect temples and houses, and forthwith begin to quarry and shape it for +such purposes. + +There was an intimate connexion between the first use of stone for +building and the practice of mummification. It was probably for this +reason, and not from any abstract sense of "wonder at the magic of art," +as Professor Lethaby claims, that "ideas of sacredness, of ritual +rightness, of magic stability and correspondence with the universe, +and of perfection of form and proportion" came to be associated with +stone buildings. + +At first stone was used only for such sacred purposes, and the pharaoh +alone was entitled to use it for his palaces, in virtue of the fact that +he was divine, the son and incarnation on earth of the sun-god. It was +only when these Egyptian practices were transplanted to other countries, +where these restrictions did not obtain, that the rigid wall of +convention was broken down. + +Even in Rome until well into the Christian era "the largest domestic and +civil buildings were of plastered brick". "Wrought masonry seems to have +been demanded only for the great monuments, triumphal arches, theatres, +temples and above all for the Coliseum." (Lethaby, _op. cit._ p. 120). + +Nevertheless Rome was mainly responsible for breaking down the hieratic +tradition which forbade the use of stone for civil purposes. "In Roman +architecture the engineering element became paramount. It was this which +broke the moulds of tradition and recast construction into modern form, +and made it free once more" (p. 130). + +But Egypt was not only responsible for inaugurating the use of stone for +building. For another forty centuries she continued to be the inventor +of new devices in architecture. From time to time methods of building +which developed in Egypt were adopted by her neighbours and spread far +and wide. The shaft-tombs and _mastabas_ of the Egyptian Pyramid Age +were adopted in various localities in the region of the Eastern +Mediterranean,[20] with certain modifications in each place, and in turn +became the models which were roughly copied in later ages by the +wandering dolmen-builders. The round tombs of Crete and Mycenæ were +clearly only local modifications of their square prototypes, the +Egyptian Pyramids of the Middle Kingdom. "While this Ægean art gathered +from, and perhaps gave to, Egypt, it passed on its ideals to the north +and west of Europe, where the productions of the Bronze Age clearly show +its influence" (Lethaby, p. 78) in the chambered mounds of the Iberian +peninsula and Brittany, of New Grange in Ireland and of Maes Howe in the +Orkneys.[21] In the East the influence of these Ægean modifications may +possibly be seen in the Indian _stupas_ and the _dagabas_ of Ceylon, +just as the stone stepped pyramids there reveal the effects of contact +with the civilizations of Babylonia and Egypt. + +Professor Lethaby sees the influence of Egypt in the orientation of +Christian churches (p. 133), as well as in many of their structural +details (p. 142); in the domed roofs, the iconography, the symbolism, +and the decoration of Byzantine architecture (p. 138); and in Mohammedan +buildings wherever they are found. + +For it was not only the architecture of Greece, Rome, and Christendom +that received its inspiration from Egypt, but that of Islâm also. These +buildings were not, like the religion itself, in the main Arabic in +origin. "Primitive Arabian art itself is quite negligible. When the new +strength of the followers of the Prophet was consolidated with great +rapidity into a rich and powerful empire, it took over the arts and +artists of the conquered lands, extending from North Africa to Persia" +(p. 158); and it is known how this influence spread as far west as Spain +and as far east as Indonesia. "The Pharos at Alexandria, the great +lighthouse built about 280 B.C., almost appears to have been the parent +of all high and isolated towers.... Even on the coast of Britain, at +Dover, we had a Pharos which was in some degree an imitation of the +Alexandrian one." The Pharos at Boulogne, the round towers of Ravenna, +and the imitations of it elsewhere in Europe, even as far as Ireland, +are other examples of its influence. But in addition the Alexandrian +Pharos had "as great an effect as the prototype of Eastern minarets as +it had for Western towers" (p. 115). + +I have quoted so extensively from Professor Lethaby's brilliant little +book to give this independent testimony of the vastness of the influence +exerted by Egypt during a span of nearly forty centuries in creating and +developing the "matrix of civilization". Most of this wider dispersal +abroad was effected by alien peoples, who transformed their gifts from +Egypt before they handed on the composite product to some more distant +peoples. But the fact remains that the great centre of original +inspiration in architecture was Egypt. + +The original incentive to the invention of this essentially Egyptian art +was the desire to protect and secure the welfare of the dead. The +importance attached to this aim was intimately associated with the +development of the practice of mummification. + +With this tangible and persistent evidence of the general scheme of +spread of the arts of building I can now turn to the consideration of +some of the other, more vital, manifestations of human thought and +aspirations, which also, like the "matrix of civilization" itself, grew +up in intimate association with the practice of embalming the dead. + +I have already mentioned Professor Lethaby's reference to architecture +and agriculture as the two arts that have changed the surface of the +world. It is interesting to note that the influence of these two +ingredients of civilization was diffused abroad throughout the world in +intimate association the one with the other. In most parts of the world +the use of stone for building and Egyptian methods of architecture made +their first appearance along with the peculiarly distinctive form of +agriculture and irrigation so intimately associated with early Babylonia +and Egypt.[22] + +But agriculture also exerted a most profound influence in shaping the +early Egyptian body of beliefs. + +I shall now call attention to certain features of the earliest mummies, +and then discuss how the ideas suggested by the practice of the art of +embalming the dead were affected by the early theories of agriculture +and the mutual influence they exerted one upon the other. + + +[17: See, however, _op. cit. supra_; also "The Origin of the +Pre-Columbian Civilization of America," _Science_, N.S., Vol. XLV, No. +1158, pp. 241-246, 9 March, 1917.] + +[18: _Op. cit. supra_.] + +[19: For the earliest evidence of the cutting of stone for architectural +purposes, see my statement in the _Report of the British Association for +1914_, p. 212.] + +[20: Especially in Crete, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Southern Russia, +and the North African Littoral.] + +[21: For an account of the evidence relating to these monuments, with +full bibliographical references, see Déchelette, "Manuel d'Archéologie +préhistorique Celtique et Gallo-Romaine," T. 1, 1912, pp. 390 _et seq._; +also Sophus Müller, "Urgeschichte Europas," 1905, pp. 74 and 75; and +Louis Siret, "Les Cassitérides et l'Empire Colonial des Phéniciens," +_L'Anthropologie_, T. 20, 1909, p. 313.] + +[22: W. J. Perry, "The Geographical Distribution of Terraced Cultivation +and Irrigation," _Memoirs and Proc. Manch. Lit. and Phil. Soc._, Vol. +60, 1916.] + + +The Origin of Embalming. + +I have already explained[23] how the increased importance that came to +be attached to the corpse as the means of securing a continuance of +existence led to the aggrandizement of the tomb. Special care was taken +to protect the dead and this led to the invention of coffins, and to the +making of a definite tomb, the size of which rapidly increased as more +and more ample supplies of food and other offerings were made. But the +very measures thus taken the more efficiently to protect and tend the +dead defeated the primary object of all this care. For, when buried in +such an elaborate tomb, the body no longer became desiccated and +preserved by the forces of nature, as so often happened when it was +placed in a simple grave directly in the hot dry sand. + +It is of fundamental importance in the argument set forth here to +remember that these factors came into operation before the time of the +First Dynasty. They were responsible for impelling the Proto-Egyptians +not only to invent the wooden coffin, the stone sarcophagus, the +rock-cut tomb, and to begin building in stone, but also to devise +measures for the artificial preservation of the body. + +But in addition to stimulating the development of the first real +architecture and the art of mummification other equally far-reaching +results in the region of ideas and beliefs grew out of these practices. + +From the outset the Egyptian embalmer was clearly inspired by two +ideals: (a) to preserve the actual tissues of the body with a minimum +disturbance of its superficial appearance; and (b) to preserve a +likeness of the deceased as he was in life. At first it was naturally +attempted to make this simulacrum of the body itself if it were +possible, or alternatively, when this ideal was found to be +unattainable, from its wrappings or by means of a portrait statue. It +was soon recognized that it was beyond the powers of the early embalmer +to succeed in mummifying the body itself so as to retain a recognizable +likeness to the man when alive: although from time to time such attempts +were repeatedly made,[24] until the period of the XXI Dynasty, when the +operator clearly was convinced that he had at last achieved what his +predecessors, for perhaps twenty-five centuries, had been trying in vain +to do. + + +[23: _Op. cit. supra_.] + +[24: See my volume on "The Royal Mummies," General Catalogue of the +Cairo Museum.] + + +Early Mummies. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Water-colour sketch by Mrs. Cecil Firth, +representing a restoration of the early mummy found at Medûm by Prof. +Flinders Petrie, now in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in +London] + +In the earliest known (Second Dynasty) examples of Egyptian attempts at +mummification[25] the corpse was swathed in a large series of bandages, +which were moulded into shape to represent the form of the body. In a +later (probably Fifth Dynasty) mummy, found in 1892 by Professor +Flinders Petrie at Medûm, the superficial bandages had been impregnated +with a resinous paste, which while still plastic was moulded into the +form of the body, special care being bestowed upon the modelling of the +face[26] and the organs of reproduction, so as to leave no room for +doubt as to the identity and the sex. Professor Junker has described[27] +an interesting series of variations of these practices. In two graves +the bodies were covered with a layer of stucco plaster. First the corpse +was covered with a fine linen cloth: then the plaster was put on, and +modelled into the form of the body (p. 252). But in two other cases it +was not the whole body that was covered with this layer of stucco, +but only the head. Professor Junker claims that this was done +"apparently because the head was regarded as the most important part, as +the organs of taste, sight, smell, and hearing were contained in it". +But surely there was the additional and more obtrusive reason that the +face affords the means of identifying the individual! For this modelling +of the features was intended primarily as a restoration of the form of +the body which had been altered, if not actually destroyed. In other +cases, where no attempt was made to restore the features in such durable +materials as resin or stucco, the linen-enveloped head was modelled, and +a representation of the eyes painted upon it so as to enhance the +life-like appearance of the face. + +These facts prove quite conclusively that the earliest attempts to +reproduce the features of the deceased and so preserve his likeness, +were made upon the wrapped mummy itself. Thus the mummy was intended to +be the portrait as well as the actual bodily remains of the dead. In +view of certain differences of opinion as to the original significance +of the funerary ritual, which I shall have occasion to discuss later on +(see p. 20), it is important to keep these facts clearly in mind. + +A discovery made by Mr. J. E. Quibell in the course of his excavations +at Sakkara[28] suggests that, as an outcome of these practices a new +procedure may have been devised in the Pyramid Age--the making of a +death-mask. For he discovered what may be the mask taken directly from +the face of the Pharaoh Teta (Fig. 3). + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--A mould taken from a life-mask found in the +Pyramid of Teta by Mr. Quibell] + +About this time also the practice originated of making a life-size +portrait statue of the dead man's head and placing it along with the +actual body in the burial chamber. These "reserve heads," as they have +been called, were usually made of fine limestone, but Junker found one +made of Nile mud.[29] + +Junker believes that there was an intimate relationship between the +plaster-covered heads and the reserve-heads. They were both expressions +of the same idea, to preserve a simulacrum of the deceased when his +actual body had lost all recognizable likeness to him as he was when +alive. The one method aimed at combining in the same object the actual +body and the likeness; the other at making a more life-like portrait +apart from the corpse, which could take the place of the latter when +it decayed. + +Junker states further that "it is no chance that the substitute-heads +... entirely, or at any rate chiefly, are found in the tombs that have +no statue-chamber and probably possessed no statues. The statues [of the +whole body] certainly were made, at any rate partly, with the intention +that they should take the place of the decaying body, although later the +idea was modified. The placing of the substitute-head in [the burial +chamber of] the mastaba therefore became unnecessary at the moment when +the complete figure of the dead [placed in a special hidden chamber, now +commonly called the _serdab_] was introduced." The ancient Egyptians +themselves called the _serdab_ the _pr-twt_ or "statue-house," and the +group of chambers, forming the tomb-chapel in the mastaba, was known to +them as the "_ka_-house".[30] + +It is important to remember that, even when the custom of making a +statue of the deceased became fully established, the original idea of +restoring the form of the mummy itself or its wrappings was never +abandoned. The attempts made in the XVIII, and XXI and XXII Dynasties to +pack the body of the mummy itself and by artificial means give it a +life-like appearance afford evidence of this. In the New Empire and in +Roman times the wrapped mummy was sometimes modelled into the form of a +statue. But throughout Egyptian history it was a not uncommon practice +to provide a painted mask for the wrapped mummy, or in early Christian +times simply a portrait of the deceased. + +With this custom there also persisted a remembrance of its original +significance. Professor Garstang records the fact that in the XII +Dynasty,[31] when a painted mask was placed upon the wrapped mummy, no +statue or statuette was found in the tomb. The undertakers apparently +realized that the mummy[32] which was provided with a life-like mask was +therefore fulfilling the purposes for which statues were devised. So +also in the New Empire the packing and modelling of the actual mummy so +as to restore its life-like appearance were regarded as obviating the +need for a statue. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Portrait Statue of an Egyptian Lady of the +Pyramid Age] + +I must now return to the further consideration of the Old Kingdom +statues. All these varied experiments were inspired by the same desire, +to preserve the likeness of the deceased. But when the sculptors +attained their object, and created those marvellous life-like portraits, +which must ever remain marvels of technical skill and artistic feeling +(Fig. 4), the old ideas that surged through the minds of the Predynastic +Egyptians, as they contemplated the desiccated remains of the dead, were +strongly reinforced. The earlier people's thoughts were turned more +specifically than heretofore to the contemplation of the nature of life +and death by seeing the bodies of their dead preserved whole and +incorruptible; and, if their actions can be regarded as an expression of +their ideas, they began to wonder what was lacking in these physically +complete bodies to prevent them from feeling and acting like living +beings. Such must have been the results of their puzzled contemplation +of the great problems of life and death. Otherwise the impulse to make +more certain the preservation of the body by the invention of +mummification and to retain a life-like representation of the deceased +by means of a sculptured statue remains inexplicable. But when the +corpse had been rendered incorruptible and the deceased's portrait had +been fashioned with realistic perfection the old ideas would recur with +renewed strength. The belief then took more definite shape that if the +missing elements of vitality could be restored to the statue, it might +become animated and the dead man would live again in his vitalized +statue. This prompted a more intense and searching investigation of the +problems concerning the nature of the elements of vitality of which the +corpse was deprived at the time of death. Out of these inquiries in +course of time a highly complex system of philosophy developed.[33] + +But in the earlier times with which I am now concerned it found +practical expression in certain ritual procedures, invented to convey to +the statue the breath of life, the vitalising fluids, and the odour and +sweat of the living body. The seat of knowledge and of feeling was +believed to be retained in the body when the heart was left _in situ_: +so that the only thing needed to awaken consciousness, and make it +possible for the dead man to take heed of his friends and to act +voluntarily, was to present offerings of blood to stimulate the +physiological functions of the heart. But the element of vitality which +left the body at death had to be restored to the statue, which +represented the deceased in the _ka_-house.[34] + +In my earlier attempts[35] to interpret these problems, I adopted the +view that the making of portrait statues was the direct outcome of the +practice of mummification. But Dr. Alan Gardiner, whose intimate +knowledge of the early literature enables him to look at such problems +from the Egyptian's own point of view, has suggested a modification of +this interpretation. Instead of regarding the custom of making statues +as an outcome of the practice of mummification, he thinks that the two +customs developed simultaneously, in response to the two-fold desire to +preserve both the actual body and a representation of the features of +the dead. But I think this suggestion does not give adequate recognition +to the fact that the earliest attempts at funerary portraiture were made +upon the wrappings of the actual mummies.[36] This fact and the evidence +which I have already quoted from Junker make it quite clear that from +the beginning the embalmer's aim was to preserve the body and to convert +the mummy itself into a simulacrum of the deceased. When he realized +that his technical skill was not adequate to enable him to accomplish +this double aim, he fell back upon the device of making a more perfect +and realistic portrait statue apart from the mummy. But, as I have +already pointed out, he never completely renounced his ambition of +transforming the mummy itself; and in the time of the New Empire he +actually attained the result which he had kept in view for nearly twenty +centuries. + +In these remarks I have been referring only to funerary portrait +statues. Centuries before the attempt was made to fashion them modellers +had been making of clay and stone representations of cattle and human +beings, which have been found not only in Predynastic graves in Egypt +but also in so-called "Upper Palæolithic" deposits in Europe. + +But the fashioning of realistic and life-size human portrait-statues for +funerary purposes was a new art, which gradually developed in the way I +have tried to depict. No doubt the modellers made use of the skill they +had acquired in the practice of the older art of rough impressionism. + +Once the statue was made a stone-house (the _serdab_) was provided for +it above ground[37]. As the dolmen is a crude copy of the _serdab_[38] +it can be claimed as one of the ultimate results of the practice of +mummification. It is clear that the conception of the possibility of a +life beyond the grave assumed a more concrete form when it was realized +that the body itself could be rendered incorruptible and its distinctive +traits could be kept alive by means of a portrait statue. There are +reasons for supposing that primitive man did not realize or contemplate +the possibility of his own existence coming to an end.[39] Even when he +witnessed the death of his fellows he does not appear to have +appreciated the fact that it was really the end of life and not merely a +kind of sleep from which the dead might awake. But if the corpse were +destroyed or underwent a process of natural disintegration the fact was +brought home to him that death had occurred. If these considerations, +which early Egyptian literature seems to suggest, be borne in mind, the +view that the preservation of the body from corruption implied a +continuation of existence becomes intelligible. At first the +subterranean chambers in which the actual body was housed were developed +into a many-roomed house for the deceased, complete in every detail.[40] +But when the statue took over the function of representing the deceased, +a dwelling was provided for it above ground. This developed into the +temple where the relatives and friends of the dead came and made the +offerings of food which were regarded as essential for the maintenance +of existence. + +The evolution of the temple was thus the direct outcome of the ideas +that grew up in connexion with the preservation of the dead. For at +first it was nothing more than the dwelling place of the reanimated +dead. But when, for reasons which I shall explain later (see p. 30), the +dead king became deified, his temple of offerings became the building +where food and drink were presented to the god, not merely to maintain +his existence, but also to restore his consciousness, and so afford an +opportunity for his successor, the actual king, to consult him and +obtain his advice and help. The presentation of offerings and the ritual +procedures for animating and restoring consciousness to the dead king +were at first directed solely to these ends. But in course of time, as +their original purpose became obscured, these services in the temple +altered in character, and their meaning became rationalized into acts +of homage and worship, and of prayer and supplication, and in much later +times, acquired an ethical and moral significance that was wholly absent +from the original conception of the temple services. The earliest idea +of the temple as a place of offering has not been lost sight of. Even in +our times the offertory still finds a place in temple services. + + +[25: G. Elliot Smith, "The Earliest Evidence of Attempts at +Mummification in Egypt," _Report British Association_, 1912, p. 612: +compare also J. Garstang, "Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt," London, +1907, pp. 29 and 30. Professor Garstang did not recognize that +mummification had been attempted.] + +[26: G. Elliot Smith, "The History of Mummification in Egypt," _Proc. +Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow_, 1910: also "Egyptian Mummies," +_Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. I, Part III, July, 1914, Plate +XXXI.] + +[27: "Excavations of the Vienna Imperial Academy of Sciences at the +Pyramids of Gizah, 1914," _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. I, Oct. +1914, p. 250.] + +[28: "Excavations at Saqqara," 1907-8, p. 113.] + +[29: The great variety of experiments that were being made at the +beginning of the Pyramid Age bears ample testimony to the fact that the +original inventors of these devices were actually at work in Lower Egypt +at that time.] + +[30: Aylward M. Blackman, "The _Ka_-House and the Serdab," _Journal of +Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. III, Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 250. The word +_serdab_ is merely the Arabic word used by the native workmen, which has +been adopted and converted into a technical term by European +archæologists.] + +[31: _Op. cit._ p. 171.] + +[32: It is a remarkable fact that Professor Garstang, who brought to +light perhaps the best, and certainly the best-preserved, collection of +Middle Kingdom mummies ever discovered, failed to recognize the fact +that they had really been embalmed (_op. cit._ p. 171).] + +[33: The reader who wishes for fuller information as to the reality of +these beliefs and how seriously they were held will find them still in +active operation in China. An admirable account of Chinese philosophy +will be found in De Groot's "Religious System of China," especially Vol. +IV, Book II. It represents the fully developed (New Empire) system of +Egyptian belief modified in various ways by Babylonian, Indian and +Central Asiatic influences, as well as by accretions developed locally +in China.] + +[34: A. M. Blackman, "The _Ka_-House and the Serdab," _The Journal of +Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. III, Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 250.] + +[35: "Migrations of Early Culture," p. 37.] + +[36: Dr. Alan Gardiner (Davies and Gardiner, "The Tomb of Amenemhet," +1915, p. 83, footnote) has, I think, overlooked certain statements in my +writings and underestimated the antiquity of the embalmer's art; for he +attributes to me the opinion that "mummification was a custom of +relatively late growth". + +The presence in China of the characteristically Egyptian beliefs +concerning the animation of statues (de Groot, _op. cit._ pp. 339-356), +whereas the practice of mummification, though not wholly absent, is not +obtrusive, might perhaps be interpreted by some scholars as evidence in +favour of the development of the custom of making statues independently +of mummification. But such an inference is untenable. Not only is it the +fact that in most parts of the world the practices of making statues and +mummifying the dead are found in association the one with the other, but +also in China the essential beliefs concerning the dead are based upon +the supposition that the body is fully preserved (_see_ de Groot, chap. +XV.). It is quite evident that the Chinese customs have been derived +directly or indirectly from some people who mummified their dead as a +regular practice. There can be no doubt that the ultimate source of +their inspiration to do these things was Egypt. + +I need mention only one of many identical peculiarities that makes this +quite certain. De Groot says it is "strange to see Chinese fancy depict +the souls of the viscera as distinct individuals with animal forms" (p. +71). The same custom prevailed in Egypt, where the "souls" or protective +deities were first given animal forms in the Nineteenth Dynasty +(Reisner).] + +[37: The Arabic word conveys the idea of being "hidden underground," +because the house is exposed by excavation.] + +[38: _Op. cit. supra_, Ridgeway Essays; also _Man_, 1913, p. 193.] + +[39: See Alan H. Gardiner, "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings' +_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_.] + +[40: See the quotation from Mr. Quibell's account in my statement in the +_Report of the British Association for 1914_, p. 215.] + + +The Significance of Libations. + +The central idea of this lecture was suggested by Mr. Aylward M. +Blackman's important discovery of the actual meaning of incense and +libations to the Egyptians themselves.[41] The earliest body of +literature preserved from any of the peoples of antiquity is comprised +in the texts inscribed in the subterranean chambers of the Sakkara +Pyramids of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. These documents, written +forty-five centuries ago, were first brought to light in modern times in +1880-81; and since the late Sir Gaston Maspero published the first +translation of them, many scholars have helped in the task of +elucidating their meaning. But it remained for Blackman to discover the +explanation they give of the origin and significance of the act of +pouring out libations. "The general meaning of these passages is quite +clear. The corpse of the deceased is dry and shrivelled. To revivify it +the vital fluids that have exuded from it [in the process of +mummification] must be restored, for not till then will life return and +the heart beat again. This, so the texts show us, was believed to be +accomplished by offering libations to the accompaniment of incantations" +(_op. cit._ p. 70). + +In the first three passages quoted by Blackman from the Pyramid Texts +"the libations are said to be the actual fluids that have issued from +the corpse". In the next four quotations "a different notion is +introduced. It is not the deceased's own exudations that are to revive +his shrunken frame but those of a divine body, the [god's fluid][42] +that came from the corpse of Osiris himself, the juices that dissolved +from his decaying flesh, which are communicated to the dead +sacrament-wise under the form of these libations." + +This dragging-in of Osiris is especially significant. For the analogy of +the life-giving power of water that is specially associated with Osiris +played a dominant part in suggesting the ritual of libations. Just as +water, when applied to the apparently dead seed, makes it germinate and +come to life, so libations can reanimate the corpse. These general +biological theories of the potency of water were current at the time, +and, as I shall explain later (see p. 28), had possibly received +specific application to man long before the idea of libations developed. +For, in the development of the cult of Osiris[43] the general +fertilizing power of water when applied to the soil found specific +exemplification in the potency of the seminal fluid to fertilize human +beings. Malinowski has pointed out that certain Papuan people, who are +ignorant of the fact that women are fertilized by sexual connexion, +believe that they can be rendered pregnant by rain falling upon them +(_op. cit. infra_). The study of folk-lore and early beliefs makes it +abundantly clear that in the distant past which I am now discussing no +clear distinction was made between fertilization and vitalization, +between bringing new life into being and reanimating the body which had +once been alive. The process of fertilization of the female and +animating a corpse or a statue were regarded as belonging to the same +category of biological processes. The sculptor who carved the +portrait-statues for the Egyptian's tomb was called _sa'nkh_, "he who +causes to live," and "the word 'to fashion' (_ms_) a statue is to all +appearances identical with _ms_, 'to give birth'".[44] + +Thus the Egyptians themselves expressed in words the ideas which an +independent study of the ethnological evidence showed many other peoples +to entertain, both in ancient and modern times.[45] + +The interpretation of ancient texts and the study of the beliefs of less +cultured modern peoples indicate that our expressions: "to give birth," +"to give life," "to maintain life," "to ward off death," "to insure good +luck," "to prolong life," "to give life to the dead," "to animate a +corpse or a representation of the dead," "to give fertility," "to +impregnate," "to create," represent a series of specializations of +meaning which were not clearly differentiated the one from the other in +early times or among relatively primitive modern people. + +The evidence brought together in Jackson's work clearly suggests that at +a very early period in human history, long before the ideas that found +expression in the Osiris story had materialized, men entertained in all +its literal crudity the belief that the external organ of reproduction +from which the child emerged at birth was the actual creator of the +child, not merely the giver of birth but also the source of life. + +The widespread tendency of the human mind to identify similar objects +and attribute to them the powers of the things they mimic led primitive +men to assign to the cowry-shell all these life-giving and birth-giving +virtues. It became an amulet to give fertility, to assist at birth, to +maintain life, to ward off danger, to ensure the life hereafter, to +bring luck of any sort. Now, as the giver of birth, the cowry-shell also +came to be identified with, or regarded as, the mother and creator of +the human family; and in course of time, as this belief became +rationalized, the shell's maternity received visible expression and it +became personified as an actual woman, the Great Mother, at first nameless +and with ill-defined features. But at a later period, when the dead king +Osiris gradually acquired his attributes of divinity, and a god emerged +with the form of a man, the vagueness of the Great Mother who had been +merely the personified cowry-shell soon disappeared and the amulet assumed, +as Hathor, the form of a real woman, or, for reasons to be explained +later, a cow. + +The influence of these developments reacted upon the nascent conception +of the water-controlling god, Osiris; and his powers of fertility were +enlarged to include many of the life-giving attributes of Hathor. + + +[41: "The Significance of Incense and Libations in Funerary and Temple +Ritual," _Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde_, Bd. +50, 1912, p. 69.] + +[42: Mr. Blackman here quotes the actual word in hieroglyphics and adds +the translation "god's fluid" and the following explanation in a +footnote: "The Nile was supposed to be the fluid which issued from +Osiris. The expression in the Pyramid texts may refer to this +belief--the dead" [in the Pyramid Age it would have been more accurate +if he had said the dead king, in whose Pyramid the inscriptions were +found] "being usually identified with Osiris--since the water used in +the libations was Nile water."] + +[43: The voluminous literature relating to Osiris will be found +summarized in the latest edition of "The Golden Bough" by Sir James +Frazer. But in referring the reader to this remarkable compilation of +evidence it is necessary to call particular attention to the fact that +Sir James Frazer's interpretation is permeated with speculations based +upon the modern ethnological dogma of independent evolution of similar +customs and beliefs without cultural contact between the different +localities where such similarities make their appearance. + +The complexities of the motives that inspire and direct human activities +are entirely fatal to such speculations, as I have attempted to indicate +(see above, p. 195). But apart from this general warning, there are +other objections to Sir James Frazer's theories. In his illuminating +article upon Osiris and Horus, Dr. Alan Gardiner (in a criticism of Sir +James Frazer's "The Golden Bough: Adonis, Attis, Osiris; Studies in the +History of Oriental Religion," _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. +II, 1915, p. 122) insists upon the crucial fact that Osiris was +primarily a king, and that "it is always as a _dead_ king," "the rôle of +the living king being invariably played by Horus, his son and heir". + +He states further: "What Egyptologists wish to know about Osiris beyond +anything else is how and by what means he became associated with the +processes of vegetable life". An examination of the literature relating +to Osiris and the large series of homologous deities in other countries +(which exhibit _prima facie_ evidence of a common origin) suggests the +idea that the king who first introduced the practice of systematic +irrigation thereby laid the foundation of his reputation as a beneficent +reformer. When, for reasons which I shall discuss later on (see p. 220), +the dead king became deified, his fame as the controller of water and +the fertilization of the earth became apotheosized also. I venture to +put forward this suggestion only because none of the alternative +hypotheses that have been propounded seem to be in accordance with, +or to offer an adequate explanation of, the body of known facts +concerning Osiris. + +It is a remarkable fact that in his lectures on "The Development of +Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," which are based upon his own +studies of the Pyramid Texts, and are an invaluable storehouse of +information, Professor J. H. Breasted should have accepted Sir James +Frazer's views. These seem to me to be altogether at variance with the +renderings of the actual Egyptian texts and to confuse the exposition.] + +[44: Dr. Alan Gardiner, quoted in my "Migrations of Early Culture," p. +42: see also the same scholar's remarks in Davies and Gardiner, "The +Tomb of Amenemhet," 1915, p. 57, and "A new Masterpiece of Egyptian +Sculpture," _The Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. IV, Part I, +Jan., 1917.] + +[45: See J. Wilfrid Jackson, "Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of +Early Culture," 1917, Manchester University Press.] + + +Early Biological Theories. + +Before the full significance of these procedures can be appreciated it +is essential to try to get at the back of the Proto-Egyptian's mind and +to understand his general trend of thought. I specially want to make it +clear that the ritual use of water for animating the corpse or the +statue was merely a specific application of the general principles of +biology which were then current. It was no mere childish make-believe or +priestly subterfuge to regard the pouring out of water as a means of +animating a block of stone. It was a conviction for which the +Proto-Egyptians considered there was a substantial scientific basis; and +their faith in the efficacy of water to animate the dead is to be +regarded in the same light as any scientific inference which is made at +the present time to give a specific application of some general theory +considered to be well founded. The Proto-Egyptians clearly believed in +the validity of the general biological theory of the life-giving +properties of water. Many facts, no doubt quite convincing to them, +testified to the soundness of their theory. They accepted the principle +with the same confidence that modern people have adopted Newton's Law of +Gravitation, and Darwin's theory of the Origin of Species, and applied +it to explain many phenomena or to justify certain procedures, which in +the light of fuller knowledge seem to modern people puerile and +ludicrous. But the early people obviously took these procedures +seriously and regarded their actions as rational. The fact that their +early biological theory was inadequate ought not to mislead modern +scholars and encourage them to fall into the error of supposing that the +ritual of libations was not based upon a serious inference. Modern +scientists do not accept the whole of Darwin's teaching, or possibly +even Newton's "Law," but this does not mean that in the past innumerable +inferences have been honestly and confidently made in specific +application of these general principles. + +It is important, then, that I should examine more closely the +Proto-Egyptian body of doctrine to elucidate the mutual influence of it +and the ideas suggested by the practice of mummification. It is not +known where agriculture was first practised or the circumstances which +led men to appreciate the fact that plants could be cultivated. In many +parts of the world agriculture can be carried on without artificial +irrigation, and even without any adequate appreciation on the part of +the farmer of the importance of water. But when it came to be practised +under such conditions as prevail in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the +cultivator would soon be forced to realize that water was essential for +the growth of plants, and that it was imperative to devise artificial +means by which the soil might be irrigated. It is not known where or by +whom this cardinal fact first came to be appreciated, whether by the +Sumerians or the Egyptians or by some other people. But it is known that +in the earliest records both of Egypt and Sumer the most significant +manifestations of a ruler's wisdom were the making of irrigation canals +and the controlling of water. Important as these facts are from their +bearing upon the material prospects of the people, they had an +infinitely more profound and far-reaching effect upon the beliefs of +mankind. Groping after some explanation of the natural phenomenon that +the earth became fertile when water was applied to it, and that seed +burst into life under the same influence, the early biologist formulated +the natural and not wholly illogical idea that water was the repository +of life-giving powers. Water was equally necessary for the production of +life and for the maintenance of life. + +At an early stage in the development of this biological theory man and +other animals were brought within the scope of the generalization. For +the drinking of water was a condition of existence in animals. The idea +that water played a part in reproduction was co-related with this fact. + +Even at the present time many aboriginal peoples in Australia, New +Guinea, and elsewhere, are not aware of the fact that in the process of +animal reproduction the male exercises the physiological rôle of +fertilization.[46] + +There are widespread indications throughout the world that the +appreciation of this elementary physiological knowledge was acquired at +a relatively recent period in the history of mankind. It is difficult to +believe that the fundamental facts of the physiology of fertilization in +animals could long have remained unknown when men became breeders of +cattle. The Egyptian hieroglyphs leave no doubt that the knowledge was +fully appreciated at the period when the earliest picture-symbols were +devised, for the verb "to beget" is represented by the male organs of +generation. But, as the domestication of animals may have been earlier +than the invention of agriculture, it is possible that the appreciation +of the fertilizing powers of the male animal may have been definitely +more ancient than the earliest biological theory of the fertilizing +power of water. + +I have discussed this question to suggest that the knowledge that +animals could be fertilized by the seminal fluid was certainly brought +within the scope of the wider generalization that water itself was +endowed with fertilizing properties. Just as water fertilized the earth, +so the semen fertilized the female. Water was necessary for the +maintenance of life in plants and was also essential in the form of +drink for animals. As both the earth and women could be fertilized by +water they were homologized one with the other. The earth came to be +regarded as a woman, the Great Mother.[47] When the fertilizing water +came to be personified in the person of Osiris his consort Isis was +identified with the earth which was fertilized by water.[48] + +One of the earliest pictures of an Egyptian king represents him using +the hoe to inaugurate the making of an irrigation-canal.[49] This was +the typical act of benevolence on the part of a wise ruler. It is not +unlikely that the earliest organization of a community under a definite +leader may have been due to the need for some systematized control of +irrigation. In any case the earliest rulers of Egypt and Sumer were +essentially the controllers and regulators of the water supply and as +such the givers of fertility and prosperity. + +Once men first consciously formulated the belief that death was not the +end of all things,[50] that the body could be re-animated and +consciousness and the will restored, it was natural that a wise ruler +who, when alive, had rendered conspicuous services should after death +continue to be consulted. The fame of such a man would grow with age; +his good deeds and his powers would become apotheosized; he would become +an oracle whose advice might be sought and whose help be obtained in +grave crises. In other words the dead king would be "deified," or at any +rate credited with the ability to confer even greater boons than he was +able to do when alive. + +It is no mere coincidence that the first "god" should have been a dead +king, Osiris, nor that he controlled the waters of irrigation and was +specially interested in agriculture. Nor, for the reasons that I have +already suggested, is it surprising that he should have had phallic +attributes, and in himself have personified the virile powers of +fertilization.[51] + +In attempting to explain the origin of the ritual procedures of burning +incense and offering libations it is essential to realize that the +creation of the first deities was not primarily an expression of +religious belief, but rather an application of science to national +affairs. It was the logical interpretation of the dominant scientific +theory of the time for the practical benefit of the living; or in other +words, the means devised for securing the advice and the active help of +wise rulers after their death. It was essentially a matter of practical +politics and applied science. It became "religion" only when the +advancement of knowledge superseded these primitive scientific theories +and left them as soothing traditions for the thoughts and aspirations of +mankind to cherish. For by the time the adequacy of these theories of +knowledge began to be questioned they had made an insistent appeal, and +had come to be regarded as an essential prop to lend support to man's +conviction of the reality of a life beyond the grave. A web of moral +precept and the allurement of hope had been so woven around them that +no force was able to strip away this body of consolatory beliefs; and +they have persisted for all time, although the reasoning by which they +were originally built up has been demolished and forgotten several +millennia ago. + +It is not known where Osiris was born. In other countries there are +homologous deities, such as Ea, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis, which are +certainly manifestations of the same idea and sprung from the same +source. Certain recent writers assume that the germ of the +Osiris-conception was introduced into Egypt from abroad. But if so, +nothing is known for certain of its place of origin. In any case there +can be no doubt that the distinctive features of Osiris, his real +personality and character, were developed in Egypt. + +For reasons which I have suggested already it is probable that the +significance of water in cultivation was not realized until cereals were +cultivated in some such place as Babylonia or Egypt. But there are very +definite legends of the Babylonian Ea coming from abroad by way of the +Persian Gulf.[52] The early history of Tammuz is veiled in obscurity. + +Somewhere in South Western Asia or North Eastern Africa, probably within +a few years of the development of the art of agriculture, some +scientific theorist, interpreting the body of empirical knowledge +acquired by cultivating cereals, propounded the view that water was the +great life-giving element. This view eventually found expression in the +Osiris-group of legends. + +This theory found specific application in the invention of libations and +incense. These practices in turn reacted upon the general body of +doctrine and gave it a more sharply defined form. The dead king also +became more real when he was represented by an actual embalmed body and +a life-like statue, sitting in state upon his throne and holding in his +hands the emblems of his high office. + +Thus while, in the present state of knowledge, it would be unjustifiable +to claim that the Osiris-group of deities was invented in Egypt, and +certainly erroneous to attribute the general theory of the fertilizing +properties of water to the practice of embalming, it is true that the +latter was responsible for giving Osiris a much more concrete and +clearly-defined shape, of "making a god in the image of man", and for +giving to the water-theory a much richer and fuller significance than it +had before. + +The symbolism so created has had a most profound influence upon the +thoughts and aspirations of the human race. For Osiris was the prototype +of all the gods; his ritual was the basis of all religious ceremonial; +his priests who conducted the animating ceremonies were the pioneers of +a long series of ministers who for more than fifty centuries, in spite +of the endless variety of details of their ritual and the character of +their temples, have continued to perform ceremonies that have undergone +remarkably little essential change. Though the chief functions of the +priest as the animator of the god and the restorer of his consciousness +have now fallen into the background in most religions, the ritual acts +(the incense and libations, the offerings of food and blood and the +rest) still persist in many countries: the priest still appeals by +prayer and supplication for those benefits, which the Proto-Egyptian +aimed at securing when he created Osiris as a god to give advice and +help. The prayer for rain is one of the earliest forms of religious +appeal, but the request for a plentiful inundation was earlier still. + +I have already said that in using the terms "god" and "religion" with +reference to the earliest form of Osiris and the beliefs that grew up +with reference to him a potent element of confusion is introduced. + +During the last fifty centuries the meanings of those two words have +become so complexly enriched with the glamour of a mystic symbolism that +the Proto-Egyptian's conception of Osiris and the Osirian beliefs must +have been vastly different from those implied in the words "god" and +"religion" at the present time. Osiris was regarded as an actual king +who had died and been reanimated. In other words he was a _man_ who +could bestow upon his former subjects the benefits of his advice and +help, but could also display such human weaknesses as malice, envy, and +all uncharitableness. Much modern discussion completely misses the mark +by the failure to recognize that these so-called "gods" were really men, +equally capable of acts of beneficence and of outbursts of hatred, and +as one or the other aspect became accentuated the same deity could +become a Vedic _deva_ or an Avestan _dæva_, a _deus_ or a devil, a god +of kindness or a demon of wickedness. + +The acts which the earliest "gods" were supposed to perform were not at +first regarded as supernatural. They were merely the boons which the +mortal ruler was supposed to be able to confer, by controlling the +waters of irrigation and rendering the land fertile. It was only when +his powers became apotheosized with a halo of accumulated glory (and the +growth of knowledge revealed the insecurity of the scientific basis upon +which his fame was built up) that a priesthood reluctant to abandon any +of the attributes which had captured the popular imagination, made it an +obligation of belief to accept these supernatural powers of the gods for +which the student of natural phenomena refused any longer to be a +sponsor. This was the parting of the ways between science and religion; +and thenceforth the attributes of the "gods" became definitely and +admittedly superhuman. + +As I have already stated (p. 23) the original object of the offering of +libations was thus clearly for the purpose of animating the statue of +the deceased and so enabling him to continue the existence which had +merely been interrupted by the incident of death. In course of time, +however, as definite gods gradually materialized and came to be +represented by statues, they also had to be vitalized by offerings of +water from time to time. Thus the pouring out of libations came to be an +act of worship of the deity; and in this form it has persisted until our +own times in many civilized countries. + +But not only was water regarded as a means of animating the dead, or +statues representing the dead, and an appropriate act of worship, in +that it vitalized an idol and the god dwelling in it was thus able to +hear and answer supplications. Water also became an essential part of +any act of ritual rebirth.[53] As a baptism it also symbolized the +giving of life. The initiate was re-born into a new communion of faith. +In scores of other ways the same conception of the life-giving +properties of water was responsible for as many applications of the use +of libations in inaugurating new enterprises, such as "baptising" ships +and blessing buildings. It is important to remember that, according to +early Egyptian beliefs, the continued existence of the dead was wholly +dependent upon the attentions of the living. Unless this animating +ceremony was performed not merely at the time of the funeral, but also +at stated periods afterwards, and unless the friends of the deceased +periodically supplied food and drink, such a continuation of existence +was impossible. + +The development of these beliefs had far-reaching effects in other +directions. The idea that a stone statue could be animated ultimately +became extended to mean that the dead man could enter into and dwell in +a block of stone, which he could leave or return to at will. From this +arose the beliefs, which spread far and wide, that the dead ancestors, +kings, or deified kings, dwelt in stones; and that they could be +consulted as oracles, who gave advice and counsel. The acceptance of +this idea that the dead could be reanimated in a stone statue no doubt +prepared the minds of the people to credit the further belief, which +other circumstances were responsible for creating, that men could be +turned into stone. In the next chapter I shall explain how these +petrifaction stories developed.[54] + +All the rich crop of myths concerning men and animals dwelling in stones +which are to be found encircling the globe from Ireland to America, can +be referred back to these early Egyptian attempts to solve the mysteries +of death, and to acquire the means of circumventing fate.[55] + +These beliefs at first may have concerned human beings only. But in +course of time, as the duty of revictualling an increasingly large +number of tombs and temples tended to tax the resources of the people, +the practice developed of substituting for the real things models, or +even pictures, of food-animals, vegetables, and other requisites of the +dead. And these objects and pictures were restored to life or reality by +means of a ritual which was essentially identical with that used for +animating the statue or the mummy of the deceased himself. + +It is well worth considering whether this may not be one of the basal +factors in explanation of the phenomena which the late Sir Edward Tylor +labelled "animism". + +So far from being a phase of culture through which many, if not all, +peoples have passed in the course of their evolution, may it not have +been merely an artificial conception of certain things, which was given +so definite a form in Egypt, for the specific reasons at which I have +just hinted, and from there spread far and wide? + +Against this view may be urged the fact that our own children talk in an +animistic fashion. But is not this due in some measure to the +unconscious influence of their elders? Or at most is it not a vague and +ill-defined attitude of anthropomorphism necessarily involved in all +spoken languages, which is vastly different from what the ethnologist +understands by "animism"[56]? + +But whether this be so or not, there can be no doubt that the "animism" +of the early Egyptians assumed its precise and clear-cut distinctive +features as the result of the growth of ideas suggested by the attempts +to make mummies and statues of the dead and symbolic offerings of food +and other funerary requisites. + +Thus incidentally there grew up the belief in a power of magic by means +of which these make-believe offerings could be transformed into +realities. But it is important to emphasize the fact that originally the +conviction of the genuineness of this transubstantiation was a logical +and not unnatural inference based upon the attempt to interpret natural +phenomena, and then to influence them by imitating what were regarded as +the determining factors.[57] + +In China these ideas still retain much of their primitive influence and +directness of expression. Referring to the Chinese "belief in the +identity of pictures or images with the beings they represent" de Groot +states that the _kwan shuh_ or "magic art" is a "main branch of Chinese +witchcraft". It consists essentially of "the infusion of a soul, life, +and activity into likenesses of beings, to thus render them fit to work +in some direction desired ... this infusion is effected by blowing or +breathing, or spurting water over the likeness: indeed breath or _khi_, +or water from the mouth imbued with breath, is identical with _yang_ +substance or life."[58] + + +[46: Baldwin Spencer and Gillen, "The Northern Tribes of Central +Australia"; "Across Australia"; and Spencer's "Native Tribes of the +Northern Territory of Australia". For a very important study of the +whole problem with special reference to New Guinea, see B. Malinowski, +"Baloma: the Spirits of the Dead," etc., _Journal of the Royal +Anthropological Institute_, 1916, p. 415.] + +[47: The idea of the earth's maternal function spread throughout the +greater part of the world.] + +[48: With reference to the assimilation of the conceptions of human +fertilization and watering the soil and the widespread idea among the +ancients of regarding the male as "he who irrigates," Canon van +Hoonacker gave M. Louis Siret the following note:-- + +"In Assyrian the cuneiform sign for water is also used, _inter alia_, to +express the idea of begetting (_banú_). Compare with this the references +from Hebrew and Arabic writings. In Isaiah xlviii. 1, we read 'Hear ye +this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are +come forth out of the waters of Judah'; and in Numbers xxiv. 7, 'Water +shall flow from his buckets and his seed shall be in many waters'. + +"The Hebrew verb (_shangal_) which denotes sexual intercourse has, in +Arabic (_sadjala_), the meaning 'to spill water'. In the Koran, Sur. 36, +v. 6, the word _mâ'un_ (water) is used to designate semen" (L. Siret, +"Questions de Chronologie et d'Ethnographie Ibériques," Tome I, 1913, p. +250).] + +[49: Quibell, "Hieraconpolis", Vol. I, 260, 4.] + +[50: In using this phrase I want to make a clear distinction between the +phase of culture in which it had never occurred to man that, in his +individual case, life would come to an end, and the more enlightened +stage, in which he fully realized that death would inevitably be his +fate, but that in spite of it his real existence would continue. + +It is clear that at quite an early stage in his history man appreciated +the fact that he could kill an animal or his fellow-man. But for a long +time he failed to realize that he himself, if he could avoid the process +of mechanical destruction by which he could kill an animal or a +fellow-man, would not continue to exist. The dead are supposed by many +people to be still in existence so long as the body is preserved. Once +the body begins to disintegrate even the most unimaginative of men can +entirely repress the idea of death. But to primitive people the +preservation of the body is equally a token that existence has not come +to an end. The corpse is merely sleeping.] + +[51: Breasted, _op. cit._, p. 28.] + +[52: The possibility, or even the probability, must be borne in mind +that the legend of Ea arising from the waters may be merely another way +of expressing his primary attribute as the personification of the +fertilizing powers of water.] + +[53: This occurred at a later epoch when the attributes of the +water-controlling deity of fertility became confused with those of the +birth-giving mother goddess (_vide infra_, p. 40).] + +[54: For a large series of these stories see E. Sidney Hartland's +"Legend of Perseus". But even more instructive, as revealing the +intimate connexion of such ideas with the beliefs regarding the +preservation of the body, see J. J. M. de Groot, "The Religious System +of China," Vol. IV, Book II, 1901.] + +[55: In this connexion see de Groot, _op. cit._ pp. 356 and 415. +[Transcriber's Note: the original text contained no marker for this +footnote, so a guess has been made as to what it referred]] + +[56: The child certainly resembles primitive man in the readiness with +which it attributes to even the crudest models of animals or human +beings the feelings of living creatures.] + +[57: It became "magical" in our sense of the term only when the growth +of knowledge revealed the fact that the measures taken were inadequate +to attain the desired end; while the "magician" continued to make the +pretence that he could attain that end by ultra-physical means.] + +[58: De Groot, _op. cit._ p. 356.] + + +Incense. + +So far I have referred in detail only to the offering of libations. But +this was only one of several procedures for animating statues, mummies, +and food-offerings. I have still to consider the ritual procedures of +incense-burning and "opening the mouth". + +From Mr. Blackman's translations of the Egyptian texts it is clear that +the burning of incense was intended to restore to the statue (or the +mummy) the odour of the living body, and that this was part of the +procedure considered necessary to animate the statue. He says "the +belief about incense [which is explained by a later document, the +_Ritual of Amon_] apparently does not occur in the Old Kingdom religious +texts that are preserved to us, yet it may quite well be as ancient as +that period. That is certainly Erman's view" (_op. cit._ p. 75). + +He gives the following translation of the relevant passage in the +_Ritual of Amon_ (XII, 11): "The god comes with body adorned which he +has fumigated with the eye of his body, the incense of the god which has +issued from his flesh, the sweat of the god which has fallen to the +ground, which he has given to all the gods.... It is the Horus eye. If +it lives, the people live, thy flesh lives, thy members are vigorous" +(_op. cit._ p. 72). In his comments upon this passage Mr. Blackman +states: "In the light of the Pyramid libation-formulæ the expressions in +this text are quite comprehensible. Like the libations the grains of +incense are the exudations of a divinity,[59] the fluid which issued +from his flesh, the god's sweat descending to the ground.... Here +incense is not merely the 'odour of the god,' but the grains of resin +are said to be the god's sweat" (_op. cit._ p. 72). "Both rites, the +pouring of libations and the burning of incense, are performed for the +same purpose--to revivify the body [or the statue] of god and man by +restoring to it its lost moisture" (p. 75). + +In attempting to reconstitute the circumstances which led to the +invention of incense-burning as a ritual act, the nature of the problem +to be solved must be recalled. Among the most obtrusive evidences of +death were the coldness of the skin, the lack of perspiration and of the +odour of the living. It is important to realize what the phrase "odour +of the living" would convey to the Proto-Egyptian. From the earliest +Predynastic times in Egypt it had been the custom to make extensive use +of resinous material as an essential ingredient (what a pharmacist would +call the adhesive "vehicle") of cosmetics. One of the results of this +practice in a hot climate must have been the association of a strong +aroma of resin or balsam with a living person.[60] Whether or not it was +the practice to burn incense to give pleasure to the living is not +known. The fact that such a procedure was customary among their +successors may mean that it was really archaic; or on the other hand the +possibility must not be overlooked that it may be merely the later +vulgarization of a practice which originally was devised for purely +ritual purposes. The burning of incense before a corpse or statue was +intended to convey to it the warmth, the sweat, and the odour of life. + +When the belief became well established that the burning of incense was +potent as an animating force, and especially a giver of life to the +dead, it naturally came to be regarded as a divine substance in the +sense that it had the power of resurrection. As the grains of incense +consisted of the exudation of trees, or, as the ancient texts express +it, "their sweat," the divine power of animation in course of time +became transferred to the trees. They were no longer merely the source +of the life-giving incense, but were themselves animated by the deity +whose drops of sweat were the means of conveying life to the mummy. + +The reason why the deity which dwelt in these trees was usually +identified with the Mother-Goddess will become clear in the course of +the subsequent discussion (p. 38). It is probable that this was due +mainly to the geographical circumstance that the chief source of incense +was Southern Arabia, which was also the home of the primitive goddesses +of fertility. For they were originally nothing more than +personifications of the life-giving cowry amulets from the Red Sea. + +Thus Robertson Smith's statement that "the value of the gum of the +acacia as an amulet is connected with the idea that it is a clot of +menstruous blood, i.e., that the tree is a woman"[61] is probably an +inversion of cause and effect. It was the value attached to the gum that +conferred animation upon the tree. The rest of the legend is merely a +rationalization based upon the idea that the tree was identified with +the mother-goddess. The same criticism applies to his further contention +(p. 427) with reference to "the religious value of incense" which he +claims to be due to the fact that "like the gum of the _samora_ (acacia) +tree, ... it was an animate or divine plant". + +Many factors played a part in the development of tree-worship but it is +probable the origin of the sacredness of trees must be assigned to the +fact that it was acquired from the incense and the aromatic woods which +were credited with the power of animating the dead. But at a very early +epoch many other considerations helped to confirm and extend the +conception of deification. When Osiris was buried, a sacred sycamore +grew up as "the visible symbol of the imperishable life of Osiris".[62] +But the sap of trees was brought into relationship with life-giving +water and thus constituted another link with Osiris. The sap was also +regarded as the blood of trees and the incense that exuded as the sweat. +Just as the water of libation was regarded as the fluid of the body of +Osiris, so also, by this process of rationalization, the incense came to +possess a similar significance. + +For reasons precisely analogous to those already explained in the case +of libations, the custom of burning incense, from being originally a +ritual act for animating the funerary statue, ultimately developed into +an act of homage to the deity. + +But it also acquired a special significance when the cult of sky-gods +developed,[63] for the smoke of the burning incense then came to be +regarded as the vehicle which wafted the deceased's soul to the sky or +conveyed there the requests of the dwellers upon earth.[64] + +"The soul of a human being is generally conceived [by the Chinese] as +possessing the shape and characteristics of a human being, and +occasionally those of an animal; ... the spirit of an animal is the shape +of this animal or of some being with human attributes and speech. But +plant spirits are never conceived as plant-shaped, nor to have +plant-characters ... whenever forms are given them, they are mostly +represented as a man, a woman, or a child, and often also as an animal, +dwelling in or near the plant, and emerging from it at times to do harm, +or to dispense blessings.... Whether conceptions on the animation of +plants have never developed in Chinese thought and worship before ideas +about human ghosts ... had become predominant in mind and custom, we +cannot say: but the matter seems probable" (De Groot, _op. cit._ pp. +272, 273). Tales of trees that shed blood and that cry out when hurt are +common in Chinese literature (p. 274) [as also in Southern Arabia]; also +of trees that lodge or can change into maidens of transcendent beauty +(p. 276). + +It is further significant that amongst the stories of souls of men +taking up their residence in and animating trees and plants, the human +being is usually a woman, accompanied by "a fox, a dog, an old raven or +the like" (p. 276). + +Thus in China are found all the elements out of which Dr. Rendel Harris +believes the Aphrodite cult was compounded in Cyprus,[65] the animation +of the anthropoid plant, its human cry, its association with a beautiful +maiden and a dog.[66] + +The immemorial custom of planting trees on graves in China is supposed +by De Groot (p. 277) to be due to "the desire to strengthen the soul of +the buried person, thus to save his body from corruption, for which +reason trees such as pines and cypresses, deemed to be bearers of great +vitality for being possessed of more _shen_ than other trees, were used +preferably for such purposes". But may not such beliefs also be an +expression of the idea that a tree growing upon a grave is developed +from and becomes the personification of the deceased? The significance +of the selection of pines and cypresses may be compared to that +associated with the so-called "cedars" in Babylonia, Egypt, and +Phoenicia, and the myrrh- and frankincense-producing trees in Arabia and +East Africa. They have come to be accredited with "soul-substance," +since their use in mummification and as incense and for making coffins, +has made them the means for attaining a future existence. Hence in +course of time they came to be regarded as charged with the spirit of +vitality, the _shen_ or "soul-substance". + +In China also it was because the woods of the pine or fir and the cyprus +were used for making coffins and grave-vaults and that pine-resin was +regarded as a means of attaining immortality (De Groot, _op. cit._ pp. +296 and 297) that such veneration was bestowed upon these trees. "At an +early date, Taoist seekers after immortality transplanted that animation +[of the hardy long-lived fir and cypress[67]] into themselves by +consuming the resin of those trees, which, apparently, they looked upon +as coagulated soul-substance, the counterpart of the blood in men and +animals" (p. 296). + +In India the _amrita_, the god's food of immortality, was sometimes +regarded as the sap exuded from the sacred trees of paradise. + +Elsewhere in these pages it is explained how the vaguely defined Mother +"Goddess" and the more distinctly anthropoid Water "God," which +originally developed quite independently the one of the other, +ultimately came to exert a profound and mutual influence, so that many +of the attributes which originally belonged to one of them came to be +shared with the other. Many factors played a part in this process of +blending and confusion of sex. As I shall explain later, when the moon +came to be regarded as the dwelling or the impersonation of Hathor, the +supposed influence of the moon over water led to a further assimilation +of her attributes with those of Osiris as the controller of water, which +received definite expression in a lunar form of Osiris. + +But the link that is most intimately related to the subject of this +address is provided by the personification of the Mother-Goddess in +incense-trees. For incense thus became the sweat or the tears of the +Great Mother just as the water of libation was regarded as the fluid +of Osiris. + + +[59: As I shall explain later (see page 38), the idea of the divinity of +the incense-tree was a result of, and not the reason for, the practice +of incense-burning. As one of the means by which the resurrection was +attained incense became a giver of divinity; and by a simple process +of rationalization the tree which produced this divine substance became +a god. + +The reference to the "eye of the body" (see p. 55) means the life-giving +god or goddess who is the "eye" of the sky, _i.e._ the god with whom the +dead king is identified.] + +[60: It would lead me too far afield to enter into a discussion of the +use of scents and unguents, which is closely related to this question.] + +[61: "The Religion of the Semites," p. 133.] + +[62: Breasted, p. 28.] + +[63: For reasons explained on a subsequent page (56).] + +[64: It is also worth considering whether the extension of this idea may +not have been responsible for originating the practice of cremation--as +a device for transferring, not merely the animating incense and the +supplications of the living, but also the body of the deceased to the +sky-world. This, of course, did not happen in Egypt, but in some other +country which adopted the Egyptian practice of incense-burning, but was +not hampered by the religious conservatism that guarded the sacredness +of the corpse.] + +[65: "The Ascent of Olympus," 1917.] + +[66: For a collection of stories relating to human beings, generally +women, dwelling in trees, see Hartland's "Legend of Perseus".] + +[67: The fact that the fir and cypress are "hardy and long-lived" is not +the reason for their being accredited with these life-prolonging +qualities. But once the latter virtues had become attributed to them the +fact that the trees were "hardy and long-lived" may have been used to +bolster up the belief by a process of rationalization.] + + +The Breath of Life. + +Although the pouring of libations and the burning of incense played so +prominent a part in the ritual of animating the statue or the mummy, the +most important incident in the ceremony was the "opening of the mouth," +which was regarded as giving it the breath of life. + +Elsewhere[68] I have suggested that the conception of the heart and +blood as the vehicles of life, feeling, volition, and knowledge may have +been extremely ancient. It is not known when or under what circumstances +the idea of the breath being the "life" was first entertained. The fact +that in certain primitive systems of philosophy the breath was supposed +to have something to do with the heart suggests that these beliefs may +be a constituent element of the ancient heart-theory. In some of the +rock-pictures in America, Australia, and elsewhere the air-passages are +represented leading to the heart. But there can be little doubt that the +practice of mummification gave greater definiteness to the ideas +regarding the "heart" and "breath," which eventually led to a +differentiation between their supposed functions.[69] As the heart and +the blood were obviously present in the dead body they could no longer +be regarded as the "life". The breath was clearly the "element" the lack +of which rendered the body inanimate. It was therefore regarded as +necessary to set the heart working. The heart then came to be looked +upon as the seat of knowledge, the organ that feels and wills during +waking life. All the pulsating motions of the body seem to have been +regarded, like the act of respiration, as expressions of the vital +principle or "life," which Dutch ethnological writers refer to as "soul +substance". The neighbourhood of certain joints where the pulse can be +felt most readily, and the top of the head, where pulsation can be felt +in the infant's fontanelle, were therefore regarded by some Asiatic +peoples as the places where the substance of life could leave or enter +the body. + +It is possible that in ancient times this belief was more widespread +than it is now. It affords an explanation of the motive for trephining +the skull among ancient peoples, to afford a more ready passage for the +"vital essence" to and from the skull. + +In his lecture on "The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul,"[70] Professor +John Burnet has expounded the meaning of early Greek conceptions of the +soul with rare insight and lucidity. Originally, the word [Greek: +psychê] meant "breath," but, by historical times, it had already been +specialized in two distinct ways. It had come to mean _courage_ in the +first place, and secondly the _breath of life_, the presence or absence +of which is the most obvious distinction between the animate and the +inanimate, the "ghost" which a man "gives up" at death. But it may also +quit the body temporarily, which explains the phenomenon of swooning +([Greek: lipopsychia]). It seemed natural to suppose it was also the +thing that can roam at large when the body is asleep, and even appear to +another sleeping person in his dream. Moreover, since we can dream of +the dead, what then appears to us must be just what leaves the body at +the moment of death. These considerations explain the world-wide belief +in the "soul" as a sort of double of the real bodily man, the Egyptian +_ka_,[71] the Italian _genius_, and the Greek [Greek: psychê]. + +Now this double is not identical with whatever it is in us that feels +and wills during our waking life. That is generally supposed to be blood +and not breath. + +What we feel and perceive have their seat in the heart: they belong to +the body and perish with it. + + * * * * * + +It is only when the shades have been allowed to drink blood that +consciousness returns to them for a while. + +At one time the [Greek: psychê] was supposed to dwell with the body in +the grave, where it had to be supported by the offerings of the +survivors, especially by libations ([Greek: choai]). + +An Egyptian psychologist has carried the story back long before the +times of which Professor Burnet writes. He has explained "his conception +of the functions of the 'heart (mind) and tongue'. 'When the eyes see, +the ears hear, and the nose breathes, they transmit to the heart. It is +he (the heart) who brings forth every issue and it is the tongue which +repeats the thought of the heart.'"[72] + +"There came the saying that Atum, who created the gods, stated +concerning Ptah-Tatenen: 'He is the fashioner of the gods.... He made +likenesses of their bodies to the satisfaction of their hearts. Then the +gods entered into their bodies of every wood and every stone and every +metal.'"[73] + +That these ideas are really ancient is shown by the fact that in the +Pyramid Texts Isis is represented conveying the breath of life to Osiris +by "causing a wind with her wings".[74] The ceremony of "opening the +mouth" which aimed at achieving this restoration of the breath of life +was the principal part of the ritual procedure before the statue or +mummy. As I have already mentioned (p. 25), the sculptor who modelled +the portrait statue was called "he who causes to live," and the word "to +fashion" a statue is identical with that which means "to give birth". +The god Ptah created man by modelling his form in clay. Similarly the +life-giving sculptor made the portrait which was to be the means of +securing a perpetuation of existence, when it was animated by the +"opening of the mouth," by libations and incense. + +As the outcome of this process of rationalization in Egypt a vast crop +of creation-legends came into existence, which have persisted with +remarkable completeness until the present day in India, Indonesia, +China, America, and elsewhere. A statue of stone, wood, or clay is +fashioned, and the ceremony of animation is performed to convey to it +the breath of life, which in many places is supposed to be brought down +from the sky.[75] + +In the Egyptian beliefs, as well as in most of the world-wide legends +that were derived from them, the idea assumed a definite form that the +vital principle (often referred to as the "soul," "soul-substance," or +"double") could exist apart from the body. Whatever the explanation, it +is clear that the possibility of the existence of the vital principle +apart from the body was entertained. It was supposed that it could +return to the body and temporarily reanimate it. It could enter into and +dwell within the stone representation of the deceased. Sometimes this +so-called "soul" was identified[76] with the breath of life, which +could enter into the statue as the result of the ceremony of "opening +the mouth". + +It has been commonly assumed by Sir Edward Tyler and those who accept +his theory of animism that the idea of the "soul" was based upon the +attempts to interpret the phenomena of dreams and shadows, to which +Burnet has referred in the passage quoted above. The fact that when a +person is sleeping he may dream of seeing absent people and of having a +variety of adventures is explained by many peoples by the hypothesis +that these are real experiences which befell the "soul" when it wandered +abroad during its owner's sleep. A man's shadow or his reflection in +water or a mirror has been interpreted as his double. But what these +speculations leave out of account is the fact that these dream- and +shadow-phenomena were probably merely the predisposing circumstances +which helped in the development of (or the corroborative details which +were added to and, by rationalization, incorporated in) the +"soul-theory," which other circumstances were responsible for +creating.[77] + +I have already called attention (p. 5) to the fact that in many of the +psychological speculations in ethnology too little account is taken of +the enormous complexity of the factors which determine even the simplest +and apparently most obvious and rational actions of men. I must again +remind the reader that a vast multitude of influences, many of them of a +subconscious and emotional nature, affect men's decisions and opinions. +But once some definite state of feeling inclines a man to a certain +conclusion, he will call up a host of other circumstances to buttress +his decision, and weave them into a complex net of rationalization. Some +such process undoubtedly took place in the development of "animism"; and +though it is not possible yet to reconstruct the whole history of the +growth of the idea, there can be no question that these early strivings +after an understanding of the nature of life and death, and the attempts +to put the theories into practice to reanimate the dead, provided the +foundations upon which has been built up during the last fifty centuries +a vast and complex theory of the soul. In the creation of this edifice +the thoughts and the aspirations of countless millions of peoples have +played a part: but the foundation was laid down when the Egyptian king +or priest claimed that he could restore to the dead the "breath of life" +and, by means of the wand which he called "the great magician,"[78] +could enable the dead to be born again. The wand is supposed by some +scholars[79] to be a conventionalized representation of the uterus, so +that its power of giving birth is expressed with literal directness. +Such beliefs and stories of the "magic wand" are found to-day in +scattered localities from the Scottish Highlands to Indonesia and +America. + +In this sketch I have referred merely to one or two aspects of a +conception of vast complexity. But it must be remembered that, once the +mind of man began to play with the idea of a vital essence capable of +existing apart from the body and to identify it with the breath of life, +an illimitable field was opened up for speculation. The vital principle +could manifest itself in all the varied expressions of human +personality, as well as in all the physiological indications of life. +Experience of dreams led men to believe that the "soul" could also leave +the body temporarily and enjoy varied experiences. But the +concrete-minded Egyptian demanded some physical evidence to buttress +these intangible ideas of the wandering abroad of his vital essence. He +made a statue for it to dwell in after his death, because he was not +able to make an adequately life-like reproduction of the dead man's +features upon the mummy itself or its wrappings. Then he gradually +persuaded himself that the life-substance could exist apart from the +body as a "double" or "twin" which animated the statue. + +Searching for material evidence to support his faith primitive man not +unnaturally turned to the contemplation of the circumstances of his +birth. All his beliefs concerning the nature of life can ultimately be +referred back to the story of his own origin, his birth or creation. + +When an infant is born it is accompanied by the after-birth or placenta +to which it is linked by the umbilical cord. The full comprehension of +the significance of these structures is an achievement of modern +science. To primitive man they were an incomprehensible marvel. But once +he began to play with the idea that he had a double, a vital essence in +his own shape which could leave the sleeping body and lead a separate +existence, the placenta obviously provided tangible evidence of its +reality. The considerations set forth by Blackman,[80] supplementing +those of Moret, Murray and Seligman and others, have been claimed as +linking the placenta with the _ka_. + +Much controversy has waged around the interpretation of the Egyptian +word _ka_, especially during recent years. An excellent summary of the +arguments brought forward by the various disputants up to 1912 will be +found in Morel's "Mystères Égyptiens". Since then more or less +contradictory views have been put forward by Alan Gardiner, Breasted, +and Blackman. It is not my intention to intervene in a dispute as to the +meaning of certain phrases in ancient literature; but there are certain +aspects of the problems at issue which are so intimately related to my +main theme as to make some reference to them unavoidable. + +The development of the custom of making statues of the dead necessarily +raised for solution the problem of explaining the deceased's two bodies, +his actual mummy and his portrait statue. During life on earth his vital +principle dwelt in the former, except on those occasions when the man +was asleep. His actual body also gave expression to all the varied +attributes of his personality. But after death the statue became the +dwelling place of these manifestations of the spirit of vitality. + +Whether or not the conception arose out of the necessities unavoidably +created by the making of statues, it seems clear that this custom must +have given more concrete shape to the belief that all of those elements +of the dead man's individuality which left his body at the time of death +could shift as a shadowy double into his statue. + +At the birth of a king he is accompanied by a comrade or twin exactly +reproducing all his features. This double or _ka_ is intimately +associated throughout life and in the life to come with the king's +welfare. In fact Breasted claims that the _ka_ "was a kind of superior +genius intended to guide the fortunes of the individual _in the +hereafter_" ... there "he had his abode and awaited the coming of his +earthly companion".[81] At death the deceased "goes to his _ka_, to the +sky". The _ka_ controls and protects the deceased: he brings him food +which they eat together. + +It is important clearly to keep in mind the different factors involved +in the conception of the _ka_:-- + +(a) The statue of the deceased is animated by restoring to it the breath +of life and all the other vital attributes of which the early Egyptian +physiologist took cognisance. + +(b) At the time of birth there came into being along with the child a +"twin" whose destinies were closely linked with the child's. + +(c) As the result of animating the statue the deceased also has restored +to him his character, "the sum of his attributes," his individuality, +later raised to the position of a protecting genius or god, a Providence +who watches over his well-being.[82] + +The _ka_ is not simply identical with the breath of life or _animus_, as +Burnet supposes (_op. cit. supra_), but has a wider significance. The +adoption of the conception of the _ka_ as a sort of guardian angel which +finds its appropriate habitation in a statue that has been animated does +not necessarily conflict with the view so concretely and unmistakably +represented in the tomb-pictures that the _ka_ is also a double who is +born along with the individual. + +This material conception of the _ka_ as a double who is born with and +closely linked to the individual is, as Blackman has emphasized,[83] +very suggestive of Baganda beliefs and rites connected with the +placenta. At death the circumstances of the act of birth are +reconstituted, and for this rebirth the placenta which played an +essential part in the original process is restored to the deceased. May +not the original meaning of the expression "he goes to his _ka_" be a +literal description of this reunion with his placenta? The +identification of the _ka_ with the moon, the guardian of the dead man's +welfare, may have enriched the symbolism. + +Blackman makes the suggestion that "on the analogy of the beliefs +entertained by the Hamitic ruling caste in Uganda," according to Roscoe, +"the placenta,[84] or rather its ghost, would have been supposed by the +Ancient Egyptians to be closely connected with the individual's +personality, as" he maintains was also the case with the god or +protecting genius of the Babylonians.[85] "Unless united with his twin's +[i.e. his placenta's] ghost the dead king was an imperfect deity, i.e. +his directing intelligence was impaired or lacking," presumably because +the placenta was composed of blood, which was regarded as the material +of consciousness and intelligence. + +In China, as the quotations from de Groot (see footnote) show, the +placenta when placed under felicitous circumstances is able to ensure +the child a long life and to control his mental and physical welfare. + +In view of the claims put forward by Blackman to associate the placenta +with the _ka_, it is of interest to note Moret's suggestion concerning +the fourteen forms of the _ka_, to which von Bissing assigns the +general significance "nourishment or offerings". He puts the question +whether they do not "personify the elements of material and intellectual +prosperity, all that is necessary for the health of body and spirit" +(_op. cit._, p. 209). + +The placenta is credited with all the varieties of life-giving potency +that are attributed to the Mother-Goddess. It therefore controls the +welfare of the individual and, like all maternal amulets (_vide supra_), +ensures his good fortune. But, probably by virtue of its supposed +derivation from and intimate association with blood, it also ministered +to his mental welfare. + +In my last Rylands Lecture I referred to the probability that the +essential elements of Chinese civilization were derived from the West. I +had hoped that, before the present statement went to the printer, I +would have found time to set forth in detail the evidence in +substantiation of the reality of that diffusion of culture. + +Briefly the chain of proof is composed of the following links: (a) the +intimate cultural contact between Egypt, Southern Arabia, Sumer, and +Elam from a period at least as early as the First Egyptian Dynasty; (b) +the diffusion of Sumerian and Elamite culture in very early times at +least as far north as Russian Turkestan and as far east as Baluchistan; +(c) at some later period the quest of gold, copper, turquoise, and jade +led the Babylonians (and their neighbours) as far north as the Altai and +as far east as Khotan and the Tarim Valley, where their pathways were +blazed with the distinctive methods of cultivation and irrigation; (d) +at some subsequent period there was an easterly diffusion of culture +from Turkestan into the Shensi Province of China proper; and (e) at +least as early as the seventh century B.C. there was also a spread of +Western culture to China by sea.[86] + +I have already referred to some of the distinctively Egyptian traits in +Chinese beliefs concerning the dead. Mingled with them are other equally +definitely Babylonian ideas concerning the liver. + +It must be apparent that in the course of the spread of a complex system +of religious beliefs to so great a distance, only certain of their +features would survive the journey. Handed on from people to people, +each of whom would unavoidably transform them to some extent, the +tenets of the Western beliefs would become shorn of many of their +details and have many excrescences added to them before the Chinese +received them. In the crucible of the local philosophy they would be +assimilated with Chinese ideas until the resulting compound assumed a +Chinese appearance. When these inevitable circumstances are recalled the +value of any positive evidence of Western influence is of special +significance. + +According to the ancient Chinese, man has two souls, the _kwei_ and the +_shen_. The former, which according to de Groot is definitely the more +ancient of the two (p. 8), is the material, substantial soul, which +emanates from the terrestrial part of the universe, and is formed of +_yin_ substance. In living man it operates under the name of _p'oh_, +and on his death it returns to the earth and abides with the deceased +in his grave. + +The _shen_ or immaterial soul emanates from the ethereal celestial part +of the cosmos and consists of _yang_ substance. When operating actively +in the living human body, it is called _khi_ or "breath," and _hwun_; +when separated from it after death it lives forth as a refulgent spirit, +styled _ming_.[87] + +But the _shen_ also, in spite of its sky-affinities, hovers about the +grave and may dwell in the inscribed grave-stone (p. 6). There may be a +multitude of _shen_ in one body and many "soul-tablets" may be provided +for them (p. 74). + +Just as in Egypt the _ka_ is said to "symbolize the force of life which +resides in nourishment" (Moret, p. 212), so the Chinese refer to the +ethereal part of the food as its _khi_, i.e. the "breath" of its _shen_. + +The careful study of the mass of detailed evidence so lucidly set forth +by de Groot in his great monograph reveals the fact that, in spite of +many superficial differences and apparent contradictions, the early +Chinese conceptions of the soul and its functions are essentially +identical with the Egyptian, and must have been derived from the +same source. + +From the quotations which I have already given in the foregoing pages, +it appears that the Chinese entertain views regarding the functions of +the placenta which are identical with those of the Baganda, and a +conception of the souls of man which presents unmistakable analogies +with Egyptian beliefs. Yet these Chinese references do not shed any +clearer light than Egyptian literature does upon the problem of the +possible relationship between the _ka_ and the _placenta_. + +In the Iranian domain, however, right on the overland route from the +Persian Gulf to China, there seems to be a ray of light. According to +the late Professor Moulton, "The later Parsi books tell us that the +Fravashi is a part of a good man's identity, living in heaven and +reuniting with the soul at death. It is not exactly a guardian angel, +for it shares in the development or deterioration of the rest of the +man."[88] + +In fact the Fravashi is not unlike the Egyptian _ka_ on the one side and +the Chinese _shen_ on the other. "They are the _Manes_, 'the good folk'" +(p. 144): they are connected with the stars in their capacity as spirits +of the dead (p. 143), and they "showed their paths to the sun, the moon, +the sun, and the endless lights," just as the _kas_ guide the dead in +the hereafter. + +The Fravashis play a part in the annual All Soul's feast (p. 144), for +which Breasted has provided an almost exact parallel in Egypt during the +Middle Kingdom.[89] All the circumstances of the two ceremonies are +essentially identical. + +Now Professor Moulton suggests that the word Fravashi may be derived +from the Avestan root _var_, "to impregnate," and _fravasi_ mean +"birth-promotion" (p. 142). As he associates this with childbirth the +possibility suggests itself whether the "birth-promoter" may not be +simply the placenta. + +Loret (quoted by Moret, p. 202), however, derives the word _ka_ from a +root signifying "to beget," so that the Fravashi may be nothing more +than the Iranian homologue of the Egyptian _ka_. + +The connecting link between the Iranian and Egyptian conceptions may be +the Sumerian instances given to Blackman[90] by Dr. Langdon. + +The whole idea seems to have originated out of the belief that the sum +of the individual attributes or vital expressions of a man's personality +could exist apart from the physical body. The contemplation of the +phenomena of sleep and death provided the evidence in corroboration +of this. + +At birth the newcomer came into the world physically connected with the +placenta, which was accredited with the attributes of the life-giving +and birth-promoting Great Mother and intimately related to the moon and +the earliest totem. It was obviously, also, closely concerned in the +nutrition of the embryo, for was it not the stalk upon which the latter +was growing like some fruit on its stem? It was a not unnatural +inference to suppose that, as the elements of the personality were not +indissolubly connected with the body, they were brought into existence +at the time of birth and that the placenta was their vehicle. + +The Egyptians' own terms of reference to the sculptor of a statue show +that the ideas of birth were uppermost in their minds when the custom of +statue-making was first devised. Moret has brought together (_op. cit. +supra_) a good deal of evidence to suggest the far-reaching significance +of the conception of ritual rebirth in early Egyptian religious +ceremonial. With these ideas in his mind the Egyptian would naturally +attach great importance to the placenta in any attempt to reconstruct +the act of rebirth, which would be regarded in a literal sense. The +placenta which played an essential part in the original act would have +an equally important rôle in the ritual of rebirth. [For a further +comment upon the problem discussed in the preceding ten pages, see +Appendix A, p. 73.] + + +[68: "Primitive Man," _Proceedings of the British Academy_, 1917, p. 41. + +It is important to remember that the real meaning of respiration was +quite unknown until modern science revealed the part played by oxygen.] + +[69: The enormous complexity and intricacy of the interrelation between +the functions of the "heart," and the "breath" is revealed in Chinese +philosophy (see de Groot, _op. cit._ Chapter VII. _inter alia_).] + +[70: Second Annual Philosophical Lecture, Henriette Hertz Trust, +_Proceedings of the British Academy_, Vol. VII, 26 Jan., 1916.] + +[71: The Egyptian _ka_, however, was a more complex entity than this +comparison suggests.] + +[72: Breasted, _op. cit._ pp. 44 and 45.] + +[73: _Op. cit._ pp. 45 and 46.] + +[74: _Ibid._ p. 28.] + +[75: W. J. Perry has collected the evidence preserved in a remarkable +series of Indonesian legends in his recent book, "The Megalithic Culture +of Indonesia". But the fullest exposition of the whole subject is +provided in the Chinese literature summarized by de Groot (_op. cit._).] + +[76: See, however, the reservations in the subsequent pages.] + +[77: The thorough analysis of the beliefs of any people makes this +abundantly clear. De Groot's monograph is an admirable illustration of +this (_op. cit._ Chapter VII.). Both in Egypt and China the conceptions +of the significance of the shadow are later and altogether subsidiary.] + +[78: Alan H. Gardiner, Davies and Gardiner, _op. cit._ p. 59.] + +[79: F. Ll. Griffith, "A Collection of Hieroglyphs," 1898, p. 60.] + +[80: Aylward M. Blackman, "Some Remarks on an Emblem upon the Head of an +Ancient Egyptian Birth-Goddess," _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. +III, Part III, July, 1916, p. 199; and "The Pharaoh's Placenta and the +Moon-God Khons," _ibid._ Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 235.] + +[81: "Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. 52. Breasted denies +that the _ka_ was an element of the personality.] + +[82: For an abstruse discussion of this problem see Alan H. Gardiner, +"Personification (Egyptian)," Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion and +Ethics_, pp. 790 and 792.] + +[83: _Op. cit. supra_.] + +[84: Mr. Blackman is puzzled to explain what "possible connexion there +could be between the Pharaoh's placenta and the moon beyond the fact +that it is the custom in Uganda to expose the king's placenta each new +moon and anoint it with butter." + +To those readers who follow my argument in the later pages of this +discussion the reasoning at the back of this association should be plain +enough. The moon was regarded as the controller of menstruation. The +placenta (and also the child) was considered to be formed of menstrual +blood. The welfare of the placenta was therefore considered to be under +the control of the moon. + +The anointing with butter is an interesting illustration of the close +connexion of these lunar and maternal phenomena with the cow. + +The placenta was associated with the moon also in China, as the +following quotation shows. + +According to de Groot (_op. cit._ p. 396), "in the _Siao 'rh fang_ or +Medicament for Babies, by the hand of Ts'ui Hing-kung [died 674 A.D.], +it is said: 'The placenta should be stored away in a felicitous spot +under the salutary influences of the sky or the moon ... in order that +the child may be ensured a long life'". He then goes on to explain how +any interference with the placenta will entail mental or physical +trouble to the child. + +The placenta also is used as the ingredient of pills to increase +fertility, facilitate parturition, to bring back life to people on the +brink of death and it is the main ingredient "in medicines for lunacy, +convulsions, epilepsy, etc." (p. 397). "It gives rest to the heart, +nourishes the blood, increases the breath, and strengthens the _tsing_" +(p. 396). + +These attributes of the placenta indicate that the beliefs of the +Baganda are not merely local eccentricities, but widespread and sharply +defined interpretations of the natural phenomena of birth.] + +[85: _Op. cit._ p. 241.] + +[86: See "The Origin of Early Siberian Civilization," now being +published in the _Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and +Philosophical Society_.] + +[87: De Groot, p. 5.] + +[88: _Early Religious Poetry of Persia_, p. 145.] + +[89: _Op. cit._ p. 264.] + +[90: _Ibid._ p. 240.] + + +The Power of the Eye. + +In attempting to understand the peculiar functions attributed to the eye +it is essential that the inquirer should endeavour to look at the +problem from the early Egyptian's point of view. After moulding into +shape the wrappings of the mummy so as to restore as far as possible the +form of the deceased the embalmer then painted eyes upon the face. So +also when the sculptor had learned to make finished models in stone or +wood, and by the addition of paint had enhanced the life-like +appearance, the statue was still merely a dead thing. What were needed +above all to enliven it, literally and actually, in other words, to +animate it, were the eyes; and the Egyptian artist set to work and with +truly marvellous skill reproduced the appearance of living eyes (Fig. +5). How ample was the justification for this belief will be appreciated +by anyone who glances at the remarkable photographs recently published +by Dr. Alan H. Gardiner.[91] The wonderful eyes will be seen to make the +statue sparkle and live. To the concrete mind of the Egyptian this +triumph of art was regarded not as a mere technical success or +æsthetic achievement. The artist was considered to have made the statue +really live; in fact, literally and actually converted it into a "living +image". The eyes themselves were regarded as one of the chief sources of +the vitality which had been conferred upon the statue. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5--Statue of an Egyptian Noble of the Pyramid Age to +show the technical skill in the representation of life-like eyes] + +This is the explanation of all the elaborate care and skill bestowed +upon the making of artificial eyes. No doubt also it was largely +responsible for giving definition to the remarkable belief in the +animating power of the eye. But so many other factors of most diverse +kinds played a part in building up the complex theory of the eye's +fertilizing potency that all the stages in the process of +rationalization cannot yet be arranged in orderly sequence. + +I refer to the question here and suggest certain aspects of it that seem +worthy of investigation merely for the purpose of stimulating some +student of early Egyptian literature to look into the matter +further.[92] + +As death was regarded as a kind of sleep and the closing of the eyes was +the distinctive sign of the latter condition the open eyes were not +unnaturally regarded as clear evidence of wakefulness and life. In fact, +to a matter-of-fact people the restoration of the eyes to the mummy or +statue was equivalent to an awakening to life. + +At a time when a reflection in a mirror or in a sheet of water was +supposed to afford quite positive evidence of the reality of each +individual's "double," and when the "soul," or more concretely, "life," +was imagined to be a minute image or homunculus, it is quite likely that +the reflection in the eye may have been interpreted as the "soul" +dwelling within it. The eye was certainly regarded as peculiarly rich in +"soul substance". It was not until Osiris received from Horus the eye +which had been wrenched out in the latter's combat with Set that he +"became a soul".[93] + +It is a remarkable fact that this belief in the animating power of the +eye spread as far east as Polynesia and America, and as far west as the +British Islands. + +Of course the obvious physiological functions of the eyes as means of +communication between their possessor and the world around him; the +powerful influence of the eyes for expressing feeling and emotion +without speech; the analogy between the closing and opening of the eyes +and the changes of day and night, are all hinted at in Egyptian +literature. + +But there were certain specific factors that seem to have helped to give +definiteness to these general ideas of the physiology of the eyes. The +tears, like all the body moisture, came to share the life-giving +attributes of water in general. And when it is recalled that at funeral +ceremonies emotion found natural expression in the shedding of tears, it +is not unlikely that this came to be assimilated with all the other +water-symbolism of the funerary ritual. The early literature of Egypt, +in fact, refers to the part played by Isis and Nephthys in the +reanimation of Osiris, when the tears they shed as mourners brought +life back to the god. But the fertilizing tears of Isis were life-giving +in the wider sense. They were said to cause the inundation which +fertilized the soil of Egypt, meaning presumably that the "Eye of Re" +sent the rain. + +There is the further possibility that the beliefs associated with the +cowry may have played some part, if not in originating, at any rate in +emphasizing the conception of the fertilizing powers of the eye. I have +already mentioned the outstanding features of the symbolism of the +cowry. In many places in Africa and elsewhere the similarity of this +shell to the half-closed eyelids led to its use as an artificial "eye" +in mummies. The use of the same objects to symbolize the female +reproductive organs and the eyes may have played some part in +transferring to the latter the fertility of the former. The gods were +born of the eyes of Ptah. Might not the confusion of the eye with the +genitalia have given a meaning to this statement? There is evidence of +this double symbolism of these shells. Cowry shells have also been +employed, both in the Persian Gulf and the Pacific, to decorate the bows +of boats, probably for the dual purpose of representing eyes and +conferring vitality upon the vessel. These facts suggest that the belief +in the fertilizing power of the eyes may to some extent be due to this +cowry-association. Even if it be admitted that all the known cases of +the use of cowries as eyes of mummies are relatively late, and that it +is not known to have been employed for such a purpose in Egypt, the mere +fact that the likeness to the eyelids so readily suggests itself may +have linked together the attributes of the cowry and the eye even in +Predynastic times, when cowries were placed with the dead in the grave. + +Hathor's identification with the "Eye of Re" may possibly have been an +expression of the same idea. But the rôle of the "Eye of Re" was due +primarily to her association with the moon (_vide infra_, p. 56). + +The apparently hopeless tangle of contradictions involved in these +conceptions of Hathor will have to be unravelled. For "no eye is to be +feared more than thine (Re's) when it attacketh in the form of Hathor" +(Maspero, _op. cit._ p. 165). If it was the beneficent life-giving +aspect of the eye which led to its identification with Hathor, in course +of time, when the reason for this connexion was lost sight of, it became +associated with the malevolent, death-dealing _avatar_ of the goddess, +and became the expression of the god's anger and hatred toward his +enemies. It is not unlikely that such a confusion may have been +responsible for giving concrete expression to the general psychological +fact that the eyes are obviously among the chief means for expressing +hatred for and intimidating and "brow-beating" one's fellows. [In my +lecture on "The Birth of Aphrodite" I shall explain the explicit +circumstances that gave rise to these contradictions.] + +It is significant that, in addition to the widespread belief in the +"evil eye"--which in itself embodies the same confusion, the expression +of admiration that works evil--in a multitude of legends it is the eye +that produces petrifaction. The "stony stare" causes death and the dead +become transformed into statues, which, however, usually lack their +original attribute of animation. These stories have been collected by +Mr. E. S. Hartland in his "Legend of Perseus". + +There is another possible link in the chain of associations between the +eye and the idea of fertility. I have already referred to the +development of the belief that incense, which plays so prominent a part +in the ritual for conferring vitality upon the dead, is itself replete +with animating properties. "Glaser has already shown the _anti_ incense +of the Egyptian Punt Reliefs to be an Arabian word, _a-a-netc_, +'tree-eyes' (_Punt und die Südarabischen Reiche_, p. 7), and to refer to +the large lumps ... as distinguished from the small round drops, which +are supposed to be tree-tears or the tree-blood."[94] + + +[91: "A New Masterpiece of Egyptian Sculpture," _The Journal of Egyptian +Archæology_, Vol. IV, Part I, Jan., 1917.] + +[92: In all probability the main factor that was responsible for +conferring such definite life-giving powers upon the eye was the +identification of the moon with the Great Mother. The moon was the Eye +of Re, the sky-god.] + +[93: Breasted, "Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. 59. The +meaning of the phrase rendered "a soul" here would be more accurately +given by the word "reanimated".] + +[94: Wilfred H. Schoff, "The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea," 1912, p. +164.] + + +The Moon and the Sky-World. + +There are reasons for believing that the chief episodes in Aphrodite's +past point to the Red Sea for their inspiration, though many other +factors, due partly to local circumstances and partly to contact with +other civilizations, contributed to the determination of the traits of +the Mediterranean goddess of love. In Babylonia and India there are very +definite signs of borrowing from the same source. It is important, +therefore, to look for further evidence to Arabia as the obvious bond of +union both with Phoenicia and Babylonia. + +The claim made in Roscher's _Lexicon der Mythologie_ that the Assyrian +Ishtar, the Phoenician Ashtoreth (Astarte), the Syrian Atargatis +(Derketo), the Babylonian Belit (Mylitta) and the Arabian Ilat (Al-ilat) +were all moon-goddesses has given rise to much rather aimless +discussion, for there can be no question of their essential homology +with Hathor and Aphrodite. Moreover, from the beginning, all +goddesses--and especially this most primitive stratum of fertility +deities--were for obvious reasons intimately associated with the +moon.[95] But the cyclical periodicity of the moon which suggested the +analogy with the similar physiological periodicity of women merely +explains the association of the moon with women. The influence of the +moon upon dew and the tides, perhaps, suggested its controlling power +over water and emphasized the life-giving function which its association +with women had already suggested. For reasons which have been explained +already, water was associated more especially with fertilization by the +male. Hence the symbolism of the moon came to include the control of +both the male and the female processes of reproduction.[96] + +The literature relating to the development of these ideas with +reference to the moon has been summarized by Professor Hutton +Webster.[97] He shows that "there is good reason for believing that +among many primitive peoples the moon, rather than the sun, the planets +or any of the constellations, first excited the imagination and aroused +feelings of superstitious awe or of religious veneration". + +Special attention was first devoted to the moon when agricultural +pursuits compelled men to measure time and determine the seasons. The +influence of the moon on water, both the tides and dew, brought it +within the scope of the then current biological theory of fertilization. +This conception was powerfully corroborated by the parallelism of the +moon's cycles and those of womankind, which was interpreted by regarding +the moon as the controlling power of the female reproductive functions. +Thus all of the earliest goddesses who were personifications of the +powers of fertility came to be associated, and in some cases identified, +with the moon. + +In this way the animation and deification of the moon was brought about: +and the first sky deity assumed not only all the attributes of the +cowry, i.e. the female reproductive functions, but also, as the +controller of water, many of those which afterwards were associated with +Osiris. The confusion of the male fertilizing powers of Osiris with the +female reproductive functions of Hathor and Isis may explain how in some +places the moon became a masculine deity, who, however, still retained +his control over womankind, and caused the phenomena of menstruation by +the exercise of his virile powers.[98] But the moon-god was also a +measurer of time and in this aspect was specially personified in Thoth. + +The assimilation of the moon with these earth-deities was probably +responsible for the creation of the first sky-deity. For once the +conception developed of identifying a deity with the moon, and the +Osirian beliefs associated with the deification of a dead king grew up, +the moon became the impersonation of the spirit of womankind, some +mortal woman who by death had acquired divinity. + +After the idea had developed of regarding the moon as the spirit of a +dead person, it was only natural that, in course of time, the sun and +stars should be brought within the scope of the same train of thought, +and be regarded as the deified dead. When this happened the sun not +unnaturally soon leapt into a position of pre-eminence. As the moon +represented the deified female principle the sun became the dominant +male deity Re. The stars also became the spirits of the dead. + +Once this new conception of a sky-world was adumbrated a luxuriant crop +of beliefs grew up to assimilate the new beliefs with the old, and to +buttress the confused mixture of incompatible ideas with a complex +scaffolding of rationalization. + +The sun-god Horus was already the son of Osiris. Osiris controlled not +only the river and the irrigation canals, but also the rain-clouds. The +fumes of incense conveyed to the sky-gods the supplications of the +worshippers on earth. Incense was not only "the perfume that deities," +but also the means by which the deities and the dead could pass to their +doubles in the newly invented sky-heaven. The sun-god Re was represented +in his temple not by an anthropoid statue, but by an obelisk,[99] the +gilded apex of which pointed to heaven and "drew down" the dazzling rays +of the sun, reflected from its polished surface, so that all the +worshippers could see the manifestations of the god in his temple. + +These events are important, not only for creating the sky-gods and the +sky-heaven, but possibly also for suggesting the idea that even a mere +pillar of stone, whether carved or uncarved, upon which no attempt had +been made to model the human form, could represent the deity, or rather +could become the "body" to be animated by the god.[100] For once it was +admitted, even in the home of these ancient ideas concerning the +animation of statues, that it was not essential for the idol to be +shaped into human form, the way was opened for less cultured peoples, +who had not acquired the technical skill to carve statues, simply to +erect stone pillars or unshaped masses of stone or wood for their gods +to enter, when the appropriate ritual of animation was performed.[101] + +This conception of the possibility of gods, men, or animals dwelling in +stones spread in course of time throughout the world, but in every place +where it is found certain arbitrary details of the methods of animating +the stone reveal the fact that all these legends must have been derived +from the same source. + +The complementary belief in the possibility of the petrifaction of men +and animals has a similarly extensive geographical distribution. The +history of this remarkable incident I shall explain in the lecture on +"Dragons and Rain Gods" (Chapter II.).[102] + + +[95: I am not concerned here with the explanation of the means by which +their home became transferred to the planet Venus.] + +[96: In his discussion of the functions of the Fravashis in the Iranian +Yasht, the late Professor Moulton suggested the derivation of the word +from the Avestan root _var_, "to impregnate," so that _fravasi_ might +mean "birth-promotion". But he was puzzled by a reference to water. +"Less easy to understand is their intimate connexion with the Waters" +("Early Religious Poetry of Persia," pp. 142 and 143). But the Waters +were regarded as fertilizing agents. This is seen in the Avestan +Anahita, who was "the presiding genie of Fertility and more especially +of the Waters" (W. J. Phythian-Adams, "Mithraism," 1915, p. 13).] + +[97: "Rest Days," New York, 1916, pp. 124 _et seq._] + +[98: Wherever these deities of fertility are found, whether in Egypt, +Babylonia, the Mediterranean Area, Eastern Asia, and America, +illustrations of this confusion of sex are found. The explanation which +Dr. Rendel Harris offers of this confusion in the case of Aphrodite +seems to me not to give due recognition to its great antiquity and +almost world-wide distribution.] + +[99: L. Borchardt, "Das Re-heiligtum des Königs Ne-woser-re". For a good +exposition of this matter see A. Moret, "Sanctuaires de l'ancien Empire +Égyptien,"; _Annales du Musée Guimet_, 1912, p. 265.] + +[100: It is possible that the ceremony of erecting the _dad_ columns may +have played some part in the development of these beliefs. (On this see +A. Moret, "Mystères Égyptiens," 1913, pp. 13-17.)] + +[101: Many other factors played a part in the development of the stories +of the birth of ancestors from stones. I have already referred to the +origin of the idea of the cowry (or some other shell) as the parent of +mankind. The place of the shell was often taken by roughly carved +stones, which of course were accredited with the same power of being +able to produce men, or of being a sort of egg from which human beings +could be hatched. It is unlikely that the finding of fossilized animals +played any leading rôle in the development of these beliefs, beyond +affording corroborative evidence in support of them after other +circumstances had been responsible for originating the stories. The more +circumstantial Oriental stories of the splitting of stones giving birth +to heroes and gods may have been suggested by the finding in pebbles of +fossilized shells--themselves regarded already as the parents of +mankind. But such interpretations were only possible because all the +predisposing circumstances had already prepared the way for the +acceptance of these specific illustrations of a general theory. + +These beliefs may have developed before and quite independently of the +ideas concerning the animation of statues; but if so the latter event +would have strengthened and in some places become merged with the other +story.] + +[102: For an extensive collection of these remarkable petrifaction +legends in almost every part of the world, see E. Sidney Hartland's "The +Legend of Perseus," especially Volumes I and III. These distinctive +stories will be found to be complexly interwoven with all the matters +discussed in this address.] + + +The Worship of the Cow. + +Intimately linked with the subjects I have been discussing is the +worship of the cow. It would lead me too far afield to enter into the +details of the process by which the earliest Mother-Goddesses became so +closely associated or even identified with the cow, and why the cow's +horns became associated with the moon among the emblems of Hathor. +But it is essential that reference should be made to certain aspects of +the subject. + +I do not think there is any evidence to justify the common theory that +the likeness of the crescent moon to a cow's horns was the reason for +the association. On the other hand, it is clear that both the moon and +the cow became identified with the Mother-Goddess quite independently +the one of the other, and at a very remote period. + +It is probable that the fundamental factor in the development of this +association of the cow and the Mother-Goddess was the fact of the use of +milk as food for human beings. For if the cow could assume this maternal +function she was in fact a sort of foster-mother of mankind; and in +course of time she came to be regarded as the actual mother of the human +race and to be identified with the Great Mother. + +Many other considerations helped in this process of assimilation. The +use of cattle not merely as meat for the sustenance of the living but as +the usual and most characteristic life-giving food for the dead +naturally played a part in conferring divinity upon the cow, just as an +analogous relationship made incense a holy substance and was responsible +for the personification of the incense-tree as a goddess. This influence +was still further emphasized in the case of cattle because they also +supplied the blood which was used for the ritual purpose of bestowing +consciousness upon the dead, and in course of time upon the gods also, +so that they might hear and attend to the prayers of supplicants. + +Other circumstances emphasize the significance attached to the cow: but +it is difficult to decide whether they contributed in any way to the +development of these beliefs or were merely some of the practices which +were the result of the divination of the cow. The custom of placing +butter in the mouths of the dead, in Egypt, Uganda, and India, the +various ritual uses of milk, the employment of a cow's hide as a +wrapping for the dead in the grave, and also in certain mysterious +ceremonies,[103] all indicate the intimate connexion between the cow and +the means of attaining a rebirth in the life to come. + +I think there are definite reasons for believing that once the cow +became identified with the Mother-Goddess as the parent of mankind the +first step was taken in the development of the curious system of ideas +now known as "totemism". + +This, however, is a complex problem which I cannot stay to discuss here. + +When the cow became identified with the Great Mother and the moon was +regarded as the dwelling or the personification of the same goddess, the +Divine Cow by a process of confused syncretism came to be regarded as +the sky or the heavens, to which the dead were raised up on the cow's +back. When Re became the dominant deity, he was identified with the sky, +and the sun and moon were then regarded as his eyes. Thus the moon, as +the Great Mother as well as the Eye of Re, was the bond of +identification of the Great Mother with an eye. This was probably how +the eye acquired the animating powers of the Giver of Life. + +A whole volume might be written upon the almost world-wide diffusion of +these beliefs regarding the cow, as far as Scotland and Ireland in the +west, and in their easterly migration probably as far as America, to the +confusion alike of its ancient artists and its modern ethnologists.[104] + +As an illustration of the identification of the cow's attributes with +those of the life-giving Great Mother, I might refer to the late +Professor Moulton's commentary[105] on the ancient Iranian Gâthâs, where +cow's flesh is given to mortals by Yima to make them immortal. "May we +connect it with another legend whereby at the Regeneration Mithra is to +make men immortal by giving them to eat the fat of the ... primeval Cow +from whose slain body, according to the Aryan legends adopted by +Mithraism, mankind was first created?"[106] + + +[103: See A. Moret, _op. cit._ p. 81, _inter alia_.] + +[104: See the Copan sculptured monuments described by Maudslay in Godman +and Salvin's "Biologia Centrali-Americana," Archæology, Plate 46, +representing "Stela D," with two serpents in the places occupied by the +Indian elephants in Stela B--concerning which see _Nature_, November 25, +1915. To one of these intertwined serpents is attached a cow-headed +human dæmon. Compare also the Chiriqui figure depicted by MacCurdy, +"A Study of Chiriquian Antiquities," Yale University Press, 1911, fig. +361, p. 209.] + +[105: "Early Religious Poetry of Persia," pp. 42 and 43.] + +[106: _Op. cit._ p. 43. But I think these legends accredited to the +Aryans owe their parentage to the same source as the Egyptian beliefs +concerning the cow, and especially the remarkable mysteries upon which +Moret has been endeavouring to throw some light--"Mystères Égyptiens," +p. 43.] + + +The Diffusion of Culture. + +In these pages I have made no attempt to deal with the far-reaching and +intricate problems of the diffusion abroad of the practices and beliefs +which I have been discussing. But the thoughts and the aspirations of +every cultured people are permeated through and through with their +influence. + +It is important to remember that in almost every stage of the +development of these complex customs and ideas not merely the "finished +product" but also the ingredients out of which it was built up were +being scattered abroad. + + * * * * * + +I shall briefly refer to certain evidence from Asia and America in +illustration of this fact and in substantiation of the reality of the +diffusion to the East of some of the beliefs I have been discussing. + +The unity of Egyptian and Babylonian ideas is nowhere more strikingly +demonstrated than in the essential identity of the attributes of Osiris +and Ea. It affords the most positive proof of the derivation of the +beliefs from some common source, and reveals the fact that Egyptian and +Sumerian civilizations must have been in intimate cultural contact at +the beginning of their developmental history. "In Babylonia, as in +Egypt, there were differences of opinion regarding the origin of life +and the particular natural element which represented the vital +principle." "One section of the people, who were represented by the +worshippers of Ea, appear to have believed that the essence of life was +contained in water. The god of Eridu was the source of the 'water of +life'."[107] + +"Offerings of water and food were made to the dead," not primarily so +that they might be "prevented from troubling the living,"[108] but to +supply them with the means of sustenance and to reanimate them to help +the suppliants. It is a common belief that these and other procedures +were inspired by fear of the dead. But such a statement does not +accurately represent the attitude of mind of the people who devised +these funerary ceremonies. For it is not the enemies of the dead or +those against whom he had a grudge that run a risk at funerals, but +rather his friends; and the more deeply he was attached to a particular +person the greater the danger for the latter. For among many people +the belief obtains that when a man dies he will endeavour to steal +the "soul-substance" of those who are dearest to him so that they +may accompany him to the other world. But as stealing the +"soul-substance"[109] means death, it is easy to misunderstand such a +display of affection. Hence most people who long for life and hate death +do their utmost to evade such embarrassing tokens of love; and most +ethnologists, misjudging such actions, write about "appeasing the dead". +It was those whom the gods _loved_ who died young. + +Ea was not only the god of the deep, but also "lord of life," king of +the river and god of creation. Like Osiris "he fertilized parched and +sunburnt wastes through rivers and irrigating canals, and conferred upon +man the sustaining 'food of life'.... The goddess of the dead commanded +her servant to 'sprinkle the Lady Ishtar with the water of life'" (_op. +cit._, p. 44). + +In Chapter III. of Mr. Mackenzie's book, from which I have just quoted, +there is an interesting collection of quotations clearly showing that +the conception of the vitalizing properties of the body moisture of gods +is not restricted to Egypt, but is found also in Babylonia and India, in +Western Asia and Greece, and also in Western Europe. + +It has been suggested that the name Ishtar has been derived from Semitic +roots implying "she who waters," "she who makes fruitful".[110] + +Barton claims that: "The beginnings of Semitic religion as they were +conceived by the Semites themselves go back to sexual relations ... the +Semitic conception of deity ... embodies the truth--grossly indeed, but +nevertheless embodies it--that 'God is love'" (_op. cit._ p. 107). [This +statement, however, is very misleading--see Appendix C, p. 75.] + +Throughout the countries where Semitic[111] influence spread the +primitive Mother-Goddesses or some of their specialized variants are +found. But in every case the goddess is associated with many distinctive +traits which reveal her identity with her homologues in Cyprus, +Babylonia, and Egypt. + +Among the Sumerians "life comes on earth through the introduction of +water and irrigation".[112] "Man also results from a union between the +water-gods." + +The Akkadians held views which were almost the direct antithesis of +these. To them "the watery deep is disorder, and the cosmos, the order +of the world, is due to the victory of a god of light and spring over +the monster of winter and water; man is directly made by the gods".[113] + +"The Sumerian account of Beginnings centres around the production by the +gods of water, Enki and his consort Nin-ella (or Dangal), of a great +number of canals bringing rain to the desolate fields of a dry +continent. Life both of vegetables and animals follows the profusion of +the vivifying waters.... In the process of life's production besides +Enki, the personality of his consort is very conspicuous. She is called +_Nin-Ella_, 'the pure Lady,' _Damgal-Nunna_, the 'great Lady of the +Waters,' _Nin-Tu_, 'the Lady of Birth'" (p. 301). The child of Enki and +Nin-ella was the ancestor of mankind.[114] + +"In later traditions, the personality of that Great Lady seems to have +been overshadowed by that of Ishtar, who absorbed several of her +functions" (p. 301). + +Professor Carnoy fully demonstrates the derivation of certain early +so-called "Aryan" beliefs from Chaldea. In the Iranian account of the +creation "the great spring Ardvi Sura Anahita is the +life-increasing, the herd-increasing, the fold-increasing who makes +prosperity for all countries (Yt. 5, 1) ... that precious spring is +worshipped as a goddess ... and is personified as a handsome and stately +woman. She is a fair maid, most strong, tall of form, high-girded. Her +arms are white and thick as a horse's shoulder or still thicker. She is +full of gracefulness" (Yt. 5, 7, 64, 78). "Professor Cumont thinks that +Anahita is Ishtar ... she is a goddess of fecundation and birth. +Moreover in Achæmenian inscriptions Anahita is associated with Ahura +Mazdah and Mithra, a triad corresponding to the Chaldean triad: +Sin-Shamash-Ishtar. [Greek: Anaitis] in Strabo and other Greek writers +is treated as [Greek: Aphroditê]" (p. 302). + +But in Mesopotamia also the same views were entertained as in Egypt of +the functions of statues. + +"The statues hidden in the recesses of the temples or erected on the +summits of the 'Ziggurats' became imbued, by virtue of their +consecration, with the actual body of the god whom they represented." +Thus Marduk is said to "inhabit his image" (Maspero, _op. cit._ p. 64). + +This is precisely the idea which the Egyptians had. Even at the present +day it survives among the Dravidian peoples of India.[115] They make +images of their village deities, which may be permanent or only +temporary, but in any case they are regarded not as actual deities but +as the "bodies" so to speak into which these deities can enter. They are +sacred only when they are so animated by the goddess. The ritual of +animation is essentially identical with that found in Ancient Egypt. +Libations are poured out; incense is burnt; the bleeding right fore-leg +of a buffalo constitutes the blood-offering.[116] When the deity is +reanimated by these procedures and its consciousness restored by the +blood-offering it can hear appeals and speak. + +The same attitude towards their idols was adopted by the Polynesians. +"The priest usually addressed the image, into which it was imagined the +god entered when anyone came to inquire his will."[117] + +But there are certain other aspects of these Indian customs that are of +peculiar interest. In my Ridgeway essay (_op. cit. supra_) I referred to +the means by which in Nubia the degradation of the oblong Egyptian +_mastaba_ gave rise to the simple stone circle. This type spread to the +west along the North African littoral, and also to the Eastern desert +and Palestine. At some subsequent time mariners from the Red Sea +introduced this practice into India. + +[It is important to bear in mind that two other classes of stone circles +were invented. One of them was derived, not from the _mastaba_ itself, +but from the enclosing wall surrounding it (see my Ridgeway essay, Fig. +13, p. 531, and compare with Figs. 3 and 4, p. 510, for illustrations of +the transformed _mastaba_-type). This type of circle (enclosing a +dolmen) is found both in the Caucasus-Caspian area as well as in India. +A highly developed form of this encircling type of structure is seen in +the famous rails surrounding the Buddhist _stupas_ and _dagabas_. A +third and later form of circle, of which Stonehenge is an example, was +developed out of the much later New Empire Egyptian conception of +a temple.] + +But at the same time, as in Nubia, and possibly in Libya, the _mastaba_ +was being degraded into the first of the three main varieties of stone +circle, other, though less drastic, forms of simplification of the +_mastaba_ were taking place, possibly in Egypt itself, but certainly +upon the neighbouring Mediterranean coasts. In some respects the least +altered copies of the _mastaba_ are found in the so-called "giant's +graves" of Sardinia and the "horned cairns" of the British Isles. But +the real features of the Egyptian _serdab_, which was the essential +part, the nucleus so to speak, of the _mastaba_, are best preserved in +the so-called "holed dolmens" of the Levant, the Caucasus, and India. +[They also occur sporadically in the West, as in France and Britain.] + +Such dolmens and more simplified forms are scattered in Palestine,[118] +but are seen to best advantage upon the Eastern Littoral of the Black +Sea, the Caucasus, and the neighbourhood of the Caspian. They are found +only in scattered localities between the Black and Caspian Seas. As de +Morgan has pointed out,[119] their distribution is explained by their +association with ancient gold and copper mines. They were the tombs of +immigrant mining colonies who had settled in these definite localities +to exploit these minerals. + +Now the same types of dolmens, also associated with ancient mines,[120] +are found in India. There is some evidence to suggest that these +degraded types of Egyptian _mastabas_ were introduced into India at some +time after the adoption of the other, the Nubian modification of the +_mastaba_ which is represented by the first variety of stone +circle.[121] + +I have referred to these Indian dolmens for the specific purpose of +illustrating the complexities of the processes of diffusion of culture. +For not only have several variously specialized degradation-products of +the same original type of Egyptian _mastaba_ reached India, possibly by +different routes and at different times, but also many of the ideas +that developed out of the funerary ritual in Egypt--of which the +_mastaba_ was merely one of the manifestations--made their way to India +at various times and became secondarily blended with other expressions +of the same or associated ideas there. I have already referred to the +essential elements of the Egyptian funerary ritual--the statues, +incense, libations, and the rest--as still persisting among the +Dravidian peoples. + +But in the Madras Presidency dolmens are found converted into Siva +temples.[122] Now in the inner chamber of the shrine--which represents +the homologue of the _serdab_--in place of the statue or bas-relief of +the deceased or of the deity, which is found in some of them (see Plate +I), there is the stone _linga-yoni_ emblem in the position corresponding +to that in which, in the later temple in the same locality (Kambaduru), +there is an image of Parvati, the consort of Siva. + +The earliest deities in Egypt, both Osiris and Hathor, were really +expressions of the creative principle. In the case of Hathor, the +goddess was, in fact, the personification of the female organs of +reproduction.[123] In these early Siva temples in India these principles +of creation were given their literal interpretation, and represented +frankly as the organs of reproduction of the two sexes. The gods of +creation were symbolized by models in stone of the creating organs. +Further illustrations of the same principle are witnessed in the +Indonesian megalithic monuments which Perry calls "dissoliths".[124] + +The later Indian temples, both Buddhist and Hindu, were developed from +these early dolmens, as Mr. Longhurst's reports so clearly demonstrate. +But from time to time there was an influx of new ideas from the West +which found expression in a series of modifications of the architecture. +Thus India provides an admirable illustration of this principle of +culture contact. A series of waves of megalithic culture introduced +purely Western ideas. These were developed by the local people in their +own way, constantly intermingling a variety of cultural influences to +weave them into a distinctive fabric, which was compounded partly of +imported, partly of local threads, woven locally into a truly Indian +pattern. In this process of development one can detect the effects of +Mycenæan accretions (see for example Longhurst's Plate XIII), probably +modified during its indirect transmission by Phoenician and later +influences; and also the more intimate part played by Babylonian, +Egyptian, and, later, Greek and Persian art and architecture in +directing the course of development of Indian culture. + +Incidentally, in the course of the discussions in the foregoing pages, I +have referred to the profound influence of Egyptian, Babylonian and +Indian ideas in Eastern Asia. Perry's important book (_op. cit. supra_) +reveals their efforts in Indonesia. Thence they spread across the +Pacific to America. + +In the "Migrations of Early Culture" (p. 114) I called attention to the +fact that among the Aztecs water was poured upon the head of the mummy. +This ritual procedure was inspired by the Egyptian idea of libations, +for, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, the pouring out of the water +was accompanied by the remark "C'est cette eau que tu as reçue en venant +an monde". + +But incense-burning and blood-offering were also practised in America. +In an interesting memoir[125] on the practice of blood-letting by +piercing the ears and tongue, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall reproduces a remarkable +picture from a "partly unpublished MS. of Sahagun's work preserved in +Florence". "The image of the sun is held up by a man whose body is +partly hidden, and two men, seated opposite to each other in the +foreground, are in the act of piercing the helices or external borders +of their ears." But in addition to these blood-offerings to the sun, two +priests are burning incense in remarkably Egyptian-like censers, and +another pair are blowing conch-shell trumpets. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Representation of the ancient Mexican Worship of +the Sun. + +The image of the sun is held up by a man in front of his face; two men +blow conch-shell trumpets; another pair burn incense; and a third pair +make blood-offerings by piercing their ears--after Zelia Nuttall.] + +But it was not merely the use of incense and libations and the +identities in the wholly arbitrary attributes of the American pantheon +that reveal the sources of their derivation in the Old World. When the +Spaniards first visited Yucatan they found traces of a Maya baptismal +rite which the natives called _zihil_, signifying "to be born again". At +the ceremony also incense was burnt.[126] + +The forehead, the face, the fingers and toes were moistened. "After they +had been thus sprinkled with water, the priest arose and removed the +cloths from the heads of the children, and then cut off with a stone +knife a certain bead that was attached to the head from childhood."[127] + +[The custom of wearing such a bead during childhood is found in Egypt at +the present day.] + +In the case of the girls, their mothers "divested them of a cord which +was worn during their childhood, fastened round the loins, having a +small shell that hung in front ('una conchuela asida que les venia a dar +encima de la parte honesta'--Landa). The removal of this signified that +they could marry."[128] + +This use of shells is found in the Soudan and East Africa at the present +day.[129] The girdle upon which the shells were hung is the prototype of +the cestus of Hathor, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Kali and all the goddesses of +fertility in the Old World. It is an admirable illustration of the fact +that not only were the finished products, the goddesses and their +fantastic repertory of attributes, transmitted to the New World, but +also the earliest and most primitive ingredients out of which the +complexities of their traits were compounded. + +In Chapter III ("The Birth of Aphrodite") I shall explain what an +important part the invention of this girdle played in the development of +the material side of civilization and the even vaster influence it +exerted upon beliefs and ethics. It represents the first stage in the +evolution of clothing; and it was responsible for originating the belief +in love-philtres and in the possibility of foretelling the future. + +It would lead me too far from my main purpose in this book to discuss +the widespread geographical distribution and historical associations of +the customs of baptism and pouring libations among different peoples. I +may, however, refer the reader to an article by Mr. Elsdon Best, +entitled "Ceremonial Performances Pertaining to Birth, as Performed by +the Maori of New Zealand in Past Times" (_Journal of the Royal +Anthropological Institute_, Vol. XLIV, 1914, p. 127), which sheds a +clear light upon the general problem. + +The whole subject of baptismal ceremonies is well worth detailed study +as a remarkable demonstration of the spread of culture in early times. + + +[107: Donald A. Mackenzie, "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria," p. 44 _et +seq._] + +[108: Dr. Alan Gardiner has protested against the assertions of "some +Egyptologists, influenced more by anthropological theorists than by the +unambiguous evidence of the Egyptian texts," to the effect that "the +funerary rites and practices of the Egyptians were in the main +precautionary measures serving to protect the living against the dead" +(Article "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings' _Encyclopædia of +Religion and Ethics_). I should like to emphasize the fact that the +"anthropological theorists," who so frequently put forward these claims +have little more justification for them than "some Egyptologists". +Careful study of the best evidence from Babylonia, India, Indonesia, and +Japan, reveals the fact that anthropologists who make such claims have +in many cases misinterpreted the facts. In an article on "Ancestor +Worship" by Professor Nobushige Hozumi in A. Stead's "Japan by the +Japanese" (1904) the true point of view is put very clearly: "The origin +of ancestor-worship is ascribed by many eminent writers to the _dread of +ghosts_ and the sacrifices made to the souls of ancestors for the +purpose of _propitiating_ them. It appears to me more correct to +attribute the origin of ancestor-worship to a contrary cause. It was the +_love_ of ancestors, not the _dread_ of them" [Here he quotes the +Chinese philosophers Shiu-ki and Confucius in corroboration] that +impelled men to worship. "We celebrate the anniversary of our ancestors, +pay visits to their graves, offer flowers, food and drink, burn incense +and bow before their tombs, entirely from a feeling of love and respect +for their memory, and no question of 'dread' enters our minds in doing +so" (pp. 281 and 282). [See, however, Appendix B, p. 74.]] + +[109: For, as I have already explained, the idea so commonly and +mistakenly conveyed by the term "soul-substance" by writers on +Indonesian and Chinese beliefs would be much more accurately rendered +simply by the word "life," so that the stealing of it necessarily means +death.] + +[110: Barton, _op. cit._ p. 105.] + +[111: The evidence set forth in these pages makes it clear that such +ideas are not restricted to the Semites: nor is there any reason to +suppose that they originated amongst them.] + +[112: Albert J. Carnoy, "Iranian Views of Origins in Connexion with +Similar Babylonian Beliefs," _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, +Vol. XXXVI, 1916, pp. 300-20.] + +[113: This is Professor Carnoy's summary of Professor Jastrow's views as +expressed in his article "Sumerian and Akkadian Views of Beginnings".] + +[114: Jastrow's interpretation of a recently-discovered tablet published +by Langdon under the title _The Sumerian Epic of Paradise, the Flood and +the Fall of Man_.] + +[115: I have already (p. 43) mentioned the fact that it is still +preserved in China also.] + +[116: Henry Whitehead (Bishop of Madras), "The Village Deities of +Southern India," Madras Government Museum, Bull., Vol. V, No. 3, 1907; +Wilber Theodore Elmore, "Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism: A Study of +the Local and Village Deities of Southern India," University Studies: +University of Nebraska, Vol. XV, No. 1, Jan., 1915. Compare the +sacrifice of the fore-leg of a living calf in Egypt--A. E. P. B. +Weigall, "An Ancient Egyptian Funeral Ceremony," _Journal of Egyptian +Archæology_, Vol. II, 1915, p. 10. Early literary references from +Babylonia suggest that a similar method of offering blood was practised +there.] + +[117: William Ellis, "Polynesian Researches," 2nd edition, 1832, Vol. I, +p. 373.] + +[118: See H. Vincent, "Canaan d'après l'exploration récente," Paris, +1907, p. 395.] + +[119: "Les Premières Civilizations," Paris, 1909, p. 404: Mémoires de la +Délégation en Perse, Tome VIII, archéol.; and Mission Scientifique au +Caucase, Tome I.] + +[120: W. J. Perry, "The Relationship between the Geographical +Distribution of Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," _Memoirs and +Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_, Vol. +60, Part I, 24th Nov., 1915.] + +[121: The evidence for this is being prepared for publication by Captain +Leonard Munn, R.E., who has personally collected the data in Hyderabad.] + +[122: Annual Report of the Archæological Department, Southern Circle, +Madras, for the year 1915-1916. See for example Mr. A. H. Longhurst's +photographs and plans (Plates I-IV) and especially that of the old Siva +temple at Kambaduru, Plate IV (b).] + +[123: As I shall show in "The Birth of Aphrodite" (Chapter III).] + +[124: W. J. Perry, "The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia".] + +[125: "A Penitential Rite of the Ancient Mexicans," Archæological and +Ethnological Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. I, +No. 7, 1904.] + +[126: Bancroft, _op. cit._ Vol. II, pp. 682 and 683.] + +[127: _Op. cit._ p. 684.] + +[128: _Ibid._] + +[129: See J. Wilfrid Jackson, _op. cit. supra_.] + + +Summary. + +In these pages I have ranged over a very wide field of speculation, +groping in the dim shadows of the early history of civilization. I have +been attempting to pick up a few of the threads which ultimately became +woven into the texture of human beliefs and aspirations, and to suggest +that the practice of mummification was the woof around which the web of +civilization was intimately intertwined. + +I have already explained how closely that practice was related to the +origin and development of architecture, which Professor Lethaby has +called the "matrix of civilization," and how nearly the ideas that grew +up in explanation and in justification of the ritual of embalming were +affected by the practice of agriculture, the second great pillar of +support for the edifice of civilization. It has also been shown how +far-reaching was the influence exerted by the needs of the embalmer, +which impelled men, probably for the first time in history, to plan and +carry out great expeditions by sea and land to obtain the necessary +resins and the balsams, the wood and the spices. Incidentally also in +course of time the practice of mummification came to exert a profound +effect upon the means for the acquisition of a knowledge of medicine and +all the sciences ancillary to it. + +But I have devoted chief attention to the bearing of the ideas which +developed out of the practice and ritual of embalming upon the spirit of +man. It gave shape and substance to the belief in a future life; it was +perhaps the most important factor in the development of a definite +conception of the gods: it laid the foundation of the ideas which +subsequently were built up into a theory of the soul: in fact, it was +intimately connected with the birth of all those ideals and aspirations +which are now included in the conception of religious belief and ritual. +A multitude of other trains of thought were started amidst the +intellectual ferment of the formulation of the earliest concrete system +of biological theory. The idea of the properties and functions of water +which had previously sprung up in connexion with the development of +agriculture became crystallized into a more definite form as the result +of the development of mummification, and this has played an obtrusive +part in religion, in philosophy and in medicine ever since. Moreover its +influence has become embalmed for all time in many languages and in the +ritual of every religion. + +But it was a factor in the development not merely of religious beliefs, +temples and ritual, but it was also very closely related to the origin +of much of the paraphernalia of the gods and of current popular beliefs. +The swastika and the thunderbolt, dragons and demons, totemism and the +sky-world are all of them conceptions that were more or less closely +connected with the matters I have been discussing. + +The ideas which grew up in association with the practice of +mummification were responsible for the development of the temple and its +ritual and for a definite formulation of the conception of deities. But +they were also responsible for originating a priesthood. For the +resuscitation of the dead king, Osiris, and for the maintenance of his +existence it was necessary for his successor, the reigning king, to +perform the ritual of animation and the provision of food and drink. The +king, therefore, was the first priest, and his functions were not +primarily acts of worship but merely the necessary preliminaries for +restoring life and consciousness to the dead seer so that he could +consult him and secure his advice and help. + +It was only when the number of temples became so great and their ritual +so complex and elaborate as to make it a physical impossibility for the +king to act in this capacity in all of them and on every occasion that +he was compelled to delegate some of his priestly functions to others, +either members of the royal family or high officials. In course of time +certain individuals devoted themselves exclusively to these duties and +became professional priests; but it is important to remember that at +first it was the exclusive privilege of Horus, the reigning king, to +intercede with Osiris, the dead king, on behalf of men, and that the +earliest priesthood consisted of those individuals to whom he had +delegated some of these duties. + +In conclusion I should like to express in words what must be only too +apparent to every reader of this statement. It claims to be nothing more +than a contribution to the study of some of the most difficult problems +in the history of human thought. For one so ill-equipped for a task of +such a nature as I am to attempt it calls for a word of explanation. The +clear light that recent research has shed upon the earliest literature +in the world has done much to destroy the foundations upon which the +theories propounded by scholars have been built up. It seemed to be +worth while to attempt to read afresh the voluminous mass of old +documents with the illumination of this new information. + +The other reason for making such an attempt is that almost every modern +scholar who has discussed the matters at issue has assumed that the +fashionable doctrine of the independent development of human beliefs and +practices was a safe basis upon which to construct his theories. At best +it is an unproven and reckless speculation. I am convinced it is utterly +false. Holding such views I have attempted to read the evidence afresh. + + +APPENDIX A. + +On re-reading the discussion of the significance of the _ka_ I realize +that, in striving after brevity and conciseness--to keep the size of my +statement within the limits of the _Bulletin of the John Rylands +Library_, generously elastic though it is--I have left the argument in a +rather nebulous form. + +It must not be imagined that a concrete-minded people like the ancient +Egyptians entertained highly abstract and ethereal ideas about "the +soul". They recognized that all the expressions of consciousness and +personality could cease during sleep; and at the same time the phenomena +of dreams seemed to afford evidence that these absent elements of the +individual's being were enjoying real experiences elsewhere. Thus there +was an _alter ego_, identified by this matter-of-fact people with the +twin (placenta) which was born with the child and was clearly concerned +with its physical and intellectual nourishment--for it was obviously +connected by its stalk to the embryo like a tree to its roots, and it +seemed to be composed of blood, which was regarded as the vehicle of +mind. But this intellectual "twin" kept pace in its growth with the +physical body. When a statue was made to represent the latter the _ka_ +could dwell in the real body or the statue. + +The identification of the placenta with the moon helped the growth of +the conception that this "birth-promoter" could not only bring about a +re-birth in the life to come, but also facilitate a transference to the +sky-world. The placenta had already been superintending the deceased's +welfare upon earth and would continue to do so when he rejoined his _ka_ +in the sky world. + +The complexity of the conception is due to the fact that the simple +early belief in "a double" was gradually elaborated, as one new idea +after another became added to it, and rationalized to blend with the +former complex in an increasingly involved synthesis. It was only when +the elaborate scaffolding of material factors was cleared away that a +more ethereal conception of "the soul" was sublimated. + + +APPENDIX B. + +I should like to emphasize the fact that my protest (on p. 63) was +directed against the claim that the custom of offering food and drink to +the dead was inspired _primarily_ to prevent them from troubling the +living. Its original purpose was to sustain and reanimate the dead; but, +of course, when its real meaning was forgotten, it was explained in a +great variety of ways by the people who made a practice of presenting +offerings to the dead without really knowing why they did so. + +Dr. Alan Gardiner himself has made a statement which casual readers +(i.e., those who do not discriminate between the motive for the +invention of a procedure and the reasons subsequently given for its +continuance) might regard as a contradiction of my quotation from his +writings on p. 62. Thus he says: "Any god could doubtless attack human +beings, but savage and malicious deities, like Seth [Set], the murderer +of Osiris, or Sakhmet, [Sekhet], the 'lady of pestilence' (_nb-t 'idw_), +were doubtless most to be feared." [This attitude of the malignant +goddesses is revealed in a most obtrusive form in the village deities of +the Dravidians of Southern India.] "The dead were specially to be +feared; nor was it only those dead who were unhappy or unburied that +might torment the living, for the magician sometimes warns them that +their tombs are endangered" (Article "Magic (Egyptian)," _Hastings' +Encycl. Ethics and Religion_, p. 264). + +But it is important to bear in mind, as the same scholar has explained +elsewhere ["Life and Death (Egyptian)," _Hastings' Encycl._, p. 23]: +"Nothing could be farther from the truth [than the statement that 'the +funerary rites and practices of the Egyptians were in the main +precautionary measures serving to protect the living against the dead']; +it is of fundamental importance to realize that the vast stores of +wealth and thought expended by the Egyptians on their tombs--that wealth +and that thought which created not only the pyramids, but also the +practice of mummification and a very extensive funerary literature--were +due to the anxiety of each member of the community with regard to his +own individual future welfare, and not to feelings of respect, or fear, +or duty felt towards the other dead." + +It was only in response to certain binding obligations that the living +observed all those costly and troublesome rules which were believed to +insure the welfare of the deceased. But this recognition of the primary +and real purpose of the food offerings as sustenance for the dead or the +gods must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that there is +widespread throughout the world a real fear of the dead and ghosts, and +that in many places food-offerings are made for the specific purpose "of +appeasing the fairies". + +Mr. Donald Mackenzie tells me that offerings of milk and porridge are +made at the stone monuments in Scotland, and children carry meal in +their pockets to protect themselves from the fairies. For the dead went +to Fairyland. + +Beliefs of a similar kind can be collected from most parts of the world: +but the point I specially want to emphasize is that they are _secondary_ +rationalizations of a custom which originally had an utterly different +significance. + + +APPENDIX C. + +Prof. Barton's statement (_supra_, p. 64) is typical of a widespread +misapprehension, resulting from the confusion between sexual relations +and the giving of life. At first primitive people did not realize that +the manifestations of the sex instinct had anything whatever to do with +reproduction. They were aware of the fact that women gave birth to +children; and the organ concerned in this process was regarded as the +giver of life, the creator. The apotheosis of these powers led to the +conception of the first deity. But it was only secondarily that these +life-giving attributes were brought into association with the sexual act +and the masculine powers of fertilization. Much confusion has been +created by those writers who see manifestations of the sexual factor and +phallic ideas in every aspect of primitive religion, where in most cases +only the power of life-giving plays a part. + + + + +Chapter II. + +DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS.[130] + + +An adequate account of the development of the dragon-legend would +represent the history of the expression of mankind's aspirations and +fears during the past fifty centuries and more. For the dragon was +evolved along with civilization itself. The search for the elixir of +life, to turn back the years from old age and confer the boon of +immortality, has been the great driving force that compelled men to +build up the material and the intellectual fabric of civilization. The +dragon-legend is the history of that search which has been preserved by +popular tradition: it has grown up and kept pace with the constant +struggle to grasp the unattainable goal of men's desires; and the story +has been constantly growing in complexity, as new incidents were drawn +within its scope and confused with old incidents whose real meaning was +forgotten or distorted. It has passed through all the phases with which +the study of the spreading of rumours or the development of dreams has +familiarized students of psychology. The simple original stories, which +become blended and confused, their meaning distorted and reinterpreted +by the rationalizing of incoherent incidents, are given the dramatic +form with which the human mind invests all stories that make a strong +appeal to its emotions, and then secondarily elaborated with a wealth of +circumstantial detail. This is the history of popular legends and the +development of rumours. But these phenomena are displayed in their most +emphatic form in dreams.[131] In his waking state man restrains his +roving fancies and exercises what Freud has called a "censorship" over +the stream of his thoughts: but when he falls asleep, the "censor" dozes +also; and free rein is given to his unrestrained fancies to make a +hotch-potch of the most varied and unrelated incidents, and to create a +fantastic mosaic built up from fragments of his actual experience, bound +together by the cement of his aspirations and fears. The myth resembles +the dream because it has developed without any consistent and effective +censorship. The individual who tells one particular phase of the story +may exert the controlling influence of his mind over the version he +narrates: but as it is handed on from man to man and generation to +generation the "censorship" also is constantly changing. This lack of +unity of control implies that the development of the myth is not unlike +the building-up of a dream-story. But the dragon-myth is vastly more +complex than any dream, because mankind as a whole has taken a hand in +the process of shaping it; and the number of centuries devoted to this +work of elaboration has been far greater than the years spent by the +average individual in accumulating the stuff of which most of his dreams +have been made. But though the myth is enormously complex, so vast a +mass of detailed evidence concerning every phase and every detail of its +history has been preserved, both in the literature and the folk-lore of +the world, that we are able to submit it to psychological analysis and +determine the course of its development and the significance of every +incident in its tortuous rambling. + +In instituting these comparisons between the development of myths and +dreams, I should like to emphasize the fact that the interpretation of +the _myth_ proposed in these pages is almost diametrically opposed to +that suggested by Freud, and pushed to a _reductio ad absurdum_ by his +more reckless followers, and especially by Yung. + +The dragon has been described as "the most venerable symbol employed in +ornamental art and the favourite and most highly decorative motif in +artistic design". It has been the inspiration of much, if not most, of +the world's great literature in every age and clime, and the nucleus +around which a wealth of ethical symbolism has accumulated throughout +the ages. The dragon-myth represents also the earliest doctrine or +systematic theory of astronomy and meteorology. + +In the course of its romantic and chequered history the dragon has been +identified with all of the gods and all of the demons of every religion. +But it is most intimately associated with the earliest stratum of +divinities, for it has been homologized with each of the members of the +earliest Trinity, the Great Mother, the Water God, and the Warrior Sun +God, both individually and collectively. To add to the complexities of +the story, the dragon-slayer is also represented by the same deities, +either individually or collectively; and the weapon with which the hero +slays the dragon is also homologous both with him and his victim, for it +is animated by him who wields it, and its powers of destruction make it +a symbol of the same power of evil which it itself destroys. + +Such a fantastic paradox of contradictions has supplied the materials +with which the fancies of men of every race and land, and every stage of +knowledge and ignorance, have been playing for all these centuries. It +is not surprising, therefore, that an endless series of variations of +the story has been evolved, each decked out with topical allusions and +distinctive embellishments. But throughout the complex tissue of this +highly embroidered fabric the essential threads of the web and woof of +its foundation can be detected with surprising constancy and regularity. + +Within the limits of such an account as this it is obvious that I can +deal only with the main threads of the argument and leave the +interesting details of the local embellishments until some other time. + +The fundamental element in the dragon's powers is the control of water. +Both in its beneficent and destructive aspects water was regarded as +animated by the dragon, who thus assumed the rôle of Osiris or his enemy +Set. But when the attributes of the Water God became confused with those +of the Great Mother, and her evil avatar, the lioness (Sekhet) form of +Hathor in Egypt, or in Babylonia the destructive Tiamat, became the +symbol of disorder and chaos, the dragon became identified with +her also. + +Similarly the third member of the Earliest Trinity also became the +dragon. As the son and successor of the dead king Osiris the living king +Horus became assimilated with him. When the belief became more and more +insistent that the dead king had acquired the boon of immortality and +was really alive, the distinction between him and the actually living +king Horus became correspondingly minimized. This process of +assimilation was advanced a further stage when the king became a god and +was thus more closely identified with his father and predecessor. Hence +Horus assumed many of the functions of Osiris; and amongst them those +which in foreign lands contributed to making a dragon of the Water God. +But if the distinction between Horus and Osiris became more and more +attenuated with the lapse of time, the identification with his mother +Hathor (Isis) was more complete still. For he took her place and assumed +many of her attributes in the later versions of the great saga which is +the nucleus of all the literature of mythology--I refer to the story of +"The Destruction Of Mankind". + +The attributes of these three members of the Trinity, Hathor, Osiris, +and Horus, thus became intimately linked the one with the other; and in +Susa, where the earliest pictorial representation of a real dragon +developed, it received concrete form (Fig. 1) as a monster compounded of +the lioness of Hathor (Sekhet) with the falcon (or eagle) of Horus, but +with the human attributes and water-controlling powers which originally +belonged to Osiris. In some parts of Africa the earliest "dragon" was +nothing more than Hathor's cow or the gazelle or antelope of Horus +(Osiris) or of Set. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Early Representation of a "Dragon" Compounded of +the Forepart of an Eagle and the Hindpart of a Lion--(from an Archaic +Cylinder-seal from Susa, after Jequier).] + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--The Earliest Babylonian Conception of the Dragon +Tiamat--(from a Cylinder-seal in the British Museum, after L. W. King).] + +But if the dragon was compounded of all three deities, who was the +slayer of the evil dragon? + +The story of the dragon-conflict is really a recital of Horus's vendetta +against Set, intimately blended and confused with different versions of +"The Destruction of Mankind".[132] The commonplace incidents of the +originally prosaic stories were distorted into an almost unrecognizable +form, then secondarily elaborated without any attention to their +original meaning, but with a wealth of circumstantial embellishment, in +accordance with the usual methods of the human mind that I have already +mentioned. The history of the legend is in fact the most complete, +because it is the oldest and the most widespread, illustration of those +instinctive tendencies of the human spirit to bridge the gaps in its +disjointed experience, and to link together in a kind of mental mosaic +the otherwise isolated incidents in the facts of daily life and the +rumours and traditions that have been handed down from the +story-teller's predecessors. + +In the "Destruction of Mankind," which I shall discuss more fully in the +following pages (p. 109 _et seq._), Hathor does the slaying: in the +later stories Horus takes his mother's place and earns his spurs as the +Warrior Sun-god:[133] hence confusion was inevitably introduced between +the enemies of Re, the original victims in the legend, and Horus's +traditional enemies, the followers of Set. Against the latter it was +Osiris himself who fought originally; and in many of the non-Egyptian +variants of the legend it is the rain-god himself who is the warrior. + +Hence all three members of the Trinity were identified, not only with +the dragon, but also with the hero who was the dragon-slayer. + +But the weapon used by the latter was also animated by the same Trinity, +and in fact identified with them. In the Saga of the Winged Disk, Horus +assumed the form of the sun equipped with the wings of his own falcon +and the fire-spitting uræus serpents. Flying down from heaven in this +form he was at the same time the god and the god's weapon. As a fiery +bolt from heaven he slew the enemies of Re, who were now identified with +his own personal foes, the followers of Set. But in the earlier versions +of the myth (i.e. the "Destruction of Mankind"), it was Hathor who was +the "Eye of Re" and descended from heaven to destroy mankind with fire; +she also was the vulture (Mut); and in the earliest version she did the +slaughter with a knife or an axe with which she was animistically +identified. + +But Osiris also was the weapon of destruction, both in the form of the +flood (for he was the personification of the river) and the rain-storms +from heaven. But he was also an instrument for vanquishing the demon, +when the intoxicating beer or the sedative drink (the potency of which +was due to the indwelling spirit of the god) was the chosen means of +overcoming the dragon. + +This, in brief, is the framework of the dragon-story. The early Trinity +as the hero, armed with the Trinity as weapon, slays the dragon, +which again is the same Trinity. With its illimitable possibilities for +dramatic development and fantastic embellishment with incident and +ethical symbolism, this theme has provided countless thousands of +story-tellers with the skeleton which they clothed with the living flesh +of their stories, representing not merely the earliest theories of +astronomy and meteorology, but all the emotional conflicts of daily +life, the struggle between light and darkness, heat and cold, right and +wrong, justice and injustice, prosperity and adversity, wealth and +poverty. The whole gamut of human strivings and emotions was drawn +into the legend until it became the great epic of the human spirit and +the main theme that has appealed to the interest of all mankind in +every age. + +An ancient Chinese philosopher, Wang Fu, writing in the time of the Han +Dynasty, enumerates the "nine resemblances" of the dragon. "His horns +resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a +demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam, his scales +those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a +tiger, his ears those of a cow."[134] But this list includes only a +small minority of the menagerie of diverse creatures which at one time +or another have contributed their quota to this truly astounding +hotch-potch. + +This composite wonder-beast ranges from Western Europe to the Far East +of Asia, and as we shall see, also even across the Pacific to America. +Although in the different localities a great number of most varied +ingredients enter into its composition, in most places where the dragon +occurs the substratum of its anatomy consists of a serpent or a +crocodile, usually with the scales of a fish for covering, and the feet +and wings, and sometimes also the head, of an eagle, falcon, or hawk, +and the forelimbs and sometimes the head of a lion. An association of +anatomical features of so unnatural and arbitrary a nature can only mean +that all dragons are the progeny of the same ultimate ancestors. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--A Mediæval Picture of a Chinese Dragon upon its +cloud (After the late Professor W. Anderson)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--A Chinese Dragon (After de Groot)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Dragon from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon] + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Babylonian Weather God] + +But it is not merely a case of structural or anatomical similarity, but +also of physiological identity, that clinches the proof of the +derivation of this fantastic brood from the same parents. Wherever the +dragon is found, it displays a special partiality for water. It controls +the rivers or seas, dwells in pools or wells, or in the clouds on the +tops of mountains, regulates the tides, the flow of streams, or the +rainfall, and is associated with thunder and lightning. Its home is a +mansion at the bottom of the sea, where it guards vast treasures, +usually pearls, but also gold and precious stones. In other instances +the dwelling is upon the top of a high mountain; and the dragon's breath +forms the rain-clouds. It emits thunder and lightning. Eating the +dragon's heart enables the diner to acquire the knowledge stored in this +"organ of the mind" so that he can understand the language of birds, +and in fact of all the creatures that have contributed to the making +of a dragon. + +It should not be necessary to rebut the numerous attempts that have been +made to explain the dragon-myth as a story relating to extinct monsters. +Such fantastic claims can be made only by writers devoid of any +knowledge of palæontology or of the distinctive features of the dragon +and its history. But when the Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian +Antiquities in the British Museum, in a book that is not intended to be +humorous,[135] seriously claims Dr. Andrews' discovery of a gigantic +fossil snake as "proof" of the former existence of "the great +serpent-devil Apep," it is time to protest. + +Those who attempt to derive the dragon from such living creatures as +lizards like _Draco volans_ or _Moloch horridus_[136] ignore the +evidence of the composite and unnatural features of the monsters. + +"Whatever be the origin of the Northern dragon, the myths, when they +first became articulate for us, show him to be in all essentials the +same as that of the South and East. He is a power of evil, guardian of +hoards, the greedy withholder of good things from men; and the slaying +of a dragon is the crowning achievement of heroes--of Siegmund, of +Beowulf, of Sigurd, of Arthur, of Tristam--even of Lancelot, the _beau +ideal_ of mediæval chivalry" (_Encyclopædia Britannica_, vol. viii., p. +467). But if in the West the dragon is usually a "power of evil," in the +far East he is equally emphatically a symbol of beneficence. He is +identified with emperors and kings; he is the son of heaven the bestower +of all bounties, not merely to mankind directly, but also to the earth +as well. + +Even in our country his symbolism is not always wholly malevolent, +otherwise--if for the moment we shut our eyes to the history of the +development of heraldic ornament--dragons would hardly figure as the +supporters of the arms of the City of London, and as the symbol of many +of our aristocratic families, among which the Royal House of Tudor is +included. It is only a few years since the Red Dragon of Cadwallader was +added as an additional badge to the achievement of the Prince of Wales. +But, "though a common ensign in war, both in the East and the West, as +an ecclesiastical emblem his opposite qualities have remained +consistently until the present day. Whenever the dragon is represented, +it symbolizes the power of evil, the devil and his works. Hell in +mediæval art is a dragon with gaping jaws, belching fire." + +And in the East the dragon's reputation is not always blameless. For it +figures in some disreputable incidents and does not escape the sort of +punishment that tradition metes out to his European cousins. + + +[130: An elaboration of a Lecture delivered in the John Rylands Library +on 8 November, 1916.] + +[131: In his lecture, "Dreams and Primitive Culture," delivered at the +John Rylands Library on 10 April, 1918, Dr. Rivers has expounded the +principles of dream-development.] + +[132: _Vide infra_, p. 109 _et seq._] + +[133: Hence soldiers killed in battle and women dying in childbirth +receive special consideration in the exclusive heaven of (Osiris's) +Horus's Indian and American representatives, Indra and Tlaloc.] + +[134: M. W. de Visser, "The Dragon in China and Japan," _Verhandelingen +der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam_, Afdeeling +Letterkunde, Deel XIII, No. 2, 1913, p. 70.] + +[135: E. A. Wallis Budge, "The Gods of the Egyptians," 1904, vol. i, +p. 11] + +[136: Gould's "Mythical Monsters," 1886.] + + +The Dragon in America and Eastern Asia. + +In the early centuries of the Christian era, and probably also even for +two or three hundred years earlier still, the leaven of the ancient +civilizations of the Old World was at work in Mexico, Central America +and Peru. The most obtrusive influences that were brought to bear, +especially in the area from Yucatan to Mexico, were inspired by the +Cambodian and Indonesian modifications of Indian beliefs and practices. +The god who was most often depicted upon the ancient Maya and Aztec +codices was the Indian rain-god Indra, who in America was provided with +the head of the Indian elephant[137] (i.e. seems to have been confused +with the Indian Ganesa) and given other attributes more suggestive of +the Dravidian Nâga than his enemy, the Aryan deity. In other words the +character of the American god, known as _Chac_ by the Maya people and as +_Tlaloc_ by the Aztecs, is an interesting illustration of the effects of +such a mixture of cultures as Dr. Rivers has studied in Melanesia.[138] +Not only does the elephant-headed god in America represent a blend of +the two great Indian rain-gods which in the Old World are mortal +enemies, the one of the other (partly for the political reason that the +Dravidians and Aryans were rival and hostile peoples), but all the +traits of each deity, even those depicting the old Aryan conception of +their deadly combat, are reproduced in America under circumstances which +reveal an ignorance on the part of the artists of the significance of +the paradoxical contradictions they are representing. But even many +incidents in the early history of the Vedic gods, which were due to +arbitrary circumstances in the growth of the legends, reappear in +America. To cite one instance (out of scores which might be quoted), in +the Vedic story Indra assumed many of the attributes of the god Soma. In +America the name of the god of rain and thunder, the Mexican Indra, is +_Tlaloc_, which is generally translated "pulque of the earth," from +_tlal[l]i_, "earth," and _oc[tli]_, "pulque, a fermented drink (like the +Indian drink _soma_) made from the juice of the agave".[139] + +The so-called "long-nosed god" (the elephant-headed rain-god) has been +given the non-committal designation "god B," by Schellhas.[140] + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Reproduction of a Picture in the Maya Codex +Troano representing the Rain-god _Chac_ treading upon the Serpent's +head, which is interposed between the earth and the rain the god is +pouring out of a bowl. A Rain-goddess stands upon the Serpent's tail.] + +I reproduce here a remarkable drawing (Fig. 11) from the Codex Troano, +in which this god, whom the Maya people called _Chac_, is shown pouring +the rain out of a water-jar (just as the deities of Babylonia and India +are often represented), and putting his foot upon the head of a serpent, +who is preventing the rain from reaching the earth. Here we find +depicted with childlike simplicity and directness the Vedic conception +of Indra overcoming the demon Vritra. Stempell describes this scene as +"the elephant-headed god B standing upon the head of a serpent";[141] +while Seler, who claims that god B is a tortoise, explains it as the +serpent forming a footstool for the rain-god.[142] In the +Codex Cortes the same theme is depicted in another way, which is truer +to the Indian conception of Vritra, as "the restrainer"[143] (Fig. 12). + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Another representation of the Elephant-headed +Rain god. He is holding thunderbolts, conventionalised in a hand-like +form. The Serpent is converted into a sac, holding up the rain-waters.] + +The serpent (the American rattlesnake) restrains the water by coiling +itself into a sac to hold up the rain and so prevent it from reaching +the earth. In the various American codices this episode is depicted in +as great a variety of forms as the Vedic poets of India described when +they sang of the exploits of Indra. The Maya Chac is, in fact, Indra +transferred to the other side of the Pacific and there only thinly +disguised by a veneer of American stylistic design. + +But the Aztec god Tlaloc is merely the Chac of the Maya people +transferred to Mexico. Schellhas declares that the "god B," the "most +common figure in the codices," is a "universal deity to whom the most +varied elements, natural phenomena, and activities are subject". "Many +authorities consider God B to represent Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent, +whose Aztec equivalent is Quetzalcoatl. Others identify him with +Itzamna, the Serpent God of the East, or with Chac, the Rain God of the +four quarters and the equivalent of Tlaloc of the Mexicans."[144] + +From the point of view of its Indian analogies these confusions are +peculiarly significant, for the same phenomena are found in India. The +snake and the dragon can be either the rain-god of the East or the enemy +of the rain-god; either the dragon-slayer or the evil dragon who has to +be slain. The Indian word _Nâga_, which is applied to the beneficent god +or king identified with the cobra, can also mean "elephant," and this +double significance probably played a part in the confusion of the +deities in America. + +In the Dresden Codex the elephant-headed god is represented in one place +grasping a serpent, in another issuing from a serpent's mouth, and again +as an actual serpent (Fig. 13). Turning next to the attributes of these +American gods we find that they reproduce with amazing precision those +of Indra. Not only were they the divinities who controlled rain, +thunder, lightning, and vegetation, but they also carried axes and +thunderbolts (Fig. 13) like their homologues in the Old World. Like +Indra, Tlaloc was intimately associated with the East and with the tops +of mountains, where he had a special heaven, reserved for warriors who +fell in battle and women who died in childbirth. As a water-god also he +presided over the souls of the drowned and those who in life suffered +from dropsical affections. Indra also specialized in the same branch +of medicine. + +In fact, if one compares the account of Tlaloc's attributes and +achievements, such as is given in Mr. Joyce's "Mexican Archæology" or +Professor Seler's monograph on the "Codex Vaticanus," with Professor +Hopkins's summary of Indra's character ("Religions of India") the +identity is so exact, even in the most arbitrary traits and confusions +with other deities' peculiarities, that it becomes impossible for any +serious investigator to refuse to admit that Tlaloc and Chac are merely +American forms of Indra. Even so fantastic a practice as the +representation of the American rain-god's face as composed of contorted +snakes[145] finds its analogy in Siam, where in relatively recent times +this curious device was still being used by artists.[146] + +"As the god of fertility maize belonged to him [Tlaloc], though not +altogether by right, for according to one legend he stole it after it +had been discovered by other gods concealed in the heart of a +mountain."[147] Indra also obtained soma from the mountain by similar +means.[148] + +In the ancient civilization of America one of the most prominent deities +was called the "Feathered Serpent," in the Maya language, Kukulkan, +Quiché Gukumatz, Aztec Quetzalcoatl, the Pueblo "Mother of Waters". +Throughout a very extensive part of America the snake, like the Indian +Nâga, is the emblem of rain, clouds, thunder and lightning. But it is +essentially and pre-eminently the symbol of rain; and the god who +controls the rain, Chac of the Mayas, Tlaloc of the Aztecs, carried the +axe and the thunderbolt like his homologues and prototypes in the Old +World. In America also we find reproduced in full, not only the legends +of the antagonism between the thunder-bird and the serpent, but also +the identification of these two rivals in one composite monster, which, +as I have already mentioned, is seen in the winged disks, both in the +Old World and the New.[149] Hardly any incident in the history of the +Egyptian falcon or the thunder-birds of Babylonia, Greece or India, +fails to reappear in America and find pictorial expression in the Maya +and Aztec codices. + +[Illustration: Fig. 13. + +A photographic reproduction of the 36th page of the Dresden Maya Codex. + +Of the three pictures in the top row one represents the elephant-headed +god _Chac_ with a snake's body. He is pouring out rain. The central +picture represents the lightning animal carrying fire down from heaven +to earth. On the right _Chac_ is shown in human guise carrying +thunder-weapons in the form of burning torches. + +In the second row a goddess sits in the rain: her head is prolonged into +that of a bird, holding a fish in its beak. The central picture shows +_Chac_ in his boat ferrying a woman across the water from the East. The +third illustration depicts the familiar conflict between the vulture and +serpent. + +In the third row _Chac_ is seen with his axe: in the central picture he +is standing in the water looking up towards a rain-cloud; and on the +right he is shown sitting in a hut resting from his labours.] + +What makes America such a rich storehouse of historical data is the fact +that it is stretched across the world almost from pole to pole; and for +many centuries the jetsam and flotsam swept on to this vast strand has +made it a museum of the cultural history of the Old World, much of which +would have been lost for ever if America had not saved it. But a record +preserved in this manner is necessarily in a highly confused state. For +essentially the same materials reached America in manifold forms. The +original immigrants into America brought from North-Eastern Asia such +cultural equipment as had reached the area east of the Yenesei at the +time when Europe was in the Neolithic phase of culture. Then when +ancient mariners began to coast along the Eastern Asiatic littoral and +make their way to America by the Aleutian route there was a further +infiltration of new ideas. But when more venturesome sailors began to +navigate the open seas and exploit Polynesia, for centuries[150] there +was a more or less constant influx of customs and beliefs, which were +drawn from Egypt and Babylonia, from the Mediterranean and East Africa, +from India and Indonesia, China and Japan, Cambodia and Oceania. One and +the same fundamental idea, such as the attributes of the serpent as a +water-god, reached America in an infinite variety of guises, Egyptian, +Babylonian, Indian, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese, and from this +amazing jumble of confusion the local priesthood of Central America +built up a system of beliefs which is distinctively American, though +most of the ingredients and the principles of synthetic composition were +borrowed from the Old World. + +Every possible phase of the early history of the dragon-story and all +the ingredients which in the Old World went to the making of it have +been preserved in American pictures and legends in a bewildering variety +of forms and with an amazing luxuriance of complicated symbolism and +picturesque ingenuity. In America, as in India and Eastern Asia, the +power controlling water was identified both with a serpent (which in the +New World, as in the Old, was often equipped with such inappropriate and +arbitrary appendages, as wings, horns and crests) and a god, who was +either associated or confused with an elephant. Now many of the +attributes of these gods, as personifications of the life-giving powers +of water, are identical with those of the Babylonian god Ea and the +Egyptian Osiris, and their reputations as warriors with the respective +sons and representatives, Marduk and Horus. The composite animal of +Ea-Marduk, the "sea-goat" (the Capricornus of the Zodiac), was also the +vehicle of Varuna in India whose relationship to Indra was in some +respects analogous to that of Ea to Marduk in Babylonia.[151] The Indian +"sea-goat" or _Makara_ was in fact intimately associated both with +Varuna and with Indra. This monster assumed a great variety of forms, +such as the crocodile, the dolphin, the sea-serpent or dragon, or +combinations of the heads of different animals with a fish's body (Fig. +14). Amongst these we find an elephant-headed form of the _makara_, +which was adopted as far east as Indonesia and as far west as Scotland. + +[Illustration: Fig. 14. + +A. The so-called "sea-goat" of Babylonia, a creature compounded of the +antelope and fish of Ea. + +B. The "sea-goat" as the vehicle of Ea or Marduk. + +C to K--a series of varieties of the _makara_ from the Buddhist Rails at +Buddha Gaya and Mathura, circa 70 B.C.-70 A.D., after Cunningham +("Archæological Survey of India," Vol. III, 1873, Plates IX and XXIX). + +L. The _makara_ as the vehicle of Varuna, after Sir George Birdwood. It +is not difficult to understand how, in the course of the easterly +diffusion of culture, such a picture should develop into the Chinese +Dragon or the American Elephant-headed God.] + +I have already called attention[152] to the part played by the _makara_ +in determining the development of the form of the elephant-headed god in +America. Another form of the _makara_ is described in the following +American legend, which is interesting also as a mutilated version of the +original dragon-story of the Old World. + +In 1912 Hernández translated and published a Maya manuscript[153] which +had been written out in Spanish characters in the early days of the +conquest of the Americas, but had been overlooked until six years ago. +It is an account of the creation, and includes the following passages: +"All at once came the water [? rain] after the dragon was carried away. +The heaven was broken up; it fell upon the earth; and they say that +_Cantul-ti-ku_ (four gods), the four Baccab, were those who destroyed +it.... 'The whole world', said _Ah-uuc-chek-nale_ (he who seven times +makes fruitful), 'proceeded from the seven bosoms of the earth.' And he +descended to make fruitful _Itzam-kab-uin_ (the female whale with +alligator-feet), when he came down from the central angle of the +heavenly region" (p. 171). + +Hernández adds that "the old fishermen of Yucatan still call the whale +_Itzam_: this explains the name of _Itzaes_, by which the Mayas were +known before the founding of Mayapan". + +The close analogy to the Indra-story is suggested by the phrase +describing the coming of the water "after the dragon was carried away". +Moreover, the Indian sea-elephant _makara_, which was confused in the +Old World with the dolphin of Aphrodite, and was sometimes also regarded +as a crocodile, naturally suggests that the "female whale with the +alligator-feet" was only an American version of the old Indian legend. + +All this serves, not only to corroborate the inferences drawn from the +other sources of information which I have already indicated, but also to +suggest that, in addition to borrowing the chief divinities of their +pantheon from India, the Maya people's original name was derived from +the same mythology.[154] + +It is of considerable interest and importance to note that in the +earliest dated example of Maya workmanship (from Tuxtla, in the Vera +Cruz State of Mexico), for which Spinden assigns a tentative date of 235 +B.C., an unmistakable elephant figures among the four hieroglyphs which +Spinden reproduces (_op. cit._, p. 171). A similar hieroglyphic sign is +found in the Chinese records of the Early Chow Dynasty (John Ross, "The +Origin of the Chinese People," 1916, P. 152). + +The use of the numerals four and seven in the narrative translated by +Hernández, as in so many other American documents, is itself, as Mrs. +Zelia Nuttall has so conclusively demonstrated,[155] a most striking and +conclusive demonstration of the link with the Old World. + +Indra was not the only Indian god who was transferred to America, for +all the associated deities, with the characteristic stories of their +exploits,[156] are also found depicted with childlike directness of +incident, but amazingly luxuriant artistic phantasy, in the Maya and +Aztec codices. + +We find scattered throughout the islands of the Pacific the familiar +stories of the dragon. One mentioned by the Bishop of Wellington refers +to a New Zealand dragon with jaws like a crocodile's, which spouted +water like a whale. It lived in a fresh-water lake.[157] In the same +number of the same _Journal_ Sir George Grey gives extracts from a Maori +legend of the dragon, which he compares with corresponding passages from +Spenser's "Faery Queen". "Their strict verbal and poetical conformity +with the New Zealand legends are such as at first to lead to the +impression either that Spenser must have stolen his images and language +from the New Zealand poets, or that they must have acted unfairly by the +English bard" (p. 362). The Maori legend describes the dragon as "in +size large as a monstrous whale, in shape like a hideous lizard; for in +its huge head, its limbs, its tail, its scales, its tough skin, its +sharp spines, yes, in all these it resembled a lizard" (p. 364). + +Now the attributes of the Chinese and Japanese dragon as the controller +of rain, thunder and lightning are identical with those of the American +elephant-headed god. It also is associated with the East and with the +tops of mountains. It is identified with the Indian Nâga, but the +conflict involved in this identification is less obtrusive than it is +either in America or in India. In Dravidian India the rulers and the +gods are identified with the serpent: but among the Aryans, who were +hostile to the Dravidians, the rain-god is the enemy of the Nâga. In +America the confusion becomes more pronounced because Tlaloc (Chac) +represents both Indra and his enemy the serpent. The representation in +the codices of his conflict with the serpent is merely a tradition +which the Maya and Aztec scribes followed, apparently without +understanding its meaning. + +In China and Japan the Indra-episode plays a much less prominent part, +for the dragon is, like the Indian Nâga, a beneficent creature, which +approximates more nearly to the Babylonian Ea or the Egyptian Osiris. It +is not only the controller of water, but the impersonation of water and +its life-giving powers: it is identified with the emperor, with his +standard, with the sky, and with all the powers that give, maintain, and +prolong life and guard against all kinds of danger to life. In other +words, it is the bringer of good luck, the rejuvenator of mankind, the +giver of immortality. + +But if the physiological functions of the dragon of the Far East can +thus be assimilated to those of the Indian Nâga and the Babylonian and +Egyptian Water God, who is also the king, anatomically he is usually +represented in a form which can only be regarded as the Babylonian +composite monster, as a rule stripped of his wings, though not of his +avian feet. + +In America we find preserved in the legends of the Indians an accurate +and unmistakable description of the Japanese dragon (which is mainly +Chinese in origin). Even Spinden, who "does not care to dignify by +refutation the numerous empty theories of ethnic connections between +Central America" [and in fact America as a whole] "and the Old World," +makes the following statement (in the course of a discussion of the +myths relating to horned snakes in California): "a similar monster, +possessing antlers, and sometimes wings, is also very common in Algonkin +and Iroquois legends, although rare in art. As a rule the horned serpent +is a water spirit and an enemy of the thunder bird. Among the Pueblo +Indians the horned snake seems to have considerable prestige in +religious belief.... It lives in the water or in the sky and is +connected with rain or lightning."[158] + +Thus we find stories of a dragon equipped with those distinctive tokens +of Chinese origin, the deer's antlers; and along with it a snake with +less specialized horns suggesting the Cerastes of Egypt and Babylonia. A +horned viper distantly akin to the Cerastes of the Old World does occur +in California; but its "horns" are so insignificant as to make it highly +improbable that they could have been in any way responsible for the +obtrusive rôle played by horns in these widespread American stories. +But the proof of the foreign origin of these stories is established by +the horned serpent's achievements. + +It "lives in the water or the sky" like its homologue in the Old World, +and it is "a water spirit". Now neither the Cobra nor the Cerastes is +actually a water serpent. Their achievements in the myths therefore have +no possible relationship with the natural habits of the real snakes. +They are purely arbitrary attributes which they have acquired as the +result of a peculiar and fortuitous series of historical incidents. + +It is therefore utterly inconceivable and in the highest degree +improbable that this long chain of chance circumstances should have +happened a second time in America, and have been responsible for the +creation of the same bizarre story in reference to one of the rarer +American snakes of a localized distribution, whose horns are mere +vestiges, which no one but a trained morphologist is likely to have +noticed or recognized as such. + +But the American horned serpent, like its Babylonian and Indian +homologues, is also the enemy of the thunder bird. Here is a further +corroboration of the transmission to America of ideas which were the +chance result of certain historical events in the Old World, which I +have mentioned in this lecture. + +In the figure on page 94 I reproduce a remarkable drawing of an American +dragon. If the Algonkin Indians had not preserved legends of a winged +serpent equipped with deer's antlers, no value could be assigned to this +sketch: but as we know that this particular tribe retains the legend of +just such a wonder-beast, we are justified in treating this drawing as +something more than a jest. + +"Petroglyphs are reported by Mr. John Criley as occurring near Ava, +Jackson County, Illinois. The outlines of the characters observed by him +were drawn from memory and submitted to Mr. Charles S. Mason, of Toledo, +Ohio, through whom they were furnished to the Bureau of Ethnology. +Little reliance can be placed upon the accuracy of such drawing, but +from the general appearance of the sketches the originals of which they +are copies were probably made by one of the middle Algonquin tribes of +Indians.[159] + +"The 'Piasa' rock, as it is generally designated, was referred to by the +missionary explorer Marquette in 1675. Its situation was immediately +above the city of Alton, Illinois." + +Marquette's remarks are translated by Dr. Francis Parkman as follows:-- + +"On the flat face of a high rock were painted, in red, black, and green, +a pair of monsters, each 'as large as a calf, with horns like a deer, +red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of +countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered +with scales; and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the +body, over the head, and between the legs, ending like that of a fish.'" + +Another version, by Davidson and Struve, of the discovery of the +petroglyph is as follows:-- + +"Again they (Joliet and Marquette) were floating on the broad bosom of +the unknown stream. Passing the mouth of the Illinois, they soon fell +into the shadow of a tall promontory, and with great astonishment beheld +the representation of two monsters painted on its lofty limestone front. +According to Marquette, each of these frightful figures had the face of +a man, the horns of a deer, the beard of a tiger, and the tail of a fish +so long that it passed around the body, over the head, and between the +legs. It was an object of Indian worship and greatly impressed the mind +of the pious missionary with the necessity of substituting for this +monstrous idolatry the worship of the true God." + +A footnote connected with the foregoing quotation gives the following +description of the same rock:-- + +"Near the mouth of the Piasa creek, on the bluff, there is a smooth rock +in a cavernous cleft, under an overhanging cliff, on whose face 50 feet +from the base, are painted some ancient pictures or hieroglyphics, of +great interest to the curious. They are placed in a horizontal line from +east to west, representing men, plants and animals. The paintings, +though protected from dampness and storms, are in great part destroyed, +marred by portions of the rock becoming detached and falling down." + +Mr. McAdams, of Alton, Illinois, says, "The name Piasa is Indian and +signifies, in the Illini, the bird which devours men". He furnishes a +spirited pen-and-ink sketch, 12 by 15 inches in size and purporting to +represent the ancient painting described by Marquette. On the picture +is inscribed the following in ink: "Made by Wm. Dennis, April 3rd, +1825". The date is in both letters and figures. On the top of the +picture in large letters are the two words, "FLYING DRAGON". This +picture, which has been kept in the old Gilham family of Madison county +and bears the evidence of its age, is reproduced as Fig. 3. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Wm. Dennis's Drawing of the "Flying Dragon" +Depicted on the Rocks at Piasa, Illinois.] + +He also publishes another representation with the following remarks:-- + +"One of the most satisfactory pictures of the Piasa we have ever seen is +in an old German publication entitled 'The Valley of the Mississippi +Illustrated. Eighty illustrations from Nature, by H. Lewis, from the +Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico,' published about the year +1839 by Arenz & Co., Dusseldorf, Germany. One of the large full-page +plates in this work gives a fine view of the bluff at Alton, with the +figure of the Piasa on the face of the rock. It is represented to have +been taken on the spot by artists from Germany.... In the German picture +there is shown just behind the rather dim outlines of the second face a +ragged crevice, as though of a fracture. Part of the bluff's face might +have fallen and thus nearly destroyed one of the monsters, for in later +years writers speak of but one figure. The whole face of the bluff was +quarried away in 1846-47." + +The close agreement of this account with that of the Chinese and +Japanese dragon at once arrests attention. The anatomical peculiarities +are so extraordinary that if Père Marquette's account is trustworthy +there is no longer any room for doubt of the Chinese or Japanese +derivation of this composite creature. If the account is not accepted we +will be driven, not only to attribute to the pious seventeenth-century +missionary serious dishonesty or culpable gullibility, but also to +credit him with a remarkably precise knowledge of Mongolian archæology. +When Algonkin legends are recalled, however, I think we are bound to +accept the missionary's account as substantially accurate. + +Minns claims that representations of the dragon are unknown in China +before the Han dynasty. But the legend of the dragon is much more +ancient. The evidence has been given in full by de Visser.[160] + +He tells us that the earliest reference is found in the _Yih King_, and +shows that the dragon was "a water animal akin to the snake, which +[used] to sleep in pools during winter and arises in the spring." "It is +the god of thunder, who brings good crops when he appears in the rice +fields (as rain) or in the sky (as dark and yellow clouds), in other +words when he makes the rain fertilize the ground" (p. 38). + +In the _Shu King_ there is a reference to the dragon as one of the +symbolic figures painted on the upper garment of the emperor Hwang Ti +(who according to the Chinese legends, which of course are not above +reproach, reigned in the twenty-seventh century B.C.). In this ancient +literature there are numerous references to the dragon, and not merely +to the legends, _but also to representations_ of the benign monster on +garments, banners and metal tablets.[161] "The ancient texts ... are +short, but sufficient to give us the main conceptions of Old China with +regard to the dragon. In those early days [just as at present] he was +the god of water, thunder, clouds, and rain, the harbinger of blessings, +and the symbol of holy men. As the emperors are the holy beings on +earth, the idea of the dragon being the symbol of Imperial power is +based upon this ancient conception" (_op. cit._, p. 42). + +In the fifth appendix to the _Yih King_, which has been ascribed to +Confucius, (i.e. three centuries earlier than the Han dynasty mentioned +by Mr. Minns), it is stated that "_K'ien_ (Heaven) is a horse, _Kw'un_ +(Earth) is a cow, _Chen (Thunder) is a dragon_." (_op. cit._, p. +37).[162] + +The philosopher Hwai Nan Tsze (who died 122 B.C.) declared that the +dragon is the origin of all creatures, winged, hairy, scaly, and +mailed; and he propounded a scheme of evolution (de Visser, p. 65). He +seems to have tried to explain away the fact that he had never actually +witnessed the dragon performing some of the remarkable feats attributed +to it: "Mankind cannot see the dragons rise: wind and rain assist them +to ascend to a great height" (_op. cit._, p. 65). Confucius also is +credited with the frankness of a similar confession: "As to the dragon, +we cannot understand his riding on the wind and clouds and his ascending +to the sky. To-day I saw Lao Tsze; is he not like the dragon?" (p. 65). + +This does not necessarily mean that these learned men were sceptical of +the beliefs which tradition had forged in their minds, but that the +dragon had the power of hiding itself in a cloak of invisibility, just +as clouds (in which the Chinese saw dragons) could be dissipated in the +sky. The belief in these powers of the dragon was as sincere as that of +learned men of other countries in the beneficent attributes which +tradition had taught them to assign to their particular deities. In the +passages I have quoted the Chinese scholars were presumably attempting +to bridge the gap between the ideas inculcated by faith and the evidence +of their senses, in much the same sort of spirit as, for instance, +actuated Dean Buckland last century, when he claimed that the glacial +deposits of this country afforded evidence in confirmation of the Deluge +described in the Book of Genesis. + +The tiger and the dragon, the gods of wind and water, are the keystones +of the doctrine called _fung shui_, which Professor de Groot has +described in detail.[163] + +He describes it "as a quasi-scientific system, supposed to teach men +where and how to build graves, temples, and dwellings, in order that the +dead, the gods, and the living may be located therein exclusively, or as +far as possible, under the auspicious influences of Nature". The dragon +plays a most important part in this system, being "the chief spirit of +water and rain, and at the same time representing one of the four +quarters of heaven (i.e. the East, called the Azure Dragon, and the +first of the seasons, spring)." The word Dragon comprises the high +grounds in general, and the water streams which have their sources +therein or wind their way through them.[164] + +The attributes thus assigned to the Blue Dragon, his control of water +and streams, his dwelling on high mountains whence they spring, and his +association with the East, will be seen to reveal his identity with the +so-called "god B" of American archæologists, the elephant-headed god +_Tlaloc_ of the Aztecs, _Chac_ of the Mayas, whose more direct parent +was Indra. + +It is of interest to note that, according to Gerini,[165] the word +_Nâga_ denotes not only a snake but also an elephant. Both the Chinese +dragon and the Mexican elephant-god are thus linked with the Nâga, who +is identified both with Indra himself and Indra's enemy Vritra. This is +another instance of those remarkable contradictions that one meets at +every step in pursuing the dragon. In the confusion resulting from the +blending of hostile tribes and diverse cultures the Aryan deity who, +both for religious and political reasons, is the enemy of the Nâgas +becomes himself identified with a Nâga! + +I have already called attention (_Nature_, Jan. 27, 1916) to the fact +that the graphic form of representation of the American elephant-headed +god was derived from Indonesian pictures of the _makara_. In India +itself the _makara_ (see Fig. 14) is represented in a great variety of +forms, most of which are prototypes of different kinds of dragons. Hence +the homology of the elephant-headed god with the other dragons is +further established and shown to be genetically related to the evolution +of the protean manifestations of the dragon's form. + +The dragon in China is "the heavenly giver of fertilizing rain" (_op. +cit._, p. 36). In the _Shu King_ "the emblematic figures of the ancients +are given as the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountain, the _dragon_, +and the variegated animals (pheasants) which are depicted on the upper +sacrificial garment of the Emperor" (p. 39). In the _Li Ki_ the unicorn, +the phoenix, the tortoise, and the dragon are called the four _ling_ +(p. 39), which de Visser translates "spiritual beings," creatures with +enormously strong vital spirit. The dragon possesses the most _ling_ of +all creatures (p. 64). The tiger is the deadly enemy of the dragon +(p. 42). + +The dragon sheds a brilliant light at night (p. 44), usually from his +glittering eyes. He is the giver of omens (p. 45), good and bad, rains +and floods. The dragon-horse is a vital spirit of Heaven and Earth (p. +58) and also of river water: it has the tail of a huge serpent. + +The ecclesiastical vestments of the Wu-ist priests are endowed with +magical properties which are considered to enable the wearer to control +the order of the world, to avert unseasonable and calamitous events, +such as drought, untimely and superabundant rainfall, and eclipses. +These powers are conferred by the decoration upon the dress. Upon the +back of the chief vestment the representation of a range of mountains is +embroidered as a symbol of the world: on each side (the right and left) +of it a large dragon arises above the billows to represent the +fertilizing rain. They are surrounded by gold-thread figures +representing clouds and spirals typifying rolling thunder.[166] + +A ball, sometimes with a spiral decoration, is commonly represented in +front of the Chinese dragon. The Chinese writer Koh Hung tells us that +"a spiral denotes the rolling of thunder from which issues a flash of +lightning".[167] De Visser discusses this question at some length and +refers to Hirth's claim that the Chinese triquetrum, i.e., the +well-known three-comma shaped figure, the Japanese _mitsu-tomoe_, the +ancient spiral, represents thunder also.[168] Before discussing this +question, which involves the consideration of the almost world-wide +belief in a thunder-weapon and its relationship to the spiral ornament, +the octopus, the pearl, the swastika and triskele, let us examine +further the problem of the dragon's ball (see Fig. 15). + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Photograph of a Chinese Embroidery in the +Manchester School of Art representing the Dragon and the Pearl-Moon +Symbol.] + +De Groot regards the dragon as a thunder-god and therefore, like Hirth, +assumes that the supposed thunder-ball is being _belched forth_ and not +being _swallowed_ by the dragon. But de Visser, as the result of a +conversation with Mr. Kramp and the study of a Chinese picture in +Blacker's "Chats on Oriental China" (1908, p. 54), puts forward the +suggestion that the ball is the moon or the pearl-moon which the dragon +is swallowing, thereby causing the fertilizing rain. The Chinese +themselves refer to the ball as the "precious pearl," which, under the +influence of Buddhism in China, was identified with "the pearl that +grants all desires" and is under the special protection of the Nâga, +i.e., the dragon. Arising out of this de Visser puts the conundrum: "Was +the ball originally also a pearl, not of Buddhism but of Taoism?" + +In reply to this question I may call attention to the fact that the +germs of civilization were first planted in China by people strongly +imbued with the belief that the pearl was the quintessence of +life-giving and prosperity-conferring powers:[169] it was not only +identified with the moon, but also was itself a particle of +moon-substance which fell as dew into the gaping oyster. It was the very +people who held such views about pearls and gold who, when searching for +alluvial gold and fresh-water pearls in Turkestan, were responsible for +transferring these same life-giving properties to jade; and the magical +value thus attached to jade was the nucleus, so to speak, around which +the earliest civilization of China was crystallized. + +As we shall see, in the discussion of the thunder-weapon (p. 121), the +luminous pearl, which was believed to have fallen from the sky, was +homologized with the thunderbolt, with the functions of which its own +magical properties were assimilated. + +Kramp called de Visser's attention to the fact that the Chinese +hieroglyphic character for the dragon's ball is compounded of the signs +for _jewel_ and _moon_, which is also given in a Japanese lexicon as +_divine pearl_, the pearl of the bright moon. + +"When the clouds approached and covered the moon, the ancient Chinese +may have thought that the dragons had seized and swallowed this pearl, +more brilliant than all the pearls of the sea" (de Visser, p. 108). + +The difficulty de Visser finds in regarding his own theory as wholly +satisfactory is, first, the red colour of the ball, and secondly, the +spiral pattern upon it. He explains the colour as possibly an attempt to +represent the pearl's lustre. But de Visser seems to have overlooked the +fact that red and rose-coloured pearls obtained from the conch-shell +were used in China and Japan.[170] + +"The spiral is much used in delineating the sacred pearls of Buddhism, +so that it might have served also to design those of Taoism; although I +must acknowledge that the spiral of the Buddhist pearl goes upward, +while the spiral of the dragon is flat" (p. 103). + +De Visser sums up the whole argument in these words:-- + +"These are, however, all mere suppositions. The only facts we know are: +the eager attitude of the dragons, ready to grasp and swallow the ball; +the ideas of the Chinese themselves as to the ball being the moon or a +pearl; the existence of a kind of sacred "moon-pearl"; the red colour of +the ball, its emitting flames and its spiral-like form. As the three +last facts are in favour of the thunder theory, I should be inclined to +prefer the latter. Yet I am convinced that the dragons do not _belch +out_ the thunder. If their trying to _grasp_ or _swallow_ the thunder +could be explained, I should immediately accept the theory concerning +the thunder-spiral, especially on account of the flames it emits. But I +do not see the reason why the god of thunder should persecute thunder +itself. Therefore, after having given the above facts that the reader +may take them into consideration, I feel obliged to say: 'non liquet'" +(p. 108). + +It does not seem to have occurred to the distinguished Dutch scholar, +who has so lucidly put the issue before us, that his demonstration of +the fact of the ball being the pearl-moon about to be swallowed by the +dragon does not preclude it being also confused with the thunder. +Elsewhere in this volume I have referred to the origin of the spiral +symbolism and have shown that it became associated with the pearl +_before_ it became the symbol of thunder. The pearl-association in fact +was one of the links in the chain of events which made the pearl and +the spirally-coiled arm of the octopus the sign of thunder.[171] + +It seems quite clear to me that de Visser's pearl-moon theory is the +true interpretation. But when the pearl-ball was provided with the +spiral, painted red, and given flames to represent its power of emitting +light and shining by night, the fact of the spiral ornamentation and of +the pearl being one of the surrogates of the thunder-weapon was +rationalized into an identification of the ball with thunder and the +light it was emitting as lightning. It is, of course, quite irrational +for a thunder-god to swallow his own thunder: but popular +interpretations of subtle symbolism, the true explanation of which is +deeply buried in the history of the distant past, are rarely logical and +almost invariably irrelevant. + +In his account of the state of Brahmanism in India after the times of +the two earlier Vedas, Professor Hopkins[172] throws light upon the real +significance of the ball in the dragon-symbolism. "Old legends are +varied. The victory over Vritra is now expounded thus: Indra, who slays +Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims into the sun's mouth +on the night of the new moon. The sun rises after swallowing him, and +the moon is invisible because he is swallowed. The sun vomits out the +moon, and the latter is then seen in the west, and increases again, to +serve the sun as food. In another passage it is said that when the moon +is invisible he is hiding in plants and waters." + +This seems to clear away any doubt as to the significance of the ball. +It is the pearl-moon, which is both swallowed and vomited by the dragon. + +The snake takes a more obtrusive part in the Japanese than in the +Chinese dragon and it frequently manifests itself as a god of the sea. +The old Japanese sea-gods were often female water-snakes. The cultural +influences which reached Japan from the south by way of Indonesia--many +centuries before the coming of Buddhism--naturally emphasized the +serpent form of the dragon and its connexion with the ocean. + +But the river-gods, or "water-fathers," were real four-footed dragons +identified with the dragon-kings of Chinese myth, but at the same time +were strictly homologous with the Nâga Rajas or cobra-kings of India. + +The Japanese "Sea Lord" or "Sea Snake" was also called +"Abundant-Pearl-Prince," who had a magnificent palace at the bottom of +the sea. His daughter ("Abundant-Pearl-Princess") married a youth whom +she observed, reflected in the well, sitting on a cassia tree near the +castle gate. Ashamed at his presence at her lying-in she was changed +into a _wani_ or crocodile (de Visser, p. 139), elsewhere described as a +dragon (_makara_). De Visser gives it as his opinion that the _wani_ is +"an old Japanese dragon, or serpent-shaped sea-god, and the legend is an +ancient Japanese tale, dressed in an Indian garb by later generations" +(p. 140). He is arguing that the Japanese dragon existed long before +Japan came under Indian influence. But he ignores the fact that at a +very early date both India and China were diversely influenced by +Babylonia, the great breeding place of dragons; and, secondly, that +Japan was influenced by Indonesia, and through it by the West, for many +centuries before the arrival of such later Indian legends as those +relating to the palace under the sea, the castle gate and the cassia +tree. As Aston (quoted by de Visser) remarks, all these incidents and +also the well that serves as a mirror, "form a combination not unknown +to European folk-lore". + +After de Visser had given his own views, he modified them (on p. 141) +when he learned that essentially the same dragon-stories had been +recorded in the Kei Islands and Minahassa (Celebes). In the light of +this new information he frankly admits that "the resemblance of several +features of this myth with the Japanese one is so striking, that we may +be sure that the latter is of Indonesian origin." He goes further when +he recognizes that "probably the foreign invaders, who in prehistoric +times conquered Japan, came from Indonesia, and brought the myth with +them" (p. 141). The evidence recently brought together by W. J. Perry in +his book "The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia" makes it certain that the +people of Indonesia in turn got it from the West. + +An old painting reproduced by F. W. K. Müller,[173] who called de +Visser's attention to these interesting stories, shows Hohodemi (the +youth on the cassia tree who married the princess) returning home +mounted on the back of a crocodile, like the Indian Varuna upon the +_makara_ in a drawing reproduced by the late Sir George Birdwood.[174] + +The _wani_ or crocodile thus introduced from India, _via_ Indonesia, is +really the Chinese and Japanese dragon, as Aston has claimed. Aston +refers to Japanese pictures in which the Abundant-Pearl-Prince and his +daughter are represented with dragon's heads appearing over their human +ones, but in the old Indonesian version they maintain their forms as +_wani_ or crocodiles. + +The dragon's head appearing over a human one is quite an Indian motive, +transferred to China and from there to Korea and Japan (de Visser, p. +142), and, I may add, also to America. + +[Since the foregoing paragraphs have been printed, the Curator of the +Liverpool Museum has kindly called my attention to a remarkable series +of Maya remains in the collection under his care, which were obtained in +the course of excavations made by Mr. T. W. F. Gann, M.R.C.S., an +officer in the Medical Service of British Honduras (see his account of +the excavations in Part II. of the 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of +Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution of Washington). Among them is a +pottery figure of a _wani_ or _makara_ in the form of an alligator, +equipped with diminutive deer's horns (like the dragon of Eastern Asia); +and its skin is studded with circular elevations, presumably meant to +represent the spots upon the star-spangled "Celestial Stag" of the +Aryans (p. 130). As in the Japanese pictures mentioned by Aston, a human +head is seen emerging from the creature's throat. It affords a most +definite and convincing demonstration of the sources of American +culture.] + +The jewels of flood and ebb in the Japanese legends consist of the +pearls of flood and ebb obtained from the dragon's palace at the bottom +of the sea. By their aid storms and floods could be created to destroy +enemies or calm to secure safety for friends. Such stories are the +logical result of the identification of pearls with the moon, the +influence of which upon the tides was probably one of the circumstances +which was responsible for bringing the moon into the circle of the great +scientific theory of the life-giving powers of water. This in turn +played a great, if not decisive, part in originating the earliest belief +in a sky world, or heaven. + + +[137: "Precolumbian Representations of the Elephant in America," +_Nature_, Nov. 25, 1915, p. 340; Dec. 16, 1915, p. 425; and Jan. 27, +1916, p. 593.] + +[138: "History of Melanesian Society," Cambridge, 1914.] + +[139: H. Beuchat, "Manuel d' Archéologie Américaine," 1912, p. 319.] + +[140: "Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts," _Papers of +the Peabody Museum_, vol. iv., 1904.] + +[141: _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, Bd. 40, 1908, p. 716.] + +[142: "Die Tierbilder der mexikanischen und der Maya-Handschriften," +_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, Bd. 42, 1910, pp. 75 and 77. In the +remarkable series of drawings from Maya and Aztec sources reproduced by +Seler in his articles in the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, the _Peabody +Museum Papers_, and his monograph on the _Codex Vaticanus_, not only is +practically every episode of the dragon-myth of the Old World +graphically depicted, but also every phase and incident of the legends +from India (and Babylonia, Egypt and the Ægean) that contributed to the +building-up of the myth.] + +[143: Compare Hopkins, "Religions of India," p. 94.] + +[144: Herbert J. Spinden, "Maya Art," p. 62.] + +[145: Seler, "Codex Vaticanus," Figs. 299-304.] + +[146: See, for example, F. W. K. Müller, "Nang," _Int. Arch. f. +Ethnolog._, 1894, Suppl. zu Bd. vii., Taf. vii., where the mask of +_Ravana_ (a late surrogate of Indra in the _Ramayana_) reveals a +survival of the prototype of the Mexican designs.] + +[147: Joyce, _op. cit._, p. 37.] + +[148: For the incident of the stealing of the soma by Garuda, who in +this legend is the representative of Indra, see Hopkins, "Religions of +India," pp. 360-61.] + +[149: "The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilization in the East and in +America," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 1916, Fig. 4, "The +Serpent-Bird".] + +[150: Probably from about 300 B.C. to 700 A.D.] + +[151: For information concerning Ea's "Goat-Fish," which can truly be +called the "Father of Dragons," as well as the prototype of the Indian +_makara_, the mermaid, the "sea-serpent," the "dolphin of Aphrodite," +and of most composite sea-monsters, see W. H. Ward's "Seal Cylinders of +Western Asia," pp. 382 _et seq._ and 399 _et seq._; and especially the +detailed reports in de Morgan's _Mémoires_ (Délégation en Perse).] + +[152: _Nature, op. cit., supra_.] + +[153: Juan Martinez Hernández, "La Creación del Mundo segun los Mayas," +Páginas Inéditas del MS. De Chumayel, _International Congress of +Americanists, Proceedings of the XVIII. Session_, London, 1912, p. 164.] + +[154: From the folk-lore of America I have collected many interesting +variants of the Indra story and other legends (and artistic designs) of +the elephant. I hope to publish these in the near future.] + +[155: _Peabody Museum Papers_, 1901.] + +[156: See, for example, Wilfrid Jackson's "Shells as Evidence of the +Migration of Early Culture," pp. 50-66.] + +[157: "Notes on the Maoris, etc.," _Journal of the Ethnological +Society_, vol. i., 1869, p. 368.] + +[158: _Op. cit._, p. 231.] + +[159: I quote this and the following paragraphs verbatim from Garrick +Mallery, "Picture Writing of the American Indians," _10th Annual Report, +1888-89, Bureau of Ethnology (Smithsonian Institute)_. p. 78.] + +[160: _Op. cit._, pp. 35 _et seq._] + +[161: See de Visser, p. 41.] + +[162: There can be no doubt that the Chinese dragon is the descendant of +the early Babylonian monster, and that the inspiration to create it +probably reached Shensi during the third millennium B.C. by the route +indicated in my "Incense and Libations" (_Bull. John Rylands Library_, +vol. iv., No. 2, p. 239). Some centuries later the Indian dragon reached +the Far East via Indonesia and mingled with his Babylonian cousin in +Japan and China.] + +[163: "Religious System of China," vol. iii., chap, xii., pp. 936-1056.] + +[164: This paragraph is taken almost verbatim from de Visser, _op. cit._ +pp. 59 and 60.] + +[165: G. E. Gerini, "Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia," +_Asiatic Society's Monographs_, No. 1, 1909, p. 146.] + +[166: De Visser, p. 102, and de Groot, vi., p. 1265, Plate XVIII. The +reference to "a range of mountains ... as a symbol of the world" recalls +the Egyptian representation of the eastern horizon as two hills between +which Hathor or her son arises (see Budge, "Gods of the Egyptians," vol. +ii., p. 101; and compare Griffith's "Hieroglyphs," p. 30): the same +conception was adopted in Mesopotamia (see Ward, "Seal Cylinders of +Western Asia," fig. 412, p. 156) and in the Mediterranean (see Evans, +"Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 37 _et seq._). It is a remarkable +fact that Sir Arthur Evans, who, upon p. 64 of his memoir, reproduces +two drawings of the Egyptian "horizon" supporting the sun's disk, should +have failed to recognize in it the prototype of what he calls "the horns +of consecration". Even if the confusion of the "horizon" with a cow's +horns was very ancient (for the horns of the Divine Cow supporting the +moon made this inevitable), this rationalization should not blind us as +to the real origin of the idea, which is preserved in the ancient +Egyptian, Babylonian, Cretan and Chinese pictures (see Fig. 26, facing +p. 188).] + +[167: De Visser, p. 103.] + +[168: P. 104. The Chinese triquetrum has a circle in the centre and five +or eight commas.] + +[169: See on this my paper "The Origin of Early Siberian Civilization," +now being published in the _Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester +Literary and Philosophical Society_.] + +[170: Wilfrid Jackson, "Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early +Culture," p. 106.] + +[171: I shall discuss this more fully in "The Birth of Aphrodite".] + +[172: "Religions of India," p. 197.] + +[173: "Mythe der Kei-Insulaner und Verwandtes," _Zeitsch. f. +Ethnologie_, vol. xxv., 1893, pp. 533 _et seq._] + +[174: See Fig. 14.] + + +The Evolution of the Dragon. + +The American and Indonesian dragons can be referred back primarily to +India, the Chinese and Japanese varieties to India and Babylonia. The +dragons of Europe can be traced through Greek channels to the same +ultimate source. But the cruder dragons of Africa are derived either +from Egypt, from the Ægean, or from India. All dragons that strictly +conform to the conventional idea of what such a wonder-beast should be +can be shown to be sprung from the fertile imagination of ancient Sumer, +the "great breeding place of monsters" (Minns). + +But the history of the dragon's evolution and transmission to other +countries is full of complexities; and the dragon-myth is made up of +many episodes, some of which were not derived from Babylonia. + +In Egypt we do not find the characteristic dragon and dragon-story. Yet +all of the ingredients out of which both the monster and the legends are +compounded have been preserved in Egypt, and in perhaps a more primitive +and less altered form than elsewhere. Hence, if Egypt does not provide +dragons for us to dissect, it does supply us with the evidence without +which the dragon's evolution would be quite unintelligible. + +Egyptian literature affords a clearer insight into the development of +the Great Mother, the Water God, and the Warrior Sun God than we can +obtain from any other writings of the origin of this fundamental stratum +of deities. And in the three legends: The Destruction of Mankind, The +Story of the Winged Disk, and The Conflict between Horus and Set, it has +preserved the germs of the great Dragon Saga. Babylonian literature has +shown us how this raw material was worked up into the definite and +familiar story, as well as how the features of a variety of animals were +blended to form the composite monster. India and Greece, as well as more +distant parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia, and even America have +preserved many details that have been lost in the real home of the +monster. + +In the earliest literature that has come down to us from antiquity a +clear account is given of the original attributes of Osiris. "Horus +comes, he recognizes his father in thee [Osiris], youthful in thy name +of 'Fresh Water'." "Thou art indeed the Nile, great on the fields at the +beginning of the seasons; gods and men live by the moisture that is in +thee." He is also identified with the inundation of the river. "It is +Unis [the dead king identified with Osiris] who inundates the land." He +also brings the wind and guides it. It is the breath of life which +raises the king from the dead as an Osiris. The wine-press god comes to +Osiris bearing wine-juice and the great god becomes "Lord of the +overflowing wine": he is also identified with barley and with the beer +made from it. Certain trees also are personifications of the god. + +But Osiris was regarded not only as the waters upon earth, the rivers +and streams, the moisture in the soil and in the bodies of animals and +plants, but also as "the waters of life that are in the sky". + +"As Osiris was identified with the waters of earth and sky, he may even +become the sea and the ocean itself. We find him addressed thus: 'Thou +art great, thou art green, in thy name of Great Green (Sea); lo, thou +art round as the Great Circle (Okeanos); lo, thou art turned about, thou +art round as the circle that encircles the Haunebu (Ægeans)." + +This series of interesting extracts from Professor Breasted's "Religion +and Thought in Ancient Egypt" (pp. 18-26) gives the earliest Egyptians' +own ideas of the attributes of Osiris. The Babylonians regarded Ea in +almost precisely the same light and endowed him with identical powers. +But there is an important and significant difference between Osiris and +Ea. The former was usually represented as a man, that is, as a dead +king, whereas Ea was represented as a man wearing a fish-skin, as a +fish, or as the composite monster with a fish's body and tail, which was +the prototype of the Indian _makara_ and "the father of dragons". + +In attempting to understand the creation of the dragon it is important +to remember that, although Osiris and Ea were regarded primarily as +personifications of the beneficent life-giving powers of water, as the +bringers of fertility to the soil and the givers of life and immortality +to living creatures, they were also identified with the destructive +forces of water, by which men were drowned or their welfare affected in +various ways by storms of sea and wind. + +Thus Osiris or the fish-god Ea could destroy mankind. In other words the +fish-dragon, or the composite monster formed of a fish and an antelope, +could represent the destructive forces of wind and water. Thus even the +malignant dragon can be the homologue of the usually beneficent gods +Osiris and Ea, and their Aryan surrogates Mazdah and Varuna. + +By a somewhat analogous process of archaic rationalization the sons +respectively of Osiris and Ea, the sun-gods Horus and Marduk, acquired a +similarly confused reputation. Although their outstanding achievements +were the overcoming of the powers of evil, and, as the givers of light, +conquering darkness, their character as warriors made them also powers +of destruction. The falcon of Horus thus became also a symbol of chaos, +and as the thunder-bird became the most obtrusive feature in the weird +anatomy of the composite Mesopotamian dragon and his more modern +bird-footed brood, which ranges from Western Europe to the Far East of +Asia and America. + +That the sun-god derived his functions directly or indirectly from +Osiris and Hathor is shown by his most primitive attributes, for in "the +earliest sun-temples at Abusir, he appears as the source of life and +increase". "Men said of him: 'Thou hast driven away the storm, and hast +expelled the rain, and hast broken up the clouds'." Horus was in fact +the son of Osiris and Hathor, from whom he derived his attributes. The +invention of the sun-god was not, as most scholars pretend, an attempt +to give direct expression to the fact that the sun is the source of +fertility. That is a discovery of modern science. The sun-god acquired +his attributes secondarily (and for definite historical reasons) from +his parents, who were responsible for his birth. + +The quotation from the Pyramid Texts is of special interest as an +illustration of one of the results of the assimilation of the idea of +Osiris as the controller of water with that of a sky-heaven and a +sun-god. The sun-god's powers are rationalized so as to bring them +into conformity with the earliest conception of a god as a power +controlling water. + +Breasted attempts to interpret the statements concerning the storm and +rain-clouds as references to the enemies of the sun, who steal the +sky-god's eye, i.e., obscure the sun or moon.[175] The incident of +Horus's loss of an eye, which looms so large in Egyptian legends, is +possibly more closely related to the earliest attempts at explaining +eclipses of the sun and moon, the "eyes" of the sky. The obscuring of +the sun and moon by clouds is a matter of little significance to the +Egyptian: but the modern Egyptian _fellah_, and no doubt his +predecessors also, regard eclipses with much concern. Such events +excite great alarm, for the peasants consider them as actual combats +between the powers of good and evil. + +In other countries where rain is a blessing and not, as in Egypt, merely +an unwelcome inconvenience, the clouds play a much more prominent part +in the popular beliefs. In the Rig-Veda the power that holds up the +clouds is evil: as an elaboration of the ancient Egyptian conception of +the sky as a Divine Cow, the Great Mother, the Aryan Indians regarded +the clouds as a herd of cattle which the Vedic warrior-god Indra (who in +this respect is the homologue of the Egyptian warrior Horus) stole from +the powers of evil and bestowed upon mankind. In other words, like +Horus, he broke up the clouds and brought rain. + +The antithesis between the two aspects of the character of these ancient +deities is most pronounced in the case of the other member of this most +primitive Trinity, the Great Mother. She was the great beneficent giver +of life, but also the controller of life, which implies that she was the +death-dealer. But this evil aspect of her character developed only under +the stress of a peculiar dilemma in which she was placed. On a famous +occasion in the very remote past the great Giver of Life was summoned to +rejuvenate the ageing king. The only elixir of life that was known to +the pharmacopoeia of the times was human blood: but to obtain this +life-blood the Giver of Life was compelled to slaughter mankind. She +thus became the destroyer of mankind in her lioness _avatar_ as Sekhet. + +The earliest known pictorial representation of the dragon (Fig. 1) +consists of the forepart of the sun-god's falcon or eagle united with +the hindpart of the mother-goddess's lioness. The student of modern +heraldry would not regard this as a dragon at all, but merely a gryphon +or griffin. A recent writer on heraldry has complained that, "in spite +of frequent corrections, this creature is persistently confused in the +popular mind with the _dragon_, which is even more purely +imaginary."[176] But the investigator of the early history of these +wonder-beasts is compelled, even at the risk of incurring the herald's +censure, to regard the gryphon as one of the earliest known tentative +efforts at dragon-making. But though the fish, the falcon or eagle, and +the composite eagle-lion monster are early known pictorial +representations of the dragon, good or bad, the serpent is probably more +ancient still (Fig. 2). + +The earliest form assumed by the power of evil was the serpent: but it +is important to remember that, as each of the primary deities can be a +power of either good or evil, any of the animals representing them can +symbolize either aspect. Though Hathor in her cow manifestation is +usually benevolent and as a lioness a power of destruction, the cow may +become a demon in certain cases and the lioness a kindly creature. The +falcon of Horus (or its representatives, eagle, hawk, woodpecker, dove, +redbreast, etc) may be either good or bad: so also the gazelle (antelope +or deer), the crocodile, the fish, or any of the menagerie of creatures +that enter into the composition of good or bad demons. + +"The Nâgas are semi-divine serpents which very often assume human shapes +and whose kings live with their retinues in the utmost luxury in their +magnificent abodes at the bottom of the sea or in rivers or lakes. When +leaving the Nâga world they are in constant danger of being grasped and +killed by the gigantic semi-divine birds, the Garudas, which also change +themselves into men" (de Visser, p. 7). + +"The Nâgas are depicted in three forms: common snakes, guarding jewels; +human beings with four snakes in their necks; and winged sea-dragons, +the upper part of the body human, but with a horned, ox-like head, the +lower part of the body that of a coiling-dragon. Here we find a link +between the snake of ancient India and the four-legged Chinese dragon" +(p. 6), hidden in the clouds, which the dragon himself emitted, like a +modern battleship, for the purpose of rendering himself invisible. In +other words, the rain clouds were the dragon's breath. The fertilizing +rain was thus in fact the vital essence of the dragon, being both water +and the breath of life. + +"We find the Nâga king not only in the possession of numberless jewels +and beautiful girls, but also of mighty charms, bestowing supernatural +vision and hearing. The palaces of the Nâga kings are always described +as extremely splendid, abounding with gold and silver and precious +stones, and the Nâga women, when appearing in human shape, were +beautiful beyond description" (p. 9). + +De Visser records the story of an evil Nâga protecting a big tree that +grew in a pond, who failed to emit clouds and thunder when the tree was +cut down, because he was neither despised nor wounded: for his body +became the support of the stupa and the tree became a beam of the +stupa (p. 16). This aspect of the Nâga as a tree-demon is rare in +India, but common in China and Japan. It seems to be identical with the +Mediterranean conception of the pillar of wood or stone, which is both a +representative of the Great Mother and the chief support of a +temple.[177] + +In the magnificent city that king Yacahketu saw, when he dived into +the sea, "wishing trees that granted every desire" were among the +objects that met his vision. There were also palaces of precious stones +and gardens and tanks, and, of course, beautiful maidens (de Visser, p. +20). + +In the Far Eastern stories it is interesting to note the antagonism of +the dragon to the tiger, when we recall that the lioness-form of Hathor +was the prototype of the earliest malevolent dragon. + +There are five sorts of dragons: serpent-dragons; lizard-dragons; +fish-dragons; elephant-dragons; and toad-dragons (de Visser, p. 23). + +"According to de Groot, the blue colour is chosen in China because this +is the colour of the East, from where the rain must come; this quarter +is represented by the Azure Dragon, the highest in rank among all the +dragons. We have seen, however, that the original sutra already +prescribed to use the blue colour and to face the East.... Indra, the +rain-god, is the patron of the East, and Indra-colour is _nila_, dark +blue or rather blue-black, the regular epithet of the rain clouds. If +the priest had not to face the East but the West, this would agree with +the fact that the Nâgas were said to live in the western quarter and +that in India the West corresponds with the blue colour. Facing the +East, however, seems to point to an old rain ceremony in which Indra was +invoked to raise the blue-black clouds" (de Visser, pp. 30 and 31). + + +[175: Breasted, _op. cit._, p. 11.] + +[176: G. W. Eve, "Decorative Heraldry," 1897, p. 35.] + +[177: Arthur J. Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 88 _et +seq._] + + +The Dragon Myth. + +The most important and fundamental legend in the whole history of +mythology is the story of the "Destruction of Mankind". "It was +discovered, translated, and commented upon by Naville ("La Destruction +des hommes par les Dieux," in the _Transactions of the Society of +Biblical Archæology_, vol. iv., pp. 1-19, reproducing Hay's copies made +at the beginning of [the nineteenth] century; and "L'Inscription de la +Destruction des hommes dans le tombeau de Ramsés III," in the +_Transactions_, vol. viii., pp. 412-20); afterwards published anew by +Herr von Bergmann (_Hieroglyphische Inscriften_, pls. lxxv.-lxxxii., and +pp. 55, 56); completely translated by Brugsch (_Die neue Weltordnung +nach Vernichtung des sündigen Menschengeschlechts nach einer +Altägyptischen Ueberlieferung_, 1881); and partly translated by Lauth +(_Aus Ægyptens Vorzeit_, pp. 70-81) and by Lefèbure ("Une chapitre de la +chronique solaire," in the _Zeitschrift für Ægyptische Sprache_, 1883, +pp 32, 33)".[178] + +Important commentaries upon this story have been published also by +Brugsch and Gauthier.[179] + +As the really important features of the story consist of the incoherent +and contradictory details, and it would take up too much space to +reproduce the whole legend here, I must refer the reader to Maspero's +account of it (_op. cit._), or to the versions given by Erman in his +"Life in Ancient Egypt" (p. 267, from which I quote) or Budge in "The +Gods of the Egyptians," vol. i., p. 388. + +Although the story as we know it was not written down until the time of +Seti I (_circa_ 1300 B.C.), it is very old and had been circulating as a +popular legend for more than twenty centuries before that time. The +narrative itself tells its own story because it is composed of many +contradictory interpretations of the same incidents flung together in a +highly confused and incoherent form. + +The other legends to which I shall have constantly to refer are "The +Saga of the Winged Disk," "The Feud between Horus and Set," "The +Stealing of Re's Name by Isis," and a series of later variants and +confusions of these stories.[180] + +The Egyptian legends cannot be fully appreciated unless they are in +conjunction with those of Babylonia and Assyria,[181] the mythology of +Greece,[182] Persia,[183] India,[184] China,[185] Indonesia,[186] and +America.[187] + +For it will be found that essentially the same stream of legends was +flowing in all these countries, and that the scribes and painters have +caught and preserved certain definite phases of this verbal currency. +The legends which have thus been preserved are not to be regarded as +having been directly derived the one from the other but as collateral +phases of a variety of waves of story spreading out from one centre. +Thus the comparison of the whole range of homologous legends is +peculiarly instructive and useful; because the gaps in the Egyptian +series, for example, can be filled in by necessary phases which are +missing in Egypt itself, but are preserved in Babylonia or Greece, +Persia or India, China or Britain, or even Oceania and America. + +The incidents in the Destruction of Mankind may be briefly summarized: + +As Re grows old "the men who were begotten of his eye"[188] show signs +of rebellion. Re calls a council of the gods and they advise him to +"shoot forth his Eye[189] that it may slay the evil conspirators.... Let +the goddess Hathor descend [from heaven] and slay the men on the +mountains [to which they had fled in fear]." As the goddess complied she +remarked: "it will be good for me when I subject mankind," and Re +replied, "I shall subject them and slay them". Hence the goddess +received the additional name of _Sekhmet_ from the word "to subject". +The destructive Sekhmet[190] _avatar_ of Hathor is represented as a +fierce lion-headed goddess of war wading in blood. For the goddess set +to work slaughtering mankind and the land was flooded with blood[191]. +Re became alarmed and determined to save at least some remnant of +mankind. For this purpose he sent messengers to Elephantine to obtain a +substance called _d'd'_ in the Egyptian text, which he gave to the god +Sektet of Heliopolis to grind up in a mortar. When the slaves had +crushed barley to make beer the powdered _d'd'_ was mixed with it so as +to make it red like human blood. Enough of this blood-coloured beer was +made to fill 7000 jars. At nighttime this was poured out upon the +fields, so that when the goddess came to resume her task of destruction +in the morning she found the fields inundated and her face was mirrored +in the fluid. She drank of the fluid and became intoxicated so that she +no longer recognized mankind.[192] + +Thus Re saved a remnant of mankind from the bloodthirsty, terrible +Hathor. But the god was weary of life on earth and withdrew to heaven +upon the back of the Divine Cow. + +There can be no doubt as to the meaning of this legend, highly confused +as it is. The king who was responsible for introducing irrigation came +to be himself identified with the life-giving power of water. He was the +river: his own vitality was the source of all fertility and prosperity. +Hence when he showed signs that his vital powers were failing it became +a logical necessity that he should be killed to safeguard the welfare of +his country and people.[193] + +The time came when a king, rich in power and the enjoyment of life, +refused to comply with this custom. When he realized that his virility +was failing he consulted the Great Mother, as the source and giver of +life, to obtain an elixir which would rejuvenate him and obviate the +necessity of being killed. The only medicine in the pharmacopoeia of +those times that was believed to be useful in minimizing danger to life +was human blood. Wounds that gave rise to severe hæmorrhage were known +to produce unconsciousness and death. If the escape of the blood of +life could produce these results it was not altogether illogical to +assume that the exhibition of human blood could also add to the vitality +of living men and so "turn back the years from their old age," as the +Pyramid Texts express it. + +Thus the Great Mother, the giver of life to all mankind, was faced with +the dilemma that, to provide the king with the elixir to restore his +youth, she had to slay mankind, to take the life she herself had given +to her own children. Thus she acquired an evil reputation which was to +stick to her throughout her career. She was not only the beneficent +creator of all things and the bestower of all blessings: but she was +also a demon of destruction who did not hesitate to slaughter even her +own children. + +In course of time the practice of human sacrifice was abandoned and +substitutes were adopted in place of the blood of mankind. Either the +blood of cattle,[194] who by means of appropriate ceremonies could be +transformed into human beings (for the Great Mother herself was the +Divine Cow and her offspring cattle), was employed in its stead; or red +ochre was used to colour a liquid which was used ritually to replace the +blood of sacrifice. When this phase of culture was reached the goddess +provided for the king an elixir of life consisting of beer stained red +by means of red ochre, so as to simulate human blood. + +But such a mixture was doubly potent, for the barley from which the beer +was made and the drink itself was supposed to be imbued with the +life-giving powers of Osiris, and the blood-colour reinforced its +therapeutic usefulness. The legend now begins to become involved and +confused. For the goddess is making the rejuvenator for the king, who in +the meantime has died and become deified as Osiris; and the beer, which +is the vehicle of the life-giving powers of Osiris, is now being used to +rejuvenate his son and successor, the living king Horus, who in the +version that has come down to us is replaced by the sun-god Re. + +It is Re who is king and is growing old: he asks Hathor, the Great +Mother, to provide him with the elixir of life. But comparison with some +of the legends of other countries suggests that Re has usurped the place +previously occupied by Horus and originally by Osiris, who as the real +personification of the life-giving power of water is obviously the +appropriate person to be slain when his virility begins to fail. Dr. +C. G. Seligman's account of the Dinka rain-maker Lerpiu, which I have +already quoted (p. 113) from Sir James Frazer's "Dying God," suggests +that the slain king or god was originally Osiris. + +The introduction of Re into the story marks the beginning of the belief +in the sky-world or heaven. Hathor was originally nothing more than an +amulet to enhance fertility and vitality. Then she was personified as a +woman and identified with a cow. But when the view developed that the +moon controlled the powers of life-giving in women and exercised a +direct influence upon their life-blood, the Great Mother was identified +with the moon. But how was such a conception to be brought into harmony +with the view that she was also a cow? The human mind displays an +irresistible tendency to unify its experience and to bridge the gaps +that necessarily exist in its broken series of scraps of knowledge and +ideas. No break is too great to be bridged by this instinctive impulse +to rationalize the products of diverse experience. Hence, early man, +having identified the Great Mother both with a cow and the moon, had no +compunction in making "the cow jump over the moon" to become the sky. +The moon then became the "Eye" of the sky and the sun necessarily became +its other "Eye". But, as the sun was clearly the more important "Eye," +seeing that it determined the day and gave warmth and light for man's +daily work, it was the more important deity. Therefore Re, at first the +Brother-Eye of Hathor, and afterwards her husband, became the supreme +sky-deity, and Hathor merely one of his Eyes. + +When this stage of theological evolution was reached, the story of the +"Destruction of Mankind" was re-edited, and Hathor was called the "Eye +of Re". In the earlier versions she was called into consultation solely +as the giver of life and, to obtain the life-blood, she cut men's +throats with a knife. + +But as the Eye of Re she was identified with the fire-spitting +uræus-serpent which the king or god wore on his forehead. She was both +the moon and the fiery bolt which shot down from the sky to slay the +enemies of Re. For the men who were originally slaughtered to provide +the blood for an elixir now became the enemies of Re. The reason for +this was that, human sacrifice having been abandoned and substitutes +provided to replace the human blood, the story-teller was at a loss to +know why the goddess killed mankind. A reason had to be found--and the +rationalization adopted was that men had rebelled against the gods and +had to be killed. This interpretation was probably the result of a +confusion with the old legend of the fight between Horus and Set, the +rulers of the two kingdoms of Egypt. The possibility also suggests +itself that a pun made by some priestly jester may have been the real +factor that led to this mingling of two originally separate stories. In +the "Destruction of Mankind" the story runs, according to Budge,[195] +that Re, referring to his enemies, said: _ma-ten set uar er set_, +"Behold ye them (_set_) fleeing into the mountain (_set_)". The enemies +were thus identified with the mountain or stone and with Set, the enemy +of the gods.[196] + +In Egyptian hieroglyphics the symbol for stone is used as the +determinative for Set. When the "Eye of Re" destroyed mankind and the +rebels were thus identified with the followers of Set, they were +regarded as creatures of "stone". In other words the Medusa-eye +petrified the enemies. From this feeble pun on the part of some ancient +Egyptian scribe has arisen the world-wide stories of the influence of +the "Evil Eye" and the petrification of the enemies of the gods.[197] As +the name for Isis in Egyptian is "_Set_" it is possible that the +confusion of the Power of Evil with the Great Mother may also have been +facilitated by an extension of the same pun. + +It is important to recognize that the legend of Hathor descending from +the moon or the sky in the form of destroying fire had nothing whatever +to do, in the first instance, with the phenomena of lightning and +meteorites. It was the result of verbal quibbling after the destructive +goddess came to be identified with the moon, the sky and the "Eye of +Re". But once the evolution of the story on these lines prepared the +way, it was inevitable that in later times the powers of destruction +exerted by the fire from the sky should have been identified with the +lightning and meteorites. + +When the destructive force of the heavens was attributed to the "Eye of +Re" and the god's enemies were identified with the followers of Set, it +was natural that the traditional enemy of Set who was also the more +potent other "Eye of Re" should assume his mother's rôle of punishing +rebellious mankind. That Horus did in fact take the place at first +occupied by Hathor in the story is revealed by the series of trivial +episodes from the "Destruction of Mankind" that reappear in the "Saga of +the Winged Disk". The king of Lower Egypt (Horus) was identified with a +falcon, as Hathor was with the vulture (Mut): like her, he entered the +sun-god's boat[198] and sailed up the river with him: he then mounted up +to heaven as a winged disk, i.e. the sun of Re equipped with his own +falcon's wings. The destructive force displayed by Hathor as the Eye of +Re was symbolized by her identification with Tefnut, the fire-spitting +uræus-snake. When Horus assumed the form of the winged disk he added to +his insignia two fire-spitting serpents to destroy Re's enemies. The +winged disk was at once the instrument of destruction and the god +himself. It swooped (or flew) down from heaven like a bolt of destroying +fire and killed the enemies of Re. By a confusion with Horus's other +fight against the followers of Set, the enemies of Re become identified +with Set's army and they are transformed into crocodiles, hippopotami +and all the other kinds of creatures whose shapes the enemies of Osiris +assume. + +In the course of the development of these legends a multitude of other +factors played a part and gave rise to transformations of the meaning of +the incidents. + +The goddess originally slaughtered mankind, or perhaps it would be truer +to say, made _a_ human sacrifice, to obtain blood to rejuvenate the +king. But, as we have seen already, when the sacrifice was no longer a +necessary part of the programme, the incident of the slaughter was not +dropped out of the story, but a new explanation of it was framed. +Instead of simply making a human sacrifice, mankind as a whole was +destroyed for rebelling against the gods, the act of rebellion being +murmuring about the king's old age and loss of virility. The elixir soon +became something more than a rejuvenator: it was transformed into the +food of the gods, the ambrosia that gave them their immortality, and +distinguished them from mere mortals. Now when the development of the +story led to the replacement of the single victim by the whole of +mankind, the blood produced by the wholesale slaughter was so abundant +that the fields were flooded by the life-giving elixir. By the sacrifice +of men the soil was renewed and refertilized. When the blood-coloured +beer was substituted for the actual blood the conception was brought +into still closer harmony with Egyptian ideas, because the beer was +animated with the life-giving powers of Osiris. But Osiris was the Nile. +The blood-coloured fertilizing fluid was then identified with the annual +inundation of the red-coloured waters of the Nile. Now the Nile waters +were supposed to come from the First Cataract at Elephantine. Hence by a +familiar psychological process the previous phase of the legend was +recast, and by confusion the red ochre (which was used to colour the +beer red) was said to have come from Elephantine.[199] + +Thus we have arrived at the stage where, by a distortion of a series of +phases, the new incident emerges that by means of a human sacrifice the +Nile flood can be produced. By a further confusion the goddess, who +originally did the slaughter, becomes the victim. Hence the story +assumed the form that by means of the sacrifice of a beautiful and +attractive maiden the annual inundation can be produced. As the most +potent symbol of life-giving it is essential that the victim should be +sexually attractive, i.e. that she should be a virgin and the most +beautiful and desirable in the land. When the practice of human +sacrifice was abandoned a figure or an animal was substituted for the +maiden in ritual practice, and in legends the hero rescued the maiden, +as Andromeda was saved from the dragon.[200] The dragon is the +personification of the monsters that dwell in the waters as well as the +destructive forces of the flood itself. But the monsters were no other +than the followers of Set; they were the victims of the slaughter who +became identified with the god's other traditional enemies, the +followers of Set. Thus the monster from whom Andromeda is rescued is +merely another representative of herself! + +But the destructive forces of the flood now enter into the programme. +In the phases we have so far discussed it was the slaughter of +mankind which caused the inundation: but in the next phase it is +the flood itself which causes the destruction, as in the later Egyptian +and the borrowed Sumerian, Babylonian, Hebrew--and in fact the +world-wide--versions. Re's boat becomes the ark; the winged disk which +was despatched by Re from the boat becomes the dove and the other birds +sent out to spy the land, as the winged Horus spied the enemies of Re. + +Thus the new weapon of the gods--we have already noted Hathor's knife +and Horus's winged disk, which is the fire from heaven, the lightning +and the thunderbolt--is the flood. Like the others it can be either a +beneficent giver of life or a force of destruction. + +But the flood also becomes a weapon of another kind. One of the earlier +incidents of the story represents Hathor in opposition to Re. The +goddess becomes so maddened with the zest of killing that the god +becomes alarmed and asks her to desist and spare some representatives of +the race. But she is deaf to entreaties. Hence the god is said to have +sent to Elephantine for the red ochre to make a sedative draught to +overcome her destructive zeal. We have already seen that this incident +had an entirely different meaning--it was merely intended to explain the +obtaining of the colouring matter wherewith to redden the sacred beer so +as to make it resemble blood as an elixir for the god. It was brought +from Elephantine, because the red waters of inundation of the Nile were +supposed by the Egyptians to come from Elephantine. + +But according to the story inscribed in Seti Ist's tomb, the red ochre +was an essential ingredient of the sedative mixture (prepared under the +direction of Re by the Sekti[201] of Heliopolis) to calm Hathor's +murderous spirit. + +It has been claimed that the story simply means that the goddess became +intoxicated with beer and that she became genially inoffensive solely as +the effect of such inebriation. But the incident in the Egyptian story +closely resembles the legends of other countries in which some herb is +used specifically as a sedative. In most books on Egyptian mythology the +word (_d'd'_) for the substance put into the drink to colour it is +translated "mandragora," from its resemblance to the Hebrew word +_dudaim_ in the Old Testament, which is often translated "mandrakes" or +"love-apples". But Gauthier has clearly demonstrated that the Egyptian +word does not refer to a vegetable but to a mineral substance, which he +translates "red clay".[202] Mr. F. Ll. Griffith tells me, however, that +it is "red ochre". In any case, mandrake is not found at Elephantine +(which, however, for the reasons I have already given, is a point of no +importance so far as the identification of the substance is concerned), +nor in fact anywhere in Egypt. + +But if some foreign story of the action of a sedative drug had become +blended with and incorporated in the highly complex and composite +Egyptian legend the narrative would be more intelligible. The mandrake +is such a sedative as might have been employed to calm the murderous +frenzy of a maniacal woman. In fact it is closely allied to hyoscyamus, +whose active principle, hyoscin, is used in modern medicine precisely +for such purposes. I venture to suggest that a folk-tale describing the +effect of opium or some other "drowsy syrup" has been absorbed into the +legend of the Destruction of Mankind, and has provided the starting +point of all those incidents in the dragon-story in which poison or +some sleep-producing drug plays a part. For when Hathor defies Re and +continues the destruction, she is playing the part of her Babylonian +representative Tiamat, and is a dragon who has to be vanquished by the +drink which the god provides. + +The red earth which was pounded in the mortar to make the elixir of life +and the fertilizer of the soil also came to be regarded as the material +out of which the new race of men was made to replace those who were +destroyed. + +The god fashioned mankind of this earth and, instead of the red ochre +being merely the material to give the blood-colour to the draught of +immortality, the story became confused: actual blood was presented to +the clay images to give them life and consciousness. + +In a later elaboration the remains of the former race of mankind were +ground up to provide the material out of which their successors were +created. This version is a favourite story in Northern Europe, and has +obviously been influenced by an intermediate variant which finds +expression in the Indian legend of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. +Instead of the material for the elixir of the gods being pounded by the +Sekti of Heliopolis and incidentally becoming a sedative for Hathor, it +is the milk of the Divine Cow herself which is churned to provide the +_amrita_. + + +[178: G. Maspero, "The Dawn of Civilization," p. 164.] + +[179: H. Brugsch, "Die Alraune als altägyptische Zauberpflanze," _Zeit. +f. Ægypt. Sprache_, Bd. 29, 1891, pp. 31-3; and Henri Gauthier, "Le nom +hiéroglyphique de l'argile rouge d'Éléphantine," _Revue Égyptologique_, +t. xi^e, Nos. i.-ii., 1904, p. 1.] + +[180: These legends will be found in the works by Maspero, Erman and +Budge, to which I have already referred. A very useful digest will be +found in Donald A. Mackenzie's "Egyptian Myth and Legend". Mr. Mackenzie +does not claim to have any first-hand knowledge of the subject, but his +exceptionally wide and intimate knowledge of Scottish folk-lore, which +has preserved a surprisingly large part of the same legends, has enabled +him to present the Egyptian stories with exceptional clearness and +sympathetic insight. But I refer to his book specially because he is one +of the few modern writers who has made the attempt to compare the +legends of Egypt, Babylonia, Crete, India and Western Europe. Hence the +reader who is not familiar with the mythology of these countries will +find his books particularly useful as works of reference in following +the story I have to unfold: "Teutonic Myth and Legend," "Egyptian Myth +and Legend," "Indian Myth and Legend," "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria" +and "Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe".] + +[181: See Leonard W. King, "Babylonian Religion," 1899.] + +[182: For a useful collection of data see A. B. Cook, "Zeus".] + +[183: Albert J. Carnoy, "Iranian Views of Origins in connexion with +Similar Babylonian Beliefs," _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, +vol. xxxvi., 1916, pp. 300-20; and "The Moral Deities of Iran and India +and their Origins," _The American Journal of Theology_, vol. xxi., No. +i., January, 1917.] + +[184: Hopkins, "Religions of India".] + +[185: De Groot, "The Religious System of China".] + +[186: Perry, "The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Manchester, 1918.] + +[187: H. Beuchat, "Manuel d' Archéologie Américaine," Paris, 1912; T. A. +Joyce, "Mexican Archæology," and especially the memoir by Seler on the +"Codex Vaticanus" and his articles in the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_ +and elsewhere.] + +[188: I.e. the offspring of the Great Mother of gods and men, Hathor, +the "Eye of Re".] + +[189: That is, Hathor, who as the moon is the "Eye of Re".] + +[190: Elsewhere in these pages I have used the more generally adopted +spelling "_Sekhet_".] + +[191: Mr. F. Ll. Griffith tells me that the translation "flooding the +land" is erroneous and misleading. Comparison of the whole series of +stories, however, suggests that the amount of blood shed rapidly +increased in the development of the narrative: at first the blood of a +single victim; then the blood of mankind; then 7000 jars of a substitute +for blood; then the red inundation of the Nile.] + +[192: This version I have quoted mainly from Erman, _op. cit._, pp. +267-9, but with certain alterations which I shall mention later. In +another version of the legend wine replaces the beer and is made out of +"the blood of those who formerly fought against the gods," _cf._ +Plutarch, De Iside (ed. Parthey) 6.] + +[193: It is still the custom in many places, and among them especially +the regions near the headwaters of the Nile itself, to regard the king +or rain-maker as the impersonation of the life-giving properties of +water and the source of all fertility. When his own vitality shows signs +of failing he is killed, so as not to endanger the fruitfulness of the +community by allowing one who is weak in life-giving powers to control +its destinies. Much of the evidence relating to these matters has been +collected by Sir James Frazer in "The Dying God," 1911, who quotes from +Dr. Seligman the following account of the Dinka "Osiris": + +"While the mighty spirit Lerpiu is supposed to be embodied in the +rain-maker, it is also thought to inhabit a certain hut which serves as +a shrine. In front of the hut stands a post to which are fastened the +horns of many bullocks that have been sacrificed to Lerpiu; and in the +hut is kept a very sacred spear which bears the name of Lerpiu and is +said to have fallen from heaven six generations ago. As fallen stars are +also called Lerpiu, we may suspect that an intimate connexion is +supposed to exist between meteorites and the spirit which animates the +rain-maker" (Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 32). Here then we have a house of +the dead inhabited by Lerpiu, who can also enter the body of the +rain-maker and animate him, as well as the ancient spear and the falling +stars, which are also animate forms of the same god, who obviously is +the homologue of Osiris, and is identified with the spear and the +falling stars. + +In spring when the April moon is a few days old bullocks are sacrificed +to Lerpiu. "Two bullocks are led twice round the shrine and afterwards +tied by the rain-maker to the post in front of it. Then the drums beat +and the people, old and young, men and women, dance round the shrine and +sing, while the beasts are being sacrificed, 'Lerpiu, our ancestor, we +have brought you a sacrifice. Be pleased to cause rain to fall.' The +blood of the bullocks is collected in a gourd, boiled in a pot on the +fire, and eaten by the old and important people of the clan. The horns +of the animals are attached to the post in front of the shrine" (pp. 32 +and 33).] + +[194: In Northern Nigeria an official who bore the title of Killer of +the Elephant throttled the king "as soon as he showed signs of failing +health or growing infirmity". The king-elect was afterwards conducted to +the centre of the town, called Head of the Elephant, where he was made +to lie down on a bed. Then a black ox was slaughtered and its blood +allowed to pour all over his body. Next the ox was flayed, and the +remains of the dead king, which had been disembowelled and smoked for +seven days over a slow fire, were wrapped up in the hide and dragged +along to the place of burial, where they were interred in a circular +pit. (Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 35).] + +[195: "Gods of the Egyptians," vol. i., p. 392.] + +[196: "The eye of the sun-god, which was subsequently called the eye of +Horus and identified with the Uræus-snake on the forehead of Re and of +the Pharaohs, the earthly representatives of Re, finally becoming +synonymous with the crown of Lower Egypt, was a mighty goddess, Uto or +Buto by name" (Alan Gardiner, Article "Magic (Egyptian)" in Hastings' +_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, p. 268, quoting Sethe.)] + +[197: For an account of the distribution of this story see E. Sidney +Hartland, "The Legend of Perseus"; also W. J. Perry, "The Megalithic +Culture of Indonesia".] + +[198: The original "boat of the sky" was the crescent moon, which, from +its likeness to the earliest form of Nile boat, was regarded as the +vessel in which the moon (seen as a faint object upon the crescent), or +the goddess who was supposed to be personified in the moon, travelled +across the waters of the heavens. But as this "boat" was obviously part +of the moon itself, it also was regarded as an animate form of the +goddess, the "Eye of Re". When the Sun, as the other "Eye," assumed the +chief rôle, Re was supposed to traverse the heavens in his own "boat," +which was also brought into relationship with the actual boat used in +the Osirian burial ritual. + +The custom of employing the name "dragon" in reference to a boat is +found in places as far apart as Scandinavia and China. It is the direct +outcome of these identifications of the sun and moon with a boat +animated by the respective deities. In India the _Makara_, the prototype +of the dragon, was sometimes represented as a boat which was looked upon +as the fish-_avatar_ of Vishnu, Buddha or some other deity.] + +[199: This is an instance of the well-known tendency of the human mind +to blend numbers of different incidents into one story. An episode of +one experience, having been transferred to an earlier one, becomes +rationalized in adaptation to its different environment. This process of +psychological transference is the explanation of the reference to +Elephantine as the source of the _d'd'_, and has no relation to +actuality. The naïve efforts of Brugsch and Gauthier to study the +natural products of Elephantine for the purpose of identifying _d'd'_ +were therefore wholly misplaced.] + +[200: In Hartland's "Legend of Perseus" a collection of variants of this +story will be found.] + +[201: In the version I have quoted from Erman he refers to "the god +Sektet".] + +[202: _Op. cit. supra_.] + + +The Thunder-Weapon.[203] + +In the development of the dragon-story we have seen that the instruments +of destruction were of a most varied kind. Each of the three primary +deities, Hathor, Osiris and Horus can be a destructive power as well as +a giver of life and of all kinds of boons. Every homologue or surrogate +of these three deities can become a weapon for dragon-destroying, such +as the moon or the lotus of Hathor, the water or the beer of Osiris, +the sun or the falcon of Horus. Originally Hathor used a flint knife or +axe: then she did the execution as "the Eye of Re," the moon, the fiery +bolt from heaven: Osiris sent the destroying flood and the intoxicating +beer, each of which, like the knife, axe and moon of Hathor, were +animated by the deity. Then Horus came as the winged disk, the falcon, +the sun, the lightning and the thunderbolt. As the dragon-story was +spread abroad in the world any one of these "weapons" was confused with +any of (or all) the rest. The Eye of Re was the fire-spitting +uræus-serpent; and foreign people, like the Greeks, Indians and others, +gave the Egyptian verbal simile literal expression and converted it into +an actual Cyclopean eye planted in the forehead, which shot out the +destroying fire. + +The warrior god of Babylonia is called the bright one,[204] the sword or +lightning of Ishtar, who was herself called both the sword or lightning +of heaven. + +In the Ægean area also the sons of Zeus and the progeny of heaven may be +axes, stone implements, meteoric stones and thunderbolts. In a Swahili +tale the hero's weapon is "a sword like a flash of lightning". + +According to Bergaigne,[205] the myth of the celestial drink _soma_, +brought down from heaven by a bird ordinarily called _cyena_, "eagle," +is parallel to that of Agni, the celestial fire brought by Mâtariçvan. +This parallelism is even expressly stated in the Rig Veda, verse 6 of +hymn 1 to Agni and Soma. Mâtariçvan brought the one from heaven, the +eagle brought the other from the celestial mountain. + +Kuhn admits that the eagle represents Indra; and Lehmann regards the +eagle who takes the fire as Agni himself. It is patent that both Indra +and Agni are in fact merely specialized forms of Horus of the Winged +Disk Saga, in one of which the warrior sun-god is represented, in the +other the living fire. The elixir of life of the Egyptian story is +represented by the _soma_, which by confusion is associated with the +eagle: in other words, the god Soma is the homologue not only of Osiris, +but also of Horus. + +Other incidents in the same original version are confused in the Greek +story of Prometheus. He stole the fire from heaven and brought it to +earth: but, in place of the episode of the elixir, which is adopted in +the Indian story just mentioned, the creation of men from clay is +accredited by the Greeks to the "flaming one," the "fire eagle" +Prometheus. + +The double axe was the homologue of the winged disk which fell, or +rather flew, from heaven as the tangible form of the god. This fire from +heaven inevitably came to be identified with the lightning. According to +Blinkenberg (_op. cit._, p. 19) "many points go to prove that the +double-axe is a representation of the lightning (see Usener, p. 20)". He +refers to the design on the famous gold ring from Mycenæ where "the sun, +the moon, a double curved line presumably representing the rainbow, and +the double-axe, i.e. the lightning": but "the latter is placed lower +than the others, probably because it descends from heaven to earth," +like Horus when he assumed the form of the winged disk and flew down to +earth as a fiery bolt to destroy the enemies of Re. + +The recognition of the homology of the winged disk with the double axe +solves a host of problems which have puzzled classical scholars within +recent years. The form of the double axe on the Mycenæan ring[206] and +the painted sarcophagus from Hagia Triada in Crete (and especially the +oblique markings upon the axe) is probably a suggestion of the double +series of feathers and the outlines of the individual feathers +respectively on the wings. The position of the axe upon a symbolic tree +is not intended, as Blinkenberg claims (_op. cit._, p. 21), as "a ritual +representation of the trees struck by lightning": but is the familiar +scene of Mesopotamian culture-area, the tree of life surmounted by the +winged disk.[207] + +The bird poised upon the axe in the Cretan picture is the homologue of +the falcon of Horus: it is in fact a second representation of the winged +disk itself. This interpretation is not affected by the consideration +that the falcon may be replaced by the eagle, pigeon, woodpecker or +raven, for these substitutions were repeatedly made by the ancient +priesthoods in flagrant defiance of the properties of ornithological +homologies. The same phenomenon is displayed even more obtrusively in +Central America and Mexico, where the ancient sculptors and painters +represented the bird perched upon the tree of life as a falcon, an +eagle, a vulture, a macaw or even a turkey.[208] + +The incident of the winged disk descending to effect the sun-god's +purposes upon earth probably represents the earliest record of the +recognition of thunder and lightning and the phenomena of rain as +manifestations of the god's powers. All gods of thunder, lightning, rain +and clouds derive their attributes, and the arbitrary graphic +representation of them, from the legend which the Egyptian scribe has +preserved for us in the Saga of the Winged Disk. + +The sacred axe of Crete is represented elsewhere as a sword which became +the visible impersonation of the deity.[209] There is a Hittite story of +a sword-handle coming to life. Hose and McDougall refer to the same +incident in certain Sarawak legends; and the story is true to the +original in the fact that the sword fell from the sun.[210] + +Sir Arthur Evans describes as "the aniconic image of the god" a stone +pillar on which crude pictures of a double axe have been scratched. +These representations of the axe in fact serve the same purpose as the +winged disk in Egypt, and, as we shall see subsequently, there was an +actual confusion between the Egyptian symbol and the Cretan axe. + +The obelisk at Abusir was the aniconic representative of the sun-god Re, +or rather, the support of the pyramidal apex, the gilded surface of +which reflected the sun's rays and so made manifest the god's presence +in the stone. + +The Hittites seem to have substituted the winged disk as a +representation of the sun: for in a design copied from a seal[211] we +find the Egyptian symbol borne upon the apex of a cone. + +The transition from this to the great double axe from Hagia Triada in +the Candia Museum[212] is a relatively easy one, which was materially +helped, as we shall see, by the fact that the winged disk was actually +homologized with an axe or knife as alternative weapons used by the +sun-god for the destruction of mankind. + +In Dr. Seligman's account of the Dinka rain-maker (_supra_, p. 113) we +have already seen that the Soudanese Osiris was identified with a spear +and falling stars. + +According to Dr. Budge[213] the Egyptian hieroglyph used as the +determinative of the word _neter_, meaning god or spirit, is the axe +with a handle. Mr. Griffith, however, interprets it as a roll of yellow +cloth ("Hieroglyphics," p. 46). On Hittite seals the axe sometimes takes +the place of the god Teshub.[214] + +Sir Arthur Evans endeavours to explain these conceptions by a vague +appeal to certain natural phenomena (_op. cit._, pp. 20 and 21); but the +identical traditions of widespread peoples are much too arbitrary and +specific to be interpreted by any such speculations. + +Sanchoniathon's story of Baetylos being the son of Ouranos is merely a +poetical way of saying that the sun-god fell to earth in the form of a +stone or a weapon, as a Zeus Kappôtas or a Horus in the form of a winged +disk, flying down from heaven to destroy the enemies of Re. + +"The idea of their [the weapons] flying through the air or falling from +heaven, and their supposed power of burning with inner fire or shining +in the nighttime," was not primarily suggested, as Sir Arthur Evans +claims (_op. cit._, p. 21), "by the phenomena associated with meteoric +stones," but was a rationalization of the events described in the early +Egyptian and Babylonian stories. + +They "shine at night" because the original weapon of destruction was the +moon as the Eye of Re. They "burn with inward fire," like the Babylonian +Marduk, when in the fight with the dragon Tiamat "he filled his body +with burning flame" (King, _op. cit._, p. 71), because they _were_ fire, +the fire of the sun and of lightning, the fire spat out by the Eye +of Re. + +Further evidence in corroboration of these views is provided by the fact +that in the Ægean area the double-axe replaces the moon between the +cow's horns (Evans, _op. cit._, Fig. 3, p. 9). + +In King's "Babylonian Religion" (pp. 70 and 71) we are told how the gods +provided Marduk with an invincible weapon in preparation for the combat +with the dragon: and the ancient scribe himself sets forth a series of +its homologues:-- + +He made ready his bow ... He slung a spear ... The bow and quiver ... He +set the lightning in front of him, With burning flame he filled his +body. + +An ancient Egyptian writer has put on record further identifications of +weapons. In the 95th Chapter of the Book of the Dead, the deceased is +reported to have said: "I am he who sendeth forth terror into the powers +of rain and thunder.... I have made to flourish my knife which is in the +hand of Thoth in the powers of rain and thunder" (Budge, "Gods of the +Egyptians," vol. i., p. 414). + +The identification of the winged disk with the thunderbolt which emerges +so definitely from these homologies is not altogether new, for it was +suggested some years ago by Count d'Alviella[215] in these words:-- + +"On seeing some representations of the Thunderbolt which recall in a +remarkable manner the outlines of the Winged Globe, it may be asked if +it was not owing to this latter symbol that the Greeks transformed into +a winged spindle the Double Trident derived from Assyria. At any rate +the transition, or, if it be preferred, the combination of the two +symbols is met with in those coins from Northern Africa where Greek art +was most deeply impregnated with Phoenician types. Thus on coins of +Bocchus II, King of Mauretania, figures are found which M. Lajard +connected with the Winged Globe, and M. L. Müller calls Thunderbolts, +but which are really the result of crossing between these two emblems". + +The thunderbolt, however, is not always, or even commonly, the direct +representative of the winged disk. It is more often derived from +lightning or some floral design.[216] + +According to Count d'Alviella[217] "the Trident of Siva at times +exhibits the form of a lotus calyx depicted in the Egyptian manner". + +"Perhaps other transformations of the _trisula_ might still be found at +Boro-Budur [in Java].... The same Disk which, when transformed into a +most complicated ornament, is sometimes crowned by a Trident, is also +met with between two serpents--which brings us back to the origin of the +Winged Circle--the Globe of Egypt with the uræi" (see d'Alviella's Fig. +158). "Moreover this ornament, between which and certain forms of the +_trisula_ the transition is easily traced, commonly surmounts the +entrance to the pagodas depicted in the bas-reliefs--in exactly the same +manner as the Winged Globe adorns the lintel of the temples in Egypt and +Phoenicia." + +Thus we find traces of a blending of the two homologous designs, derived +independently from the lotus and the winged disk, which acquired the +same symbolic significance. + +The weapon of Poseidon, the so-called "Trident of Neptune," is +"sometimes crowned with a trilobate lotus flower, or with three lotus +buds; in other cases it is depicted in a shape that may well represent a +fishing spear" (Blinkenberg, _op. cit._, pp. 53 and 54). + +"Even if Jacobsthal's interpretation of the flower as a common Greek +symbol for fire be not accepted, the conventionalization of the trident +as a lotus blossom is quite analogous to the change, on Greek soil, of +the Assyrian thunderweapon to two flowers pointing in opposite +directions" (p. 54). + +But the conception of a flower as a symbol of fire cannot thus summarily +be dismissed. For Sir Arthur Evans has collected all the stages in the +transformation of Egyptian palmette pillars into the rayed pillars of +Cyprus, in which the leaflets of the palmette become converted (in the +Cypro-Mycenæan derivatives) into the rays which he calls "the natural +concomitant of divinities of light".[218] + +The underlying motive which makes such a transference easy is the +Egyptian conception of Hathor as a sacred lotus from which the sun-god +Horus is born. The god of light is identified with the water-plant, +whether lotus, iris or lily; and the lotus form of Horus can be +correlated with its Hellenic surrogate, Apollo Hyakinthos. "The +fleur-de-lys type now takes its place beside the sacred lotus" (_op. +cit._, p. 50). The trident and the fleur-de-lys are thunderweapons +because they represent forms of Horus or his mother. + +The classical keraunos is still preserved in Tibet as the _dorje_, which +is identified with Indra's thunderbolt, the _vajra_.[219] This word is +also applied to the diamond, the "king of stones," which in turn +acquired many of the attributes of the pearl, another of the Great +Mother's surrogates, which is reputed to have fallen from heaven like +the thunderbolt.[220] + +The Tibetan _dorje_, like its Greek original, is obviously a +conventionalized flower, the leaf-design about the base of the corona +being quite clearly defined. + +The influence of the Winged-Disk Saga is clearly revealed in such Greek +myths as that relating to Ixion. "Euripides is represented by +Aristophanes as declaring that _Aithér_ at the creation devised + + The eye to mimic the wheel of the sun."[221] + +When we read of Zeus in anger binding Ixion to a winged wheel made of +fire, and sending him spinning through the air, we are merely dealing +with a Greek variant of the Egyptian myth in which Re despatched Horus +as a winged disk to slay his enemies. In the Hellenic version the +sky-god is angry with the father of the centaurs for his ill-treatment +of his father-in-law and his behaviour towards Hera and her +cloud-manifestation: but though distorted all the incidents reveal their +original inspiration in the Egyptian story and its early Aryan variants. + +It is remarkable that Mr. A. B. Cook, who compared the wheel of Ixion +with the Egyptian winged disk (pp. 205-10), did not look deeper for a +common origin of the two myths, especially when he got so far as to +identify Ixion with the sun-god (p. 211). + +Blinkenberg sums up the development of the thunder-weapon thus: "From +the old Babylonian representation of the lightning, i.e. two or three +zigzag lines representing flames, a tripartite thunder-weapon was +evolved and earned east and west from the ancient seat of civilization. +Together with the axe (in Western Asia Minor the double-edged, and +towards the centre of Asia the single-edged, axe) it became a regular +attribute of the Asiatic thunder-gods.... The Indian trisula and the +Greek triaina are both its descendants" (p. 57). + +Discussing the relationship of the sun-god to thunder, Dr. Rendel Harris +refers to the fact that Apollo's "arrows are said to be lightnings," and +he quotes Pausanias, Apollodorus and Mr. A. B. Cook in substantiation of +his statements.[222] Both sons of Zeus, Dionysus and Apollo, are +"concerned with the production of fire". + +According to Hyginus, Typhon was the son of Tartarus and the Earth: he +made war against Jupiter for dominion, and, being struck by lightning, +was thrown flaming to the earth, where Mount Ætna was placed upon +him.[223] + +In this curious variant of the story of the winged disk, the conflict of +Horus with Set is merged with the Destruction, for the son of Tartarus +[Osiris] and the Earth [Isis] here is not Horus but his hostile brother +Set. Instead of fighting for Jupiter (Re) as Horus did, he is against +him. The lightning (which is Horus in the form of the winged disk) +strikes Typhon and throws him flaming to earth. The episode of Mount +Ætna is the antithesis of the incident in the Indian legend of the +churning of the ocean: Mount Meru is placed in the sea upon the tortoise +_avatar_ of Vishnu and is used to churn the food of immortality for the +gods. In the Egyptian story the red ochre brought from Elephantine is +pounded with the barley. + +The story told by Hyginus leads up to the vision in Revelations (xii., 7 +_et seq._): "There was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought +against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed +not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great +dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which +deceiveth the whole world: he was cast into the earth, and his angels +were cast out with him." + +In the later variants the original significance of the Destruction of +Mankind seems to have been lost sight of. The life-giving Great Mother +tends to drop out of the story and her son Horus takes her place. He +becomes the warrior-god, but he not only assumes his mother's rôle but +he also adopts her tactics. Just as she attacked Re's enemies in the +capacity of the sky-god's "Eye," so Horus as the other "Eye," the sun, +to which he gave his own falcon's wings, attacked in the form of the +winged disk. The winged disk, like the other "Eye of Re," was not merely +the sky weapon which shot down to destroy mankind, but also was the god +Horus himself. This early conception involved the belief that the +thunderbolt and lightning represented not merely the fiery weapon but +the actual god. + +The winged disk thus exhibits the same confusion of attributes as we +have already noticed in Osiris and Hathor. It is the commonest symbol of +life-giving and beneficent protective power: yet it is the weapon used +to slaughter mankind. It is in fact the healing caduceus as well as the +baneful thunder-weapon. + + +[203: The history of the thunder-weapon cannot wholly be ignored in +discussing the dragon-myth because it forms an integral part of the +story. It was animated both by the dragon and the dragon-slayer. But an +adequate account of the weapon would be so highly involved and complex +as to be unintelligible without a very large series of illustrations. +Hence I am referring here only to certain aspects of the subject. +Pending the preparation of a monograph upon the thunder-weapon, I may +refer the reader to the works of Blinkenberg, d'Alviella, Ward, Evans +and A. B. Cook (to which frequent reference is made in these pages) for +material, especially in the form of illustrations, to supplement my +brief and unavoidably involved summary.] + +[204: As in Egypt Osiris is described as "a ray of light" which issued +from the moon (Hathor), _i.e._ was born of the Great Mother.] + +[205: "Religion védique," i., p. 173, quoted by S. Reinach, "Ætos +Prometheus," _Revue archéologique_, 4^ie série, tome x., 1917, p. 72.] + +[206: Evans, _op. cit._, Fig. 4, p. 10.] + +[207: William Hayes Ward, "The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," chapter +xxxviii.] + +[208: Seler, "Codex Vaticanus, No. 3773," vol. i., p. 77 _et seq._] + +[209: Evans, _op. cit._, p. 8.] + +[210: "The Pagan Tribes of Borneo," 1912, vol. ii., p. 137.] + +[211: Evans, _op. cit._, Fig. 8, _c_, p. 17.] + +[212: There is an excellent photograph of this in Donald McKenzie's +"Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe," facing p. 160.] + +[213: "The Gods of the Egyptians," vol. i., pp. 63 _et seq_.] + +[214: See, for example, Ward, _op. cit._, p. 411.] + +[215: "The Migration of Symbols," pp. 220 and 221.] + +[216: Blinkenberg, _op. cit._, p. 53.] + +[217: _Op. cit._, p. 256.] + +[218: "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 51 and 52.] + +[219: See Blinkenberg, _op. cit._, pp. 45-8.] + +[220: I must defer consideration of the part played by certain of the +Great Mother's surrogates in the development of the thunder-weapon's +symbolism and the associated folk-lore. I have in mind especially the +influence of the octopus and the cow. The former was responsible in part +for the use of the spiral as a thunder-symbol; and the latter for the +beliefs in the special protective power of thunder-stones over cows (see +Blinkenberg, _op. cit._). The thunder-stone was placed over the lintel +of the cow-shed for the same purpose as the winged disk over the door of +an Egyptian temple. Until the relations of the octopus to the dragon +have been set forth it is impossible adequately to discuss the question +of the seven-headed dragon, which ranges from Scotland to Japan and from +Scandinavia to the Zambesi. In "The Birth of Aphrodite" I shall call +attention to the basal factors in its evolution.] + +[221: A. B. Cook, "Zeus," vol. i., p. 198.] + +[222: "The Ascent of Olympus," p. 32.] + +[223: "Tartarus ex Terra procreavit Typhonem, immani magnitudine, +specieque portentosa, cui centum capita draconum ex humeris enata erant. +Hic Jovem provocavit, si vellet secum de regno centare. Jovis fulmine +ardenti pectus ejus percussit. Cui cum flagraret, montem Ætnam, qui est +in Siciliâ, super eum imposuit; qui ex eo adhuc ardere dicitur" +(Hyginus, fab. 152).] + + +The Deer. + +One of the most surprising features of the dragon in China, Japan and +America, is the equipment of deer's horns. + +In Babylonia both Ea and Marduk are intimately associated with the +antelope or gazelle, and the combination of the head of the antelope (or +in other cases the goat) with the body of a fish is the most +characteristic manifestation of either god. In Egypt both Osiris and +Horus are at times brought into relationship with the gazelle or +antelope, but more often it represents their enemy Set. Hence, in some +parts of Africa, especially in the west, the antelope plays the part of +the dragon in Asiatic stories.[224] The cow[225] of Hathor (Tiamat) may +represent the dragon also. In East Africa the antelope assumes the rôle +of the hero,[226] and is the representative of Horus. In the Ægean area, +Asia Minor and Europe the antelope, gazelle or the deer, may be +associated with the Great Mother.[227] + +In India the god Soma's chariot is drawn by an antelope. I have already +suggested that Soma is only a specialized form of the Babylonian Ea, +whose evil _avatar_ is the dragon: there is thus suggested another link +between the antelope and the latter. The Ea-element explains the +fish-scales and the antelope provides the horns. I shall return to the +discussion of this point later. + +Vayu or Pavana, the Indian god of the winds, who afterwards became +merged with Indra, rides upon an antelope like the Egyptian Horus. +Soma's attributes also were in large measure taken over by Indra. Hence +in this complex tissue of contradictions we once more find the +dragon-slayer acquiring the insignia, in this case the antelope, of his +mortal enemy. + +I have already referred to the fact that the early Babylonian deities +could also be demons. Tiamat, the dragon whom Marduk fought, was merely +the malevolent _avatar_ of the Great Mother. The dragon acquired his +covering of fish-scales from an evil form of Ea. + +In his Hibbert Lectures Professor Sayce claimed that the name of Ea was +expressed by an ideograph which signifies literally "the antelope" (p. +280). "Ea was called 'the antelope of the deep,' 'the antelope the +creator,' 'the lusty antelope'. We should have expected the animal of Ea +to have been the fish: the fact that it is not so points to the +conclusion that the culture-god of Southern Babylonia was an +amalgamation of two earlier deities, one the divine antelope and the +other the divine fish." Ea was "originally the god of the river and was +also associated with the snake". Nina was also both the fish-goddess and +the divinity whose name is interchanged with that of the deep. Professor +Sayce then refers to "the curious process of development which +transformed the old serpent-goddess, 'the lady Nina,' into the +embodiment of all that was hostile to the powers of heaven; but after +all, Nina had sprung from the fish-god of the deep [who also was both +antelope and serpent as well, see p. 282], and Tiamat is herself 'the +deep' in Semitic dress" (p. 283). + +"At times Ea was regarded as a gazelle rather than as an antelope." The +position of the name in the list of animals shows what species of animal +must be meant. _Lulim_, "a stag," seems to be a re-duplicated form of +the same word. Both _lulim_ and _elim_ are said to be equivalent to +_sarru_, king (p. 284). + +Certain Assyriologists, from whom I asked for enlightenment upon these +philological matters, express some doubt as to the antiquity or to the +reality of the association of the names of Ea and the word for an +antelope, gazelle or stag. But whatever the value of the linguistic +evidence, the archæological, at any rate as early as the time of +Nebuchadnezzar I, brings both Ea and Marduk into close association with +a strange creature equipped with the horns of an antelope or gazelle. +The association with the antelope of the homologous deities in India and +Egypt leaves the reality of the connexion in no doubt. I had hoped that +Professor Sayce's evidence would have provided some explanation of the +strange association of the antelope. But whether or not the philological +data justify the inferences which Professor Sayce drew from them, there +can be no doubt concerning the correctness of his statement that Ea was +represented both by fish and antelope, for in the course of his +excavations at Susa M. J. de Morgan brought to light representations of +Ea's animal consisting of an antelope's head on the body of a fish.[228] +He also makes the statement that the ideogram of Ea, _turahu-apsu_, +means "antelope of the sea". I have already (p. 88) referred to the fact +that this "antelope of the sea," the so-called "goat-fish," is identical +with the prototype of the dragon. + +If his claim that the names of Ea meant both a "fish" and an "antelope" +were well founded, the pun would have solved this problem, as it has +done in the case of many other puzzles in the history of early +civilization. But if this is not the case, the question is still open +for solution. As Set was held to be personified in all the desert +animals, the gazelle was identified with the demon of evil for this +reason. In her important treatise on "The Asiatic Dionysos" Miss Gladys +Davis tells us that "in his aspect of Moon 'the lord of stars' Soma has +in this character the antelope as his symbol. In fact, one of the names +given to the moon by the early Indians was 'mriga-piplu' or marked +like an antelope" (p. 202). Further she adds: "The Sanskrit name for the +lunar mansion over which Soma presides is 'mriga-siras' or the +deer-headed." If it be admitted that Soma is merely the Aryan +specialization of Ea and Osiris, as I have claimed, Sayce's association +of Ea with the antelope is corroborated, even if it is not explained. + +In China the dragon was sometimes called "the celestial stag" (de Groot, +_op. cit._, p. 1143). In Mexico the deer has the same intimate celestial +relations as it has in the Old World (see Seler, _Zeit. f. Ethnologie_, +Bd. 41, p. 414). I have already referred to the remarkable Maya +deer-crocodile _makara_ in the Liverpool Museum (p. 103). + +The systematic zoology of the ancients was lacking in the precision of +modern times; and there are reasons for supposing that the antelope and +gazelle could exchange places the one with the other in their divine +rôles; the deer and the rabbit were also their surrogates. In India a +spotted rabbit can take the place of the antelope in playing the part of +what we call "the man in the moon". This interpretation is common, not +only in India, but also in China, and is repeatedly found in the ancient +Mexican codices (Seler, _op. cit._). In the spread of the ideas we have +just been considering from Babylonia towards the north we find that the +deer takes the place of the antelope. + +In view of the close resemblance between the Indian god Soma and the +Phrygian Dionysus, which has been demonstrated by Miss Gladys Davis, it +is of interest to note that in the service of the Greek god a man was +disguised as a stag, slain and eaten.[229] + +Artemis also, one of the many _avatars_ of the Great Mother, who was +also related to the moon, was closely associated with the deer. + +I have already referred to the fact that in Africa the dragon rôle of +the female antelope may be assumed by the cow or buffalo. In the case of +the gods Soma and Dionysus their association with the antelope or deer +may be extended to the bull. Miss Davis (_op. cit._) states that in the +Homa Yasht the deer-headed lunar mansion over which the god presides is +spoken of as "leading the Paurvas," i.e. Pleiades: "Mazda brought to +thee (Homa) the star-studded spirit-fashioned girdle (the belt of Orion) +leading the Paurvas. Now the Bull-Dionysus was especially associated +with the Pleiades on ancient gems and in classical mythology--which form +part of the sign Taurus." The bull is a sign of Haoma (Homa) or Soma. +The belt of the thunder-god Thor corroborates the fact of the diffusion +of these Babylonian ideas as far as Northern Europe. + + +[224: Frobenius, "The Voice of Africa," vol. ii., p. 467 _inter alia_.] + +[225: _Op. cit._, p. 468.] + +[226: J. F. Campbell, "The Celtic Dragon Myth," with the "Geste of +Fraoch and the Dragon," translated with Introduction by George +Henderson, Edinburgh, 1911, p. 136.] + +[227: For example the red deer occupies the place usually taken by the +goddess's lions upon a Cretan gem (Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar +Cult," Fig. 32, p. 56): on the bronze plate from Heddemheim (A. B. Cook, +"Zeus," vol. i., pl. xxxiv., and p. 620) Isis is represented standing on +a hind: Artemis, another _avatar_ of the same Great Mother, was +intimately associated with deer.] + +[228: J. de Morgan, article on "Koudourrous," _Mem. Del. en Perse_, t. +7, 1905. Figures on p. 143 and p. 148: see also an earlier article on +the same subject in tome i. of the same series.] + +[229: A. B. Cook, "Zeus," vol. i., p. 674.] + + +The Ram. + +The close association of the ram with the thunder-god is probably +related with the fact that the sun-god Amon in Egypt was represented by +the ram with a distinctive spiral horn. This spiral became a distinctive +feature of the god of thunder throughout the Hellenic and Phoenician +worlds and in those parts of Africa which were affected by their +influence or directly by Egypt. + +An account of the widespread influence of the ram-headed god of thunder +in the Soudan and West Africa has been given by Frobenius.[230] + +But the ram also became associated with Agni, the Indian fire-god, and +the spiral as a head-appendage became the symbol of thunder throughout +China and Japan, and from Asia spread to America where such deities as +Tlaloc still retain this distinctive token of their origin from the +Old World. + +In Europe this association of the ram and its spiral horn played an even +more obtrusive part. + +The octopus as a surrogate of the Great Mother was primarily responsible +for the development of the life-giving attributes of the spiral motif. +But the close connexion of the Great Mother with the dragon and the +thunder-weapon prepared the way for the special association of the +spiral with thunder, which was confirmed when the ram with its spiral +horn became the God of Thunder. + + +[230: _Op. cit._, vol. i., pp. 212-27.] + + +The Pig. + +The relationship of the pig to the dragon is on the whole analogous to +that of the cow and the stag, for it can play either a beneficent or a +malevolent part. But the nature of the special circumstances which gave +the pig a peculiar notoriety as an unclean animal are so intimately +associated with the "Birth of Aphrodite" that I shall defer the +discussion of them for my lecture on the history of the goddess. + + +Certain Incidents in the Dragon Myth. + +Throughout the greater part of the area which tradition has peopled with +dragons, iron is regarded as peculiarly lethal to the monsters. This +seems to be due to the part played by the "smiths" who forged iron +weapons with which Horus overcame Set and his followers,[231] or in the +earlier versions of the legend the metal weapons by means of which the +people of Upper Egypt secured their historic victory over the Lower +Egyptians. But the association of meteoric iron with the thunderbolt, +the traditional weapon for destroying dragons, gave added force to the +ancient legend and made it peculiarly apt as an incident in the story. + +But though the dragon is afraid of iron, he likes precious gems and +_k'ung-ts'ing_ ("The Stone of Darkness") and is fond of roasted +swallows. + +The partiality of dragons for swallows was due to the transmission of a +very ancient story of the Great Mother, who in the form of Isis was +identified with the swallow. In China, so ravenous is the monster for +this delicacy, that anyone who has eaten of swallows should avoid +crossing the water, lest the dragon whose home is in the deep should +devour the traveller to secure the dainty morsel of swallow. But those +who pray for rain use swallows to attract the beneficent deity. Even in +England swallows flying low are believed to be omens of coming rain--a +tale which is about as reliable as the Chinese variant of the same +ancient legend. + +"The beautiful gems remind us of the Indian dragons; the pearls of the +sea were, of course, in India as well as China and Japan, considered to +be in the special possession of the dragon-shaped sea-gods" (de Visser, +p. 69). The cultural drift from West to East along the southern coast of +India was effected mainly by sailors who were searching for pearls. +Sharks constituted the special dangers the divers had to incur in +exploiting pearl-beds to obtain the precious "giver of life". But at the +time these great enterprises were first undertaken in the Indian Ocean +the people dwelling in the neighbourhood of the chief pearl-beds +regarded the sea as the great source of all life-giving virtues and the +god who exercised these powers was incarnated in a fish. The sharks +therefore had to be brought into harmony with this scheme, and they +were rationalized as the guardians of the storehouse of life-giving +pearls at the bottom of the sea. + +I do not propose to discuss at present the diffusion to the East of the +beliefs concerning the shark and the modifications which they underwent +in the course of these migrations in Melanesia and elsewhere; but in my +lecture upon "the Birth of Aphrodite" I shall have occasion to refer to +its spread to the West and explain how the shark's rôle was transferred +to the dog-fish in the Mediterranean. The dog-fish then assumed a +terrestrial form and became simply the dog who plays such a strange part +in the magical ceremony of digging up the mandrake. + +At present we are concerned merely with the shark as the guardian of the +stores of pearls at the bottom of the sea. He became identified with the +Nâga and the dragon, and the store of pearls became a vast +treasure-house which it became one of the chief functions of the dragon +to guard. This episode in the wonder-beast's varied career has a place +in most of the legends ranging from Western Europe to Farthest Asia. +Sometimes the dragon carries a pearl under his tongue or in his chin as +a reserve of life-giving substance. + +Mr. Donald Mackenzie has called attention[232] to the remarkable +influence upon the development of the Dragon Myth of the familiar +Egyptian representation of the child Horus with a finger touching his +lips. On some pretence or other, many of the European dragon-slaying +heroes, such as Sigurd and the Highland Finn, place their fingers in +their mouths. This action is usually rationalized by the statement that +the hero burnt his fingers while cooking the slain monster. + + +[231: Budge, "Gods of the Egyptians," vol. i., p. 476.] + +[232: "Egyptian Myth and Legend," pp. 340 _et seq._] + + +The Ethical Aspect. + +So far in this discussion I have been dealing mainly with the problems +of the dragon's evolution, the attainment of his or her distinctive +anatomical features and physiological attributes. But during this +process of development a moral and ethical aspect of the dragon's +character was also emerging. + +Now that we have realized the fact of the dragon's homology with the +moon-god it is important to remember that one of the primary functions +of this deity, which later became specialized in the Egyptian god +Thoth, was the measuring of time and the keeping of records. The moon, +in fact, was the controller of accuracy, of truth, and order, and +therefore the enemy of falsehood and chaos. The identification of the +moon with Osiris, who from a dead king eventually developed into a king +of the dead, conferred upon the great Father of Waters the power to +exact from men respect for truth and order. For even if at first these +ideas were only vaguely adumbrated and not expressed in set phrases, it +must have been an incentive to good discipline when men remembered that +the record-keeper and the guardian of law and order was also the deity +upon whose tender mercies they would have to rely in the life after +death. Set, the enemy of Osiris, who is the real prototype of the evil +dragon, was the antithesis of the god of justice: he was the father of +falsehood and the symbol of chaos. He was the prototype of Satan, as +Osiris was the first definite representative of the Deity of which any +record has been preserved. + +The history of the evil dragon is not merely the evolution of the devil, +but it also affords the explanation of his traditional peculiarities, +his bird-like features, his horns, his red colour, his wings and cloven +hoofs, and his tail. They are all of them the dragon's distinctive +features; and from time to time in the history of past ages we catch +glimpses of the reality of these identifications. In one of the earliest +woodcuts (Fig. 17) found in a printed book Satan is depicted as a monk +with the bird's feet of the dragon. A most interesting intermediate +phase is seen in a Chinese water-colour in the John Rylands Library, in +which the thunder-dragon is represented in a form almost exactly +reproducing that of the devil of European tradition (Fig. 16). + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--The God Of Thunder. + +(From a Chinese drawing (? 17th Century) in the John Rylands Library)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17.--From Joannes de Turrecremata's "Meditationes +seu Contemplationes". _Romæ: Ulrich Hau_. 1467] + +Early in the Christian era, when ancient beliefs in Egypt became +disguised under a thin veneer of Christianity, the story of the conflict +between Horus and Set was converted into a conflict between Christ and +Satan. M. Clermont-Ganneau has described an interesting bas-relief in +the Louvre in which a hawk-headed St. George, clad in Roman military +uniform and mounted on a horse, is slaying a dragon which is represented +by Set's crocodile.[233] But the Biblical references to Satan leave no +doubt as to his identity with the dragon, who is specifically mentioned +in the Book of Revelations as "the old serpent which is the Devil and +Satan" (xx. 2). + +The devil Set was symbolic of disorder and darkness, while the god +Osiris was the maintainer of order and the giver of light. Although the +moon-god, in the form of Osiris, Thoth and other deities, thus came to +acquire the moral attributes of a just judge, who regulated the +movements of the celestial bodies, controlled the waters upon the earth, +and was responsible for the maintenance of order in the Universe, the +ethical aspect of his functions was in large measure disguised by the +material importance of his duties. In Babylonia similar views were held +with respect to the beneficent water-god Ea, who was the giver of +civilization, order and justice, and Sin, the moon-god, who "had +attained a high position in the Babylonian pantheon," as "the guide of +the stars and the planets, the overseer of the world at night". "From +that conception a god of high moral character soon developed." "He is an +extremely beneficent deity, he is a king, he is the ruler of men, he +produces order and stability, like Shamash and like the Indian Varuna +and Mitra, but besides that, he is also a judge, he loosens the bonds of +the imprisoned, like Varuna. His light, like that of Varuna, is +the symbol of righteousness.... Like the Indian Varuna and the +Iranian Mazdâh, he is a god of wisdom." + +When these Egyptian and Babylonian ideas were borrowed by the Aryans, +and the Iranian Mazdâh and the Indian Varuna assumed the rôle of the +beneficent deity of the former more ancient civilizations, the material +aspect of the functions of the moon-god became less obtrusive; and there +gradually emerged the conception, to which Zarathushtra first gave +concrete expression, of the beneficent god Ahura Mazdâh as "an +omniscient protector of morality and creator of marvellous power and +knowledge". "He is the most-knowing one, and the most-seeing one. No one +can deceive him. He watches with radiant eyes everything that is done in +open or in secret." "Although he has a strong personality he has no +anthropomorphic features." He has shed the material aspects which loomed +so large in his Egyptian, Babylonian and earlier Aryan prototypes, and a +more ethereal conception of a God of the highest ethical qualities +has emerged. + +The whole of this process of transformation has been described with deep +insight and lucid exposition by Professor Cumont, from whose important +and convincing memoir I have quoted so freely in the foregoing +paragraphs.[234] + +The creation of a beneficent Deity of such moral grandeur inevitably +emphasized the baseness and the malevolence of the "Power of Evil". No +longer are the gods merely glorified human beings who can work good or +evil as they will; but there is now an all-powerful God controlling the +morals of the universe, and in opposition to Him "the dragon, the old +serpent, which is the Devil and Satan". + + +[233: "Horus et St. George d'après un bas-relief inedit du Louvre," +_Revue Archéologique_, Nouvelle Série, t. xxxii., 1876, p. 196, pl. +xviii. It is right to explain that M. Clermont-Ganneau's interpretation +of this relief has not been accepted by all scholars.] + +[234: Albert J. Carnoy, "The Moral Deities of Iran and India and their +Origins," _The American Journal of Theology_, vol. xxi., No. 1, Jan. +1917, p. 58.] + + + + +Chapter III. + +THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE.[235] + + +It may seem ungallant to discuss the birth of Aphrodite as part of the +story of the evolution of the dragon. But the other chapters of this +book, in which frequent references have been made to the early history +of the Great Mother, have revealed how vital a part she played in the +development of the dragon. The earliest real dragon was Tiamat, one of +the forms assumed by the Great Mother; and an even earlier prototype was +the lioness (Sekhet) manifestation of Hathor. + +Thus it becomes necessary to enquire more fully (than has been done in +the other chapters) into the circumstances of the Great Mother's birth +and development, and to investigate certain aspects of her ontogeny to +which only scant attention has been paid in the preceding pages. + +Several reasons have led me to select Aphrodite from the vast legion of +Great Mothers for special consideration. In spite of her high +specialization in certain directions the Greek goddess of love retains +in greater measure than any of her sisters some of the most primitive +associations of her original parent. Like vestigial structures in +biology, these traits afford invaluable evidence, not only of +Aphrodite's own ancestry and early history, but also of that of the +whole family of goddesses of which she is only a specialized type. For +Aphrodite's connexion with shells is a survival of the circumstances +which called into existence the first Great Mother and made her not only +the Creator of mankind and the universe, but also the parent of all +deities, as she was historically the first to be created by human +inventiveness. In this lecture I propose to deal with the more general +aspects of the evolution of all these daughters of the Great Mother: +but I have used Aphrodite's name in the title because her +shell-associations can be demonstrated more clearly and definitely than +those of any of her sisters. + +In the past a vast array of learning has been brought to bear upon the +problems of Aphrodite's origin; but this effort has, for the most part, +been characterized by a narrowness of vision and a lack of adequate +appreciation of the more vital factors in her embryological history. In +the search for the deep human motives that found specific expression in +the great goddess of love, too little attention has been paid to +primitive man's psychology, and his persistent striving for an elixir of +life to avert the risk of death, to renew youth and secure a continuance +of existence after death. On the other hand, the possibility of +obtaining any real explanation has been dashed aside by most scholars, +who have been content simply to juggle with certain stereotyped +catchphrases and baseless assumptions, simply because the traditions of +classical scholarship have made these devices the pawns in a rather +aimless game. + +It is unnecessary to cite specific illustrations in support of this +statement. Reference to any of the standard works on classical +archæology, such as Roscher's "Lexikon," will testify to the truth of my +accusation. In her "Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion" Miss +Jane Harrison devotes a chapter (VI) to "The Making of a Goddess," and +discusses "The Birth of Aphrodite". But she strictly observes the +traditions of the classical method; and assumes that the meaning of the +myth of Aphrodite's birth from the sea--the germs of which are at least +fifty centuries old--can be decided by the omission of any +representation of the sea in the decoration of a pot made in the fifth +century B.C.! + +But apart from this general criticism, the lack of resourcefulness and +open mindedness, certain more specific factors have deflected classical +scholars from the true path. In the search for the ancestry of +Aphrodite, they have concentrated their attention too exclusively upon +the Mediterranean area and Western Asia, and so ignored the most ancient +of the historic Great Mothers, the African Hathor, with whom (as Sir +Arthur Evans[236] clearly demonstrated more than fifteen years ago) the +Cypriote goddess has much closer affinities than with any of her +Asiatic sisters. Yet no scholar, either on the Greek or Egyptian side, +has seriously attempted to follow up this clue and really investigate +the nature of the connexions between Aphrodite and Hathor, and the +history of the development of their respective specializations of +functions.[237] + +But some explanation must be given for my temerity in venturing to +invade the intensively cultivated domains of Aphrodite "with a mind +undebauched by classical learning". I have already explained how the +study of Libations and Dragons brought me face to face with the problems +of the Great Mother's attributes. At that stage of the enquiry two +circumstances directed my attention specifically to Aphrodite. Mr. +Wilfrid Jackson was collecting the data relating to the cultural uses of +shells, which he has since incorporated in a book.[238] As the results +of his search accumulated, the fact soon emerged that the original +Great Mother was nothing more than a cowry-shell used as a life-giving +amulet; and that Aphrodite's shell-associations were a survival of the +earliest phase in the Great Mother's history. At this psychological +moment Dr. Rendel Harris[239] claimed that Aphrodite was a +personification of the mandrake. But the magical attributes of the +mandrake, which he claimed to have been responsible for converting the +amulet into a goddess, were identical with those which Jackson's +investigations had previously led me to regard as the reasons for +deriving Aphrodite from the cowry. The mandrake was clearly a surrogate +of the shell or vice versa.[240] The problem to be solved was to decide +which amulet was responsible for suggesting the process of life-giving. +The goddess Aphrodite was closely related to Cyprus; the mandrake was a +magical plant there; and the cowry is so intimately associated with the +island as to be called _Cypræa_. So far as is known, however, the +shell-amulet is vastly more ancient than the magical reputation of the +plant. Moreover, we know why the cowry was regarded as feminine and +accredited with life-giving attributes. There are no such reasons for +assigning life-giving powers or the female sex to the mandrake. The +claim that its magical properties are due to the fancied resemblance of +its root to a human being is wholly untenable.[241] The roots of many +plants are at least as manlike; and, even if this character was the +exclusive property of the mandrake, how does it help to explain the +remarkable repetory of quite arbitrary and fantastic properties and the +female sex assigned to the plant? Sir James Frazer's claim[242] that +"such beliefs and practices illustrate the primitive tendency to +personify nature" is a gratuitous and quite irrelevant assumption, which +offers no explanation whatsoever of the specific and arbitrary nature of +the form assumed by the personification. But when we investigate the +historical development of the peculiar attributes of the cowry-shell, +and appreciate why and how they were acquired, any doubt as to the +source from which the mandrake obtained its "magic" is removed; and +with it the fallacy of Sir James Frazer's wholly unwarranted claims is +also exposed. + +If we ignore Sir James Frazer's naïve speculations we can make use of +the compilations of evidence which he makes with such remarkable +assiduity. But it is more profitable to turn to the study of the +remarkable lectures which Dr. Rendel Harris has been delivering in this +room[243] during the last few years. Our genial friend has been +cultivating his garden on the slopes of Olympus,[244] and has been +plucking the rich fruits of his ripe scholarship and nimble wit. At the +same time, with rougher implements and cruder methods, I have been +burrowing in the depths of the earth, trying to recover information +concerning the habits and thoughts of mankind many centuries before +Dionysus and Apollo, and Artemis and Aphrodite, were dreamt of. + +In the course of these subterranean gropings no one was more surprised +than I was to discover that I was getting entangled in the roots of the +same plants whose golden fruit Dr. Rendel Harris was gathering from his +Olympian heights. But the contrast in our respective points of view was +perhaps responsible for the different appearance the growths assumed. + +To drop the metaphor, while he was searching for the origins of the +deities a few centuries before the Christian era began, I was finding +their more or less larval forms flourishing more than twenty centuries +before the commencement of his story. For the gods and goddesses of his +narrative were only the thinly disguised representatives of much more +ancient deities decked out in the sumptuous habiliments of Greek +culture. + +In his lecture on Aphrodite, Dr. Rendel Harris claimed that the goddess +was a personification of the mandrake; and I think he made out a good +prima facie case in support of his thesis. But other scholars have set +forth equally valid reasons for associating Aphrodite with the argonaut, +the octopus, the purpura, and a variety of other shells, both univalves +and bivalves.[245] + +The goddess has also been regarded as a personification of water, the +ocean, or its foam.[246] Then again she is closely linked with pigs, +cows, lions, deer, goats, rams, dolphins, and a host of other creatures, +not forgetting the dove, the swallow, the partridge, the sparling, the +goose, and the swan.[247] + +The mandrake theory does not explain, or give adequate recognition to, +any of these facts. Nor does Dr. Rendel Harris suggest why it is so +dangerous an operation to dig up the mandrake which he identifies with +the goddess, or why it is essential to secure the assistance of a +dog[248] in the process. The explanation of this fantastic fable gives +an important clue to Aphrodite's antecedents. + + +[235: An elaboration of a lecture delivered at the John Rylands Library, +on 14 November, 1917.] + +[236: "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 52. Compare also A. E. W. +Budge, "The Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. I, p. 435.] + +[237: With a strange disregard of Sir Arthur Evans's "Mycenæan Tree and +Pillar Cult," Mr. H. R. Hall makes the following remarks in his "Ægean +Archæology" (p. 150): "The origin of the goddess Aphrodite has long been +taken for granted. It has been regarded as a settled fact that she was +Semitic, and came to Greece from Phoenicia or Cyprus. But the new +discoveries have thrown this, like other received ideas, into the +melting-pot, for the Minoans undoubtedly worshipped an Aphrodite. We see +her, naked and with her doves, on gold plaques from one of the Mycenæan +shaft-graves (Schuchhardt, _Schliemann_, Figs. 180, 181), which must be +as old as the First Late Minoan period (_c._ 1600-1500 B.C.), and--not +rising from the foam, but sailing over it--in a boat, naked, on the lost +gold ring from Mochlos. It is evident now that she was not only a +Canaanitish-Syrian goddess, but was common to all the people of the +Levant. She is Aphrodite-Paphia in Cyprus, Ashtaroth-Astarte in Canaan, +Atargatis in Syria, Derketo in Philistria, Hathor in Egypt; what the +Minoans called her we do not know, unless she was Britomartis. She must +take her place by the side of Rhea-Diktynna in the Minoan pantheon." + +It is not without interest to note that on the Mochlos ring the goddess +is sailing in a papyrus float of Egyptian type, like the moon-goddess in +her crescent moon. + +The association of this early representative of Aphrodite with doves is +of special interest in view of Highnard's attempt ("Le Mythe de Venus," +_Annales du Musée Guimet_, T. 1, 1880, p. 23) to derive the name of "la +déesse à la colombe" from the Chaldean and Phoenician _phrit_ or _phrut_ +meaning "a dove". + +Mr. Hall might have extended his list of homologues to Mesopotamia, +Iran, and India, to Europe and Further Asia, to America, and, in fact, +every part of the world that harbours goddesses.] + +[238: "Shells as Evidence of the Migration of Early Culture."] + +[239: "The Ascent of Olympus."] + +[240: A striking confirmation of the fact that the mandrake is really a +surrogate of the cowry is afforded by the practice in modern Greece of +using the mandrake carried in a leather bag in the same way (and for the +same magical purpose as a love philtre) as the Baganda of East Africa +use the cowry (in a leather bag) at the present time.] + +[241: Old Gerade was frank enough to admit that he "never could perceive +shape of man or woman" (quoted by Rendel Harris, _op. cit._, p. 110).] + +[242: "Jacob and the Mandrakes," _Proceedings of the British Academy_, +Vol. VIII, p. 22.] + +[243: The John Rylands Library.] + +[244: "The Ascent of Olympus."] + +[245: See the memoirs by Tümpel, Jahn, Houssay, and Jackson, to which +reference is made elsewhere in these pages.] + +[246: The well-known circumstantial story told in Hesiod's theogony.] + +[247: See the article "Aphrodite" in Roscher's "Lexikon".] + +[248: Sir James Frazer's claim that the incident of the ass in a late +Jewish story of Jacob and the mandrakes (_op. cit._, p. 20) "helps us to +understand the function of the dog," is quite unsupported. The learned +guardian of the Golden Bough does not explain _how_ it helps us to +understand.] + + +The Search for the Elixir of Life. Blood as Life. + +In delving into the remotely distant history of our species we cannot +fail to be impressed with the persistence with which, throughout the +whole of his career, man (of the species _sapiens_) has been +seeking[249] for an elixir of life, to give added "vitality" to the dead +(whose existence was not consciously regarded as ended), to prolong the +days of active life to the living, to restore youth, and to protect his +own life from all assaults, not merely of time, but also of +circumstance. In other words, the elixir he sought was something that +would bring "good luck" in all the events of his life and its +continuation. Most of the amulets, even of modern times, the lucky +trinkets, the averters of the "Evil Eye," the practices and devices for +securing good luck in love and sport, in curing bodily ills or mental +distress, in attaining material prosperity, or a continuation of +existence after death, are survivals of this ancient and persistent +striving after those objects which our earliest forefathers called +collectively the "givers of life". + +From statements in the earliest literature[250] that has come down to us +from antiquity, no less than from the views that still prevail among +the relatively more primitive peoples of the present day, it is clear +that originally man did not consciously formulate a belief in +immortality. + +It was rather the result of a defect of thinking, or as the modern +psychologist would express it, an instinctive repression of the +unpleasant idea that death would come to him personally, that primitive +man refused to contemplate or to entertain the possibility of life +coming to an end. So intense was his instinctive love of life and dread +of such physical damage as would destroy his body that man unconsciously +avoided thinking of the chance of his own death: hence his belief in the +continuance of life cannot be regarded as the outcome of an active +process of constructive thought. + +This may seem altogether paradoxical and incredible. + +How, it may be asked, can man be said to repress the idea of death, if +he instinctively refused to admit its possibility? How did he escape the +inevitable process of applying to himself the analogy he might have been +supposed to make from other men's experience and recognize that he +must die? + +Man appreciated the fact that he could kill an animal or another man by +inflicting certain physical injuries on him. But at first he seems to +have believed that if he could avoid such direct assaults upon himself, +his life would flow on unchecked. When death does occur and the +onlookers recognize the reality, it is still the practice among certain +relatively primitive people to search for the man who has inflicted +death on his fellow. + +It would, of course, be absurd to pretend that any people could fail to +recognize the reality of death in the great majority of cases. The mere +fact of burial is an indication of this. But the point of difference +between the views of these early men and ourselves, was the tacit +assumption on the part of the former, that in spite of the obvious +changes in his body (which made inhumation or some other procedure +necessary) the deceased was still continuing an existence not unlike +that which he enjoyed previously, only somewhat duller, less eventful +and more precarious. He still needed food and drink, as he did before, +and all the paraphernalia of his mortal life, but he was dependent upon +his relatives for the maintenance of his existence. + +Such views were difficult of acceptance by a thoughtful people, once +they appreciated the fact of the disintegration of the corpse in the +grave; and in course of time it was regarded as essential for continued +existence that the body should be preserved. The idea developed, that so +long as the body of the deceased was preserved and there were restored +to it all the elements of vitality which it had lost at death, the +continuance of existence was theoretically possible and worthy of +acceptance as an article of faith. + +Let us consider for a moment what were considered to be elements of +vitality by the earliest members of our species.[251] + +From the remotest times man seems to have been aware of the fact that he +could kill animals or his fellow men by means of certain physical +injuries. He associated these results with the effusion of blood. The +loss of blood could cause unconsciousness and death. Blood, therefore, +must be the vehicle of consciousness and life, the material whose escape +from the body could bring life to an end.[252] + +The first pictures painted by man, with which we are at present +acquainted, are found upon the walls and roofs of certain caves in +Southern France and Spain. They were the work of the earliest known +representatives of our own species, _Homo sapiens_, in the phase of +culture now distinguished by the name "Aurignacian". + +The animals man was in the habit of hunting for food are depicted.[253] +In some of them arrows are shown implanted in the animal's flank near +the region of the heart; and in others the heart itself is represented. + +This implies that at this distant time in the history of our species, it +was already realized how vital a spot in the animal's anatomy the heart +was. But even long before man began to speculate about the functions of +the heart, he must have learned to associate the loss of blood on the +part of man or animals with death, and to regard the pouring out of +blood as the escape of its vitality. Many factors must have contributed +to the new advance in physiology which made the heart the centre or the +chief habitation of vitality, volition, feeling, and knowledge. + +Not merely the empirical fact, acquired by experience in hunting, of the +peculiarly vulnerable nature of the heart, but perhaps also the +knowledge that the heart contained life-giving blood, helped in +developing the ideas about its functions as the bestower of life and +consciousness. + +The palpitation of the heart after severe exertion or under the +influence of intense emotion would impress the early physiologist with +the relationship of the heart to the feelings, and afford confirmation +of his earlier ideas of its functions. + +But whatever the explanation, it is known from the folk-lore of even the +most unsophisticated peoples that the heart was originally regarded as +the seat of life, feeling, volition, and knowledge, and that the blood +was the life-stream. The Aurignacian pictures in the caves of Western +Europe suggest that these beliefs were extremely ancient. + +The evidence at our disposal seems to indicate that not only were such +ideas of physiology current in Aurignacian times, but also certain +cultural applications of them had been inaugurated even then. The +remarkable method of blood-letting by chopping off part of a finger +seems to have been practised even in Aurignacian times.[254] + +If it is legitimate to attempt to guess at the meaning these early +people attached to so singular a procedure, we may be guided by the +ideas associated with this act in outlying corners of the world at the +present time. On these grounds we may surmise that the motive underlying +this, and other later methods of blood-letting, such as circumcision, +piercing the ears, lips, and tongue, gashing the limbs and body, et +cetera, was the offering of the life-giving fluid. + +Once it was recognized that the state of unconsciousness or death was +due to the loss of blood it was a not illogical or irrational procedure +to imagine that offerings of blood might restore consciousness and life +to the dead.[255] If the blood was seriously believed to be the vehicle +of feeling and knowledge, the exchange of blood or the offering of blood +to the community was a reasonable method for initiating anyone into the +wider knowledge of and sympathy with his fellow-men. + +Blood-letting, therefore, played a part in a great variety of +ceremonies, of burial and of initiation, and also those of a +therapeutic[256] and, later, of a religious significance. + +But from Aurignacian times onwards, it seems to have been admitted that +substitutes for blood might be endowed with a similar potency. + +The extensive use of red ochre or other red materials for packing around +the bodies of the dead was presumably inspired by the idea that +materials simulating blood-stained earth, were endowed with the same +life-giving properties as actual blood poured out upon the ground in +similar vitalizing ceremonies. + +As the shedding of blood produced unconsciousness, the offering of blood +or red ochre was, therefore, a logical and practical means of restoring +consciousness and reinforcing the element of vitality which was +diminished or lost in the corpse. + +The common statement that primitive man was a fantastically irrational +child is based upon a fallacy. He was probably as well endowed mentally +as his modern successors; and was as logical and rational as they are; +but many of his premises were wrong, and he hadn't the necessary body of +accumulated wisdom to help him to correct his false assumptions. + +If primitive man regarded the dead as still existing, but with a reduced +vitality, it was a not irrational procedure on the part of the people of +the Reindeer Epoch in Europe to pack the dead in red ochre (which they +regarded as a surrogate of the life-giving fluid) to make good the lack +of vitality in the corpse. + +If blood was the vehicle of consciousness and knowledge, the exchange of +blood was clearly a logical procedure for establishing communion of +thought and feeling and so enabling an initiate to assimilate the +traditions of his people. + +If red carnelian was a surrogate of blood the wearing of bracelets or +necklaces of this life-giving material was a proper means of warding off +danger to life and of securing good luck. + +If red paint or the colour red brought these magical results, it was +clearly justifiable to resort to its use. + +All these procedures are logical. It is only the premises that were +erroneous. + +The persistence of such customs in Ancient Egypt makes it possible for +us to obtain literary evidence to support the inferences drawn from +archæological data of a more remote age. For instance, the red jasper +amulet sometimes called the "girdle-tie of Isis," was supposed to +represent the blood of the goddess and was applied to the mummy "to +stimulate the functions of his blood";[257] or perhaps it would be more +accurate to say that it was intended to add to the vital substance which +was so obviously lacking in the corpse. + + +[249: In response to the prompting of the most fundamental of all +instincts, that of the preservation of life.] + +[250: See Alan Gardiner, _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. IV, +Parts II-III, April-July, 1917, p. 205. Compare also the Babylonian +story of Gilgamesh.] + +[251: Some of these have been discussed in Chapter 1 ("Incense and +Libations") and will not be further considered here.] + +[252: "The life which is the blood thereof" (Gen. ix. 4).] + +[253: See, for example, Sollas, "Ancient Hunters," 2nd Edition, 1915, +pp. 326 (fig. 163), 333 (fig. 171), and 36 (fig. 189).] + +[254: Sollas, _op. cit._, pp. 347 _et seq._] + +[255: The "redeeming blood," [Greek: Pharmakon athanasias].] + +[256: The practice of blood-letting for therapeutic purposes was +probably first suggested by a confused rationalization. The act of +blood-letting was a means of healing; and the victim himself supplied +the vitalizing fluid!] + +[257: Davies and Gardiner, "The Tomb of Amenemhet," p. 112.] + + +The Cowry as a Giver of Life. + +Blood and its substitutes, however, were not the only materials that had +acquired a reputation for vitalizing qualities in the Reindeer Epoch. +For there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that shells also were +regarded, even in that remote time, as life-giving amulets. + +If the loss of blood was at first the only recognized cause of death, +the act of birth was clearly the only process of life-giving. The portal +by which a child entered the world was regarded, therefore, not only as +the channel of birth, but also as the actual giver of life.[258] The +large Red Sea cowry-shell, which closely simulates this "giver of life," +then came to be endowed by popular imagination with the same powers. +Hence the shell was used in the same way as red ochre or carnelian: it +was placed in the grave to confer vitality on the dead, and worn on +bracelets and necklaces to secure good luck by using the "giver of life" +to avert the risk of danger to life. Thus the general life-giving +properties of blood, blood substitutes, and shells, came to be +assimilated the one with the other.[259] + +At first it was probably its more general power of averting death or +giving vitality to the dead that played the more obtrusive part in the +magical use of the shell. But the circumstances which led to the +development of the shell's symbolism naturally and inevitably conferred +upon the cowry special power over women. It was the surrogate of the +life-giving organ. It became an amulet to increase the fertility of +women and to help them in childbirth. It was, therefore, worn by girls +suspended from a girdle, so as to be as near as possible to the organ it +was supposed to simulate and whose potency it was believed to be able to +reinforce and intensify. Just as bracelets and necklaces of carnelian +were used to confer on either sex the vitalizing virtues of blood, which +it was supposed to simulate, so also cowries, or imitations of them made +of metal or stone, were worn as bracelets, necklaces, or hair-ornaments, +to confer health and good luck in both sexes. But these ideas received a +much further extension. + +As the giver of life, the cowry came to have attributed to it by some +people definite powers of creation. It was not merely an amulet to +increase fertility: it was itself the actual parent of mankind, the +creator of all living things; and the next step was to give these +maternal functions material expression, and personify the cowry as an +actual woman in the form of a statuette with the distinctly feminine +characters grossly exaggerated;[260] and in the domain of belief to +create the image of a Great Mother, who was the parent of the universe. + +[Illustration: Fig. 18 (a) The Archaic Egyptian slate palette of Narmer +showing, perhaps, the earliest design of Hathor (at the upper corners of +the palette) as a woman with cow's horns and ears (compare Flinders +Petrie, "The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty," Part I, 1900, Plate +XXVII, Fig. 71). The pharaoh is wearing a belt from which are suspended +four cow-headed Hathor figures in place of the cowry-amulets of more +primitive peoples. This affords corroboration of the view that Hathor +assumed the functions originally attributed to the cowry-shell. + +(b) The king's _sporran_, where Hathor-heads (H) take the place of the +cowries of the primitive girdle.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 19.--The front of Stela B (famous for the realistic +representations of the Indian elephant at its upper corners), one of the +ancient Maya monuments at Copan, Central America (after Maudslay's +photograph and diagram). + +The girdle of the chief figure is decorated both with shells (_Oliva_ or +_Conus_) and amulets representing human faces corresponding to the +Hathor-heads on the Narmer palette (Fig. 18).] + +Thus gradually there developed out of the cowry-amulet the conception of +a creator, the giver of life, health, and good luck. This Great Mother, +at first with only vaguely defined traits, was probably the first deity +that the wit of man devised to console him with her watchful care over +his welfare in this life and to give him assurance as to his fate in +the future. + +At this stage I should like to emphasize the fact that these beliefs had +taken shape long before any definite ideas had been formulated as to the +physiology of animal reproduction and before agriculture was practised. + +Man had not yet come to appreciate the importance of vegetable +fertility, nor had he yet begun to frame theories of the fertilizing +powers of water, or give specific expression to them by creating the god +Osiris in his own image. + +Nor had he begun to take anything more than the most casual interest in +the sun, the moon, and the stars. He had not yet devised a sky-world nor +created a heaven. When, for reasons that I have already discussed,[261] +the theory of the fertilizing and the animating power of water was +formulated, the beliefs concerning this element were assimilated with +those which many ages previously had grown up in explanation of the +potency of blood and shells. In addition to fertilizing the earth, water +could also animate the dead. The rivers and the seas were in fact a vast +reservoir of this animating substance. The powers of the cowry, as a +product of the sea, were rationalized into an expression of the great +creative force of the water. + +A bowl of water became the symbol of the fruitfulness of woman. Such +symbolism implied that woman, or her uterus, was a receptacle into which +the seminal fluid was poured and from which a new being emerged in a +flood of amniotic fluid. + +The burial of shells with the dead is an extremely ancient practice, for +cowries have been found upon human skeletons of the so-called "Upper +Palæolithic Age" of Southern Europe. + +At Laugerie-Basse (Dordogne) Mediterranean cowries were found arranged +in pairs upon the body; two pairs on the forehead, one near each arm, +four in the region of the thighs and knees, and two upon each foot. +Others were found in the Mentone caves, and are peculiarly important, +because, upon the same stratum as the skeleton with which they were +associated, was found part of a _Cassis rufa_, a shell whose habitat +does not extend any nearer than the Indian Ocean.[262] + +[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Diagrams illustrating the form of cowry-belts +worn in (a) East Africa and (b) Oceania respectively. + +(c) Ancient Indian girdle (from the figure of Sirima Devata on the +Bharat Tope), consisting of strings of pearls and precious stones, and +what seem to be (fourth row from the top) models of cowries. + +(d) The Copan girdle (from Fig. 19) in which both shells and heads of +deities are represented. The two objects suspended from the belt between +the heads recall Hathor's sistra.] + +These facts are very important. In the first place they reveal the great +antiquity of the practice of burying shells with the dead, presumably +for the purpose of "life-giving". Secondly, they suggest the possibility +that their magical value as givers of life may be more ancient than +their specific use as intensifiers of the fertility of women. Thirdly, +the association of these practices with the use of the shell _Cassis +rufa_ indicates a very early cultural contact between the people living +upon the North-Western shores of the Mediterranean in the Reindeer Age +and the dwellers on the coasts of the Indian Ocean; and the +probability that these special uses of shells by the former were +inspired by the latter. + +This hint assumes a special significance when we first get a clear view +of the more fully-developed shell-cults of the Eastern Mediterranean +many centuries later.[263] For then we find definite indications that +the cultural uses of shells were obviously borrowed from the Erythræan +area. + +Long before the shell-amulet became personified as a woman the +Mediterranean people had definitely adopted the belief in the cowry's +ability to give life and birth. + + +[258: As it is still called in the Semitic languages. In the Egyptian +Pyramid Texts there is a reference to a new being formed "by the vulva +of Tefnut" (Breasted).] + +[259: Many customs and beliefs of primitive peoples suggest that this +correlation of the attributes of blood and shells went much deeper than +the similarity of their use in burial ceremonies and for making +necklaces and bracelets. The fact that the monthly effusion of blood in +women ceased during pregnancy seems to have given rise to the theory, +that the new life of the child was actually formed from the blood thus +retained. The beliefs that grew up in explanation of the placenta form +part of the system of interpretation of these phenomena: for the +placenta was regarded as a mass of clotted blood (intimately related to +the child which was supposed to be derived from part of the same +material) which harboured certain elements of the child's mentality +(because blood was the substance of consciousness).] + +[260: See S. Reinach, "Les Déesses Nues dans l'Art Oriental et dans +l'Art Grec," _Revue Archéol._, T. XXVI, 1895, p. 367. Compare also the +figurines of the so-called Upper Palæolithic Period in Europe.] + +[261: Chapter I.] + +[262: The literature relating to these important discoveries has been +summarized by Wilfrid Jackson in his "Shells as Evidence of the +Migrations of Early Culture," pp. 135-7.] + +[263: Cowries were obtained in Neolithic sites at Hissarlik and Spain +(Siret, _op. cit._, p. 18).] + + +The Origin of Clothing. + +The cowry and its surrogates were supposed to be potent to confer +fertility on maidens; and it became the practice for growing girls to +wear a girdle on which to suspend the shells as near as possible to the +organ their magic was supposed to stimulate. Among many peoples[264] +this girdle was discarded as soon as the girls reached maturity. + +This practice probably represents the beginning of the history of +clothing; but it had other far-reaching effects in the domain of belief. + +It has often been claimed that the feeling of modesty was not the reason +for the invention of clothing, but that the clothes begat modesty.[265] +This doctrine contains a certain element of truth, but is by no means +the whole explanation. For true modesty is displayed by people who have +never worn clothes. + +Before mankind could appreciate the psychological fact that the wearing +of clothing might add to an individual's allurement and enhance her +sexual attractiveness, some other circumstances must have been +responsible for suggesting the experiments out of which this empirical +knowledge emerged. The use of a girdle (a) as a protection against +danger to life, and (b) as a means of conferring fecundity on +girls[266] provided the circumstances which enabled men to discover that +the sexual attractiveness of maidens, which in a state of nature was +originally associated with modesty and coyness, was profoundly +intensified by the artifices of clothing and adornment. + +Among people (such as those of East Africa and Southern Arabia) in which +it was customary for unmarried girls to adorn themselves with a girdle, +it is easy to understand how the meaning of the practice underwent a +change, and developed into a device for enhancing their charms and +stimulating the imaginations of their suitors. + +Out of such experience developed the idea of the magical girdle as an +allurement and a love-provoking charm or philtre. Thus Aphrodite's +girdle acquired the reputation of being able to _compel_ love. When +Ishtar removed her girdle in the under-world reproduction ceased in the +world. The Teutonic Brunhild's great strength lay in her girdle. In fact +magic virtues were conferred upon most goddesses in every part of the +world by means of a cestus of some sort.[267] But the outstanding +feature of Aphrodite's character as a goddess of love is intimately +bound up with these conceptions which developed from the wearing of a +girdle of cowries. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Two representations of Astarte (Qetesh). + +(a) The mother-goddess standing upon a lioness (which is her Sekhet +form): she is wearing her girdle, and upon her head is the moon and the +cow's horns, conventionalized so as to simulate the crescent moon. Her +hair is represented in the conventional form which is sometimes used as +Hathor's symbol. In her hands are the serpent and the lotus, which again +are merely forms of the goddess herself. + +(b) Another picture of Astarte (from Roscher's "Lexikon") holding the +papyrus sceptre which at times is regarded as an animate form of the +mother-goddess herself and as such a thunder weapon.] + +In the Biblical narrative, after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden +fruit, "the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were +naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons," +or, as the Revised Version expresses it, "girdles". The girdle of +fig-leaves, however, was originally a surrogate of the girdle of +cowries: it was an amulet to give fertility. The consciousness of +nakedness was part of the knowledge acquired as _the result_ of the +wearing of such girdles (and the clothing into which they developed), +and was not originally the motive that impelled our remote ancestors to +clothe themselves. + +The use of fig-leaves for the girdle in Palestine is an interesting +connecting link between the employment of the cowry and the mandrake for +similar purposes in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea and in Cyprus and +Syria respectively (_vide infra_). + +In Greece and Italy, the sweet basil has a reputation for magical +properties analogous to those of the cowry. Maidens collect the plant +and wear bunches of it upon their body or upon their girdles; while +married women fix basil upon their heads.[268] It is believed that the +odour of the plant will attract admirers: hence in Italy it is called +_Bacia-nicola_. "Kiss me, Nicholas".[269] + +In Crete it is a sign of mourning presumably because its life-prolonging +attributes, as a means of conferring continued existence to the dead, +have been so rationalized in explanation of its use at funerals. + +On New Year's day in Athens boys carry a boat and people remark, "St. +Basil is come from Cæsarea". + + +[264: See Jackson, _op. cit._, pp. 139 _et seq._] + +[265: For a discussion of this subject see the chapter on "The +Psychology of Modesty and Clothing," in William I. Thomas's "Sex and +Society," Chicago, 1907; also S. Reinach, "Cults, Myths, and Religions," +p. 177; and Paton, "The Pharmakoi and the Story of the Fall," _Revue +Archéol._, Serie IV. T. IX, 1907, p. 51.] + +[266: It is important to remember that shell-girdles were used by both +sexes for general life-giving and luck-bringing purposes, in the +funerary ritual of both sexes, in animating the dead or statues of the +dead, to attain success in hunting, fishing, and head-hunting, as well +as in games. Thus men also at times wore shells upon their belts or +aprons, and upon their implements and fishing nets, and adorned their +trophies of war and the chase with them. Such customs are found in all +the continents of the Old World and also in America, as, for example, in +the girdles of _Conus_- and _Oliva_-shells worn by the figures +sculptured upon the Copan stelæ. See, for example, Maudslay's pictures +of stele N, Plate 82 (Biologia Centrali-Americana; Archæology) _inter +alia_. But they were much more widely used by women, not merely by +maidens, but also by brides and married women, to heighten their +fertility and cure sterility, and by pregnant women to ensure safe +delivery in childbirth. It was their wider employment by women that +gives these shells their peculiar cultural significance.] + +[267: Witness the importance of the girdle in early Indian and American +sculptures: in the literature of Egypt, Babylonia, Western Europe, and +the Mediterranean area. For important Indian analogies and Egyptian +parallels see Moret, "Mystères Égyptiens," p. 91, especially note 3. The +magic girdle assumed a great variety of forms as the number of +surrogates of the cowry increased. The mugwort (Artemisia) of Artemis +was worn in the girdle on St. John's Eve (Rendel Harris, _op. cit._, p. +91): the people of Zante use vervain in the same way; the people of +France (Creuse et Corrères) rye-stalks; Eve's fig-leaves; in Vedic India +the initiate wore the "cincture of Munga's herbs"; and Kali had her +girdle of hands. Breasted, ("Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. +29) says: "In the oldest fragments we hear of Isis the great, who +_fastened on the girdle_ in Khemmis, when she brought her [censer] and +burned incense before her son Horus."] + +[268: This distinction between the significance of the amulet when worn +on the girdle and on the head (in the hair), or as a necklace or +bracelet, is very widespread. On the girdle it _usually_ has the +significance of stimulating the individual's fertility: worn elsewhere +it was intended to ward off danger to life, _i.e._ to give good luck. An +interesting surrogate of Hathor's distinctive emblem is the necklace of +golden apples worn by a priestess of Apollo (Rendel Harris, _op. cit._, +p. 42).] + +[269: De Gubernatis, "Mythologie des Plantes," Vol. II, p. 35.] + + +Pearls. + +During the chequered history of the Great Mother the attributes of the +original shell-amulet from which the goddess was sprung were also +changing and being elaborated to fit into a more complex scheme. The +magical properties of the cowry came to be acquired by other Red Sea +shells, such as _Pterocera_, the pearl oyster, conch shells, and others. +Each of these became intimately associated with the moon.[270] The +pearls found in the oysters were supposed to be little moons, drops of +the moon-substance (or dew) which fell from the sky into the gaping +oyster. Hence pearls acquired the reputation of "shining by night," like +the moon from which they were believed to have come: and every surrogate +of the Great Mother, whether plant, animal, mineral or mythical +instrument, came to be endowed with the power of "shining by night". But +pearls were also regarded as the quintessence of the shell's life-giving +properties, which were considered to be all the more potent because they +were sky-given emanations of the moon-goddess herself. Hence pearls +acquired the reputation of being the "givers of life" _par excellence_, +an idea which found literal expression in the ancient Persian word +_margan_ (from _mar_, "giver" and _gan_, "life"). This word has been +borrowed in all the Turanian languages (ranging from Hungary to +Kamskatckha), but also in the non-Turanian speech of Western Asia, +thence through Greek and Latin (_margarita_) to European languages.[271] +The same life-giving attributes were also acquired by the other +pearl-bearing shells; and at some subsequent period, when it was +discovered that some of these shells could be used as trumpets, the +sound produced was also believed to be life-giving or the voice of the +great Giver of Life. The blast of the trumpet was also supposed to be +able to animate the deity and restore his consciousness, so that he +could attend to the appeals of supplicants. In other words the noise +woke up the god from his sleep. Hence the shell-trumpet attained an +important significance in early religious ceremonials for the ritual +purpose of summoning the deity, especially in Crete and India, and +ultimately in widely distant parts of the world.[272] Long before these +shells are known to have been used as trumpets, they were employed like +the other Red Sea shells as "givers of life" to the dead in Egypt. Their +use as trumpets was secondary. + +And when it was discovered that purple dye could be obtained from +certain of the trumpet-shells, the colouring-matter acquired the same +life-giving powers as had already been conferred upon the trumpet and +the pearls: thus it became regarded as a divine substance and as the +exclusive property of gods and kings. + +Long before, the colour red had acquired magic potency as a surrogate of +life-giving blood; and this colour-symbolism undoubtedly helped in the +development of the similar beliefs concerning purple. + + +[270: For the details see Jackson, _op. cit._, pp. 57-69. Both the +shells and the moon were identified with the Great Mother. Hence they +were homologized the one with the other.] + +[271: Dr. Mingana has given me the following note: "It is very probable +that the Græco-Latin _margarita_, the Aramæo-Syriac _margarita_, the +Arabic _margan_, and the Turanian _margan_ are derived from the Persian +_mar-gân_, meaning both 'pearl' and 'life,' or etymologically 'giver, +owner, or possessor, of life'. The word _gan_, in Zend _yan_, is +thoroughly Persian and is undoubtedly the original form of this +expression."] + +[272: See Chapter II of Jackson's book, _op. cit._] + + +Sharks and Dragons. + +When the life-giving attributes of water were confused with the same +properties with which shells had independently been credited long +before, the shell's reputation was rationalized as an expression of the +vital powers of the ocean in which the mollusc was born. But the same +explanation was also extended to include fishes, and other denizens of +the water, as manifestations of similar divine powers. In the lecture on +"Dragons and Rain Gods" I referred to the identification of Ea, the +Babylonian Osiris, with a fish (p. 105). When the value of the pearl as +the giver of life impelled men to incur any risks to obtain so precious +an amulet, the chief dangers that threatened pearl-fishers were due to +sharks. These came to be regarded as demons guarding the treasure-houses +at the bottom of the sea. Out of these crude materials the imaginations +of the early pearl-fishers created the picture of wonderful submarine +palaces of Nâga kings in which vast wealth, not merely of pearls, but +also of gold, precious stones, and beautiful maidens (all of them +"givers of life," _vide infra_, p. 224), were placed under the +protection of shark-dragons.[273] The conception of the pearl (which is +a surrogate of the life-giving Great Mother) guarded by dragons is +linked by many bonds of affinity with early Erythræan and Mediterranean +beliefs. The more usual form of the story, both in Southern Arabian +legend and in Minoan and Mycenæan art, represents the Mother Goddess +incarnate in a sacred tree or pillar with its protecting dragons in the +form of serpents or lions, or a variety of dragon-surrogates, either +real animals, such as deer or cattle, or composite monsters (Fig. +26).[274] + +There are reasons for believing that these stories were first invented +somewhere on the shores of the Erythræan Sea, probably in Southern +Arabia. The animation of the incense-tree by the Great Mother, for the +reasons which I have already expounded,[275] formed the link of her +identification with the pearl, which probably acquired its magical +reputation in the same region. + +"In the Persian myth, the white Haoma is a divine tree, growing in the +lake Vourukasha: the fish Khar-mâhi circles protectingly around it and +defends it against the toad Ahriman. It gives eternal life, children to +women, husbands to girls, and horses to men. In the Minôkhired the tree +is called 'the preparer of the corpse'" (Spiegel, "Eran. Altertumskunde," +II, 115--quoted by Jung, "Psychology of the Unconscious," p. 532). The +idea of guarding the divine tree[276] by dragons was probably the result +of the transference to that particular surrogate of the Great Mother of +the shark-stories which originated from the experiences of the seekers +after pearls, her other representatives. + +There are many other bits of corroborative evidence to suggest that +these shell-cults and the legends derived from them were actually +transmitted from the Red Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean. Nor is it +surprising that this should have happened, when it is recalled that +Egyptian sailors were trafficking in both seas long before the Pyramid +Age, and no doubt carried the beliefs and the legends of one region to +the other. I have already referred to the adoption in the Mediterranean +area of the idea of the dragon-protectors of the tree- and pillar-forms +of the Great Mother, and suggested that this was merely a garbled +version of the pearl-fisher's experience of the dangers of attacks by +sharks. But the same legends also reached the Levant in a less modified +form, and then underwent another kind of transformation (and confusion +with the tree-version) in Cyprus or Syria. + +As the shark would be a not wholly appropriate actor in the +Mediterranean, its rôle is taken by its smaller Selachian relative, the +dog-fish. In the notes on Pliny's Natural History, Dr. Bostock and Mr. +H. T. Riley[277] refer to the habits of dog-fishes ("Canes marini"), and +quote from Procopius ("De Bell. Pers." B. I, c. 4) the following +"wonderful story in relation to this subject": "Sea-dogs are wonderful +admirers of the pearl-fish, and follow them out to sea.... A certain +fisherman, having watched for the moment when the shell-fish was +deprived of the attention of its attendant sea-dog, ... seized the +shell-fish and made for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was soon aware +of the theft, and making straight for the fisherman, seized him. Finding +himself thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the pearl-fish on +shore, immediately on which he was torn to pieces by its +protector."[278] + +Though the written record of this story is relatively modern the +incident thus described probably goes back to much more ancient times. +It is only a very slightly modified version of an ancient narrative of a +shark's attack upon a pearl-diver. + +For reasons which I shall discuss in the following pages, the rôle of +the cowry and pearl as representatives of the Great Mother was in the +Levant assumed by the mandrake, just as we have already seen the +Southern Arabian conception of her as a tree adopted in Mycenæan lands. +Having replaced the sea-shell by a land plant it became necessary, in +adapting the legend, to substitute for the "sea-dog" some land animal. +Not unnaturally it became a dog. Thus the story of the dangers incurred +in the process of digging up a mandrake assumed the well-known +form.[279] The attempt to dig up the mandrake was said to be fraught +with great danger. The traditional means of circumventing these risks +has been described by many writers, ancient and modern, and preserved in +the folk-lore of most European and western Asiatic countries. The story +as told by Josephus is as follows: "They dig a trench round it till the +hidden part of the root is very small, then they tie a dog to it, and +when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily +plucked up, but the dog dies immediately, as it were, instead of the man +that would take the plant away."[280] Thus the dog takes the place of +the dog-fish when the mandrake becomes the pearl's surrogate. The only +discrepancy between the two stories is the point to which Josephus calls +specific attention. For instead of the dog killing the thief, as the +shark (dog-fish) kills the stealer of pearls, the dog becomes the victim +as a substitute for the man. As Josephus remarks, "the dog dies +immediately, as it were, instead of the man that would take the plant +away". This distortion of the story is true to the traditions of +legend-making. The dog-incident is so twisted as to be transformed into +a device for plucking the dangerous plant without risk. + +It is quite possible that earlier associations of the dog with the Great +Mother may have played some part in this transference of meaning, if +only by creating confusion which made such rationalization necessary. I +refer to the part played by Anubis in helping Isis to collect the +fragments of Osiris; and the rôle played by Anubis, and his Greek +_avatar_ Cerberus, in the world of the dead. Whether the association of +the dog-star Sirius with Hathor had anything to do with the confusion is +uncertain.[281] + +There was an intimate association of the dog with the goddess of the +under-world (Hecate) and the ritual of rebirth of the dead.[282] Perhaps +the development of the story of the underworld-goddess Aphrodite's dog +and the mandrake may have been helped by this survival of the +association of Isis with Anubis, even if there is not a more definite +causal relationship between the dog-incidents in the various legends. + +The divine dog Anubis is frequently represented in connexion with the +ritual of rebirth,[283] where it is shown upon a standard in association +with the placenta. The hieroglyphic sign for the Egyptian word _mes_, +"to give birth," consists of the skins of three dogs (or jackals, or +foxes). The three-headed dog Cerberus that guarded the portal of Hades +may possibly be a distorted survival of this ancient symbolism of the +three-fold dog-skin as the graphic sign for the act of emergence from +the portal of birth. Elsewhere (p. 223) in this lecture I have referred +to Charon's _obolus_ as a surrogate of the life-giving pearl or cowry +placed in the mouth of the dead to provide "vital substance". Rohde[284] +regards Charon as the second Cerberus, corresponding to the Egyptian +dog-faced god Anubis: just as Charon received his _obolus_, so in Attic +custom the dead were provided with [Greek: melitoutia] the object of +which is usually said to be to pacify the dog of hell. + +What seems to link all these fantastic beliefs and customs with the +story of the dog and the mandrake is the fact that they are closely +bound up with the conception of the dog as the guardian of hidden +treasure. + +The mandrake story may have arisen out of a mingling of these two +streams of legend--the shark (dog-fish) protecting the treasures at the +bottom of the sea, and the ancient Egyptian beliefs concerning the +dog-headed god who presides at the embalmer's operations and +superintends the process of rebirth. + +The dog of the story is a representative of the dragon guarding the +goddess in the form of the mandrake, just as the lions over the gate at +Mycenæ heraldically support her pillar-form, or the serpents in Southern +Arabia protect her as an incense tree. Dog, Lion, and Serpent in these +legends are all representatives of the goddess herself, i.e. merely her +own _avatars_ (Fig. 26). + +At one time I imagined that the rôle of Anubis as a god of embalming and +the restorer of the dead was merely an ingenuous device on the part of +the early Egyptians to console themselves for the depredations of +jackals in their cemeteries. For if the jackal were converted into a +life-giving god it would be a comforting thought to believe that the +dead man, even though devoured, was "in the bosom of his god" and +thereby had attained a rebirth in the hereafter. In ancient Persia +corpses were thrown out for the dogs to devour. There was also the +custom of leading a dog to the bed of a dying man who presented him with +food, just as Cerberus was given honey-cakes by Hercules in his journey +to hell. But I have not been able to obtain any corroboration of this +supposition. It is a remarkable coincidence that the Great Mother has +been identified with the necrophilic vulture as Mut; and it has been +claimed by some writers[285] that, just as the jackal was regarded as a +symbol of rebirth in Egypt and the dead were exposed for dogs to devour +in Persia, so the vulture's corpse-devouring habits may have been +primarily responsible for suggesting its identification with the Great +Mother and for the motive behind the Indian practice of leaving the +corpses of the dead for the vultures to dispose of.[286] It is not +uncommon to find, even in English cathedrals, recumbent statues of +bishops with dogs as footstools. Petronius ("Sat.," c. 71) makes the +following statement: "valde te rogo, ut secundum pedes statuae meae +catellam pingas--ut mihi contingat tuo beneficio post mortem +vivere".[287] The belief in the dog's service as a guide to the dead +ranges from Western Europe to Peru. + +To return to the story of the dog and the mandrake: no doubt the demand +will be made for further evidence that the mandrake actually assumed the +rôle of the pearl in these stories. If the remarkable repertory of +magical properties assigned to the mandrake[288] be compared with those +which developed in connexion with the cowry and the pearl,[289] it will +be found that the two series are identical. The mandrake also is the +giver of life, of fertility to women, of safety in childbirth; and like +the cowry and the pearl it exerts these magical influences only if it be +worn in contact with the wearer's skin.[290] But the most definite +indication of the mandrake's homology with the pearl is provided by the +legend that "it shines by night". Some scholars,[291] both ancient and +modern, have attempted to rationalize this tradition by interpreting it +as a reference to the glow-worms that settle on the plant! But it is +only one of many attributes borrowed by the mandrake from the pearl, +which was credited with this remarkable reputation only when early +scientists conceived the hypothesis that the gem was a bit of moon +substance. + +As the memory of the real history of these beliefs grew dim, confusion +was rapidly introduced into the stories. I have already explained how +the diving for pearls started the story of the great palace of treasures +under the waters which was guarded by dragons. As the pearl had the +reputation of shining by night, it is not surprising that it or some of +its surrogates should in course of time come to be credited with the +power of "revealing hidden treasures," the treasures which in the +original story were the pearls themselves. Thus the magic fern-seed and +other treasure-disclosing vegetables[292] are surrogates of the +mandrake, and like it derive their magical properties directly or +indirectly from the pearl. + +The fantastic story of the dog and the mandrake provides the most +definite evidence of the derivation of the mandrake-beliefs from the +shell-cults of the Erythræan Sea. There are many other scraps of +evidence to corroborate this. I shall refer here only to one of these. +"The discovery of the art of purple-dyeing has been attributed to the +Tyrian tutelary deity Melkart, who is identified with Baal by many +writers. According to Julius Pollux ('Onomasticon,' I, iv.) and Nonnus +('Dionys.,' XL, 306) Hercules (Melkart) was walking on the seashore +accompanied by his dog and a Tyrian nymph, of whom he was enamoured. The +dog having found a _Murex_ with its head protruding from its shell, +devoured it, and thus its mouth became stained with purple. The nymph, +on seeing the beautiful colour, bargained with Hercules to provide her +with a robe of like splendour."[293] This seems to be another variant of +the same story. + + +[273: In Eastern Asia (see, for example, Shinji Nishimura, "The +Hisago-Bune," Tokio, 1918, published by the Tokio Society of Naval +Architects, p. 18, where the dragon is identified with the _wani_, which +can be either a crocodile or a shark); in Oceania (L. Frobenius, "Das +Zeitalter des Sonnengottes," Bd. I., 1904, and C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, +"Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval," _Journal of the Royal +Anthropological Institute_, Vol. XLV, 1915, p. 140); and in America (see +Thomas Gann, "Mounds in Northern Honduras," _Nineteenth Annual Report of +the Bureau of American Ethnology_, 1897-8, Part II, p. 661) the dragon +assumes the form of a shark, a crocodile, or a variety of other +animals.] + +[274: Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," _op. cit. +supra_: W. Hayes Ward, "The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," _op. cit._: +and Robertson Smith, "The Religion of the Semites," p. 133: "In +Hadramant it is still dangerous to touch the sensitive mimosa, because +the spirit that resides in the plant will avenge the injury". When men +interfere with the incense trees it is reported: "the demons of the +place flew away with doleful cries in the shape of white serpents, and +the intruders died soon afterwards".] + +[275: _Vide supra_, p. 38.] + +[276: In Western mythology the dragon guarding the fruit-bearing tree of +life is also identified with the Mother of Mankind (Campbell, "Celtic +Dragon Myth," pp. xli and 18). Thus the tree and its defender are both +surrogates of the Great Mother. When Eve ate the apple from the tree of +Paradise she was committing an act of cannibalism, for the plant was +only another form of herself. Her "sin" consisted in aspiring to attain +the immortality which was the exclusive privilege of the gods. This +incident is analogous to that found in the Indian tales where mortals +steal the _amrita_. By Eve's sin "death came into the world" for the +paradoxical reason that she had eaten the food of the gods which gives +immortality. The punishment meted out to her by the Almighty seems to +have been to inhibit the life-giving and birth-facilitating action of +the fruit of immortality, so that she and all her progeny were doomed to +be mortal and to suffer the pangs of child-bearing. + +There was a widespread belief among the ancients that ceremonies in +connexion with the gods must (to be efficacious) be done in the reverse +of the usual human way (Hopkins, "Religions of India," p. 201). So also +an act which gives immortality to the gods, brings death to man. + +The full realization of the fact that man was mortal imposed upon the +early theologians the necessity of explaining the immortality of the +gods. The elixir of life was the food of the gods that conferred eternal +life upon them. By one of those paradoxes so dear to the maker of myths +this same elixir brought death to man.] + +[277: Bohn's Edition, 1855, Vol. II, p. 433.] + +[278: A Cretan scene depicts a man attacking a dog-headed sea-monster +(Mackenzie, _op. cit._, "Myths of Crete," p. 139).] + +[279: A number of versions of this widespread fable have been collected +by Dr. Rendel Harris (_op. cit._) and Sir James Frazer (_op. cit._). I +quote here from the former (p. 118).] + +[280: Josephus, "Bell. Jud.," VII, 6, 3, quoted by Rendel Harris, _op. +cit._, p. 118.] + +[281: The dog-star became associated with Hathor for reasons which are +explained on p. 209. It was "the opener of the Way" for the birth of the +sun and the New Year.] + +[282: When Artemis acquired the reputation as a huntress and her deer +became her quarry the dog was rationalized into the new scheme.] + +[283: See, for example, Moret's "Mystères Égyptiens," pp. 77-80.] + +[284: "Psyche," p. 244.] + +[285: See, for example, Jung, _op. cit._, p. 268.] + +[286: Nekhebit, the Egyptian Vulture goddess, was identified by the +Greeks with Eileithyia, the goddess of birth (Wiedemann, "Religion of +the Ancient Egyptians," p. 141). She was usually represented as a +vulture hovering over the king. Her place can be taken by the falcon of +Horus or in the Babylonian story of Etana by the eagle. In the Indian +Mahábhárata the Garuda is described as "the bird of life ... destroyer +of all, creator of all".] + +[287: Quoted by Jung, _op. cit._, p. 530.] + +[288: See Rendel Harris (_op. cit._) and Sir James Frazer (_op. cit._).] + +[289: Jackson, _op. cit._] + +[290: An interesting rationalization (of which Mr. T. H. Pear has kindly +reminded me) of this ancient Oriental belief is still alive amongst +British women. It is maintained that pearls "lose their lustre" unless +they are worn in contact with the skin. This of course is a pure myth, +but also an illuminating survival.] + +[291: See Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 16, especially the references to the +"devil's candle" and "the lamp of the elves".] + +[292: Rendel Harris, _op. cit._, p. 113: Other factors played a part in +the development of this legend of opening up treasure-houses. Both +Artemis and Hecate are associated with a magical plant capable of +opening locks and helping the process of birth. Artemis is a goddess of +the portal and her life-giving symbol in a multitude of varied forms is +found appropriately placed above the lintel of doors.] + +[293: Jackson, _op. cit._, p. 195.] + + +The Octopus. + +Aphrodite was associated not only with the cowry, the pearl, and the +mandrake, but also with the octopus, the argonaut, and other +cephalopods. Tümpel seems to imagine that the identification of the +goddess with the argonaut and the octopus necessarily excludes her +association with molluscs; and Dr. Rendel Harris attributes an equally +exclusive importance to the mandrake. But in such methods of argument +due recognition is not given to the outstanding fact in the history of +primitive beliefs. The early philosophers built up their great +generalizations in the same way as their modern successors. They were +searching for some explanation of, or a working hypothesis to include, +most diverse natural phenomena within a concise scheme. The very essence +of such attempts was the institution of a series of homologies and +fancied analogies between dissimilar objects. Aphrodite was at one and +the same time the personification of the cowry, the conch shell, the +purple shell, the pearl, the lotus, and the lily, the mandrake and the +bryony, the incense tree and the cedar, the octopus and the argonaut, +the pig, and the cow. + +[Illustration: Fig. 21.--(a) A slate triad found by Professor G. A. +Reisner in the temple of the Third Pyramid at Giza. It shows the Pharaoh +Mycerinus supported on his right side by the goddess Hathor, represented +as a woman with the moon and the cow's horns upon her head, and on the +left side by a nome goddess, bearing upon her head the jackal-symbol of +her nome. + +(b) The Ecuador Aphrodite. Bas-relief from Cerro Jaboncillo (after +Saville, "Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador," Preliminary Report, 1907, +Plate XXXVIII). + +A grotesque composite monster intended to represent a woman (compare +Saville's Plates XXXV, XXXVI, and XXXIX), whose head is a +conventionalized Octopus, whose body is a _Loligo_, and whose limbs +are human.] + +Every one of these identifications is the result of a long and chequered +history, in which fancied resemblances and confusion of meaning play a +very large part. But I cannot too strongly repudiate the claim made by +Sir James Frazer that such events are merely so many evidences of the +innate human tendency to personify nature. The history of the arbitrary +circumstances that were responsible for the development of each one of +these homologies is entirely fatal to this wholly unwarranted +speculation.[294] Tümpel claims[295] the Aphrodite was associated more +especially with "a species of _Sepia_". He refers to the attempts to +associate the goddess of love with amulets of univalvular shells "in +virtue of a certain peculiar and obscene symbolism".[296] Naturalists, +however, designate with the term _Venus Cytherea_ certain gaping +bivalve molluscs. + +But, according to Tümpel (p. 386), neither univalvular nor bivalve +shells can be regarded as a real part of the goddess's cultural +equipment. There is no representation of Aphrodite coming in a shell +from across the sea.[297] The truly sacred Aphrodite-shell was entirely +different, so Tümpel believes: it was obviously difficult to preserve, +but for that reason more worthy of notice, for the small [Greek: +choirinai] (pectines), virginalia marina (Apuleius de mag. 34, 35, and +in reference thereto, Isidor. origg. 9, 5, 24) or spuria ([Greek: +sporia]) were only the commoner and more readily obtained surrogates: +the univalvular shells. + +([Greek: monothyra] of Aristotle), such as those just mentioned, and the +other [Greek: ostrea] of Aphrodite, the Nerites (periwinkles, etc.), the +purple shell and the Echineïs were also real Veneriae conchae. Among the +Nerites Aelian enumerates (N.A. 14, 28): [Greek: Aphroditên de +syndiaitômenên en tê thalattê hêsthênai te tô Nêritê tôde kai echein +auton philon]. On account of their supposed medicinal value in cases of +abortion and especially as a prophylactic for pregnant women the [Greek: +Echenêis] (pure Latin re[mi]mora) was called [Greek: ôdinolytê][298] +(Pliny, 32, 1, 5: pisciculus!). According to Mutianus (Pliny, 9, 25 +(41), 79 f.), it was a species of purple shell, but larger than the true +_Murex purpura_. From this the sanctity of the Echineïs to the Cnidian +Aphrodite is demonstrated: "quibus (conchis) inhaerentibus plenam ventis +stetisse navem portantem Periandro, ut castrarentur nobilis pueros, +conchasque, quae id praestiterint, apud Cnidiorum Venerem coli" (Pliny). + +Tümpel then (p. 387) accuses Stephani of being mistaken in his +interpretation of Martial's Cytheriacae (Epign. II, 47, 1 = purple +shells) as the amulets of Aphrodite, and claims that Jahn has given the +correct solution of the following passages from Pliny (N.H., 9, 33 [52], +103, compare 32, 11 [53]): "navigant ex his (conchis) veneriae, +praebentesque concavam sui partem et aurae opponentes per summa aequorum +velificant"; and further (9, 30[49], 94): "in Propontide concham esse +acatii modo carinatam inflexa puppe, prora rostrata, in hac condi +nauplium animal saepiae simile ludendi societate sola, duobus hoc fieri +generibus: tranquillum enim vectorem demissis palmulis ferire ut remis; +si vero flatus invitet, easdem in usu gubernaculi porrigi pandique +buccarum sinus aurae". + +Tümpel claims (pp. 387 and 388) that this quotation settles the +question. Aphrodite's "shell," according to him, is the _Nauplius_ +(depicted as a shell-fish, with its sail-like palmulæ spread out to the +wind, but with the same sails flattened into plate-like arms for +steering), clearly "a species of _Sepia_," wholly like Aphrodite +herself, a ship-like shell-fish sailing over the surface of the water, +the concha veneria. [The analogy to a ship bearing the Great Mother is +extremely ancient and originally referred to the crescent moon carrying +the moon-goddess across the heavenly ocean.] + +Elsewhere (p. 399) he discusses the reasons for the connexion of +Aphrodite with the "nautilus," by which is meant the argonaut of +zoologists. + +But if Jahn and Tümpel have thus clearly established the proof of the +intimate association of Aphrodite with certain cephalopods, they are +wholly unjustified in the assumption that their quotations from +relatively modern authors disprove the reality of the equally close +(though more ancient) relationship of the goddess to the cowry, the +pearl-shell, the trumpet-shell, and the purple-shell. + +It must not be forgotten that, as we have already seen, the primitive +shell-cults of the Erythræan Sea had been diffused throughout the +Mediterranean area long before Aphrodite was born upon the shores of the +Levant, and possibly before Hathor came into existence in the south. The +use of the cowry and gold models of the cowry goes back to an early time +in Ægean history.[299] And the influence of Aphrodite's early +associations had become blurred and confused by the development of new +links with other shells and their surrogates. + +But the connexion of Aphrodite with the octopus and its kindred played a +very obtrusive part in Minoan and Mycenæan art; and its influence was +spread abroad as far as Western Europe[300] and towards the East as far +as America. In many ways it was a factor in the development of such +artistic designs as the spiral and the volute, and not improbably also +of the swastika. + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--(a) _Sepia officinalis_, after Tryon, +"Cephalopoda". + +(b) _Loligo vulgaris_, after Tryon. + +(c) The position usually adopted by the resting Octopus, after Tryon.] + +Starting from the researches of Tümpel, a distinguished French +zoologist, Dr. Frédéric Houssay,[301] sought to demonstrate that the +cult of Aphrodite was "based upon a pre-existing zoological philosophy". +The argument in support of his claim that Aphrodite was a +personification of the octopus must be sharply differentiated into two +parts: first, the reality of the association of the octopus with the +goddess, of which there can be no doubt; and secondly, his explanation +of it, which (however popular it may be with classical writers and +modern scholars)[302] is not only a gratuitous assumption, but also, +even if it were based upon more valid evidence than the speculations +of such recent writers as Pliny, would not really carry the explanation +very far. + +I refer to his claim that "les premiers conquérants de la mer furent +induits en vénération du poulpe nageur (octopus) parce qu'ils crurent +que quelque-uns de ces céphalopodes, les poulpes sacrés (argonauta) +avaient, comme eux et avant eux, inventé la navigation" (_op. cit._, p. +15). Idle fancies of this sort do not help us to understand the +arbitrary beliefs concerning the magical powers of the octopus. + +The real problem we have to solve is to discover why, among all the +multitude of bizarre creatures to be found in the Mediterranean Sea, the +octopus and its allies should thus have been singled out for distinctive +appreciation, and also acquired the same remarkable attributes as the +cowry. + +I believe that the Red Sea "Spider shell," _Pterocera_,[303] was the +link between the cowry and the octopus. This shell was used, like the +cowry, for funerary purposes in Egypt and as a trumpet in India.[304] +But it was also depicted upon a series of remarkable primitive statues +of the god Min, which were found at Coptos during the winter 1893-4 by +Professor Flinders Petrie.[305] Some of these objects are now in the +Cairo Museum and the others in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. They are +supposed to be late predynastic representations of the god Min. If this +supposition is correct they are the earliest idols (apart from mere +amulets) that have been preserved from antiquity. + +Upon these statues, representations of the Red Sea shell _Pterocera +bryonia_ are sculptured in low relief. Mr. F. Ll. Griffith is +disinclined to accept my suggestion that the object of these pictures of +the shell was to animate the statues. But whether this was their purpose +or not, it is probably not without some significance that these +life-giving shells were associated with so obtrusively phallic a deity +as Min. In any case they afford concrete evidence of cultural contact +between Coptos and the Red Sea, and indicate that these particular +shells were chosen as symbols of that sea or its coast. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5--Pterocera Bryonia. the Red Sea Spider-shell. +_Col._--the columella 1-7--the "claws".] + +The distinctive feature of the _Pterocera_ is that the mantle in the +adult expands into a series of long finger-like processes each of which +secretes a calcareous process or "claw". There are seven[306] of these +claws as well as the long columella (Fig. 5). Hence, when the +shell-cults were diffused from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean (where +the _Pterocera_ is not found), it is quite likely that the people of the +Levant may have confused with the octopus some sailor's account of the +eight-rayed shell (or perhaps representations of it on some amulet or +statue). Whether this is the explanation of the confusion or not, it is +certain that the beliefs associated with the cowry and the octopus in +the Ægean area are identical with those linked up with the cowry and the +_Pterocera_ in the Red Sea. + +I have already mentioned that the mandrake is believed to possess the +same magical powers. Sir James Frazer has called attention to the fact +that in Armenia the bryony (_Bryonia alba_) is a surrogate of the +mandrake and is credited with the same attributes.[307] Lovell Reeve +("Conchologia Iconica," VI, 1851) refers to the Red Sea _Pterocera_ as +the "Wild Vine Root" species, previously known as _Strombus radix +bryoniae_; and Chemnitz ("Conch. Cab.," 1788, Vol. X, p. 227) says the +French call it "Racine de brione femelle imparfaite," and refer to it as +"the maiden". Here then is further evidence that this shell (a) was +associated in some way with a surrogate of the mandrake (Aphrodite), and +(b) was regarded as a maiden. Thus clearly it has a place in the +chequered history of Aphrodite. I have suggested the possibility of its +confusion with the octopus, which may have led to the inclusion of the +latter within the scope of the marine creatures in Aphrodite's cultural +equipment. According to Matthioli (Lib. 2, p. 135), another of +Aphrodite's creatures, the purple shell-fish, was also known as "the +maiden". By Pliny it is called Pelogia, in Greek [Greek: porphyra]; and +[Greek: porphyrômata] was the term applied to the flesh of swine that +had been sacrificed to Ceres and Proserpine (Hesych.). In fact, the +purple-shell was "the maiden" and also "the sow": in other words it was +Aphrodite. The use of the term "maiden" for the _Pterocera_ suggests a +similar identification. To complete this web of proof it may be noted +that an old writer has called the mandrake the plant of Circe, the +sorceress who turned men into swine by a magic draught.[308] Thus we +have a series of shells, plants, and marine creatures accredited with +identical magical properties, and each of them known in popular +tradition as "the maiden". They are all culturally associated with +Aphrodite. + +I shall have occasion (_infra_, p. 177) to refer to M. Siret's account +of the discovery of the Ægean octopus-motif upon Æneolithic objects in +Spain, and of the widespread use in Western Europe of certain +conventional designs derived from the octopus. M. Siret also (see the +table, Fig. 6, on p. 34 of his book) makes the remarkable claim that the +conventional form of the Egyptian Bes, which, according to Quibell,[309] +is the god whose function it is to preside over sexual intercourse in +its purely physical aspect, is derived from the octopus. If this is +true--and I am bound to admit that it is far from being proved--it +suggests that the Red Sea littoral may have been the place of origin of +the cultural use of the octopus and an association with Hathor, for Bes +and Hathor are said to have been introduced into Egypt from there.[310] + +That the octopus was actually identified with the Great Mother and also +with the dragon is revealed by the fact of the latter assuming an +octopus-form in Eastern Asia and Oceania, and by the occurrence of +octopus-motifs in the representation of the goddess in America. One of +the most remarkable series of pictures depicting the Great Mother is +found sculptured in low relief upon a number of stone slabs from Manabi +in Central America,[311] one of which I reproduce here (Fig. 21_b_). +The head of the goddess is a conventionalized octopus; to that was added +a body consisting of a _Loligo_; and, to give greater definiteness to +this remarkable process of building up the form of the goddess, +conventional representations of her arms and legs (and in some of the +sculptures also the _pudendum muliebre_) were added. Thus there can +be no doubt of the identification of this American Aphrodite and +the octopus. + +In the Polynesian Rata-myth there is a very instructive series of +manifestations of the dragon.[312] The first form assumed by the monster +in this story was a gaping shell-fish of enormous size; then it appeared +as a mighty octopus; and lastly, as a whale, into whose jaws the hero +Nganaoa sprang, as his representatives are said to have done elsewhere +throughout the world (Frobenius, _op. cit._, pp. 59-219). + +Houssay (_op. cit. infra_) calls attention to the fact that at times +Astarte was shown carrying an octopus as her emblem,[313] and has +suggested that it was mistaken for a hand, just as in America the +thunderbolt of Chac was given a hand-like form in the Dresden Codex +(_vide supra_. Fig. 13), and elsewhere (_e.g._ Fig. 12). + +If this suggestion should prove to be well founded it would provide a +more convincing explanation of the girdle of hands worn by the Indian +goddess Kali[314] than that usually given. If the "hands" really +represent surrogates of the cowry, the wearing of such a girdle brings +the Indian goddess into line, not only with Astarte and Aphrodite, but +also with the East African maidens who still wear the girdle of cowries. +Kali's exploits were in many respects identical with those of the +bloodthirsty Sekhet-manifestation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Just +as Sekhet had to be restrained by Re for her excess of zeal in murdering +his foes, so Siva had to intervene with Kali upon the battlefield +flooded with gore (as also in the Egyptian story) to spare the remnant +of his enemies.[315] + + +[294: Sir James Frazer, "Jacob and the Mandrakes," _Proc. Brit. +Academy_.] + +[295: K. Tümpel, "Die 'Muschel der Aphrodite,'" _Philologus, Zeitschrift +für das Classische Alterthum_, Bd. 51, 1892, p. 385: compare also, with +reference to the "Muschel der Aphrodite," O. Jahn, _SB. d. k. Sächs. G. +d. W._, VII, 1853, p. 16 ff.; also IX, 1855, p. 80; and Stephani, +_Compte rendu pour l'an 1870-71_, p. 17 ff.] + +[296: See Jahn, _op. cit._, 1855, T. V, 6, and T. IV, 8: figures of the +so-called [Greek: Choirinai] (from [Greek: Choiros] in the double sense +as "pig" and "the female pudendum"): Aristophanes, Eq. 1147; Vesp. 332; +Pollux, 8, 16; Hesch. s.v.] + +[297: The fact that no graphic representation of this event has been +found is surely a wholly inadequate reason for refusing to credit the +story. Very few episodes in the sacred history of the gods received +concrete expression in pictures or sculptures until relatively late. A +Hellenistic representation of the goddess emerging from a bivalve was +found in Southern Russia (Minns, "Scythians and Greeks," p. 345). + +Tümpel cites the following statements: "te (Venus) ex concha natam esse +autumant: cave tu harum conchas spernas!" Tibull. 3, 3, 24: "et faveas +concha, Cypria, vecta tua"; Statius Silv. 1, 2, 117: Venus to +Violentilla, "haec et caeruleïs mecum consurgere digna fluctibus et +nostra potuit considere concha"; Fulgent. myth. 2, 4 "concha etiam +marina pingitur (Venus) portari (I. HS:--am portare)"; Paulus Diacon. p. +52, "M. Cytherea Venus ab urbe Cythera, in quam primum devecta esse +dicitur concha, cum in mari esset concepta cet".] + +[298: From [Greek: ôdino]--"to have the pains of childbirth".] + +[299: See Schliemann, "Ilios," p. 455; and Siret, _op. cit_.] + +[300: Siret, _op. cit. supra_, p. 59.] + +[301: "Les Théories de la Genèse à Mycènes et le sens zoologique de +certains symboles du culte d'Aphrodite," _Revue Archéologique_, 3^ie +série, T. XXVI, 1895, p. 13.] + +[302: It was adduced also by Tümpel and others before him.] + +[303: or _Pteroceras_.] + +[304: Jackson, _op. cit._, p. 38.] + +[305: "Koptos," pp. 7-9, Pls. III. and IV.: for a discussion of the +significance of these statues see Jean Capart, "Les Débuts de l'Art en +Égypte," Brussels, 1904, p. 216 _et seq._] + +[306: This may help to explain the peculiar sanctity of the shell.] + +[307: Frazer, _op. cit._, 4.] + +[308: Just as Hathor (or her surrogate Horus) turned men into the +creatures of Set, _i.e._ pigs, crocodiles, _et cetera_.] + +[309: "Excavations at Saqqara," 1905-1906, p. 14.] + +[310: Maspero, "The Dawn of Civilization," p. 34.] + +[311: Saville, "Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador," 1907.] + +[312: A detailed summary of the literature relating to the world-wide +distribution of certain phases of the dragon-myth is given by Frobenius, +"Das Zeitalter des Sonnesgottes," Berlin, 1904: on pp. 63-5 he gives the +Rata-myth.] + +[313: Which can also be compared with the conventional form of the +thunderbolt.] + +[314: Of course the hands had the additional significance as trophies of +her murderous zeal. But I think this is a secondary rationalization of +their meaning. An excellent photograph of a bronze statue (in the +Calcutta Art Gallery), representing Kali with her girdle of hands, is +given by Mr. Donald A. Mackenzie, "Indian Myth and Legend," p. xl.] + +[315: F. T. Elworthy has summarized the extensive literature relating to +hand-amulets ("The Evil Eye," 1895; and "Horns of Honour," 1900). Many +of these hands have the definite reputation as fertility charms which +one would expect if Houssay's hypothesis of their derivation from the +octopus is well founded.] + + +The Swastika. + +Houssay (_op. cit. supra_) has made the interesting suggestion that the +swastika may have been derived from such conventionalized +representations of the octopus as are shown in Fig. 23. This series of +sketches is taken from Tümpel's memoir, which provided the foundation +for Houssay's hypothesis. + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--A series of Mycenæan conventionalizations of +the Argonaut and the Octopus (after Tümpel), which provided the basis +for Houssay's theory of the origin of the triskele (_a_, _c_, and _d_) +and swastika (b and e), and Siret's theory to explain the design of +Bes's face (f and g)] + +A vast amount of attention has been devoted to this lucky symbol,[316] +which still enjoys a widespread vogue at the present day, after a +history of several thousand years. Although so much has been written in +attempted explanation of the swastika since Houssay made his suggestion, +so far as I am aware no one has paid the slightest attention to his +hypothesis or made even a passing reference to his memoir.[317] +Fantastic and far-fetched though it may seem at first sight (though +surely not more so than the strictly orthodox solar theory advocated by +Mr. Cook or Mrs. Nuttall's astral speculations) Houssay's suggestion +offers an explanation of some of the salient attributes of the swastika +on which the alternative hypotheses shed little or no light. + +Among the earliest known examples of the symbol are those engraved upon +the so-called "owl-shaped" (but, as Houssay has conclusively +demonstrated, really octopus-shaped) vases and a metal figurine found by +Schliemann in his excavations of the hill at Hissarlik.[318] The +swastika is represented upon the _mons Veneris_ of these figures, which +represent the Great Mother in her form as a woman or as a pot, which is +an anthropomorphized octopus, one of the avatars of the Great Mother. +The symbol seems to have been intended as a fertility amulet like the +cowry, either suspended from a girdle or depicted upon a pubic shield or +conventionalized fig-leaf. + +Wherever it is found the swastika is supposed to be an amulet to confer +"good luck" and long life. Both this reputation and the association with +the female organs of reproduction link up the symbol with the cowry, the +_Pterocera_, and the octopus. It is clear then that the swastika has the +same reputation for magic and the same attributes and associations as +the octopus; and it may be a conventionalized representation of it, as +Houssay has suggested. + +It must not be assumed that the identification of the swastika with the +Great Mother and her powers of giving life and resurrection +_necessarily_ invalidates the solar and astral theories recently +championed by Mr. Cook and Mrs. Nuttall respectively. I have already +called attention to the fact that the Sun-god derived his existence and +all his attributes from his mother. The whole symbolism of the Winged +Disk and the Wheel of the Sun and their reputation for life-giving and +destruction were adopted from the Great Mother. These well-established +facts should prepare us to recognize that the admission of the truth of +Houssay's suggestion would not necessarily invalidate the more widely +accepted solar significance of the swastika. + +Tümpel called attention to the fact that, when they set about +conventionalizing the octopus, the Mycenæan artists often resorted to +the practice of representing pairs of "arms" as units and so making +four-limbed and three-limbed forms (Fig. 23), which Houssay regards as +the prototypes of the swastika and the triskele respectively. That such +a process may have played a part in the development of the symbol is +further suggested by the form of a Transcaucasian swastika found by +Rössler,[319] who assigns it to the Late Bronze or Early Iron Age. Each +of the four limbs is bifurcated at its extremity. Moreover they exhibit +the series of spots, so often found upon or alongside the limbs of the +symbol, which suggest the conventional way of representing the suckers +of the octopus in the Mycenæan designs (Fig. 23). + +Another remarkable picture of a swastika-like emblem has been found in +America.[320] The elephant-headed god sits in the centre and four pairs +of arms radiate from him, each of them equipped with definite suckers. + +Another possible way in which the design of a four-limbed swastika may +have been derived from an octopus is suggested by the gypsum weight +found in 1901 by Sir Arthur Evans[321] in the West Magazine of the +palace at Knossos (_circa_ 1500 B.C.). Upon the surface of this weight +the form of an octopus has been depicted, four of the arms of which +stand out in much stronger relief than the others. + +The number four has a peculiar mystical significance (_vide infra_, p. +206) and is especially associated with the Sun-god Horus. This fact may +have played some part in the process of reduction of the number of limbs +of the octopus to four; or alternatively it may have helped to emphasize +the solar associations of the symbol, which other considerations were +responsible for suggesting. The designs upon the pots from Hissarlik +show that at a relatively early epoch the swastika was confused with the +sun's disc represented as a wheel with four spokes.[322] But the solar +attributes of the swastika are secondary to those of life-giving and +luck-bringing, with which it was originally endowed as a form of the +Great Mother. + +The only serious fact which arouses some doubt as to the validity of +Houssay's theory is the discovery of an early painted vase at Susa +decorated with an unmistakable swastika. Edmond Pottier, who has +described the ceramic ware from Susa,[323] regards this pot as +Proto-Elamite of the earliest period. If Pottier's claim is justified we +have in this isolated specimen from Susa the earliest example of the +swastika. Moreover, it comes from a region in which the symbol was +supposed to be wholly absent. + +This raises a difficult problem for solution. Is the Proto-Elamite +swastika the prototype of the symbol whose world-wide migrations have +been studied by Wilson (_op. cit. supra_)? Or is it an instance of +independent evolution? If it falls within the first category and is +really the parent of the early Anatolian swastikas, how is it to be +explained? Was the conventionalization of the octopus design much more +ancient than the earliest Trojan examples of the symbol? Or was the +Susian design adopted in the West and given a symbolic meaning which it +did not have before then? + +These are questions which we are unable to answer at present because the +necessary information is lacking. I have enumerated them merely to +suggest that any hasty inferences regarding the bearing of the Susian +design upon the general problem are apt to be misleading. Vincent[324] +claims that the fact of the swastika having been in use by ceramic +artists in Crete and Susiana many centuries before the appearance of +Mycenæan art is fatal to Houssay's hypothesis. But I think it is too +soon to make such an assumption. The swastika was already a rigidly +conventionalized symbol when we first know it both in the Mediterranean +and in Susiana. It may therefore have a long history behind it. The +octopus may possibly have begun to play a part in the development of +this symbolism before the Egyptian Bes (_vide supra_, p. 171) was +evolved, perhaps even before the time of the Coptos statues of Min +(_supra_, p. 169), or in the early days of Sumerian history when the +conventional form of the water-pot was being determined (_infra_, p. +179). These are mere conjectures, which I mention merely for the purpose +of suggesting that the time is not yet ripe for using such arguments as +Vincent's finally to dispose of Houssay's octopus-theory. + +There can be no doubt that the symbolism of the Mycenæan spiral and the +volute is closely related to the octopus. In fact, the evidence provided +by Minoan paintings and Mycenæan decorative art demonstrates that the +spiral as a symbol of life-giving was definitely derived from the +octopus. The use of the volute on Egyptian scarabs[325] and also in the +decoration of an early Thracian statuette of a nude goddess[326] +indicate that it was employed like the spiral and octopus as a +life-symbol. + +In Spanish graves of the Early and Middle Neolithic types M. Siret found +cowry-shells in association with a series of flint implements, crude +idols, and pottery almost precisely reproducing the forms of similar +objects found with cowries and pecten shells at Hissarlik.[327] But when +the Æneolithic phase of culture dawned in Spain, and the Ægean +octopus-motif made its appearance there, the culture as a whole reveals +unmistakable evidence of a predominantly Egyptian inspiration. + +M. Siret claims, however, that, even in the Neolithic phase in Spain, +the crude idols represent forms derived from the octopus in the Eastern +Mediterranean (p. 59 _et seq._). He regards the octopus as "a +conventional symbol of the ocean, or, more precisely, of the fertilizing +watery principle" (p. 19). He elucidates a very interesting feature of +the Æneolithic representation of the octopus in Spain. The spiral-motif +of the Ægean gives place to an angular design, which he claims to be due +to the influence of the conventional Egyptian way of representing water +(p. 40). If this interpretation is correct--and, in spite of the +slenderness of the evidence, I am inclined to accept it--it affords a +remarkable illustration of the effects of culture-contact in the +conventionalization of designs, to which Dr. Rivers has called +attention.[328] Whatever explanation may be provided of this method of +representing the arms of the octopus with its angularly bent +extremities, it seems to have an important bearing on Houssay's +hypothesis of the swastika's origin. For it would reveal the means by +which the spiral or volute shape of the limbs of the swastika became +transformed into the angular form, which is so characteristic of the +conventional symbol.[329] + +The significance of the spiral as a form of the Great Mother inevitably +led to its identification with the thunder weapon, like all her other +surrogates. I have already referred (Chapter II, p. 98) to the +association of the spiral with thunder and lightning in Eastern Asia. +But other factors played a significant part in determining this +specialization. In Egypt the god Amen was identified with the ram; and +this creature's spirally curved horn became the symbol of the +thunder-god throughout the Mediterranean area,[330] and then further +afield in Europe, Africa, and Asia, where, for instance, we see Agni's +ram with the characteristic horn. This blending of the influence of the +octopus- and the ram's-horn-motifs made the spiral a conventional +representation of thunder. This is displayed in its most definite form +in China, Japan, Indonesia, and America, where we find the separate +spiral used as a thunder-symbol, and the spiral appendage on the side of +the head as a token of the god of thunder.[331] + + +[316: Thomas Wilson ("The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and its +Migrations; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in +Prehistoric Times," _Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1894_, +Washington, 1896) has given a full and well-illustrated summary of most +of the literature: further information is provided by Count d'Alviella +(_op. cit. supra_), "The Migration of Symbols"; by Zelia Nuttall ("The +Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations," +_Archæological and Ethnological Papers of the Peabody Museum_, +Cambridge, Mass., 1901); and Arthur Bernard Cook ("Zeus, A Study in +Ancient Religion," Vol. I, Cambridge, 1914, pp. 472 _et seq._).] + +[317: Since this has been printed Mr. W. J. Perry has called my +attention to a short article by René Croste ("Le Svastika," _Bull. +Trimestriel de la Société Bayonnaise d'Études Regionales_, 1918), in +which Houssay's hypothesis is mentioned as having been adopted by +Guilleminot ("Les Nouveaux Horizons de la Science").] + +[318: Wilson (_op. cit._, pp. 829-33 and Figs. 125, 128, and 129) has +collected the relevant passages and illustrations from Schliemann's +writings.] + +[319: _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, Bd. 37, p. 148.] + +[320: Seler, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, Bd., 41, p. 409.] + +[321: _Corolla Numismatica_, 1906, p. 342.] + +[322: A. B. Cook, "Zeus," pp. 198 _et seq_.] + +[323: "Etude Historique et Chronologique sur les Vases Peints de +l'Acropole de Suse," _Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse_, T. XIII, +_Rech. Archéol._, 5^e série, 1912, Plate XLI, Fig. 3.] + +[324: "Canaan," p. 340, footnote.] + +[325: Alice Grenfell, _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. II, 1915, +p. 217: and _Ancient Egypt_, 1916, Part I, p. 23.] + +[326: S. Reinach, _Revue Archéol._, T. XXVI, 1895, p. 369.] + +[327: L. Siret, "Questions de Chronologie et d'Ethnographie Ibériques," +1913, p. 18, Fig. 3.] + +[328: Rivers, "History of Melanesian Society," Vol. II, p. 374; also +_Report Brit. Association_, 1912, p. 599.] + +[329: M. Siret assigns the date of the appearance in Spain of the highly +conventionalized angular form of octopus to the time between the +fifteenth and the twelfth centuries B.C.; and he attributes it to +Phoenician influence (p. 63).] + +[330: Cook, "Zeus," p. 346 _et seq._] + +[331: This is well shown upon the Copan representations (Fig. 19) of the +elephant-headed god--see _Nature_, November, 25, 1915, p. 340.] + + +The Mother Pot. + +In the lecture on "Incense and Libations" (Chapter I) I referred to the +enrichment of the conception of water's life-giving properties which the +inclusion of the idea of human fertilization by water involved. When +this event happened a new view developed in explanation of the part +played by woman in reproduction. She was no longer regarded as the real +parent of mankind, but as the matrix in which the seed was planted and +nurtured during the course of its growth and development. Hence in the +earliest Egyptian hieroglyphic writing the picture of a pot of water was +taken as the symbol of womanhood, the "vessel" which received the seed. +A globular water-pot, the common phonetic value of which is _Nw_ or +_Nu_, was the symbol of the cosmic waters, the god _Nw (Nu)_, whose +female counterpart was the goddess _Nut_. + +In his report, "A Collection of Hieroglyphs,"[332] Mr. F. Ll. Griffith +discusses the bowl of water (a) and says that it stands for the female +principle in the words for _vulva_ and woman. When it is recalled that +the cowry (and other shells) had the same double significance, the +possibility suggests itself whether at times confusion may not have +arisen between the not very dissimilar hieroglyphic signs for "a shell" +(h) and "the bowl of water" (woman) (f).[333] + +[Illustration: Fig. 6. + +(a) Picture of a bowl of water--the hieroglyphic sign equivalent to _hm_ +(the word _hmt_ means "woman")--Griffith, "Beni Hasan," Part III, Plate +VI, Fig. 88 and p. 29. + +(b) "A basket of sycamore figs"--Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," Vol. +I, p. 323. + +(c) and (d) are said by Wilkinson to be hieroglyphic signs meaning +"wife" and are apparently taken from (b). But (c) is identical with (i), +which, according to Griffith (p. 14), represents a bivalve shell (g, +from Plate III, Fig. 3), more usually placed obliquely (h). The varying +conventionalizations of (a) or (b) are shown in (d), (e), and (f) +(Griffith, "Hieroglyphics," p. 34). + +(k) The sign for a lotus leaf, which is a phonetic equivalent of the +sign (h), and, according to Griffith ("Hieroglyphics," p. 26), "is +probably derived from the same root, on account of its shell-like +outline". + +(l) The hieroglyphic sign for a pot of water in such words as _Nu_ +and _Nut_. + +(m) A "pomegranate" (replacing a bust of Tanit) upon a sacred column at +Carthage (Arthur J. Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 46). + +(n) The form of the body of an octopus as conventionalized on the coins +of Central Greece (compare Fig. 24 (d)). Its similarity to the Egyptian +pot-sign (l) (which also has the significance of mother-goddess) is +worthy of note.] + +Referring to the sign (g and h) for "a shell," Mr. Griffith says (p. +25): "It is regularly found at all periods in the word _haw·t_ = +altar,[334] and perhaps only in this word: but it is a peculiarity of +the Pyramid Texts that the sign shown in the text-figures _c_, _h_, +and _i_ is in them used very commonly, not as a word-sign, but also +as a phonetic equivalent to the sign labelled _k_ (in the text-figure) +for _h'_ (_kha_), or apparently for _h_ alone in many words. + +"The name of the lotus leaf is probably derived from the same root, on +account of its shell-like outline or _vice versa_." + +[Illustration: Fig. 7. + +(a) An Egyptian design representing the sun-god Horus emerging from a +lotus, representing his mother Hathor (Isis). + +(b) Papyrus sceptre often carried by goddesses and animistically +identified with them either as an instrument of life-giving or +destruction. + +(c) Conventionalized lily--the prototype of the trident and the +thunder-weapon. + +(d) A water-plant associated with the Nile-gods.] + +The familiar representation of Horus (and his homologues in India and +elsewhere) being born from the lotus suggests that the flower represents +his mother Hathor. But as the argument in these pages has led us towards +the inference that the original form of Hathor was a shell-amulet,[335] +it seems not unlikely that her identification with the lotus may have +arisen from the confusion between the latter and the cowry, which no +doubt was also in part due to the belief that both the shell and the +plant were expressions of the vital powers of the water in which they +developed. + +The identification of the Great Mother with a pot was one of the factors +that played a part in the assimilation of her attributes with those of +the Water God, who in early Sumerian pictures was usually represented +pouring the life-giving waters from his pot (Fig. 24, _h_ and _l_). + +[Illustration: + +Fig. 24. + +(a) and (b) Two Mycenæan pots (after Schliemann). + +(a) The so-called "owl-shaped" vase is really a representation of the +Mother-Pot in the form of a conventionalized Octopus (Houssay). + +(b) The other vase represents the Octopus Mother-Pot, with a jar upon +her head and another in her hands--a three-fold representation of the +Great Mother as a pot. + +(c) A Cretan vase from Gournia in which the Octopus-motive is +represented as a decoration upon the pot instead of in its form. + +(d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) A series of coins from Central Greece (after +Head) showing a series of conventionalizations of the Octopus, with its +pot-like body and palm-tree-like arms (f). + +(i) _Sepia officinalis_ (after Tryon). + +(k) and (l) The so-called "spouting vases" in the hands of the +Babylonian god Ea, from a cylinder seal of the time of Gudea, Patesi of +Tello, after Ward ("Seal Cylinders, etc.," p. 215). + +The "spouting vases" have been placed in conjunction with the Sepia to +suggest the possibility of confusion with a conventionalized drawing of +the latter in the blending of the symbolism of the water-jar and +cephalopods in Western Asia and the Mediterranean.] + +This idea of the Mother Pot is found not only in Babylonia, Egypt, +India,[336] and the Eastern Mediterranean, but wherever the influence of +these ancient civilizations made itself felt. It is widespread among the +Celtic-speaking peoples. In Wales the pot's life-giving powers are +enhanced by making its rim of pearls. But as the idea spread, its +meaning also became extended. At first it was merely a jug of water or a +basket of figs, but elsewhere it became also a witch's cauldron, the +magic cup, the Holy Grail, the font in which a child is reborn into the +faith, the vessel of water here being interpreted in the earliest sense +as the uterus or the organ of birth. The Celtic pot, so Mr. Donald +Mackenzie tells me, is closely associated with cows, serpents, frogs, +dragons, birds, pearls, and "nine maidens that blow the fire under the +cauldron"; and, if the nature of these relationships be examined, each +of them will be found to be a link between the pot and the Great Mother. + +The witch's cauldron and the maidens who assist in the preparation of +the witch's medicine seem to be the descendants respectively of Hathor's +pots (in the story of the Destruction of Mankind) and the Sekti who +churn up the _didi_ and the barley with which to make the elixir of +immortality and the sedative draught for the destructive goddess +herself. + +Mr. Donald Mackenzie has given me a number of additional references from +Celtic and Indian literature in corroboration of these widespread +associations of the pot with the Great Mother; and he reminds me that in +Oceania the coco-nut has the same reputation as the pot in the Indian +_Mahabharata_. It is the source of food and anything else that is +wanted, and its supply can never be exhausted. [On some future occasion +I hope to make use of the wonderful legends of the pot's life-giving +powers, to which Mr. Mackenzie has directed my attention. At present, +however, I must content myself with the statement that the pot's +identity with the Great Mother is deeply rooted in ancient belief +throughout the greater part of the world.[337]] + +The diverse conceptions of the Great Mother as a pot and as an octopus +seem to have been blended in Mycenæan lands, where the so-called +"owl-shaped" pots were clearly intended to represent the goddess in both +these aspects united in one symbol. When the diffusion of these ideas +into more remote parts of the world took place syntheses with other +motives produced a great variety of most complex forms. In Honduras +pottery vessels have been found[338] which give tangible expression to +the blending of the ideas of the Mother Pot, the crocodile-like +_Makara_, star-spangled like Hathor's cow, Aphrodite's pig, and Soma's +deer, and provided with the deer's antlers of the Eastern Asiatic dragon +(see Chapter II, p. 103). + +The New Testament sets forth the ancient conception of birth and +rebirth. When Nicodemus asks: "How can a man be born again when he is +old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" he +is told: "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot +enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh: +and that which is born of the spirit is spirit" (John iii. 4, 5, and 6). + +The phrase "born of water" refers to the birth "of the flesh"; and the +mother's womb is the vessel containing "the water" from which the new +life emerges. Plutarch states, with reference to the birth of Isis: +"[Greek: tetartê de tên Isin en panygrois genesthai]". The great waters +which produced all living things, the Egyptian god Nun and the goddess +Nut, were expressed in hieroglyphic as pots of water. The goddess was +identified with Hathor's celestial star-spangled cow, the original +mother of the sun-god; and the word "Nun" was a symbol of all that was +new, young, and fresh, and the fertilizing and life-giving waters of the +annual inundation of the Nile. Hathor was the daughter of these waters, +as Aphrodite was sprung from the sea-foam. + + +[332: _Archæol. Survey of Egypt_, 1898, p. 3.] + +[333: Compare the two-fold meaning of the Latin _testa_ as "shell" and +"bowl".] + +[334: Compare the association of shells with altars in Minoan Crete and +the widespread use of large shells as bowls for "holy water" in +Christian churches.] + +[335: Miss Winifred M. Crompton, Assistant Keeper of the Egyptian +Department of the Manchester Museum, has called my attention to a +remarkable piece of evidence which affords additional corroboration of +the view that Hathor was a development of the cowry-amulet. Upon the +famous archaic palette of Narmer (Fig. 18), a sporran, composed of four +representations of Hathor's head, takes the place of the original +cowries that were suspended from more primitive girdles. + +The cowries of the head ornament of primitive peoples of Africa and Asia +(and of the Mediterranean area in early times--Schliemann's "Ilios," +Fig. 685) are often replaced in Egypt by lotus flowers (W. D. Spanton, +"Water Lilies of Egypt," _Ancient Egypt_, 1917, Part I, Figs. 19, 20, +and 21). Upon the head-band of the statue of Nefert, which I have +reproduced in Chapter I (Fig. 4), a conventional lotus design is found +(see Spanton's Fig. 19), which is almost identical with the classical +thunder-weapon.] + +[336: Among the Dravidian people at the present day the seven goddesses +(corresponding to the seven Hathors) are often represented by seven +pots.] + +[337: The luxuriant crop of stories of the Holy Grail was not inspired +originally by mere literary invention. A tradition sprung from the +fountain-head of all mythology, the parent-story of the Destruction of +Mankind, provided the materials which a series of writers elaborated +into the varied assortment of legends of the Mother Pot. The true +meaning of the Quest of the Holy Grail can be understood only by reading +the fabled accounts of it in the light of the ancient search for the +elixir of life and the historical development of the narrative +describing that search. + +A concise summary of the Grail literature will be found in Jessie L. +Weston's "The Quest of the Holy Grail" (1913). Her theory will be found, +after some slight modifications, to fall into line with the general +argument of this book. + +Mr. F. Ll. Griffith tells me that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for the verb +"coire cum" gives frank expression to the real meaning of the symbolism +of the pot as the matrix which receives the seed. The same idea provides +the material for the incident of the birth of Drona (the pot-born) in +the Adi Parva (Sections CXXXI, CXXXIX, and CLXVIII, in Roy's +translation) of the Mahabharata, to which Mr. Donald A. Mackenzie has +kindly called my attention. Drona was conceived in a pot from the seed +of a Rishi. A widespread variant of the same story is the conception of +a child from a drop of blood in a pot (see, for example, Hartland, +"Legend of Perseus," Vol. I, pp. 98 and 144). If the pot can thus create +a human being, it is easy to understand how it acquired its reputation +of being also able to multiply food and provide an inexhaustible supply. +Similarly, all substances, such as barley, rice, gold, pearls, and jade, +to which the possession of a special vital essence or "soul substance" +was attributed, were believed to be able to reproduce themselves and so +increase in quantity of their own activities. As "givers of life" they +were also able to add to their own life-substance, in other words to +grow like any other living being.] + +[338: "An American Dragon," _Man_, November, 1918.] + + +Artemis and the Guardian of the Portal. + +Sir Gardner Wilkinson states (see text-figure, p. 179, _b_) that "a +basket of sycamore figs" was originally the hieroglyphic sign for a +woman, a goddess, or a mother. Later on (p. 199) I shall refer to the +possible bearing of this Egyptian idea upon the origin of the Hebrew +word for mandrakes and the allusion to "a basket of figs" in the Book +of Jeremiah. + +The life-giving powers attributed to "love-apples" and the association +of these ideas with the fig-tree may have facilitated the transference +of these attributes of "apples" to those actually growing upon a tree. + +We know that Aphrodite was intimately associated, not only with +"love-apples," but also with real apples. The sun-god Apollo's connexion +with the apple-tree, which Dr. Rendel Harris, with great daring, wants +to convert into an identity of name, was probably only one of the +results of that long series of confusions between the Great Mother +(Hathor) and the Sun-god (Horus), to which I have referred in my +discussion of the dragon-story. + +But when Apollo's form emerges more clearly he is associated not with +Aphrodite but with Artemis, whom Dr. Rendel Harris has shown to be +identified with the mugwort, _Artemisia_. The association of the goddess +with this plant is probably related to the identification of Sekhet with +the marsh-plants of the Egyptian Delta and of Hathor and Isis with the +lotus and other water plants. Any doubt as to the reality of these +associations and Egyptian connexions is banished by the evidence of +Artemis's male counterpart Apollo Hyakinthos and his relations to the +sacred lily and other water plants.[339] Artemis was a gynæcological +specialist: for she assisted women not only in childbirth and the +expulsion of the placenta, but also in cases of amenorrhoea and +affections of the uterus. She was regarded as the goddess of the portal, +not merely of birth,[340] but also of gold and treasure, of which she +possessed the key, and of the year (January). + +This brings us back to the guardianship of gold and treasures which +plays so vital a part in the evolution of the Mediterranean goddesses. +For, like the story of the dog and the mandrake, it emphasizes the +conchological ancestry of these deities and their connexion with the +guardians of the subterranean palaces where pearls are found. But +Artemis was not only the opener of the treasure-houses, but she also +possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone: she could transmute +base substances into gold,[341] for was she not the offspring of the +Golden Hathor? To open the portal either of birth or wealth she used her +magic wand or key. As _Nub_, the lady of gold, the Great Mother could +not only change other substances into gold, but she was also the +guardian of the treasure house of gold, pearls, and precious stones. +Hence she could grant riches. Elsewhere in this chapter (p. 221) I shall +explain how the goddess came to be identified with gold. + +Just as Hathor, the Eye of Re, descended to provide the elixir of youth +for the king who was the sun-god, so Artemis is described as +travelling through the air in a car drawn by two serpents[342] seeking +the most pious of kings in order that she might establish her cult with +him and bless him with renewed youth.[343] + +Artemis was a moon-goddess closely related to Britomartis and Diktynna, +the Cretan prototype of Aphrodite. These goddesses afforded help to +women in childbirth and were regarded as guardians of the portal. The +goddess of streams and marshes was identified with the mugwort +(_Artemisia_), which was hung above the door in the place occupied at +other times by the winged disk, the thunder-stone, or a crocodile +(dragon). As the guardian of portals Artemis's magic plant could open +locks and doors. As the giver of life she could also withhold the vital +essence and so cause disease or death; but she possessed the means of +curing the ills she inflicted. Artemis, in fact, like all the other +goddesses, was a witch. + +In former lectures[344] I have often discussed the remarkable feature of +Egyptian architecture, which is displayed in the tendency to exaggerate +the door-posts and lintels, until in the New Empire the great temples +become transformed into little more than monstrously overgrown doorways +or pylons. I need not emphasize again the profound influence exerted by +this line of development upon the Dravidian temples of India and the +symbolic gateways of China and Japan. + +[Illustration: Fig. 25. + +(a) Winged Disk from the Temple of Thothmes I. + +(b) Persian design of Winged Disk above the Tree of Life (Ward, "Seal +Cylinders of Western Asia," Fig. 1109). + +(c) Assyrian or Syro-Hittite design of the Winged Disk and Tree of Life +in an extremely conventionalized form (Ward, Fig. 1310). + +(d) Assyrian conventionalized Winged Disk and Tree of Life, from the +design upon the dress of Assurnazipal (Ward, Fig. 670). + +(e) Part of the design from a tablet of the time of Dungi (Ward, Fig. +663). The Tree of Life (or the Great Mother) between the two mountains: +alongside the tree is the heraldic eagle. + +(f) Design on a Cretan sarcophagus from Hagia Triada (Blinkenberg, Fig. +9). The Tree of Life has now become the handle of the Double Axe, into +which the Winged Disk has been transformed. But the bird which was the +prototype of the Winged Disk has been added. + +(g) Double axe from a gold signet from Acropolis Treasure, Mycenæ (after +Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 10). + +(h) Assyrian Winged Disk (Ward, Fig. 608) showing reduplication of the +wing-pattern, possibly suggesting the doubling of each axe-blade in _g_. + +(i) "Primitive Chaldean Winged Gate" (Ward, Fig. 349). The Gate as the +Goddess of the Portal. + +(k) Persian Winged Disk (Ward, Fig. 1144) above a fire-altar in the form +suggestive of the mountains of dawn (compare Fig. 26, _c_). + +(l) An Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk crudely conventionalized +(Ward, Fig. 695). + +(m) Assyrian Tree of Life and "Winged Disk" in which the god is riding +in a crescent replacing the Disk (Ward, Fig. 695).] + +This significance of gates was no doubt suggested by the idea that they +represented the means of communication between the living and the dead, +and, symbolically, the portal by which the dead acquired a rebirth into +a new form of existence. It was presumably for this reason that the +winged disk as a symbol of life-giving, was placed above the lintels of +these doors, not merely in Egypt, Phoenicia, the Mediterranean Area, and +Western Asia, but also in America,[345] and in modified forms in India, +Indonesia, Melanesia, Cambodia, China, and Japan. + +The discussion (Chapter II) of the means by which the winged disk came +to acquire the power of life-giving, "the healing in its wings," will +have made it clear that the sun became accredited with these virtues +only when it assumed the place of the other "Eye of Re," the Great +Mother. In fact, it was a not uncommon practice in Egypt to represent +the eyes of Re or of Horus himself in place of the more usual winged +disk. In the Ægean area the original practice of representing the Great +Mother was retained long after it was superseded in Egypt by the use of +the winged disk (the sun-god). + +Over the lintel of the famous "Lion Gate" at Mycenæ, instead of the +winged disk, we find a vertical pillar to represent the Mother Goddess, +flanked by two lions which are nothing more than other representatives +of herself (Fig. 26). [Illustration: Fig. 26. + +(a) An Egyptian picture of Hathor between the mountains of the horizon +(on which trees are growing) (after Budge, "Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. +II, p. 101). [This is a part only of a scene in which the goddess Nut is +giving birth to the sun, whose rays illuminate Hathor on the horizon, as +Sothis, the "Opener of the Way" for the sun.] + +(b) The mountains of the horizon supporting a cow's head as a surrogate +of Hathor, from a stele found at Teima in Northern Arabia, now in the +Louvre (after Sir Arthur Evans, _op. cit._, p. 39). This indicates the +identity of what Evans calls "the horns of consecration" and the +"mountains of the horizon," and also suggests how confusion may have +arisen between the mountains and the cow's horns. + +(c) The Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash rising between the Eastern +Mountains, the Gates of Dawn (Ward, _op. cit._, p. 373). + +(d) The familiar Egyptian representation of the sun rising between the +Eastern Mountains (the splitting of the mountain giving birth to "the +ridiculous mouse"--Smintheus). The _ankh_ (life-sign) below the sun is +the determinative of the act of giving birth or life. The design is +heraldically supported by the Great Mother's lionesses. + +(e) Part of the design from a Mycenæan vase from Old Salamis (after +Evans, p. 9). The cow's head and the Eastern Mountains are shown +alongside one another, each of them supporting the Double Axe +representing the god. + +(f) Part of the design from a lentoid gem from the Idæan Cave, now in +the Candia Museum (after Evans, Fig. 25). If this design be compared +with the Egyptian picture (a), it will be seen that Hathor's place is +taken by the tree-form of the Great Mother, and the trees which in the +former (a) are growing upon the Eastern Mountains are now placed +alongside the "horns". In the complete design (_vide_ Evans, _op. cit._, +p. 44) a votary is represented blowing a conch-shell trumpet to animate +the deity in the sacred tree. + +(g) The Eastern Mountains supporting the pillar-form of the goddess +(after Evans, Fig. 66). + +(h) Another Mycenæan design comparable with (e). + +(i) Design from a signet-ring from Mycenæ (after Evans, Fig. 34). If +this be compared with the Egyptian picture (a) it will be noted that the +Great Mother is now replaced by a tree: the Eastern Mountains by bulls, +from whose backs the trees of the Eastern Mountains are sprouting. This +design affords interesting corroboration of the suggestion that the +Eastern Mountains may be confused with the cow's head (see _b_ and _c_) +or with the cow itself. Newberry (_Annals of Archæology and +Anthropology_, Liverpool, Vol. I, p. 28) has called attention to the +intimate association (in Protodynastic Egypt) of the Eastern Mountains, +the Bull and the Double Axe--a certain token of cultural contact +with Crete. + +(k) The famous sculpture above the Lion Gate at Mycenæ. The pillar form +of the Great Mother heraldically supported by her lioness-avatars, which +correspond to the cattle of the design (i) and the Eastern Mountains of +(a). The use of this design above the lintel of the gate brings it into +homology with the Winged Disk. The Pillar represents the Goddess, as the +Disk represents her Egyptian _locum tenens_, Horus; her destructive +representatives (the lionesses) correspond to the two uræi of the Winged +Disk design.] + +In his "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult," Sir Arthur Evans has shown that +all possible transitional forms can be found (in Crete and the Ægean +area) between the representation of the actual goddess and her +pillar-and tree-manifestations, until the stage is reached where the sun +itself appears above the pillar between the lions.[346] In the large +series of seals from Mesopotamia and Western Asia which have been +described in Mr. William Hayes Ward's monograph,[347] we find manifold +links between both the Egyptian and the Minoan cults. + +The tree-form of the Great Mother there becomes transformed into the +"tree of life" and the winged disk is perched upon its summit. Thus we +have a duplication of the life-giving deities. The "tree of life" of the +Great Mother surmounted by the winged disk which is really her surrogate +or that of the sun-god, who took over from her the power of life-giving +(Figs. 25 and 26). + +In an interesting Cretan sarcophagus from Hagia Triada[348] the +life-giving power is _tripled_. There is not only the tree representing +the Great Mother herself; but also the double axe (the winged-disk +homologue of the sun-god); and the more direct representation of him as +a bird perched upon the axe (Fig. 25, _f_). + +The identification of the Great Mother with the tree or pillar seems +also to have led to her confusion with the pestle with which the +materials for her draught of immortality was pounded. She was also the +bowl or mortar in which the pestle worked.[349] + +As the Great Mother became confused with the pestle, so, "the +Soma-plant, whose stalks are crushed by the priests to make the +Soma-libation, becomes in the _Vedas_ itself the Crusher or Smiter, by a +very characteristic and frequent Oriental conceit in accordance with +which the agent and the person or thing acted on are identified".[350] + +"The pressing-stones by means of which Soma is crushed typify +thunderbolts." "In the _Rig-Veda_, we read of him [Soma] as +_jyotihrathah_, _i.e._ 'mounted on a car of light' (IX, 5, 86, verse +43); or again: 'Like a hero he holds weapons in his hand ... mounted on +a chariot' (IX, 4, 76, verse 2)"--(p. 171). + +"Soma was the giver of power, of riches and treasures, flocks and herds, +but above all, the giver of immortality" (p. 140). + +Sir Arthur Evans is of opinion "that in the case of the Cypriote +cylinders the attendant monsters and, to a certain extent, the symbolic +column itself, are taken from an Egyptian solar cycle, and the inference +has been drawn that the aniconic pillars among the Mycenæans of Cyprus +were identified with divinities having some points in common with the +sun-gods Ra, or Horus, and Hathor, the Great Mother" (_op. cit._, pp. 63 +and 64). + +In attempting to find some explanation of how the tree or pillar of the +goddess came to be replaced in the Indian legend by Mount Meru, the +possibility suggests itself whether the aniconic form of the Great +Mother placed between two relatively diminutive hills may not have +helped, by confusion, to convert the cone itself into a yet bigger hill, +which was identified with Mount Meru, the summit of which in other +legends produced the _amrita_ of the gods, either in the form of the +soma plant that grew upon its heights, or the rain clouds which +collected there. But, as the subsequent argument will make clear, the +real reason for the identification of the Great Mother with a mountain +was the belief that the sun was born from the splitting of the eastern +mountain, which thus assumed the function of the sun-god's mother. +Possibly the association of the tops of mountains with cloud- and +rain-phenomena and the gods that controlled them played some part in +the development of the symbolism of mountains. [When I referred (in +Chapter II, p. 98) to the fact that what Sir Arthur Evans calls "the +horns of consecration" was primarily the split mountain of the dawn, I +was not aware that Professor Newberry ("Two Cults of the Old Kingdom," +_Annals of Archæology and Anthropology_, Liverpool, Vol. I, 1908, p. 28) +had already suggested this identification.] + +In the Egyptian story the god Re instructed the Sekti of Heliopolis to +pound the materials for the food of immortality. In the Indian version, +the gods, aware of their mortality, desired to discover some elixir +which would make them immortal. To this end, Mount Meru [the Great +Mother] was cast into the sea [of milk]. Vishnu, in his second avatar as +a tortoise[351] supported the mountain on his back; and the Nâga serpent +Vasuki was then twisted around the mountain, the gods seizing its head +and the demons his tail twirled the mountain until they had churned the +amrita or water of life. Wilfrid Jackson has called attention to the +fact that this scene has been depicted, not only in India and Japan, but +also in the Precolumbian _Codex Cortes_ drawn by some Maya artist in +Central America.[352] + +The horizon is the birthplace of the gods; and the birth of the deity is +depicted with literal crudity as an emergence from the portal between +its two mountains. The mountain splits to give birth to the sun-god, +just as in the later fable the parturient mountain produced the +"ridiculous mouse" (Apollo Smintheus). The Great Mother is described as +giving birth--"the gates of the firmament are undone for Teti himself at +break of day" [that is when the sun-god is born on the horizon]. "He +comes forth from the Field of Earu" (Egyptian Pyramid Texts--Breasted's +translation). + +In the domain of Olympian obstetrics the analogy between birth and the +emergence from the door of a house or the gateway of a temple is a +common theme of veiled reference. Artemis, for instance, is a goddess of +the portal, and is not only a helper in childbirth, but also grows in +her garden a magical herb which is capable of opening locks. This +reputation, however, was acquired not merely by reason of her skill in +midwifery, but also as an outcome of the legend[353] of the +treasure-house of pearls which was under the guardianship of the great +"giver of life" and of which she kept the magic key. She was in fact +the feminine form of Janus, the doorkeeper who presided over all +beginnings, whether of birth, or of any kind of enterprise or new +venture, or the commencement of the year (like Hathor). Janus was the +guardian of the door of Olympus itself, the gate of rebirth into the +immortality of the gods. + +The ideas underlying these conceptions found expression in an endless +variety of forms, material, intellectual, and moral, wherever the +influence of civilization made itself felt. I shall refer only to one +group of these expressions that is directly relevant to the +subject-matter of this book. I mean the custom of suspending or +representing the life-giving symbol above the portal of temples and +houses. Thus the plant peculiar to Artemis herself, the mugwort or +Artemisia, was hung above the door,[354] just as the winged disk was +sculptured upon the lintel, or the thunder-stone was placed above the +door of the cowhouse[355] to afford the protection of the Great Mother's +powers of life-giving to her own cattle. + +In the Pyramid Texts the rebirth of a dead pharaoh is described with +vivid realism and directness. "The waters of life which are in the sky +come. The waters of life which are in the earth come. The sky burns for +thee, the earth trembles for thee, before the birth of the god. The two +hills are divided, the god comes into being, the god takes possession of +his body. The two hills are divided, this Neferkere comes into being, +this Neferkere takes possession of his body. Behold this Neferkere--his +feet are kissed by the pure waters which are from Atum, which the +phallus of Shu made, which the vulva of Tefnut brought into being. They +have come, they have brought for thee the pure waters from their +father."[356] + +The Egyptians entertained the belief[357] that the sun-god was born of +the celestial cow Mehetweret, a name which means "Great Flood," and +is the equivalent of the primeval ocean Nun. In other words the +celestial cow Hathor, the embodiment of the life-giving waters of heaven +and earth, is the mother of Horus. So also Aphrodite was born of the +"Great Flood" which is the ocean. + +In his report upon the hieroglyphs of Beni Hasan,[358] Mr. Griffith +refers to the picture of "a woman of the marshes," which is read +_sekht_, and is "used to denote the goddess Sekhet, the goddess of the +marshes, who presided over the occupations of the dwellers there. Chief +among these occupations must have been the capture of fish and fowl and +the culture and gathering of water-plants, especially the papyrus and +the lotus". Sekhet was in fact a rude prototype of Artemis in the +character depicted by Dr. Rendel Harris.[359] + +It is perhaps not without significance that the root of a marsh plant, +the _Iris pseudacorus_[360] is regarded in Germany as a luck-bringer +which can take the place of the mandrake.[361] + +The Great Mother wields a magic wand which the ancient Egyptian scribes +called the "Great Magician". It was endowed with the two-fold powers of +life-giving and opening, which from the beginning were intimately +associated the one with the other from the analogy of the act of birth, +which was both an opening and a giving of life. Hence the "magic wand" +was a key or "opener of the ways," wherewith, at the ceremonies of +resurrection, the mouth was opened for speech and the taking of food, as +well as for the passage of the breath of life, the eyes were opened for +sight, and the ears for hearing. Both the physical act of opening (the +"key" aspect) as well as the vital aspect of life-giving (which we may +call the "uterine" aspect) were implied in this symbolism. Mr. Griffith +suggests that the form of the magic wand may have been derived from that +of a conventionalized picture of the uterus,[362] in its aspect as a +giver of life. But it is possible also that its other significance as an +"opener of the ways" may have helped in the confusion of the +hieroglyphic uterus-symbol with the key-symbol, and possibly also with +double-axe symbol which the vaguely defined early Cretan Mother-Goddess +wielded. For, as we have already seen (_supra_, p. 122), the axe also +was a life-giving divinity and a magic wand (Fig. 8). + +[Illustration: Fig. 8. + +(a) "Ceremonial forked object," or "magic wand," used in the ceremony of +"opening the mouth," possibly connected with (b) (a bicornuate uterus), +according to Griffith ("Hieroglyphics," p. 60). + +(c) The Egyptian sign for a key. + +(d) The double axe of Crete and Egypt.] + + +In his chapter on "the Origin of the Cult of Artemis," Dr. Rendel Harris +refers to the reputation of Artemis as the patron of travellers, and to +Parkinson's statement: "It is said of Pliny that if a traveller binde +some of the hearbe [Artemisia] with him, he shall feele no weariness at +all in his journey" (p. 72). Hence the high Dutch name _Beifuss_ is +applied to it. + +The left foot of the dead was called "the staff of Hathor" by the +Egyptians; and the goddess was said "to make the deceased's legs to +walk".[363] + +It was a common practice to tie flowers to a mummy's feet, as I +discovered in unwrapping the royal mummies. According to Moret (_op. +cit._) the flowers of Upper and Lower Egypt were tied under the king's +feet at the celebration of the Sed festival. + +Mr. Battiscombe Gunn (quoted by Dr. Alan Gardiner) states that the +familiar symbol of life known as the _ankh_ represents the string of a +sandal.[364] + +It seems to be worth considering whether the symbolism of the +sandal-string may not have been derived from the life-girdle, which in +ancient Indian medical treatises was linked in name with the female +organs of reproduction and the pubic bones. According to Moret (_op. +cit._, p. 91) a girdle furnished with a tail was used as a sign of +consecration or attainment of the divine life after death. Jung (_op. +cit._, p. 270), who, however, tries to find a phallic meaning in all +symbolism, claims that reference to the foot has such a significance. + + +[339: Evans, _op. cit._, p. 50.] + +[340: Her Latin representative, Diana, had a male counterpart and +conjugate, Dianus, _i.e._ Janus, of whom it was said: "Ipse primum Janus +cum puerperium concipitur ... aditum aperit recipiendo semini". For +other quotations see Rendel Harris, _op. cit._, p. 88 and the article +"Janus" in Roscher's "Lexikon".] + +[341: Rendel Harris, p. 73.] + +[342: No doubt the two uræi of the Saga of the Winged Disk.] + +[343: A. B. Cook, "Zeus," Vol. I, p. 244.] + +[344: _Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society_, 1916.] + +[345: "The Influence of Egyptian Civilization in the East and in +America," _Bulletin of the John Rylands Library_, 1916.] + +[346: Evans's, Fig. 41, p. 63.] + +[347: "The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," 1910.] + +[348: Paribeni, "Monumenti antichi dell'accademia dei Lincei," XIX, +punt. 1, pll. 1-3; and V. Duhn, "Arch. f. Religionswissensch.," XII, p. +161, pll. 2-4; quoted by Blinkenberg, "The Thunder Weapon," pp. 20 and +21, Fig. 9.] + +[349: Without just reason, many writers have assumed that the pestle, +which was identified with the handle used in the churning of the ocean +(see de Gubernatis, "Zoological Mythology," Vol II, p. 361), was a +phallic emblem. This meaning may have been given to the handle of the +churn at a later period, when the churn itself was regarded as the +Mother Pot or uterus; but we are not justified in assuming that this was +its primary significance.] + +[350: Gladys M. N. Davis, "The Asiatic Dionysos," p. 172.] + +[351: The tortoise was the vehicle of Aphrodite also and her +representatives in Central America.] + +[352: Jackson, "Shells, etc.," pp. 57 _et seq._] + +[353: _Vide supra_, p. 158.] + +[354: Rendel Harris, "The Ascent of Olympus," p. 80. In the building up +of the idea of rebirth the ancients kept constantly before their minds a +very concrete picture of the actual process of parturition and of the +anatomy of the organs concerned in this physiological process. This is +not the place to enter into a discussion of the anatomical facts +represented in the symbolism of the "giver of life" presiding over the +portal and the "two hills" which are divided at the birth of the deity: +but the real significance of the primitive imagery cannot be wholly +ignored if we want to understand the meaning of the phraseology used by +the ancient writers.] + +[355: Blinkenberg, "The Thunder-weapon," p. 72.] + +[356: Aylward M. Blackman, "Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient +Egypt," _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, March, +1918, p. 64.] + +[357: _Op. cit._, p. 60.] + +[358: "Archæol. Survey of Egypt," 5th Memoir, 1896, p. 31.] + +[359: See especially _op. cit._, p. 35, the goddess of streams and +marshes, who was also herself "the mother plant," like the mother of +Horus.] + +[360: Whose cultural associations with the Great Mother in the Eastern +Mediterranean littoral has been discussed by Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenæan +Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 49 _et seq._ Compare also _Apollo hyakinthos_ +as further evidence of the link with Artemis.] + +[361: P. J. Veth, "Internat. Arch. f. Ethnol.," Bd. 7, pp. 203 and 204.] + +[362: "Hieroglyphics," p. 60.] + +[363: Budge, "The Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. I, pp. 436 and 437.] + +[364: Alan Gardiner, "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings' +_Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_.] + + +The Mandrake. + +We have now given reasons for believing that the personification of the +mandrake was in some way brought about by the transference to the plant +of the magical virtues that originally belonged to the cowry shell. + +The problem that still awaits solution is the nature of the process by +which the transference was effected. + +When I began this investigation the story of the Destruction of Mankind +(see Chapter II) seemed to offer an explanation of the confusion. +Brugsch, Naville, Maspero, Erman, and in fact most Egyptologists, seemed +to be agreed that the magical substance from which the Egyptian elixir +of life was made was the mandrake. As there was no hint[365] in the +Egyptian story of the derivation of its reputation from the fancied +likeness to the human form, its identification with Hathor seemed to be +merely another instance of those confusions with which the pathway of +mythology is so thickly strewn. In other words, the plant seemed to have +been used merely to soothe the excited goddess: then the other +properties of "the food of the gods," of which it was an ingredient, +became transferred to the mandrake, so that it acquired the reputation +of being a "giver of life" as well as a sedative. If this had been true +it would have been a simple process to identify this "giver of life" +with the goddess herself in her rôle as the "giver of life," and her +cowry-ancestor which was credited with the same reputation. + +But this hypothesis is no longer tenable, because the word _d'd'_ +(variously transliterated _doudou_ or _didi_), which Brugsch[366] and +his followers interpreted as "mandragora," is now believed to have +another meaning. + +In a closely reasoned memoir, Henri Gauthier[367] has completely +demolished Brugsch's interpretation of this word. He says there are +numerous instances of the use of _d'd'_ (which he transliterates +_doudouiou_) in the medical papyri. In the Ebers papyrus "_doudou_ +d'Eléphantine broyé" is prescribed as a remedy for external application +in diseases of the heart, and as an astringent and emollient dressing +for ulcers. He says the substance was brought to Elephantine from the +interior of Africa and the coasts of Arabia. + +Mr. F. Ll. Griffith informs me that Gauthier's criticism of the +translation "mandrakes" is undoubtedly just: but that the substance +referred to was most probably "red ochre" or "hæmatite".[368] + +The relevant passage in the Story of the Destruction of Mankind (in Seti +I's tomb) will then read as follows: "When they had brought the red +ochre, the Sekti of Heliopolis pounded it, and the priestesses mixed the +pulverized substance with the beer, so that the mixture resembled human +blood". + +I would call special attention to Gauthier's comment that the +blood-coloured beer "had _some magical and marvellous property which is +unknown to us_".[369] + +In his dictionary Brugsch considered the determinative [Symbol: circle +over three vertical lines] to refer to the fruits of a tree which he +called "apple tree," on the supposed analogy with the Coptic [jiji +(janja iota janja iota)], _fructus autumnalis_, _pomus_, the Greek +[Greek: opôra]; and he proposed to identify the supposed fruit, then +transliterated _doudou_, with the Hebrew _doudaïm_, and translate it +_poma amatoria_, mandragora, or in German, _Alraune_. This +interpretation was adopted by most scholars until Gauthier raised +objections to it. + +As Loret and Schweinfurth have pointed out, the mandrake is not found in +Egypt, nor in fact in any part of the Nile Valley.[370] + +But what is more significant, the Greeks translated the Hebrew +_duda'im_ by [Greek: mandragoras] and the Copts did not use the +word [Coptic: jiji] in their translations, but either the Greek word or +a term referring to its sedative and soporific properties. Steindorff +has shown (_Zeitsch. f. Ægypt. Sprache_, Bd. XXVII, 1890, p. 60) that +the word in dispute would be more correctly transliterated "_didi_" +instead of "_doudou_". + +Finally, in a letter Mr. Griffith tells me the identification of _didi_ +with the Coptic [Coptic: jiji], "apple (?)" is philologically +impossible. + +Although this red colouring matter is thus definitely proved not to be +the fruit of a plant, there are reasons to suggest that when the story +of the Destruction of Mankind spread abroad--and the whole argument of +this book establishes the fact that it did spread abroad--the substance +_didi_ was actually confused in the Levant with the mandrake. We have +already seen that in the Delta a prototype of Artemis was already +identified with certain plants. + +In all probability _didi_ was originally brought into the Egyptian +legend merely as a surrogate of the life-blood, and the mixture of which +it was an ingredient was simply a restorer of youth to the king. But the +determinative (in the tomb of Seti I)--a little yellow disc with a red +border, which misled Naville into believing the substance to be yellow +berries--may also have created confusion in the minds of ancient +Levantine visitors to Egypt, and led them to believe that reference was +being made to their own yellow-berried drug, the mandrake. Such an +incident might have had a two-fold effect. It would explain the +introduction into the Egyptian story of the sedative effects of _didi_, +which would easily be rationalized as a means of soothing the maniacal +goddess; and in the Levant it would have added to the real properties of +mandrake[371] the magical virtues which originally belonged to _didi_ +(and blood, the cowry, and water). + +In my lecture on "Dragons and Rain Gods" (Chapter II) I explained that +the Egyptian story of the Destruction of Mankind is merely one version +of a saga of almost world-wide currency. In many of the non-Egyptian +versions[372] the rôle of _didi_ in the Egyptian story is taken by some +_vegetable_ product of a _red_ colour; and many of these versions reveal +a definite confusion between the red fruit and the red clay, thus +proving that the confusion of _didi_ with the mandrake is no mere +hypothetical device to evade a difficulty on my part, but did actually +occur. + +In the course of the development of the Egyptian story the red clay from +Elephantine became the colouring matter of the Nile flood, and this in +turn was rationalized as the blood or red clay into which the bodies of +the slaughtered enemies of Re were transformed,[373] and the material +out of which the new race of mankind was created.[374] In other words, +the new race was formed of _didi_. There is a widespread legend that the +mandrake also is formed from the substance of dead bodies[375] often +represented as innocent or chaste men wrongly killed, just as the red +clay was the substance of mankind killed to appease Re's wrath, "the +blood of the slaughtered saints".[376] + +But the original belief is found in a more definite form in the ancient +story that "the mandrake was fashioned out of the same earth whereof God +formed Adam".[377] In other words the mandrake was part of the same +substance as the earth _didi_.[378] + +Further corroboration of this confusion is afforded by a story from +Little Russia, quoted by de Gubernatis.[379] If bryony (a widely +recognized surrogate of mandrake) be suspended from the girdle all the +dead Cossacks (who, like the enemies of Re in the Egyptian story, had +been killed and broken to pieces in the earth) will come to life again. +_Thus we have positive evidence of the homology of the mandrake with red +clay or hæmatite._ + +The transference to the mandrake of the properties of the cowry (and the +goddesses who were personifications of the shell) and blood (and its +surrogates) was facilitated by the manifold homologies of the Great +Mother with plants. We have already seen that the goddess was identified +with: (a) incense-trees and other trees, such as the sycamore, which +played some definite part in the burial ceremonies, either by providing +the divine incense, the materials for preserving the body, or for making +coffins to ensure the protection of the dead, and so make it possible +for them to continue their existence; and (b) the lotus, the lily, the +iris, and other marsh plants,[380] for reasons that I have already +mentioned (p. 184). + +The Babylonian poem of Gilgamesh represents one of the innumerable +versions of the great theme which has engaged the attention of writers +in every age and country attempting to express the deepest longings of +the human spirit. It is the search for the elixir of life. The object of +Gilgamesh's search is a magic _plant_ to prolong life and restore youth. +The hero of the story went on a voyage by water in order to obtain what +appears to have been a marsh plant called _dittu_.[381] The question +naturally arises whether this Babylonian story and the name of the plant +played any part in Palestine in blending the Egyptian and Babylonian +stories and confusing the Egyptian elixir of life, the red earth _didi_, +with the Babylonian elixir, the plant _dittu_? + +In the Babylonian story a serpent-demon steals the magic plant, just as +in India _soma_, the food of immortality, is stolen. In Egypt Isis +steals Re's name,[382] and in Babylonia the Zu bird steals the tablets +of destiny, the _logos_. In Greek legend apples are stolen from the +garden of Hesperides. Apples are surrogates of the mandrake and _didi_. + +We have now seen that the mandrake is definitely a surrogate (a) of the +cowry and a series of its shell-homologues, and (b) of the red substance +in the Story of the Destruction of Mankind. + +There still remain to be determined (i) the means by which the mandrake +became identified with the goddess, (ii) the significance of the Hebrew +word _duda-im_, and (iii) the origin of the Greek word +_mandragora_. + +The answer to the first of these three queries should now be obvious +enough. As the result of the confusion of the life-giving magical +substance _didi_ with the sedative drug, mandrake, the latter acquired +the reputation of being a "giver of life" and became identified with +_the_ "giver of life," the Great Mother, the story of whose exploits was +responsible for the confusion. + +The erroneous identification of _didi_ with the mandrake was originally +suggested by Brugsch from the likeness of the word (then transliterated +_doudou_) with the Hebrew word _duda-im_ in Genesis, usually +translated "mandrakes". I have already quoted the opinion of Gauthier +and Griffith as to the error of such identification. But the evidence +now at our disposal seems to me to leave no doubt as to the reality of +the confusion of the Egyptian red substance with the mandrake. This +naturally suggests the possibility that the similarity of the sounds of +the words _may_ have played some part in creating the confusion: but it +is impossible to admit this as a factor in the development of the story, +because the Hebrew word probably arose out of the identification of the +mandrake with the Great Mother and not by any confusion of names. In +other words the similarity of the names of these homologous substances +is a mere coincidence. + +Dr. Rendel Harris claims (and Sir James Frazer seems to approve of the +suggestion) that the Hebrew word _duda-im_ was derived from +_dodim_, "love"; and, on the strength of this derivation, he soars +into a lofty flight of philological conjecture to transmute +_dodim_, into _Aphrodite_, "love" into the "goddess of love". It +would be an impertinence on my part to attempt to follow these +excursions into unknown heights of cloudland. + +But my colleagues Professor Canney and Principal Bennett tell me that +the derivation of _duda-im_ from _dodim_ is improbable; +and the former authority suggests that _duda-im_ may be merely +the plural of _dud_, a "pot".[383] Now I have already explained how a +pot came to symbolize a woman or a goddess, not merely in Egypt, but +also in Southern India, and in Mycenæan Greece, and, in fact, the +Mediterranean generally.[384] Hence the use of the term _dud_ for the +mandrake implies either (a) an identification of the plant with the +goddess who is the giver of life, or (b) an analogy between the form of +the mandrake-fruit and a pot, which in turn led to it being called a +pot, and from that being identified with the goddess.[385] + +I should explain that when Professor Canney gave me this statement he +was not aware of the fact that I had already arrived at the conclusion +that the Great Mother was identified with a pot and also with the +mandrake; but in ignorance of the meaning of the Hebrew words I had +hesitated to equate the pot with the mandrake. As soon as I received his +note, and especially when I read his reference to the second meaning, +"basket of figs," in Jeremiah, I recalled Mr. Griffith's discussion of +the Egyptian hieroglyphic ("a pot of water") for woman, wife, or +goddess, and the claim made by Sir Gardner Wilkinson that this manner of +representing the word for "wife" was apparently taken from a +conventionalized picture of "a basket of sycamore figs".[386] The +interpretation has now clearly emerged that the mandrake was called +_duda'im_ by the Hebrews because it was identified with the +Mother Pot. The symbolism involved in the use of the Hebrew word also +suggests that the inspiration may have come from Egypt, where a woman +was called "a pot of water" or "a basket of figs". + +When the mandrake acquired the definite significance as a symbol of the +Great Mother and the power of life-giving, its fruit, "the love apple," +became the quintessence of vitality and fertility. The apple and the +pomegranate became surrogates of the "love apple," and were graphically +represented in forms hardly distinguishable from pots, occupying places +which mark them out clearly as homologues of the Great Mother +herself.[387] + +But once the mandrake was identified with the Great Mother in the Levant +the attributes of the plant were naturally acquired from her local +reputation there. This explains the pre-eminently conchological aspect +of the magical properties of the mandrake and the bryony. + +I shall not attempt to refer in detail to the innumerable stories of red +and brown apples, of rowan berries, and a variety of other red fruits +that play a part in the folk-lore of so many peoples, such as _didi_ +played in the Egyptian myth. These fruits can be either elixirs of life +and food of the gods, or weapons for overcoming the dragon as Hathor +(Sekhet) was conquered by her sedative draught.[388] + +In his account of the peony, Pliny ("Nat. Hist.," Book XXVIII, Chap. LX) +says it has "a stem two cubits in length, accompanied by two or three +others, and of a reddish colour, with a bark like that of the laurel ... +the seed is enclosed in capsules, _some being red_ and some black ... it +has an _astringent taste_. The leaves of the female plant _smell like +myrrh_". Bostock and Riley, from whose translation I have made this +quotation, add that in reality the plant is destitute of smell. In the +Ebers papyrus _didi_ was mixed with incense in one of the +prescriptions;[389] and in the Berlin medical papyrus it was one of the +ingredients of a fumigation used for treating heart disease. If my +contention is justified, it may provide the explanation of how the +confusion arose by which the peony came to have attributed to it a +"smell like myrrh". + +Pliny proceeds: "Both plants [_i.e._ male and female] grow in the woods, +and they should always be taken up at night, it is said; as it would be +dangerous to do so in the day-time, the woodpecker of Mars being sure to +attack the person so engaged.[390] It is stated also that the person, +while taking up the root, runs great risk of being attacked with +[prolapsus ani].... Both plants are used[391] for various purposes: the +red seed, taken in red wine, about fifteen in number, arrest +menstruation; while the black seed, taken in the same proportion, in +either raisin or other wine, are curative of diseases of the uterus." I +refer to these red-coloured beverages and their therapeutic use in +women's complaints to suggest the analogy with that other red drink +administered to the Great Mother, Hathor. + +In his essay, "Jacob and the Mandrakes,"[392] Sir James Frazer has +called attention to the homologies between the attributes of the peony +and the mandrake and to the reasons for regarding the former as Aelian's +_aglaophotis_. + +Pliny states ("Nat. Hist.," Book XXIV, Chap. CII) that the +_aglaophotis_ "is found growing among the marble quarries of Arabia, on +the side of Persia," just as the Egyptian _didi_ was obtained near the +granite quarries at Aswan. "By means of this plant [aglaophotis], +according to Democritus, the Magi can summon the deities into their +presence when they please, "just as the users of the conch-shell trumpet +believed they could do with this instrument. I have already (p. 196) +emphasized the fact that all of these plants, mandrake, bryony, peony, +and the rest, were really surrogates of the cowry, the pearl, and the +conch-shell. The first is the ultimate source of their influence on +womankind, the second the origin of their attribute of _aglaophotis_, +and the third of their supposed power of summoning the deity. The +attributes of some of the plants which Pliny discusses along with the +peony are suggestive. Pieces of the root of the _achaemenis_ (? perhaps +_Euphorbia antiquorum_ or else a night-shade) taken in wine, torment the +guilty to such an extent in their dreams as to extort from them a +confession of their crimes. He gives it the name also of "hippophobas," +it being an especial object of terror to mares. The complementary story +is told of the mandrake in mediæval Europe. The decomposing tissues of +the body of an innocent victim on the gallows when they fall upon the +earth can become reincarnated in a mandrake--the _main de gloire_ of old +French writers. + +Then there is the plant _adamantis_, grown in Armenia and +Cappadocia, which when _presented to a lion makes the beast fall upon +its back_, and drop its jaws. Is this a distorted reminiscence of the +lion-manifestation of Hathor who was calmed by the substance _didi_? A +more direct link with the story of the destruction of mankind is +suggested by the account of the _ophiusa_, "which is found in +Elephantine, an island of Ethiopia". This plant is of a livid colour, +and hideous to the sight. Taken by a person in drink, it inspires such a +horror of serpents, which his imagination continually represents as +menacing him that he commits suicide at last: hence it is that persons +guilty of sacrilege are compelled to drink an infusion of it (Pliny, +"Nat. Hist.," XXIV, 102). I am inclined to regard this as a variant of +the myth of the Destruction of Mankind in which the "snake-plant" from +Elephantine takes the place of the uræi of the Winged Disk Saga, and +punishes the act of sacrilege by driving the delinquent into a state of +delirium tremens. + +The next problem to be considered is the derivation of the word +_mandragora_. Dr. Mingana tells me it is a great puzzle to discover any +adequate meaning. The attempt to explain it through the Sanskrit _mand_, +"joy," "intoxication," or _mantasana_, "sleep," "life," or _mandra_, +"pleasure," or _mantara_, "paradise tree," and _agru_, "unmarried, +violently passionate," is hazardous and possibly far-fetched. + +The Persian is _mardumgiah_, "man-like plant". + +The Syro-Arabic word for it is _Yabrouh_, Aramaic _Yahb-kouh_, "giver of +life". This is possibly the source of the Chinese _Yah-puh-lu_ (Syriac +_ya-bru-ha_) and _Yah-puh-lu-Yak_. The termination _Yak_ is merely the +Turanian termination meaning "diminutive". + +The interest of the Levantine terms for the mandrake lies in the fact +that they have the same significance as the word for pearl, _i.e._ +"giver of life". This adds another argument (to those which I have +already given) for regarding the mandrake as a surrogate of the pearl. +But they also reveal the essential fact that led to the identification +of the plant with the Mother-Goddess, which I have already discussed. + +In Arabic the mandrake is called _abou ruhr_, "father of life," _i.e._ +"giver of life".[393] + +In Arabic _margan_ means "coral" as well as "pearl". In the +Mediterranean area coral is explained as a new and marvellous plant +sprung from the petrified blood-stained branches on which Perseus hung +the bleeding head of Medusa. Eustathius ("Comment. ad Dionys. Perieget." +1097) derives [Greek: koralion] from [Greek: korê], personifying the +monstrous virgin: but Chæroboscos claims that it comes from [Greek: +korê] and [Greek: alion], because it is a maritime product used to make +ornaments for maidens. In any case coral is a "giver of life" and as +such identified with a maiden,[394] as the most potential embodiment of +life-giving force. But this specific application of the word for "giver +of life" was due to the fact that in all the Semitic languages, as well +as in literary references in the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, this phrase was +understood as a reference to the female organs of reproduction. The +same _double entendre_ is implied in the use of the Greek word for "pig" +and "cowry," these two surrogates of the Great Mother, each of which can +be taken to mean the "giver of life" or the "pudendum muliebre". + +Perhaps the most plausible suggestion that has been made as to the +derivation of the word "mandragora" is Delâtre's claim[395] that it is +compounded of the words _mandros_, "sleep," and _agora_, "object or +substance," and that mandragora means "the sleep-producing substance". + +This derivation is in harmony with my suggestion as to the means by +which the plant acquired its magical properties. The sedative substance +that, in the Egyptian hieroglyphs (of the Story of the Destruction of +Mankind), was represented by yellow spheres with a red covering was +confused in Western Asia with the yellow-berried plant which was known +to have sedative properties. Hence the plant was confused with the +mineral and so acquired all the magical properties of the Great Mother's +elixir. But the Indian name is descriptive of the actual properties of +the plant and is possibly the origin of the Greek word. + +Another suggestion that has been made deserves some notice. It has been +claimed that the first syllable of the name is derived from the Sanskrit +_mandara_, one of the trees in the Indian paradise, and the instrument +with which the churning of the ocean was accomplished.[396] The mandrake +has been claimed to be the tree of the Hebrew paradise; and a connexion +has thus been instituted between it and the _mandara_. This hypothesis, +however, does not offer any explanation of how either the mandrake or +the _mandara_ acquired its magical attributes. The Indian tree of life +was supposed to "sweat" _amrita_ just as the incense trees of Arabia +produce the divine life-giving incense. + +But there are reasons[397] for the belief that the Indian story of the +churning of the sea of milk is a much modified version of the old +Egyptian story of the pounding of the materials for the elixir of life. +The _mandara_ churn-stick, which is often supposed to represent the +phallus,[398] was originally the tree of life, the tree or pillar which +was animated by the Great Mother herself.[399] So that the _mandara_ is +homologous with the _mandragora_. But so far as I am aware, there is no +adequate reason for deriving the latter word from the former. + +The derivation from the Sanskrit words _mandros_ and _agora_ seems to +fit naturally into the scheme of explanation which I have been +formulating. + +In the Egyptian story the Sekti of Heliopolis pounded the _didi_ in a +mortar to make "the giver of life," which by a simple confusion might be +identified with the goddess herself in her capacity as "the giver of +life". This seems to have occurred in the Indian legend. Lakshmi, or +Sri, was born at the churning of the ocean. Like Aphrodite, who was born +from the sea-foam churned from the ocean, Lakshmi was the goddess of +beauty, love, and prosperity. + +Before leaving the problems of mandrake and the homologous plants and +substances, it is important that I should emphasize the rôle of blood +and blood-substitutes, red-stained beer, red wine, red earth, and red +berries in the various legends. These life-giving and death-dealing +substances were all associated with the colour red, and the destructive +demons Sekhet and Set were given red forms, which in turn were +transmitted to the dragon, and to that specialized form of the dragon +which has become the conventional way of representing Satan. + +[The whole of the mandrake legend spread to China and became attached to +the plants _ginseng_ and _shang-luh_--see de Groot, Vol. II, p. 316 _et +seq._; also Kumagusu Minakata, _Nature_, Vol. LI, April 25, 1895, p. +608, and Vol. LIV, Aug. 13, 1896, p. 343. The fact that the Chinese +make use of the Syriac word _yabruha_ (_vide supra_) suggests the source +of these Chinese legends.] + + +[365: As Maspero has specifically mentioned ("Dawn of Civilization," p. +166).] + +[366: "Die Alraune als altägyptische Zauberpflanze," _Zeitsch. f. Ægypt. +Sprache_, Bd. XXIX, 1891, pp. 31-3.] + +[367: "Le nom hiéroglyphique de l'argile rouge d'Eléphantine," _Revue +Égyptologique_, XI^e Vol., Nos. i.-ii., 1904, p. 1.] + +[368: It is quite possible that the use of the name "hæmatite" for this +ancient substitute for blood may itself be the result of the survival of +the old tradition.] + +[369: It is very important to keep in mind the two distinct properties +of _didi_: (a) its magical life-giving powers, and (b) its sedative +influence.] + +[370: In Chapter II, p. 118, I have given other reasons of a +psychological nature for minimizing the significance of the geographical +question.] + +[371: For the therapeutic effects of mandrake see the _British Medical +Journal_, 15 March, 1890, p. 620.] + +[372: Even in Egypt itself _didi_ may be replaced by fruit in the more +specialized variants of the Destruction of Mankind. Thus, in the Saga of +the Winged Disk, Re is reported to have said to Horus: "Thou didst put +grapes in the water which cometh forth from Edfu". Wiedemann ("Religion +of the Ancient Egyptians," p. 70) interprets this as meaning: "thou +didst cause the red blood of the enemy to flow into it". But by analogy +with the original version, as modified by Gauthier's translation of +_didi_, it should read: "thou didst make the water blood-red with +grape-juice"; or perhaps be merely a confused jumble of the two +meanings.] + +[373: In the Babylonian story of the Deluge "Ishtar cried aloud like a +woman in travail, the Lady of the gods lamented with a loud voice +(saying): The old race of man hath been turned back into clay, because I +assented to an evil thing in the council of the gods, and agreed to a +storm which hath destroyed my people that which I brought forth" (King, +"Babylonian Religion," p. 134). + +The Nile god, Knum, Lord of Elephantine, was reputed to have formed the +world of alluvial soil. The coming of the waters from Elephantine +brought life to the earth.] + +[374: In the Babylonian story, Bel "bade one of the gods cut off his +head and mix the earth with the blood that flowed from him, and from the +mixture he directed him to fashion men and animals" (King, "Babylonian +Religion," p. 56). Bel (Marduk) represents the Egyptian Horus who +assumes his mother's rôle as the Creator. The red earth as a surrogate +of blood in the Egyptian story is here replaced by earth _and_ blood. + +But Marduk created not only men and animals but heaven and earth also. +To do this he split asunder the carcase of the dragon which he had +slain, the Great Mother Tiamat, the evil _avatar_ of the Mother-Goddess +whose mantle had fallen upon his own shoulders. In other words, he +created the world out of the substance of the "giver of life" who was +identified with the red earth, which was the elixir of life in the +Egyptian story. This is only one more instance of the way in which the +same fundamental idea was twisted and distorted in every conceivable +manner in the process of rationalization. In one version of the Osirian +myth Horus cut off the head of his mother Isis and the moon-god Thoth +replaced it with a cow's head, just as in the Indian myth Ganesa's head +was replaced by an elephant's.] + +[375: See Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 9.] + +[376: Compare with this the story of Picus the giant who fled to Kirke's +isle and there was slain by Helios, the plant [Greek: môly] springing +from his blood (A. B. Cook, "Zeus," p. 241, footnote 15). For a +discussion of _moly_ see Andrew Lang's "Custom and Myth".] + +[377: Frazer, p. 6.] + +[378: In Socotra a tree (dracæna) has been identified with the dragon, +and its exudation, "dragon's blood," was called cinnabar, and confused +with the mineral (red sulphide of mercury), or simply with red ochre. In +the Socotran dragon-myth the elephant takes the hero's rôle, as in the +American stories of Chac and Tlaloc (see Chapter II). The word +_kinnabari_ was applied to the thick matter that issues from the dragon +when crushed beneath the weight of the dying elephant during these +combats (Pliny, XXXIII, 28 and VIII, 12). The dragon had a passion for +elephant's blood. Any thick red earth attributed to such combats was +called _kinnabari_ (Schoff, _op. cit._, p. 137). This is another +illustration of the ancient belief in the identification of blood and +red ochre.] + +[379: "Mythologie des Plantes," Vol. II, p. 101.] + +[380: In an interesting article on "The Water Lilies of Ancient Egypt" +(_Ancient Egypt_, 1917, Part I, p. 1) Mr. W. D. Spanton has collected a +series of illustrations of the symbolic use of these plants. In view of +the fact that the papyrus- and lotus-sceptres and the lotus-designs +played so prominent a part in the evolution of the Greek thunder-weapon, +it is peculiarly interesting to find (in the remote times of the Pyramid +Age) lotus designs built up into the form of the double-axe (Spanton's +Figs. 28 and 29) and the classical _keraunos_ (his Fig. 19).] + +[381: The Babylonian magic plant to prolong life and renew youth, like +the red mineral _didi_ of the Egyptian story. It was also "the plant of +birth" and "the plant of life".] + +[382: Müller, Quibell, Maspero, and Sethe regard the "round cartouche," +which the divine falcon often carries in place of the _ankh_-symbol of +life, as a representation of the royal name (R. Weill, "Les Origines de +l'Egypte pharaonique," _Annales du Musée Guimet_, 1908, p. 111). The +analogous Babylonian sign known as "the rod and ring" is described by +Ward (_op. cit._, p. 413) as "the emblem of the sun-god's supremacy," a +"symbol of majesty and power, like the tablets of destiny". + +As it was believed in Egypt and Babylonia that the possession of a name +"was equivalent to being in existence," we can regard the object carried +by the hawk or vulture as a token of the giving of life and the +controlling of destiny. It can probably be equated with the "tablets of +destiny" so often mentioned in the Babylonian stories, which the bird +god _Zu_ stole from Bel and was compelled by the sun-god to restore +again. Marduk was given the power to destroy or to create, _to speak the +word of command_ and to control fate, to wield the invincible weapon and +to be able to render objects invisible. This form of the weapon, "the +word" or _logos_, like all the other varieties of the thunder-weapon, +could "become flesh," in other words, be an animate form of the god. + +In Egyptian art it is usually the hawk of Horus (the homologue of +Marduk) which carries the "round cartouche," which is the _logos_, the +tablets of destiny.] + +[383: I quote Professor Canney's notes on the word _duda'im_ +(Genesis xxx. 14) verbatim: "The _Encyclopædia Biblica_ says (s.v. +'Mandrakes'): 'The Hebrew name, _duda'im_, was no doubt popularly +associated with _dodim_, [Hebrew: dodim], "love"; but its real +etymology (like that of [Greek: mandragoras]) is obscure". + + * * * * * + +"The same word is translated 'mandrakes' in Song of Songs vii. 13. + +"_Duda'im_ occurs also in Jeremiah xxiv, 1, where it is usually +translated 'baskets' ('baskets of figs'). Here it is the plural of a +word _dud_, which means sometimes a 'pot' or 'kettle,' sometimes a +'basket'. The etymology is again doubtful. + +"I should imagine that the words in Jeremiah and Genesis have somehow or +other the same etymology, and that _duda-im_ in Genesis has no +real connexion with _dodim_ 'love'. + +"The meaning 'pot' (_dud_, plur. _duda-im_) is probably more +original than 'basket'. Does _duda-im_ in Genesis and Song of +Songs denote some kind of pot or caldron-shaped flower or fruit?"] + +[384: The Mother Pot is really a fundamental conception of all religious +beliefs and is almost world-wide in its distribution.] + +[385: The fruit of the lotus (which is a form of Hathor) assumes a form +(Spanton, _op. cit._, Fig. 51) that is identical with a common +Mediterranean symbol of the Great Mother, called "pomegranate" by Sir +Arthur Evans (see my text-fig. 6, p. 179, _m_), which is a surrogate of +the apple and mandrake. The likeness to the Egyptian hieroglyph for a +jar of water (text-fig. 6, _l_) and the goddess _Nu_ of the fruit of the +poppy (which was closely associated with the mandrake by reason of its +soporific properties) may have assisted in the transference of their +attributes. The design of the water-plant (text-fig. 7, _d_) associated +with the Nile god may have helped such a confusion and exchange.] + +[386: "A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians," revised and +abridged, 1890, Vol. I, p. 323.] + +[387: See, for example, Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar +Worship," Fig. 27, p. 46.] + +[388: In a Japanese dragon-story the dragon drinks "sake" from pots set +out on the shore (as Hathor drank the _didi_ mixture from pots +associated with the river); and the intoxicated monster was then slain. +From its tail the hero extracted a sword (as in the case of the Western +dragons), which is now said to be the Mikado's state sword.] + +[389: See Gauthier, _op. cit._, pp. 2 and 3.] + +[390: Compare the dog-incident in the mandrake story.] + +[391: Bostock and Riley add the comment that "the peony has no medicinal +virtues whatever".] + +[392: _Proceedings of the British Academy_, Vol. VIII, 1917, p. 16 (in +the reprint).] + +[393: I am indebted to Dr. Alphonse Mingana for this information. But +the philological question is discussed in a learned memoir by the late +Professor P. J. Veth, "De Leer der Signatuur," _Internationales Archiv +für Ethnographie_, Leiden, Bd. VII, 1894, pp. 75 and 105, and especially +the appendix, p. 199 _et seq._, "De Mandragora, Naschrift op het tweede +Hoofdstuk der Verhandeling over de Leer der Signatuur".] + +[394: Like the _Purpura_ and the _Pterocera_, the bryony and other +shells and plants.] + +[395: Larousse, Article "Mandragore".] + +[396: I have already referred to another version of the churning of the +ocean in which Mount Meru was used as a churn-stick and identified with +the Great Mother, of whom the _mandara_ was also an avatar.] + +[397: Which I shall discuss in my forthcoming book on "The Story of the +Flood".] + +[398: The phallic interpretation is certainly a secondary +rationalization of an incident which had no such implication +originally.] + +[399: The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis ii. 17) +produced fruit the eating of which opened the eyes of Adam and Eve, so +that they realized their nakedness: they became conscious of sex and +made girdles of fig-leaves (_vide supra_, p. 155). In other words, the +tree of life had the power of love-provoking like the mandrake. In +Henderson's "Celtic Dragon Myth" (p. xl) we read: "The berries for which +she [Medb] craved were from the Tree of Life, the food of the gods, the +eating of which by mortals brings death," and further: "The berries of +the rowan tree are the berries of the gods" (p. xliii). I have already +suggested the homology between these red berries, the mandrake, and the +red ochre of Hathor's elixir. Thus we have another suggestion of the +identity of the tree of paradise and the mandrake.] + + +The Measurement of Time. + +It was the similarity of the periodic phases of the moon and of +womankind that originally suggested the identification of the Great +Mother with the moon, and originated the belief that the moon was the +regulator of human beings.[400] This was the starting-point of the +system of astrology and the belief in Fates. The goddess of birth and +death controlled and measured the lives of mankind. + +But incidentally the moon determined the earliest subdivision of time +into months; and the moon-goddess lent the sanctity of her divine +attributes to the number twenty-eight. + +The sun was obviously the determiner of day and night, and its rising +and setting directed men's attention to the east and the west as +cardinal points intimately associated with the daily birth and death of +the sun. We have no certain clue as to the factors which first brought +the north and the south into prominence. But it seems probable that the +direction of the river Nile,[401] which was the guide to the orientation +of the corpse in its grave, may have been responsible for giving special +sanctity to these other cardinal points. The association of the +direction of the deceased's head with the position of the original +homeland and the eventual home of the dead would have made the south a +"divine" region in Predynastic times. For similar reasons the north may +have acquired special significance in the Early Dynastic period.[402] + +When the north and the south were added to the other two cardinal points +the intimate association of the east and the west with the measurement +of time would be extended to include all the four cardinal points.[403] +Four became a sacred number associated with time-measurement, and +especially with the sun.[404] + +Many other factors played a part in the establishment of the sanctity +of the number four. Professor Lethaby has suggested[405] that the +four-sided building was determined by certain practical factors, such as +the desirability of fashioning a room to accommodate a woven mat, which +was necessarily of a square or oblong form. But the study of the +evolution of the early Egyptian grave and tomb-superstructures suggests +that the early use of slabs of stone, wooden boards, and mud-bricks +helped in the process of determining the four-sided form of house and +room. + +When, out of these rude beginnings, the vast four-sided pyramid was +developed, the direction of its sides was brought into relationship with +the four cardinal points; and there was a corresponding development and +enrichment of the symbolism of the number four. The form of the divine +house of the dead king, who was the god, was thus assimilated to the +form of the universe, which was conceived as an oblong area at the four +corners of which pillars supported the sky, as the four legs supported +the Celestial Cow. + +Having invested the numbers four and twenty-eight with special sanctity +and brought them into association with the measurement of time, it was a +not unnatural proceeding to subdivide the month into four parts and so +bring the number seven into the sacred scheme. Once this was done the +moon's phases were used to justify and rationalize this procedure, and +the length of the week was incidentally brought into association with +the moon-goddess, who had seven _avatars_, perhaps originally one for +each day of the week. At a later period the number seven was arbitrarily +brought into relationship with the Pleiades. + +The seven Hathors were not only mothers but fates also. Aphrodite was +chief of the fates. + +The number seven is associated with the pots used by Hathor's +priestesses at the celebration inaugurating the new year; and it plays a +prominent part in the Story of the Flood. In Babylonia the sanctity of +the number received special recognition. When the goddess became the +destroyer of mankind, the device seems to have been adopted of +intensifying her powers of destruction by representing her at times as +seven demons.[406] + +But the Great Mother was associated not only with the week and month but +also with the year. The evidence at our disposal seems to suggest that +the earliest year-count was determined by the annual inundation of the +river. The annual recurrence of the alternation of winter and summer +would naturally suggest in a vague way such a subdivision of time as the +year; but the exact measurement of that period and the fixing of an +arbitrary commencement, a New Year's day, were due to other reasons. In +the Story of the Destruction of Mankind it is recorded that the incident +of the soothing of Hathor by means of the blood-coloured beer (which, as +I have explained elsewhere,[407] is a reference to the annual Nile +flood) was celebrated annually on New Year's day. + +Hathor was regarded in tradition as the cause of the inundation. She +slaughtered mankind and so caused the original "flood": in the next +phase she was associated with the 7000 jars of red beer; and in the +ultimate version with the red-coloured river flood, which in another +story was reputed to be "the tears of Isis". + +Hathor's day was in fact the date of the commencement of the inundation +and of the year; and the former event marked the beginning of the year +and enabled men for the first time to measure its duration. Thus +Hathor[408] was the measurer of the year, the month, and the week; while +her son Horus (Chronus) was the day-measurer. + +In Tylor's "Early History of Mankind" (pp. 352 _et seq._) there is a +concise summary of some of the widespread stories of the Fountain of +Youth which restores youthfulness to the aged who drank of it or bathed +in it. He cites instances from India, Ethiopia, Europe, Indonesia, +Polynesia, and America. "The Moslem geographer, Ibn-el-Wardi, places the +Fountain of Life in the dark south-western regions of the earth" +(p. 353). + +The star Sothis rose heliacally on the first day of the Egyptian New +Year.[409] Hence it became "the second sun in heaven," and was +identified with the goddess of the New Year's Day. The identification of +Hathor with this "second sun"[410] may explain why the goddess is said +to have entered Re's boat. She took her place as a crown upon his +forehead, which afterwards was assumed by her surrogate, the +fire-spitting uræus-serpent. When Horus took his mother's place in the +myth, he also entered the sun-god's boat, and became the prototype of +Noah seeking refuge from the Flood in the ship the Almighty instructed +him to make. + +In memory of the beer-drinking episode in the Destruction of Mankind, +New Year's Day was celebrated by Hathor's priestesses in wild orgies of +beer drinking. + +This event was necessarily the earliest celebration of an anniversary, +and the prototype of all the incidents associated with some special day +in the year which have been so many milestones in the historical +progress of civilization. + +The first measurement of the year also naturally forms the +starting-point in the framing of a calendar. + +Similar celebrations took place to inaugurate the commencement of the +year in all countries which came, either directly or indirectly, under +Egyptian influence. + +The month [Greek: Aphrodisia] (so-called from the festival of the +goddess) began the calendar of Bithynia, Cyprus, and Iasos, just as +Hathor's feast was a New Year's celebration in Egypt. + +In the celebration of these anniversaries the priestesses of Aphrodite +worked themselves up in a wild state of frenzy; and the term [Greek: +hystêria][411] became identified with the state of emotional derangement +associated with such orgies. The common belief that the term "hysteria" +is derived directly from the Greek word for uterus is certainly +erroneous. The word [Greek: hystêria] was used in the same sense as +[Greek: Aphrodisia], that is as a synonym for the festivals of the +goddess. The "hysteria" was the name for the orgy in celebration of the +goddess on New Year's day: then it was applied to the condition produced +by these excesses; and ultimately it was adopted in medicine to apply to +similar emotional disturbances. Thus both the terms "hysteria" and +"lunacy"[412] are intimately associated with the earliest phases in the +moon-goddess's history; and their survival in modern medicine is a +striking tribute to the strong hold of effete superstition in this +branch of the diagnosis and treatment of disease.[413] + +I have already referred to the association of Artemis with the portal of +birth and rebirth. As the guardian of the door her Roman representative +Diana and her masculine _avatar_ Dianus or Janus gave the name to the +commencement of the year. The Great Mother not only initiated the +measurement of the year, but she (or her representative) lent her name +to the opening of the year in various countries. + +But the story of the Destruction of Mankind has preserved the record not +only of the circumstances which were responsible for originating the +measurement of the year and the making of a calendar, but also of the +materials out of which were formed the mythical epochs preserved in the +legends of Greece and India and many other countries further removed +from the original centre of civilization. When the elaboration of the +early story involved the destruction of mankind, it became necessary to +provide some explanation of the continued existence of man upon the +earth. This difficulty was got rid of by creating a new race of men from +the fragments of the old or from the clay into which they had been +transformed (_supra_, p. 196). In course of time this _secondary_ +creation became the basis of the familiar story of the _original_ +creation of mankind. But the story also became transformed in other +ways. Different versions of the process of destruction were blended into +one narrative, and made into a series of catastrophes and a succession +of acts of creation. I shall quote (from Mr. T. A. Joyce's "Mexican +Archæology," p. 50) one example of these series of mythical epochs or +world ages to illustrate the method of synthesis:-- + +When all was dark Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into the sun to give +light to men. + +1. This sun terminated in the destruction of mankind, including a race +of giants, by _jaguars_. + +2. The second sun was Quetzalcoatl, and his age terminated in a terrible +_hurricane_, during which mankind was transformed into monkeys. + +3. The third sun was Tlaloc, and the destruction came by a _rain of +fire_. + +4. The fourth was Chalchintlicue, and mankind was finally destroyed by a +_deluge_, during which they became fishes. + +The first episode is clearly based upon the story of the lioness-form of +Hathor destroying mankind: the second is the Babylonian story of Tiamat, +modified by such Indian influences as are revealed in the _Ramayana_: +the third is inspired by the Saga of the Winged Disk; and the fourth by +the story of the Deluge. + +Similar stories of world ages have been preserved in the mythologies of +Eastern Asia, India, Western Asia, and Greece, and no doubt were derived +from the same original source. + + +[400: The Greek Chronus was the son of Selene.] + +[401: Or possibly the situations of Upper and Lower Egypt.] + +[402: See G. Elliot Smith, "The Ancient Egyptians".] + +[403: The association of north and south with the primary subdivision of +the state probably led to the inclusion of the other two cardinal points +to make the subdivision four-fold.] + +[404: The number four was associated with the sun-god. There were four +"children of Horus" and four spokes to the wheel of the sun.] + +[405: "Architecture," p. 24.] + +[406: See the chapter on "Magic" in Jevons, "Comparative Religion". In +his article "Magic (Egyptian)," in Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion +and Ethics_ (p. 266), Dr. Alan Gardiner makes the following statement: +"The mystical potency attaching to certain _numbers_ doubtless +originated in associations of thought that to us are obscure. The number +seven, in Egyptian magic, was regarded as particularly efficacious. Thus +we find references to the seven Hathors: _cf._ [Greek: ai hepta Tychai +tou ouranou] (A. Dieterich, _Eine Mithrasliturgie_, Leipzig, 1910, p. +71): 'the seven daughters of Re,' who 'stand and weep and make seven +knots in their seven tunics'; and similarly 'the seven hawks who are in +front of the barque of Re'." + +Are the seven daughters of Re the seven days of the week, or the +representatives of Hathor corresponding to the seven days?] + +[407: Chapter II, p. 118.] + +[408: We have already seen that the primitive aspect of life-giving that +played an essential part in the development of the story we are +considering was the search for the means by which youth could be +restored. It is significant that Hathor's reputed ability to restore +youth is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts in association with her +functions as the measurer of years: for she is said "to turn back the +years from King Teti," so that they pass over him without increasing his +age (Breasted, "Thought and Religion in Ancient Egypt," p. 124).] + +[409: Breasted ("Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. 22) states +that as the inundation began at the rising of Sothis, the star of Isis, +sister of Osiris, they said to him [_i.e._ Osiris]: "The beloved +daughter, Sothis, makes thy fruits (rnpwt) in her name of 'Year' +(rnpt)".] + +[410: The Great Mother was identified with the moon, but when she became +specialized, her representative adopted Sothis or Venus as her star.] + +[411: "At Argos the principal fête of Aphrodite was called [Greek: +hystêria] because they offered sacrifices of pigs ("Athen." III, 49, 96; +"Clem. Alex. Protr." 33)"--Article "Aphrodisia," _Dict. des Antiquités_, +p. 308. The Greek word for pig had the double significance of "pig" and +"female organs of reproduction".] + +[412: Aphrodite sends Aphrodisiac "mania" (see Tümpel, _op. cit._, pp. +394 and 395).] + +[413: There is still widely prevalent the belief in the possibility of +being "moonstruck," and many people, even medical men who ought to know +better, solemnly expound to their students the influence of the moon in +producing "lunacy". If it were not invidious one could cite instances of +this from the writings of certain teachers of psychological medicine in +this country within the last few months. The persistence of these kinds +of traditions is one of the factors that make it so difficult to effect +any real reform in the treatment of mental disease in this country.] + + +The Seven-headed Dragon. + +I have already referred to the magical significance attached to the +number seven and the widespread references to the seven Hathors, the +seven winds to destroy Tiamat, the seven demons, and the seven fates. +In the story of the Flood there is a similar insistence on the +seven-fold nature of many incidents of good and ill meaning in the +narrative. But the dragon with this seven-fold power of wreaking +vengeance came to be symbolized by a creature with seven heads. + +A Japanese story told in Henderson's notes to Campbell's "Celtic Dragon +Myth"[414] will serve as an introduction to the seven-headed monster:-- + +"A man came to a house where all were weeping, and learned that the last +daughter of the house was to be given to a dragon with _seven or +eight_[415] heads who came to the sea-shore yearly to claim a victim. He +went with her, enticed the dragon to drink _sake_ from pots set out on +the shore, and then he slew the monster. From the end of his tail he +took out a sword, which is supposed to be the Mikado's state sword. He +married the maiden, and with her got a jewel or talisman which is +preserved with the regalia. A third thing of price so preserved is a +mirror." + +The seven-headed dragon is found also in the Scottish dragon-myth, and +the legends of Cambodia, India, Persia, Western Asia, East Africa, and +the Mediterranean area. + +The seven-headed dragon probably originated from the seven Hathors. In +Southern India the Dravidian people seem to have borrowed the Egyptian +idea of the seven Hathors. "There are seven Mari deities, all sisters, +who are worshipped in Mysore. All the seven sisters are regarded vaguely +as wives or sisters of Siva."[416] At one village in the Trichinopoly +district Bishop Whitehead found that the goddess Kaliamma was +represented by seven brass pots, and adds: "It is possible that the +seven brass pots represent seven sisters or the seven virgins sometimes +found in Tamil shrines" (p. 36). But the goddess who animates seven +pots, who is also the seven Hathors, is probably well on the way to +becoming a dragon with seven heads. + +There is a close analogy between the Swahili and the Gaelic stories that +reveals their ultimate derivation from Babylonia. In the Scottish story +the seven-headed dragon comes in a storm of wind and spray. The East +African serpent comes in a storm of wind and dust.[417] In the +Babylonian story seven winds destroy Tiamat. + +"The famous legend of the seven devils current in antiquity was of +Babylonian origin, and belief in these evil spirits, who fought against +the gods for the possession of the souls and bodies of men, was +widespread throughout the lands of the Mediterranean basin. Here is one +of the descriptions of the seven demons:-- + +"Of the seven the first is the south wind.... + +"The second is a dragon whose open mouth.... + +"The third is a panther whose mouth spares not. + +"The fourth is a frightful python.... + +"The fifth is a wrathful ... who knows no turning back. + +"The sixth is an on-rushing ... who against god and king [attacks]. + +"The seventh is a hurricane, an evil wind which [has no mercy]. + +"The Babylonians were inconsistent in their description of the seven +devils, describing them in various passages in different ways. In fact +they actually conceived of a very large number of these demons, and +their visions of the other evil spirits are innumerable. According to +the incantation of Shamash-shum-ukin fifteen evil spirits had come into +his body and + +"'My God who walks at my side they drove away.' + +"The king calls himself 'the son of his God'. We have here the most +fundamental doctrines of Babylonian theology, borrowed originally from +the religious beliefs of the Sumerians. For them man in his natural +condition, at peace with the gods and in a state of atonement, is +protected by a divine spirit whom they conceived of as dwelling in their +bodies along with their souls or 'the breath of life'. In many ways the +Egyptians held the same doctrine, in their belief concerning the +_ka_[418] or the soul's double. According to the beliefs of the +Sumerians and Babylonians these devils, evil spirits, and all evil +powers stand for ever waiting to attach (_sic_) (? attack) the divine +genius with each man. By means of insinuating snares they entrap mankind +in the meshes of their magic. They secure possession of his soul and +body by leading him into sin, or bringing him into contact with tabooed +things, or by overcoming his divine protector with sympathetic +magic.... These adversaries of humanity thus expel a man's god, or +genius, or occupy his body. These rituals of atonement have as their +primary object the ejection of the demons and the restoration of the +divine protector. Many of the prayers end with the petition, 'Into the +kind hands of his god and goddess restore him'. + +"Representations of the seven devils are somewhat rare.... The Brit. +Mus. figurine represents the demon of the winds with body of a dog, +scorpion tail, bird legs and feet" (S. Langdon, "A Ritual of Atonement +for a Babylonian King," _The Museum Journal_ [University of +Pennsylvania], Vol. VIII, No. 1, March, 1917, pp. 39-44). + +But the Babylonians not only adopted the Egyptian conception of the +power of evil as being seven demons, but they also seem to have fused +these seven into one, or rather given the real dragon seven-fold +attributes.[419] + +In "The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia"[420] (British Museum), +Marduk's weapon is compared to "the fish with seven wings". + +The god himself is represented as addressing it in these words: "The +tempest of battle, my weapon of fifty heads, which like the great +serpent of seven heads is yoked with seven heads, which like the strong +serpent of the sea (sweeps away) the foe". + +In the Japanese story which I have quoted, the number of the dragon's +heads is given as _seven_ or _eight_; and de Visser is at a loss to know +why "the number eight should be stereotyped in these stories of +[Japanese] dragons".[421] + +I have already emphasized the world-wide association of the +seven-headed dragon with storms. The Argonaut (usually called +"Nautilus" by classical scholars) was the prophet of ill-luck and the +storm-bringer: but, true to the paradox that runs through the whole +tissue of mythology, this form of the Great Mother is also a benevolent +warner against storms. This seems to be another link between the +seven-headed dragon and these cephalopoda. + +I would suggest, merely as a tentative working hypothesis, that the +process of blending the seven _avatars_ of the dragon into a +seven-headed dragon may have been facilitated by its identification with +the _Pterocera_ and the octopus. We know that the octopus and the +shell-fish were forms assumed by the dragon (see p. 172): the confusion +between the numbers seven and eight is such as might have been created +during the transference of the _Pterocera's_ attributes to the octopus +(_vide supra_, p. 170); and the Babylonian reference to "the fish with +seven wings," which was afterwards rationalized into "a great serpent +with seven heads," seems to provide the clue which explains the origin +of the seven-headed dragon. If Hathor was a seven-fold goddess and at +the same time was identified with the seven-spiked spider-shell +(_Pterocera_), the process of converting the shell-fish's seven "wings" +into seven heads would be a very simple one for an ancient story-teller. +If this hypothesis has any basis in fact, the circumstance that the +beliefs concerning the _Pterocera_ must (from the habitat of the +shell-fish) have come into existence upon the shores of Southern Arabia +would explain the appearance of the derived myth of the seven-headed +dragon in Babylonia. + +My attention was first called to the possibility of the octopus being +the parent of the seven-headed dragon, and one of the forms assumed by +the thunderbolt, by the design upon a krater from Apulia.[422] The +weapon seemed to be a conventionalization of the octopus. Though further +research has led me to distrust this interpretation, it has convinced me +of the intimate association of the octopus and the derived spiral +ornament with thunder and the dragon, and has suggested that the process +of blending the seven demons into a seven-headed demon has been assisted +by the symbolism of the octopus and the _Pterocera_. + + +[414: "The Celtic Dragon Myth," by J. F. Campbell, with the "Geste of +Fraoch and the Dragon," translated with introduction by George +Henderson, Edinburgh, 1911, p. 134.] + +[415: My italics.] + +[416: Henry Whitehead (Bishop of Madras), "The Village Gods of South +India," Oxford, 1916, p. 24.] + +[417: "The Celtic Dragon Myth," p. 136.] + +[418: See Chapter I, p. 47.] + +[419: I do not propose to discuss here the interesting problems raised +by this identification of the dragon with a man's good or evil spirit. +But it is worthy of note that while the Babylonian might be possessed by +seven evil spirits, the Egyptian could have as many as fourteen good +spirits or _kas_. In a form somewhat modified by the Indian and +Indonesian channels, through which they must have passed, these beliefs +still persist in Melanesia; and the illuminating account of them given +by C. E. Fox and F. W. Drew ("Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval," +_Journ. Roy. Anthropol. Inst._, Vol. XLV, 1915, p. 161), makes it easier +to us to form some conception of their original meaning in ancient +Babylonia and Egypt. The _ataro_ which possesses a man (and there may be +as many as a hundred of these "ghosts") leaves his body at death and +usually enters a shark (or in other cases an octopus, skate, turtle, +crocodile, hawk, kingfisher, tree, or stone).] + +[420: Vol. II, 19, 11-18, and 65, quoted by Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_, +p. 282.] + +[421: _Op. cit._, p. 150.] + +[422: A. B. Cook, "Zeus," Vol. I, p. 337, in which (Fig. 269) the rider +in the car is _welcoming_ the thunderbolt as a divine gift from heaven, +_i.e._ as a life-amulet, a giver of fertility and good luck. For a +design representing the octopus as a weapon of the god Eros see the +title-page of Usener's "Die Sintfluthsagen," 1899.] + + +The Pig. + +I have already referred to the circumstances that were responsible for +the identification of the cow with the Great Mother, the sky, and the +moon. Once this had happened, the process seems to have been extended to +include other animals which were used as food, such as the sheep, goat, +pig, and antelope (or gazelle and deer). In Egypt the cow continued to +occupy the pre-eminent place as a divine animal; and the cow-cult +extended from the Mediterreanean to equatorial Africa, to Western +Europe, and as far East as India. But in the Mediterranean area the pig +played a more prominent part than it did in Egypt.[423] In the latter +country Osiris, Isis, and especially Set, were identified with the pig; +and in Syria the place of Set as the enemy of Osiris (Adonis) was taken +by an actual pig. But throughout the Eastern Mediterranean the pig was +also identified with the Great Mother and associated with lunar and sky +phenomena. In fact at Troy the pig was represented[424] with the +star-shaped decorations with which Hathor's divine cow (in her rôle as a +sky-goddess) was embellished in Egypt. To complete the identification +with the cow-mother Cretan fable represents a sow suckling the infant +Minos or the youthful Zeus-Dionysus as his Egyptian prototype was +suckled by the divine cow. + +Now the cowry-shell was called [Greek: choiros] by the Greeks. The pig, +in fact, was identified both with the Great Mother and the shell; and it +is clear from what has been said already in these pages that the reason +for this strange homology was the fact that originally the Great Mother +was nothing more than the cowry-shell. + +But it was not only with the shell itself that the pig was identified +but also with what the shell symbolized. Thus the term [Greek: choiros] +had an obscene significance in addition to its usual meaning "pig" and +its acquired meaning "cowry". This fact seems to have played some part +in fixing upon the pig the notoriety of being "an unclean animal".[425] +But it was mainly for other reasons of a very different kind that the +eating of swine-flesh was forbidden. The tabu seems to have arisen +originally because the pig was a sacred animal identified with the Great +Mother and the Water God, and especially associated with both these +deities in their lunar aspects. + +According to a Cretan legend the youthful god Zeus-Dionysus was suckled +by a sow. For this reason "the Cretans consider this animal sacred, and +will not taste of its flesh; and the men of Præsos perform sacred rites +with the sow, making her the first offering at the sacrifice".[426] + +But when the pig also assumed the rôle of Set, as the enemy of Osiris, +and became the prototype of the devil, an active aversion took the place +of the sacred tabu, and inspired the belief in the unwholesomeness of +pig flesh. To this was added the unpleasant reputation as a dirty animal +which the pig itself acquired, for the reasons which I have already +stated. + +I have already referred to the irrelevance of Miss Jane Harrison's +denial of the birth of Aphrodite from the sea (p. 141). Miss Harrison +does not seem to have realized that in her book[427] she has collected +evidence which is much more relevant to the point at issue. For, in the +interesting account of the Eleusinian Mysteries (pp. 150 _et seq._), she +has called attention to the important rite upon the day "called in +popular parlance '[Greek: halade mystai],' 'to the sea ye mystics'" (p. +152), which, I think, has a direct bearing upon the myth of Aphrodite's +birth from the sea. + +The Mysteries were celebrated at full moon; and each of the candidates +for admission "took with him his own pharmakos,[428] a young pig". + +"Arrived at the sea, each man bathed with his pig" (p. 152). On one +occasion, so it is said, "when a mystic was bathing his pig, a +sea-monster ate off the lower part of his body" (p. 153). So important +was the pig in this ritual "that when Eleusis was permitted (B.C. +350-327) to issue her autonomous coinage it is the pig she chooses as +the sign and symbol of her mysteries" (p. 153). + +"On the final day of the Mysteries, according to Athenæus, two vessels +called _plemochoæ_ are emptied, one towards the East and the other +towards the West, and at the moment of outpouring a mystic formulary +was pronounced.... What the mystic formulary was we cannot certainly +say, but it is tempting to connect the libation of the _plemochoæ_ with +a formulary recorded by Proclos. He says 'In the Eleusinian mysteries, +looking up to the sky they cried aloud "Rain," and looking down to earth +they cried "Be fruitful"'" (p. 161). + +In these latter incidents we see, perhaps, a distant echo of Hathor's +pots of blood-coloured beer that were poured out upon the soil, which in +a later version of the story became the symbol of the inundation of the +river and the token of the earth's fruitfulness. The personification in +the Great Mother of these life-giving powers of the river occurred at +about the same time; and this was rationalized by the myth that she was +born of the sea. She was also identified with the moon and a sow. Hence +these Mysteries were celebrated, both in Egypt and in the Mediterranean, +at full moon, and the pig played a prominent part in them. The +candidates washed the sacrificial pig in the sea, not primarily as a +rite of purification,[429] as is commonly claimed, but because the +sacrificial animal was merely a surrogate of the cowry, which lived in +the sea, and of the Great Mother,[430] who was sprung from the cowry and +hence born of the sea. In the story of the man carrying the pig being +attacked by a sea-monster, perhaps we have an incident of that +widespread story of the shark guarding the pearls. We have already seen +how it was distorted into the fantastic legend of the dog's rôle in the +digging up of mandrakes. In the version we are now considering the +pearl's place is taken by the pig, both of them surrogates of the cowry. + +The object of the ceremony of carrying the pig into the sea was not the +cleansing of "the unclean animal," nor was it _primarily_ a rite of +purification in any sense of the term: it was simply a ritual procedure +for identifying the sacrifice with the goddess by putting it in her own +medium, and so transforming the surrogate of the sea-shell, the +prototype of the sea-born goddess, into the actual Great Mother. + +The question naturally arises: what was the real purpose of the +sacrifice of the pig? + +In the story of the Destruction of Mankind we have seen that originally +a human victim was slain for the purpose of obtaining the life-giving +human blood to rejuvenate the ageing king. Two circumstances were +responsible for the modification of this procedure. In the first place, +there was the abandonment of human sacrifice and the substitution of +either beer coloured red with ochre to resemble blood (or in other cases +red wine) or the actual blood of an animal sacrifice in place of the +human blood. Secondly, the blood of the Great Mother herself +(personified in the special _avatar_ that was recognized in a particular +locality, the cow in one place, the pig in another, and so on) was +regarded as more potent as a life-giving force than that of a mere +mortal human being. It is possible, perhaps even probable, that this was +the real reason for the abandoning of human sacrifice and the +substitution of an animal for a human being. For it is unlikely that, in +the rude state of society which had become familiarized with and +brutalized by the practice of these bloody rites of homicide, ethical +motives alone would have prompted the abolition of the custom of human +sacrifice, to which such deep significance was attached. The +substitution of the animal was prompted rather by the idea of obtaining +a more potent elixir from the life-blood of the Great Mother herself in +her cow- or sow-forms. + +In the transitional stage of the process of substitution of an animal +for a human being some confusion seems to have arisen as to the ritual +meaning of the new procedure. If Moret's account of the Egyptian +Mysteries[431] is correct--and without a knowledge of Egyptian philology +I am not competent to express an opinion upon this matter--the attempt +was made to identify the animal victim of sacrifice with the human being +whose place it had taken. In the procession a human being wore the skin +of an animal; and, according to Moret, there was a ceremony of passing a +human being through the skin as a ritual procedure for transforming the +mock victim into the animal which was to be sacrificed in his place. If +there is any truth in this interpretation, such a ceremony must have +been prompted by a misunderstanding of the meaning of the sacrifice, +unless the identification of the sacrificial animal with the goddess was +merely a secondary rationalization of the substitution which had been +made for ethical or some other reasons. + +We know that the dead were often buried in the skins of sacrificial +animals, and so identified with the life-giving deities and given +rebirth. We know also that in certain ceremonies the appropriate skins +were worn by those who were impersonating particular gods or goddesses. +The wearing of these skins of divine animals seems to have been prompted +not so much by the idea of a reincarnation in animal form as by the +desire for identification and communion with the particular deity which +the animal represented. The whole question, however, is one of great +complexity, which can only be settled by a critical study of the texts +by some scholar who keeps clearly before his mind the real issues, and +refuses to take refuge in the stereotyped evasions of conventional +methods of interpretation. + +The sacrifice of the sow to Demeter is merely a late variant of Hathor's +sacrifice of a human being to rejuvenate the king Re. How the real +meaning of the story became distorted I have already explained in +Chapter II ("Dragons and Rain Gods"). The killing of the sow to obtain a +good harvest is homologous with the sacrifice of a maiden to obtain a +good inundation of the river. The sow is the surrogate of the beautiful +princess of the fairy tale. Instead of the maiden being slain, in one +case, as Andromeda, she is rescued by the hero, in the other her place +is taken by a sow. These late rationalizations are merely glosses of the +deep motives which more than fifty centuries ago seem to have prompted +early pharmacologists to obtain a more potent elixir than human blood by +stealing from the heights of Olympus the divine blood of the life-giving +deities themselves. + +The pig was identified not only with the Great Mother, but with Osiris +and Set also. With the pig's lunar and astral associations I do not +propose to deal in these pages, as the astronomical aspects of the +problems are so vast as to need much more space than the limits imposed +in this statement. But it is important to note that the identification +of Set with a pig was perhaps the main factor in riveting upon this +creature the fetters of a reputation for evil. The evil dragon was the +representative of both Set and the Great Mother (Sekhet or Tiamat); and +both of them were identified with the pig. Just as Set killed Osiris, so +the pig gave Adonis his mortal injury.[432] When these earthly incidents +were embellished with a celestial significance, the conflict of Horus +with Set was interpreted as the struggle between the forces of light and +order and the powers of darkness and chaos. When worshipped as a +tempest-god the Mesopotamian Rimmon was known as "the pig"[433] and, as +"the wild boar of the desert," was a form of Set. + +I have discussed the pig at this length because the use of the words +[Greek: choiros] by the Greeks, and _porcus_ and _porculus_ by the +Romans, reveals the fact that the terms had the double significance of +"pig" and "cowry-shell". As it is manifestly impossible to derive the +word "cowry" from the Greek word for "pig," the only explanation that +will stand examination is that the two meanings must have been acquired +from the identification of both the cowry and the pig with the Great +Mother and the female reproductive organs. In other words, the +pig-associations of Aphrodite afford clear evidence that the goddess was +originally a personification of the cowry.[434] + +The fundamental nature of the identification of the cowry, the pig, and +the Great Mother, the one with the other, is revealed not merely in the +archæology of the Ægean, but also in the modern customs and ancient +pictures of the most distant peoples. For example, in New Guinea the +place of the sacrificial pig may be taken by the cowry-shell;[435] and +upon the chief façade of the east wing of the ancient American monument, +known as the Casa de las Monjas at Chichen Itza, the hieroglyph of the +planet Venus is placed in conjunction with a picture of a wild pig.[436] + + +[423: And also, in a misunderstood form, even as far as America.] + +[424: Schliemann, "Ilios," Fig. 1450, p. 616.] + +[425: This is seen in the case of the Persian word _khor_, which means +both "pig" and "harlot" or "filthy woman". The possibility of the +derivation of the old English word "[w]hore" from the same source is +worth considering.] + +[426: L. R. Farnell, "Cults of the Greek States," Vol. I, p. 37.] + +[427: "Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion."] + +[428: Which, in fact, was intended as the equivalent of [Greek: +pharmakon athanasias], "the redeeming blood".] + +[429: Blackman ("Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient Egypt," +_Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, March, 1918, p. 57; +and May, 1918, p. 85) has shown that the idea of purification was +certainly entertained.] + +[430: In some places an image of the goddess was washed in the sea.] + +[431: "Mystères Égyptiens."] + +[432: Mr. Donald Mackenzie has collected a good deal of folk-lore +concerning the pig ("Myths of Egypt," pp. 66 _et seq._; also his books +on Babylonian, Indian, and Cretan myths, _op. cit. supra_).] + +[433: According to Sayce, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 153, note 6.] + +[434: In Egypt not only was the sow identified with Isis, but "lucky +pigs" were worn on necklaces just like the earlier cowry-amulets (Budge, +"Guide to the Egyptian Collections" (British Museum), p. 96).] + +[435: Malinowski, _Trans. and Proc. Royal Society, South Australia_, +XXXIX, 1915, p. 587 _et. seq._] + +[436: Seler, "Die Tierbilder der mexikanischen und der +Maya-Handschriften," _Zeitsch. f. Ethnologie_, Bd. 41, 1909, p. 405, and +Fig. 242 in Maudslay, "Biologia Centrali-Americana," Vol. III, Pl. 13.] + + +Gold and the Golden Aphrodite. + +The evidence which has been collected by Mr. Wilfrid Jackson seems to +suggest that the shell-cults originated in the neighbourhood of the +Red Sea. + +With the introduction of the practice of wearing shells on girdles and +necklaces and as hair ornaments the time arrived when people living some +distance from the sea experienced difficulty in obtaining these amulets +in quantities sufficient to meet their demands. Hence they resorted to +the manufacture of imitations of these shells in clay and stone. But at +an early period in their history the inhabitants of the deserts between +the Nile and the Red Sea (Hathor's special province) discovered that +they could make more durable and attractive models of cowries and other +shells by using the plastic yellow metal which was lying about in these +deserts unused and unappreciated. This practice first gave to the metal +gold an arbitrary value which it did not possess before. For the +peculiar life-giving attributes of the shells modelled in the yellow +metal came to be transferred to the gold itself. No doubt the lightness +and especially the beauty of such gold models appealed to the early +Egyptians, and were in large measure responsible for the hold gold +acquired over mankind. But this was an outcome of the empirical +knowledge gained from a practice that originally was inspired purely by +cultural and not æsthetic motives. The earliest Egyptian hieroglyphic +sign for gold was a picture of a necklace of such amulets; and this +emblem became the determinative of the Great Mother Hathor, not only +because she was originally the personification of the life-giving +shells, but also because she was the guardian deity both of the Eastern +wadys where the gold was found and of the Red Sea coasts where the +cowries were obtained. Hence she became the "Golden Hathor," the +prototype of the "Golden Aphrodite". + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--The Egyptian emblem for gold, the sign _nub_. It +represents a collar from which golden amulets, probably representing +cowries, are suspended.] + +It is a significant token of the influence of these Egyptian incidents +upon the history of the Ægean that among the earliest gold ornaments +found by Schliemann at Troy were a series of crude representations of +cowries worn as pendants to a hair ornament.[437] + +It is hardly necessary to insist upon the vast influence upon the +history of civilization which this arbitrary value of gold has been +responsible for exerting. For more than fifty centuries men have been +searching for the precious metal, and have been spreading abroad +throughout the world the elements of our civilization. It has been not +only the chief factor in bringing about the contact of peoples[438] and +incidentally in building up our culture, but it has been the cause, +directly or indirectly, of most of the warfare which has afflicted +mankind. Yet these mighty forces were let loose upon the world as the +result of the circumstance that early searchers for an elixir of life +used the valueless metal to make imitations of their shell amulets! + +The identification of gold with cowries may not have been the primary +reason for the invention of gold currency. In fact, Professor Ridgeway +has called attention to certain historical events which in his opinion +forced men to convert their jewellery into coinage. But the fact that +cowries were the earliest form of currency may have prepared the way for +the recognition of the use of gold for a similar purpose. Moreover, we +know that long before a real gold currency came into being rings of gold +were in Egypt a form of tribute and a sign of wealth. Cowries acquired +their significance as currency as the result of incidents in some +respects analogous to those which impelled the early Egyptians to make +gold models of the shells. In places in Africa far removed from the sea +where the practice has grown up of offering vast numbers of cowries to +brides on the occasion of their marriage (as fertility amulets) or of +putting the shells in the grave (to secure for the dead fresh vital +energy), the people offered their most treasured possessions, such as +their cattle, in exchange for the amulets which were believed to confer +such priceless social and religious boons. Cattle were therefore given +in exchange for cowries, or the shells were used for the purchase of +wives. When the new significance as currency developed a remarkable +confusion occurred. In many places cowries were placed in the mouth of +the dead to confer the breath of life: but when the cowries acquired the +new meaning as currency, the people who had lost all knowledge of the +original significance of this practice explained the cowries as money +with which to pay Charon's fare to the other world. Then, in many +places, the cowry was replaced by an actual metallic coin. Most scholars +fall into the same error as these ancient rationalists, and accept +their explanation of the _obolus_ as though it were the real meaning of +the act. + +Another result of the use of gold models of shells as life-giving +amulets was that the metal also acquired the reputation of being a giver +of life,[439] which originally belonged merely to the shell or the +imitation of its form, whatever the substance used for making the model. + +Thus gold came to share the same magical reputation as the cowry and the +pearl. It was also put to the same use: it was buried with the dead to +confer a continuation of existence. + +Not only was Hathor called _Nub_, _i.e._ "gold" or the golden Hathor: +but the place where the funerary statue was made ("born") in Egypt was +called the "House of Gold" and personified as a goddess who gave rebirth +to the dead (Alan Gardiner, "The Tomb of Amenemhet," p. 95; and A. M. +Blackman, _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. IV, p. 127). + +When ancient prospectors from the South exploited the rivers of +Turkestan for alluvial gold and fresh water pearls, incidentally they +also collected pebbles of jade for the purpose of making seals. The +local inhabitants confused the properties of the stone with the magical +reputation of the gold and the pearls. One outcome of this jade-fishing +in Turkestan was the transference of the credit of life-giving to jade. +Prospectors searching for these precious materials gradually made their +way east past Lob Nor, and eventually discovered the deposits of gold +and jade in the Shensi province. Thus jade became the nucleus around +which the distinctive civilization of China became crystallized. It +played an obtrusive part not only in attracting men from the West and in +determining the locality where the germs of Western civilization were +planted in China, but also in giving Chinese culture its distinctive +shape. + +"The ancient Chinese, wishing to facilitate the resurrection of the +dead, surrounded them with jade, gold, pearls, timber, and other things +imbued with influences emitted from the heavens, or, in other words, +with such objects as are pervaded with vital energy derived from the +_Yang_ matter of which the heavens are the principal depository." (De +Groot, _op. cit._, p. 316). + +By a similar process diamonds acquired the same reputation in India when +searchers after gold discovered the precious metal in Hyderabad, and +the diamonds of Golconda came to be accredited with life-giving +powers.[440] + +According to the beliefs of the Indians "the Nâga owns riches, the water +of life, and a jewel that restores the dead to life". + +Thus gold, pearls, jade, and diamonds in course of time acquired the +reputation of elixirs of life, but the hold they established upon +mankind was due to the fact (a) that the amulets made of these materials +made a strong appeal to the æsthetic sense, and (b) the arbitrary value +assigned to them made them desirable objects to search for. + +In his "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Cult" (1901) Sir Arthur Evans gives +cogent reasons for the view that at the time when Mycenæan influence was +powerful in Cyprus "the 'golden Aphroditê' of the Egyptians seems to +play a much more important part than any form of Astarte or Mylitta" +(p. 52). "The Cypriote parallels will be found to have a fundamental +importance as demonstrating in detail that these ['a simple form of the +palmette pillar, approaching a fleur-de-lys in outline,' in association +with its guardian monsters] are in fact taken over from the cult of +Mentu-Ra, the Warrior Sun-god of Egypt, of Hathor, and of Horus" +(p. 52). + + +[437: So far as I am aware the fact that these objects were intended to +represent cowries does not appear to have been recognized hitherto. I am +indebted to Mr. Wilfrid Jackson for calling my attention to the figures +685 and 832 in Schliemann's "Ilios" (1880), and for identifying the +objects.] + +[438: See Perry, "Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," _Proceedings +and Memorials of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_, +1916; also "War and Civilization," _Bulletin of the John Rylands +Library_, 1918.] + +[439: "Danæ pregnant with immortal gold."] + +[440: See Laufer, "The Diamond," also Munn, "The Ancient Gold Mines of +Hyderabad," paper now being published in the _Proceedings of the +Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_.] + + +Aphrodite as the Thunder-stone. + +As a surrogate of the Great Mother, the Eye of Re, the thunder-weapon +was also identified with any of her varied manifestations. + +The thunderbolt is one of the manifestations of the life-giving and +death-dealing Divine Cow, and therefore is able specially to protect +mundane cows.[441] + +There are numerous hints in the ancient literature of other countries in +confirmation of the association of the Great Mother with "falling +stars". "In a fragment of Sanchoniathon, Astarte, travelling about the +habitable world, is said to have found a star falling through the air, +which she took up and consecrated."[442] + +Aphrodite also was looked upon as a meteoric stone that fell from the +moon. In the "Iliad," Zeus is said to have sent Athena as a meteorite +from heaven to earth.[443] + +The association of Aphrodite with meteoric stones and the ancient belief +that they fell from the moon serve to confirm the identification of +these life-giving and death-dealing objects with the pearl and the +thunderbolt. In Southern India the goddesses may be represented either +by small stones or by pots of water, usually seven in number. During the +ceremony around the stone-form of the goddess the _kappukaran_ runs +thrice around the stone, as the mandrake-digger does around the plant. +The _pujari_ who represents the goddess is painted like a leopard +(Hathor's lioness) and kills the sacrificial sheep. The goddess (like +Hathor) is supposed to drink the blood of the sacrificial victims +(Whitehead, _op. cit._, pp. 164-8). + +Many factors played a part in the development of the beliefs about the +origin of mankind from stones, with which the identification of the +thunderbolt with the winged disk plays a part. + +The idea that the cowry was the giver of life and the parent of men was +also transferred to crude stone imitations of the shell. Perhaps the +belief in such stones as creators of human beings may have been +reinforced by finding actual fossilized shells within pebbles.[444] + +A further corroboration of this theory was provided when the pearl came +to be regarded as the quintessence of the life-giving substance of +shells and as a little particle of moon-substance which fell as a drop +of dew into the gaping oyster. Perry (_op. cit._, p. 78) refers to an +Indonesian belief among the Tsalisen that their ancestors came out of +the moon; and the chief of this people has a spherical stone which is +said to represent the moon. + +This association of the moon with round stones may be connected with the +identification of the sun (as the winged disk) with a stone axe, when +they came to be regarded as alternative weapons for the destruction or +the creation of men. Perry records a story of a rock being lowered down +from the sun, from which it was born, and out of a cleft in it man and +woman emerged, as they were believed to have been born from the cleft in +the cowry. + +Then there are the Egyptian beliefs concerning stone statues, obelisks, +or even unshaped blocks of stone which could be animated by human beings +or gods.[445] + +The cycle of these stories was completed when the "Eye of Re" +slaughtered the enemies of the god and they became identified with the +followers of Set, "creatures of stone". Thus the evil eye petrified +rebellious men: and so was launched upon its course the peculiar group +of legends which in time encircled the world. + +It is particularly significant that in Indonesia, in association with +these ideas about stone-origins and petrifaction, Perry (p. 133) found +also the clear-cut belief that the thunder-weapon was a stone, or the +tooth of a cloud-dragon in the sky. + +In Indonesia also petrifaction, thunder-stones, rain, floods, lightning, +and an arrow shot to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning were the +punishments traditionally assigned for certain offences, such as incest +and laughing at animals. + +The same people who introduced into the Malay Archipelago these +characteristic fragments of the dragon-myth also believed that certain +animals were impersonations of their gods: they also brought stories of +incestuous unions on the part of their deities and rulers. To laugh at +their sacred animals, or to imitate privileged customs permitted to +their deities, but not to ordinary mortals, merited the same sort of +punishments as were meted out to those other rebels against the ruling +class and the gods in the home of these beliefs.[446] + +To laugh at the divine animals, or to commit incest, which was a divine +prerogative, was analogous to "the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost," +which in the New Testament is proclaimed an unpardonable offence, and in +pagan legend was punished by the divine wrath, thunder, lightning, rain, +floods, or petrifaction being the avenging instruments. Oedipus put out +his own eyes to forestall the traditional wrath of the gods. + + +[441: Blinkenberg, _op. cit._, p. 70 _et seq._] + +[442: Quoted by Layard, "Nineveh and its Remains," Vol. II, p. 457.] + +[443: Cook, "Zeus," I, p. 760.] + +[444: Striking examples of these stories about birth from split stones +have been given by Perry, "Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Chapter X, +and de Groot's "Religious System of China". It is possible that the +double meaning of the Egyptian word _set_, as "stone" and "mountain" +played a part in originating these stories. I have already quoted from +the Pyramid Texts the account of the daily birth of the sun-god by a +splitting of the "mountain" of the dawn. By a pun on this word the god's +origin might have been interpreted as having taken place from a split +"stone". The fact that the Great Mother was identified with a "mountain" +(_set_) may also have facilitated the homology with the other meaning of +_set_, _i.e._ "a stone".] + +[445: "Incense and Libations".] + +[446: As the character and attributes of the early goddesses became more +complex, and contradictory traits were more sharply contrasted, the +inevitable tendency developed to differentiate the goddesses themselves, +and provide distinctive names for the new personalities thus split off +from the common parent. We see this in Egypt in the case of Hathor and +Sekhet, and in Babylonia in Ishtar and Tiamat. But the process of +specialization and differentiation might even involve a change of sex. +There can be no doubt that the _god_ Horus was originally a +differentiation of certain of the aspects of the sky-goddess Hathor, at +first as a brother "Eye". But as the _king_ Horus was the son of Osiris +(as the dead king), when the confusion of the attributes of Osiris and +Hathor--the actual father and the divine mother of Horus--made their +marriage inevitable, the maternal relationship of the goddess to her +"brother" was emphasized. But as the Great Mother, Hathor was the parent +of the universe, and the mother not only of Horus but also of his father +Osiris. This complicated rationalization made Hathor the sister, mother, +and grandmother of Horus, and was responsible for originating the belief +in the incestuous practices of the divine family. When the royal family +assumed the rôle of gods and goddesses they were bound by these +traditions (which had their origin purely in theological sophistry) and +were driven to indulge in actual incest, as we know from the records of +the Egyptian royal family and their imitators in other countries. But +incest became a royal and divine prerogative which was sternly forbidden +to mere mortals and regarded as a peculiarly detestable sin.] + + +The Serpent and the Lioness. + +When the development of the story of the Destruction of Mankind +necessitated the finding of a human sacrifice and drove the Great Mother +to homicide, this side of her character was symbolized by identifying +her with a man-slaying lion and the venomous uræus-serpent. + +She had previously been represented by such beneficent food-providing +and life-sustaining creatures as the cow, the sow, and the gazelle +(antelope or deer): but when she developed into a malevolent creature +and became the destroyer of mankind it was appropriate that she should +assume the form of such man-destroyers as the lion and the cobra. + +Once the reason for such identifications grew dim, the uræus-form of the +Great Mother became her symbol in either of her aspects, good or bad, +although the legend of her poison-spitting, man-destroying powers +persisted.[447] The identification of the destroying-goddess with the +moon, "the Eye of the Sun-god," prepared the way for the rationalization +of her character as a uræus-serpent spitting venom and the sun's Eye +spitting fire at the Sun-god's enemies. Such was the goddess of Buto in +Lower Egypt, whose uræus-symbol was worn on the king's forehead, and was +misinterpreted by the Greeks as not merely a symbolic "eye," but an +actual median eye upon the king's or the god's forehead. + +It is not without special significance that in the ancient legend (see +Sethe, _op. cit._) the lioness-goddess Tefnut was reputed to have come +from Elephantine (or at any rate the region of Sehêl and Biga, which has +the same significance), which serves to demonstrate her connexion with +the story of the Destruction of Mankind and to corroborate the inference +as to its remote antiquity. She was identified with Hathor, Sekhet, +Bast, and other goddesses. + +But the uræus was not merely the goddess who destroyed the king's +enemies and the emblem of his kingship: in course of time the cobra +became identified with the ruler himself and the dead king, who was the +god Osiris. When this happened the snake acquired the god's reputation +of being the controller of water. + +The fashionable speculation of modern scholars that the movements of the +snake naturally suggest rippling water[448] and provide "the obvious +reason" which led many people quite independently the one of the other +to associate the snake with water, is thus shown to have no foundation +in fact. + +One would have imagined that, if any natural association between snakes +and water was the reason for this association, a water-snake would have +been chosen to express the symbolism; or, if it was the mere rippling +motion of the reptile, that all snakes or any snake would have been +drawn into the analogy. But primarily only one kind of snake, a cobra, +was selected[449]; and it is not a water snake, and cannot live in or +under water. It was selected _because it was venomous_ and the +appropriate symbol of man-slaying. + +The circumstances which led to the identification of this particular +serpent with water were the result of a process of legend-making of so +arbitrary and eccentric a nature as to make it impossible seriously to +pretend that so tortuous a ratiocination should have been exactly +followed to the same unexpected destination also in Crete and Western +Europe, in Babylonia and India, in Eastern Asia, and in America, without +prompting the one of the other. No serious investigator who is capable +of estimating the value of evidence can honestly deny that the belief in +the serpent's control over water was diffused abroad from one centre +where a concatenation of peculiar circumstances and beliefs led to the +identification of the ruler with the cobra and the control of water. + +We are surely on safe ground in assuming the improbability of such a +wholly fortuitous set of events happening a second time and producing +the same result elsewhere. Thus when we find in India the Nâga rajas +identified with the cobra, and credited with the ability to control the +waters, we can confidently assume that in some way the influence of +these early Egyptian events made itself felt in India. As we compare the +details of the Nâga worship in India[450] with early Egyptian beliefs, +all doubt as to their common origin disappears. + +The Nâga rulers were closely associated with springs, streams, and +lakes. "To this day the rulers of the Hindu Kush states, Hunza and +Nagar, though now Mohammedans, are believed, by their subjects, to be +able to command the elements." + +Oldham adds: "This power is still ascribed to the serpent-gods of the +sun-worshipping countries of China, Manchuria, and Korea, and was so, +until the introduction of Christianity, in Mexico and Peru". This is put +forward in support of his argument that the Nâga kings' "supposed +ability to control the elements, and especially the waters," arose "from +their connexion with the sun". But this is not so.[451] The belief in +the Egyptian king's power over water was certainly older than +sun-worship, which did not begin until Osirian beliefs and the +personification of the moon as the Great Mother brought the sky-deities +and the control of water into correlation the one with the other. The +association of the sun and the serpent in the royal insignia was a later +development. + +The early Egyptian goddess was identified with the uræus-serpent in that +vitally important nodal point of primitive civilization, Buto, in Lower +Egypt. The earliest deity in Crete and the Eastern Mediterranean seems +to have been a goddess who was also closely associated with the serpent. +According to Langdon "the ophidian nature of the earliest Sumerian +mother-goddess _Innini_ is unmistakable.... She carries the caduceus in +her hand, two serpents twining about a staff."[452] + +The earliest Indian deities also were goddesses, and the first rulers of +whom any record has been preserved were regarded as divine cobras, to +whom was attributed the power of controlling water. These Nâgas, whether +kings or queens, gods or goddesses, were the prototypes of the Eastern +Asiatic dragon, whose origin is discussed in Chapter II. + +In Japan the earliest sun-deity was a goddess who was identified with a +snake. Elsewhere in this volume (Chapter II) I have referred to the +completeness of the transference to America of these Old World ideas of +the serpent. Right on the route taken by the main stream of cultural +diffusion across the Pacific we still find in their fully-developed form +the old beliefs concerning the good Mother Serpent of the ancient +civilizations (C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, _op. cit. supra_, p. 139). She +could be re-incarnated as a coconut: she controlled crops; she was +associated with the coming of death into the world, with the +introduction of agriculture and the discovery of fire. Like her +predecessors in the West she was also a Mother Pot or Basket that +never emptied. + +All the _hiona_ or _figona_ (_i.e._ spirits) of San Cristoval have a +serpent incarnation from Agunua the creator, worshipped by every one, to +Oharimae and others, only known to particular persons. Other spirits, +called _ataro_, might be incarnate in almost any animal. Agunua, who +took the form of a serpent, was good, not evil (p. 134). Very many +pools, rocks, water-falls, or large trees were thought to be the abode +of _figona_. These serpent spirits could take the form of a stone, or +retire within a stone, and sacred stones seem to be connected with +_figona_ rather than with _ataro_ (p. 135). Almost all the local +_figona_ are represented as female snakes, but Agunua is a male snake +(p. 137). + +As the real significance of the snake's symbolism originated from its +identification with the Great Mother in her destructive aspect, it is +not surprising that the snake is the most primitive form of the evil +dragon. The Babylonian Tiamat was originally represented as a huge +serpent,[453] and throughout the world the serpent is pre-eminently a +symbol of the evil dragon and the powers of evil. + +The serpent that tempted Eve was the homologue both of the mother of +mankind herself and also of the tree of paradise. It was the +representative of the dragon-protector of pearls and of other kinds of +treasure: it was also the goddess who animated the sacred tree as well +as the protector who attacked all who approached it. It was the evil +dragon that tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit which brought +her mortality. + +The identification of the Great Mother with the lioness (and the +secondary association of her husband and son with the lion) was +responsible for a widespread relationship of these creatures with the +gods and goddesses in Egypt and the Mediterranean, in Western Asia, in +Babylonia and India, in Eastern Asia [tiger] and America [ocelot, and +forms borrowed from the conventionalized lions and tigers of the Old +World]. + +The account of the Great Mother's attributes and associations throws +into clear relief certain aspects of the evolution of the dragon which +were left in a somewhat nebulous state in Chapter II. The earliest form +assumed by the power of evil was the serpent or the lion, because these +death-dealing creatures were adopted as symbols of the Great Mother in +her rôle as the Destroyer of Mankind. When Horus was differentiated from +the Great Mother and became her _locum tenens_, his falcon (or eagle) +was blended with Hathor's lioness to make the composite monster which is +represented on Elamite and Babylonian monuments (see p. 79). But when +the rôle of water as the instrument of destruction became prominent, +Ea's antelope and fish were blended to make a monster, usually known as +the "goat-fish," which in India and elsewhere assumed a great variety of +forms. Some of the varieties of _makara_ were sufficiently like a +crocodile to be confused or identified with this representative of the +followers of Set. + +The real dragon was created when all three larval types--serpent, +eagle-lion, and antelope-fish--were blended to form a monster with +bird's feet and wings, a lion's forelimbs and head, the fish's scales, +the antelope's horns, and a more or less serpentine form of trunk and +tail, and sometimes also of head. Repeated substitution of parts of +other animals, such as the spiral horn of Amen's ram, a deer's antlers, +and the elephant's head, led to endless variation in the dragon's +traits. + +The essential unity of the motives and incidents of the myths of all +peoples and of every age is a token, not of independent origin or the +result of "the similarity of the working of the human mind," but of +their derivation from the same ultimate source. + +The question naturally arises: what is a myth? The dragon-myth of the +West is the religion of China. The literature of every religion is +saturated with the influence of the myth. In what respect does religion +differ from myth? In Chapter I, I attempted to explain how originally +science and religion were not differentiated. Both were the outcome of +man's attempt to peer into the meaning of natural phenomena, and to +extract from such knowledge practical measures for circumventing fate. +His ever-insistent aim was to combat danger to life. + +Religion was differentiated from science when the measures for +controlling fate became invested with the assurance of supernatural +help, for which the growth of a knowledge of natural phenomena made it +impossible for the mere scientist to be the sponsor. It became a +question of faith rather than knowledge; and man's instinctive struggle +against the risk of extinction impelled him to cling to this larger hope +of salvation, and to embellish it with an ethical and moral significance +which at first was lacking in the eternal search for the elixir of life. + +If religion can be regarded as archaic science enriched with the belief +in supernatural control, the myth can be regarded as effete religion +which has been superseded by the growth of a loftier ethical purpose. +The myth is to religion what alchemy is to chemistry or astrology is to +astronomy. Like these sciences, religion retains much of the material of +the cruder phase of thought that is displayed in myth, alchemy, and +astrology, but it has been refined and elaborated. The dross has been to +a large extent eliminated, and the pure metal has been moulded into a +more beautiful and attractive form. In searching for the elixir of life, +the makers of religion have discovered the philosopher's stone, and with +its aid have transmuted the base materials of myth into the gold of +religion. + +If we seek for the deep motives which have prompted men in all ages so +persistently to search for the elixir of life, for some means of +averting the dangers to which their existence is exposed, it will be +found in the instinct of self-preservation, which is the fundamental +factor in the behaviour of all living beings, the means of preservation +of the life which is their distinctive attribute and the very essence of +their being. + +The dragon was originally a concrete expression of the divine powers of +life-giving; but with the development of a higher conception of +religious ideals it became relegated to a baser rôle, and eventually +became the symbol of the powers of evil. + + +[447: Sethe, "Zur altägyptische Sage von Sonnenaugen das im Fremde war," +_Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ægyptens_, V, p. 23. +[Transcriber's note: the title of the paper has been misprinted. It +should read "...vom Sonnenauge, das..."]] + +[448: See especially the claims put forward by Brinton, which have been +accepted by Spinden, Joyce, and many other recent writers.] + +[449: Possibly also the Cerastes. At a relatively late period other +snakes were adopted as surrogates of the cobra and Cerastes.] + +[450: See Oldham, "Sun and Serpent," p. 51 _inter alia_.] + +[451: Blackman, however, has recently advanced this claim in reference +to Egypt (_op. cit._, _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Archæology_, 1918, p. 57), as +Breasted and others have done before.] + +[452: S. Langdon, "A Seal of Nidaba, the Goddess of Vegetation," +_Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, Vol. XXXVI, 1914, +p. 281.] + +[453: L. W. King, "Babylonian Religion," p. 58.] + + +[Transcriber's note: Numerous obvious printing errors have been corrected. +However, inconsistent hyphenation in the original has been retained.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Evolution of the Dragon, by G. 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