PART II
CHAPTER I
Egyptian Divinities
OSIRIS—APIS—SERAPIS—ISIS—ANUBIS—HARPOCRATES
Ques. Who was Osiris?
Ans. Osiris, Apis and Serapis, are three different names of one and the same god. Osiris was the son of Jupiter and of Niobe, the daughter of Phoroneus. He conquered Egypt, which he governed so well and wisely as to receive divine honors from his subjects even during his life. He married, as we have already learned, Io, the daughter of Inachus, who was more generally known to the Egyptians by the name of Isis.
Osiris was cruelly murdered by his brother Typhon. Isis, after a long search, found his body, which she laid in a monument in an island near Memphis. Osiris became from that time the tutelar deity of the Egyptians. He was regarded as identical with the sun, while Isis was supposed, like Cybele, to personify the earth.
Ques. How was this goddess represented?
Ans. As a woman with the horns of a cow, sometimes, also, as crowned with lotus. Heads of Isis are common among the decorations of Egyptian temples. After the worship of this goddess was introduced into Rome, her image was adorned with different emblems. The mysterious rites of Isis became a cloak for much secret vice, and were repeatedly forbidden at Rome. Tiberius caused the images of the goddess to be thrown into the Tiber; her worship was, however, afterwards revived. The abuses attending it are mentioned with indignation by the poet Juvenal.
Ques. Who was Apis?
Ans. He was the sacred bull of Memphis. The Egyptians maintained that the soul of Osiris passed after death into the body of Apis; and that as often as the sacred animal died, the soul passed into the body of its successor.
Sacrifices were offered to this strange divinity; his birth-day was celebrated with great magnificence, and it was believed that during this festival the crocodiles forgot their usual ferocity, and became harmless. A temple, two chapels, and a court for exercise, were assigned to this god, whose food was always served in vessels of gold. It may be doubted whether the poor animal was capable of appreciating these extraordinary honors; he was not permitted, however, to enjoy them beyond a stated period. If he attained the age of twenty-five years, he was drowned by the attendant priests in the sacred cistern; his body was then carefully embalmed, and buried in the temple of Serapis.
On the death of Apis, whether it occurred in the course of nature or by violence, the whole country was plunged into mourning, which lasted until his successor was found. The animal into whom the divinity had passed, was known by many extraordinary marks; a square white spot on the forehead, the figure of an eagle on the back, a white crescent on the right side, and the mark of a beetle under the tongue. The priests always succeeded in finding an animal with these extraordinary marks, and the happy event was immediately celebrated throughout Egypt.
Ques. How did the people obtain replies from the oracle of Apis?
Ans. By various signs: the votary having proposed a question, offered food to the sacred animal; if he ate, it was considered a favorable omen. It was also a good augury if he entered, of his own accord, a particular stall. When Germanicus offered food to Apis, the animal refused to eat, and this circumstance was afterwards considered as ominous of the early fate of the Roman prince.
Ques. Who was Harpocrates?
Ans. Horus or Harpocrates was the son of Osiris. He was worshipped as the god of Silence, and is represented as a boy, seated on a lotus-flower, with his finger on his lips.
Besides the gods we have mentioned, the Egyptians worshipped the dog, the wolf, the crocodile, the ibis, and many other animals. They even attributed divinity to certain plants and roots. Juvenal, in one of his Satires, thus ridicules their superstition:
Who has not heard where Egypt’s realms are nam’d
What monster gods her frantic sons have fram’d?
Here Ibis gorged with well-grown serpents, there
The Crocodile commands religious fear:
Where Memnon’s statue magic strains inspire
With vocal sounds that emulate the lyre;
And Thebes, such, Fate, are thy disastrous turns,
Now prostrate o’er her pompous ruins mourns
A monkey-god, prodigious to be told!
Strikes the beholder’s eye with burnish’d gold:
To godship here blue Triton’s scaly herd,
The river progeny is there preferr’d:
Through towns Diana’s power neglected lies,
Where to her dogs aspiring temples rise!
And should you leeks or onions eat, no time
Would expiate the sacrilegious crime.
Religious nations sure, and blest abodes,
Where every orchard is o’er-run with gods.
CHAPTER II
EASTERN MYTHOLOGY
Deities of the Assyrians
BAAL, OR BEL—MOLOCH
Ques. Who were these divinities?
Ans. The names Baal and Moloch seem to have been, at first, different appellations of the Sun; later they assumed another signification, and were applied to distinct deities.
Ques. Where was the Sun worshipped under the name of Baal or Bel (the Lord)?
Ans. In Babylon. The famous tower of Babel or Belus, was there devoted to his worship, although the highest apartment of the edifice served also as an observatory, and was the repository of the most ancient astronomical observations. Some writers have imagined that the Chaldeans and Babylonians worshipped Nimrod under the name of Belus, but it is generally believed that with these nations, and the ancient Canaanites, this was one of the many appellations of the Sun.
Ques. What proof have we of the popularity of this god among the Phœnicians and Carthaginians?
Ans. In their proper names; as among the former, Ethbaal, Jerubbaal; among the latter, Hannibal, Asdrubal.
Ques. By whom was the worship of Baal introduced among the Israelites?
Ans. By King Achab or Ahab. They offered human sacrifices to Baal in groves, or high places, and on the terraces of their houses. Jeremias reproaches the Jews with building “the high places of Baalim, to burn their children with fire for a holocaust to Baalim.” This text shows the extent to which the apostate Hebrews carried this abominable worship.
MOLOCH
Ques. Who was Moloch?
Ans. He was a divinity of the Ammonites. The Phœnicians were also particularly devoted to his worship. Young children and infants were offered as holocausts to this cruel god. These horrid sacrifices were most frequent in Carthage. When the Sicilian Agathocles threatened that city, we are told that five hundred infants, many the first-born of noble parents, were consumed in one day on the altar of Moloch.
Ques. How was this god represented?
Ans. By a brazen image, which was so contrived that when a child was laid upon its extended arms, they were lowered, and the little victim immediately fell into the fiery furnace placed at the foot of the idol.
Ques. Was Moloch worshipped by the Jews?
Ans. Yes; it would seem that they were addicted to this idolatry before their departure from Egypt, since Moses in many places forbids the Israelites, under pain of death, to dedicate their children to Moloch, by passing them through fire. Solomon built a temple for his worship on the Mount of Olives. Later human sacrifices were offered to him in the valley of Hinnom, called also Tophet, which lay to the east of Jerusalem.
Ques. Where does Milton refer to this god?
Ans. Assuming that the demons or fallen angels received the worship of men, under the names of different heathen divinities, he thus describes Moloch amid the host of Satan:
“First, Moloch, horrid king, besmear’d with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children’s cries unheard, that passed through fire,
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipp’d in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon; nor content with such
Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the temple of God,
On that opprobrious hill: and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call’d, the type of Hell.”
Ques. Who was Astaroth?
Ans. This goddess, called by the Greeks Astarte, represented the moon, in the same manner as Baal was held to be identical with the sun. The Hebrews always connected the worship of these two divinities. According to Cicero, Astarte was the Syrian Venus, and it is certain that in her worship, and the festivals celebrated in her honor, there is some foundation for this idea. Where human sacrifices were offered to Baal, wheaten cakes, wine and perfumes were laid upon the altar of Astaroth.
Notwithstanding these more innocent offerings, her worship was rendered infamous by the license which prevailed during these festivals, and the open immorality practised by her votaries.
THAMMUZ
Ques. Who was Thammuz?
Ans. This was another name for Adonis, whose story is of Eastern origin. His death, which we have already referred to in connection with the goddess Venus, is said to have taken place in the mountains of Libanus, from which the river Adonis flows to the sea. The Assyrian women mourned for him in the autumn-time. It was believed that at this season the river changed its color, and ran red, as if tinged with blood. To this Milton alludes:
“Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer’s day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.”
The prophet Ezekiel, in relating the iniquities committed in Jerusalem, says that he saw women sitting by the north gate of the temple, who mourned for Adonis. (In the Hebrew, Thammuz.)
OANNES
Ques. Who was Oannes?
Ans. He was a god of the Assyrians, half man, half fish, who was said to dwell in the sea, from which he came at stated times, to instruct the Babylonians in wisdom and science. Oannes is the Dagon of the Philistines.
CHAPTER III
PERSIA
Ques. What was the religion of the ancient Persians?
Ans. We derive our knowledge of their religion principally from their Zend-avesta, or Sacred Book.
Ques. What does the Zend-avesta contain?
Ans. The doctrines of Zoroaster, an Eastern sage, who is thought to have lived in Bactria about twelve hundred years before our era.
Ques. Was the Zend-avesta written by Zoroaster?
Ans. But a small portion, if any, of the Sacred Books were written by him, but the most ancient passages, which are in verse, were probably written soon after his time, when the knowledge of his doctrines was still preserved. The Parsees, or modern followers of Zoroaster, now scattered through India, say that the Zend-avesta formerly consisted of twenty-one books, but that the greater part were lost in the troubled times that followed the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.
Ques. What is the form of the Zend-avesta?
Ans. It is in the form of a dialogue, in which Ormuzd, the supreme deity, replies to the inquiries of Zoroaster, and teaches him his will with regard to his creatures.
Ques. What were the doctrines of Zoroaster?
Ans. This philosopher was more enlightened than his contemporaries, and was probably acquainted with primitive tradition. He taught the existence of one supreme Being called “the Eternal,” who created two other mighty beings, and imparted to them a portion of his own eternal divinity.
Ques. Who were these deities?
Ans. Ormuzd, or Oromasdes, who remained faithful and pure, governs the world with all the attributes which are given to the true God. Ahriman, on the contrary, uses all his energies for evil; and is, in all respects, considered as a sort of independent demon, endowed with infinite and untiring malice.
Ques. What part did each of these divinities take in the creation?
Ans. Ormuzd created men and angels, the sun, moon and stars, and everything which can contribute to the welfare or pleasure of his creatures. Ahriman created the wild beasts, poisonous serpents, etc., and sent diseases, earthquakes and storms. The Persians thus believed in two independent principles, one of good, and one of evil, but they worshipped only the first.
Ques. Did they not worship the sun?
Ans. They probably did in later times, but the early followers of Zoroaster reverenced the sun and fire as emblems of Ormuzd. Perpetual fire was kept burning on their altars. The Parsees of Hindostan say that they have sacred fire which has never been extinguished since the time of Zoroaster. All the sacred fires were originally lit from that which Zoroaster brought from heaven. The Guebres, as these people are sometimes called, often built their temples over subterranean fires.
Ques. Is there any such fire now reverenced by them?
Ans. Yes, near the town of Bakoo in Georgia, on the Caspian Sea, there is a perpetual flame issuing from a limestone rock. It is watched by priests, and is much venerated by the surrounding tribes. Pilgrimages are made to this sacred fire from all parts of Asia.
Ques. What is the cause of this phenomenon?
Ans. Bakoo and the surrounding country abound in naphtha and petroleum. The sacred fire is simply a jet of inflammable gas escaping from the rocks, which, once lit, burns perpetually, as the supply is inexhaustible.
Ques. Were the Persians attached to magical arts?
Ans. Yes, their priests mingled the fables of astrology with their astronomical learning; hence, from the word magi, is derived our word magician.
Ques. Where did the Persians offer their sacrifices?
Ans. Generally on the tops of lofty mountains.
Ques. When was the religion of Zoroaster suppressed in Persia?
Ans. After the conquest of Persia, by the Arabs, which took place in the seventh century, those who refused to embrace the Koran fled to Hindostan, where they still exist under the name of Parsees. At Bombay they are an active, intelligent and wealthy class.
CHAPTER IV
Hindoo Mythology
BRAHMA—THE VEDAS
Ques. What are the Vedas?
Ans. The Vedas are the Sacred Books of the Hindoos, and are much reverenced by them. They maintain that they were composed by Brahma, the Supreme Deity, at the creation.
Ques. When do the Hindoos think that the world was created?
Ans. At an incredibly remote period; they say the present arrangement of the Vedas was made by a sage named Vyasa, some five thousand years ago.
Ques. What is the more correct opinion?
Ans. That they were written in the second thousand years before our era, a little later, probably, than the Books of Moses.
Ques. Had the Hindoos then conquered the country which now bears their name?
Ans. No; they were only crossing the borders of India.
Ques. In what form are the Vedas written?
Ans. In poetry. The principal Veda contains ten thousand double verses. These works are heavy and uninteresting, but very important to historians.
Ques. Why so?
Ans. Because they throw light on the early history of the Indian and European races.
Ques. What do the Vedas teach of God?
Ans. They teach one supreme deity, called Brahma, and like the Persians seem to have some idea of the Trinity, speaking of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, as one God. The modern Hindoos, however, worship them as distinct divinities.
Ques. What are the offices of these gods?
Ans. Brahma created all things, Vishnu preserves them, and when the end of the world is come, which the Vedas say will occur in about twelve million years, Siva will destroy them.
Ques. What is there peculiar in the history of Vishnu?
Ans. His Avatars, or incarnations, which are numerous, but ten are more especially celebrated.
Ques. What was the first Avatar?
Ans. The first Avatar was when Vishnu assumed the form of a fish, and saved Manu, the father of the human race, from a universal deluge.
Ques. What is the ninth Avatar?
Ans. In the ninth Avatar, Vishnu appeared in the form of Krishna, a sort of Indian Apollo; the last of the Sacred Books is that which contains the life of Krishna.
Ques. What is there remarkable about this life?
Ans. So many circumstances closely resemble corresponding events in the life of our Saviour, that it is impossible the coincidence should be accidental. It is supposed this book was written after our era by some one who had heard imperfect accounts of the life of our Lord.
Ques. What is to be the tenth Avatar?
Ans. The tenth Avatar is called Kalki, in which Vishnu will come to judge the world, destroying the wicked and rewarding the good.
Ques. What do you say of Siva?
Ans. Siva, or Mahadeva, as he is more generally called, has a vast number of followers. His worshippers and those of Vishnu form two distinct sects. Brahma, having finished his work, has but one temple in India. It is doubtful whether the worshippers of Juggernaut belong to the sect of Vishnu, or of Siva.
Ques. What do the Hindoos believe of the soul?
Ans. They think that every soul is a part of Brahma, as a spark is a part of the fire, and that finally all souls will be absorbed into Brahma, as drops of water are lost in the ocean. They also believe in metempsychosis.
Ques. What is metempsychosis?
Ans. The transmigration of souls. The Hindoos believe that if a man lead a pure life, his soul will pass, after death, into another human body, but that if he has been wicked, it will enter into the body of some unclean animal. They think the soul will transmigrate many times before being finally united to Brahma. This belief makes many of the Hindoos afraid to kill animals for food, lest they may possess human souls, and be perhaps their own friends or relations.
Ques. What are Castes?
Ans. They are different classes into which the Hindoos have been divided from the earliest times.
Ques. How many castes are there?
Ans. Four; the Brahmins or priests, who sprung from the head of Brahma; the Warrior caste, which issued from his arms; the Agriculturists and Traders, who came from his thighs, and lastly, the Sudras, or laborers, who sprung from his feet.
Ques. Is there much distinction between the castes?
Ans. Yes; they cannot under any circumstances intermarry; nor can a member of a lower caste ever pass to a higher. Only, if he lead a good life, he may console himself with the hope of being born in a higher caste the next time.
Ques. Is there any caste lower than the Sudras?
Ans. No regular caste, but there exists a most unhappy race called Pariahs, who are treated with the utmost contempt, and employed only in the vilest offices. They cannot enter the house of any one belonging to a pure caste, and they are not only unclean themselves, but are supposed to contaminate everything they touch. Different accounts are given as to the origin of these Pariahs.
Ques. Are the Hindoos allowed to eat flesh?
Ans. The three higher castes are forbidden it altogether. The Sudras may eat every kind but beef, but the Pariahs are under no restriction whatever. The idea seems to be that they are so vile that no kind of food could pollute them.
Ques. Are the castes ancient?
Ans. So much so, that it is impossible to say when they were first established. The Pariahs are being gradually raised from their degradation by the efforts of Christian missionaries.
BUDDHA
Ques. Who was Buddha?
Ans. Buddha is said by the Vedas to have been a delusive incarnation of Vishnu, but his followers give a different account.
Ques. What do they say?
Ans. They say that he was a mortal sage, called Guatama, and also Buddha, or the Wise.
Ques. When did Buddha live?
Ans. We cannot ascertain exactly, but it is probable he was a contemporary of Solomon—that is, he lived about one thousand years before our era. He was the son of a king, and was distinguished by wisdom, virtue and every personal gift. He was so disgusted with the wickedness of men, that he retired into a desert place, where he spent six years in prayer and meditation. At the end of this time, he began his career as a religious teacher. He preached first in Benares, but his doctrines were received with so much favor that he lived to see them spread over all India. Buddha died at the age of eighty.
Ques. Was Buddhism tolerated by the Brahmins?
Ans. It appears that for several centuries it was, and that it extended to Ceylon, and the Eastern peninsula.
Ques. What are the doctrines of the Buddhists?
Ans. They reject the Vedas altogether, and the religious observances prescribed in them. They allow animal food, and acknowledge no distinction of castes. Bloody sacrifices are prohibited. One of the duties of a priest of Buddha is to study the medicinal properties of plants in order to benefit his fellow men. We may see, therefore, that Buddha had more reasonable and humane ideas than those who composed the Vedas, and that he was probably a true sage among his people.
Ques. Is Buddhism common in India?
Ans. No; after being tolerated for a long time, a fierce and continued persecution was raised against it. This had the effect of suppressing the sect almost entirely in India, and of spreading it in the adjacent countries.
Ques. When was the worship of Buddha first introduced into China?
Ans. About the year 65 of our era. From China it spread to Corea, Japan and Java.
In Japan, Buddhism has, to a great extent, supplanted the Sinto religion, the ancient faith of Japan. The word Sinto signifies spirit worship; the priests of this sect teach that the world is governed by an infinite number of spirits. The chief of these animates the sun; others rule the moon, stars, and different elements.
The worship of the sun is the most important exterior part of their religion, and the Japanese were so much attached to this form of idolatry, that the Buddhists have incorporated it with their own rites.