Bulfinch's Mythology: the Age of Fable Part 23

Shakespeare, in the Merchant of Venice, makes Gratiano allude to the metempsychosis, where he says to Shylock:

"Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with Pythagoras, That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men; thy currish spirit Governed a wolf; who hanged for human slaughter Infused his soul in thee; for thy desires Are wolfish, b.l.o.o.d.y, starved, and ravenous."

The relation of the notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from the reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word "harmony" to the visible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to each other. This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the beginning of his song for St. Cecilia's Day:

"From harmony, from heavenly harmony This everlasting frame began; From harmony to harmony Through all the compa.s.s of the notes it ran, The Diapason closing full in Man."

In the centre of the universe (as Pythagoras taught) there was a central fire, the principle of life. The central fire was surrounded by the earth, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. The distances of the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to correspond to the proportions of the musical scale. The heavenly bodies, with the G.o.ds who inhabited them, were supposed to perform a choral dance round the central fire, "not without song." It is this doctrine which Shakespeare alludes to when he makes Lorenzo teach astronomy to Jessica in this fas.h.i.+on:

"Sit, Jessica, look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!

There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st But in this motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim; Such harmony is in immortal souls!

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in we cannot hear it."

Merchant of Venice The spheres were conceived to be crystalline or gla.s.sy fabrics arranged over one another like a nest of bowls reversed. In the substance of each sphere one or more of the heavenly bodies was supposed to be fixed, so as to move with it. As the spheres are transparent, we look through them, and see the heavenly bodies which they contain and carry round with them. But as these spheres cannot move on one another without friction, a sound is thereby produced which is of exquisite harmony, too fine for mortal ears to recognize. Milton, in his Hymn to the Nativity, thus alludes to the music of the spheres:

"Ring out, ye crystal spheres!

Once bless our human ears; (If ye have power to charm our senses so); And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow: And with your nine-fold harmony Make up full concert with the angelic symphony."

Pythagoras is said to have invented the lyre, of which other fables give the invention to Mercury. Our own poet, Longfellow, in Verses to a Child, thus relates the story:

"As great Pythagoras of yore, Standing beside the blacksmith's door, And hearing the hammers as they smote The Anvils with a different note, Stole from the varying tones that hung Vibrant on every iron tongue, The secret of the sounding wire, A nd formed the seven-chorded lyre."

See also the same poet's Occultation of Orion:

"The Samian's great AEolian lyre."

SYBARIS AND CROTONA

Sybaris, a neighboring city to Crotona, was as celebrated for luxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse. The name has become proverbial. Lowell uses it in this sense in his charming little poem To the Dandelion:

"Not in mild June the golden-cuira.s.sed bee Feels a more summer-like, warm ravishment In the white lily's breezy tent, (His conquered Sybaris) than I when first From the dark green thy yellow circles burst."

A war arose between the two cities, and Sybaris was conquered and destroyed. Milo, the celebrated athlete, led the army of Crotona. Many stories are told of Milo's vast strength, such as his carrying a heifer of four years old upon his shoulders, and afterwards eating the whole of it in a single day. The mode of his death is thus related: As he was pa.s.sing through a forest he saw the trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by wood-cutters, and attempted to rend it further; but the wood closed upon his hands and held him fast, in which state he was attacked and devoured by wolves.

Byron, in his Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, alludes to the story of Milo: "He who of old would rend the oak Deemed not of the rebound; Chained by the trunk he vainly broke, Alone, how looked he round!"

EGYPTIAN DEITIES

The remarkable discovery by which Champollion the younger (so called to distinguish him from his older brother, Champollion Figeac, who also studied the hieroglyphics)) first opened to modern times the secret of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, has been followed up by laborious studies, which tell us more of Egyptian wors.h.i.+p and mythology, with more precision, than we know of any other ancient religion but that of the Hebrews. We have even great numbers of copies of the liturgies, or handbooks of wors.h.i.+p, of funeral solemnities, and other rituals, which have been diligently translated. And we have a sufficient body of the literature written and used by the priesthood.

These discoveries give to writers of this generation a much fuller knowledge of the Egyptian religion, of its forms, and of the names of its G.o.ds, than they had before. It is impossible, and probably always will be, to state with precision the theology on which it rested. It is impossible, because that theology was different in one time and with one school from what it was at other times. Mr. S. Birch, of the British Museum, says, "The religion of the Egyptians consisted of an extended polytheism represented by a system of local groups." But Mr. Pierret says, "The polytheism of the monuments is but an outward show. The innumerable G.o.ds of the Pantheon are but manifestations of the One Being in his various capacities. Mariette Bey says, "The one result is that according to the Egyptians, the universe was G.o.d himself, and that Pantheism formed the foundation of their religion."

In this book it is not necessary to reconcile views so diverse, nor indeed to enter on studies so profound as those which should decide between them. For our purpose here it is enough to know that the Sun was the older object of wors.h.i.+p, and in his various forms rising, midday, or setting was adored under different names. Frequently his being and these names were united to the types of other deities. Mr. Birch believes that the wors.h.i.+p of Osiris prevailed largely beside the wors.h.i.+p of the Sun, and is not to be confounded with it. To Osiris, Set, the Egyptian devil, was opposed.

The original G.o.d, the origin of all things, manifests himself to men, in lesser forms, according to this mythology, more and more human and less and less intangible. These forms are generally triads, and resolve themselves into a male deity, a female deity, and their child. Triad after triad brings the original Divinity into forms more and more earthly, till at last we find "that we have no longer to do with the infinite and intangible G.o.d of the earliest days, but rather with a G.o.d of flesh and blood, who lives upon earth, and has so abased himself as to be no more than a human king. It is no longer the G.o.d of whom no man knew either the form or the substance: it is Kneph at Esneh, Hathor at Durderah, Horus, king of the divine dynasty at Edfoo." These words are M. Maspero's.

The Greek and Latin poets and philosophers, as they made some very slight acquaintance with Egyptian wors.h.i.+p, give Greek or Latin names to the divinities wors.h.i.+pped. Thus we sometimes hear Osiris spoken of as the Egyptian Hermes. But such changes of names are confusing, and are at best but fanciful (In the same way Plutarch, a Greek writer, says of the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles, "I know that their G.o.d is our Bacchus." This was merely from the vines, vine leaves and wine used in the ceremonies.) It would happen sometimes, in later times, that a fas.h.i.+on of religion would carry the wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d or G.o.ddess to a distance. Thus the wors.h.i.+p of Isis became fas.h.i.+onable in Rome in the time of Nero and Paul, as readers of Bulwer's Last Days of Pompeii will remember.

The latest modern literature occasionally uses the Egyptian names, as the last two centuries have disinterred them from the inscriptions on the monuments, and from the ma.n.u.scripts in the tombs. Earlier English writers generally use the names like Osiris, Anubis, and others found in Latin and Greek writers.

The following statement as to these deities and their names is from Mr. Birch:

"The deities of ancient Egypt consist of celestial, terrestrial, and infernal G.o.ds, and of many inferior personages, either representatives of the greater G.o.ds or attendants on them. Most of the G.o.ds were connected with the sun, and represented that luminary through the upper hemisphere or Heaven and the lower hemisphere or Hades. To the deities of the solar cycle belonged the great G.o.ds of Thebes and Heliopolis. In the local wors.h.i.+p of Egypt the deities were arranged in local triads; thus at Memphis, Ptah, his wife Merienptah, and their son Nefer Atum, formed a triad, to which was sometimes added the G.o.ddess Bast or Bubastis. At Abydos the local triad was Osiris, Isis, and Horus, with Nephthys; at Thebes, Amen Ra or Ammon, Mut and Chons, with Neith; at Elephantine, Kneph, Anuka, Sati, and Hak. In most instances the names of the G.o.ds are Egyptian; thus, Ptah meant 'the opener'; Amen, 'the concealed'; Ra, 'the sun or day'; Athor, 'the house of Horus';' but some few, especially of later times, were introduced from Semitic sources, as Bal or Baal, Astaruta or Astarte, Khen or Kiun, Respu or Reseph. Besides the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds, several inferior or parhedral G.o.ds, sometimes personifications of the faculties, senses, and other objects, are introduced into the religious system, and genii, spirits or personified souls of deities formed part of the same. At a period subsequent to their first introduction the G.o.ds were divided into three orders. The first or highest comprised eight deities, who were different in the Memphian and Theban systems. They were supposed to have reigned over Egypt before the time of mortals. The eight G.o.ds of the first order at Memphis were 1. Ptah; 2. Shu; 3. Tefnu; 4. Seb; 5. Nut; 6. Osiris; 7. Isis and Horus; 8. Athor. Those of Thebes were 1. Amen Ra; 2. Mentu; 3. Atum; 4. Shu and Tefnu; 5. Seb; 6. Osiris; 7. Set and Nepthys; 8. Horus and Athor. The G.o.ds of the second order were twelve in number, but the name of one only, an Egyptian Hercules, has been preserved. The third order is stated to have comprised Osiris, who, it will be seen, belonged to the first order." GUIDE TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EGYPTIAN ROOMS, BRITISH MUSEUM. S. Birch

Miss Edwards gives the following convenient register of the names most familiar among the Egyptian G.o.ds (in her very interesting book, "A Thousand Miles up the Nile").

PHTAH or PTAH: In form a mummy, holding the emblem called by some the Nilometer, by others the emblem of Stability, called "the father of the Beginning, the Creator of the Egg of the Sun and Moon," Chief Deity of Memphis.

KNEPH, KNOUM or KNOUPHIS: Ram-headed, called the Maker of G.o.ds and men, the Soul of the G.o.ds. Chief Deity of Elephantine and the Cataracts.

RA: Hawk-headed, and crowned with the sun-disc, encircled by an asp. The divine disposer and organizer of the world; adored throughout Egypt.

AMEN RA: Of human form, crowned with a flat-topped cap and two long, straight plumes; clothed in the schenti; his flesh sometimes painted blue. There are various forms of this G.o.d (there were almost as many varieties of Ammon in Egypt as there are varieties of the Madonna in Italy or Spain), but he is most generally described as King of the G.o.ds, chief deity of Thebes.

KHEM: Of human form, mummified; wears head-dress of Amen Ra; his right hand uplifted, holding a flail. The G.o.d of productiveness and generation. Chief deity of Khemmis, or Ekhmeem.

OSIRIS: Of human form, mummified, crowned with a mitre, and holding the flail and crook. Called the Good; the Lord above all; the one lord. Was the G.o.d of the lower world; judge of the dead; and representative of the sun below the horizon. Adored through Egypt. Local deity of Abydos.

NEFER ATUM: Human-headed, and crowned with the pschent. This G.o.d represented the nocturnal sun, or the sun lighting the lower world. Local deity of Heliopolis.

THOTH: In form a man, ibis-headed, generally depicted with the pen and palette of a scribe. Was the G.o.d of the moon, and of letters. Local deity of Sesoon, or Hermopolit.

SEB: The "Father of the G.o.ds," and deity of terrestrial vegetation. In form like a man with a goose upon his head.

SET: Represented by a symbolic animal, with a muzzle and ears like a jackal, the body of an a.s.s, and an upright tail, like the tail of a lion. Was originally a warlike G.o.d, and became in later times the symbol of evil and the enemy of Osiris.

KHONS: Hawk-headed, crowned with the sun-disc and horns. Is sometimes represented as a youth with the side-lock, standing on a crocodile.

HORUS: Horus appears variously as Horus, Horus Aroeris, and Horus Harpakhrat (Hippocrates), or Horus the child. Is represented under the first two forms as a man, hawk-headed, wearing the double crown of Egypt; in the latter as a child with the side- lock. Local deity of Edfoo (Apollinopolis Magna).

MAUT: A woman draped, and crowned with the pschent (the pschent was a double crown, worn by the king at his coronation), representing a vulture. Adored at Thebes.

NEITH: A woman draped, holding sometimes a bow and arrows, crowned with the crown of Lower Egypt. She presided over war, and the loom. Wors.h.i.+pped at Thebes.

ISIS: A woman crowned with the sun-disc surmounted by a throne, and sometimes enclosed between horns. Adored at Abydos. Her soul resided in Sothis on the Dog-star.

NUT: A woman so bent that her hands touched the earth. She represents the vault of heaven, and is the mother of the G.o.ds.

HATHOR: Cow-headed, and crowned with the disc and plumes. Deity of Amenti, or the Egyptian Hades. Wors.h.i.+pped at Denderah.

PASHT: Pasht and Bast appear to be two forms of the same G.o.ddess.

As Bast she is represented as a woman, lion-headed, with the disc and uroeus; as Pasht she is cat-headed, and holds a sistrum.

Adored at Bubastis. Observe the syllable BAST.

The highest visible deity of the Egyptians was Amun Ra, or Amen Ra, the concealed sun; the word Ra signifying the sun. This name appears in the Greek and Latin writers as Zeus Ammon and Jupiter Ammon. When Amun manifests himself by his word, will or spirit, he is known as Nu, Num, Noub, Nef, Neph, or Kneph, and this word Kneph through the form Cnuphis is, perhaps, the Anubis of the Greek and Latin authors. That word has not been found earlier than the time of Augustus. Anubis was then wors.h.i.+pped as the guardian G.o.d, and represented with a dog's head.

The soul of Osiris was supposed to exist in some way in the sacred bull Apis, of which Serapis or Sarapis is probably another name. "Apis," says Herodotus, "is a young bull, whose hair is black, on his forehead a white triangle, - on his back an eagle, with a beetle under his tongue and with the hair of his tail double." Ovid says he is of various colors. Plutarch says he has a crescent on his right side. These superst.i.tions varied from age to age. Apis was wors.h.i.+pped in Memphis.

It must be observed, in general, that the names in the Latin cla.s.sics belong to a much later period of the Egyptian religion than the names found on most of the monuments. It will be found, that, as in the change from Nu to Anubis, it is difficult to trace the progress of a name from one to the other. In the cases where an ox, a ram, or a dog is wors.h.i.+pped with, or as a symbol of, a G.o.d, we probably have the survival of a very early local idolatry.

Horus or Harpocrates, named above, was the son of Osiris. He is sometimes represented, seated on a Lotus-flower, with his finger on his lips, as the G.o.d of silence.

In one of Moore's Irish Melodies is an allusion to Harpocrates: -

"Thyself shall, under some rosy bower, Sit mute, with thy finger on thy lip: Like him, the boy, who born among The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush, Sits over thus, his only song To Earth and Heaven, "Hush, all, hus.h.!.+"

MYTH OF OSIRIS AND ISIS