Aeon Goddess, the truth will set you free!
The truth shall set you free => Religion => Topic started by: Prometheus on February 17, 2018, 10:12:55 PM
Jobs Worldwide & Bottom prices, cheaper then Amazon & FB
( 17.905.982 jobs/vacatures worldwide)
Beat the recession - crisis, order from country of origin, at bottom prices! Cheaper then from Amazon and from FB ads!
Become Careerjet affiliate
-
FOREWORD
OUTLINES
OP
THE HISTORY OF RELIGION
TO THE
SPREAD OF THE UNIVERSAL
RELIGIONS.
1877
https://archive.org/details/outlineshistory01carpgoog
more versions up to 1892 -1905 available
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Outlines+Of+The+History+Of+Religion&sort=date&page=2
By C. P.TIELE,
-
OUTLINES
OP
THE HISTORY OF RELIGION
TO THE
SPREAD OF THE UNIVERSAL
RELIGIONS.
1877
https://archive.org/details/outlineshistory01carpgoog
more versions up to 1892 available
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Outlines+Of+The+History+Of+Religion&sort=date&page=2
By C. P.TIELE,
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
TO
THE ENGLISH EDITION.
What I give in this little boot are outlines, pencil-
sketches, I might say,—nothing more. In the present
state of our knowledge about the ancient religions, this
only can be reasonably expected from the students of this
branch of science, this only can be attempted with some
hope of success. The time for writing an elaborate His-
tory of Religion, even of Religions, has not yet come. Not
a few special investigations must be instituted, not a few
difficult questions elucidated, before anything like this can
be done. But it is useful, even necessary, from time to
time to sum up the amount of certain knowledge, gathered
by the researches of several years, and to sketch, be it here
and there with an uncertain hand, the draught of what
may at some time become a living picture. This is what
I propose to do. The interest of what is called by the
unhappy name of Science of Religions, let us say of Hiero-
PREFACE.
viii
logy, is increasing every day. Now, I think there is great
danger that so young a science may lose itself in abstract
speculations, based on a few facts and a great many dubi-
ous or erroneous statements, or not based on any facts at
all. For the philosopher who wishes to avoid this danger,
for the theologian who desires to compare Mosaism and
Christianity with the other religions of the world, for the
specialist who devotes all his labours and all his time to
one single department of this vast science, for him who
studies the history of civilisation—none of whom have
leisure to go to the sources themselves, even for him who
intends to do so, but to whom the way is as yet unknown,
a general survey of the whole subject is needed, to serve
as a kind of guide or travelling-book on their journey
through the immense fairyland of human faith and hope.
My book is an attempt to supply what they want. In a
short paragraph-style I have written down my conclusions,
derived partly from the sources themselves, partly (for no
man can be at home everywhere) from the study of what
seemed to me the best authorities: and I have added some
explanatory remarks and bibliographical notices on the
literature of the subject—very short where such notices
could easily be found elsewhere, more extensive and as
complete as possible where nothing of the kind, so far as I
knew, yet existed.
I am the more anxious to state this character of my
work as one of my critics (my friend and colleague Dr. H.
Oort, in his interesting notice of my work in the Dutch
Review de TydspierjeV) seems to have wholly forgotten it.
PREFACE.
ix
He sets up an ideal of a History of Religion, and then
tries my simple and modest outlines by that elevated
standard. Of course they are not able to fulfil sueh
great expectations, and they were not intended to
do so.
I lcnow that even this slight sketch is incomplete, and
it is so on purpose. I have limited myself to the ancient
religions, those which embrace a tribe, a people, or a race,
or have grown into separate sects, and I have left out the
history of the universal religions, Buddhism, Christianity,
and Islam. Only the origin of these religions is men-
tioned, as they form a part of the history of the religions
out of which they sprang, and which culminate in them.
A thorough study of this more modern religious history
would have occupied me for several years, and would have
deferred the publication of my little book for a long time.
So I have narrated the History of Religion “ till the spread
of the universal religions,” of Buddhism in Eastern, Islam
in Western Asia, and of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
As Buddhism only reigned supreme in Hindostan and
Dekhan now and then for a while, and was finally driven
out from both parts of the Indian peninsula, with the sole
exception of Ceylon, I could not break off the history of
Brahmanism at the foundation of the great rival church,
but had to relate what became of it in the centuries after
that event. I confess that this part of my sketch leaves
much to be desired, the sources being still very defective,
and the conclusions of Lassen, whom I have followed in
the main, being still very uncertain. Perhaps I may find
X
PREFACE.
occasion some time to give a better and more trustworthy
account of this period.
Not only the universal religions, but even some ancient
religions are passed over altogether. I have not said a
word on the old Keltic and the national Japanese reli-
gions. This, too, is an intentional omission. What is
commonly regarded as the history of those two religions
seems to me so very dubious and vague that I preferred
to leave them out entirely rather than to be led astray
myself, or to propagate mere conjectures, which might
prove errors after alL
But though mere outlines, my history is one of reli-
gion, not of religions. The difference between the two
methods is explained in the Introduction. It is the same
history, but considered from a different point of view.
The first lies hidden in the last, but its object is to show
how that one great psychological phenomenon which we
call religion has developed and manifested itself in such
various shapes among the different races and peoples of
the world. By it we see that all religions, even those of
highly civilised nations, have grown up from the same
simple germs, and by it, again, we learn the causes why
these germs have in some cases attained such a rich and
admirable development, and in others scarcely grew at all.
Still I did not think it safe to found my history on an a
priori philosophical basis. Dr. Oort is of opinion that I
ought to have started from a philosophical definition of re-
ligion. In this I do not agree with him. Such a definition,
quite different from that which I give in my first para-
PREFACE.
xi
graph, ought not to be the point of issue, but must be one
of the results of a history of religion. It forms one of the
principal elements of a philosophy of religion; in a history
it would be out of place.
Lastly, I may add a few words on this English edition.
It is thoroughly revised and corrected. Some of these
corrections I owe to my friend and colleague Dr. H. Kern,
who knows all, or nearly all, about ancient India, and who
has made such a profound study of German mythology
(see his kind notice of my work in the Dutch Review
de Gids). My own continued study of the religions of
Western Asia and Northern Africa has led to other correc-
tions and additions.
C. P. TIELE.
LuiDEtr, September 1877.
CONTENTS,
PaoK
Introduction ...... i
1. Object of the History of Religion . - i
2. Fundamental Hypothesis of Development . 2
3. Order of the abstract Development of the Religious
Idea ...... 3
4. Genealogical connection and Historic Relations of
Religions...... 4
5. Divisions of this History .... 5
6. Religion a universal Phenomenon ... 6
CHAPTER I.
Religion under the Control op Animism ... 7
I. Animism in its Influence on Religion in General . . 7
7. Religion of Savages the Remains of Earlier Religion 8
8. Animism ...... 9
9. Characteristics of Religions controlled by Animism 10
10. Place of Morality and Doctrine of Immortality . 11
II. Peculiar Developments of Animistic Religion among
different Races . , . . .12
11. Causes of Different Forms of Development . 15
XIV
CONTENTS.
non
12. Influence of National Character . , .16
13. And of Locality and Occupation . . . 17
14. Effects of the Mingling of Nations . . .17
15. Original Religions of America . , ,18
16. The Peruvians and Mexicans . . ,20
17. The Finns ... ... 23
CHAPTER II.
Religion among the Chinese . . . -25
18. Religion of the Old Chinese Empire . . 27
19. Doctrine of Continued Existence after Death . 28
20. Absence of a Priestly Caste . . .29
21. Reforms of Kong-fu-tse . . . .30
22. His Religious Doctrine . . . .31
23. Religious Literature . . . . 32
24. Meng-tse ...... 33
25. The Tao-sse .... -35
26. Lao-tse ...... 36
27. Later Writings of the Tao-sse . . .37
28. The Chinese and Egyptian Religions . . 38
CHAPTER III.
Religion among the Hamites and Semites. • . 39
I. Religion among the Egyptians . 39
29. Sources of our Knowledge .... 44
30. Ancient Animistic Usages .... 45
31. Polytheistic and Monotheistic Tendencies. . 46
32. Triumph of Light over Darkness . . .47
33. Doctrine of Creation . . . .49
34. Religion under the First Six Dynasties . . 50
CONTENTS.
xv
PACK
35. Under the Middle Empire . . . .52
36. Conception of Amun-Ed . . .54
37. Modifications under Influence of Greece . . 55
38. African, Aryan, and Mesopotamian Elements . 57
II. Religion among the Semites . ... 60
a. The Two Streams of Development . . .60
39. Southern and Northern Semites . . .61
40. Primitive Arabian Religion . . .63
41. Contact of Northern Semites with the Akkadians 65
42. Religion of the Akkadians . . . .67
b. Religion among the Babylonians and Assyrians . 69
43. Relation of Babylonians and Assyrians . . 71
44. Their Religion ..... 73
45. Akkadian Origin of Astrology and Magic . . 75
46. Different Developments of Religion . . 76
47. The Mesopotamian Semites reach a higher Stage . 78
48. The Sabeans ..... 79
c. Religion among the West Semites . . .79
49. Its Mesopotamian Origin . . . .81
50. Sources of Cosmogony and Myths . . .83
51. Special Character of Phenician Religion . . 84
52. The Religion of Israel . . . .84
53. Growth of Yahvism . . . .86
54. Adoption of Native Elements . . .87
55. The Prophets ..... 88
56. National Character of their Monotheism . . 88
57. Influence of Persia, Greece, and Rome . . 90
d. Isl&m . . . . .91
58. Religion in Arabia before Mohammed . . 92
59. His early Career ..... 94
xvi
CONTENTS.
1>*0*
60. His Conquests and Death . . . .95
61. The Five Pillars of Islam—the Unity of God . 97
62. Gloomy Conceptions of the World . . 99
63. The Divine Mission of Mohammed . . 100
64. Theocratic Character of Islamism . . . 101
65. Its Position among other Religions - .102
CHAPTER IV.
Religion among the Indo-Germans,excluding the Greeks
and Romans . . . . . .105
I. The Ancient Indo-German Religion and the Aryan Re-
ligion “proper ...... 105
66. Religion of the Ancient Indo-Germans . . 106
67. Formation of Separate Nations . - . 108
68. The Aryan Religion .... 109
II. Religion among the Hindus . . . .110
a. The Vedie Religion . . . . .111
69. The Religion of the Rigveda . . .112
70. Indra and Agni . . . . .113
71. Different Forms of the Sun-God . . .114
72. Rise of the Brahmans . . . .115
73. Ethical Character of the Yedic Religion . .116
b. Pre-Budhhistic Brahmanism . . . .117
74. Stages in the History of Brcthmanism . . 117
75. The Four Castes . . . . .119
76. Increasing Influence of the Brahmans . . 120
77. Religious Literature . • . . 122
78. Need of a Supreme God .... 124
79. Sacrifices . . . . . .126
CONTENTS. xvii
PAGE
80. Moral Ideal of the Brahmans - . .127
81. Their Social Ideal . . . . .129
c. The Conflict of Br&hmanism with Buddhism . . 130
82. Origin of Buddhism .... 131
83. Historical Foundation of the Legend of the Buddha 134
84. Relation of Buddhism to Br&hmanism . . 135
85. Spread of Buddhism . . . .137
86. Its Decline . . . . . .139
87. The Jainas ...... 140
d. The Changes in Brdhmanism under the Influence of its
Conflict with Buddhism . . . .142
88. Necessity of Modifications in Brahmanism . 143
89. Rise of Vishnu Worship .... 143
90. Doctrine of the Avataras .... 145
91. Krishna Worship . . . . .147
92. Vishnu as Rudra and Siva .... I49
93. Ganesa, Hari-harau, and the Trimdrti . .152
94. The Puranas and the Two Great Epics . . 153
95. Doctrine of the Authority of the Veda . . 154
96. The Six Philosophical Systems . . . 155
97. The Vaishnava and Saiva Sects . . . 157
98. The S&kta Sects . . . . .158
II. Religion among the Er&nian Nations—Mazdcism . 160
99. The Religion of Zarathustra . . .163
100. The Zend-Avesta and the Bundehesh . .165
101. Doctrine of Ahura Mazdao . . .166
102. The Amesha Spenta .... 168
103. Mithra and Anahit.. . . . .170
104. The Yazatas . . . . -171
105. The Fravashis . . . . .172
CONTENTS.
xviii
V10E
106. Dualism of Paxsism . . . .173
107. Its Influence on Worship and Life . . 175
108. Its Eschatology . . . . .176
109. Foreign Elements in later Zarathustrianism . 177
IV. Religion among the Wends or Letto-Slavs . .179
no. Position among the Indo- Germanic Religions . 179
in. Doctrine of the Soul .... 181
112. Doctrine of Spirits among the Old Russians . 182
113. Deities worshipped by Letts and Slavs . .184
114. Relation between Man and the Higher Powers . 186
V. Religion among the Germans . . . .188
115. Superiority over that of the Wends . .188
116. Its Cycle of Gods ..... 190
117. Odhinn, Th6rr, and Loki .... 192
118. Ethical Character of Germanic Religion . . 194
119. The Drama of the World . . . 195
12a Doctrine of the Soul, and Cultus . . , 198
CHAPTER V.
Religion among the Indo-Germans under the Influence
of the Semites and Hamites . . . .201
I. Religion among the Greeks . . . .201
121. The Religion of the Pelasgi . . . 202
122. Causes of Development of Greek Religion . 205
123. National and Foreign Elements . . . 207
124. Poetic Treatment of Nature-Myths . . 210
125. Civilisation of Asia Minor and Crete . . 212
126. The Homeric Theology . . . .213
127. Approach to Monotheism . . . .214
128. Growing Connection of Morality and Religion . 215
CONTENTS.
xix
PAOE
129. Influence of Delphi .... 216
130. Position of the Delphic Priests . . . 219
131. Decline of their Power . . . .221
132. Cultus of Dionysos and Athena . . . 222
133. Effect of Poetry and Sculpture . . . 224
134. Sokrates and the Decline of Hellenic Religion . 225
II. Religion among the Romans .... 228
135. Personification of Abstract Ideas . . . 228
136. Continued Development of this Character . 231
137. Transition from Polydsemonism to Polytheism . 233
138. Fusion of Different Elements . . . 235
139. Importance of the Cultus .... 236
140. Jupiter Optimus Maximus . . . 240
141. Introduction of Foreign Deities . . 241
142. Decline of the State Religion . . • 243
143. The Deification of the Emperors . . . 246
144. Rise of Christianity .... 248
-
INTRODUCTION.
Literature.—Of the older works on the general history
of religion, the following may still be named: Meiners,
Allgeme'me kritische Geschichte der Beligionen, 2 vols.,
Hanover, 1806-7 (neither general nor critical): Benj.
Constant, De la Religion consider^ dans sa source, ses
formes et ses developpements, 5 vols., Paris, 1824-31. The
doctrines of ancient religion are treated by F. Creuzek,
Symbolik und Mythologie der alien Volker, 4 vols., with
Atlas, Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1819-21, and F. C. Baue,
Symbolik und Mythologie, od. die Naturrel. des AUerthums,
2 vols., 3 parts, Stuttgart, 1824-25. (Both works are
now antiquated. Their speculations are for the most
part founded on very imperfect or incorrect data.) L.
Noack, Mythol. und Offenbarung. Die Religion in ihrem
JFesen, Hirer geschichtl. Entwiclcel., &c., 2 vols., Darm-
stadt, 1845, more systematic than historic. A. VON
Colln, Lehrb. der vorchristl. Religionsgeschichte, Lemgo
& Detmold, 1853, still useful in some parts. J. H.
Scholten, Geschiedenis der Godsd. en Wijslegeerte, Leiden,
1863. 0. Peleiderer, Die Religion, ihr Wesen und Hire
Geschichte, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1869. Comp, also F. Max
Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, vols. i. and il,
London, 1867.
1. The history of religion is not content with describing
special religions (hierography), or with relating their vicis-
7 A
2
HISTORY OF RELIGION.
situdes and metamorphoses (the history of religions); its
aim is to show how religion, considered generally as the
relation between man and the superhuman powers in
which he believes, has developed in the course of ages
among different nations and races, and, through these, in
humanity at large.
The definition of religion as the relation between man
and the superhuman powers in which he believes is by
no means philosophical, and leaves unanswered the ques-
tion of the essence of religion. The powers are designedly
not described as supersensual, as visible deities would
thus be excluded. They are superhuman, not always in
reality, but in the estimation of their worshippers.
2. The hypothesis of development, from which the his-
tory of religion sets out, does not determine whether all
religions were derived from one single prehistoric religion,
or whether different families of religions sprang from as
many separate forms, related in ideas, but independent
in origin—a process which is not improbable. But its
fundamental principle is that all changes and transforma-
tions in religions, whether they appear from a subjective
point of view to indicate decay or progress, are the results
of natural growth, and find in it their best explanation.
The history of religion unfolds the method in which this
development is determined by the character of nations
and races, as well as by the influence of the circumstances
surrounding them, and of special individuals, and it
exhibits the established laws by which this development
is controlled. Thus conceived, it is really history, and
not a morphologic arrangement of religions, based on an
arbitrary standard, •
INTRODUCTION.
3
Compare J. I. Doedes, De Toepassing van de Ont-
viTckelingstheorie niet aantebevelen voor de Geschiedenis der
Godsdiensten, Utrecht, 1874. On the opposite side, C. P.
Tiele, “De Ontwikkelingsgeschiedenis van den Gods-
dienst en de hypotheze waarvan zij uitgaat,” Gids, 1874,
No. 6. In reply, J. I. Doedes, “Over de Ontwikkelings-
liypotlieze in verband met de Geschiedenis der Godsdien-
sten; ” Stemmen voor Waarheid en Vrede, 1874. Further, 0.
Pfleiderer, “ Zur Frage nach Anfang und Entwickelung
der Religion,” Jahrbiicher fur Protest. Theologie, 1875,
Heft i. In reply, C. P. Tiele, “ Over den Aanvang en
de Ontwikkeling van den Godsdienst. Een verweer-
schrift,” Theol. Tijdschrift, 1875, P- I7°> s11- On the
laws which control the development of religion, see
C. P. Tiele, “ Over de Wetten der Ontwikkeling van
den Godsdienst,” Theol. Tijdschrift, 1874, p. 225, sqq.
3. It is on various grounds probable that the earliest
religion, which has left but faint traces behind it, was
followed by a period in which Animism generally pre-
vailed. This stage, which is still represented by the so-
called Nature-religions, or rather by the polydiemonistic
magic tribal religions, early developed among civilised
nations into polytheistic national religions resting upon
a traditional doctrine. Not until a later period did poly-
theism give place here and there to nomistic religions,
or religious communities founded on a law or holy
scripture, and subduing polytheism more or less com-
pletely beneath pantheism or monotheism. These last,
again, contain the roots of the universal or world-
religions, which start from principles and maxims. Were
we to confine ourselves to a sketch of the abstract
development of the religious idea in humanity, we should
have to follow this order.
4
HISTORY OF RELIGION.
The polytheistic religions include most of the Indo-
Germanic and Semitic religions, the Egyptian, and some
others. The nomistic religions comprise Confucianism,
Taoism, the Mosaism of the eighth century B.c., and
the Judaism which sprang from it, Brahmanism, and
Mazdeism. The universal religions are Buddhism,
Christianity, and Mohammedanism. The pre-Islimic
religion of the Arabs was certainly not a nomistic
religion, but without Judaism, to say nothing of Chris-
tianity, Islitm would never have been founded.
4. But in actually describing the general history of
religion, we are compelled to take into account, also, the
genealogical connection and historical relation of religions,
which gave rise to different streams of development, in-
dependent of each other, whose courses in many instances
afterwards met and joined. It is inexpedient, for the sake
of a systematic arrangement, to divide these historic groups.
By genealogical connection we mean the filiation of
religions, one of which has obviously proceeded from
the other, or both together from a third, whether
this be known to us historically or must be referred
to prehistoric times. Thus the Vedic and old Eranian
religions sprang from the Aryan, Confucianism and
Taoism from the ancient Chinese religion, Buddhism
from Brahmanism, &c. In the course of history,
moreover, religions which are not allied by descent
come into contact with each other, and if their mutual
influence leads to the adoption by one of them of
customs, ideas, and deities belonging to the other, they
are said to be historically related. This is the case, for
example, with the north Semitic religions in reference to
the Akkadian, with the Greek in reference to the north
Semitic, and with the Roman in reference to the Greek.
INTRODUCTION.
5
5. For these reasons we divide our history in the fol-
lowing manner:—
(i.) From the polydfemonistic magic tribal religions
of the present day we shall endeavour to become ac-
quainted with Aqimism, this being the form of religion
which must have preceded the religions known to us by
history, and served as their foundation. The example of
the more civilised American nations (Mexicans and Peru-
vians) and of the Finns will show us what an advanced
development may be attained under favourable circum-
stances by an animistic religion, even where it is left to
itself. This forms the transition to the proper history of
religion, which will be treated in the ensuing order:—
(2.) Eeligion among the Chinese :
(3.) Among the Egyptians, the Semites proper, and the
northern Semites or Mesopotamians, in connection with
whom the Akkadian religion, which dominates all the
north Semitic religions, will be discussed :
(4.) Among the Indo-Germans who came little, or not
at all, into contact with the Semites, the Aryans, Hindus,
Eranians, Letto-Slavs, and Germans :
(5.) Among the Indo-Germans in whose religion the
national elements were supplemented and blended with
others of north Semitic or Hamitic origin, viz., the
Greeks and Eomans.
The history of the internal development of the univer-
sal religions and their mutual comparison lie beyond our
plan; they require separate study, and are too vast to be
included here. The • third division, however, will trace
the development of Islam out of the Semitic religion;
the fourth, that of Buddhism from Brahmanism ; and the
6
HISTORY OF RELIGION.
fifth -will indicate how European Christianity arose out of
the fusion of Semitic and Indo-Germanie religions.
A description of the. so-called nature-religions, which
belongs to ethnology, is excluded from our design for
obvious reasons. They have no history; and in the
historic chain they only serve to enable us to form an
idea of the ancient prehistoric animistic religions of
which they are the remains, or, it may be said, the
ruins. It must suffice, therefore, to recount here a
few of their chief features. Of the Japanese no men-
tion is made, because the history of the present form
of their religion belongs to that of Buddhism, and the
investigation of the old national religion (designated by
a Chinese name, Shinto, the way or doctrine of spirits,^
and perhaps itself derived from China) has not yet led
to any sufficiently satisfactory results. The latter remark
also holds good of the religion of the Kelts, which we
have also left out of consideration for the same reason.
6. The question whether religion is as old as the
human race, or whether it is the growth of a later stage,
is as little open to solution by historical research as
that of its origin and essence; it can only be answered
by psychology, and is a purely philosophical inquiry;
The statement that there are nations or tribes which
possess no religion, rests either on inaccurate observation,
or on a confusion of ideas. Ho tribe or nation has yet
been met with destitute of belief in any higher beings;
and travellers who asserted their existence have been
afterwards refuted by the facts. It is legitimate, there-
fore, to call religion in its most general sense a universal
phenomenon of humanity.
( 7 )
-
CHAPTER I.
RELIGION UNDER THE CONTROL OF ANIMISM.
I.
ANIMISM IN ITS INFLUENCE ON RELIGION IN GENERAL.
Literature.—Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2 vols., London,
1871, and Researches into the Early History of Mankind,
London, 1865; Sir John Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation,
London, 1874; Fritz Schultze, Der Fetischismvs, ein
Beitrag zur Anthropologic und Religionsgeschichte; Theod.
Waitz, Anthropologic der NatwrvSlker, vol. i., “ITeber die
Einheit des Menschengeschlechtes und den Naturzustand
des Menschen,” Leipzig, 2d ed., 1877; Oscar Peschel,
The Races of Man, translated from the German, London,
1876, a book of the highest importance, and written in
attractive style. Much useful material may be found in
Caspari, Die Urgeschichte der Menschheit mil RucksicM avf
die natiirliche Entwickdung des friihesten Geisteslebens, 2 vols.,
Leipzig, 1873, 2d ed. ibid., 1877, and in (Rabenhausen)
Isis. Der Mensch und die Well, 4 vols., Hamburg, 1863. The
notions of Georg Gerland, in his “ Betrachtungen fiber
die Entwickelungs- und Urgeschichte der Menschheit,”
in Anthropologische Beitrdge, i., Halle, 1875, are altogether
peculiar, often hypothetical, but not always to be re-
jected. Adolf Bastian, of whose numerous works we
only name under this head Der Mensch in der Geschichle,
3 vols., Leipzig, i860, and Beitrdge zur vergleichenden
8
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
Psychologic (“ Die Seele und ihre Ersclieinungsweisen in
der Ethnographie’’), Berlin, 1868, and whose ideas
deserve consideration, heaps up an ill-arranged mass
of examples, from all periods and nations, and nowhere
names a single authority, which almost prevents his
writings from being used. To this, however, his Besuch
an San Salvador makes a favourable exception. Compare
further M. Oarriere, Die Anftinge der Cultur und das
Oriental. Alterlhum, 2d ed., 1872 ; L. F. A. Maury, La
Magic et VAstrologie dans I’Antiquite et au Moyen Age, Paris,
i860, and C. P. Tiele, De Plaats van de Godsdiensten der
Natuurvolkeninde Godsdienstgeschiedenis, Amsterdam, 1873.
7. The belief that the religions of savages, known to
us from the past or still existing, are the remains of the
religion which prevailed among mankind before the
earliest civilisation flourished, and are thus hest fitted to
give us an idea of it, rests on the following grounds:—
(1.) The most recent investigations indicate that the
general civilisation had then reached no higher stage
than that of the present savages, nay, it had not even
advanced so far; and in such a civilisation no purer
religious beliefs, ideas, and usages are possible, than
those which we find among existing communities.
(2.) The civilised religions whose history ascends to
the remotest ages, such as the Egyptian, the Akkadian,
the Chinese, still show more clearly than later religions
the influence of animistic conceptions.
(3.) Almost the whole of the mythology and theology
of civilised nations may be traced, without arrangement
or co-ordination, and in forms that are undeveloped and
original rather than degenerate, in the traditions and
ideas of savages.
ITS ANTIQUITY.
9
(4.) Lastly, the numerous traces of animistic spirit-
worship in higher religions are best explained as the
survival and revival of older elements. We must not,
however, forget that the present polydaemonistic religions
only imperfectly reproduce those of prehistoric times;
since even they have not stood still, but have to some
extent outgrown their earlier form, which has conse-
quently not been preserved unimpaired^
8. Animism ,is not itself a religion, but a sort of .
primitive philosophy, which not only controls religion, l
but rules the whole life of the natural man. It is the
belief in the existence of souls or spirits, of which only
the powerful—those on which man feels himself depen-
dent, and before which he stands in awe—acquire the
rank of divine beings, and become objects of worship.
These spirits are conceived as moving freely through earth
and air, and, either of their own accord, or because con-
jured by some spell, and thus under compulsion, appearing
to men (Spiritism). But they may also take up their
abode, either temporarily or permanently, in some object, y
whether living or lifeless it matters not; and this object,
as endowed with higher power, is then worshipped, or em-
ployed to protect individuals and communities (Fetishism).
Spiritism, essentially the same as what is now called
Spiritualism, must be carefully distinguished from
Fetishism, but can only rarely be separated from it. It
is difficult to determine which of the two appears first:
in history they are equally old. Fetishism comes from
feilifo, agreeing not with fatum, chose fie (De Brosses), but
with fadilius, “ endowed with magic power,” from which
come the Old French faitis, and the Old English fetys,
IO
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
i.e., well-made, neat (Tylor). Both are only different
aspects of the same thing, and to express their unity
I have chosen the word Animism, which is elsewhere
generally employed to indicate what I call Spiritism.
The derivation of the two last terms is sufficiently plain.
9 The religions controlled by Animism are character-
ised, first of all, by a varied, confused, and indeterminate
doctrine, an unoiganised polydaemonism, which does not,
however, exclude the belief in a supreme spirit, though
in practice this commonly bears but little • fruit; and in
the next place, by magic, which but rarely rises to real
worship. Yet,—or rather precisely from this cause, the
power possessed by the magicians and fetish priests is
by no means small, and in some cases they are even
organised into hierarchies. Moreover, among races the
most widely separated, the Negroes, Polynesians, and
Americans, there exist certain secret associations, types
of the later mysteries and sacred orders, which exercise a
most formidable influence.
Magic may be said to prevail where it is the aim of a
cultus not to worship the spirits, although homage may
also be offered to appease them, but to acquire power
over them by spells, and thus cripple their dreaded
influence. As higher conceptions are formed of the
divine beings, these enchantments give way to efforts to
propitiate them, or to calm their wrath. Among the
Brahmanic Hindus, however, the old conception may
still be traced in the well-known doctrine that it is
possible for man by violent and continuous penances to
force the devas into obedience to his will, and to strip
them of their supremacy. The tapas (literally, “ fire,”
“ heat,” and thence the glow of self-renunciation and self-
ITS CONNEXION WITH MAGIC.
II
chastisement) has here taken the place of magic, with
which it was at first confounded, It is a striking
example of the way in which a very primitive conception
has survived in an otherwise highly-developed religion.
Secret associations both of men and women exist
in great numbers among the Negroes. Among the
North American Indians the three secret societies Jossa-
kied, Meda, and Wabeno, seem, like the Greek mys-
teries, to transmit a certain doctrine of immortality;
their members, at any rate, are regarded as born again.
See Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturuolker, iii. p. 215,
sqq. The Areoi of Tahiti are of a peculiar constitution
—a body of distinguished men who preserve and propa-
gate the old traditions; they are regarded already as
gods upon earth, and are supposed to be elevated above
all the laws of morality. See Gerland in "Waitz, op. cit.,
vi. pp. 363-369.
10. In the animistic religions fear is more powerful |
than any other feeling, such as gratitude or trust. The
spirits and their worshippers are alike selfish. The evil
spirits receive, as a rule, more homage than the good, the
lower more than the higher, the local more than the
remote, the special more than the general. The allot-
ment of their rewards or punishments depends not on
men’s good or bad actions, hut on the sacrifices and gifts
which are offered to them or withheld. With morality *
this religion has little or no connection, and the doctrine
of immortality consists almost entirely in the representa-
tion that the earthly life is continued elsewhere (theory
of continuance), while of the doctrine that men will j
receive hereafter according to their works (theory of
recompense), only the first beginnings are to be traced.
12
-
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
II.
PECULIAR DEVELOPMENTS OF ANIMISTIC RELIGION AMONG
DIFFERENT RACES.
Literature. — General sources: Th. Waitz, Antlvro-
pologie der Nalurvolker, vol. i., 2d ed., Leipzig, 1877;
vols. ii.-v. part i., Leipzig, 1860-65; vols. v. (part ii.) -vi.,
continued by G. Gerland, 1870-72, an indispensable
work, evincing great industry and clear-sightedness.
The data, including those relating to religion, are always
to be trusted; not so constantly, the theories founded
on them by the writer. In this respect Waitz is far
surpassed by Gerland, especially in vol. vi. Fried.
Muller, Allgemeine Ethnographic, Vienna, 1873, very
brief, but generally to be trusted in everything con-
cerning religion. Peschel, Races of Man, London, 1876,
p. 245, sqq.
Separate races :—The Australians. Gerland-Waitz,
vi. pp. 706-829. George Grey, Journals of Two Expe-
ditions of Discovery in North-Western and Western Australia,
2 vols., London, 1841; of. Tylor, Primitive Culture,
i. p. 320, sqq.
Papuans and Melanesians. Gerland-Waitz, vi.
pp. 516-705 ; see the literature, ibid., p. xix., sqq. A.
Goudzwaard, De Papoeiva’s van de Geelvinksbaai, Schie-
dam, 1863. Van Boudijck Bastiaanse, Voyages Faits
dans les Moluques, a la Nouv. Guinee, &c., Paris, 1845.
Malays. Malays proper, Waitz, v. part i.; Micro-
nesians and North-West Polynesians, ibid., v. part ii.;
Polynesians, ibid., vi. pp. 1-514. Literature, ibid., v.
pp. xxvi-xxxiv; and vi. pp. xix-xxii. Oberlander,
Die Inseln der Siidsee, Leipzig, 1871, gives a good sum-
ITS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTS.
13
mary. C. Schirren, Die Wandersagen der Neuseelander
und dcr Mauimythos, Eiga, 1856; and Sir George Grey
(see above under Australians), Polynesian Mythology and
Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race,
London, 1855 ; both works much to be recommended.
See also W. W. Gill, Myths and Songs from the South
Pacific, with preface by Max Muller, London, 1876.
Negro Eaces and allied peoples. Waitz, vol. ii. ;
literature, ibid., pp. xvii-xxiv. A. KaufmanN, Schil-
derungen avs Central Afrika, Brixen, 1862. An excellent
summary will be found in Ed. Sciiauenburg, Reisen
in Central Afrika von Mungo Park bis auf Dr. Earth und
Dr. Vogel, 2 vols., 1859-65 ; while Vogel’s travels are
described by H. Wagner, Schilderung der Reisen und
Entdeclcungen des Dr. Ed. Vogel, Leipzig, i860. W. Bos-
nian, Nauickeurige Reschrijving van de Guinese Goud- land-
en slavekust, 2d ed., 1709; very instructive and charac-
teristic. J. Leighton Wilson, History and Condition of
JVestern Africa, Philadelphia, 1859, excellent. Much
useful material in Brodie Cruickshank, Eighteen Years
on the Gold Coast, London, 1853. Important for the
knowledge of the priestly hierarchy, T. E. Bowditcii,
Mission to Ashantee, London, 1819. J. B. Douville,
Voyage au Congo et dans Vlnterieur de VAfrique Eguinoxiale,
3 vols., Paris, 1832, not to be trusted in the least. The
travels of Barth, Speke and Grant, and Sir Samuel Baker,
contain very few notices of religion. Comp, also Cameron,
Across Africa, 2 vols., London, 1877.
On the Kaffirs, Hottentots, and Bosjesmans, the first
authority is the admirable work of G. Fritsch, Die
Eingeboretien Sud-Afrika’s, ethnograph. und anatom, beschrie-
ben, Breslau, 1872. E. Casalis, Les Rassoutos, Paris,
i860, attractive.
American Eaces. Waitz, vols. iii. and iv.; literature,
14
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
ibid., iii. pp. xix-xxxii; and iv. pp. vii, viii. The much-
used work of J. G. Muller, Geschichte der Amerikanischen
Urrdigimen, Basel, 1855, contains abundance of material,
and ideas and explanations which are sometimes very 4
just; but the writer’s abortive attempt to distinguish
everywhere a northern belief in ghosts or spirits from a
southern sun-worship, leads him occasionally to place the
facts in a false light. D. G. Brinton, The Myths of the
New World, New York, 1868, original, but one-sided.
The works of BrAsseur de Bourbourg, Catlin, and
Schoolcraft (see the literature in Waitz, to which may
be added Catlin, A Religious Ceremony of the Mandans)
still deserve to be consulted. H. H. Bancroft, The
Native Races of the Western Slates of America, 5 vols.,
London, 1873-75. For Ethnology, see further, H. E.
Ludewig, The literature of American Aboriginal Lan-
guages, with additions by Turner, edited by N. Trub-
ner, London, 1857.
On the religion of the Finns, see M. Alex. Castren,
Vorlemngen iiber die Finnische Mythologie, aus dem Schwed.
mit Anmerkk. von A. Schiefner, St. Petersburg, 1853.
Id., Kleinere Schriften, herausgegeben von Schiefner, St.
Petersburg, 1862 (containing an essay “ Ueber die
Zauberkunst der Finnen,” and also “ Allgemeine Ueber-
sicht der Gbtterlehre und der Magie der Finnen wahrend
des Heidenthums Compare further, A. Schiefner,
Ileldensagen der Minussinschen Tataren, rythm. bearbeitet,
St. Petersburg, 1859. The most complete edition of the
Kalevala is by El. Lonrott in 1849 (under the sanc-
tion of the University of Helsingfors. The second
edition contains 50 Bunes, as against 32 in the first
edition of 1835); translated by A. Schiefner, Kalewala,
das National-Epos der Finnen, nach der 2ten Ausg. ins
Deutsche iibertr., Helsingfors, 1852.
ITS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT,$. 15
11. The question of the relation in which the religions
of savages stand to the great historic families of religions,
has only just been opened; and not till it has been
solved with some degree of certainty, will it be possible
for the separate nature-religions to take their proper
places in the history of religion. At present they only
serve to give some idea of the religions which preceded
those of civilised nations, and their description does not
belong to this place. But while animistic religion is,
in its nature, and even in its ideas and usages, with
slight modification everywhere the same, it is necessary
to point out the special causes which have led to its
development among different races in such different forms
and degrees. Of these the principal are (1) the different
characters of these races, (2) the nature of their home and
occupations, and (3) the historic relations in which some
of them stood to their neighbours.
The question of the relation of the religions of savages
to those of the great historic families of religions, amounts
briefly to this:—Are the former entirely independent, or
is there reason for regarding them as the backward and
imperfectly-developed members of larger groups, to which
the recognised families of religion (such as the Semitic or
Indo-Germanic) belong ? There is real agreement between
the civilisation and religion of the Negroes, and those of
the Egyptians. Similar correspondences exist between the
Red Indians and Turanians. The Polynesians and Indo-
Germans, also, exhibit so many points of contact, that
Bopp even endeavoured, however fruitlessly, to prove the
original unity of their languages. Gerland {Anthropclog.
Beitrage, i. p. 396) has lately combined all the African
nations, Negroes, Bantu tribes (Kaffirs), Hottentots,
j6
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
Berbers, Gallas, &c., together with Egyptians ar.d
Semites into one great race, which he names the Arabic-
African. "Were this conjecture to he established, we
should have to incorporate all the African religions with ,
those of the Egyptians and Semites. Without going so
far as this, E. Von Hartmann, Die Nigritier, vol. i., 1877,
endeavours to prove the unity of all the African races,
but he marks off the Semites from them very decidedly.
His demonstration rests at present chiefly on physical
grounds, but in the second volume, which has not yet
appeared, he promises to establish the unity of these
races in language and religion as well. But the inquiry
is still in its first stage, and it must be carried to much
more assured results before we may venture to make use
of it in the history of religion.
12. The joyous careless disposition of the sensual
Negro is reflected in Iris religion as clearly as the sombre
melancholy character of the American Indian in his.
If the latter is endowed with much more poetic feeling
than the former, whose mythology is of the poorest order,
and in this resembles that of the Semites, he is surpassed
by the poetic genius of the Polynesian, which displays
itself in his rich mythology. The great influence of
national character on religion is specially apparent among
peoples, which, though living in the same climate and
engaged in the same occupations—like the Papuans, the
Melanesians, and Polynesians—stand at such different
stages of development: while the religion of the Americans,
on the other hand, though they are spread over a whole
quarter of the globe, and diverge so widely in civilisation,
exhibits everywhere the same character, and is every-
where accompanied by the same usages.
ITS DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTS.
17
13. The influence of the locality and the occupation
of the different peoples must also be taken into account.
Lowest in the scale stands the religion of the root-
digging Australians, who do, indeed, engage in hunting,
but show little skill in it, and that of the Bosjesmans,
who live largely by plunder. The religion of the Koikoin
or Hottentots, and of the Kaffirs, who are both for the
most part pastoral tribes, is mild, that of some of the
war-loving Negro tribes sanguinary and cruel; while
among those Negroes who are engaged chiefly in industry
and commerce, without neglecting cattle-breeding and
agriculture, a much more humane and civilised worship
prevails, in which however the spirit of trade shows itself
in a certain cunning towards the spirits. The myths of
the Polynesians at once betray that they have sprung up
among a people of husbandmen and fishermen, and their
religious customs correspond entirely to the beneficent
nature which surrounds them.
14. Even at this point of development, the mingling,
or even simply the mutual intercourse of nations, brings
about a transfer of religious ideas and institutions from
the one to the other. The mixed race of the Melanesians
may still be distinguished in many respects from the
Polynesians, but they adopted the religion of the latter,
though in a very degraded form. The Abantu or Kaffirs,
who are very near to the Negroes, but are only distantly
related to the Koikoin or Hottentots, borrowed from the
latter various religious conceptions.
That the Melanesians derived their religion from the
Polynesians is denied by Gerland in Waitz, vi. p. 675.
The statement is not strictly accurate, but the Melanesians
r b
i8
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
are a mixed race of Polynesians and Papuans, among
whom the religion of the former maintained the ascendant
and was independently developed. Their supreme god
Ndengei is only a degenerate form of Tangaloa, the god
universally worshipped by the Polynesians, though the
Melanesians apply to him their own peculiar myths, which
are unknown to the Polynesians. From these they are
distinguished by their greater rudeness, and want of
poetic capacity, while on the other hand they are less
luxurious and unchaste. Their customs correspond much
more with those of the Papuans.
The religion of the Kaffirs bears a greater resem-
blance in character and conceptions to that of the
Hottentots than to that of the Negroes. The myth of
Unkulunkulu, “the great-grandfather,” the Creator, does
not in fact differ from that related by the Hottentots of
their chief deity, the Moon-god Ueitsi-eibib. The word
Utixo, moreover, the Kaffir designation of the highest
god, has been adopted from the Hottentots.
15. The original religions of America exhibit religious
Animism at every stage of development. In one and
the same race, whose religions possess everywhere the
same distinctive character, and have certain peculiar usages
in common, the richest variety of religious development
may he found. Among some tribes, such as the Shoshonee
and Comanches in North America, the Botokuds and Oto-
maks, the Pampas Indians, some of the Brazilian savages,
and the Terra-del-Fuegians of South America, hardly any-
thing more than the first germs of a cultus is to be traced.
A higher stage has been reached by the tribes of the
north-west of North America, by the Caribbees of
Central America, and, among the closely-allied Hyper-
boreans, by the Esquimaux. But they are far surpassed
AMONG THE AMERICANS.
19
by the savages of North America, on the east of the
Missouri, and the south of Canada. In mythology,
religion, and usages, these have attained about the same
point of development as the Polynesians; their worship
is directed for the most part towards spirits of a lower
rank, especially towards those which they fear, yet they
all acknowledge a great Spirit, Creator of everything
which exists. The Natchez, a small tribe at the con-
fluence of the Mississippi and Eed Eiver, had even
founded a theocracy, based on sun-worship, and appear
to have exerted great influence by their religion on the
neighbouring tribes.
The character of the American with his sombre ear-
nestness, his sagacity and silence, his passionateness
combined with a self-mastery which expresses itself out-
wardly in gravity and at least apparent indifference, and
enables him to endure the most terrible torments with a
smile, is reflected in his religion. This is characterised by
severe self-tortures and bloody ceremonies, which do not
give way even before a higher civilisation. The myth
of the hero avho is worshipped as the founder of this
civilisation (originally a sun-god) appears alike among
savage tribes and among peoples already settled, and the
national heroes everywhere resemble one another. The
following usages may be regarded as universal: the use
of the steam-bath for producing ecstasy, the sacred game
at ball, and enchantment with a rattle. The most
widely-separated peoples retain the practice of drawing
blood out of certain parts of the body, which are regarded
as the seat of the soul, a custom which probably served
as a substitute for human sacrifices, and among the
Cherokees, Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians, baptism ac-
companies the naming of children. This large agreement
20
-
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
renders the differences in development more remarkable,
especially when it is remembered that the nearest connec-
tions of the highly-civilised Aztecs in Mexico are the
Shoshonee and Comanches, tribes which stand “nearer
to the brutes than probably any other portion of the
human race” (Report of the Comm, of Indian Affairs, 1854,
p. 209).
The great Spirit, who is primus inter pares, is unques-
tionably of native origin.
The religion of the Natchez is raised by its organisa-
tion alone above that of their neighbours, but it is no-
thing more than an organised Animism. The absolute
sovereign was the brother of the sun and high priest,
and to all fire, even to that which served for house-
hold purposes, but especially to that which was always
kept burning in the temple, a special sanctity was at-
tached. In this case also religious progress seems to
be connected with the introduction of agriculture.
16. The mingling of various races by migration and
conquest, the transition from the wandering life of
hunters and fishermen to the settled tasks of agriculture,
and the establishment of regular states, resulted among
the Muyscas or Chibchas (of New Granada) and the
Mayas (of Central America, particularly Yucatan), but
above all among the Peruvians and Mexicans, in a great
advance, which did not leave religion behind; an ad-
vance which cannot be ascribed, as some writers have
endeavoured to prove, to the influence of foreign colonists.
The beings whom these nations worship, are as yet
no gods in the strict sense, i.e., supernatural beings,
they are hardly more than spirits: they are, however,
the representatives of the higher powers and phenomena
AMONG THE AMERICANS.
21
of nature. Their usages, also, their cultus and their
doctrine of immortality, are, in reality, animistic. Yet
in their conception of the higher powers, and in the
relation in which they imagined themselves to stand
to them, it is impossible not to recognise the begin-
nings of a purer and more rational view. There were
even princes, both in Peru and Mexico, who ventured to
introdirce important reforms, a sign of great activity of
thought. However imperfect their success may have
been at first, they would probably have become after a
time the bases of a new order of things, if the course of
the independent development of these nations had not
been checked by the Spanish conquest. The religions of
Mexico and Peru certainly reached, if they did not pass
beyond, the extreme limits of Animism.
That the Mexican and Peruvian civilisation owed its
origin to foreign colonists, has been asserted by many
writers. The foolish suppositions that the Ten Tribes
of Israel, or Welsh princes, or Phoenician merchants,
may have wandered off to America, deserve no refuta-
tion. More likelihood attaches to the conjecture that
East Asiatics may have landed in Mexico. This was
suggested by Humboldt, Anskhten dcr Natur, i. p. 214.
From the Chinese work Ndn-ssu, i.e., “ History of the
South,” De Guignes, Paravey, and Neumann inferred that
the Chinese were acquainted with America about 458
A.D.; but this conclusion is disputed by Klaproth, Non-
velles Annales des Voyages, 1831. All the material for tho
discussion of the question is given by Ch. G. Leland,
Fusang; or, The Discovery of America ly Chinese Buddhist
Priests in the Fifth Century, London, 1875. The state-
ments about this land Fusang, however, are for tho
22
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
most part not applicable to America, while they are
altogether appropriate to Japan. The proofs adduced
by G. d’Eichthal, Btude sur les Origines Bouddiques de
la Civilisation Amiricaine, ie partie, 1865, are also ex-
tremely feeble.
The names by which these nations designate the gods
in general, teotl among the Mexicans, guacas among the
Peruvians, signify nothing more than spirits. These feed
on human flesh, and are drunken with blood, the human
sacrifices in Mexico being counted by thousands. The
mild deity of the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl, to whom no
human sacrifices were offered, forms an exception. Some
expressions have been supposed to indicate the beginnings
of monotheism, but they are extremely uncertain. But
it is remarkable that the sun-spirit was called simply
teotl, “the spirit” par excellence. It is also said that
all the spirits die when he appears. The splendid ad-
dresses made, according to some writers, on solemn occa-
sions by official speakers, and which teach a fairly pure
morality, inspire no great confidence, especially when
it is reflected that the Mexican hieroglyphics are of a
very indefinite kind, and give scope for arbitrary ex-
planations. Attempts at reform, however, were not
wanting. Various noble princes, the Toltecs in Mexico,
Netzalcuatl in Tezcuco, and the Incas in Peru, attempted
to set limits at all events to the grossest licentiousness,
and to human sacrifices. In 1440 A.D. the Inca Tupac
Yupanqui, at the consecration of a temple of the sun
at Cuzco, proclaimed a new deity, Illatici-Viracocha-
Pacliacamac, to whom the sun-god was subordinated, and
he founded a temple to him at Callao containing no images,
in which no human sacrifices might be offered. A similar
advance was made by Netzalcuatl, prince of Tezcuco; he
built a temple nine stories in height, which contained no
AMONG THE FINNS.
23
image and might be polluted by no blood, in honour of
the deity who, as cause of causes, was enthroned above
the nine heavens. But neither this deity, nor that of
the Inca, whose triple name is a combination of the
terms for the three vital principles thunder-cloud (i.c., the
hidden receptacle of the thunder), sea-foam (i.e., the fire
hidden in the waters), and the earth-soul, ever became
national gods, and the temple of the latter soon had its
images and horrible paintings.
17. Over a large extent of Asia and Europe the
Aryans, and perhaps also the Semites, were preceded
by Turanian peoples, and the oldest civilisation which
we can trace was derived if not from them, at any rate
from a race very closely connected with them, of which
the Akkadians in Mesopotamia are the chief representa-
tives. Most of their religions have been supplanted by
Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity; but the remarkable
religion of the Finns, compared with that of the kindred
Siberian tribes and of the Tatars, proves how high a
development they were capable of attaining. Their
mythology and cultus were, it is true, completely under
the influence of the belief in magic, and they are thus
purely animistic. All the spirits which they worship,
even the highest, are nature-beings of more or less
might, but chiefly eminent for their magical power, and
rarely endowed with moral qualities—a sort of inde-
pendent patriarchs, differing in power, not in rank. High
above all the other spirits, however, stands Ukko (the
old man, father, grandfather, the venerable), the Creator
('luoya) and deity (gum&la) par excellence, the ancient one
in heaven, mightier than the mightiest enchanter, whose
24
ANIMISTIC RELIGION.
aid is invoked by all heroes and spirits. Only one step
remained for the Finns to take in order to rise from
pol ydsemonism to polytheism. Their epic poems, col-
lected under the name of Kalevala, the subject of which
is not a moral or national conflict, but simply the contest
of the powers of nature personified, affords proof of their
great poetic gifts.
The ethical element is almost entirely deficient. Even
in the representation of Ukko I have not succeeded in
discovering it. Evil spirits and good cry to him for
help, and he grants it, alike when the powers of darkness
are being resisted, and when the nine spirits which plague
mankind are born. He is the highest and mightiest of
the spirits, but not even the lesser are dependent on
him.
Tumdla, which signifies, according to Castr&i, “the
place of thunder/’ i.e., the sky (?), was originally, in his
opinion, the name of a distinct god of the sky. It is,
however, an appellative of the divine beings in general,
used parallel with lumja, but often employed to designate
the highest god, and subsequently applied to the god of
the Christians.
The worship of spirits (the chief of whom are called
Haltia) and the doctrine of immortality are not developed
any further among the Finns than among the Nature-
peoples.
The three great heroes of the Kalevala, "Wainamoinen,
Ilmarinen, and Lemminkainen, are certainly ancient
spirits of heaven, fire, and earth, and correspond to
Odhinn, Loki, and Hunir, the German triad of gods,
although the working out of their character and the
description of their deeds have a character entirely
their own.
( 25 )
-
CHAPTER II.
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE
Literature.—General; J. E. R. Kauffer, Geschkhte
von Ost - Asien, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1858-60; id., Das
Chineskche Volk, Dresden, 1850. Gutzlaff, Geschkhte
des Chines. Rekhs, herausgegeben von K. F. Neumann,
Stuttgart, 1847. A number of essays by J. H. Plath,
in the Sitzungsberichte der Baierischen Akademie, of which
the following deserve to be named here: “ Chronol.
Grundlage der alten Chines. Geschichte,” 1867, ii. 1;
“ Ueber die Quellen der alten Chines. Geschichte,” 1870,
i. i ; “ China vor 4000 Jahren,” 1869, i. 2, 3, ii. 1 ;
“Ueber Schule und Unterricht bei den alten Chinesen,”
1868, ii. 1. G. Pauthier, Chine, ou Description historique,
geograpliique, et littiraire, &c.; id., Chine modeme, ou
Description, &c., Paris, 1853. In The Origin of the
Chinese, London, 1868, J. Chalmers loses himself in
very hazardous conjectures.
Religion of the Old Empire. J. H. Plath, Die Reli-
gion und der Cultus der alten Chinesen, Miinchen, 1862, in
two parts, (r) Die Religion; (2) Der Cultus. Ed. Biot,
Le Tcheou-li, ou Rites des Tcheou, 2 vols., Paris, 1851.
Confucianism. J. H. Plath, Confucius und seiner
Schuler Leben und Lehren, (i.) Histor. Einleitung, Miinchen,
1867 ; (ii.) Leben des Confucius, i., ibid., 1870; (iii.) Die
Schuler des Confucius, ibid., 1873 ; (iv.) Sdmmlliche Aus-
spruche des Confucius und seinen Schiilem, systematisch
geordnet, i., ibid., 1874. Absolutely indispensable, J.
26
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
Legge, The Chinese Classics, with a Translation, Critical
and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and copious Indexes,
Hongkong and London, 1861, and following years; in
7 vols., of which there have appeared—vol. i., Life of
Confucius, and the first three classical books; vol. ii.,
the works of Mencius; vol. iii., i. and ii., the Shu-
king; vol. iv., i. and ii., the Shi-king, and other
poetical pieces. Vols. i. and ii. have been published
without the text in a small edition, The Life and
Teachings of Confucius, third ed., London, 1872, and
the Life and Works of Mencius, ibid., 1875. The Liin-gil
has been translated into German by W. Schott, vol i.,
Halle, 1829; vol. ii., Berlin, 1832. Pauthier, Les
Livres Sacres de VOrient, Paris, 1840, contains a trans-
lation of the Shu-king and of the classical books. Other
translations are enumerated in the Notices Bibliogra-
phiques, Pauthier, op. cit., p. xxviii, and in the history
of Kauffer named above, i. p. 83, sqq., and ii. p. 17.
As samples of the profane literature of the Confucianists
we may specify, D’Hervey de St. Denys, Lc Li-sao,
poeme du 3“' siecle avant noire ere, Paris, 1870. Stanisl.
Julien, Contes et Apologues Indiem suivis de Fables et de
Poesies Chinoises, 2 vols., Paris, i860.
Taoism. Lao tseu Tao te King, Le Litre de la Vote et de la
Vertu, trad. &c.,par Stanisl. Julien, Paris, 1842. Lad-
tse’s Tad te King, iibersetzt u. s. w. von V. VON Strauss,
Leipzig, 1870, follows Julien closely. Only an arbitrary
paraphrase will be found in Lao-tse Tao-U-king, iibers. und
erklari von E. von Planckner, Leipzig, 1870. Le Ltvre
des Recompenses et des Peines, trad, par A. ELmusat, Paris,
1816. A. Pfizmaier, Die Losung der Leichname und
Schwerler, dn Beitr. zur Kenntniss des Taoglaubens, Vienna,
1870; id., Die Taolehre von den wahren Menschen und den
Unsterblichen, ibid., 1870. W. Eotermund, Die Ethik
IN THE OLD EMPIRE.
27
Lao-tse’s mit lesonderer Bezugnahme auf der Buddhistischm
Moral, Gotha, 1874.
18. The religion of the old Chinese Empire, as it
existed certainly from the twelfth century B.C., and pro-
bably at a much earlier period, is best described as a
purified and organised worship of spirits, with a pre-
dominant fetishist tendency, combined into a system
before it was possible for a regular mythology to de-
velop out of it. The sole objects of worship are the
spirits (shin), which are divided into heavenly, earthly, and
human, and, as a rule, are still closely connected with the
objects of nature. Heaven (Thian), who, when conceived
as a personal being, is called the supreme emperor (Shang-
ti), stands at the head, and in co-operation with the earth
has produced everything. His will is fate, and he
rewards and punishes. He is one; hut he has five
emperors beside him, and an innumerable multitude of
spirits beneath him, among which those of the sun,
moon, stars, and constellations are pre-eminent. The
spirit of the earth (lleu-thu), though not sharply per-
sonified, is for the most part conceived as of female
nature. The spirits of the mountains, streams, &c.,
belong to her realm. Besides these, the spirits are with-
out number. They are perceived, hut are neither heard
nor seen, though they reside in visible objects, and for
the most part assume the forms of animals. It may be
regarded as a great advance that there is no mention of
essentially evil spirits, that all spirits are exalted
servants of Shang-ti, and in their intercourse with men
esteem moral qualities above everything else.
28
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
The twelfth century B.C. is the era of the establish-
ment of the Tshow dynasty, whose cultus we know from
the book Tshow-li. Plath objects to the conception of
the joint working of heaven and earth as a marriage,
and describes the earth as a male feudal prince. But
the great power which they exert is called “ generation ”
(seng), and in the Yi-king they are frequently repre-
sented as husband and wife, as father and mother.
The same idea occurs also in the Shirking. See the
passages cited by Plath himself, lid. der alten Chinesen,
pp. 36-38 and 73. To treat this as a type of parental
care is inappropriate. The two original principles Yang
and Yin, which Plath regards as the fruit of later
philosophical reflection, make their appearance as early
as 1100 B.c. in the Tshow-li, op. cit., vii. 3, and ix. 10, 11;
and in the same work it is not the chief vassal of the
empire, but the principal wife of the emperor who is
named after the earth. The old and generally diffused
myth of the marriage between heaven and earth certainly
lies at the foundation of Chinese mythology also, though
the philosophers afterwards disguised it past recognition.
• 19. The doctrine of continued existence after death
I among the Chinese entirely accords with that of the
j Nature-peoples. Man has two souls, one of which
ascends after death to heaven, while the other descends
into the earth, after vain attempts have been made to
recall them both. Of the doctrine of retribution no
*
certain traces axe to be found, but we do find the idea that
it is possible by sacrificing life to save a sick person.
The souls of ancestors were worshipped with great pomp
and earnestness, and were, it was supposed, present at tbb
sacrifices.
IN THE OLD EMPIRE.
29
Though no distinct traces of the doctrine of retribu-
tion after death can be discovered among the ancient
Chinese, it must be remembered in this connection
that all the books which are the sources of our
knowledge of their religion before Kong-tse, have passed
through the hands either of himself or his followers,
and he always refused to express an opinion on souls and'
their destiny. The doctrine of retribution was held by
the sect of the Tao-sse, and reached among them a very
elaborate form, so that it maybe regarded as probable that
it was not unknown to the religion of the old empire.
20. The Chinese are remarkable for the complete
absence of a priestly caste. Their worship, which was
regulated down to its minute details, was entirely a civil
function. It was placed under the control of one of the
six ministers who directed all the officials connected with
religion, including the musicians and dancers. To Tliian,
the spirit of heaven, only the emperor might sacrifice; to
the spirits of the earth and the fruits of the land, only
the emperor and the feudal princes; to the five house
spirits, only the high officials, and so on in strict order.
Of the sacrifices, which originally included also human
victims, that part was presented which was regarded as
the seat of the soul or of life. The greater number of the
temples were consecrated to the dead, while the emperor
himself performed his sacrifices under the open sky.
Prayer, even when addressed to Tliian, was permitted
to all, but at the court, regular officials were appointed
for the purpose. Even the magicians, soothsayers, and
spirit-charmers, though numbered among the state func-
tionaries, formed no priestly order. Great value, how-
30 RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
ever, was attached to the oracles procured by their in-
strumentality, especially to those obtained by means of
the plant Shi, and by the burning of furrows on a tortoise-
shell (pu).
The most important source of our knowledge of the
early worship of the Chinese is the book Tshow-li, written
in the twelfth century B.c. by Tshow-Jcung, brother of the
founder of the Tshow dynasty. From his family, six
centuries later, came Kong-tse.
21. A reform of this religion was carried out in the
(sixth century b.c. by Kong-fu-tse (Master Kong, Con-
.fucius), though he himself did not wish to be regarded as
doing anything more than transmit and preserve the
doctrine of the Ancients. Born in 550 (or 5 51) B.c. in
the principality of Lu, of a distinguished family, he began
at the age of two-and-twenty years to give instruction as
a teacher or sage. Labouring sometimes as an official,
and once appointed to a high civil post, but for the most
part living without office, and often compelled by the
disturbances in his native country to go into exile, he saw
himself always surrounded by a large number of disciples,
consulted by the most eminent personages, and highly
honoured even during his life. He died in the year 478.
Kong-tse' had a high sense of his calling, and attached
great value to purity of morals, though he detested the
life of the hermit. Accused without cause of insincerity,
he hated all false show, but he was inordinately puncti-
lious about all forms, and perhaps not wholly free from
superstition. If he thus appears somewhat narrow-
minded, whoever judges him by the age in which he lived
and the nation to which he belonged, notes the powerful
CONFUCIANISM.
31
impression which he made upon friends and foes, and
observes, above all, bis intercourse with his disciples, will
recognise in him a man of rare qualities, endowed with a
noble heart and a penetrating spirit.
22. The religious doctrine of Kong-tse is ethical natu-
ralism, founded on the state religion of the Tshow. He
engaged in supernatural questions with as much reluctance
as in practical affairs, and expressed himself very cautiously
and doubtfully on religious points. Even of heaven lief
preferred not to speak as a personal being, but he quoted its
example as the preserver of order, and he would allude to
its commands, ordinances, and purposes. But the actions
of men also help to determine their destiny. The doctrine
that good and evil are rewarded on earth by prosperity
and adversity was firmly maintained by him. To prayer
he ascribed no great value. He did not believe in direct
revelations, and be regarded forebodings and presentiments
simply as warnings. Eatber than express an opinion on
the nature of spirits and souls, be insisted that they should
be worshipped faithfully and the old usages maintained;
but he laid the greatest stress on reverence, and urged that1
the spirits should not be served in barbarous fashion, and
that, in times of scarcity, for instance, honour should not
be paid to the dead at the expense of the living.
I speak of the state-religion of the Tshow, having in
view the book named Tshow-li already quoted, which
appears to have established a new order of things, and
with the prescriptions of which Kong-tse always perfectly
accords. That this book does not reproduce the old
popular religion, and that Kong-tse only retained a portion
of the earlier doctrines of his nation, will become apparent
32
-
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
by and by, on the consideration of Taoism. In ancient
times he was always worshipped next to Tshow, which
proves that the connection between their reforms con-
tinued to be felt.
23. Kong-tse devoted much attention to religious
literature. He studied zealously the Yi-hing, an ob-
scure hook of magic. The Shu-king, an historical work,
was perhaps recast by himself, it is certainly written in
his spirit. The Shi-king is a collection of songs chosen
by him out of a large number, from which all mytho-
logical expressions have probably been eliminated. The
Li-hi, a ritual work, was enlarged by him. These books,
with the addition of a chronicle written entirely by him,
entitled Tshiin tsiew, and not of a religious nature, con-
stitute the five Kings, regarded by the followers of Kong-
fu-tse as the canonical hooks. In the Liin-Yu (“ Arranged
ConversationsLegge, “ Analects ”) the remarkable utter-
ances of the Master addressed to his followers were
collected by his disciples’ disciples. Others attempted
in the Ta-hio (“ the Great InstructionLegge, “ the
Great Learning ”) and the Tshung-yung (“ the Doctrine of
the Mean”) to supply a philosophical basis for his
doctrine. These works form three of the four Shu, or
classical books. The fourth, comprising the works of
the sage Meng-tse (§ 24), was added to the collection
at a much later period.
Yi-king signifies “Book of Changes.” Shu means
writings, and the Shu-king is regarded as the Book of books.
It is commonly assumed that this work was put into its
present form by Kong-tse, or at any rate modified by
him in accordance with his views, but this is questioned
MENCIUS.
33
by Legge. It is certain that it has been revised by some
one belonging to his school This is plain from a com-
parison of it with the so-called Bamboo-books found in
the grave of King Seang of Wei, who died in 295 B.C.;
these books contain a dry chronicle, with numerous
fabulous additions, giving a totally different representa-
tion of the history. The object of the Shu-king is not so
much to narrate a history, as to impart moral and poli-
tical instruction, based on historical facts. Sid are poems,
of which the Shi-Hng contains about three hundred, chosen
out of several thousand. The source of the Li-ki (“ rituum
commemoratio ”) is the Tshow-li. Tshiin-tsiew, signifying
“ Spring-Autumn,” is a chronicle of the principality
of Lu from the year 723 to 479 B.c. The Ta-hio is
ascribed to the sage Tsang-sin, or his disciples, or also,
like the Tshung-yung, to Kong-tse’s grandson Tsze-sse.
From the word Shu, “ writings,” is derived the term
Shu-kiao, the name of the doctrine or sect of Kong-tse.
24. Immediately after Kong-tse’s death, a temple was
erected to him by the Prince of Lu, and his worship,
though not yet recognised on the part of the Govern-
ment, at first increased. Towards the commencement of
the fourth century B.C., during the serious disturbances
which led to the fall of the Tshow dynasty, new doctrines
of all kinds arose. These threatened to undermine the
authority of the Master. This tendency was resisted
with great emphasis by the learned Meng-tse (Mencius,
371-288 B.c.) In his teaching, which was principally
political and moral, or, more accurately, perhaps, anthro-
pological, the religious element retires still further into
the background than in that of Kong-tse. Less modest
and disinterested, he was more independent in character,
7 c
34
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
and a more powerful reasoner. By liis instruction and
writings he acquired great influence, triumphing over all
the opponents of Kong-tse, who was in his eyes the most
eminent of men. It is probably owing to his labours
that even the great persecution under the Ts’in dynasty
(212 B.c.), and the favour displayed by some emperors of
the Han dynasty (after 201 B.c.) towards the followers
of Lao-tse (§ 26), did not succeed in eradicating Confu-
cianism. From the year 57 of our era the worship of
Kong-tse by the side of Tshow was practised by the
emperors themselves as well as in all the schools; and
since the seventh century Kong-tse has been worshipped
alone. For the great majority of the Chinese he is the
ideal of humanity, which even the adherents of other
systems may not despise.
The persecution, begun in 212 B.C., lasted only a short
time; but it seems to have been very severe. Orders
were issued for the burning of all the canonical books
with the exception of the Yi-king, and on one occasion,
even, four hundred and sixty literati were buried alive
in pits. The persecutor was the founder of the Ts’in
dynasty himself, called Hoang-ti, like the great Emperor
so much revered by the Taoists. It was he who replaced the
feudal system by a more centralising government; he was
the first proper Emperor of China, and he was checked in
his reforms by the opposition of the Confucian sages,
who stood up for the old institutions. The occasion of
the persecution was political rather than religious,
although between these two spheres no sharp distinc-
tion can be made in China. The stern emperor, how-
ever, died within three years, and his dynasty also was
soon replaced by that of the Han. Confucianism was ex-
THE TAO-SSE.
35
posed to more danger through the many new doctrines,
alike those of the pessimist Yang-tshu, and those of Mill-
teih, the preacher of universal love, and others, which
found acceptance with many. They were obstinately
resisted by Meng-tse.
25. The humane but prosaic Confucianism might satisfy
the majority of cultivated Chinese, but it did not meet
all wants. This not only becomes apparent at a later date
through the introduction of Buddhism, but it is also clearly
proved by the permanence of the ancient sect of the
Tao-sse, which constantly endeavoured to vie with the
ruling religion. This religious community represents
rather the spiritist side of Animism. As a religious
tendency it existed from the earliest times, and even tried
to derive its origin from the ancient Emperor Hoang-ti,
whose name is erased from the canonical books of the
Confucians. It owed its rise as an association, however,
to the necessity of offering vigorous resistance to the
teaching of Kong-tse, and to the influence of the teach-
ing of his great rival Lao-tse, whom it reveres as its
saint. It enjoyed the temporary favour of some
emperors, and it is even now very widely diffused. But
it did not succeed in gaining the ascendency in the
empire, or in making its way among the ranks of learn-
ing and distinction. The cultivated Chinese now regard
it with unmixed contempt.
Although the history of Hoang-ti, the Yellow Emperor,
is obscured by all kinds of myths, so that we might
be disposed to consider him as a mythical being,
the majority of Sinologues regard him as an historical
personage. In fact, similar myths are related of per-
36
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
sons indisputably historic, such as Lao-tse himself. The
Bamboo-books supply many details about him; in the
Shu-king his name is designedly omitted. He was
connected with Lao in the same way as Tshow with
Kong. Taoism is even called “ the doctrine ” or “ the
service of Hoang-Lao.”
/ 26. Lao-tse, bom in the principality of Thsu, 604
B.C., was highly renowned even in his lifetime as a pro-
found philosopher. Kong-tse visited him in order to
consult him as an older and celebrated sage, and esteemed
him highly, but the tendency of Lao was entirely different
from his own, leading to mystic reflection and the con-
templative life. Not much is known of his history,
but the story of his journey to India must be rejected as
unworthy of belief. He wrote the famous Tao-te-King,
which became the most sacred book of the sect, although
its adherents, at any rate at the present day, certainly do
not understand it. Tao, a term in use with Kong-tse’s
followers also, and employed by the Chinese Buddhists in
the sense of wisdom or higher enlightenment (bodhi),
possesses among the Tao-sse, who derive their name from
it, a mystic significance, and is even worshipped by them
as a divine being. Lao-tse distinguishes in his book
between the nameless, supreme Tao, which is the ultimate
source, and the Tao which -can be named, and is the mother
of everything. To this, and to the power or virtue pro-
ceeding from it (te=virtus), the highest worship, according
to him, is due, and in this does the sage find his ideal.
To withdraw entirely into himself and free himself from
the constraints of sense, in order, thus, without action or
speech, to exercise a blessed power, must be his aim.
THE TAO-SSE.
37
This is the best philosophy of life and the best policy. The
often obscure system developed in the Tao-te-King is purely
Chinese, and is incorrectly derived from the influence of
Indian philosophy, with which it agrees rather in form
than in spirit. From the Buddhist doctrine it is essentially
different. It is marked by a morbid asceticism, and takes
up an attitude of hostility towards civilisation and pro- ^
gress, but it is distinguished by a pure and sometimes
very elevated morality.
It is altogether erroneous to regard Tao, with Eemusat,
as the primeval Reason, the \6yog, and worse still to call the
Tao-sse the Chinese rationalists. This character fits them
least of all, and they do their utmost to be as unreason-
able as possible. The name would be much more appro-
priate to their opponents. The ordinary meaning of the
word is “ way,” in the literal and the metaphorical sense,
but always “ the chief way.” In the mysticism of Lao the
term is applied to the supreme cause, the way or passage
through which everything enters into life, and at the
same time to the way of the highest perfection.
27. The later writings of the Tao-sse, among which
the Book of Rewards and Punishments occupies a pro-
minent place, show that they did not maintain this
morality at the same elevation, but gradually lost them-
selves in confused mysticism and an unreasoning belief
in miracles. To gain long life and immortality by means J y/
of self-chastisement, prayer, and watching, as well as by
the use of certain charms, was their highest endeavour.
But many remains of the ancient Chinese mythology,
banished by Kong-tse, and transformed by Lao-tse into
38
RELIGION AMONG THE CHINESE.
philosophical reflections, were preserved nearly unaltered
in their dogmas.
28. The ancient Chinese religion, which, with vast
differences in character, stands at the same point of
development as the Egyptian, in some respects took a
higher flight than the latter. By Tshow and Kong-tse
it was purified from many superstitions, which in Egypt
lasted till the fall of the Empire. The feudal system, as it
prevailed in China, amid all its faults possessed one virtue,
in that it permitted a much more independent develop-
ment of personality and a freer influence on the part of
the sages, than the theocratic absolutism which in Egypt
crippled all intellectual movement.
When the feudal system in China was obliged to give
way before another form of government, the two sects
were too firmly rooted to be involved in the ruin of the
old polity, yet they proved too purely national for either
of them to become a universal religion. It was only when
Chinese civilisation made its way complete, as in Corea
and Japan, that the Chinese religion, especially the doctrine
and worship of Kong-tse, was adopted with it.
( 39 )
-
CHAPTER in.
RELIGION AMONG THE HAMITES AND SEMITES.
Compare F. Lenormant, Les Premieres Civilisations, tom. i.,
“ Archseol. pr6historique,” Egypte; tom. ii., “ Chaldee et
Assyrie, Phenicie,” Paris, 1874. G. Rawltnson, The
Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, 3 vols.
(3d edition), London, 1873. Oppert, Memoire sur les
Rapports de VEgypte et de VAssyrie dans I’Antiquite, Paris,
1869, “ Progrfes des Etudes relatives h l’Egypte et a
rOrient.” Etudes Egypt., par E. de Roug£ ; Dechiffr. des
Ecrit. cuneif, par De Saulcy ; Etudes Semitiques, par
Munk j Langue et Lilt. Arab., par Reynaud, &c., 1867.
Transacts of the Soc. of Bill. Archeology, London, 1872, sqq.
P. Pierret, Melanges d’Archceol. Egypt, et Assyr. (in con-
tinuation of De Rouge’s Recueil de Travaux, &e., of which
one part appeared in 1870), Paris, 1872, sqq. Lepsius’
Zeitschrift (see below) also contains Assyrian studies.
I.
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
Literature.—A. General Works.—The great collections
of plates after the monuments, inscriptions, and ancient
texts, such as those of Champollion, Rosellini, Leemans,
Lepsius, Sharpe, Dumichen, Mariette, Pleyte, are only
accessible to those who are familiar with the writing and
language of the Egyptians. An accurate general survey
of the history of the decipherment of hieroglyphics and
of Egyptian literature is given by J. P. Mahaffy, Pro-
40 RELIGION AMONG HAMITES AND SEMITES.
legomem to Ancient History, London, 1871. Compare
Chajipollion le JEUNE, Precis du Systeme hieroglyphique
des Anciens Egyptiens, 2d ed., with a vol. of plates, Paris,
1828, systematised in his Grammaire Egyptienne. Horapol-
linis Niloi Hieroglyphica, ed. C. Leemans, Amsterdam,
1835. Strongly to be recommended, H. Brugsch, Hiero-
glyph. Grammatik sum Nutzen der stvdirenden Jugend,
Leipzig, 1872. A useful Egyptian Grammar has been
published by P. le Page Renouf,'London, 1875. Un-
finished, E. de Roucfi, Chrestomathie Egyptienne, Abrege
grammatical, fasc. 1, Paris, 1867; fasc. 2, 1868. H.
Brugsch, Hieroglyph. - demotisches Worterbuch, 4 Bde.,
Leipzig, 1867-68. C. C. J. Bunsen, Aegyptens Stdle in
der JPeltgeschichte, 6 vols.: i.-iiL, Hamburg, 1844-45;
iv.-vi., Gotha, 1856-57. Of the English translation,
Egypts Place in Universal History, vols. i.-v., London,
1848-6 7, the fifth volume, translated by C. H. Cottrel, is
indispensable; it contains numerous additions by S. Birch,
among them being a Translation of the Booh of the Dead,
a Dictionary of Hieroglyphics, and a Grammar. Sir G.
Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Andent Egyptians,
1st series, 3 vols., London, 1837 (2d ed. of vol. i., 1842);
2d series, 2 vols., with one vol. of plates, London, 1841.
Valuable contributions will be found in the Revue ArcMo-
logique, and in the Zeitschrift fiir Aegypt. Sprache und Alter-
ihumskunde, edited by Lepsius and Brugsch, Leipzig,
1863, sqq. The following catalogues may be consulted
with profit: C. Leemans, Description Iiaisonnee des Monu-
mens Egyptiens du Musee d’Antiquites des Pays-basd Lade,
Leiden, 1840. E. de RoUGri, Notice des Monuments
Egyptiens du Musee du Louvre (ire 6d., 1849), 5me &L, Paris,
1869. H. Brugsch, Uebersetz. und Erhldr. Aegypt. Denh-
mdler des Mus. zu Berlin, Berlin, 1850. Th. Deveria,
Notice des Antiquites Egypt. duMusie deLyon, Lyons, 1857.
AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
4i
A. Mariette-Bey, Notice des Principaux Monuments du
Musee d, Loulaq, Paris, 1869. Th. Dev£ria, Catal. des
Manuscr. Egypt, au Mush Egypt, du Louvre, Paris, 1874.
B. Travels. — Champollion, Lettres Ecrites dEgypte
ct de Nubie en 1828 et 1829, Paris, 1833. Compare the
same author’s Notices Descriptives conformes aux Manuscr.
Autogr., Paris, 1844. E. Lepsius, Briefe aus Aegypten,
Berlin, 1852. AY. Centz, Briefe aus Aegypt. und Nub,,
Berlin, 1853. H. Brugsch, BeisebericMe aus Aegypten,
Leipzig, 1855. G. A. Hoskins, A JFinter in Upper and
Lower Egypt, London, 1863. J. J. Ampere, Voyage
en Egypte et Nubie, Paris, 1867. A. Mariette-Bey,
Itineraire de la Haule-Egypte, Alexandrie, 1872. H.
Brugsch, Wanderung nach den Tiirkis-Minen und der Sinai-
Ealbinsel, 2d ed., Leipzig, 1868.
G. History.—E. Lepsius, Konigsbuch, Berlin, 1858.
H. Brugsch, Histoire <T Egypte dbs les Premiers temps de
son -existence jusgu’d nos jours, ira partie (to Nectanebos),
Leipzig, 1859; 2de ed., ir° partie (to the end of the seven-
teenth dynasty), Leipzig, 1875. A complete German edi-
tion by the author has appeared, 1877. It contains some
additions and corrections, but the proper names are
given in transcription only. E. DE Eouge, Becherches
sur les Monuments qu’on pent altribuer aux six premieres
Dynasties, Paris, 1866. Lepsius, “Ueber die zwolfte Aegypt,
Konigsdynastie ” (Alcad. der JFiss., BerL, Jan. 5, 1852).
F. Chabas, Les Pasteurs en Egypte, Amsterdam, 1868.
Id., Becherches pour servir a VHistoire de la XIXe Dyn.,
Chalons et Paris, 1873. M. Budinger, Zur Aegyptische
Forschung Herodots, Vienna, 1873. S. Sharpe, History of
Egypt, 2 vols., 6th ed., London, 1876, must be used with
caution in regard to Egyptian religion. Compare M.
Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums, voL i. F. Lenor-
mant, Manual of the Ancient History of the East, London,
42 RELIGION AMONG HAMITES AND SEMITES.
1869, vol. i. Philip Smith, The Ancient History of the
East, London, 1871, vol. i. G. Maspero, Histoire An-
cienne des Peuples de 1’Orient, 2de ed., Paris, 1876.
On Chronology.—R. Lepsius, Einleit. zur Chronol. der
Aegypt., Berlin, 1848. J. Lieblein, Aegypt. Chronol.,
Christiania, 1863. F. J. C. Mayer, Aegyptens Vorzeit und
Chronol., Bonn, 1862. J. DuMichen, Die erste sichere
Angabe iiber die Regierungszeit eines Aegypt. Konigs aus dem
alien Reich, Leipzig, 1874. Unsatisfactory, C. Piazzi
Smith, On the Antiquity of Intellect. Man, Edinburgh, 1868.
D. Texts with translation, and translated texts.—R.
Lepsius, Das Todtenbuch der Aegypter, nach dem hierogl.
Pap. in Turin, Leipzig, 1842; translated by Birch in
Bunsen’s Egypt's Place, &c., see above; by Brugsch in
the Zeitschr. fiir Aegypt. Spraehe, 1872, sqq. (not yet
finished); and quite erroneously by G. SEYFFARTH in
Theol. Schriften der alien Aegypter, Gotha, 1855. Compare
Pleyte, Etudes Egyptologiques, Leiden, 1866, sqq. Eug.
Lefebure, Traduction comparee des Ilymnes au Soleil
compos, le xif chapitre du Rit. fun. Egypt., Paris, 1868.
Lepsius, Adteste Texte des Todtenbuchs nach SarJcofagen
des altaegypt. Reichs, Berlin, 1867. F. Chabas, Le Papy-
rus magique Harris, publ. et trad., Chalons, i860. Id.,
Melanges Egyptologiques, ie-3e serie, Chalons et Paris.
1862, sqq. Id., Le Calendrier des Jours fastes et nefastes
(Pap. SaJlier IV.), trad, compl., ibid., no date. G. Maspero,
Essai sur Vinscript, dedie. du temple d’Abydos, Paris, 1867.
Id., Hymne au Nil, publ. et trad., Paris, 1868. Records of
the Past, vols. iL and iv., containing Egyptian texts,
London, 1874-75. C. W. Goodwin, The Story of Saneha,
an Egypt. Tale, trand. from the hieratic Text, London,
1866. W. Pleyte, “ Een lofzang aan Ptali ” (Evangelie-
spiegel, and “De Veldslag van Rainses den Groote
tegen de Cheta,” Theol. Tijdschr., 1869, p. 221, sqq.
AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
43
Louis Menard, IlermJes Trismegiste, trad, compl., Paris,
1S66.
E. Religion. — C. P. Tiele, Yergel. Geschiedenis der
Egypt, en Mesopot. Godsdd., Amsterdam, 1869-72; first
book, Egypie. Ciiampollion’S Pantheon Egyptien remains
unfinished. Plutarch, Ueber Ids und Odris, edited by G.
Parthey, Berlin. Lepsius, Ueber den ersten Aegypt.
Gotterkreis und seine geschichtlich-mythologische Entstehung,
Berlin, 1851. Id., Ueber die Goiter der vier Elemente bei
den Aegypt., Berlin, 1856. Pleyte, Lettre sur quelques
monuments relaiifs au dieu Set, Leiden, 1863. Id., Set dans
la barque du Soldi, ibid., 1865. Ed. Meyer, Set-Typhon,
cine relig.-geschichtl. Studie, Leipzig, 1875. Bkugsch, Die
Sage von der geflugelten Sonnenscheibe, Gottingen, 1870.
(Comp. E. Naville, Textes relaiifs au Mythe d’lloros dans
le temple d’Edfou, Geneva and Basle, 1870.) Sir Ch.
Nicholson, “ On the Disk-Worshippers of Memphis,” in
the Transactt. of the Roy. Soc. of Literature, 2d ser. vol. ix.
pt. ii. p. 197, sqq. M. Uhlemann, Das Todtengericht bei
den alien Aegyptern, Berlin, 1854. P. Pierret, Le Dogme
de la Resurrection chez les anciens Egyptiens, Paris, no date.
G. Parthey, Das Orakel und die Oase des Ammon, Berlin,
1862. Eug. Plew, De Sarapide, Koningsberg, 1868.
Brugsch, Die Adonisklage und das Linoslied, Berlin, 1852.
Dumichen, Ueber die Tempel und Graber im alien Aegypt.,
Strassburg, 1872. Id., Bauurkunde der Tempel-anlagen
von Dendera, Leipzig, 1865. Id., Der Aegypt. Felsentempel
von Abu-Simbel, Berlin, 1869. Brugsch, Die Aegypt.
Graberwelt, Leipzig, 1868. The treatise of 0. Beaure-
gard, Les Divinites Egyptiennes, Paris, 1866, must be
regarded as a complete failure.
F. Egyptian Eeligion in relation to other religions.—
Fleyte, La Religion des Pre-Israelites, Recherches sur le
Dieu Seth, Utrecht, 1862. W. G. Brill, Israel en Egypie,
44
-
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
Utrecht, 1857. Uhlemann, Israeliten und Hyksos m
Aegypt., Leipzig, 1856. F. J. Latjth, Moses der Ebraer,
nach Aegypt. Papyrus-Urhmdm, Munich, 1868. A. Eisen-
LOHR, Der grosse Papyrus Harris, ein Zeugniss fur die
Mosaische Peligionssliflung enthallend, Leipzig, 1872. (The
results in all these treatises are still very uncertain.) G.
Ebers, Aegypten und die Bucher Mose’s, vol. i. (publica-
tion not continued), Leipzig, 1868, thoroughly scientific.
Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology and Egypt. Christianity, Lon-
don, 1863, deficient in its treatment of the ancient
Egyptian religion, yet not •without value for the rela-
tion of its later forms to Christianity. E. Roth, Die
Aegypt. und Zoroastr. Glaubenslehre als die allesten Qudlen
unserer specvlativen Idem (the first part of the Geschichte
unser. Abendl. Philosophie), Mannheim, 1862, rendered use-
less, in spite of its learning, by wrong method. It has
been imitated and outdone by J. Braun, Naturgeschichle
der Sage, Euckfiihrung aller relig. Ideen u.s.w. auf ihren
gemeinsamen Stammbaum, two vols., Munich, 1864.
29. Among the sources of our knowledge of the ancient
Egyptian religion, the first and principal place belongs to
the so - called Book of the Dead, or “ Book of the
going forth on the Day,” a collection of texts partly
ancient, and partly of later date, intended by their magic
power to secure the victory for the soul on its journey
to the abodes of eternity. To the same class belong
certain magic papyri, except that these were to serve
in the contest against evil spirits upon earth. All
these books, on which fresh light is being constantly
thrown, are inexhaustible mines for Egyptian mythology.
Further, both these and others include religious hymns of
the highest importance. The historical and literary works,
ANIMISTIC USAGES.
45
also, the numerous inscriptions on temples, tombs, and
other monuments, contain not a little hearing on re-
ligion. Though much yet remains to he investigated
and explained, all this material, when compared with the
statements of the Greeks, enables us to form a very
fair conception of the belief and the worship of the ancient
Egyptians. The history of this religion, however, can
only be sketched in its main outlines.
30- In Egypt the old elements were not replaced by
those of later growth, but always remained standing by
their side. Thus through every period of Egyptian
history we find different usages of animistic origin
retained, though perhaps with changed significance, along
with very elevated religious ideas, which are by no means
in accord with them. Among these may be ranked the
cultus of the dead, the deification of the kings, and the 1/
worship of animals, which reached the same height among
no other people. The dead were worshipped in sepul-
chral chapels and temples; the kings, even in their life-
time, were regarded as the deity upon earth; and certain
animals, among which the sacred bulls occupied the most
prominent place, originally no doubt worshipped as
fetishes, received homage as the incarnations of a higher
being. Fetishism also was the root of the custom by
which the innermost sanctuary of the temple contained
no image, but only a symbol of the chief god. That the
Egyptian religion, like the Chinese, was originally nothing
but an organised animism, is proved by the institutions of
worship. Here, too, existed no exclusive priestly caste.
Descendants sacrificed to their ancestors, the officers of
state to the special local divinities, the king to the deities
46
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
of the whole country. Not till later did an order of
scribes and a regular priesthood arise, and even these as
a rule were not hereditary.
The worship of animals is said to have been introduced
by Kaiechos (Kakau, of the second dynasty) ; but if this
statement deserves any credit, and is not founded on his
name, which may signify “ the bulls,” it can only be re-
ferred to an official recognition of the animal-worship as
a state institution. Such usages cannot be imposed by
authority: they grow up among the people. The bull-
gods chiefly honoured were the black Apis (Hapi, to be
distinguished from the Nile-god H&pi) of Memphis, and
the white or yellow Mnevis (Mena) of Heliopolis. Of the
first, Chamus, son of Ramses II., the builder of the
Serapeum, was an ardent worshipper. Even centuries
later the people were so deeply attached to this cultus
that the gift of a new Apis by Darius Hystaspes reconciled
them for a time to the hated Persian rule.
The absence of an image in the inmost sanctuary of the
temple, sometimes regarded as an evidence of a certain
spirituality, is only a proof of the devotion of the
Egyptians to ancient customs. There were images every-
where, but in the naos only the ancient fetish, dead or
living, now perhaps, though this cannot be affirmed with
certainty, regarded as a symbol.
31. It is altogether erroneous to regard the Egyptian
religion as the polytheistic degeneration of a prehistoric
monotheism. It was polytheistic from the beginning, but
it developed in two entirely opposite directions. On the
one hand, the world of gods, through the addition of-
the local religions and the adoption of foreign deities,
grew richer and richer. On the other hand, a gradual
TRIUMPH OF LIGHT AND LIFE.
47
and tentative approach was made to monotheism, without
attaining clear and unequivocal expression of it. The
scribes harmonised the two, by representing the plurality
of deities as the manifestations of the one uncreated hidden
god—as his members, created by himself.
32. The Egyptian mythology reproduces in varying
forms two leading ideas. The first is the belief in
the triumph of light over darkness, and of life over
death. This is exhibited by the sun-myths. The
victory of light, conceived for the most part physi-
cally, is represented in the conflict of Ka, the god of
Heliopolis (An) and the chief god of Egypt, with
the serpent Apap. The triumph of life over death is
rather the subject of the myth of Osiris, the other chief
god of the empire, specially worshipped in Thinis-Abydos.
Osiris, slain by his brother Set—lamented by his wife and
sister Isis and Xephthys—endowed by Thut, the god of
science and literature, with the power of the word—is
avenged by his son Horos, and, while himself reigning in
the kingdom of the Dead, lives again in him on earth.
This mythic representation of the death and reawakening
of the life of nature which was observed in the succession
of day and night and of the seasons, was very early, and
more closely than the myth of Ea, brought into connec-
tion with the doctrine of the resurrection. Each man, at
his death, became identified with Osiris. As with the
body of the god, his also was mourned, embalmed, and
buried. As the soul of the god shines in Orion in the
sky, so that of the departed lives likewise among the stars.
As the shade of the one conquers in the world of the
48
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
Dead, so that of the other sustains there a series of trials
in order at last to pass in and out freely with the god of
light, and he united with him for ever.
The belief in the victory of light and life was ex-
pressed in the very name, nuteru, “those who renew them-
selves,” which is the general designation of the gods, and
in the constantly recurring triads of father, mother, and
son. That the son is no other than the father himself
alive once more, appears from the formula, “husband
of his mother (ka mut-f),” which is applied to several
Egyptian deities.
Though certainly regarded originally as independent
gods, the other chief gods of Heliopolis must be viewed
as forms of Rt. Such were the visible Harmachis (Ed
Harmachuti, Ra-Horos on the two horizons), the hidden
Turn (A turn, the nightly sun-god), Chepra, the creator,
“ he who continually renews himself,” symbolised by a
beetle. Less closely connected with him was his ally
Shu, of whom two varying representations exist, founded
on two different meanings of his name. As the “out-
spread ” or “ out-stretching,” he is the god of the sky ; as
the “ consuming,” he is the god of the scorching heat of
the sun.
The meaning of the names of Osiris (Asar, Asm), Set
(Set or Suti), and Thut (Thuti) is uncertain. The two
first are the two hostile sun-gods, whom we find among
the Semites. The last was once a moon-god, and then
became the god of numbers, of weights and measures, and
subsequently of literature and science. Isis (As) is the
“ancient,” the “venerable,” or better, the “exalted;”
Nephthys (Nebt-ha) the “ mistress of the house,” goddess
of the underworld. Horos (Her, the “ uppermost,” “ he .
who is above ”) is the god of the sun by day, and has a
DOCTRINE OF CREATION.
49
number of forms. It would seem that it was not till the
myth of Osiris was so closely united with the belief in
the resurrection, that Anubis (Anup or Anpu), the con-
ductor of souls, was taken into it. In the oldest tombs
it is with his image that we generally meet, and not
with that of Osiris, as at a later date.
33. The other leading idea is that of creation by
the supreme uncreated god with his assistant spirits, of
which the eight personified cosmic powers are the chief.
The work of creation is ascribed, indeed, to all the
principal deities, but especially to the gods of fire and
the element of moisture. At the head of the first
stands Ptah, the god of Memphis, who himself personi-
fies the cosmic fire, as the soul of the universe; just
as his “ great beloved ” Sechet represents its destroying
and purifying power, and Neith of Sais—often united with
him—its mysterious hidden operation, while his form Bes
with his consort Bast symbolise its beneficent warmth and
cheering glow. That Chnum the architect, god of the
waters—originally the wind which moves and fertilises
them—and consequently the soul of the universe, and
Hapi the bTile-god, should also be regarded as creative
deities, needs no further explanation.
The eight cosmic powers (Semenu or Sesenm, from
whom the city of Thut, Hermopolis, derived its Egyptian
name), always united with Thut, but nevertheless to be
distinguished from his seven assistants, constitute four
pairs: Nun and Nunt, the celestial ocean, the abyss ;
Ilch and Held, time (without end); Kek and Kekt, dark-
ness ; Nerd and Nenit, breath, spirit, or wind. These are
the four personifications of the ideas embodied in the well-
7 D
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
So-
-
So-
known doctrines of creation, “ In endless duration ” (or
“ in the beginning ”) “ was darkness on the abyss, and the
waters of the primeval ocean were moved by the wind,
the breath of the deity,” cf. Gen. i. The myth, if not
adopted from Semites, is clearly another form of the
later Semitic representation.
Ptah (from patahu) signifies “ former,” “ sculptor,” an
appropriate name for the god of fire. Sechet, a name
generally transcribed Pacht (Pecliet), denotes “ kindling
fire ” (causative of diet. “ flame ”); Pechet is “ the de-
vourer,” especially the lion. Keith (Net or Nit) is the
Egyptian virgin mother, yet in a purely cosmogonic-
theological sense. Bes is the ascending flame ; he has a
twofold nature as god of joy, music, and dancing, and as
warrior. His consort Bast, the beneficent, is the gentle
counterpart of the violent Sechet.
Chnum is the deity who was formerly, under the name
of Ivneph, regarded by some scholars as the supreme god
of the Egyptian pantheon. He is one of the oldest gods,
and his worship remained very sensual. By his side
stand Sati, the generative power, and Arnica, “the em-
bracing.” These three personify the wind, flowing water,
and the earth.
34. It is not surprising that in the earliest history of
Egyptian religion much still remains obscure. When,
however, we note that the Egyptians themselves called
the prehistoric period the age of the Horus-followers,
and that there was no place of importance which had not
its Horns and its Hathor, we are justified in concluding
that the chief gods adored above all others in the earliest
period were these two gods of the light of heaven.
Under the first six dynasties, besides Osiris and Eft
Ptah of Memphis was chiefly worshipped, as the deity
ITS EARLY PHASES.
Si
who effected the union of the two divisions of the king-
dom under one sceptre. It was probably in this period
that the cultus of animals was raised to a state institution.
The deification of the kings was carried, in the days of
the builders of the pyramids, to the greatest extreme;
and the three worships, of Osiris, Ra, and Ptah, were
blended, perhaps imperceptibly, together. Such are the
gradual stages of ascent from the visible gods to the higher
and invisible. The simplicity of the tombs in this period
is worthy of note. Rarely are the gods represented in
them; and though the deceased already bear religious
titles, the walls of the sepulchral chapels exhibit only
the scantiest allusions to theological subjects. Religious
feeling appears to have been vivid and deep, but the
power of priests and scribes was certainly still small.
“ Horus-followers ” or “ Horus-worshippers ” seems the
best translation of the often-recurring Har-shesu. The
name Horus has been already explained. In later times
this name also was employed as a general designation for
the deity : was it so originally 1 It is not improbable.
Hathor (Hathar) would signify literally “the house of
Horus; ” but she is without doubt the same as the
Assyrian Istar, the Phenician Ashtoreth (cf. the South
Arabian A/htar), and the only question is on which side
lies the priority. Is the Egyptian Hathar a corrup-
tion of Istar, or the reverse 1 This point deserves further
investigation. The great antiquity, however, to which the
cultus of Hathor may be traced in Egypt, long before the
time when there was any possibility of Semitic influence,
renders only two interpretations tenable—either that
Istar is the Egyptian Hathor in Semitic guise, or that
both are forms, modified in accordance with varying
$2 RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
national genius, of a goddess originally invoked under a
similar name by the common forefathers of the Hamites
and Semites.
35. The gods worshipped under the Middle Empire
(the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Dynasties) correspond
altogether to the character of the period, which was dis-
tinguished both by conquests and by the flourishing con-
dition of agriculture and the arts of peace. Now that
the centre of gravity of the kingdom was transferred from
Memphis in Lower Egypt to the Thebais in Upper Egypt,
the gods of this latter region, as so often happened in
antiquity, were elevated to the highest rank. The
principal deities are Munt, the god of war; Chem or
Min, the god of fertility and agriculture, with whom must
also be named, even at this early period, Arnun, the god of
the city of Thebes, as yet'but slightly different from Chem,
and far from being the great king of the gods, which he
was only destined to become in later years. These three
are in fact only different forms of the same divine being.
It is not surprising that in an age so rich as this in the
products of industry, Ptah, the former, and Chnum, the
architect, were the objects of special veneration; and it is
equally natural that a prince of the Thirteenth Dynasty,
to whom Egypt owed a new canal system, and who by this
means added a whole province to his dominions, should be
zealously devoted to the Nile-god Sebak, god of the water
which at once served for drinking and fertilised the land.
Thus do the forms of religion undergo modification with the
progress of civilisation. The kings of this period promote
external religion, but as uncontrolled masters and not as
yielding obedience to priests. Their inscriptions exhibit an
UNDER THE MIDDLE EMPIRE.
S3
ethical tone. Literature is mostly secular, hut the scribes
are already beginning to apply themselves to the ex-
planation of ancient texts. The tombs of this period
indicate as yet no great development of the belief in
immortality. It is brought, indeed, into closer connec-
tion with religion than under the Old Empire, but the
future life is still regarded only as the continuation of the
present, without reference to the doctrine of retribution.
If the history of Egypt is divided into two parts, the
Middle Empire must be classed along with the Old. It
forms the transition between the Old and the New.
That Min (also named Chem, “ the ruler ”), whose
chief temple was at Koptos, Munt of Hermonthis, and
Amun of Thebes, are essentially the same, appears (among
other reasons) from their names, which are all derived
from the same root, and originally indicated their cha-
racter as gods of fertility. Chem is often named simply
Amun-KiL Subsequently, the meaning of the name Amun
was modified.
Sebak, who was probably derived from Ethiopia, was
no god of evil. This character was not ascribed to him
till later, through a confusion with Set, to whom likewise
the crocodile belonged. Sebak is the god of the inunda-
tion, and is sometimes interchanged with H&pi. The
crocodile was his body, since it was asserted to deposit
its eggs every year just at the limit to which the inun-
dation would that year extend.
36. Of the religious condition of the Egyptians under
the sway of the Arab Shepherd-Princes (the Hyksos) we
know nothing. The conquerors had combined the reli-
gion of Lower Egypt with their own, and worshipped Set
whom they named Sutech, together perhaps with Ptah.
54
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
One of them even proposed to the contemporary Thehan
king, to elevate Sutech and Amun-Ra to he the sole gods
of Egypt. After their fall Amun-Ra of Thebes became
the chief god, to whom all the others were subordinated,
and after whose type the rest of the chief gods were
transformed. An attempt made by Amun-hotep IV.
(Chunaten) to substitute the exclusive worship of Aten-
Ra, the sun-disc, for that of Amun-Ra, had no permanent
success. After his death the whole pantheon, with
Amun-Ra at its head, was speedily restored.
Amun-Ra, the hidden creator, has now become the
king of the gods, and the lord of the thrones of the
world. In him the Egyptians expressed the most compre-
hensive and consequently the highest and most elevated
religious conception which they were in a position to
form. He unites in himself the nature of Min or Chem,
the god of fruitfulness, and of the war-god Hunt, hut he
possesses, besides, the characteristic qualities of all the
principal deities. Sun-god and Nile-god, lord of the
visible and the invisible worlds, he was the mysterious
soul of the universe which reveals itself in light. His
consort, Mat, “ the mother,” and Chonsu, his son, had the
same composite character.
Among the many shapes peopling this world of deities,
which was enriched just at this time with a number of
strange forms, an endeavour was now made to introduce
a certain order, whilst a monotheistic tendency was
clearly gaining strength. The doctrine of immortality,
now under the control of the dogma of retribution, becomes
the centre of religion. Magic rises rapidly in importance,
the influence and power of the priests increasing along
ITS DECLINE.
55
?with it; and the priests make themselves more and more
independent, and finally occupy the place of the king.
The high priest of Thebes seizes the sovereign power,
and himself founds a dynasty.
The name Sutech, applied to Set, seems to me an attempt
to reproduce in Egyptian form the Semitic divine name,
§edeq, “ the righteous.” At any rate, if the form Sutech
is older, the reason why the Arabians made choice of this
particular Egyptian god as their own, must be sought in
the resemblance of this name to Sedeq.
Amun is, properly speaking, not the name of the
Theban chief god, but the abbreviation of the formula,
“He whose name is hidden” (Brugsch, TForterb., p. 71).
Ra signifies “ creator.” As well as with the gods already
named, he is chiefly identified with Chnum, and qualities
of Ptah, Shu, Turn, Osiris, and others, are transferred to
him. Mat, “ the mother,” is really a sort of abstraction
of all Egyptian mother-goddesses, that is, the chief god-
desses of the country. For this reason her worship was
less actively pursued. Chonsu, whose name has not yet
been explained, received so much the more homage. He
seems to have been originally a moon-god.
-
37. The last period of Egyptian religion bears marks
of profound decline. Lower Egypt throws off the yoke
of the priest-kings of Thebes, who retreat to Ethiopia
(Meroe). To this region, and also to the oasis of Ammon,
they carry Egyptian civilisation and the worship of
Amun; but they continually attempt, and occasionally
for a time with success, to re-establish their authority,
and with it the orthodox faith, over Egypt. The reign
of the Saitic princes is a period of restoration. But the
country is for the most part the prey of foreign conquerors
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS,
S6
—Assyrians, Persians, and Greeks, whom the people
only resist when they pay no reverence to the national
religion. This religion lives on for centuries, but it sub-
sists only upon the past. It undergoes, however, some
modifications, which must be ascribed in part to the in-
fluence of the Greek spirit, and in part, perhaps at an
earlier date, to that of the Persian. Thus it may have
been the Persian type which imparted its ethical signifi-
cance to the contest between Osiris and Set, until the
latter, as a deity morally evil, was driven out of the
pantheon. The Hathar of this period, whose splendid
temple at Dendera was restored under the care of the
Ptolemies, has not a few features in common with the
Greek Aphrodite. One of these princes brought the
Semitic god Serapis, already worshipped by many Greeks,
to Egypt, where his worship was fused with that of
Osiris-Apis. One circumstance in particular is a certain
sign of decline, viz., that the goddesses now occupy a
much higher position than the gods. At last, the equili-
brium between the local worships is entirely broken ; and
of the remarkable Egyptian civilisation there remains
nothing but monuments which are only destined once
more to yield up their meaning when fifteen centuries
have passed away.
The conflict of the Ethiopian priest-princes, such as
Pianchi Meriamun, Sabako, Tahraka, with the North
Egyptian dynasties which had subjugated Upper Egypt,
was in part national, that of Ham with Shem, but in
part, and indeed chiefly, religious. Thebes was always
ready to receive them; nay, the prophets of this city
invited Tahraka to advance as their liberator (De Boug6,
ITS DECLINE.
57
Mil. d’Archeol., i. p. 1i, sqq.), while he declared that he
fought against the blasphemers of Amun-B& (Prisse,
Monum., pi. xxxi. a.) to deliver the god (ibid., pi. xxxii.
d.) They were, however, driven out; and in Ethiopia
itself Egyptian civilisation sank lower and lower, till
beneath native additions the worship of Amun was no
longer to be recognised.
Under the Saitic kings (Necho, Psamtik, Amasis) art
flourished, and the chief objects of worship were Ptali
and Neith. Homage was still paid to the Theban triad
at Silsilis; but Thebes itself had fallen into such deep
decline that one of its principal temples was already
employed as a burial-place.
Darius Hystaspis was the only king who adopted a
policy of reconciliation. Kambyses attempted the same
course before his defeats. For their want of respect for
the mysteries, Xerxes and his son were driven out of
the palace at Sais (Brugsch, Zeitsehr., 1871, 1, sqq.) This
intolerance resulted in the fall of the Persian supremacy
in Egypt. The Ptolemies acted with much more pru-
dence.
It is uncertain whether it was the first or the second
Ptolemy who introduced the god Serapis from Sinope in
Asia Minor. Plew (op. eit.) regards the deity as of Baby-
lonian origin. The name signifies “ serpent,” and is the
same as that of the Hebrew Seraphim. As the name can
only be explained from the Indo-Germanic (serpens), the
god was probably derived by the Semites from the
Aryans.
By the edict of Theodosius, 381 A.D., the Egyptian
religion was abolished.
38. It is not yet possible to enumerate with certainty
all the elements which co-operated to lift the Egyptian
58
RELIGION AMONG THE EGYPTIANS.
religion out of Animism and place it on so lofty an emi-
nence. African usages, such as circumcision, may be
observed in it; the myth of the sun-god Ea has an
Aryan character; and even the language contains not
a few Aryan roots. The myths of Osiris, Amun, and
Hathor, the cosmogony, and a number of customs, exhibit
a large accordance with conceptions and practices like
those which grew up in Mesopotamia out of the blending
of the Semitic religion with that of the original inhabit-
ants of the country, the Akkadians. The influence of the
Semites in Egypt increases century by century, and the
Semitic pushes the national element more and more into
the background. Conversely, however, the Egyptian
religion exerts a preponderating influence on the Canaan-
ite races, though less upon the Hebrews than on the
Phenicians. First by their means, and then directly, it
reached the Greeks, made its way finally through the
whole Eoman Empire, and even furnished to Eoman
Catholic Christendom the germs of the worship of the
Virgin, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and
the type of its theocracy.
The Semitic gods of light and fire contend with con-
suming and destroying sun-gods, as Osiris does with Set.
Ea, like the Aryan gods of light, fights with the powers
of darkness.
Parallelisms between Egyptian and Mesopotamian
myths may be seen in (i) the abyss, from which every-
thing proceeds, Egyptian {dau, Assyr. tihavti; (2) Osiris,
Egypt. Asar, and Assyr. Asar, the under-world; (3)
Isis, Egypt. As, Ast, and Assyr. Asa, Asat, also As, a
surname of Istar, Accad. Isi, the earth; (4) Hathar nelie-
ITS VARIOUS ELEMENTS.
59
man = Semit. Ashtoreth ndamah; (5) the doctrines of the
god who is husband of his mother, and the god who is
self-created, appear both in Egypt and in Babylonia, &c.
The names of Thut and Nabu possess no resemblance,
hut their myths and their attributes are in remarkable
agreement.
Astarte, Qadesh, Qen, Reshpu, Anith, and Tauith
were introduced into Egypt at a later period.
( 6o )
-
II.
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
A. The Two Streams of Development,
Literature.—E. Renan, Histoire generate et systeme com-
pare des langues Semitiques, ist part, 2d ed., Paris, 1858.
Id., Nouvelles considerations sur le caractere general des peoples
Semitiques et en partimlier sur leur tendance au monothdsme,
Paris, 1859. (Criticised "by C. P. Tiele, “De Oorsprong
van het Monotheisme bij de Israelieten,” Gids, Feb. 1862.
From the supernatural standpoint, R. F. Grau, Semiten
und Indogermanen in Hirer Beziehung zu Religion und
IFissenschaft, Stuttgart, 1864. Totally different, J. G.
Muller, Die Semiten in ikrem Verhaltniss zu Chamilen und
Japhetiten, Basel, 1872.) Renan, De la part des peoples
Semitiques dans Vhistoire de la civilisation, 5th ed., Paris,
1867. A sharp distinction is made between Indo-Germans
and Semites by Fried. Muller, Indogermanisch und
Semitisch, Vienna, 1870, although in his Allgem. Ethno-
graphic, p. 437, sqq., he places them, together with the
Basques and Caucasians, in the family occupying the
“ Mediterranean Lands.” D. Chwolson, Die Semit. Fol-
ker; Versuch drier Charakteristik, Berlin, 1872. See above
all, E. Schrader, “Die Abstammung der Chaldaer und
die Ursitze der Semiten,” in Zdtschr. der Deutsch. Morgen-
land. Gesellsch., xxvii., 1873, Hft. iii. p. 397, sqq.
On the ancient Arabian religion, Caussin de Perceval,
Essai sur VHistoire des Arabes avant VIslamisme, 3 parts,
Paris, 1847. L. Krehl, Ueber die Religion der Forislami-
schen Amber, Leipzig, 1863. Osiander, “ Studien iiber
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
61
die Vorisl. Eelig. der Araber,” Zeitschr. der D. M. G.,
1853-
On the Akkadian civilisation and religion see the works
on Assyriology named further on. The following deal
exclusively with the Akkadian language : F. Lenormant,
Etudes Accadiennes, vol. i. 1st part, “ Introduction gram-
inaticale ; ” 2d part, “ Eestitution des Paradigmes ; ” 3d
part, “ Repertoire des caracteres : ” vol. ii., “ Choix de
textes avec traductions interim.” (Lettres Assyriologiques,
2d series), Paris, 1873-74. Id., La MagiechezlesChaldeens
et les origines Accadiennes, Paris, 1874, and Etudes sur quel-
qites Parties des Syllabaires cuneif, Paris, 1876. The exist-
ence of the Akkadian language is denied hy J. IIal£vy,
“ Observations critiques sur les pretendus Touraniens de
la Babylonie,” in Journ. Asiat., Juin 1874. Completely
refuted (except on the point of the Turanian origin of the
Akkadians) by F. Lenormant, La Langne primitive de la
Chaldk et les idiomes Touraniens, and by E. Schrader,
“1st das Akkad, der Keilinschriften eine Sprache oder
eine Schrift 1 ” in the Zeitschr. der D. M. G., xxix. i. 1875.
On cuneiform writing in general, L. DE Rosny, Les
Ecritures Figuratives et Hieroglyphiques, Paris, i860. J.
Menant, Les Noms propres Assyriens, Paris, 1861. Id.,
Les Ecritures Cuneiformes, Paris, 1864. P. Glaize, Les
Inscriptions CunZif. et les Travaux de M. Oppert, Metz, Paris,
1867. J. M£nant, Le Syllabaire Assyrien, 1st part, 1869,
2d part, 1873. George Smith, The Phonetic Values of
the Cuneiform Characters, London, 1871. Of the highest
value, E. Schrader, “ Die Basis der Entzifferung der
Assyrisch-Babylonischen Keilinschriften,” in Zeitschr. der
1). M. G., xxiii. iii. 1869.
39. Among the Semites, who are closely connected with
the Hamites, hut are also, in the opinion of many scholars,
62
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
more or less closely connected with the Indo-Germanic
races, two streams of development may be clearly distin-
guished, alike in language and in religion, which may be
designated as the Southern and the Northern. The
common though not the most ancient home of the whole
race was probably in the northern and central regions of
Arabia. It must, however, have been abandoned at an
early period by all the Semitic peoples, with the excep-
tion of the Arabs, who spread over the whole peninsula,
and the Ethiopians, who subsequently crossed over to
Africa. These form the group of the Southern Semites.
With the exception of the Sabeans or Himyarites (see
§ 46), the Arabs, through the position of their country,
remained the longest excluded from intercourse with
civilised nations. From this cause they preserved the gen-
uine Semitic family character and the national religion in
their purest forms. It is from the little that we know
of the latter that we must gather what was the nature
of Semitic religion in its original simplicity. To the
Northern Semites belong the Babylonians and Assyrians,
the Arameans, Canaanites, Phenicians, and Israelites.
Their amalgamation with the oldest civilised inhabitants
of Mesopotamia produced important modifications in
their religion, which developed with greater speed and
richness. The study of religion among the Semites is of
the highest consequence, because two of the three universal
religions, Christianity and Islam, proceeded from them.
That all the Semites once dwelt together in Northern
Arabia, and that the Arabs preserved the Semitic charac-
ter in the purest form, appears to me to have been
convincingly proved by Schrader in the essay already
PRIMITIVE ARABIAN RELIGION,
63
cited. Against his main thesis, at any rate, there is little
objection to be raised, however we may differ from him
in detail. The vast difference in civilisation and religion
existing between Northern and Southern Semites can be
explained in no other way. Whether their original home
is to be sought, as most scholars suppose, in the neigh-
bourhood of that of the Indo-Germans, or as Gerland
(Anthropol. Beitr., p. 396, sgq.) maintains, in Africa, is a
question which requires further investigation, but the
answer to it is of only secondary importance for our
present purpose.
40. The ancient religion of the Arabs rises little
higher than animistic polydsemonism. It is a collection
of tribal religions standing side by side, only loosely
united, though there are traces of a once closer con-
nection. The names Ilfth and Shamsh, the sun-god,
occur among all the Semitic peoples; Allat, or Alilat and
AbUzza, as well as the triad of moon-goddesses to which
these last belong, are common to several, and the deities
which bear them are reckoned among the chief. The
names of the remaining Arab gods do not reappear among
the other Semites. Sun-worship was practised by all
the tribes, and the stars also, particularly the Pleiades
(Turayyd), were the objects of special homage, but there
was no cultus of the planets as such, a fact which indi-
cates that astronomy was but little developed. This cul-
tus was in truth scarcely much more than Fetishism; and
their worship of trees, and especially of stones and moun-
tains, which were regarded as occupied by souls, belongs
to precisely the same order, just as spiritism expressed
itself also among them in the worship of ancestors. The
64
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
image-worship which prevailed among them at the time
of Mohammed, was introduced, according to the Arabic
writers, at a later period from Syria or Mesopotamia. It
may very easily, however, have sprueg out of the worship
of stones. The few human sacrifices which they offered
appear to have been of another kind from those which the
Northern Semites borrowed from the Akkadians. The
sanctuaries of the various spirits and fetishes had their
own hereditary ministers, who, however, formed no priestly
caste; but the Seers were generally regarded with great
reverence, and were much consulted. But among the
Arabs these last never became priests, as was the case
among other Semites.
In that which constitutes the distinctive characteristic of
a religion, the relation conceived to exist between man and
the deity, they agreed entirely with their kindred. They,
likewise, stood towards God as the servant (‘abd) towards
his master.
Ildh, Assyr. Hu, Hebr. and Canaanite, Jll. The later
Allah is a contraction of al-il&h. Sprenger, Leben und
Lehre des Mohammad, i. p. 286, sqq., regards Allah as
made up of Idh, “ mirage,” “ shining,” with the article
al, and thus as different from U&h.
The three moon-goddesses—All&t, the light moon; Man&t,
the dark moon; and Al'Uzza, the union of the two—re-
appear amongtheBabylonians and Assyrians with partially-
altered names. Some of the planets, such as Jupiter and
Yenus, the greater and the lesser fortune, were worshipped
by the Arabs as by all Semites, but their movements were
not distinguished from those of the fixed stars. The
sacred number swen, applied among the Northern Semites
to the five planets with the sun and moon, was derived
PRIMITIVE ARABIAN RELIGION. 65
among the Southern Semites from the Pleiades, to winch,
together with the Hyades (Aldabaran) and Sirius, they
paid special veneration.
Very noteworthy is the absence of the chief myth of
the Northern Semites, the so-called Adonis myth, among
the Arabs. Krehl (op. cit.) and F. Lenormant (Lettres
Assyriol., ii. p. 241) have supposed that traces of it are,
nevertheless, to be found among them also, but upon
very insufficient grounds.
The only human sacrifices which are known with
certainty to have existed among them, accord with
those of savages. This was the offering of little girls
at Melcka, against which Hanyf Zai'd vigorously con-
tended. See Sprenger, Leben und Lehre des Mohammad,
i. p. 120. The service of the idols was limited to particu-
lar families. The seers of the highest rank were called
Kahtn, the same word as the Hebrew Koh&n, priest. This
last meaning, which the word never acquired among the
Arabs, is regarded by Sprenger, i. p. 255, as the derivative;
but other scholars (Fleischer, Von Ivremer, Cheyne)
declare this to be incorrect.
41. The Northern Semites advanced far beyond this
standpoint. For this they were indebted without doubt
to a longer or shorter sojourn in Mesopotamia, to which
their own traditions point, and from which the majority
of them again migrated to the north-west. In Mesopo-
tamia they found an ancient non-Semitic civilisation, which
had a decisive influence on their development. This
civilisation belonged to a people classed by some with
the Turanians, certainly related to the Elamites and non-
Aryan Medes, and generally called Akkadians. They were
the fathers of astronomy, the first beginnings of which de-
7 E
66
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
veloped themselves among them out of astrology, and the
inventors of cuneiform writing, which was adopted from
them by various other nations, and was employed hy
them not only for royal inscriptions, but also for daily
use, and for the record of a rich, scientific, historic, poetic,
and religious literature, which has been recovered partly in
the original texts and partly in Assyrian translations.
For the Phenician tradition, see Herod., vii. 89; Strabo,
vii. 98, &c. According to the Hebrew, Abram came from
Ur-Kasdim, the present Mugheir in Southern Chaldea.
Of. the author’s Fergelijk. Geschied. der Egypt, en Mesopot.
Godsdd., p. 426, sqq. See, however, § 52, further on.
The name Turauian is here used to designate the so-
called Ural-Altaic race, of which the Mongols, Turks,
Magyars, Finns, and Samoyedes are the chief branches.
Many scholars, among whom is Schrader, have expressed
doubts whether the Akkadians are rightly classed with
these, as Lenormant proposes. That they are closely
related, however, with these peoples, and must cer-
tainly be placed among the “ Mongoloid races ” of
Pesohel, appears both from their language and their
religion. They assuredly belong to the same race with
the Elamites and non-Aryan Medes. They are generally
called Akkadians on the supposition that in the constantly-
occurring formula “ king ” or “ land ” “ of the Sumirs
and Akkadians,” the Semitic population is designated by
the first name, the non-Semitic by the second; J. Op-
pert (Journ. Asiat., 1875, v- 2> P- 272> s22-) maintains that
the reverse is the truth. F. Delitzsch, also, in Smith’s
Chald. Genesis, ilbersetzt von H. Delitzsch, p. 291, sq.,
proves on other grounds that the name Sumirs denotes
the pre-Semitic population of Babylonia. The question
is of subordinate importance.
THE RELIGION OF THE AKKADIANS.
67
Specimens of their astronomical knowledge may be
found in the tablets published by A. H. Sayce in the
Transactions of the Soc. of BiU. Archmol., iii. i. 1874, pp.
145-339. (Translation alone in Records of the Past, vol. i.
p. 151, sqq-)
The cuneiform character is, like the Chinese, the modi-
fication of a hieratic character, of which a few characters
still remain, and which in its turn must have arisen out
of hieroglyphics. The two facts, that these have entirely
disappeared, and that even on the oldest monuments the
hieratic character only occurs here and there, prove the
high antiquity of the Akkadian civilisation. The cunei-
form character is also found among the Elamites, the non-
Aryan Medes, and Armenians (Alarodians), and among
the Persians, among whom, however, it was altogether
modified. It is certain that both the last-named nations,
and probable that the two first also, derived it from the
Akkadians.
42. The religion of the Akkadians was the type of the
richest and most complete development of the exclusive
worship of the spirits and elements of nature. The
host of spirits was innumerable. They were ranged in
classes, and even the highest deities were classed with
them. The ranks of these last included Ana, the highest
heaven regarded as a divine being; Mulge and Ninge,
the lord and lady of the hidden heaven beneath the earth,
the abyss; and fia or Hea, the god of the atmosphere and
of moisture, with his consort Dav-Kina, the lady of the
earth. To this supreme triad corresponded a lower
group, consisting of the moon-god Uru-ki, the sun-god
Ud, and the wind-god Im. Nindar or Ninib, the lord of
generation, the son of Mulge, was the god of the nightly
68
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
or hidden sun, the Mesopotamian Heraldes, a war-god
like Nilgai, who finds a nearer representative in Mars.
Mediating between Hea and mankind, in which capacity
he was regarded as the benefactor of the latter, stood
Amar-utuki, the brightness of the sun, the great god of
the city of Babylon. The system further included a
goddess who corresponds to the Semitic Istar, and bears
the hitherto-unexplained name Sukus. Fire played an
important part among the Akkadians, and their worship
consisted, though not exclusively, of magic. For it was
chiefly concerned with combating the evil spirits, which
were set in sharp dualistic contrast with the good. This
conflict had, however, a very subordinate ethical signifi-
cance ; and the underworld, also, it would seem, was not
yet, in the theology of the Akkadians, a place of recom-
pense ; but all encountered there the same destiny. The
war of the gods of light -with the powers of darkness had
already furnished material for a rich epic literature, from
winch some important productions have been brought
to light in Assyrian translations. The great importance
of the investigation of this religion lies chiefly in the
fact that it exercised so powerful an influence on the
Semitic religion, and indirectly on that of the nations
of the West.
The name of the highest class of spirits (Anab, abbre-
viated to Ana, An), almost equivalent to gods, seems to
be derived from that of the heaven-god; at any rate it
entirely accords with it. Ea or Hea signifies “ the
house,” “ the abode.” The triad of deities corresponds
with the three worlds into which the Akkadians divided
the universe.
-
AMONG THE BAB YLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 69
The moon-god also bears various other names, such as
Aku (perhaps from aka, to “lift up,” to “exalt”); Enu-
zuna, “ lord of growth ” (the crescent moon), &c. ;
Uru-ki signifies “ overlooker or protector of the earth ; ”
Ud means “light;” and Im or Iv, “wind,” “storm.”
Nir-gal (although the name as it is spelled could only
signify “great-foot”) signifies “great prince,” and the
full form of the name Nir-unu-gal, certainly means
“prince of the great abode,” by which the underworld
is probably denoted. See West. Asian Inscrr., ii. 59 rev.,
1. 37, d and e. The ingenious conjectures of Delitzsch,
Ghald. Genesis, p. 274, are therefore unnecessary. Amar-
utuki, literally, “ brightness with the sun,” “ light which
accompanies the sun ” (ud), is exactly the fitting medi-
ator between God and men. As such, he is called Silik-
mulu-chi, “ He who ordains good (chi) for men (mvlu)
in the Akkadian texts he is designated almost exclusively
by this epithet.
B. Religion among the Babylonians and Assyrians.
Literature.—Language.—Grammars by MAnant, 1868,
and Sayce, 1875 ; Comparative Grammar by Sayce, 1872.
Assyrian Dictionary by E. Norris, parts i.-iii. 1868-72,
the best refutation of Hitzig’s doubts in his Sprache
und Sprachen Assyriens, Leipzig, 1871. See in reply E.
Schrader “ Die Assyr.-Babyl. Keilinschriften,” in the
Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenl. Gescllsch., xxiv. i. and ii.
1872. Texts: without translation, Rawlinson, Norris,
and Smith, West. Asian Inscrr., and Lenormant, Choix,
&c.; with translation, Oppert et MAnant, Les Fastes de
Sargon (“ Grande Inscr. des Salles du Balais de Khorsa-
bad ”), Paris, 1863. MiNANT, Inscrr. des Revers de Plaques
du Palais de KJmsabad, Paris, 1865. Id., Inscriptions
de llammourali, Roi de Babylone (defective), Paris, 1863.
70
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
George Smith, History of Assurbanipal, London, 1871.
E. Schrader, Die Hdllenfakrt der Istar, nebst Proben Assyr.
Lyrik, Giessen, 1874; also in his treatise Die Keilin-
schriflen wnd das Alte Testament, Giessen, 1872. Trans-
lated texts in Records of the Past, vols. i. and iii. Essays
on the inscriptions (including the Himyaritic) by Lenor-
mant, Lettres Assyriologiques et Epigraphiques, vols. i. and
ii., Paris, 1871-72.
Archeology.—Besides the larger collections of plates
after the monuments by Botta, Layard, &c., and
Oppert’s Expedition en Mesopotamia, 2 parts, the following
are of most importance for consultation : Layard, Nineveh
and its Remains, London, 1848, and Discoveries among the
Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1853. Compare
L. F. Janssen, Over de ontdekkingen van Nineveh, Utrecht,
1850. F. Finzi, Ricerche per lo studio dell’ Antichitii
assira, Turin, 1872. George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries;
an Account of Explorations in 1873-74, London, 1875.
History.—J. Kruger, Geschichte der Assyrier und
Iranier, vom bis sum 5“* Jahrh. v. 0., Frankfort,
1856 (wholly untrustworthy). Rawlinson, Outlines
of Assyrian History, from the Inscriptions of Nineveh,
London, 1852. J. Oppert, Hisloire des Empires de Chaldee
et d’Assyrie d’apres les Monuments, Versailles, 1865. \V.
Wattenbach, Nineveh und Babylon, Heidelberg, 1868.
F. Lenormant, Manual of the Ancient History of the
East, vol. i., London, 1869. J. MfiNANT, Annales des
Rois d’Assyrie, Paris, 1874. Id., Annales des Rois de
Babylone, ibid., 1875. G. Smith, Assyria from the Earliest
Times to the Fall of Nineveh, London (1875). Compare
F. Justi, Ausland, No. 30.
Religion.—F. Munter, Religion der Babylonier, Copen-
hagen, 1827. E. Hincks, On the Assyrian Mythology,
Dublin, 1835 (Transactions of the Roy. Irish Acad., Nov.
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS.
7i
1854, vol. xxiii.) Tiele, Vergdijk. Geschiedenis van de
Egypt, en Mesopot. Godsdiensten, 2* stuk., Amsterdam, 1870.
F. Lenoemant, Essai de Commentaire des Fragm. Cosmogon.
de Berose, Paris, 1872. Id., La Legendede Semiramis, ibid.,
1873 (Acad, de Belgique, Smo Janv. 1872). Id., Le Deluge
et VEpopee Bdbylonienne (Extr. du Correspondant), Paris,
1873. (Compare G-. Smith, Chaldean Account of the Deluge,
two photographs, with translation and text, London,
1872.) Id., La Divination et la Science des Presages chez les
Chaldeens, Paris, 1875. Oppert, L’Immortalite deVAme
chez les ChaldSens (Annales de Philosophie Chretienne, 1874),
Paris, 1875. G. Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis,
London, 1875. (I11 accordance with the writer’s own
warning, his results, which are only provisional, must be
used with caution. Compare A. H. Sayce, Academy, 1st
Jan. 1876.) German translation by H. Delitzsch, with
annotations and additions by Fried. Delitzsch, Leipzig,
1867.
On the Sabeans, see the works cited in my Vergdijk.
Geschied., p. 400, sqq. Hal£vy has since discovered and
published several more texts. See Lenormant’s Lettres
Assyriol., ii., and the journals already referred to, passim.
43. Out of the amalgamation of Akkadians and Semites
arose the Chaldean people, generally called Babylonians,
after their most famous city and its province. The
Assyrians, who derived their name from their ancient
capital and their god Asur, were a Chaldean colony,
which had established itself at an early period in the
north of the land of the Two Rivers, and there gradu-
ally grew to a powerful monarchy. The two nations
differed but slightly in language and religion; the differ-
ence was greater in civilisation and character. In arts
72
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
and sciences the Babylonians were the predecessors and
masters of the Assyrians, but their empire appears to have
been rather a feudal theocracy than a compact monarchy,
in which two states, Babylonia proper (Kardunyas ?) and
Chaldea (Kaldu) on the Persian Gulf, took the lead.
Involved in endless wars with Assyria, which had in the
meantime become independent, it grew weaker and
weaker, and was at last completely conquered. But the
humiliated Babylon avenged itself. Nabupalusur (Nabo-
polassar), allied with the Medes, laid Nineveh in ruins,
and founded the new-Babylonian empire, which derived
its greatest glory from his son Nabu-kudur-usur (Nebu-
kadresar), and through him ruled for a time the civilised
world. Maruduk and Hahn, the local deities of Babylon,
whose worship, however, had also spread long before into
Assyria, now occupied the place at the head of the world
of gods, which had been so long held by the chief god of
the Assyrians, whose name now disappears entirely—a
change exactly analogous to that which took place in
Egypt.
The Babylonians were the teachers of the Assyrians,
as the Akkadians had before taught them. The library
of Sargina I. (placed conjecturally about 2000 b.C.) con-
sisted, according to what we know of it through Asur-
banipal, of a collection of texts, partly in Akkadian and
partly translated from Akkadian. Extensive ruins bear
witness to the great power of the oldest kings, and
choicely-cut scab indicate the advance of art in early
times. As artists, however, the Assyrians stood higher.
Nabupalusur was an Assyrian general, who, after
having put down a rising in Chaldea, was appointed
viceroy of Babylon.
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS.
73
44. Tlie religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians,
hitherto known only imperfectly from the statements of
the ancients and the fragments of Berosus, has received
new light through the decipherment of the cuneiform
character. This has rendered the actual sources them-
selves accessible, and the monuments prove conclusively
that the Mesopotamian Semites adopted the religion of
the original occupants of the country almost entirely, and
fused it with their own.
All the principal gods of the Akkadians reappear in
the Babylonio-Assyrian pantheon, the original names
being sometimes preserved, sometimes partially modified
in accordance with Semitic idiom, and sometimes trans-
lated. Old-Semitic deities to which counterparts were
found among the Akkadians, were amalgamated with the
latter. Among these may be named Samas, the sun-god,
among the Semites (Originally a goddess; Sin, the moon-
god ; and Xabu, the prophet, the god of revelation, of let-
ters and arts. Others were simply placed by the side of
the corresponding Akkadian deities, the three Semitic
moon-goddesses, for example, unknown to the Akkadians,
being set beside Sin, perhaps also Dagan, the god of
fertility, beside Bel of the underworld. The origin of
Istar lies in obscurity, but she likewise, though under
another name, existed already as an Akkadian goddess,
who played an important part in the old mythology. For
the Akkadian generic names of the gods a Semitic
A
parallel was found in Ilu (El), who at a later date, like
the supreme Bel, was sometimes placed at the head of all.
The Assyrians assigned this elevated position to their
national god Asur.
74
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
Hea and Nirgal passed almost without any change from
the Akkadian system into the Semitic. Nisruk is prob-
ably, and Salmanu is certainly, a Semitic surname of Hea.
Ana, the heaven-god, becomes Anu, “ the hidden,”Amar-
utuki is contracted into Mardwk. The transformation of
Nindar, the god of the solar fire and of generation, into
Adar, “the shining,” “the exalted,” would exhibit a
greater change if this reading, which is almost universally
adopted, were at all certain. The Semites named him
Samdan. The Semitic pronunciation of Yam or Yiv is
uncertain; it is possibly Yav, according to others, Bin;
the name which he bore among the Semites was Bamanu.
Mul-ge and Nin-ge were translated into Bel and Belit
iihavit, but the old characters were left unchanged. Sin
and Xabu occur, apparently, in Sinai and Nebo, in North
Arabia, and seem accordingly to be Semitic deities:
their names have neither the sound nor the meaning of
the corresponding Akkadian gods; they perhaps arose
under Egyptian influence (Aah and Thut). This is also
true of Istar, whose worship, but little practised in Baby-
lonia, was much more developed in Assyria, and who is
certainly the same as Hathor. The agreement with the
Bactrian glare, “star” (dialectic igtar), on which I still
laid stress in my Vergelijk. Geschied., p. 348, seems to be
accidental.
For the sign AN the Assyrians read Ilu, alike when it
was employed for the Akkadian generic name of the gods,
Ana or Anal, or for the name of the supreme god Dingir
(in the full form Dingira and Dingiri). The correctness of
the latter reading is doubted by Oppert without adequate
grounds. See Syllabary, p. 14, Transactions Soc. Bill.
Archceol., iii. 2, p. 508, and Norris, Assyrian Dictionary,
s. v. An.
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS.
75
45. Star-worship was not unknown to the Semites,
hut the highly-developed astrology and magic which we
find among the Babylonians and Assyrians were derived
from the Akkadians, and the more easily because their
own religion was not wanting in points of connection. Of
Akkadian origin also was the regularly-organised priest-
hood, to whose learning and moral influence the triumph of
the religion of the conquered nation over that of the con-
querors must certainly he in the first place ascribed. The
Babylonians, moreover, built their temples on the model
furnished by their instructors, namely, in the form of ter-
raced pyramids such as were erected also in Elam and
among the oldest inhabitants of Media and India, to
which class belonged the famous tower of Babel. In
Assyria temples were also built on another plan.
The majority of the Assyrian priestly titles are pure
Akkadian, Sakan and Sakannakku, the “high priest;”
ratesi, the “ vicar ” or “ lieutenant of the gods; ” Emga
(literally, “ the illustrious,” “ the glorious ”), “ the
Magi an,” &c.
The principal sanctuaries everywhere were terraced tem-
ples of this kind, representations of the mountain of the
gods in the north, i.e., of the heavenly spheres. The number
of terraces varied, being either three, as at Ur, after the
second triad of gods or the three worlds; or five, as at
Kalach, after the five planets; or seven, as at Barzipa (near
Babylon), at Chorsabad (Dur-Saryukin), and elsewhere,
after the five planets with the sun and moon. The terraces,
like those also at Ecbatana in Media, were of different
colours. At the top stood a square chapel, containing
an image. The opinion of Lenormant, that the Assyrian
Zikurats, as these structures were called, served not as
76
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
temples, but for the observation of the stars, is contra-
dicted by an inscription of the Assyrian king Raman-nirari,
in -which he says of the god Nabu that he dwells in the
temple of Bit-Zida in the midst of Kalach, and this was a
terraced temple. See West. As. Inscrr., i. pi. 35, No. 2.
46. Our sources do not yet enable us to trace the
internal development of the Babylonio-Assyrian religion,
although it is possible to point out which were the domi-
nant gods in each of the three great periods of its his-
tory. Even while it was subject to Assyria, Babylon
remained the religious centre, the holy city par excellence;
and whatever hostility might exist between the monarchs
of the two provinces, the gods of the city, so far as they
were still unknown to the Assyrians, were readily ac-
cepted by them, and received equal honour with their
own highest deities. Outwardly, there was no more
difference between their religion and the Babylonian
than might be expected to result from their early migra-
tion to the north. Inwardly, however, there were varie-
ties of development in the two kindred nations, because
the Assyrians, with their rougher climate and on their
barren soil, grew into a race quite unlike the highly-
civilised but somewhat effeminate Babylonians who were
bathed in abundance.
It is not surprising, therefore, that of the two chief
sacrifices which their religion prescribed, and which were
probably both practised among the Akkadians, the sacri-
fice of chastity was more in vogue in Babylon, and
human sacrifices prevailed among the Assyrians. By
the latter people the gods of war. by the former those
of knowledge and civilisation, were the most zealously
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS.
7 7
-
served. The same deity ?who was feared at Nineveh and
Kalach especially on account of the destructive violence
of his storms, Ilamanu (Yav), the god of wind and spirit,
was chiefly worshipped at Babylon as the god of under-
standing. In short, the Babylonian religion, being that of
a people principally devoted to agriculture, industry, and
learning, was distinguished by its luxurious character
and influential hierarchy; the Assyrian, on the other
hand, as that of a war-loving, conquering nation, by
rude conceptions and cruel usages.
In the oldest times Ur, Uruch, Agane, and other cities
were the principal royal residences of Chaldea. The
greatness of Babylon, at any rate, as a Semitic city, does
not begin till the reign of the famous ‘ Hammuragas, who
established his residence there, probably in the eighteenth
century B.C., and erected the great temple to Marduk.
Neither this god nor Nabu appears on older Babylonian
monuments, and for centuries after they are not found
among the chief Assyrian gods, not even in the list of
them given by Tuklat-palasar, 1130 B.C. It is not till 882
and 857 B.c. that they are named among the twelve
or thirteen chief gods of Asurnazirpal and Salmanasar,
and from that time onwards they were worshipped by the
Assyrians with quite as much enthusiasm as by the Baby-
lonians, especially after the marriage, about 800 B.C., of
an Assyrian sovereign with a Babylonian princess. The
kings of Assyria often offered sacrifices in the temples of
Babylon, Barzippa, and other Chaldean cities.
The difference which we have noted in religious de-
velopment between the two nations, must not, therefore,
be conceived too sharply. It is only a matter of degree.
Assur was constantly endeavouring to tread in the foot-
7 8
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
steps of Babylon. The luxurious worship of the Chal-
deans proved full of attraction for the Assyrians, and
Nineveh became a centre of it as early as the thirteenth
century B.C., alternating after the tenth century with
Kalach. The last but one of the Assyrian kings, Asur-
banipal, was a protector of civilisation, science, and
letters.
47. Largely, however, as the Mesopotamian Semites
borrowed from their predecessors, their religion reached a
really higher stage. What they adopted, they developed;
and on all foreign elements they impressed the stamp of
their own spirit. The nature-beings whom they invoked
in imitation of the Akkadians, became among them real
gods, raised above nature and ruling it, as they had never
done before. Above the highest triads they placed a god
whose commands all the others reverenced, as the head
of an unlimited theocracy. If magic and augury re-
mained prominent constituents of their ceremonial reli-
gion, they practised besides a real worship, and gave
utterance to a vivid sense of sin, a deep feeling of man’s
dependence, even of his nothingness before God, in prayers
and hymns hardly less fervent than those of the pious
souls of Israel.
Such a supreme god was Bilu-Bili, “ the Lord of Lords,”
at Babylon, and Asur in Assyria, both being sometimes
called briefly Ilu, “ god.” The Akkadian Dingira, with
whom he was identified, appears in general not to have
occupied so high a position. The prefect of Kalach, under
King Eaman-nirari, even says in an inscription, “Put
your trust in Nabu, and trust in no other god ! ”
Examples of Assyrian prayers and hymns may be
TIIE SABEANS.
79
found in my Vergelijk. Geschied., p. 391, sqq., and in
Schrader, Die Ilollenfalirt der Istar, Nos. 2-9.
48. In the religion of the Sabeans of South Arabia,
made known to us by the decipherment of the Himyaritic
inscriptions, by the side of the national gods of a genuinely
Arabic character—such as the principal god Al-makah
(“ the god who hearkens ”), the female sun-deity Shamsh,
and others—we meet with a number of purely Babylonio-
Assyrian gods, but always under their Semitic names or
surnames. Among these are included the supreme Bel,
the moon-god Sin, the goddess Istar in two forms, the
male Af/itar and the female Af/ttaret, and Simdan, .which
can only be the Assyrian name of Nindar. These
instances of agreement, to which must be added others in
the territory of art, may not be invoked as proof that
the religion of the Sabeans is a branch of the Assyrian,
but receive their best explanation from commercial rela-
tions between Chaldea and South Arabia, which were
already at an early period, as is well known, exceedingly
active.
It must not be forgotten that the Himyaritic inscrip-
tions with which we are acquainted are all of a relatively
late date, from the first centuries of our era. Whether
the South Arabic god Nasr, the “ eagle,” is a modification
of Nisruk, as Hea was surnamed, is uncertain, and appears
to me doubtful.
C. Religion among the West Semites.
Literature.—On the Phenicians, see the Inscriptions
edited and translated by Hamaker (antiquated), Geseniuo
8o
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
(.Monumcnta Pham.), Renan (Mission en Phenic.), De
Voouil (Insert. Semit.), Meier (Erklarung Phceniz. Sprach-
denkmale, i860, and. Ueber die Nabat. Inschrr., 1863,
neither of them deserving of much confidence), and others.
M. A. Levy, Phonizische Studim, 4 parts, Breslau, 1856-
70 (the first part containing a translation of the great
Sidonian inscription), indispensable. Id., Siegel und Gem-
men mit Aram. Phonk., &c., Inschriften, ibid., 1869. On
the great Sidonian inscription, K. Schlottmann, Die
Inschrift Eshmunazars Kon. der Sidonier, Halle, 1868, and
the literature on the subject, ibid., p. 9, sqq. The essay
by H. Ewald, in the Abhandl. der Konigl. Gesellsch. der
Wissenschaften in Galling., 1856, leaves much to be desired.
See further De Vogue, Melanges d’Archceol. Orient., Paris,
1868.
On Sanchoniathon, Bunsen, Egypt’s Place, &c., v. p. 793,
sqq. Ewald, Abhancll. iiber die Phon. Ansicht von der
Weltsch'dpfung und der geschichtl. JFerth Sanchon., Gottingen,
1851. Renan, “ M6moire sur l’Origine et le Caract. V6rit.
de 1’ Hist. Ph6n. de Sancli.,” Mem. Acad. Inscr. et Belles
Lettres, xxiii. 1858, p. 241, sqq. Yf. W. Graf Baudissin,
“ Ueber die Relig. GeschichtL Worth der Phonic.
Geschichte Sanchoniathon’s ” in the Studim, cited below,
pp. 1-46. Sanchoniathon’s Urgeschichte der Phonic., by
Wagenfeld, Hanover, 1836, is a literary fraud.
The treatise of F. C. Movers, Die Phdnizier, vol. i.,
TJntersuchungen iiber die Religion, und die Gottheiten der
Phon., Bonn, 1841, vol. ii., Das Phonk. Alterth., 3 parts,
Berlin, 1849-56, and his article “Phcenizien” in Ersch
and Gruber’s Allg. Encyclopaedic, xxiv. pp. 319-443,
must still be consulted, in spite of his adventurous
hypotheses. On the Phenician religion, see farther
Munter’s Religion der Karthager, and Der Tempel der
Himmlischen Gotlin zu Paphos, Copenhagen, 1824. C. P.
THE WEST SEMITES.
8 r
Tiele, Vtrgelijk. Gesch., p. 415, sqq. Al. Muller,
“Astarte” {Silzungs Berichte der Wiener Ahad., April 10,
1861), and “ Esmun ” (ibid., February 24, 1864).
It is unnecessary to give a list here of the extensive
literature on the ancient history and religion of Israel,
which may easily be found elsewhere. Of the recent
works on Hebrew mythology and polytheism, I name
only H. Oort, Be Dienst der Baalim onder Israel, Haar-
lem, 1864. Id., Het Menschenoffer in Israel, ibid., 1865.
A. Bernstein, The Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, transl. from the German, London (no date).
W. G. Com. de Baudissin, Jahve et Moloch, sive de ralione
inter Deum Israelitarum et Molochum intercedenle, Leipzig,
1874. Id., Sludien mir Scmit. Ileligionsgesch., part i., Leip-
zig, 1876. I. Goldziher, Mythology among the Hebrews,
transl. by Russell Martineau, M.A., London, 1877. M.
Schultze, Handbuch der Ebraischen Mythologie, Nord-
hausen, 1876, full of the most hazardous conjectures and
the wildest combinations.
49. The religion of the Western branch of the
Northern Semites, the Arameans, Canaanites, and Phe-
nicians, bore quite a different relation to the Babylonio-
Assyrian from that of the Sabeans. They did indeed
occasionally adopt, even in historical eras, the worship
of one or another deity from the Assyrians, hut the
resemblances between their mythology and the Meso-
potamian date from prehistoric times, and confirm the
tradition that they themselves also once dwelt in the land
of the Two Rivers. They must have quitted it before
the fusion of the religious system of the Akkadians with
the Semitic was so complete, as we already find it among
the early Babylonians. At any rate, neither the two
S2 RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
triads nor the Akkadian deities belonging to them,
neither Samdan nor Marduk, occur among them. Only
of the -worship of Sin and Nahu do any clear traces
present themselves around and in Canaan; hut these
deities appear to have been already the property of the
Semites before their entry into Mesopotamia. The names
Ba'al and Ba'alith, however, applied to their principal
gods, ‘Ashtoreth, perhaps also Asher and Ashera and
‘Anatli, can only have been brought by Canaanites
and Plienicians from Chaldea.
That Ba‘al and Ba'alith were generic names of the prin-
cipal deities, or rather simple epithets, only occasionally
applied in later times for brevity to a particular god, has
been proved, in my judgment, in my Vergelijk. Geschkd.,
pp. 452-458. I have, indeed, seen it denied (for ex-
ample, by Graf Baudissin in his Jahve et Moloch, p. 35),
but not refuted. I observe with satisfaction that Dr.
Matthes, in liis article “ Mytlien in het O.T.” in the
Theol. Tijdschr., 1877, No. ii., accords with my views.
Further investigation has confirmed me in this belief.
Schrader’s correct observation that the Babylonian Bel
and the Phenician Ba‘al are not identical, I would
rather express by saying that the principal deities of
the Babylonians and Phenicians do not correspond,
except in the circumstance that they both of them bore
the title of Bel-Ba‘al, “ Lord.”
‘Ashtoreth is no other than Istar with a feminine
termination, in accordance with the Phenician idiom.
Asher and Ashera correspond tolerably well with the
Assyrian Asir and Asirat, the first being probably the
original form of the name of the god Asur (the “pro-
pitious,” the “giver of prosperity”), and the second a
THE CANAANITES AND PHEN1CIANS. $3
surname of Istar. But I do not offer this as more than
a conjecture.
50. The same remarks hold good in still higher mea-
sure of their cosmogony, and of many of their myths.
Myths such as those of the fighting and dying sun-god
(Melqarth, Samson), of the spring-god who likewise dies
(Adonis, Tammuz), their legends of Paradise and the Mood,
and several other of their ideas and usages, were all Ak-
kadian in origin, and could only have attained their
Semitic form in Mesopotamia. From the Akkadians, in
like manner, were probably derived the cruel and unchaste
forms of worship which distinguished them from the other
Semites, as well as the consecration of the seventh day as
a Sabbath or day of rest, the institution of which cannot
therefore be ascribed to Moses.
On the myth of Samson, which was applied in Phenicia
both to Melqarth and to Eshmun, see Kuenen, The Reli-
gion of Israel, i. p. 307. Schwartz, Sonne, Mond und
Sterne, pp. 130, sqq., 221, sqq. Steinthal, in the Zeitschr.
fiir Volkerpsych. und Sprachwissensch., ii., p. 129, sqq.,
translated in the appendix to Goldziher’s Mythology
among the Helrews, p. 392, sqq. Meyboom, Raadselachtige
Verhalen, and Godsd. der Noormannen, p. 270. The god
is no other than the Assyro-Akkadian Herakles, Nindar,
or Samdan, the dead sun-god, represented as a giant
who strangles a lion. The Adonis myth, also, in which
the youthful god of the spring, the beloved of Istar,
dies, and is mourned by her, has now been discovered
in the Akkado-Babylonian epos. See Lenormant, Le
Deluge, pp. 25, 29. G. Smith, Daily Telegraph, Sept.
20, 1873. Schrader, in the Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Mor-
genldnd. Gesellsch., xxvii. p. 424, is of opinion that even
84
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
the name Tammuz was not unknown in Mesopotamia.
This view is also shared by Lenormant.
That the Sabbath, the rest-day, on the seventh day of
the week, passed to the Semites from the Akkadians, was
conjectured by Oppert and Schrader, and has now been
proved from the texts by Sayce, Academy, Nov. 27, 1875,
p. S54, cf. Trans. Soc. Bill. Archceol., 1874, p. 207. In
the JFest. Asian Inscrr., ii. 32, 16, the very word sa-
bahiv occurs in a vocabulary, with the explanation, “ a
day of rest for the heart.”
51. The development of this religion among the Phe-
nicians possessed a special character of its own. An
industrial, seafaring, and commercial people, they gave a
national form to the Mesopotamian myths, and moulded
the god Eshnrun with the Kabiri, and Ba'al ‘Hamman, the
god of the solar fire, with his consort Tanith, into the
representatives and propagators of Phenician civilisation.
In many respects their theology agrees with that of the
Israelites. In later times they seem to have been com-
pletely dominated by Egyptian influence, and, in their
eagerness to imitate the Hamitic civilisation, to have
brought even their religion, at any rate externally, into
concord with it.
Perhaps even Eshmun and the Kabiri were derived
from Egypt. These last I formerly regarded erroneously
as the gods of the seven planets. They rather corre-
spond with the seven helpers of the creative deities Ptah
and Chnum, with whose functions we have become better
acquainted through monuments recently deciphered.
Asmunu, however, occurs in the Babylonian inscriptions.
52. The culminating - point of the religion of the
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. S$
Northern Semites was reached in that of Israel. During
the thirteenth century before Christ a considerable por-
tion of Canaan was gradually conquered by this small
nation. They entered the country on different sides,
possessing, a religion of extreme simplicity, though not
monotheistic. It did not differ in character from the
Arabian, and approached most nearly, it would seem, to
that of the Qenites. Their ancient national god bore
the name of El-Shaddai, but it is not without reason that
their great leader Moses is supposed to have established
in its place before this period the worship of Yahveh.
To him also was ascribed the composition of a funda-
mental religious and moral law, the so-called Ten Words.
Undoubtedly this deity, by whatever name they may have
designated him, was the dreadful and stern god of the
thunder, whose character corresponded to the nature
which surrounded them and the life which they led.
The history of the development of the Israelite religion
requires to be studied independently. I state here only
what is necessary to bring out clearly the relation in
which it stands to kindred forms of worship. Moreover,
the brief summary here presented needs no detailed
explanation, since ample expositions of the subject will be
found in Kuenen’s Religion of Israel, my own Vergelijkende
Geschiedenis, and other recent works.
The latest discoveries in the field of ancient Babylonian
literature give rise to the question whether the traditions
of the Israelites about their origin really belonged to
them, or whether they appropriated them from the
Canaanites. Does the tradition of Abraham’s migration
from Ur of the Chaldees, and of the sojourn of the
patriarchs in Canaan and Egypt, really furnish us with
86
-
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
a preliminary history of the Israelites wrapped up in
legends, or did they find it in existence in Canaan and
adopt it? In other words, were the tribes of Israel
originally a branch of the Northern Semites, or were
they a branch of the Southern Semites related to the
Ishmaelites, who only mingled with the Northern Semites
when settled in their new abode, and there became
acquainted with the civilisation brought by their kinsmen
from Mesopotamia? Before these questions are solved
by further inquiry, all that we can say with certainty of
the origin of the Israelites is that they belong to the
Semitic race, and I have therefore been purposely silent
on the subject in the text.
53. This religion they did not abandon in their new
fatherland, although it was really sometimes in danger
of being supplanted. At first the Israelites, or those of
them, at least, who had settled on the west of the Jordan,
placed their national god Yahveh by the side of the
Canaanite deity of the country, whom they called briefly
“ the Baal,” and whom most of them, after they had
renounced their wandering shepherd-life and begun to
devote themselves to agriculture, worshipped together
with Ashera, the goddess of fertility, and other native
deities. As the god of the conquerors, however, Yahveh
was still commonly placed above the others. Even his
ardent worshippers, such as some of the judges, and
especially Samuel, only maintained his supremacy; and
such zealous champions of Yalivism as Saul and David
named their children after the Baal. Solomon, who erected
a splendid temple for Yahveh in his capital, saw no harm
in building sanctuaries for other gods as well, which was
regarded as a sin, indeed, by the later historians, but cer-
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL.
87
tainly not by liis contemporaries. The Baal against
which the stern Elijah contended so vigorously in the
kingdom of Israel, was not the deity of the country; it
was the Phenician Baal, introduced by the wife of Aliab,
the Sidonian princess Jezebel. Elijah’s disciple Elisha,
and his follower Jehu, rooted out this foreign cultus with
violence, but did not interfere with that of the native
Ashera.
54. In the meantime, largely through the instrumen-
tality, it would seem, of the prophetic schools, the stricter
Yahvism had quietly, and even imperceptibly to itself,
adopted a number of elements from the native religion, and
brought them into harmony with its spirit and require-
ments. This appears especially in the cosmogony, the
narratives of Paradise, of the Deluge, and others, the myth
of Samson, the legend of the patriarch Jacob-Israel—
particularly in that of his quarrel with his brother Esau,
who plays a similar part in Phenician mythology, and
is also named in the Assyrian inscriptions—and more of
the same kind. To the conception of Yahveli, also, as the
dreadful god of the desert, there were slowly added various
traits borrowed from that of the beneficent Baal, the god
of blessing and abundance. By this process the represen-
tation of Yahveh was gradually softened, without, how-
ever, losing its original character. There was now no
longer any reason for supplementing his worship with that
of the Canaanite god of agriculture; Yahveh was now
sufficiently like the latter to be able, even alone, to
satisfy the wants of the nation when it was civilised and
settled.
83
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
55. This gradual modification of the conception of
deity paved the way for the reforming work of the
great prophets, who began in the eighth century before
Christ to insist on the exclusive worship of Yahveh.
To attain this end, they contended not only against the
cruel worship of the god of fire, called by the Israelites
briefly “ the Molek,” to whom in the Assyrian period,
following probably the example of their neighbours, they
sacrificed children and men, but also against the cultus
of the native Baal, and even against the purely national
worship dedicated to the sun, moon, and stars, to which
not a few of the Israelites had always remained faithful.
Some kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, devoted them-
selves to carrying out their doctrine; other princes, how-
ever, supported by the majority of the people, maintained
the old and the' new nature-gods. It was not till the
establishment of a priestly state by the small section of
the nation who returned to the fatherland after the cap-
tivity, that Yahveh was recognised as the only god, and
there was no further mention of any Baal or Molek.
Molek is the old Akkadian fire-god, who was blended
in Assyria partly with Anu, partly with Adar, and was
worshipped in the same fashion by Phenicians, Moa-
bites, Ammonites, and other kindred tribes. It is uncer-
tain whether the prominence which his worship acquired
in Israel after the ninth century, must be ascribed to
Assyrian influence or to local causes.
56. The prophets, however, were not only the teachers of
tlieir people, but also the interpreters of whatever passed
in the inmost heart of the nation. The monotheism which
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL.
89
was the last and ripest fruit of the preaching of the pro-
phets before the captivity, grew slowly, and remained,
besides, purely national. Out of the conception of Yah-
veli’s supremacy over the other gods of the country
sprang the idea of his sole lordship over Israel. Beyond
this idea the first prophets of the reformed Mosaism
made no great advance. Even the Book of Deuteronomy,
which is written entirely in their spirit, still assigns to
each people a deity of its own, while the Most High
retains Israel for himself. It is not till Jeremiah that
utterance is given to the thought that Yahveh is the
eternal God, besides whom there exists no other, and
in contrast with whom the other gods are nothing but
emptiness, and the Babylonian Isaiah, with more 'emphasis
and genius, develops the same conception. The pan-
theistic monotheism of the Aryans, which regards all
deities simply as names of the One, the All-embracing
and Infinite, remained unknown to them; and to the
universalist monotheism of the Gospel, which has entirely
broken down the bounds of nationality, not even the
noblest of them was able to rise. The great value of the
preaching of the prophets lies in its ethical character,
and in the pure and elevated representation which it
gave of their Yahveh. But even this conception of deity
is still one-sided, and their universalism continues par-
ticularist. What they opposed to the religions of other
nations was not a universal religion, but simply their
own national religion, and they expected that every one
would be converted to it, and would recognise the sole
supremacy of their national god. This expectation is the
highest expression of the theocratic belief which rules the
90
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
whole Semitic life, the conclusion to which the reflective
mind was necessarily impelled by progressive develop-
ment, when it had once adopted as its point of departure
the idea of the unlimited sovereignty of a God in contrast
with whom man is nothing more than a slave.
57. This prophetic movement gave rise to a religious
sect, or nomistic religion, the foundations of which were
firmly laid before the captivity by the code prepared
under Josiah, and during the captivity and after it by
Ezekiel and the priestly legislation, and which was organ-
ised, chiefly by Ezra, as a priestly community. Out of
the Mosaism of the prophets grew Judaism. Superficially
considered, the period of Israelite religious history which
now ensued, appears an era not of progress but of ex-
clusion and petrifaction. In reality this is not the
case. The Jewish mind took into itself new elements,
which worked and fermented in silence till they produced
a nobler thought. Before the gaze of Israel opened
a world hitherto unknown. It came into contact
?with the Indo-Germans, first with the Persians, then with
the Greeks, and lastly with the Romans. Pars ism at-
tracted them by its ethical tendency, though they could
make no terms with the dualism on which it rested, the
doctrine of two Creators, one good and one evil; it even
seems that the great prophet of the captivity denounced
it (Isa. xlv. 7). But the prominence and the large de-
velopment attained among them after the captivity
by the doctrine of good and evil angels, can only be
ascribed to Persian influence, and Persian representations
may be recognised no less clearly in their eschatology.
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL.
9*
The Greek polytheism, which it was sought to force
upon them with violence, they resisted obstinately
and successfully, and the Eomans they hated. But
Greek humanism and Greek philosophy made their way
unobserved even among them, and the struggle with the
universal sovereignty of Eome caused their ancient ideal,
the kingdom of God, the universal sovereignty of the only
true God, to awake with new power. Out of the mutual
co-operation of these factors, the union of IsraeEte piety
with Persian morality, Greek humanism, and a universal-
ism vying with that of Eome—in other words, out of the
alliance of the Semitic with the Indo-Germanic mind—
arose the mighty universal religion which reconciles them
both, and has nowhere found so many adherents and
reached so high a development as among the Indo-Ger-
mardc nations of Europe.
On the debts of Judaism to Parsism, see Kuenen’s
Religion of Israel, vol. iii. pp. 1-44. A. Kohut, “ Ueber
die jiidische Angelologie und Damonologie in ihrer Ab-
bangigkeit vom Parsismus,” in Abhandl. fur die Kunde des
Morgenl., iv. 3. Id., “ Was hat die Talmud. Eschatologie
aus dem Parsismus aufgenommen 1 ” in the Zeitschr. der
Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch., xxi. vi. pp. 552-591.
D. Isldm.
Literature. — Translations of the Qordn, by Wahl,
Halle, 1848; Sale, London, 1836; Kasimirski, with
introduction by Pautiiier, Paris, 1840 ; Ullmann, Cre-
feld, 1840; Rodwell, London, 2d ed. (chronologically
arranged, but very hypothetical). Some of these transla-
tions reproduced in Dutch by S. Keyzer, Haarlem, i860.
92
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
Cf. Til Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns, Gottingen, i860.
G. K. Niemann, De Kor&n, Eotterdam, 1864. G. Weil,
Muhamed der Prophet, sein Lehen und seine Lehre, 1843, an<l
Gesch. der Islam. Volker von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des Sul-
tans Selim, Stuttgart, 1866. Sir W. Muir, The Life
of Mahomet and History of Islam, 4 vols., London, 1858-
61. A. Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des Moham-
mad, 3 vols., Berlin, 1861-65. E. Dozy, Het Islamisme,
Haarlem, 1863, and De Israeliten te Mekka van Davids
tijd tot in de 5' eeuw onzer tijdrekening, ibid., 1864.
G. K. Niemann, Inleiding tot de hennis van den Islam,
Eotterdam, 1861. A. von Kremer, Geschichte der herrsch-
enden Ideen des Islams, Leipzig, 1868; Culturgeschicht-
liche Streifziige auf dem Gebiete des Islams, ibid., 1873;
and Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, 2 vols.
Vienna, 1875-77. On Islam in India, Garcin de Tassy,
L’Islamisme d’apres le Coran, &c., Paris, 1874.
58. The purely Semitic universal religion is Islamism,
which first arose in Arabia six hundred years after Christ.
Some tribes had already abandoned their ancestral re-
ligion for Christianity in its Jewish or Ebionitish form,
and the Jews also had made a number of converts. But
neither the one nor the other religion had any great
attraction for the Arabs; the one was too exclusively
national, the other too dogmatic. Yet they imperceptibly
brought about a modification of the religious conceptions,
at least of the more advanced. There were poets before
Mohammed who already displayed a deep conviction of
the unity of God, and of man’s responsibility towards
him. A definite sect, even, had been formed, the Hanyf-
ites, who rejected both Judaism and Christianity, and
preached a very simple practical monotheistic doc-
THE RISE OF ISLAM.
93
trine, which they probably already designated Islam.
The ancient Fetishism was still kept up simply by habit,
and by the personal interest of tribes or families, but few
retained any belief in their idols. Even for those who
still remained faithful to the national gods, Allah was the
Sheikh of the spirits (Jinn), and these were his daughters;
nay, the worship of the fetishes was even justified by the
assertion that they were invoked only as mediators with
Allah. Meanwhile the chief god possessed neither tem-
ples nor priests; of the sacrifices he received the worst
part, and only in extraordinary circumstances did men
pass by the gods who stood nearer to man, in order to
seek a refuge with him. The seers (‘Arriif) and the
soothsaying priests (Kokin) had lost a great deal of their
credit, religion was in deep decline, and a number of
phenomena indicated that the need of a better was
awakened.
Judaism and Christianity had given currency to the
doctrines of one God, and of retribution, as well as to
the ideas of a revelation and the moral government of
the world.
The Hanyfites are commonly regarded as a sect which
arose under the influence of the above-named religions.
The name hanyf, “heretic,” “unbeliever,” may in that
case have been given to them by Christians and Jews,
because their belief was freer and also mingled with
heathen errors. This is the view of Sprenger, i. 67.
Dozy, in the Israeliten te Melclca, has defended the opinion
that the Hanyfites were a remnant of the Israelites, who
first made their way to Arabia in the time of David,
and subsequently after the destruction of Jerusalem by
Nebukadresar. Their doctrine, which they called Din
94
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
Ibrahim, would in that case be, not “ the belief of
Abraham,” but “ the belief of the Hebrews,” and the so-
called heathen traditions and usages at Mekka which
Mohammed adopted, would be originally derived from
the Israelites.
Islam, (nom. verb.) signifies “submission,” “surrender”
to God. The professors of the doctrine took the name of
Moslim (partic.), “ the believer,” “ one who is blindly
obedient to all God’s commands ” (Sprenger, i. 69 ; Dozy,
Islamisme, 26).
Jinn, derived by Sprenger, i. 221, from a root meaning
“to cover,” “to veil,” is erroneously explained by him as
the “darkening of the mind.” If the derivation is cor-
rect, the word must have been applied to the spirits, as
the hidden and invisible, or to the fetishes, as the out-
ward abodes of the spirits.
59. To constitute Hanyfism into a religion, a fixed
doctrine, an organised worship, and a divine sanction
were needed. These were provided by Mohammed. Born
at Mekka in the year 571 A.D., of a family of distinction
though of no great power, he was left an orphan at an
early age, and was adopted by relatives. For a long time
he was obliged to seek his maintenance in a lowly calling,
till he became the third husband of a rich widow, Khadijali,
to whom he continued most closely attached till her
death. It was not till he had reached the age of forty
years that visions and ecstasies, the result of a sickly
system and protracted religious meditations in gloomy
solitude, brought him to the conviction that he was either
insane or a messenger of God. The latter thought gained
the victory. He felt himself called by God himself to be
the prophet of the strictest monotheism, and he hesitated
MOHAMMED.
95
not to obey tlie call. At first he found little belief out-
side the circle of his own family. Yet he had a power-
ful support in Iris wife, and in some friends of position.
Among these last the foremost place is due to the intel-
ligent and discerning Abu-bekr, and the courageous and
elastic Omar, two men without whom Islam could never
have triumphed. At Mekka, the preaching of Mohammed,
whatever were the temporal or the eternal penalties with
which he threatened the unbelievers, produced little other
effect than ridicule and insult against himself and the
persecution of his unprotected adherents. Twice were
his followers obliged to retreat to Abyssinia, and when he
recalled an utterance in favour of the ancient idolatry
which had been extorted from him, the exasperation
against him reached its height. He did not therefore
hesitate long to comply with the invitation of the most
vehement enemies of the people of Mekka, the inhabitants
of Medina, who swore fidelity to him, and he fled thither
with a number of his friends. This flight (the Hijra,
622-623 a.d.), is regarded by the Moslims as the first
triumph of their faith, and is the starting-point of their
chronology.
-
60. The favourable circumstances which surrounded
Mohammed at Medina operated unfavourably upon his
character. Beneath opposition and persecution he had
displayed the courage of his conviction, but when he had
once gained the mastery, the Prophet became an arbitrary
tyrant, who gave the rein freely to all his passions. His
vengefulness was felt by the Jews, who would not enrol
themselves among his followers, and by those who had
96
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
the misfortune to injure him. After the death of
Khadijali he began to keep a harem, to which he went
on adding new wives, among them even the lawful wife
of his adopted son. The scandal which such acts
caused even among the faithful, was allayed by revela-
tions received just as they were required, which can
hardly be ascribed simply to self-deception, and must
have been produced with intentional deceit. At Medina
Mohammed instituted public worship, but he appears
never to have lost sight of his great object, to make
Mekka, already the centre of the national religion, the
centre of his own religion. He preached the holy war,
which was, however, inspired quite as much by desire of
revenge and plunder, as by policy and fanaticism. After
fighting against the Mekkans with varying success, he
demanded permission to take part with his followers
in the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, and his request was
granted under certain conditions. Not satisfied, however,
with this, he violates the armistice, advances in the year
630 with a very considerable army against his native
city, obtains possession of it by treachery, destroys the
idols in the Ka'ba, forces the worship there practised into
conformity with his own doctrine, and thus transforms
the city which had rejected him into the chief seat, and its
ancient temple into the principal sanctuary, of the true
faith. All the Arab tribes now submitted, at any rate
outwardly and simply out of fear, to Islftm, although the
general rising after the death of the Prophet proves how
superficial was their conversion. The idea of even uni-
versal dominion began to be entertained. Shortly after
the pilgrimage to Mekka, Mohammed had already sent
MOHAMMED.
97
letters to different princes, even to the Koman emperor and
the Persian king, demanding their submission; soon he
despatched small armies beyond the boundaries, sometimes
with considerable success, and he planned more and more
distant expeditions. But the end approached with swift
strides, and he felt that his task was finished. After a
few days’ illness, he collected all his strength to address
the faithful in the Mosque once more, returned home
exhausted, and died the same day, June 8th, 632, on the
breast of his favourite wife, Ayesha, daughter of Abu-
bekr, amid pious aspirations and in the firm hope of im-
mortality.
61. The five pillars of Islam, of which the founda-
tions were laid in the teaching of Mohammed himself,
are as follows: (1) the acceptance of the two great
dogmas; (2) prayer, regarded rather as an outward
religious action than as an impulse of the heart, all its
forms therefore being regulated with precision; (3) alms-
giving ; (4) fasting, kept strictly in the month of Kama-
dhan from sunrise to sunset; (5) the pilgrimage to
Mekka, which every free adult was bound to perform once
in his life. The first of the two great dogmas is the
doctrine of the unity of God, of whose existence the
Prophet continually adduced proofs, but of whose nature
he never attempted, or was not in a position, to form a
pure conception. The Qoran is marked by a strong
anthropomorphism, and well-attested traditions ascribe
to Mohammed the assertion that he had seen the deity
in human form. God is almighty and all-knowing, but
terrible in his wrath: he rewards and punishes arbitra-
9S RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
rily; he hardens the hearts of those whom he destines
to destruction; and every one, therefore, must tremble
before the fires of his hell. He requires men to sur-
render themselves to him with servile submission, yet
not even then are they always sure of his "grace. Such
a representation of, the deity naturally leads to the
doctrine of unconditional predestination, and this was,
accordingly, also taught by Mohammed ; but he was too
impulsive, and too little of a thinker, not to be untrue
to it sometimes. Moreover, the strictness of his mono-
theism did not prevent liim from admitting the jinns or
spirits into his system; but he transformed them, in imi-
tation of the Jews, into good and evil spirits, angels and
devils, the latter of whom, however, were, in his view,
capable of conversion.
Mohammed was very zealous in prayer and fasting,
and spent whole nights in prayer with his disciples.
Great value was ascribed to the invocation of the name
of God (dzikr), not only mentally but aloud. All the
ceremonies to be observed in connection with prayer, the
lustrations, gestures, and genuflections, were arranged by
the Prophet himself. Much value attached to their
public performance. This duty was observed by ‘Omar
even in the days of the persecution. Sprenger, i. pp.
318, sqq., 324, sqq.; comp. ii. p. 132.
The god of Mohammed stands no higher than the
common Semitic ideal of morality. He is an arbitrary,
vengeful, bloodthirsty tyrant, whose sombre traits are
only rarely relieved by one of the brighter touches by
which the Jewish prophets succeeded in throwing a kindly
glow over the image of their Yahveh. Mohammed did
not shrink from speaking even of Allah’s cunning. In
islAm.
99
tlie Qoran, sur. 8, 30, lie is called the craftiest of the
forgers of devices, who, by his own wiles, puts to shame
those of unbelievers.
For the chief of the evil spirits, Mohammed even pre-
served the Hebrew name Satan, as well as the Christian
name Iblis (Dialolos).
62. With this gloomy conception of deity corresponds
the view taken by Islam of the world. The Qoran gives
very frequent utterance to the idea that our earthly life
has little value, and is but a passing game, while old
traditions ascribe to Mohammed sayings in which the
world is compared with all kinds of worthless objects.
The door was thus opened for the severe asceticism in
which the Moslims were soon to rival Christians and
Buddhists. The misery of this world was only surpassed
by the unspeakable pains of hell, which were depicted
with the blackest colours. But with joyous expectation
men might look to heaven, where in beautiful gardens,
clothed with splendid garments, and surrounded by black-
eyed girls, the blessed would drink the precious unintoxi-
cating wine of paradise. The union of gloomy contempt
for the world with luxurious sensuality is a characteristic
of all Semitic religions, to which only Mosaic prophetism
offers a favourable exception.
According to tradition, Mohammed compared the world
to a sheep cast away by its owner, nay, even to a dung-
heap with rotting bones. For unbelievers only is it a
paradise.
While his doctrine looked for joy to the future only,
the Prophet, with questionable consistency, contrived to
secure here on earth a foretaste of the sensual bliss of
IOO
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
heaven, a proceeding in which many believers have
zealously imitated him.
63. Besides his faith in the unity of God, the Moslim
must believe in the divine mission of Mohammed. This
is the second main dogma. God has made known his
will by thousands of prophets, one after another, of whom
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are the most
eminent, while Mohammed is the last and greatest. God
revealed himself in different ways; to Mohammed, how-
ever, for the most part through the angel Gabriel. The
violent attacks of his chronic disease were regarded by
him as divine inspirations, but not till his return to con-
sciousness did he give utterance to any words. At first
lie undoubtedly believed with complete sincerity iu the
reality of these relations; afterwards, however, in the
days of his power, they often came just at the right
moment to justify him, to remove some scandal, or enable
him to attain some definite end. Frequently they con-
flicted with each other, and the later were employed to
modify or revoke the earlier. The conception was entirely
mechanical. But they were always blindly believed and
obeyed by his followers. Becorded in part during his
life, and in part preserved by memory, they were not
collected until after his death. This collection, fixed once
for all, bears the name of Qoran, and is regarded by the
orthodox as the uncreated word of God, though they also
attach great authority to tradition (Sonna).
The modes of revelation also included dreams, such as
that of Mohammed’s journey to Jerusalem by night, and
of his ascension to heaven. The symptoms of liis disease
islAm.
iox
have led many to regard it as. epilepsy, but Sprenger con-
siders it to have been hysteria muscularis. The angel
Gabriel is a product of his imagination, not an unknown
impostor, as Weil supposes. The form in which the
Prophet himself cast his revelations was a rhymed prose,
without any poetic value, but not free from rhetorical
bombast.
When his numerous harem and his marriage with the
wife of his adopted son gave general offence, he imme-
diately provided divine revelations to justify himself.
When severe vigils, enjoined by God, exhausted him too
seriously, came a new command, kept secret all that while
by God, to mitigate the old order; and when Mohammed,
after having refrained from contending against the idols,
began to oppose them with great energy, it was said that
God had not desired him to do so until then.
The revelations were called Qordn (to “ read,” to
“explain”), or Sdra (“line of a book,” “chapter”).
After they were collected, the first name became .the
title of the whole, 'while the second was used to designate
particular revelations. Both words axe of Hebrew origin.
The first collection was made by Mohammed’s secretary,
Zaid ibn Thabit, by order of Abu-bekr and ‘Omar, and
for their use. The second proceeded afterwards from the
same hand, in conjunction with some others. All the
texts not inserted in it were then destroyed.
64. The religion founded by Mohammed is exclusively
Semitic, for in doctrine and organisation it is purely
theocratic. God is the sole, absolute, and arbitrary
sovereign, standing in an attitude of hostility against the
world, revealing himself mechanically by his prophets, and
especially by the last of them, to whose words and com-
102
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
mands all must blindly submit. Mohammed himself, also,
was both in his virtues and his vices a genuine Semite.
His teaching contained nothing original; the whole of his
preaching had been already put forth before him, and was
adopted by him from Judaism, from Eastern Christianity,
and from Hanyfism, and at first he even designated
himself a Hanyf. Even the idea of his prophetic calling
he borrowed from the Jews. His visions were the result
of his sickly condition. His preaching was not, however,
merely an imitation of others, but the result of the over-
powering impression which the religion of the Jews and
their spiritual kindred made upon his mind, and which
impelled him to oppose the worship of idols, and proclaim
monotheism. He believed in his calling, accepted it
from conviction, and on account of it for a long time
courageously bore ridicule and abuse.
Before Mohammed, his older contemporary Zaid ibn
‘Amr, a Hanyf, had vigorously opposed the idolatry of
the Mekkans. Mohammed was acquainted with him,
and was certainly much indebted to him. See Dozy,
Id., p. 14; Sprenger, i. p. 119, sqq. Another view is
taken by Noldeke, Geseh. des Qor., p. 14. The influence
also of the Christians upon the Prophet must have been
considerable (Sprenger, ii. p. 180, sqq.) Waraka, the
nephew of Khadijah, was a Christian, and was even
canonised by Mohammed (Sprenger, i. p. 124, sqq.)
65. The history of the subsequent development of
Islamism lies beyond our compass. It must, however, be
observed that the death of the Prophet was followed
immediately by a great defection through the whole of
Arabia, which was only suppressed by violence, and that
islAm.
103
the mastery soon came into the hands of the party 'which
had the most vehemently opposed Mohammed during his
lifetime. In its doctrines, especially in its conception
of God, and above all in its moral value, IsMm is far
inferior not only to Christianity, hut also to Mosaism and
to Judaism. But over the degraded forms of these
religions, which prevailed in Arabia and other Eastern
countries, it deserves the preference. The elements
which qualified it, in distinction from Judaism, to become
a universal religion, lay, first of all, in its freedom from
the bonds of a particular nationality, and next, in the
ease with which it could be summed up in two simple
doctrines. What Buddhism possessed in the doctrine of
Nirvana, and Christianity in the preaching of love, Islam .
found in the formula—“ There is no God but God, and
Mohammed is his prophet.” Its triumph in Arabia was
due to political considerations, and to the absence of any-
thing better to occupy the field. The way for its diffusion
beyond was paved by arms, and the pecuniary and civil
privileges conferred on believers among vanquished
peoples, secured for it a multitude of adherents. True
and zealous followers it found only among nations of
imperfect development, such as the superficial Christians
of Egypt, North Africa, and Spain, among the Berbers,
Negroes, Malays, and Turks. In Persia and India it only
conquered by force. The Persians were always regarded
as heretics, and the Mohammedan are, for the most part,
distinguished from the Brahmanical Hindus only by a
few forms. Founded among a people which developed
late, it is the youngest and also the lowest of the universal
religions. Only for a short time, under the stimulus of
ro4
RELIGION AMONG THE SEMITES.
favouring circumstances, and in conflict with its own
principles, did it call forth a higher civilisation. When
carried out with due strictness it brings all civilisation to
nothing.
Monotheism in itself, when the one God does not
combine everything that is divine, and the conception of
deity is one-sided and limited, by no means possesses
the great value commonly ascribed to it.
As a universal religion, Islam did not grow out of the
Arabian polydsemonism, but, like Christianity and Bud-
dhism, out of a nomistic religion.
( IOJ )
-
CHAPTER IV.
RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS, EXCLUD-
ING THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
I.
THE ANCIENT INDO-GERMAN RELIGION AND THE ARYAN
RELIGION PROPER.
Literature.—Lieut.-Col. Vans Kennedy, Researches into
the Nature and Affinity of Ancient Hindu Mythology,
London, 1831. R. Roth, “Die liochsten Gotter der
Arischen Vtilker,” in Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgeidand.
Gesellsch., vi., 1852, p. 67, sqq. A. Pictet, Les Origines
Indo-Europdennes, ou les Aryas Primitifs, 2 vols., Paris,
1839-63, now antiquated in some parts. M. Muller,
Lectures on the Science of Language, 2 vols., especially lects.
viii.-xii. of the second vol., London, 6th ed., 1873. G.
V. Cox, The Mythology of the Aryan Nations, 2 vols.,
London, 1870. A. de Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology,
or the Legends of Animals, 2 vols., London, 1872. A.
Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gotter-tranks,
Berlin, 1859. L. Myriantheus, Die Aqvins oder die
Arischen Dioskuren, Munich, 1876. G. Schoebel, Re-
citer dies sur la Religion premihre de la Race Indo-Iranienne,
Paris, 1872; and K; M. BANERJEA, The Aryan Witness,
or the Testimony of Aryan Scriptures in corroboration of . . .
Christian Doctrine, Calcutta, 1873, both written under the
influence of a theological system, and largely hypothetical.
io6 RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS.
P. Asmus, Die Indo-Germanische Religion in den Hanpt-
punkten ihrer Erdwickelnng, vol. i. Halle, 1875, vol. ii.
(part 1st), 1877.
66. Comparative mythology has proved that all
Indo-Germans, or Aryans in the broadest sense, including
the Indians, Persians, Wends or Letto-Slavs, Germans,
Greeks, Komans, and Kelts, once possessed not only the
same language, but also the same religion. This religion
cannot have differed much in character from the Indo-
Germanie religions known to us from historic times. It
is certain that they named their gods “ the heavenly,”
or the “ shining ones,” (deva, deus, tivar), a name which
was preserved among the Indians, Romans, Scandinavians,
and Letto-Slavs, and probably also among the Greeks (0eos),
being replaced among the remaining races by other desig-
nations, and employed by the Persians in an unfavourable
sense. Their principal god, or, at any rate, the object of
their highest worship, was the heaven-father (Dyaus-pitar,
Zevf iraTrip, Jupiter). Among the Greeks and Romans
he was maintained in his supremacy; among the Indians
he was, to some extent, supplanted by other deities, though
even among them he always remained the father of the
highest gods; but among the Germans (Zio, Tyr) he was
entirely changed in character. By his side was then
worshipped another heaven god (Vanina, Ouranos), perhaps
a deity of the nightly sky, and probably of higher rank, of
whom the Greeks retained only a faint recollection, though
the Indians continued at first to stand in great awe of him.
In the tempests and thunderstorms they saw, as the
correspondence of myths proves, the contest of the gods
of light against the powers of darkness, and they already
ITS EARLY FORM.
107
recognised and worshipped a fire-god, the friend of men,
who stole fire from heaven. A female deity was regarded
as the mediator or messenger between men and gods
(Ila, Ida, Ira), or between gods and men (Iris). The
sun-god (Surya, Scare, Sol) likewise, and the
dawn-goddess (Ushas, "Hcds, Aurora), were probably
objects of adoration. We are not at liberty, therefore, to
ascribe to them a kind of monotheism or henotheism at
so early a period. It is even very doubtful whether
their religion may be rightly called polytheism, or
whether it was really more than a very advanced
polydsemonism. The stage of development which they
had reached, can in any case only be matter for conjec-
ture, and does not admit of exact determination.
I keep the ugly hut established designation “ Indo-
Germans,” to distinguish the race from the Aryans proper,
who were the ancestors of the Indians and Persians.
The name Indo-Europeans is to be rejected on every
account. The name Aryans may also be applied to the
whole race, and the Indo-Persians may then be called
East-Aryans. The name Indo-Germans indicates the
two peoples between whom all the others belonging to
the race are scattered.
The connection of the Greek 6s6;, also, with deva, is
disputed by G. Buhler in Orient und Occident, i. p. 508,
sqq., by G. Curtius, and others.
Vanina signifies “ the coverer,” or the “ surrounder.”
As he becomes later on the god of the ocean, he may
originally have been the special ruler of the heaven-ocean,
like Hea in Mesopotamia.
On the theft of fire and the agreement of Pramdtha
and Prometheus, of the Bhrgu’s with the Phlegians (light-
io8
RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS.
nings), and of Bhwranyu with Phoroneus, see the work of
Kuhn cited above.
The opinion that the Indo-Gennanic races began with
monotheism or henotheism, is defended by Max Muller,
Introduction to the Science of Religion, London, 1873, p.
170, sqq. See on the other side my essay in De Gids,
1871, No. 1, translated into German, Max Muller und Fr.
\J Schultze uber ein Problem, der Religions - Wissenschaft,
Leipzig, 1871.
67. At a very early date the Indo-Germans fell apart
into a number of nations, which, one after another, quitted
their common home, and settled, some in Asia, and some in
Europe. They were not at first separated into the nations
which afterwards became independent, hut formed groups
like the Indians and Persians (to whom the Slavs or
Wends remained attached the longest), the Teutons and
Scandinavians, or the Greeks, Komans, and Kelts. Of this
the agreement of their religions affords evidence, besides
the indications of language and history. The Indians
and Persians must have remained the longest united as
one people, under the name of the Aryans. From the
Aryan religion proceeded, on the one hand, the Vedic
religion, the parent of Brahmanism and Buddhism, and
on the other,—though certainly not by immediate descent,
?—the Mazdeism of the Bactrians and Persians.
Arya (from ari, “devoted,” “faithfully attached”) is
explained by some scholars (Bohthlingk-Roth, Worterb.
sub voc,, Grassmann, Worterb. mm Rig Veda, sub voc.) as
“faithful,” “attached,” “ devoted,” les fideles; by others
(Benfey, Bid. sub. voc., Bopp, Gloss.) as “ honourable,”
“noble.” It is a general national name of the same kind
THE ARYAN RELIGION.
109
as Teutons and Slavs, including within it the idea of the
entire body of free men, and employed by a conquering
nation to distinguish themselves from their neighbours.
68. The Aryan religion is known to us from mutual
comparison of the Indian and Persian religions. The
elements they possess in common must once have been
the joint property of both. The Aryans, like the Indo-
Germans, were polytheists. This is proved by a great
number of names of deities and semi-deities, which re-
mained in use among both Indians and Persians. Among
them Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman, occupied the highest
rank, though in Mazdeism the first of these was replaced
by Ahura Mazda. Varuna, the heaven-god, and Mitra,
the light-god, were very severe, and were especially
dreaded by liars and cheats. Aryaman, the companion
and bosom friend, who presided over the contracting of
marriage, probably a fertilising sun-god, was a more kindly
being. With him was connected Bliaga (Bagha), the
assigner of destinies, whose name became at an early date
a general designation of the gods among the Persians and
Slavs. Next to the Devas, who were afterwards degraded
in Eran by the Zarathustrian reformation to the rank of
evil spirits, the dsuras (dhuras), “ the living ones,” or
“ spirits,” were worshipped as chief gods. The most
striking characteristics of this period, however, seem to
have been the great development of the worship of fire,
combined with magic, and the introduction of the drink
of immortality (soma,, haoma) at sacrifices as well as into
mythology. There is reason to believe that both usages
were adopted from a non-Aryan race, since they were
IIO RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS.
familiar to the original inhabitants of Mesopotamia and
Media, and do not occur in this form among the other
Indo-Germanic races, though they also found points of
attachment to similar genuinely Indo-Germanic myths.
The worship of fire and the ideas and customs con-
nected with the drink of immortality, prevalent among
Indians and Persians, differ entirely from the usages ot
kindred races, and exhibit much more agreement with
those of the oldest inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and pro-
bably also of Media. Soma (Haoma) is a word belonging
to the Aryan period, as it does not occur among the other
Indo-Germans. I am only able to explain this pheno-
menon by the influence upon the Aryans of the peoples
already named.
IL
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
General Works.—J. Gildemeister, Bibliothecae Sanscritce
Specimen, Bonn, 1847. Th. Benfey, “ Indien” in Ersch
and Gruber’s Allg. EncyMopadie, sect. iL part xvii., Leipzig,
1840. On the Literature of India, A. Weber, Acade-
mische Porlesungen uber Indisehe Literaturgeschichte, Berlin,
1852; Id., Indisehe Skizzen, Berlin, 18573 Id., Indisehe
Streifen, vol. i. “ Zerstreute kleinere Abhandlungen,” vol.
ii. “ Kritisch-bibliographische Streifen,” Berlin, 1868-69,
Cf. his Indisehe Studien, Zeitsckr. fur die Kunde des Indisch.
Alterthums, since 1849. M. Muller, A History of Ancient
Sanskrit Literature so far as it Illustrates the Primitive Beli-
gionof the Brahmans, London, 1859. Monier Williams,
Indian Wisdom, or Examples of the Rdigims, Philosophical,
and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus, London, 1875.
On the History of India.—Ch. Lassen, Indisehe Alter-
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
hi
Ihumskunde, 4 vols., Bonn, 1847-61, 2ded. of vol. i. 1866,
and of vol. ii. 1874. J. Talboys Wheeler, The History
of India, vols. L-iii., London, 1867, &c. J. Muir.
Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the
People of India, their Religion and Institutions, vol. i.,
“ Origin of Caste/’ 2d ed., London, 1868; vol. ii., “ Origin
of the Hindus,” 2d ed., 1871: vol. iii., “The Vedas,
Opinions on their Origin,” &c., 2d ed., 1868; vol. iv.
“ Comparison of Vedic with later Representations of the
principal Indian Deities,” 2d ed., 1873; vol. v. “Cosmo-
gony, Mythology, Religious Ideas, &c., in the Vedic Age,”
1870. Popular.—Mrs. Manning, Ancient anil Mediceval
India, 2 vols., London, 1869.
On Religion.—H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays,
3 vols., London, 1837, 2d ed., with Life of the Author by
his son, T. E. C., 3 vols., ibid., 1873. H. II. Wilson,
Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, 2 vols., edited by R.
Rost, London, 1862. P. Wurm, Gesch. der Indisch. Reli-
gion, in Umriss, Basel, 1874. S. Johnson, Oriental Reli-
gions and their Relation to Universal Religion, i. “ India,”
London and Boston, 1873. J. Robson, Hinduism and Us
Relations to Christianity, Edinburgh, 1874. Cf. also the
journals,—Journal of the Royal Asialic Society of London
and of that of Calcutta, Zeitschr. der Deutsch. Morgenland.
Gesellsch., Benfey’s Orient und Occident, the Rivista Orientate
of A. de Gubernatis, &c., and Max Duncker’s Geschichte
des Allerthums, vol. ii.
A. The Vedic Religion.
Literature.—Editions of the oldest Veda: F. Rosen,
Rigveda-Sanhita, lib. prim. Sanscr. et Lat., London, 1838.
hi. Muller, Rigveda Sahhitd, with the commentary of
Sayana, London, 1849, and foil., smaller edition in Pada
and Sanbita text, 2 vols., London, 1873. Til. Aufreciit,
112
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
Die Hymnen des Rigveda, in Roman character, 2 vols.,
Berlin, r86i, 2d ed., 1877. A. DE Gubernatis, Iprimi
Venti Inni del Rigveda, ripulbl, trad, e annot., Firenze,
1865.
Translations.—M. Muller, Rigveda Sanhita, translated
and explained, vol i., “ Hymns to the Maruts,” London,
1869 (no further volumes have appeared, but a complete
translation is promised). K. Geldner, A. KaGI, and R.
Roth, Siebenzig Lieder des RV. iibersetzt, Tubingen, 1875.
A. Ludwig, Der Rigveda, zum ersten male vollstandig ins
Deutsche iibersetzt mit Comment, und Einleitung, vol. i.,
Prague, 1876. H. Grassmann (author of the JVinter -
buch zum Rigveda,) Rigveda iibersetzt mit hit. und erlaut.
Anmerkk., vol. i., parts i.-iv., Leipzig, 1876-77. The
translation of Langlois cannot be trusted. That of
WILSON only reproduces the commentary of Sayana. H. T.
Colebrooke, “ On the Vedas or Sacred Writings of the
Hindus,” in Asiatic Researches, voL viii., Calcutta, 1805,
pp. 369-476, and in Miscellaneous Essays (see above).
R. Roth, Zur Litteratur und Gesch. des JVeda, Stuttgart,
1846. E. Burnouf, Essai sur le Veda, Paris, 1863.
N. L. Westergaard, Ueber den altesten ZeUraum der Ind.
Gesch., mit Riicksicht auf der Litteratur, Breslau, 1862. F.
Neve, Essai sur le Mythe des Ribhavas, Paris, 1857. A.
de Gubernatis, La Vita ed i Mirac. del Dio Indra nel RV.,
Firenza, 1866. A. Ludwig, Die Philosoph. und Religios.
Anschauungen des Veda in Hirer Entwkldung, Prague,
1875-
69. After the separation of the Eranian and Indian
peoples, the Hindus established themselves in the land of
the seven rivers, at the mouths of the Indus, whence
their western neighbours called them Hapta Hindu, Sapta
Sindhdvas (now the Panjab, Panchanada, the five rivers).
THE VEDIC RELIGION.
JI3
There the old Aryan religion gave way before the in-
dependent development of the Vedic religion, so called
because it is only known to us through the Veda par
excellence, the Rigveda. It corresponds- with the toler-
ably advanced civilisation which the Hindus had already
attained. If in its doctrine of spirits and worship of
ancestors, as well as in the childlike nature of some
of its ideas, it still exhibits the survivals of an earlier
animistic conception, it has on the whole outgrown its
influence. The Devas, originally nothing more than the
phenomena and powers of the shining heaven, conceived
as persons, children of Dyaus, the heaven-god, and Prithivi,
the earth-goddess, are no longer simple powers of nature,
but to some extent, at least, beings endowed with moral
qualities, raised above nature, creators and governors of
the world. An idea of deity, which evinces great pro-
gress in thought, is applied to the chief gods, so that each
in turn is honoured by his worshippers as the highest.
70. Among all these gods, however, India and Agni
were the principal objects of praise. Indr a, vritrahan,
the slayer of the foe, is the god who in the thunderstorm
defeats the cloud-serpent Ahi, and thus makes the fer-
tilising rain pour down upon the earth. In this conflict
he is surrounded by the Maruts or storm-gods, led by
Eudra; or Vayu, the wind-god, stands by his side. He
is also frequently united with Vishnu, the god of the
solar disc. At a later period his two comrades, Eudra
and Vishnu, were destined entirely to overshadow him.
Agni, as god of fire (ignis, Slav, ogni), is the soul and
origin of the universe, the mediator between men and
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
1X4
-
gods, lord of spells and of prayer. If Indra was rather
the god of princes and soldiers, Agni was the special god
of the priests. The worship paid to Soma, the god of the
drink of immortality, to whom even a whole book of the
Rigveda is consecrated, was little inferior.
There are passages in the Yeda which justify the con-
jecture that Indra and the Maruts were at first rivals,
and were not united until later. See RV. i. 165.
Brahmanaspati is the lord of spells, and Briliaspati the
lord of prayer. Both are surnames or forms of Agni.
Another very ancient fire-god is the heavenly carpenter
Tvashtri.
Almost all the 114 hymns of the ninth Mandala of the
RV. are addressed to Soma.
71. That the sun-god should occupy a prominent
place among the Devas or light-gods, was natural. He
may still be traced in a number of gods and demigods.
But the proper sun-god of the Vedic period appears in
three forms, Surya, “ the shining one,” Pushan, “ he who
makes all things grow,” and Savitri, “ the vivifying.” He
was also named briefly Aditya, as son of Aditi, originally,
we may suppose, the goddess of the twilight. Aditi,
raised to the rank of universal mother, is also regarded,
however, as the mother of various other gods, and even
of the highest. The chief of these Adityas is the old
Aryan Varna a, who maintains during this period likewise
his significance as the Asura par excellence, and whose
dreadful anger the sinner endeavours to appease by
fervid prayers and by sacrifices. Mitra also is still wor-
shipped, but he seldom occurs alone, and he is generally
THE VEDIC RELIGION.
"5
united with Yaruna. Besides these two, and Savitri,
whom we have already named, the old Aryan deities
Aryaman and Bagha, and the Yedic gods DaJcsha, “ the
power,” and Arhsa, “ the sharer,” were also reckoned
among the Adityas, to whom Surya was sometimes added
as the eighth. At a later period their number rose to
twelve. Some gods, like the Asvins, the heavenly
physicians, are so completely raised to the rank of
rational beings, with human passions and emotions, that
it is hard to say what were the natural phenomena with
which they were once connected. The goddesses are
still kept in the background, which is a proof of youthful
and vigorous religious life. The dawn-goddess Usilas,
to whom hymns of extreme beauty are dedicated, the
river-goddess Sarasvati, who was afterwards fused with
Vetch, the goddess of language, and Sraddhd, the personi-
fication of faith, deserve to be specially named. The
more abstract divine figures, and the beginnings of a
monotheistic or pantheistic creed, which are found in
some of the hymns of the Rigveda, probably belong to
a later period.
Sarasvati, “ the rich in water,” by whom there some-
times stands a male Sarasvat, is probably an old Aryan
water-goddess, a conjecture supported by the Baktrian
IlaraqaMi and the Persian Harauvati (Arachotos, Aracliosia),
and not the deified river-nymph, whether of the Indus,
to which her name was perhaps first applied, or of the
small river which also subsequently bore it. In the Rig-
veda she is also the goddess of the piety which utters
itself in prayers and hymns.
72. It cannot be doubted that the ancient Aryan
Il5
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
people at this early date also had their own priests, who
were very likely called, as was afterwards the case in Bak-
tria, atharvans, or priests of fire. In the Rigveda they hear
other names, especially that of brahman, which appears
to have originally meant nothing more than a “ singer of
sacred songs,” but soon came to designate a religious
functionary. Sometimes, though rarely, the word is used
to designate a regular priestly order. The office even
seems to have become hereditary; at any rate, the older
hymns contain occasional references to a brdhmana or
Brahman’s son, and in the later hymns these are more
numerous. The Brahmans were regarded, though not
universally, with high honour, and the poets especially
might count on rich rewards. Their claims and preten-
sions rose higher and higher, but they did not yet form
an exclusive caste, for kings and kings’ sons are also
designated as sacred singers, and performed priestly
functions, though, like many of the nobles also, they
generally had their house-priests (purohita).
Brahman, from the neuter brahma, a prayer or hymn,
seems to have been in early times a synonym for Icavi,
rishi, and other similar words. On the derivation and
original meaning of the word see M. Haug, Ueber die
Urspriingl. Bedeutung des JFortes Brahma, Munch., 1868,
and Brahma und die Brahmanen, ibid., 1871, the con-
clusions of which, however, cannot all be accepted with-
out further inquiry.
73. Morality and religion were already closely con-
nected. The gods ruled over the moral as well as over
the natural order. Some of the hymns, especially those
THE VED1C RELIGION.
ii 7
addressed to Varuna, are marked by a deep sense of guilt,
and the mighty Indra must be approached in faith (srat).
The doctrine of immortality also indicates the ethical
character of the Vedie religion. The ideas of the Yedic
Hindus about ancestors and their worship were exactly
ythe same as those of savages, and their representations
of future bliss were still very sensuous, but they looked
for requital of their actions after death. The oldest songs,
however, say but little of immortality. Of the doctrine
of the transmigration of the soul, the entire Rigveda ex-
hibits not a single trace.
B.—Pre-Buddhistic Brdlmamsm.
literature.—Editions of the later Vedas. Th. Benfey,
Die Hymnen des Sdma-Veda (with translation), Leipzig,
1848. A. Weber, The JFMte Yajur-Veda, Berlin, 1849,
«fcc. R. Both and W. D. Whitney, Atharva-Veda San-
hitd, 2 vols., Berlin, 1855. The Aitareya Brdhmana (of the
Rigveda), edited by M. Haug, 2 vols. (with translation),
Bombay, 1863. Translations from the Satapatha Brdh-
mana in Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, passim, and Weber’s
Indische Streifen, vol. i. Grhyasdtrdni, Indische Hausregeln,
Sanskr. und Deutscli, von A. F. Stenzler, I. Asvalayana, 2
vols., Leipzig, 1865. Manava-dharmasastra; Lois de Manm,
trad, par A. LoiSELEUR Deslongchamps, Paris, 1833.
Of. Ydjnavalhjadharmasdstram, Ydjn.’s Gesetzbucli, Sanskr.
und Deutsch von A. F. Stenzler, Berlin and London, 1849.
C. Schoebel, Btude sur le Rituel du Respect Social dans
I’Btat Bralman, Paris, 1870. H. Kern, Indische Theorieen
over de Standenverdeding, Amsterdam, 1871.
74. With the diffusion of the Hindu-Aryans over the
region south-east of the Seven Eivers, and their settle-
n8
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
ment on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna, their
religion enters upon a new era. The Yedic religion gives
birth to Brahmanism or the hierarchy of the Brahmans.
The fresh originality of the Vedie age, though not at
first entirely extinct, for the most part disappears. A
number of hymns, occurring chiefly in the later books of
the Rigveda, were certainly not composed till the first
portion of this period, and tolerably far down in it too;
but they no longer breathe the same spirit as the earlier,
and the chief concern was the collection, arrangement,
and interpretation of the hymns handed down by tradi-
tion, of which the true meaning was but rarely grasped.
It is not possible to determine with certainty in what
century Brahmanism arose. If, however, as is most
probable, Buddhism was founded in the fourth and
third centuries before our era, the growth of Brahmanism
cannot have begun much later than the eighth century
B.C., and perhaps we ought, with some scholars, to carry
it considerably further back. The history of Brdhmanism
falls properly into three periods—the pre-Buddhistic; that
of its conflict with Buddhism; and that which follows its
victory over Buddhism; but the last two are too closely
connected to admit of sharp distinction from each other.
We have, therefore, to trace, first of all, the origin, esta-
blishment, and internal development of Brdhmanism, as a
national and purely Aryan sect, in contrast with the non-
Aryan religion and morals of the older occupants of the
country; and next, its contest with Buddhism and other
heresies, over which it triumphed, though not till after
it had enlarged its own boundaries, adopted much that
was not Aryan, and entirely transformed itself into a
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 119
religious communion, the character of which was no longer
exclusively national.
On the date of the foundation of Buddhism, see below,
§8S.
75- The Brahmanic religion is entirely under the con-
trol of what Europeans call the caste system. Between
ranks and castes there is an essential difference. Caste is
rank with sharp impassable boundaries, which admit no
one who is not bom within them. The four Indian castes
appear as ranks, with different though corresponding
names, in Baktria also, as well as in Europe in tho
middle ages, and wherever society stands at the same
stage of development. Castes, at any rate with the same
rigid separation, are found nowhere but in India. There
they were originally four in number, three being Aryan,
viz., that of the Brahmans, i.e., the learned; that of the
Raj any as or Kshattriyas, i.e., the princes and warriors;
and that of the Yaisyas, i.e., the commonalty, the people
(vis), and one being non-Aryan, viz., the Sudras, i.e., the
natives, who served the Aryans, and especially the
Br&hmans, as slaves. The general name which they bore
enables us to conjecture how they arose. They were
called Varna, which denotes both “ kind ” and “ colour.”
This term at first simply indicated the difference between
the whiter Aryans and the dark-coloured natives whom
they subjugated, and with whom, as though belonging to a
different kind, they would hold no intercourse. When
settled ways and agriculture had replaced their wandering
shepherd-life, the warriors began to keep themselves
strictly apart from the working-class, and the learned in
120
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
the same way separated themselves from both warriors
and workers; and although they were all counted mem-
bers of the religious community, the idea of varna colour,
or kind, was also transferred to them. Thus arose the
doctrine, already expressed in a later hymn of the Rig-
veda, that not only the two races, but also the four ranks,
were of different origin, and had been separately created.
Differences of opinion exist about the anti quit}' of the
castes. See the essays already referred to: Kern, Ind. Theo-
rieen over de Standenverdceling, and Hang, Brahma und die
Brahmanen, and, on the other side, Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, ii.
p. 454, sqq. I adopt the view of those who regard the four
ranks as ancient, at any rate as a natural division of society
at a definite stage of its development, while they consider
the castes proper as purely Indian.
The members of the three highest castes are all of them
dvij&’s or twice-born, but not so the Sudras.
The hymn of the Rik, in which the four castes proceed
out of four parts of Purusha’s body, is the well-known
Purusha-sAkla, x. 90.
76. The same causes, combined with the circumstance
that writing was unknown, or at any rate was not gene-
rally employed for literary purposes, contributed to give
increasing influence to the Brahmans. Subject at first to
the princes and nobles, and dependent on them, they
began by insinuating themselves into their favour, and
representing it as a religious duty to show protection and
liberality towards them. Meanwhile they endeavoured
to make themselves indispensable to them, gradually
acquired the sole right to conduct public worship, made
themselves masters of instruction and of the most influ-
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BR HMANISM.
121
ential civil offices, and set themselves up as the exclusive
guardians and interpreters of revelation (sruti) and tra-
dition (smriti), in virtue of possessing a higher knowledge,
which the mass of the people did not comprehend. They
had frequently, however, to encounter grave resistance
from the princes. Sometimes they were compelled to
acknowledge the spiritual superiority of a rdjanya; on
some occasions they were unable even to withhold from
him the dignity of Brahman; generally, however, they
contrived, either by assumption and arrogance, or by
cunning, to attain their end.
On the introduction of the art of writing, see M.
Muller, Sanskrit Literature, p. 500, sqq., Westergaard,
Aeltesl. Zeitraum, &c., p. 30, sqq. Nearchus (325 B.C.) and
Megasthenes (300 B.C.) both state that the Indians did
not write their laws, but the latter speaks of inscriptions
upon mile-stones, and the former mentions letters written
on cotton. From this it is evident that writing, probably
of Phoenician origin, was known in India before the third
century B.C., but was applied only rarely, if at all, to
literature. The oldest known inscriptions, those of
Asoka, may be placed about 250 B.C.
Among the princes whose intellectual superiority is
recognised by the Brahmans, Janaka, the Prince of Videha,
occupies the foremost place. As early as the Satapatka
Brdhmana (xi. 6, 2, 1), it is related how he reduced a
party of four Br&hmans, among whom was the famous
YSjnavalkya, ad terminos non loqui. Another king,
Ajatasatru of Kasi, did something similar, and men
shouted after him, as he himself complained, “ Janaka!
Janaka! ” See these and other examples in Muir’s
Sanskrit Texts, i. p. 427, sqq., and Westergaard, op. cit.,
pp. 13-16.
122
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
77. The character of the religion of this period is
revealed by what we may call its religions literature.
By far the greater number' of the works belonging to it
were composed with a view to the sacrificial service.
Together they constitute the Veda, the sacred knowledge,
or the four Vedas. Of these, it was necessary that the
Hymn-Veda (Rig-Veda) should be known by the reciting
priest (hotri), the Chant-Veda (Sdma-Veda) by the sing-
ing priest (udgatri), and the sacrificial-formula-Veda
(Yajur- Veda) by the officiating priest (adhvaryu). The
Atharva-Veda was not recognised until later, and was
assigned to the presiding and supervising priest, who was,
however, required to know much more than this. The
Yajur-Veda was divided, after two rival schools, into the
“ White ” and the “ Black.”
Each of these Vedas had its Sahhitd or collection of
hymns, of which only two, those of the Rik and of the
Atharvan, deserve this name. That of the Sama-Veda
contains, with two exceptions, only Rik verses, arranged
in the order in which they were sung at the sacrifice.
Those of the two Yajur-Vedas (Taittiriya- and Vajasaneyi-
Sahhita) are simply a portion of, and selection from,
the Brahmanas of the Adhvaryu priests, drawn up for
the purpose of giving them a Sanhita of their own, though
they had no need of one. The two first collections con-
tain some very ancient and remarkable remains from a
previous period, but poems of the Brahmanic age were not
excluded from the Rig-Veda, and in the Atharva-Veda
are very numerous.
Further, to each Veda belong different Brahmanas,
treatises of ritual and theology, afterwards supplanted
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BR.. HMANISM.
123
by the Aranyakas (“ forest treatises ”), and the connected
Upanishads (“ confidential communications ”), theological-
philosophical treatises, prepared more especially for the
use of the hermits. The Brahmanas contain here and
there occasional elevated thoughts, and not a few
antique traditions of the highest importance, but they are
in other respects marked by narrow formalism, childish
mysticism, and superstitious talk about all kinds of trifles,
such as may be expected where a pedantic and power-
loving priesthood is invested with unlimited spiritual
authority.
Finally, each Yeda had its sutras (“threads”), short
compact guides for public and domestic sacrifices, and the
knowledge of the laws.
All these books were handed down orally, and each
school ([charana) had its own text (salchd), both of
Sahhitus and of Brahmanas. Even when the art of
writing was already known, it was regarded as a grave
sin to write them down.
•
The preceding section deals only with the religious
writings of this period. That it was not deficient (also)
in other literary productions, such as epic narratives,
poems, &c., is certain; hut these have perished, or have
been in part interwoven and remodelled in later works of
this kind. The Big-Veda also contains hymns of a non-
religious character.
The schism in the school of the Yajur-Yeda, among
the Adhvaryus, is attributed, not without reason, to
YSjnavalkya, to whom, therefore, the white Yajush owes
its origin. He or his school extracted the poetical quota-
tions which occurred in the Brfthmana, and collected them
into a Sahhita, whence some scholars (e.g., Max Muller)
124
-
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
explain the name “ White Yajush ” (sukla). This would
then mean “ the cleared,” “ the purified,” Thereupon,
the representatives of the old school, in order that they
also might have a Sanhita, simply affixed this by no
means appropriate title to the first portion of their
Brahmana.
Of the existing Upanishads only a few belong to this
period; the rest are of later date.
Following these three kinds of works (Yedas, Brali-
manas, and Sfitras), Max Muller has incorrectly divided
this age into three sharply defined periods, and on this
division has founded his history of ancient Sanskrit
literature. Westergaard falls into another extreme, in
actually placing the Sfitras before the Brahmanas. It is
certain that the composition of Sutras and Upanishads
continued when the Yedic Sanhitas were already closed,
and no new Brahmanas were composed. Brahmanas only
satisfied the requirements of the time when a trifling
theology was in the ascendant.
The dread of the reduction of the sacred Scripture to
writing may have had its ground in the fear of seeing it
fall into unqualified hands, and at the same time in deep
reverence for the divine word, which would be thereby
polluted.
78. In the doctrine of the gods Br&hinanism made
but little change. This was the natural result of the
recognition of the Yedas as a book of revelation, and of the
prominence of sacrifice, in which the Yedic gods always
occupied the highest place. The Brfihmans simply at-
tempted to arrange the Yedic gods, whether by the three
worlds, earth, air, and sky, or by the nature of the deities,
so that, for instance, Indra was the king, Agni the priest,
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
125
or by some other standard. The Asuras, however, who
had been in earlier times the chief of the gods, and in the
beginning of this period were still placed along with the
Devas, were lowered, perhaps in consequence of their
resemblance to the gods of the old hostile occupants of
the country, to the rank of evil spirits. The reverence S
for the Devas also perceptibly diminished as the Brahmans
placed themselves on their level, and the hermits espe-
cially, who did penance, regarded themselves as superior
to them in power and dignity. The only exception was
in favour of Iludra, the violent storm-god, whose worship
increased considerably in this period, and served as one of
the foundations of the later Siva-worship; he had not
yet, however, become the chief god. Men felt, however,
the need of such a supreme god as the maker and ruler
of the universe, and this need could only be imperfectly
satisfied by the creations of the Yedic liishis. Another
plan, therefore, was adopted. At first, and this appears
even in the later Vedic hymns, some of the surnames of
the ancient gods, in particular of the fire-god Agni, were
endowed with a separate existence, or such a god under
one of these surnames (Visvakarman, “the maker of all
things,” Brahmanaspali, “ the lord of spells, or of prayer,”
Prajapati, “ the lord of creatures ”) was regarded as the
creator and lord of the world. From these speculation
ascended to the Brahma, the magic power hidden in the
sacred word and in prayer (and as such the special in-
heritance of the priests), and regarded this as the imper-
sonal, self-existent (svayambhu), supreme cause of the
universe. This brahma, though always neuter in the
Biahmanas, soon became, in a certain sense, personified;
126
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
and finally, as the male Brahma, was exalted to he the
all-ruling personal deity, without ever becoming a true
national god.
To the three worlds, earth, air, and slcy, correspond
the three chief gods Agni, Indra united with Vayu or
Vishnu, and Surya. Besides the name Visvakarman,
&c., the name Iliranyagarbha, “ the golden world-egg,”
was also used to designate the sun fire-god as creator.
Kasyapa, also, in the later tradition a famous sage, must
be regarded as a universal creator and sun-god of the
same kind.
79. In spite of the supreme power of the Brahmans,
the right of the head of the family to offer the family
sacrifices remained unimpaired. But at the public sacri-
fices, with the arrangements and symbolism of which we
are still but imperfectly acquainted, the usages and cere-
monies became more and more elaborate and involved,
requiring a constant increase in the number of minis-
trants, all of whom were of necessity Brahmans. The
sacrificial ceremonial at the consecration of a king (raja-
suya), the very common horse-sacrifice (asvamcdha), the
proper human sacrifice (jourushameclhd), and the general
sacrifice (sarvamedha), were the most important. At
these four sacrifices, human victims were really offered
in ancient times, but as manners grew more gentle,
this practice began to decline, and at an early date,
though not with universal approval, fell into disuse. The
idea was even expressed that all sacrifices of blood were
unnecessary, though they still prevailed for a long while
after this period.
At length men grew weary of pondering on the mean-
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
127
ing of sacrificial actions and quarrelling over points of
theology; and while some, with more practical aims,
and contented, therefore, with short Sutras, neglected the
study of the Brahmanas, others sought in the Aranyakas
and the oldest Upanishads satisfaction for their craving
for mystic contemplation and philosophical reflection,
and occupied themselves by preference with the ques-
tions of the origin of the universe, the nature of the
deity and of the soul, the relation of spirit and matter,
and other problems of the same kind. These were the
beginnings from which Hindu philosophy was afterwards
developed.
The commutation of the old human sacrifice by a sub-
stitute is certainly alluded to in the legend of Sunahsepa,
quoted from the Aitareya Brdhmana by M. Muller, Sanskr.
Literature, Append., p. 573, sqq., cf. pp. 408-416. It has
some correspondence with that of Abraham and Isaac.
The superfluous nature of all sacrifices of blood is taught
in the Aitar. Brdhrti., vi. 8, see M. Muller, op. cit., p. 420,
and in the Satap. Brdhm. 1, 2, 3,6, cf. Weber, Ind. Streifen,
i. p. 55, in an important essay which deserves to be con-
sulted on the subject.
80. The moral and social ideal of the Brahmans is
known to us from the so-called lawbook of Mann, the
main features of which are pre-Buddhistic. Their moral
teaching stands relatively very high, though it has not
risen above eudaemonism. With much that is genuinely
humane, it contains much that is arbitrary and unnatural,
and resembles all the laws of antiquity in placing moral
purity on a line with the prescriptions of sacerdotalism
and magic.
128
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
V Purified by various ceremonies from the stains of birth,
the Arya, invested with the consecrated cord and girdle,
enters as a disciple of the Brahmans on the first stage of
his training, and after completing his course, he cele-
brates, by the offering of his first sacrifice, the feast of
his new birth. He then becomes a householder (griha-
paii), and after having discharged his duties in this capa-
city, he hands over to his son, who has in the meantime
himself attained the same position, the care of all belong-
ing to him, and retires into the forest to pass his days
undisturbed in religious works and silent meditations.
The highest ideal that a man can reach on earth is to
become a yati (self-conqueror) or sannyasi (self-renouncer).
The latter offers no more sacrifices, he is raised above the
things of the world and of sense, and devotes himself
exclusively to the contemplative life. Such is the way
to final deliverance (moksha) from the bonds of sensual
existence.
The majority of men, however, do not as yet attain
this goal. The wicked and the impious are condemned
to hell, and there suffer dreadful torments. Those who
have faithfully discharged their religious duties are re-
warded with heaven, and become Devas. Every one, how-
ever, who has not yet obtained deliverance must be bom
again on earth, in the shape of a plant, an animal, or a
man of lower or higher rank, in proportion to the number
of his sins. This process continues until he has reached
the highest stage of self-abandonment and contemplation
(tapas), when, freed from everything material, he sinks
away into the soul of the universe and is united with it.
This dogma, improperly called that of the transmigration
PRE-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. T29
of tlie soul, is unknown to the oldest Yedic hooks, but it
was current before Buddhism, as it is the foundation of
the Buddhist doctrine of deliverance.
On the age of the Manavadharmas&stra there is great
difference of opinion. Max Muller, Sanskrit Literature,
p. 62, sqq., combats the view of Sir W. Jones, who
thought that the law-book could not have been drawn up
laterthan 800 B.c. A. Barth, Rev. Critique, 1875, No. 48,
considers even 500 B.C., as proposed by Monier Williams
and others, too early. That those passages which refer
to a much later time are interpolations, is conceded by
all The main contents of the work may be safely brought
down towards the close of the pre-Buddhist period.
For our purpose it is to a certain extent unimportant
whether it was ever actually applied in its entirety as a
law. It is sufficient that it exhibits to us the ideal of the
Br&hmans.
81. The social ideal of the Br&hmans is the unlimited
power of the hierarchy and the strict separation of castes.
At the end of this period, .owing to mixed marriages and
other causes, the old castes were increased by a number
of half-pure and impure castes. Various useful callings
were thus branded as sinful, and men were prevented
from withdrawing even from shameful occupations to
which birth condemned them. The highest claims were
made by the law-book on the Brahmans, but they also
received from it the most extravagant privileges, and it
provided that the unlimited authority of the kings should
be placed at their service. Woman was kept in complete
dependence, the Sudra was despised, and those who stood
outside the community (Chdnddlas, Svapdkas) were doomed
I
130 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
to a life of the greatest misery, and were esteemed no
higher than sacrificial animals. Such a position could
not be long endured, and this serves to explain not only
the rise of Buddhism, hut also its rapid diffusion, and the
radical revolution which it brought about.
C. The Conflict of Brdhmanism with Buddhism.
Literature.—Among editions of Pali texts, the following
are the most important: the Mahawansa, edited by Hon.
G. Turnour, Colombo, 1S37. Dhamma-pada, ed. by V.
Fausboll, Copenhagen, 1855. The Upasampadd-Kamma-
vdcha and Pdtimokkha, by J. F. Dickson in the Journ. Boy.
As. Soc., 1873 alld 1875. Klmddaka-Pdtha, ibid., 1869,
by R. C. Childers. The Jdtaka Commentary, by Faus-
boll, vol. i., pt. i., London, 1875. Suttas Palis, ed.
by Grimblot, with translations by Burnouf and
Gogerly, Paris, 1876. Mahd Parinibbdna Suita, by
Childers, Journ. Boy. As. Soc., 1874 and 1876.
E. Burnouf, Introduction a VHistoire du Buddhisme Indien
(1844), 2d ed., Paris, 1876. Id., Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi
{trad, du Saddharma Pundartka), Paris, 1852. C. F.
IvoPPEN, Die Beligion des Buddha und dire Entstehung, Berlin,
1857. Id., Die Lamaische Hierarchicwnd Kirche, ibid., 1859.
Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, Le Bouddha el sa Beligion,
2d ed., Paris, 1862. W. Wassiuew, Der Buddhismus,
Seine Dogrnen, Gesch. und Liter aim, i860 (translated into
French by La Comme, Paris, 1865). A. Schiefner,
Tdrandtha’s Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien, aus dem
Tibet., St. Petersburg, 1869. R. Spence Hardy, A
Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development, translated
from Singhalese MSS., London, i860. Id., Eastern Mona-
chism, compiled from Singhalese MSS., London, i860.
Id., The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists compared
with History and Science, London, 1866. Histoire du
BUDDHISM.
iji
Bouddha Sakya Mouni, trad, du Tibelain par Ph. Ed.
Eoucaux, Paris, 1868. Lolita Vistara, Erzdlung von dem
Leben und der Lere des Cdlcya Simha, uberselzt von S. Lef-
mann, part i., Berlin, 1874. Foe koue Id, ou Fetation des
Royaumes Bouddhigues par Chy Fa Ilian, trad, par A.
Remusat, Paris, 1836. Stanisl. Julien, Voyages des
Pelerins Bouddhisles, vol. i.; “ Yie de Hiouen Thsang,”
vols. ii. and iii.; “ Mrinoires sur les Contr^es Occi-
dentals, par Hiouen Thsang," Paris, 1853-58. L.
Feek, Ftudes Bouddhigues, ire S^rie, Paris, 1870. Id.,
Etudes Bouddh. L’Ami de la Vertu et VAmitie de la Vertu,
Paris, 1873. H. Keen, Over de jaartelling der zuidelijke
Buddhisten en de Gedenkstukken van Agoka den Buddhist,
Amsterdam, 1873. E. Sen art, Essai sur la Legende du
Buddha, son Caractere et ses Origines, Paris, 1875. Popu-
lar, C. D. B. Mills, The Indian Saint, or Buddha and
Buddhism, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1876. T. W.
Rhys Davids, Buddhism, a Sketch of the Life and Teachings
of Gautama Buddha, London, 1877.
On the question of Nirvana see J. F. Obry, Du Nirvana
Bouddhigue, Paris, 1863 ; R. C. Childers, Dictionary of
the Pali Language, s. voc. Nibbdnam, and the authorities
cited by these writers; and T. W. Rhys Davids, Contem-
porary Review, January 1877, on “The Buddhist Doctrine
of Nirvana,” &c.
On the Jainas : J. Stevenson, The Kalpa Sidra and
Nana Tatva, translated from the Mdgadhi, London, 1848.
A. Weber, “Ein Fragment des Bhagavatl,” Akad. der
Wissenscli., Berlin, 26th October 1865, and 12th July and
25th October 1866. S. J. Warren, Over de Godsdienstigc
en Wijsgeerige Begrippen der Jaina’s, Zwolle, 1875.
82. Buddhism, which was to prove so dangerous an
enemy to Brahmanism, seems not to he much older than
132
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
the fourth century before our era. Its founder, who was
called Siddharta, according to tradition, though commonly
named the Buddha or “ enlightened,” the “ sage ” or the
“ lion ” “ of the tribe of Sakya ” (S&kya-muni, Sakya
Simha), and also designated by many other titles of
honour, lived and worked probably in the second half of
the fifth century B.C., but the legends which have sur-
rounded his career have completely hidden it from our
view. The chief features of this legendary history are
as follows:—In order to deliver the world from the
misery beneath which it sighs, the sage descends from
heaven, where he occupies the highest rank among the
gods, to earth. Here he was miraculously conceived in
the womb of Maya (“ illusion ”), the wife of the Sakya
king Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, in Ayodhya (Oude), /
and there he was born in an equally extraordinary
manner. Educated as a prince, and excelling in know-
ledge and ability of every kind, he early betrays an
inclination to a contemplative life, which is strenuously
resisted by his father, who supposes that he has over-
come it by inducing his son to marry. He contrives,
however, to flee from the luxurious court, and to reach
Raj agriha, the capital of Magadha. There he becomes a
disciple of the most famous Brahmans, devotes himself to
the severest mortifications, triumphs over the repeated
temptations of the god of love and death, Mara, but
remains inwardly dissatisfied. He then abandons asceti-
cism, and endeavours by means of calm and intent con-
templation to penetrate to the deepest insight (bodhi),
and thus to gain deliverance from the miseries of exist-
ence. At Gaya, a little village in Magadha, under the
BUDDHISM.
-
133
shadow of the sacred fig-tree (bodhi-tree), seated on the
throne of knowledge (bodhi-manda), he actually attains
the dignity of Buddha. Upon this he begins to preach,
first at Benares (Varanasi) and subsequently all through
India; multitudes without number, including not a few
princes and Br&hmans, and the Buddha’s own family, are
converted, and even women are admitted to discipleship.
After triumphing over every obstacle, he is doomed to
witness, by the desolation of his native city, the ruin of
his whole race, and at last, at the age of eighty year’s, he
dies, or rather enters into Nirvana. No fire can burn his
corpse, but it is consumed at last by the glow of his own
piety, and his bones are collected out of the ashes by his
disciples as precious relics, and deposited in eight Stupas.
The dates assigned to Buddha’s death vary widely.
That Of the Southern church has been most generally
accepted, according to which the attainment of Nirvana
falls in 543 B.C. Westergaard, Buddha’s Todesjahr, p. 95,
sqq., places it 368-370, with which result A. Weber,
Indische Streifen, ii. 216, agrees. Kern, Jaartelling der
Zuid. Buddh., p. 1, sqq., assigns Buddha’s entrance into
Nirv&na to 388 B.C., and T. W. Rhys Davids, Academy,
25th April 1874, fixes it about 410.
SOnart, Essai sur la Legende du Buddha, endeavours to
prove that the whole story of the Buddha is a legend,
composed of the ordinary elements of a solar myth, and
that we are no longer in a position to extract from it the
kernel of historic truth. He is, no doubt, right to a cer-
tain extent; further investigation must determine whether
his conclusion is not too decidedly negative. He does
not, however, like Wilson, deny the existence of the
Buddha. The narratives of birth and childhood, inde-
134
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
pendently of their supernatural character, are doubtful
in the highest degree. Maya is a purely mythical being,
and Kapilavastu an altogether unknown city, while its
name suggests that of Kapila, the reputed founder of the
S&nkhya philosophy, which has so many points of agree-
ment with the later Buddhist teaching. The other places
named in the legend are familiar enough, R&jagriha,
at that time a resort of sages and hermits, V&ranasi
(Benares), which continues the holy city to this day, and
G&ya (Buddhag&ya), where the bodhi-tree beneath which
Buddha sat is still pointed out. This is, however, no
guarantee for the historical character of the stories con-
nected with these places.
83. Whether the Buddha was really the son of a king
or not, it may be regarded as certain that he did not belong
to the caste of the Brahmans. There is equally little
reason for doubting that he sought for peace first of all
among the Brahmans, then in solitary penance,—yet in
both instances in vain,—and attained it only by that con-
templation absorbing the soul, which became the charac-
teristic of his followers. His wandering life in the garb
of a mendicant, his preaching that all who followed him
in this might be delivered from sickness, pain, old age,
and death, and should strive after Nirvana as the highest
goal, the great impression which this doctrine made on
men of all classes, if not through the whole of India, yet
according to the oldest tradition, in particular districts, the
opposition which he encountered from many, the loyal
devotion of his disciple Ananda, the few details related
of his death—all this cannot belong to the realm of
fiction. And this suffices to show us in the Buddha a
BUDDHISM.
135
man, who, whatever may have been the value of his
philosophy of life, out of genuine conviction and pity for
his fcllowmen, chose a life of self-denial and renuncia-
tion to realise a great idea and promote the universal
salvation.
Even though we should be obliged to concede that the
whole course of Buddha's life is borrowed from the well-
known myth of the sun-god, and that the majority of the
details of his legend find their explanation in this myth,
it will still be impossible to derive the traits we have
enumerated from this source.
84. Buddhism, though it is a reaction against the
Brahman: c hierarchy, is, in fact, an outgrowth of Brah-
manism. It rests upon the so-called dogma of the trans-
migration of the soul, and the Buddhist, like the
Brahman, seeks for deliverance from the endless succes-
sion of re-births. But it pronounces the Brahmanic
penances and abstinence inadequate to accomplish this,
and aims at attaining, not union with the universal
spirit, but Nirvana, non-existence. Without denying the
existence of the devas, at any rate at first, it places each
Buddha, as the Brahmans ranked every ascetic, above
them, but it goes a step further, and makes even the
supreme Brahmfi, subordinate to a perfect saint. It
differed from Brahmanism, as primitive Christianity
differed from the Jewish hierarchy, by rejecting outward
works or theological knowledge as marks of holiness, and
seeking it in gentleness, in purity of heart and life, in
mercy and self-denying love for a neighbour. Above all,
it is distinguished by its relation to castes. The Buddha
136 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
comes neither to oppose them, nor to level everything.
On the other hand, he adopts the doctrine that men are
horn in lower or higher castes, determined by their sins
or good works in a former existence, but he teaches, at
the same time that, by a life of purity and love, by
becoming a spiritual man, every one may attain at once
the highest salvation. Caste makes no difference to him;
he looks for the man, even in the Chandala; the miseries
of existence beset all alike, and his law is a law of grace
for all. The Buddhist teaching is, therefore, quite popular
in its character, its instrument is preaching rather than
instruction, it is not esoteric like the Brahmanic, or in-
tended only for individuals. And while the piety of the
Brahman aimed at selfishly securing his own redemp-
tion, the Buddhist cannot attain salvation without regard
to the well-being of all his fellow creatures. The ideal
of the first is a hermit striving to save himself, the
ideal of the second a monk, enrolled in a brotherhood,
striving to save others. Buddhism, in fact, rejected the
authority of the Yeda, the whole dogmatic system of
the Br&limans, their worship, penance, and hierarchy, and
simply substituted for them a higher moral teaching. It
was a purely ethical revolution; but it would certainly
have succumbed beneath this one-sided tendency, had it
not in the course of time taken up into itself, under
another shape, much of what it had first opposed.
There are two degrees of Nirvana, one consisting of
^ the complete sanctification by which a man became an
Arhat, or “ venerable person,” and the other being the
annihilation of all existence, for which the Arhat strives,
and which he cannot attain until death. The first of
BUDDHISM.
137
these is called in PAli savupddisesanibbdnam,—i.e., “ the
annihilation of everything except the five Ichandhas
(skandhas) or qualities of being; ” sometimes also kile-
sanibbdnam, the “ extinction of passion.” The second is
described as anupddisesanibbdnam or JchandanibbdnarK,
“extinction of being.” Thus Childers correctly, loco oil.
The sketch which we have presented of the relation of
the Buddha to the caste-system, is, of course, founded on
the picture of him drawn by his followers. It is possible
that this conception belonged to him originally, but it
may also have been an inference from his teaching.
Primitive Buddhism ignored religion. It was only
when in opposition to its first principles, it had made its
founder its god, and had thus really become a religion,
that the way was open for its general acceptance.
85. The real history of Buddhism does not begin till
the middle of the third century before our era. Of
the first century of its existence we know nothing with
certainty. It appears to have developed silently hut
steadily. Monasteries were founded, and sects were
formed. If it had been the original idea of the Master to
turn all men into clergy, that is, into mendicant monks,
practical reasons, of course, soon rendered it necessary to
admit lay brothers and sisters by their side, who were
bound only to fulfil the moral law. The foundations of
the discipline (vinaya) and of the law or belief (dharma)
were laid; even metaphysical problems (abhidharma)
were already to some extent discussed. But in the
middle of the third century B.C., a great change took
place. The expedition of Alexander the Great had
brought the Hindus into contact with the Greeks. His
rival Chandragupta, following his example, founded a
138 RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
mightier empire than India had ever known before, and,
perhaps, favoured Buddhism. Further advance was made
by his grandson Asoka, who even became a convert to the
new faith, and raised it to the position of the state religion.
His numerous inscriptions show us that the Buddhism of
this period was still exceedingly simple, and they prove
that it had not yet assumed an attitude of hostility towards
the Brahmans. The royal protection naturally brought
a multitude of converts, especially Brahmans and hermits,
who were admitted into the monasteries without instruc-
tion in the law and without ordination. The heresy, the
laxity of discipline, and the neglect of ordinances, which
resulted from these circumstances, rendeed a tribunal for
the trial of heretics indispensable, and a council desirable.
A council was therefore held under the presidency of
Maudgaliputra (Moggaliputto), which, after fixing the
canon, resolved on a vigorous effort to spread the true
doctrine. Missionaries were now despatched to all parts
of the peninsula, and even to Kashmir and Gandhara,
west of the Indus. Mahendra, the king’s own son, went
to Ceylon, and there founded the Southern Buddhist
church, which was destined to remain so much purer
than the Northern, and was at a later date to carry
Buddhism to Burma and Siam. While the dynasty of
Chandragupta was on the throne (till 178 B.c.), Buddhism
enjoyed golden days in India. But under King Push-
pamitra, the founder of a new dynasty, a violent persecu-
tion was commenced, at the instigation of the Brahmans,
against the followers of Sakya-muni, so that it became
necessary to hold the next council—which followed
within two hundred years, and at which the hierarchic
BUDDHISM.
139
and contemplative school of the Great Passage (Malid-
yana) was recognised as orthodox—in Kashmir, under
the protection of the non-Hindu king Kanishka. The
period of conflict now began.
According to the Buddhist reckoning the council which
met under Asoka was the third. The second, said to
have been held a hundred years earlier under a certain
king Kfilasoka, is as little historic as that prince himself.
The convocation of the first council, also, by Aj&ta?atru
near Rajagriha, is open to serious doubts.
Vinaya, Dharma, and Abhidharma, together constitute
the Tripitaka (Tipitakam), “ the three Baskets,” the com-
plete Holy Scriptures. The rise of metaphysical discus-
sion before the time of Asoka is proved by the fact that
in one of his inscriptions he cites an Abhidharma of Chari-
putta.
The dynasty of Chandragupta was called the Maurya,
and that of Pushpamitra, the Sunga.
86. The struggle lasted long, and the Brahmans and
the Buddhists gained by turns the upper hand. Till the
fourth century A.D., the latter seem to have been in the
majority. But in the two following centuries, they
rapidly declined. In many places still occupied, at the
time of the Chinese traveller Pa Hian (400 a.d.) by Bud-
dhist temples, towers, and monasteries, his fellow-country-
man Hiouen Thsang, in the first half of the seventh cen-
tury, found nothing hut ruins, or Brahmanic sanctuaries.
Under the protection of the powerful King Siladitya,
about this period, Buddhism revived once more for a time,
and a great council, even, was held at which the Chinese
pilgrim played a distinguished part. Hot long after-
140
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
wards it encountered a violent opponent in the celebrated
teacher of the Mimansa school, Kumarila-Bliatta, and
later still in the great enemy of all heresies, the orthodox
Sankaracharya, who was born in 788 A.D. It is com-
monly supposed that the Buddhists were the victims in
India of bloody persecutions and were exterminated with
violence, but of this supposed fact no satisfactory proofs
are forthcoming. On the contrary, Buddhism appears
to have pined away slowly. It continued to exist
for some centuries in some of the remoter districts.
In Kashmir it held its ground at all events till 1102,
and in the modem Bengal certainly down to 1036, while
it has continued in Nepal till the present day. The
majority of believers who remained faithful fled to
foreign lands, amongst others to Java, and spread their
faith there. Others passed into the sect of the Jainas
which was not exposed to persecution.
87. The sect of the Jainas derived its name from its
veneration of Jinas or eminent ascetics, who had con-
quered all the desires of sense, and thus raised themselves
above the gods, MaMvira being the most celebrated
among them. It is very closely related to Buddhism,
and in Sanskrit literature is hardly to be distinguished
from it. 'While some scholars regard it as a Buddhist
sect, others believe it to have been founded before
Buddhism; it is at any rate certain that it existed in
the sixth century of our era. Its sacred books, the most
important of which, called the Kalpa-Sutra, was written
in the same century, are composed in a dialect belonging
to the district in which Buddhism took its rise (the
THE JAINAS.
141
Ardhamdgadhi). Its origin lies hidden in obscurity, but
it is not improbable that it proceeded from a compromise
between Buddhism and Brahmanism in the first centuries
after Christ.
The Jainas are divided into two bodies, those dressed
in white robes (Svetambara) and the naked {Diganibara,
literally “persons rohed in air”), the latter of whom,
however, only lay aside their dress at meals. Like the
Buddhists, they look to Nirvana as their goal, they treat
the devas as inferior beings liable to rebirth, they divide
themselves into clergy and laymen, they reduce their law
to a few leading commands, they impose confession on
the believer as the preliminary to obtaining priestly abso-
lution, and every year they keep a solemn fast (pcmju-
shana), They have, however, a great aversion to the
Buddhist worship of relics. In their worship of the
greater number of the Hindu gods, especially of the three
principal deities of this era and of Ganesa, in their main-
tenance of a certain division of castes, and even in their
application of the name Br&hmans to their priests in
Western India, they were not essentially different from
the Buddhists, for much the same usages prevailed among
them also. The doctrines set forth in their holy Scrip-
tures differ in many respects from both the Bralimanic
and the Buddhist systems. The toleration extended to
them by the Brfthmans even though they were regarded
as heretics, led large numbers of Buddhists to take refuge
in their community in the days of the persecution.
Jina, “ the conquering,” is also one of the commonest
surnames of the Buddha. According to the Jainas,
Gautama (Budclha) was a disciple of their great saint,
142
-
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
Mahavira. They are mentioned in 587 A.D. by Yara-
hamihira.
The clergy or monks are- called SddJms or Tatis, the
laymen Sr&vakas, “hearers.” The five (or ten) chief com-
mandments of the Jainas and those of the Buddhists
exhibit very close agreement. Their great fast, or period
of silent meditation, in the rainy season, Paryushana or
Pajjfisan, does not differ much from the Buddhist vassa
(varsha) or rainy season, in which the followers of Buddha
also were accustomed to abstain from travelling, and to
stay in some remote spot absorbed in contemplation.
D. The Changes in Br&hmanism under the Influence of its Conflict
with Buddhism.
Literature.—For a list of editions and translations of
the Ram&yana and Mah&bh&raia up to 1847, see Gilde-
MEISTEr’s Bibliothec. Sanscr. Specimen, pp. 29-53. Since
that date, the edition by Gorresio has been finished,
and a complete translation of both epics by HlPP. Fauche
has appeared. The Itamayana has also been translated
by Griffiths.
Portions of the poems have been translated by Theod.
Pavie, and subsequently by Ph. Ed. Foucaux, Le Mahd-
bh&rata, onze episodes, Paris, 1862. Of the Bhagavad-Gttd,
the most recent translations are those by Em. Burnouf
(Nancy and Paris, 1861), and F. Lorinser, Die Bhag.-Gita,
ubersetzt und erlauiert, Breslau, 1869. The latter work has
been severely criticised by K. T. Telang, Bhagavad-GUd,
translated, with Notes and an Introductory Essay, Bombay,
1875. Cf. A. de Gubernatis, Studie suit’ Epopea
Indiana, Firenze (no date).
For the Puranas, see Gildemeister, op. cit., pp. 54-60.
The most important translations are those of the Bhdg-
avala-Furdna, by Edg. Burxouf, Paris, 1840, and follow-
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
143
ing years, and of the Vishnu-Pur&m, by H. H. "Wilson,
London, 1840, re-edited in the complete collection of
Wilson’s works by Dr. Fitzedward Hall, 4 vols., London,
Triibner & Co., 1865 and foil.
88. The Br&hmans perceived that it was not enough
simply to exterminate their dangerous rival, they must
also endeavour to provide for the wants which Buddhism
had satisfied. To give up their doctrinal system and their
hierarchy, to make their esoteric teaching the common
property of all, to let go the authority of the Yeda—
this was impossible for them, without destroying their
order. But it was possible for them to modify that
system, to supply a new basis for their hierarchy, to com-
bine their own doctrine with the prevailing popular
belief, and by setting the claims of orthodoxy very low,
to gain allies out of various sects. These methods were
applied by them in the days of the ascendency of
Buddhism with such success that its power declined more
and more, and persecution and violence seem to have
been superfluous, if they were practised at all.
89. The first thing needed for this purpose was a
popular conception of deity. Neither the somewhat
abstract gods of the latest Rik-hymns, nor their own
Brahma (masc.), and least of all the impersonal—or at
any rate neuter—Brahma, could fulfil this requisite,
for not one of them had become a god of the people.
Such a deity they found in Vishnu, the worship of whom
seems to have increased considerably in the last four
centuries B.c. In the old-Vedio time Vishnu was a god
of subordinate importance, generally connected with Indra,
144
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
and seldom celebrated by himself. He was a sun-god,
who traversed the whole world in three steps, hut he was
thrown almost entirely into the shade by Surya and
S&vitri. He did not rise much higher in the Brahmana
period/ at least among the Brahmans and Kshattriyas.
Now, however, he is ranked among the twelve Adityas,
and is soon elevated to be the supreme god. In this
capacity the names and forms of Prajapati, Brahm&, and
other creative deities, are transferred to him. By the
infinite world-serpent (sesha or ananta) he is drawn over
the waves of the primeval ocean, or by the sun-bird
Garuda, through the sky, or he appears in human form
with four hands, three of which carry a shell, a dart, and
a club. In his heaven, Vaikuntha, his consort Lakslimi
or Sri, the goddess of love and beauty, of fruitfulness and
marriage, dwells by his side ; to her the cow was dedicated,
and her symbol was the lotus flower.
The slight estimation in which Vishnu was held by the
Br&hmans, even as late as the end of the Brahmanie
period, may be inferred from the fact that in the laws of
Manu he stands no higher than in the Veda, and that
Yaska, 400 B.C., still places him in the second rank. It
has even been conjectured (Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. p. 165,
sqq., and passim; Lassen, Ind. AUerth., i. p. 488, sqq., 2d ed.,
i. p. 586, sqq.), that in the oldest versions of the epics,
which were certainly especially current among the
Kshattriyas and reflected their belief, he had not as yet
attained the eminent place assigned to him in the later
redactions of the poems.
Garuda or Garutmat, who appears already in the Rig-
veda as a divine sun-bird, and is also enumerated in the
oldest Buddhist Sutras among the lesser gods, was for-
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 145
merly connected with Indra. How he was transferred
from the cultus of this deity to that of Vishnu, is related
in the Mahdbh&r. 5, 104, vs. 3674, sqq.
90. Of the Vishnu worship the doctrine of the
avatdras or incarnations (literally, “ descents ”), is charac-
teristic. Just as the Buddha becomes man whenever the
world needs to be redeemed from misery, Vishnu also, if
danger threatens the devas or their worshippers, assumes
one form or another to bring them deliverance. The
number of these avataras was not at first strictly defined,
and kept mounting higher and higher. Among the
oldest of them is the “ dwarf-incamation ” (vaman&vatura)
borrowed from Vishnu’s own sun-myth: then he appears
as the fish who saves Manu at the deluge (matsyavatara),
as the tortoise who, at the churning of the heavenly
ocean (i.e., at the creation), supports the earth (kurmd-
vatdra), and as the boar which restores it to equilibrium
when it has sunk into the under world (varahdvatara),—
three sun-myths which were first applied to Brahma as
creator, and were transferred from him to Vishnu. With
the last of these myths is connected that of the “ man-
lion” (nrsimhdvatdra), under which shape Vishnu freed
the world from the sway of a demon-king. Besides this
the doctrine of the avataras afforded an opportunity of
identifying him with favourite heroes of tradition, who were
probably once deities. Such were E&machandra, who,
like Buddhism, extended his conquests to Ceylon; Para-
surama, the “ axe-Bama,” an ancient deity of fire and
lightning, whom the Brahmans raised to be their hero as
the slayer of all the Kshattriyas; and Krishna the
hidden sun-god of the night, always connected in the
7 K
146
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
Epos with the light Arjuna, the visible sun-god, and
whose myth forms a counterpart of the legend of Buddha,
though they are as far apart as the poles in character.
In later times Vishnu was also connected with several
other divine beings.
The myth of Vishnu as a dwarf is to he found as early
as the Satapatha Brdhmana (see Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. p.
122, sqq.) It is noteworthy that in this version Vishnu
does not assume the form of a dwarf, but actually is a
dwarf. The only use there made of the myth by the
Brahmans is to attach to it their theory of sacrifice. It
is highly instructive to compare their representation with
the much more original story in the Bdmdyana (i. 32, 2,
sqq.), and with the form in the Bhdgav. Purdna (viii. 15, r,
sqq.), which has been in many respects modified, where
Vishnu only needs two steps to traverse earth and
heaven, and the Asura prince Bali, whom he dethrones, is
placed in a very favourable light.
Some of the avat&ras appear to have been borrowed
from the mythology of non-Hindu inhabitants of India.
Lassen, Ind. Alterth., iv. p. 583, conjectured that this was
the case with the dwarf. The man-lion also appears to
me to belong to a system different from the Hindu. The
boar is also a form of the sun-god in the Zend-Avesta.
Bama-chandra, like Krishna, is a god of night; his name
connects him both with the night (rdma, “ night,” “ rest,”
“ dark,”) and with the moon (chandra). His spouse is Sita,
“ the furrow,” the ploughed earth, which, according to a
representation common in antiquity, was fertilised by the
moon and by the dew descending from it, or the night
wind sent by it (in the Zend-Avesta, R&man is the genius
of the air \Vayu, the Sanskr. Vayu], who gives taste to
food). That Parasu-Rdma is a god of the solar fire admits
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
147
of no doubt. He springs from the Br&hman race of the
Bhrigus (lightning), his father’s name is Jamadagni, “ the
burning fire.” Like all gods of solar fire he is the nightly
or hidden one, and accordingly he slays Arjuna, the bright
god of day. Out of this the myth of the Kshattriya-slayer
developed itself spontaneously. In the myth of Krishna,
on the other hand, the two sun-gods are friendly, the old
pair of deities Vishnu and Indra in a new shape.
91. In the cultus of Krishna the worship of Vishnu
reaches its climax. Traces of Krishna-worship indeed
make their appearance at an early date; but not till he
was regarded as an avatara of Vishnu, especially in the
form of Mr&yana, who had previously been identified
with Brahma, did it spread through the whole land. In
the Epos he is represented as a demi-god, who distin-
guished himself by his heroic deeds, his higher know-
ledge, and his miraculous power, while later on he took
the rank of the highest god. The Bruhmanic theosophists
make him a disciple of the Br&hmans, who devotes him-
self to mystic meditations, and thus in the Bhagavad-
Gita he appears as the preacher of an ethical-pantheistic
doctrine, and proclaims himself as the Supreme Being
and the Redeemer. At a later date, viz., in the Gita-
govinda, special prominence was given to the legends of
his miraculous birth, his intercourse with the shepherds,
and his luxurious life with the shepherdesses, the remem-
brance of which was celebrated by special religious
festivals.
When Buddhism had ceased to be dangerous to the
Brahmans, the Buddha himself was included among the
atavaras of Vishnu, and the sect of the Bauddha-
143
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
Vaishnavas arose, which attempted to fuse the two sys-
tems together.
At the end of this age (Kaliyuga) Vishnu is to appear
as Kalkin, to root out all wickedness.
In all his incarnations Vishnu is a god of salvation
and beneficence, and as a human being he is in no way
inferior to the Buddha in gentleness, humanity, and self-
denial, of which the Brahmans had many striking ex-
amples to present. To this Parasurama forms the only
exception, hut it is probable that the Brahmans did not
connect this form with him till they felt themselves
strong enough to re-establish their authority again, if
need be, by force.
If the Indian Herakles, of whom Megasthenes speaks,
is really Krishna, as Lassen affirms (Ind. Alterth, i. p.
647), the worship of Krishna must have become tolerably
general by 300 B.C. But the identification leaves much
to be desired. The name occurs in an inscription dating
probably from the beginning of our era (Bayley, Journ.
As. Soc. Bengal, 1854, cf. "Weber, Zeitschr. der Deuisch.
Morgenl. Gesellsch., ix. p. 631). The figure and the myth
of Krishna are certainly of great antiquity, though it
was not till later times that his cultus spread over the
whole of India.
Nara and Narayana also are ancient gods. Their
names signify “ man ” and “ son of man ” (Bohtlingk and
Both, JForlerb. Bopp explains NS.rfi.yana otherwise, “ he
who goes through the waters ”), and are doubtless con-
nected with Nereus and the Nereids. They correspond
with Arjuna and Krishna, Indra and Vishnu. In the
Brahmanic period, even as late as in the laws of Manu,
Nfirfiyana is a surname of Brahma.
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
I49
The legends of the Gita-govinda are not of more
recent growth than the stories about Krishna in the epics,
though they were not adopted into the Br&hmanic system
until later. They belong, on the contrary, to the oldest
myths of the Aryan race. The representation of the god
as a disciple of the Brahmans, which we meet with in the
Chandogya-Upanishad, is, however, much more modern.
In the teachings of the Bhagavat-Glta, Lorinser be-
lieves he can detect citations from the New Testament,
and the stories of Krishna’s birth and childhood appear
to Weber to exhibit traces of Christian influence. They
are, in my judgment, very doubtful. The works of
Lorinser and Telang have been cited above. Comp. A.
Weber, “Ueber die Krishnajaum&shtami” (Krishna’s Ge-
burtsfest) in Abhandll. der Konigl. Akademie detr Wissensch.
in Berlin, 1867. The views of Lorinser and Weber are
shared by F. Nfeve, Des Blemenls Btr angers du Mythe et du
Culte de Krichna, Paris, 1876. On the whole question
see C. P. Tiele, “ Christus en Krishna,” in the Theolog.
Tijdschr., 1877, No. 1. p. 63, sqq. Senart is of opinion
that the Krishna-myth served as the type for the legend
of Buddha. Even if that is correct, it still remains true
that the Brahmans took up the old popular representa-
tions which had been first adopted by the Buddhists,
modified their form, and then employed them again as
weapons against their opponents.
The significance of the future Buddha, Kalkin, whose
name if translated would mean “ contagion,” “ falsehood,"
is still very enigmatical.
92. At the same time with Vishnu, perhaps even
before him, Kudra also, whose worship had made such
advances in the previous period (see § 78), was raised,
under his euphemistic name of Siva, to the position of
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
150
-
supreme deity (.Mahadeva). His character is not to be
reproduced in a single word. As Eudra his nature is
violent and dreadful; he lives in the wilderness on the
loftiest mountains; in asceticism, and, therefore, in power,
he surpasses all other beings. But at the same time he
is a god of fruitfulness, and thence the creator; and he
is from this time, therefore, generally worshipped under
the symbol of the power of propagation, the lingam.
It is not without reason that it has been supposed that
this symbol is not of Aryan origin, and that the Siva of
this period has arisen out of the fusion of Agni-Eudra
with a native deity. Certainly both the representation of
his person and the character of his cultus are thoroughly
unbr&hmanic, various foreign elements, such as the worship
of serpents and spirits (bhutas) being connected with his
worship. He was particularly popular in the mountain
districts of the north and in the Dekhan, and the Brahmans
saw in Sivaism a welcome ally against Buddhism.
The consort of Siva, who combines in her person the
same conflicting characteristics, who is marked out by
her self-renouncing piety (tapas) as an ancient fire-goddess,
and by her relation to Sarasvati, the goddess of the waters
and of knowledge, as a goddess of mountains and streams,
was invoked alike under the ancient names Ambika and
Uma, the “ mother ” and the “ protectress,” as well as by
the titles Kali, the “ black one,” and Durga, the “ terrible.”
As Kall-Durga she is the goddess of death, horrible in
shape, and worshipped with bloody sacrifices. In the
pantheon and in the cultus she takes a much more pro-
minent place than all the other goddesses, whose quali-
ties and names were transferred to her; and she was
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
151
even connected with Krishna and as Devimahatmya (“ the
majesty of the goddess ”) with Vishnu.
Siva means “ the gracious,” one of the euphemisms by
which it was endeavoured to appease dreaded deities, in
sound somewhat resembling his characteristic name,
Sarva, the “destroyer,” the “wrathful.” The epics relate
how the supreme gods, Vishnu and Krishna on the one side,
and MahSdeva on the other, vied with each other in their
compliments. All these passages in which they recipro-
cally glorify each other are, of course, interpolations. But
the worship of Mah&deva as the supreme god must be the
oldest. Passages, however, are not wanting which show
that his cultus was not introduced till after the first
period of Brahmanism, and then not without resistance.
The Lingam is certainly not a symbol of ancient Brah-
manism, and Sisnadevas (phallus-gods) are opposed in
the Vedas and excluded from pure sacrifices. He was
regarded both as destroyer and creator, inasmuch as he
was both storm-god and fire-god, and his union with Agni
may have served as the point of attachment for the
Br&hmans. I conjecture that Siva or Sarva was not
original, but was derived from his consort Durga, whose
attributes were transferred to Agni-Eudra, when she was
united with him. It is in this sense that we designate
him a native deity, which cannot be absolutely proved,
and is still doubted by many scholars, but is sufficiently
clear from the non-Aryan character of his cultus.
In the case of his spouse we must distinguish with the
same care between the mountain goddess Parvatt or
Haimavati, the ancient mother-goddess Umfi or Ambika,
and Kdli, Karali or Durga, who is certainly not of Aryan
origin. In the last who, properly speaking, has no con-
sort, we may recognise the goddess of death and of the
*52
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
under-world, wlio is found both among the oldest inha-
bitants of Central Asia and among the Malays. As the
spouse of Mahadeva she is, however, the goddess par ex-
cellence (Devi), and all the goddesses, therefore, and not
only Sarasvati (who was connected with P&rvatl) and
Nirjriti (the goddess of evil, resembling Durga in character),
but even Maya, Sri (spouse of Vishnu), Savitri, and others,
might be identified with her.
93. Among the gods adopted during this period into
the Brahmanic system, Ganesa, the god of arts and wis-
dom, occupies the principal place. The greatest difficulty
was to find room in the same system for all the three
chief gods whose worshippers were for the most part
hostile to each other. The endeavours to fill up the
gulf between the rivals may be speedily traced in dif-
ferent mythic narratives of their reconciliation. The first
expedient was simply to place the three side by side, and
ascribe the same rights to each of them. Generally, how-
ever, two of them had to submit to be subordinated to the
third. Or Vishnu and Siva were united into one person,
Hari-Tuirau, who was then united with Brahma and regarded
as the chief god. Last of all arose the doctrine of the
Trimurti, according to which the three gods were repre-
sented as so many forms or revelations of one supreme
deity in his threefold activity as creator, sustainer, and
destroyer. Among the people, however, this doctrine
made little way. Moreover, it appears not only to have
arisen in the South of India, but to have been confined
exclusively to that portion of the Peninsula.
Besides the worship of Ganesa, practised by his parti-
cular sect, the GAnapalyas, we meet in this period with
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 153
that of Skanda K&rtikeya, the god of war, and of Kdma,
the god of love.
The union of Hari (ie., Vishnu) and Hara (Siva) had
its counterpart in the fusion of the male and female deity
also into one under the name Ardhanari. All this indi-
cates a strong tendency to monotheism.
The first appearance of the Trimurti is in the 14th
century A.D., but the idea that the supreme being exer-
cises by turns one of the three functions already specified,
is of great antiquity. The application of this conception
to Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, is entirely arbitrary, the two
latter, for example, being creators no less than the first.
94. It is characteristic of this period that it gave rise
to a new sacred literature, totally different in character
from the Brahmanic. But the Brahmans perceived very
clearly that the rich literature of the Buddhists, if its
influence was to he rendered harmless, needed something
to counterbalance it. With this view, the eighteen
Puranas which still exist, and a similar number of
Upapuranas, were composed: by the members of the
sects they were placed on the same footing as the Vedas,
and regarded as of great antiquity; none of them, how-
ever, were written till after the eighth century A.D.,
and the majority even are much later. Their object is
nothing less than to give a history of the universe since
its origin, and they are concerned not only with theology,
but with all departments of knowledge.
At the same time, the two great epics, the Mahfi-
bliarata and the Eamayana, in which the ancient gods,
already completely transformed into heroes, lived and
moved as human beings on the earth,—or rather, in which
the old myths were blended with some great historic
154
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
events into an epic narrative,—were modified and inter-
polated by the worshippers of Vishnu and Siva, to make
them the vehicles of their particular theology.
Purina signifies “ancient tradition;” the Upapur&nas
are the By-Pur&nas, and are of less importance. Both
perhaps contain some elements of older Purinas now
lost, but they differ totally in spirit and contents from
the character of these works, as we infer it by descrip-
tion. Following the number of the great gods, they are
divided into three groups of six; but the six, which are
devoted to the glorification of Brahma, while they con-
tain a number of legends about him, chiefly insist on the
worship of Siva, and especially of Vishnu.
In the older parts of the epic poems, the principal
heroes and heroines are only compared with the chief
gods and goddesses. In passages subsequently inserted
they are elevated into their amt&ras. Ever and anon the
opportunity is seized to thrust in a panegyric on Vishnu
or Siva, or to furnish a proof of their supreme power.
It is often very easy to separate these additions from the
original text, which must have been in existence before
the year 300 B.C. It was a master-stroke of the Brahmans
to make these epics, which seem to have been originally
the peculiar literature of the Kshattriyas, available for
their purpose.
95. Meanwhile, the Brahmans surrendered nothing of
their claims and privileges. To prevent the people from
escaping from their control, they lowered themselves to
them, but they were always careful to make it appear
what deep reverence was ever paid, even by the
highest gods, to a member of their caste. They likewise
remained faithful to their over-estimate of knowledge
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM.
155
(jndna) as a means of deliverance. They therefore
opposed the doctrine of Sandilya, which substituted piety
(ibhakti) and love to God for knowledge, and vigorously
maintained the authority and infallibility of the Yeda,
which they now even declared to be eternal and un-
created. Practically, however, they made concessions
upon this point, and regarded as orthodox every school or
sect which acknowledged the authority of the Yeda, even
though it denied its eternity.
The dispute about the eternity of the Veda is highly
instructive, especially when the Brahmanic doctrine of
revelation is compared with the teachings of Christian
and Mohammedan theologians on the inspiration of the
Bible and the Qoran. In subtlety and absurdity it far
transcends anything which either of the latter have ever
devised. /
It was simply the recognition of the authority of the
Veda that secured even for the Nyaya and the atheistic
Sankhya philosophy the credit of orthodoxy by the side
of the orthodox Ved&nta.
96. Of the six so-called philosophical systems, only
three properly answer to this description. The Vedanta,
the “ end of the Veda,” is purely pantheistic and monistic,
and is connected (as Uttara-mimdmsd, “later considera-
tion ”) with the proper or older Mlmamsa, (Purva-
mimdmsd), a more ritualistic system. The Nydya (“ rule,”
“ maxim ”) is occupied with the method of philosophical
inquiry, and the Vaiseshika (from visesha, “ difference,”
“ attribute ”) which is connected with it, applies the
method to nature. Analytical in their principles, they
are diametrically opposed to the synthetic SdnJchya
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
156
(“ reasoning,” “ synthesis ”) a dualistic and atheistic sys-
tem, which exercised very great influence not only upon
thought but also on religion. The practical side of this
system is represented by the Yoga philosophy, which is
distinguished from the Sankhya by its decided theism,
and undertakes to show how, by concentrating the mind
in profound reflection, it is possible to attain union with
the divine principle, while its professors surpass in self-
torture all the ascetics of the world. The so-called
founders of these schools are for the most part mythical
persons. Beneath the systems which hear their name, we
may discern clearly the animistic view of the universe.
In the doctrine of the independent existence of the soul,
and the inferences to be drawn from it, they all agree.
The Vedanta, the S&nkhya, and the Nyaya, are the only
schools that possess any of the characteristics of philo-
sophical systems, and even they only deserve this desig-
nation in a limited sense, as the object of them all is not
the search for truth, hut the redemption of men.
The PArva-mimarnsa is founded on the Brahmanas,
but the Vedanta, on the other hand, on the Upanishads,
which suffices to indicate their respective characters. On
this system, and on (Jankara, the famous champion of
orthodoxy, see A. Braining, Bijdrage tot de Kennis van den
Veddnta, Leiden, 1871.
The animistic character of these systems appears in
the fundamental conceptions which they all possess in
common. As the union of body and soul (which, like the
substance of the universe, is eternal) is the cause of all
misery, deliverance consists in the complete separation of
the soul from the body, and it is to this goal that the
different systems are intended to lead.
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 157
The reputed founders of the Vaiseshikas, Sankhya, and
Vedtota schools are certainly mythic beings,—Kanada
(the “atom-eater”), Kapila (the “yellow”), and Vyasa
(“ extension,” “ separation ”); probably also Gotaraa, the
supposed founder of the Ny&ya, is of the same order.
Jaimini, the founder of the Pdrva-mtmafnsa, may very
well be regarded as a historical personage, and Patanjali,
the father of the Yoga, is certainly so.
97. As soon as Buddhism was overcome and driven
out, the sects which had only been united by the pre-
sence of danger, burst through this artificial union, and
were again separated. Vishnu was once more worshipped
by the Vaishnavas, Siva by the Saivas, as the supreme
deity, and each body split into a number of smaller
communities, to which new ones were perpetually being
added. The most famous of the later Vaishnava sects
are those founded in the twelfth century by Ramanuja
in Southern India, and sometime afterwards by Raina-
nanda. The first of these is distinguished by great strict-
ness, and the avoidance of all profane persons; while to
this the second is in many respects diametrically opposed,
though its founder Ram&nanda was originally one of the
followers of Ramanuja. Expelled because he had eaten
with unconsecrated persons, he abstained from imposing
on the disciples whom he gathered round him, any com-
mands of ceremonial purity, and even taught that the
clergy ought to reject all forms of worship. Erom a
disciple of Ramananda came, further, the sect of the
Kabirpanthi, from whose writings the famous Nanak
Shah, the founder of the religious community of the
Sikhs (Sishya), derived a large portion of his doctrine.
RELIGION AMONG THE HINDUS.
158
The K&birpanthi hardly belong to Vishnuism any longer,
though they are counted among its adherents, but they
have adopted many elements of Mohammedanism, and
are zealous Monotheists. Like the followers of Rama-
nanda, they employ the vernacular. The repugnance to
animal sacrifices is shared by all these communities, and
they are all alike open to members of every caste.
The Saiva sects are composed chiefly of clergy or
monks, living in solitude, or united in fraternities. Siva
is their god, as the protector and the example of self-
denying penitents. They have now, however, for the
most part degenerated into mere jugglers, and no longer
enjoy much respect.
The doctrine of the followers of Ramanuja accords, in
many respects, with the Vedanta. Vishnu is in their
view the same as Brahmk The adherents of Ramananda
worship Vishnu as R&ma or Sita-Eama. K&bir is cer-
tainly a fictitious name for the unknown founder of the
community of the K&blrpanthi. Much as the author of
their sacred books may have derived from the teachings
of the Mohammedans, he was certainly far better ac-
quainted with the Hindu writings than with the Islamitic,
and he must, therefore, have been a Hindu. A complete
translation of the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the
Sikhs, has been recently published by Dr. E. Trumpp,
London, 1877. Comp, also his Festrede, Ndnak, der
Stifter der Sikh-Beligion, Munich, 1876.
98. The deep decay of Brahmanism is evinced by the
rise and spread of the Sakta-sects, who worship the per-
sonified power of the three great gods as female beings.
POST-BUDDHISTIC BRAHMANISM. 159
Though these bodies have some points of affinity with the
other sects, they constitute really a return to representa-
tions and usages belonging to a lower stage of religious
development. They are divided into two groups, those
of the right hand (DaJcshindchdri), and those of the left
hand (V&mdcMri), of whom the first follow a stricter
ritual, while the second are characterised by magic cere-
monies and disgusting licentiousness. Sometimes, how-
ever, they merge in each other. The rise and spread of
these sects affords an example of the revival of ancient
elements as soon as the bonds of the hierarchy are
weakened, and the chain of purified tradition is
broken.
Meanwhile, under the influence of Islam and Chris-
tianity, a number of mixed sects have arisen, such as that
of Xunak Shah already named, and the later Brahmo-
samaj, which is perhaps destined to give a new direction
to Brahmanism.
To the wives of the three great gods, Durga, Lakshmi,
and Sarasvati or Savitri, Rad ha, the spouse of Krishna,
must also be added, who is indeed regarded by some sects
as the chief goddess.
It is impossible to mistake the striking correspondence
between the worship of the Saktis and the primeval
nature-worship of the pre-Aryans and pre-Semites, in
which the great mother-goddess is the supreme object of
worship, and which has left so many traces behind it
through the whole of Asia. The Dakshinachari and
Vamachari flow into each other, among other places, at
Calcutta. At any rate, the sect of the Right-hand estab-
lished there follows to some extent the ritual of the Left-
hand. On this subject compare Pratdjiachandra Gosha,
i6o
-
RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS.
BurgA pujA, with notes and illustrations, announced in the
Theol. Tijdschr. 1872, p. 344, sqq.
The sect of the Brahmo-samaj founded in 1830 by
R&m Mohun Roy, and reformed in a liberal spirit in our
own time by Keshab Ghander Sen, recognises the moral
grandeur of Jesus, and the truth of the fundamental
Christian principles, but does not absolutely abandon the
Hindi! tradition. It aims at a religion consisting in the
worship of God as the loving Father of all men, and re-
sulting in brotherly love to all. Whether it is destined
to exercise any great influence in the future, cannot as
yet be determined.
III.
RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIAN (PERSIAN) NATIONS.
MAZDEISM.
Literature.—General and historical works: F. Spiegel,
ErAnisclxe Alterthumskunde, i. Geogr., Ethnogr., und alt.
Geschichte, Leipzig, 1871, ii. Religion, Geschichte bis sum,
Tode Alexanders des Grossen, ibid., 1873. The third and
last voL is in the press. Id., Arische Studien, i. Leipzig,
1874. F. Muller, Zend Studien, i. and ii., Vienna, 1863.
Flathe, Art. “ Perser, Geschichte ” in Ersch and Gruber’s
Allg. Encydppadie, sect. iii. vol. xviL pp. 370-434.
Lassen, Aeltere Geographic, ibid., pp. 435-443. Spiegel,
ErAn, Beitr. zur Kenntniss des Landes und seiner Geschichte,
Berlin, 1863. F. Justi, Beilrage zur alien Geogr. Per-
siens, i. Marburg, 1869, ii. ibid., 1870 (Universitats Fest-
schrift).—Sacred Literature. Editions of the Zend-Avesta
by Spiegel (with Huzvaresh-translation), Leipzig and
MAZDEISM.;
161
Vienna, 1851, and following years, and by Westergaaiid,
Copenhagen, 1852-54. Of the Vendiddd Sdde, by H.
Bkockhaus, Leipzig, 1850. Of the Bundehesk, with
transcription, translation, and glossary, by F. Justi,
Leipzig, 1868. Latest editions of the Persian cuneiform
inscriptions, Spiegel, Die Altpers. Keilinschriften, ini
Grundtext mit Uebersetz., Gramm., und Glossar, Leipzig,
1862 : C. Kossowicz, Inscriptions Palaeo - fersicae
Ackaemenidarum, ed. et expl., Petropol., 1872. The Ardd-
Virdf Ndmalc, with translation, &c., by M. Haug and
E. W. West, Bombay and Loudon, 1872. Further, M.
Haug, Die fiinf Gdtlid's . . . Zaratlmstra’s, herausgeg.,
iibersetzt und erkldrt, i., Leipzig, 1858, ii., ibid., i860, to be
used with very great caution. The following chiefly
depend on Spiegel: Decern Sendavestae Excerpla, recensuif
et latine vertit C. Kossowicz, Paris, 1865, and by the
same writer, G&iha aliunavaiti, Petersburg, 1867; Gdtlia
ustavaiti, ibid., 1869 ; Saratustricae Gdthae poster, tres, ibid.,
1871. Neriosenglis Sanskrit translation of the Yasna,
edited by Spiegel, Leipzig, 1861. F. Spiegel, Avesla,
aus dem Grundtext iibersetzt, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1852-1863,
with which must necessarily be compared his Commentar
iiber d. Avesta, 2 vols., ibid., 1865-1869, as it contains a
number of emendations and modifications of the translation.
Detached pieces: M. Haug, Das aclitzehnte Kapitel des Wen-
diddd iibersetzt und erhlart, Miinchen, 1869. Hubsciimann,
Ein zoroastrisches Lied (Fagna, 30), ibid., 1872. Comp,
further, R. Roth, “ Beitrage zur Erklarung des Avesta,”
i.-iii., and F. Spiegel, “Zur Erklarung des Avesta,”
both in the Zeitschr. der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellsch., xxv.,
pp. 1 sqq., 215 sqq., 297 sqq. M. Breal, “Fragments de
Crit. Zende,” Joutn. Asial., 1862 (includes an essay on
the first Farg. of the Vendid&d). W. D. Whitney, “ On
the Avesta,” Journ. Amer. Orient. Soc., v. 1856, and
162
RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS.
Oriental and Linguistic Studies, New York, 1875, and Max
Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, artt. v.-viii. (A
number of purely philological works cannot be enume-
rated here.) Religion.—Th. Hyde, Historia Religionis vet.
Persarum eorumgue Magorum, Oxford, 1700, still note-
worthy. I. G. Rhode, Die heilige Sage und der gesammte
Religionssystem des Zendvolkes, Frankfort, 1820, founded
entirely on the translation of the Zend Avesta by
Anquetil Duperron, which is no longer of any use. The
confusion of elements belonging to different periods, and
the want of a good translation, render K. Schwenck’s
Mythologie der Perser, Frankfort, 1855, useless. C. P.
Tiele, De godsdienst van Zarathustra van haar ontstaan in
Baktrie tot den val van het Oud-Perzische Rijk, Haarlem,
1864, requires revision, especially for the history of the
origin of Mazdeism. M. Haug, Essays on the Sacred lan-
guage, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees, Bombay, 1862
(to be used with caution). F. Windischmann, Zoroastr.
Sludien, herausgegeben von Spiegel, Berlin, 1863 (contains
among other things a complete translation of the Bunde-
hesh and the Farvardin-Yasht). Id., Die Persische Ana-
hita oder Andilis, Munich, 1856. Id., “Mithra,” in
Abhandll. fur die Kunde des Mmgerd., i., No. r, Leipzig,
1857. I. G. Stickel, De Diance Persiae Monum.
Grcecliwyliano, Jena, 1856. J. H. Vullers, Fragmente
uber die Religion des Zoroaster, Bonn, 1831. J. Oppert,
“ L’Honover, le verb cr^ateur de Zoroastre” (Ann.dePhilos.
Chretienne, Janv., 1862). A. Hovelacque, Morale de
VAvesta, Paris, 1874. James Darmesteter, Haurvetdt
et Ameretdt, Essai sur la Mythologie de VAvesta, Paris, 1875.
On the Parsism of the present day, Dadhabai Naoroji,
The Parsee Religion, and The Manners and Customs of the
Parsees, London, 1862.—See further, “ Contributions
towards a Bibliography of Zoroastrian Literature,” in
ORIGIN OF MAZDEISM 163
Triibner’s American and Oriental Literary Record, July 20,
1865.
99. After the division of the Aryans into Hindus
and Eranians, the latter probably remained for a consider-
able time faithful to the ancient Aryan religion, though
not without adopting Turanian elements into it. Maz-
deism or Parsism is a reformation of this religion, ascribed
by its confessors to Zarathustra (Zoroaster). Of the his-
tory of this reformer, whose very existence even has been
called in question, nothing is known with certainty, though
a number of legends have been transmitted of his birth,
temptation, and miraculous deeds. It is equally uncer-
tain at what time the religion of Zarathustra was founded.
It appears from the oldest sources that the religious re-
formation accompanied the introduction of agriculture and
of settled life. The language in which these documents
are composed is an East-Eranian, and Bactria, therefore,
must have been the fatherland of Mazdeism, though it
was certainly raised to the rank of state religion in the
Persian empire from the time of Darius Hystaspis, and
perhaps even before him. Taking its rise in East-Eran
probably before or during the eighth century before our
era, it made its way after that date with the Aiyan tribes
over Media and Persia, and there, it would seem, in the
hands of the non-Aryan priestly tribe of the Magi, un-
known in Bactria, it underwent not unimportant modifi-
cations.
•
The close relationship of Parsism to the old-Aryan
religion is placed beyond all doubt by comparing it with
the Vedic and Brahmanic religions. Haug and others
RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS.
(including the present writer in an earlier work) have
defended the opinion that Mazdeism arose at the same
time with the old-Vedic religion, and that both were
the result of a schism among the followers of the old-
Aryan religion. The grounds on which this opinion
is based, appear, however, on further inquiry to be .
insufficient.
On the question whether Zaratliustra must be regarded
as a mythical personage, there is as yet no agreement.
Kern, “ Over het woord Zarathustra en den mythischen
persoon van dien naam ” (Mededeelingen van de Koninkl.
Akad. van Weteifischappen, 1867), answered it in the affir-
mative. On the other side, Spiegel, Er&n, Altertk, i. p.
708, and Heidelb. Jahrbb., 1867, No. 43. Justi, Golt. Gel.
Ameigen, 1867, No. 51. Cf. Spiegel, “ Ueber das Lebeti
Zarathustra’s,” in Sitzungs-Berichla der Kbnigl. Baler.
Akad. Fhilos.-PIdlol. Glasse, January 5, 1867. Even the
name Zarathustra has received various explanations.
From the inscriptions of Darius I. it appears that
Mazdeism was in his time the official religion of Persia.
With the exception of the short sepulchral inscription of
Cyrus, no such inscriptions remain from his predecessors.
It is not improbable that they also were already Mazda-
worshippers.
The selection of the eighth century is not arbitrary.
In the narratives given by the Assyrian kings of their
military expeditions into Media, it is not till the eighth
century and onwards that Aryan names begin to appear,
and in the first Fargard of the Vendidad only East-Eranian
countries are named, while with the exception of the
Median city Itaglia, neither Media nor Persia is mentioned.
This tradition describes the countries created by Aliura-
Mazda, which can have no other meaning than the
countries where Mazdeism prevailed. If its origin can-
AIAZDEISM. 165
not be brought down later than the eighth century b.C!.,
Mazdeism must by that time have been in existence.
The Magians were certainly a pre-Semitic and pre-
Aryan priestly tribe in West Asia, whose head, Rab-mag,
belonged to the court of the Babylonian kings. See
Jer. xxix. 3. It is held by some scholars (Lenormant)
that, in the form emga, “ glorious,” “ exalted,” the name
is already found in Akkadian as a title of honour borne
by the learned and the priests, which seems rather doubt-
ful to me. The Akkadian word mah, “great, high,
principal,” has more likeness to the Semitic Mdg, the
Persian Magus, the Bactrian AFughu. Of course the
Ertaians must have derived it from their own Maz,
“great,” or Maga, “greatness.”
100. Our knowledge of the Zarathustrian religion is
chiefly derived from the Avesta (or Zend-avesta), a collec-
tion of writings or fragments composed at different dates,
the remains of a much richer literature, and from the
Bundehesh, a cosmogonic-theological work, written in
Pehlevi not earlier than the third century of our era, but
preserving many older traditions. The Avesta is divided
into Izeshne (yasna), “ sacrifices,” “ sacrificial prayers,” Vis-
pend (yispe ratavo, “ all lords ”) praises to the supreme
powers, and Vendidad (yi-daevadata), the law “given
against evil spirits,” a book which contains, together with
ancient traditions, the moral and ceremonial laws, and
the prescriptions relating to purity. These three books
together, arranged in a peculiar way, constitute the pure
Vendidad (Vendiddd-sdde), the Parsee prayer-book. The
Yashts, sacrificial songs, resembling some which occur in
the books just named, form, with some shorter texts, the
166 RELIGION AMONG THE ErAnIANS.
small Avesta (Khordak-Avesta), and are certainly by far
the most poetical portion of the Holy Scripture. The
greater part of these books are written in the same East-
Eranian or Bactrian dialect, but a portion of the Yasna,
chaps. 28-53, like some ancient prayers, is composed in
another dialect, and contains the five Gatlias or religious
odes and a prose-work, the Yasna of the seven chapters,
—certainly the oldest documents of Pars ism.
The Bundehesh was composed under the reign of the
Sasanidse, the restorers of Parsism, whose sovereignty
began at the commencement of the third century a.d.
By that time Bactrian had already become a dead lan-
guage. But it is clear that the learned men who wrote
this book employed ancient documents in its composition.
The Avesta, the Yashts not excluded, must be older, but
it is not possible to determine with any certainty the
dates of the origin of the different books. Their relative
antiquity is all that is settled. Their chronological suc-
cession is as follows : the second part of the Yasna, the
Vendidad, the first part of the Yasna, the Vispered, the
Yashts, &c.
101. Ear above all divine beings stands Ahura mazddo,
the all-wise Lord or Spirit. In the oldest hymns and
texts, including, for instance, the confession of faith, he is
glorified as the Creator and the God of light, of purity
and truth; the giver of all good gifts, and in the first
place of life,—his praise and worship transcending every-
thing. He is invested with the same rank in the inscrip-
tions of the old-Persian kings of the race of Hakhamanis,
who profess themselves indebted for their sovereignty to
him ; and the restorers of the empire and its religion, the
AHURA MAZDAo.
167
S&stmidffi, vie with them in his worship. With the
extension of the world of divine beings as objects of wor-
ship, the homage dedicated to him increased rather than
declined. The finest names were devised for him, and
the latest representation is perhaps the most exalted.
The preaching of this god as the supreme, and, indeed,
almost as the only deity, is certainly the new and charac-
teristic element of the Zarathustrian reformation, the
adherents of which even called themselves distinctively
Mazdayasnan, worshippers of Mazda. It was an obvious
step to identify him -with the good spirit (spento mainyus),
one of the two who, according to the Parsee doctrine,
existed from the beginning, and this identification took
place at an early period; but it was not till a very late
modification of the system that he was placed on the
same footing with the evil one of the two spirits (anro-
maAnyus), and boundless time {zrvan akarana) was set
above both.
A large number of Ahura mazda’s titles of honour may
be found collected in the Ormazd yasht. The description
given of him by the Bundehesh is more elevated than
that in the Avesta.
In the combination Ahura-mithra (dual) he takes the
place of the old-Aryan Yaruna; but it would be erro-
neous on this account to place him on a level with the
latter ; he stands infinitely higher.
The system which represents Zrvan akarana as the
supreme deity, and Ahura mazda and Anro-maTnyus as his
sons, is most probably no earlier than the time of the Sa-
sdnidse, and is an attempt to restore monotheism, which
was endangered by the application of dualism to the
conception of deity also.
i68
-
RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS.
102. Next to Ahura mazda follow six lofty spirits, and
these seven make up the number of the sacred immortals
(amesha spehta). The representation of seven supreme
spirits is old-Aryan, hut the new system raised one of
them above the rest, and inserted fresh figures in the
ancient frame. For five of these Amesha spenta (Amshas-
pands) were originally abstract ideas, their personification
being only slightly advanced in the oldest hymns. The
first three, Vohu mono, “ the good mind,” Asha rnhista,
“ the best purity,” and Kshathra vairya, “ the desired
kingdom,” are scarcely more than attributes of Ahura
mazda; the last two, JTaurvatat and Ameretat, “ welfare ”
or “ health,” and “ immortality,” are eternal powers con-
A
ferred by Mazda. Armaiti alone, an old-Aryan deity, has a
more definite personality, and denotes at once the wisdom
which protects and fosters the earth and the earth itself.
Vohu mand became at a later date the genius who protects
mankind and receives them into his abode in heaven, as
the agent by whom Ormazd’s creation is extended; long
afterwards, under the degenerate name of Bahman, he
appears as the lord of the animal world. As the genius
of purity, Asha vahista is, of course, the spirit of fire, the
enemy of sickness and death, the adversary of all evil
spirits, and he is always, therefore, closely connected with
Atar, “ fire,” the son of Ahura mazda. Kshathra vairya soon
becomes the genius, not only of the kingdom but also of
riches, lord of the precious metals, who teaches their pro-
per employment, and punishes their misuse. Haurva-
tat and AmeretS,t are already in the Gathas gods at once
of health and long life, and of the waters and plants, and,
in general, of plenty, and they are, therefore, most closely
THE AMES HA SPENT A.
169
connected with Armaiti. They gradually came to be
regarded more definitely as the spirits who provided
food and drink, the conquerors of hunger and thirst.
The Amesha spenta have a general resemblance to the
Vedic Aditya’s, which were originally six or seven in
number, and various epithets are applied to them in com-
mon. See Spiegel, Er&n. Altherth., ii. p. 31. But in
personality they were quite different.
It is remarkable that the names of the Amesha spenta
are half neuter and half feminine. Armaiti, in the form
Aramati, also occurs in the Veda, and acts among the
Hindus as well as among the Er&nians as the genius of
wisdom or piety, and also of the earth. Accordingly the
founder ofMazdeism has adopted this entire figure from
the old-Aryan system.
The relation between Asha and Atar is completely
analogous to that between the Babylonio-Assyrian Anu
and ijiamdan, though the two pairs of deities are at the
same time separated by great diversities.
J. Darmesteter has endeavoured to prove that the
abstract significance of the Amesha spenta preceded the
material, and, in particular, that Haurvatat and Ameretat
originally personified health and long life. Not till a
later period, so he supposes, were they set over the waters
and plants; and it was from their older attributes that their
significance as spirits of plenty was derived. Though the
essay contains much that is admirable, and the author has
accurately expounded the necessary connection between
the various functions of these deities, he has failed, in my
judgment, to furnish the proof that the material significance
is the derivative. The question is part of the larger subject
of the origin of Mazdeism and its connection with the Yedic
religion, an inquiry which is still far from being completed.
170
RELIGION AMONG THE ERA ALANS.
103. The general name Yazata, “ worshipful,” served
for addressing a number of spirits, partly derived from
the Aryan mythology, partly peculiar to the Zara-
tliustrian system. The first named deities, which were
probably too deeply rooted in the popular faith to be
altogether supplanted by new and more abstract repre-
sentations, were not, however, adopted among the Yazatas
without having undergone some modification, and being
made subordinate to Ahura mazda. The chief of them
are Mithra, the god of light, Nalryd sanha, the fire-god,
Aparn napdt, the god of the fire dwelling in the waters,
Haoma, the god of the drink of immortality, and Tistrya,
the genius of the dog-star. The goddess of the heavenly
waters and of fruitfulness, Anahita (old Pers. Andhata),
is of foreign Chaldee origin. When, under the govern-
ment of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the cultus of Mithra, com-
bined with foreign usages, increased in importance, this
goddess, also, was worshipped with special zeal, and in
entirely unorthodox fashion. The cultus of both deities
spread over Western Asia to Europe, and was on the
whole more widely diffused than that of any other deity
of antiquity.
It was natural that prominence should be given in
Mazdeism to that side of the character of the old-Aryan
deities which most harmonised with the spirit of the new
doctrine. Thus Mithra became more especially what
Varuna had been in the Yedic religion, the god of truth
and right, the guardian of leagues; Nairyo ?anha, in the
Veda Nara sansa, a surname of Agni and other deities, the
messenger between the dwellers in heaven and men;
Haoma (the Indian Soma), the genius of life and health,
THE YAZATAS.
171
the protector against evil spirits and wicked men—the
revengeful and licentious; and Apam napat was at any
rate brought into connection with the genuinely Maz-
dayasnian representation of the heavenly glory. Tistrya
alone retained his physical significance pure and simple,
like the other star-spirits with Hvare hshaeta, the sun-god,
and Mao, the moon-god, at their head, who, however, retire
into the background among the Eranians. Moreover, the
traditions of the Aryan heroes supplied not a few ele-
ments for the Er&nian, some of which were even attached
to the person of Zarathustra.
The goddess AnMiita bears the genuine Aryan surname
Ardhvi Sdra, and her common name signifies the .“un-
spotted.” She is, however, a foreign deity. See my
Godsd. van Zarathustra, p. 181, where it is shown that she
was adopted from the Semites. It was not then known,
and has only come to light since, that the Semites must
in their turn have derived her from the Akkadians.
104. The genuine Zarathustrian Yazatas are all, like
the majority of the Amesha spelltas, personifications of
ideas, as is plain from their very names, such as Bashrm
razista, “ the most perfect justice,” Daena, “ the true
faith,” or “ the law,” and others. Even the ancient
prayers were elevated into personal spirits of this kind,
and the most eminent of these, the Ahuna vairya prayer,
was even turned into a sort of Logos, a divine creative
word. But the highest in rank of all the Yazatas is
Sraosha, who was placed nearly on a level with the holy
immortals. He is, as his name proves, a fine hold personi-
fication of “ hearing,” both of invocation and of listening
to the sacred prayers, maxims and sacrificial songs, and he
thus naturally becomes the founder of sacrifice, the genius
172
RELIGION AMONG THE ERAnIANS.
of obedience and watchfulness, who contends against evil
spirits with spiritual weapons.
Besides Eashnu razista and Daena, there also deserve
to be mentioned among this order of Yazatas Mathra
spefiia, the sacred sacrificial rubric or magic formula, and
Damdis upamand, the “ oath ” or “ curse,” and the Zara-
thustrian Question. The entire divine revelation, namely,
is clothed in the form of answers given by Ahura mazda
to the questions of Zarathustra, and these last are then
ascribed to the inspiration of a special genius. The well-
known Honover is simply the later form of Ahuna valrya,
and was originally the oldest of the Parsee prayers.
Sraosha appears already in the GatMs as a personal
being : the tendency to anthropomorphism fastened more
strongly on him than on any of the other Yazatas of the
same order, and at a later date he was for the most part
connected with Mithra.
105. From the Yazatas we must distinguish the Fra-
vashis, the divine or heavenly types of all living beings,
including the Yazatas and even the Amesha spentas.
They are at once the souls of the deceased and the pro-
tecting spirits of the living, created before their birth,
and surviving after their death, and they are sometimes
identified with the stars. This doctrine, arising out of
animistic representation of the independence of souls or
spirits, and of their immortality, and recurring in one
shape or another among all nations of antiquity, received
among the Eranians—probably under the influence of a
native religion—a special development, and, in a higher
form, was adopted into the Zarathustrian system from the
very beginning.
ITS DUALISM.
173
The Fravashis reappear afterwards in Judaism as
guardian angels, and from these they passed into Chris-
tianity (cf. Matt, xviii. 10). The meaning of the word
Fravashi is uncertain. It probably signifies “ the earlier ”
(fra) “ grown ” (vaksk).
106. Parsism is decidedly dualistic, not in the sense
of accepting two hostile deities, for it recognises no wor-
ship of evil heings, and teaches the adoration only of
Ahura mazda and the spirits subject to him; hut in the
sense of placing in hostility to each other two sharply-
divided kingdoms, that of light, of truth, and of purity,
and that of darkness, of falsehood, and of impurity. This
division is carried through the whole creation, organic
and inorganic, material and spiritual. Above, in the
highest sphere, is the domain of the undisputed sove-
reignty of the all-wise Lord, beneath, in the lowest abyss,
the kingdom of his mighty adversary; midway between
the two lies this world, the theatre of the contest.
At the head of the evil or dark spirits stands Aiiro
mainyus, the “ attacking ” or “ striking ” spirit, the creator
of everything physically or morally unclean, and, as such,
the opponent of Ahura mazda. Beneath him stand the
daevas (the devas of the Aryan and pre-Aryan period),
degraded from the rank of good to that of evil spirits.
These include some Yedic gods, as well as purely Eranian
creations, of which last-named Aeshma, “ anger,” is the
chief, or, at auyrate, the best known. To the kingdom
of Anro mainyus there belong, further, the Dmjas (Nom.
sing, druhhs), the “ liars ” or “ deceivers,” an order of
female spirits or monsters, who were already counted as
evil spirits before the daevas had become so, and the
174
RELIGION AMONG THE ERAnIANS.
Pairikas, another order of female beings, who seduced the
pious by their beauty. It was not till later that some
amount of arrangement was introduced among these
beings, and each of the principal spirits, for example,
each of the Amesha spentas, obtained his distinct coun-
terpart. The character of Anro mainyus is opposition,
he simply follows the creative activity of Ahura mazda,
producing whatever may injure his good creations.
Anro mainyus becomes in Parsi Aharman, in modern
Persian Ahriman, among the Greeks ’Ass/.ttdwos. His name
signifies the “striking” or “attacking spirit.” He is also
called the “wicked” {ahem), or the “most wicked”
(iacistem) “spirit” (mand). In the Gath&s he is still a
more or less abstract conception, but he very soon comes
to be personified.
The Vedic gods enumerated among the Daevas are
Indra (Indra or Ahdra), Sarva (Saiirva, originally a fire-
god, afterwards an epithet of Agni, later still identified
with Siva), and N&satya (Ndohhaithya), the prototype of
the Yedic Asvins. Aeshma daeva was adopted in the
form of Ashmodeus by the Jews and the Christians. Of
the other genuinely Etonian Daevas we must also men-
tion Asto-vtdhdtus, the “ bone divider,” a genius of dissolu-
tion, and Apaosha. the “ drought.”
Druj, nom. drukhs, denotes literally the “deceiver,” the
"liar,” and is really the same word as the old High
German gitroc, modem Dutch gedrocht, both signifying
“a monster,” “a monstrous conception of the imagina-
tion, by which man is deceived.” This order of beings
includes old-Aryah spirits of darkness, such as Azhi
dah&ka, the “ biting snake,” the AM or cloud snake of
the Yeda, and Nasus (ve*6;), the " corpse-demon; ” and
purely Eranian spirits, like Btishyansta, a genius of sleep.
ITS DUALISM.
175
Pdirika is derived from a root (par) which, among
other meanings, signifies to fight, to contend, and also to
go away, to run off. Even pure nature-beings, such as
Duzhydira (old Pers. Dusiydra), the “bad year,” “failure
of crops,” are referred to this group.
The classification of the evil spirits places A16 manJu
(“evil disposition ”), for example, opposite to Yohu man&,
and Ifidra, the king of the Daevas, opposite to Khshathra
vairya, the “ desired kingdom.”
Tdrtc and Zdric, the demons of hunger and thirst, or,
more correctly, of sickness or death, are the adversaries
of Haurvatat and Amerctat.
107. This dualism further dominates the cosmogony,
the cultus, and the entire view of the moral order of the
world held by the Mazda-worshippers. Not only does
Abro mainyus spoil by his counter-creations all the good
creations of Ahura mazda, but by slaying the protoplasts
of man and beast, he brings death into the world, seduces
the first pair to sin, and also brings forth noxious ani-
mals and plants. Man finds himself, in consequence,
surrounded on all sides by the works of the spirit of
darkness and by his hosts. It is the object of worship
to secure the pious against their influence. This is of the
utmost simplicity, without images or temples: pure fire
plays the principal part, and has the power, when com-
bined with the sacred spells and sacrificial songs, to break
the might of the evil spirits, and purify men from their
pollution. The whole life of the believer is a constant
conflict with evil, in which, as is universal in antiquity,
little difference is made between physical and moral evil.
Agriculture, likewise, and the care of clean animals and
176 RELIGION AMONG THE ErAnIANS.
plants are powerful means of weakening the kingdom of
impurity. But the love of truth, also, vigilance and
activity, are weapons which win the victory in this
contest.
The protoplasts of men and animals are the well-known
Gaydmart (modern Pers. Kaydmars), i.e., Gayb marelan,
“ human ” or “ mortal life,” and Goshurum, i.e., Gilts urvan,
the “bull” or “ox-soul,” both of whom were slain by
Ahriman. The first men, Gay6mart’s offspring, are
seduced by him to sin. The correspondence between
the legends of the fall among the Persians and the
Israelites is well known.
108. With this fundamental thought the disposal of the
dead, and the representations of the destiny of the deceased
and the future of the world, are in accord. Purity inheres
especially in fire, earth, and water : the bodies of the dead,
therefore, must not be burned, nor buried, nor cast into a
river; they are exposed on artificial mounds or towers
reserved for the purpose (dakhmas), to be devoured by
birds of prey. After death the souls of the departed are
obliged to cross the bridge Chinvat. For the wicked
this bridge is too narrow, so that they fall off, and sink
down into the under world (Duzakh), there to be tor-
mented by the spirits of evil. The good, however, are
welcomed by Sraosha or Yohu man6 into the Abode of
Song {yard demand), the dwelling-place of Ahura mazda
and the saints. But the joys of heaven and the pains of
hell do not last for ever. Hereafter the sovereignty of
Anro mainyus shall come to nought. Three thousand
years after Zarathustra, the conquering saviour (Saoshyds
Vevethragna), preceded by two personages to p 'pare the
ITS ESCHATOLOGY.
177
-
way, sliall be born by supernatural means. Tbe contest
reaches its climax. Everything is in flames, but only the
wicked suffer; the pious feel nothing more than an agree-
able warmth. By this discipline all creatures are refined;
the evil spirits are destroyed; the earth is renovated,
and the sole sovereignty of Ahura mazda begins, to be
continued without end.
The bridge Chinvat, commonly interpreted as the
“ bridge of the gatherer,” an explanation which now ap-
pears to me very doubtful, is borrowed from the old
Aryan mythology, and was probably originally the rain-
bow which unites heaven and earth. The P&rsee eschato-
logy represents the judgment of souls as conducted there
not only by Sraosha, but also by Mithra, the genius of
truth, and Rashnu, the genius of justice. Saoshyas (Pehlv.
Sdcidsh, Par si Saosyds), the Saviour, is the son of the
virgin mother Eredatfedhri (“ she who possesses a mighty
father ”), who conceives him in a miraculous fashion from
Zarathustra. He renews the world and resuscitates the
dead, after having first destroyed everything. Here, also,
in spite of the differences, the correspondence with Jewish
and Judseo-Christian ideas is striking. The doctrine of
the purification of the wicked is peculiar to Parsism.
/
109. The old-Aryan theology and cultus are only in
part the source of many of the distinctive features of
Parsism. The doctrine of the Fravashis, and the whole
system of spirits with the dualism so strictly carried
through it, the cosmogony, the sjtecial homage offered to
fire, some of the sacrificial customs, and other representa-
tions, also remind us of the religion of the Akkadians,
who were so closely connected with the ancient inhabi-
7 M
178 RELIGION AMONG THE ERANIANS.
tants of Media and Elam. It is probable, therefore, that
the Zarathustrian religion, especially in its later develop-
ment, owed its form to the influence of the native reli-
gion of the Medians. The Chaldee religion may also
have contributed one element or another to the Median
and Persian Aryans, for before their settlement in Media
and Persia, the Assyrians had reduced a good deal of Eran
under their sway. Some other peculiarities again must
be derived from other sources. But to all these foreign
elements the Aryan mind has given an independent
shape, resulting in a religious communion, whose simple
creed and pure practical morality preserved it from
the extravagances of its sister communion in India, and
stimulated its adherents to an active life and valiant
deeds. The less luxuriant climate of Eran and the
national character may have co-operated in this direction;
but this high development, and especially their almost
monotheistic conception of deity, must be to a large
extent ascribed to the preaching of a reformer, or at any
rate to a little circle of thinkers.
After the Greek conquest Mazdeism fell into decline.
It was brilliantly restored in the third century a,d. by
the Sasfinidae, but it finally succumbed before the fana-
tical violence of Islam. In a few districts of Persia it
still drags on a miserable existence, but it continues to
flourish with some vigour among the Parsis who emi-
grated to India, and there it even appears to be not
incapable of reforms.
Amid many rash conjectures, F. Lenormant, La Magie
chez les Ghaldeens, pp. 178 sqq., and 191 sqq., has many just
remarks on the influence of the old-Median religion on
AFFINITIES WITH THE AKKADIANS.
179
Mazdeism, and the correspondence between the former
and the Akkadian. His idea that the Proto-Medes
worshipped a serpent-deity, and that this was Azhi
dahaka, and identical with King Astyages, is altogether
erroneous. Azhi dahaka is a purely Aryan demon, and
Astyages has nothing to do with him.
The strange treatment of the dead, and the great value
set on the dog, which distinguish the Eranians from kin-
dred races and from their western neighbours, have been
found among Tibetan tribes; and these practices, there-
fore, they must have adopted from the earlier inhabitants
of southern Eran. See among others, Koppen, Religion
des Buddha, ii. p. 322 sqq.
1Y.
-
RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS OR LETTO-SLAVS.
Literature.—See I. J. Hanusch, Die Wissensehaft des
Slavisehen Mylhus, Lemberg, 1842, pp. 49-62. The Rus-
sian sources are enumerated by W. R. S. Ralston, The
Songs of the Russian People, London, 1872, pp. x-xii. See
further, Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales; Id., KhUof and
his Fables; Id., Early Russian Eistory, London, 1874, and
Gotlesidee und Culius Id den Ellen Preussen, Berlin, 1870.
The work of Hanusch, though rich in material, is ren-
dered useless by its want of a critical and historical
method of comparison. Ralston is a well-informed and
careful guide, who may be safely trusted. Comp, also F.
J. Mone, Geschichle des Hddenthums irn Nordl. Europa, 2
vols., Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1822-23.
110. Down to the introduction of Christianity, reli-
gion, among the Wends or Letto-Slavs, remained at a
i8o
RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS.
point of development far behind even that of the Veche
and old German religions. It is very probably older,
and it is certainly lower, than any of the Indo-Germanic
religions with which we are acquainted. It contains the
germs both of the polytheism of the Hindus and of the
dualism of the Persians, but without the philosophical
colouring which distinguishes the one, or the ethical
character of the other. Its cosmogony is still purely
mythical, the conflict between the divine beings is simply
that between the powers of nature, and with this stage of
development its cultus and its doctrine of immortality
are in accord.
The Letts, who form one of the two great divisions
of this race, include the Letts proper, the Lithuanians,
and the old-Prussians. The Slavs are divided into
East and West-Slavs. Of the first of these groups the
principal members are the Russians, of the second, the
Poles and Czechs (Bohemians and Moravians). The
Slavs of Southern Austria and European Turkey (Ser-
vians, Bulgarians, Croats, &c.) form a separate group
of Southern Slavs, different from, yet most closely allied
with, the Eastern. The name Wends, now limited to the
Slavs of the Lausitz, seems to have been originally the
most general.
It is probable that the Letto-Slavs, like the Germans,
remained united with the Aryans longer than the Kelts,
Greeks, and Romans, and they have preserved the reli-
gion of this period in its purest form, while it reached
a higher and independent development among the
Germans.
The proofs of the other statements in the text will be
found in the following sections.
ITS ANIMISTIC BASIS.
181
111. Like all mythological religions, that of the Wends,
also, rests on the doctrine of souls or spirits, which
scarcely reaches among them a higher stage than among
savages. The soul, of which the ancient Wends formed
very different conceptions, though they were such as are
found among all other peoples, moves about in freedom,
remains for a while after death in the neighbourhood
of the body, but then sets off on its journey to the
shadow-land, which is sought either in the underworld, or
on a happy island in the East, the abode of the sun, or in
the sky. The journey is thus either a sea-voyage over
the world-ocean, or a journey on foot over the rainbow
or the milky-way, or the ascent of a steep and slippery
mountain; and the survivors were careful to provide the
dead with what they would require on one of these ex-
peditions. The idea of retribution has not yet arisen;
the life after death is simply a continuation of the life on
earth. The dead, therefore, were furnished with every-
thing appropriate to their condition, even with wive3 and
slaves; for the unmarried a consort was provided at the
grave; and second marriages were rare. To the three
representations of the kingdom of the dead correspond
three modes of disposing of the corpse,—(i), burial, which
carried the soul to the underworld; (2), burning, which
bore it in the smoke to heaven; and (3), burial or burn-
ing in a boat, which transported it to the island of the
sun. But the souls of the deceased always continued in
relation with the living, and as their return was dreaded,
feasts and sacrifices were zealously celebrated to appease
them, or all kinds of devices were employed to keep
them away.
RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS.
182
J The soul was represented as a spark kindled by the
god of thunder, as a star (as among the Persians), a
vapour, a breath of air, a shadow; or, again, as a winged
creature, whether an insect or a bird, especially a dove, a
crow, or a cuckoo. The butterfly was even called a
“ little soul ” (dushichka). It appears also as a mouse, as
among other nations; the milky-way is called the
“ mouse-path.”
The sky is named Rai (Lithuan. rojus, comp. Sanskr.
raj. = “ to be bright or white ”), and the underworld Peklo,
which is a regular deity among the old-Prussians. It was
only under Christian influence that this afterwards be-
came hell. The stories of the island Buydn (“ the
burning ”) agree in many respects with one of the chief
dogmas of Parsism. The white stone Alatuir (electron 1)
found there, is the sun. The world of the dead is also called
Nava, a name which has not as yet received an adequate
explanation, but which some writers have connected with
the conception of the voyage of the ship (navis, vavj).
Burning and burial were both practised by the Slavs
as by all the Indo-Germans ; with these, correspond the
different representations of the realm of the dead.
The same usages are found among the old-Prussians
and the Lithuanians.
112. A peculiar richness characterises the doctrine of
spirits among the Letto-Slavs, of which that of the old-
Eussians may serve as an example. They divided the
demons into spirits of the house, the water, the forest, and
the air. The house-spirits are, properly speaking, fire-
spirits, and are the objects, in their two-fold character, of
great veneration. The house-spirit watches over and
protects the house and its inhabitants, not excluding the
ITS DEMONOLOGY.
183
animals, shares all tlieir fortunes, is, as a rule, friendly;
or, when he is angry, is easy to he appeased: but, if he
is altogether neglected, shows that he is a spirit of might,
who rules not only over the beneficent fire on the hearth,
but over the lightning as well All the qualities of water,
its fertilising and destructive power, its treacherous beauty
and mystic depth, its magic power which sets the mill-
wheel in motion, are personified in the beautiful Eusalkas,
and their male companions; all the terrors of the forest
and the dangers which threaten travellers through it, are
embodied in the wood-demons, which are naturally at
the same time the spirits of the storm. Koshchei, the
genius of winter, is a very evil being, and so are the con-
tagious sicknesses which wander about in the shape of
old women or hideous men, as well as that multitude of
wizards and witches, who, during their lifetime, often
become were-wolves, and, after death, bloodsucking vam-
pires. All this is purely animistic; but the Slavic
demonology is favourably distinguished from that of
savages by the poetical guise in which it is arrayed.
That it is not mere poetry, but really religious belief, is
proved by the awe with which the spirits are regarded,
and the often costly sacrifices offered to them.
Domovoij (doma = “ house”), the house-spirit, stood in the
closest connection with the domestic hearth, and, in case of
removal, had accordingly to be transferred with great cere-
mony to the new dwelling. Frequently he assumed the
the form of the master of the house. He is found, how-
ever, wherever there is fire, even in the lightning. The
crowing of the cock, his sacred animal, puts to flight all
other spirits, but not him. Only the Domovoy of the same
184
RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS.
house is friendly : those from elsewhere are jealous and.
dangerous.
To the Vodyanuie, water-spirits, belong the Rusdlkas (rus,
old-Slav. = “stream,” rosd, “ dew,” Lat. ros), much dreaded
for their deceitful qualities, and in the summer time
solemnly chased away. Tsar MorsJcoi, the water-king, with
his fair swan daughters, stands at the head of this realm.
The wood-spirits, Lyeshie, bear most resemblance in
conception and character to Pan and the Satyrs, and
have nothing in common with the clouds, with which a
certain school of mythologists attempts to connect them.
That they axe also wind-gods appears from the represen-
tation of the storm as their marriage-procession, and the
whirlwind as their bridal dance.
The Domovoy is content with small domestic sacrifices,
but the spirit of the mill-stream requires the first swarm
of bees, the other water-spirits demand a horse, the wood-
spirits a cow, and all exact a portion of the harvest. In
ancient times, also, human sacrifices were certainly offered.
113. Religion did not, however, remain stationary at
this point among the Wends any more than among other
nations. Besides these spirits they also recognised and
worshipped real deities, raised above nature, who were
called by the Letts Dewas and by the Slavs Bogu. At
their head there once stood among all the peoples of this
race the thunder-god Perwn or JPerkuns, the god who
smites the demons with his glowing flashes so that the
blood pours forth from their wounds in streams upon the
earth. In honour of him a perpetual fire of oak-wood
was kept up. Among the Lithuanians and old-Prussians,
two other gods were placed as his equals by his side, of
whom the one, Balrivvpo, must have been a joyous and
NA TURE OF ITS DEITIES.
185
beneficent sun-god, and the other, Pccollos, the god of the
hidden solar fire in the underworld, both being indis-
putably of native origin, and not adopted from any other
source. Sun-gods were worshipped by the Slavs in great
numbers; some being male, such as DazKbog, the god of
day, son of Svarog, the god of the sky (Svarozhich), and
Zado, always united with Lada, counterparts of Freyr
and Freya, and corresponding in character with these
German deities; one being female, the spouse of the
unfaithful Moon-god, and mother of the stars, who be-
longs to another mythological formation. Tire-gods also,
—of whom one, Ogon, bears the same name as the Vedic
Agni, and another Kuenets, is a sort of Vulcan, a cunning
smith, but at the same time a hero who destroys demons
—and a multitude of other divine beings, were objects
of worship. Among these we may further name the
Spirit of Life (Polish, 'Zywie, Russian, Jiva), embodied in
the cuckoo, the White and the Black god (Byel hog and
Czerno log), gods of light and darkness, of whom the first
is also named Svantovich,—representations and names
agreeing with some of the Parsi, but destitute of the
ethical significance which they received in the Zara-
thustrian system, and which none of the Wend deities
possesses.
Dewas in Lithuanian signifies “ god,” but the unfavour-
able meaning which the word acquired among the Persians
attached itself even amongst the Letts to deiwys, “ idol,”
“ ghost.” Bogu is the Sanskr. hhaglia (Bactr. bagha), old-
Pers. baga, from bhaj (Bactr. baz), to “ divide,” to “ distri-
bute.” I11 the use of this word again the Slavs agree more
closely with the Persians than with the Hindus. Some
186
-
RELIGION AMONG THE WENDS.
writers regard Perun as a deity adopted from the Scan-
dinavians. Among them he appears under the name of
Fiorgyn, in a very subordinate position. If there was any
borrowing at all, the originalty is not in this instance on
the side of the Germans. This is true also of the Lettic
triad, which has been supposed to be derived from the
Goths. From what source, in that case, came the purely
Lettic names of these deities ? Comp. Gottesidee und
Oultus der alt. Preuss. p. 39 sqq. Patrimpo, the joyous
harvest-god, and Pjecollo, the ripener of the grain, are
both sun-gods, hut the latter dwells in the underworld,
and is the god of the dead, a part which he also plays
in the beautiful Lithuanian myth of Nijola (the Letto-
Slavic Kora-Proserpina). His name, which is applied
among the Russians to the underworld itself, comes from
pjec, to “hake,” to “warm,” the Sanskr. pack, to “burn,”
to “ cause to ripen.” Patrimpo I am inclined to connect
with the Sanskr. trimp (from trip), to “ enjoy to satiety.”
Svarog comp, with Sanskr. svarga, the sky.
Lado or Did-Lado, “ the great Lado ” and his consort,
“ the great goddess,” are, like Freyr and Freya, gods of
love, marriage, and fertility.
Jim, 'Zywie, comp. Sanskr. and Bactr. jiv, “ life,” old-
Pers. ziv, personified hy the Parsis as Jtsti, father of the
double unity AsMhwra. Byel and Czerno bog are parallel
with the two Zarathustrian spirits Spefito-mainyus and
Anro-mainyus. Svanto or Sveto in Svantovid = Spfefito,
being identical in form and meaning (i.e., “ holy ”).
114. The relation between man and the higher powers,
also, so far as we know, still stood, at any rate among the
Slavs, at a very low stage of development. The spells
in which they believed, the amulets which they wore to
secure or avert the presence of spirits, the peculiar oracles
ITS IMPERFECT DEVELOPMENT.
187
by which they sought to discover the future, all belong
to the animistic view of life. This is also true to a cer-
tain extent of their feasts, in which the magic purport
was not wholly obscured, and the life of nature was as
yet scarcely elevated by any ethical conception, though
poetic and dramatic elements were not wanting. The
East-Slavs appear to have had neither temples nor priests,
nothing but sacred places and wise men and women, a
land of enchanters and enchantresses, who had power
over the elements, and were at the same time gifted with
prophetic utterance.
The Lettic branch was somewhat more advanced. At
least the Lithuanians had a priestly order, and the old-
Prussians even a sort of high-priest, who lived apart in a
sacred place, surrounded by the veiled images of the gods,
and from this retreat issued his commands through his
subordinate priests.
The amulets, composed of all kinds of charms, have
always the form of a button, a lock, or a net, nduzui,
which is connected with uzui, “bands,” and uzit’, to
“fasten these are clearly fetishes, serving to secure
the presence of the guardian spirit by binding him, and to
keep off hostile spirits. The oracles, both those by which
it was sought to learn the coming weather, and the result
of the harvest, as well as those concerning the issue of a
war or of personal destiny, are marked by the accidental
and magical character of the lot, which is genuinely
animistic. The feasts also were supposed to possess a
magical efficacy on the elements, as in the case of the
ceremony of pouring water on a girl decked with leaves
at the summer festival of the Servians, “ that the heavenly
women (the cloud-spirits) may give rain,” as they said.
i S3
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
Among the East-Slavs this feast still retained a bac-
chanalian and even phallic character.
It was customary among them for the head of the
family or the tribe to offer sacrifices on behalf of all
beneath a sacred tree (an oak was preferred), or on
the bank of a running stream. But the Vyedun, the
“enchanter,” literally, the “knowing one" (vyedaf, to
“ know ”), and especially the Fyeshchaya Zhena, the “ wise
woman,” were held in high honour among them, at any
rate in times of prosperity.
The old-Prussian high-priest was called Kriwe or Griwe
(from hrych, to “ hide ” ?), and dwelt at a place named
Romowe (rozmowa, “ conversation” t), which the dead also
were obliged to pass upon their journey.
V.
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
See the literature in K. Simrock, Handbuch der Deut-
schen Mythologie mit Einschluss der Nordischen, 3rd ed.,
Bonn, 1869, p. 7 sqq., and L. S. P. Meyboom, JDe Gods-
dienst der oude Noormannen, Haarlem, 1868, p. 19 sqq.
Indispensable, Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 3rd
ed., 2 vols., Gottingen, 1854, and J. W. "Wolf, Beitrdge
zur Deutsch. Mythologie, Gottingen, vol i., 1852, vol. ii.,
1857. Comparative, AY. Mannhardt, Germanische Mythen-
Forschungen, Berlin, 1858. For Dutch mythology, L. Ph.
C. van den Bergh, Proeve van een Kritisch Woordenboek
der Nederland. Mythol., Utrecht, 1846.
115. Among the Germans religion reached a much
higher development than among the Wends, which must
he ascribed rather to the richer endowments of their race
RELATION TO OTHER RELIGIONS. 1S9
than to the influence of a more advanced civilisation.
With this circumstance is connected the fact that, with
the exception perhaps of the Keltic, there is not one of
the Indo-Germanie religions which has departed so far, in
respect of the names of the chief deities, from its kindred
as the Germanic. In doctrine it most resembles the
Persian, and, like the Persian, it is inferior in philosophi-
cal contemplation to the Vedic religion, though it equally
surpasses it in its moral standard. Our fullest knowledge
of it is derived from the two Eddas, of which the older
contains a collection of very ancient and chiefly mytho-
logical songs, while the younger is composed of prose
traditions, together with fragments of older poems. They
are the sources for the religion of the Scandinavians or
Normans, from which, however, that of the Germans
proper does not essentially differ. German mythology
must be studied chiefly through the medium of oral
traditions.
The superiority of the German religion over that of
the Slavs is evinced by the fact that it made so much
more out of the same materials. The fundamental con-
ception in all the Indo-Germanic religions is the conflict
between the higher deities who control nature, and the
rude forces of nature, especially between light and dark-
ness. No nations of this race have realised this dualism
with such clearness as the Letto-Slavs, the Germans,
and the Persians, but while with the first it remained
purely physical, the two latter alone, and certainly
independently of each other, gave to it an ethical
character, and wrought it, as it were, into a sublime
drama.
The older Edda (“ grandmother,” here, however, in a
190
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
special sense, as the guardian of the ancient poesy) is
ascribed to Saemuudr, the wise, and is therefore called
Edda Saemundar kins fr6da: the latter was collected and
written by Snorri, the son of Sturla, and bears in con-
sequence the name Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Among the
best translations is that of Simrock (3rd ed., Stuttgart
and Tiibingen, 1863). How much still remains to be done
for the criticism and correct interpretation of the Edda-
sagas is proved, for instance, by the important disserta-
tion of Barend Symons, Untersuchungen tiler die sogenannte
Volsunga Saga, Halle, 1876. In the Story of the Volsungsand
Niblungs, London, 1870, Morris & Magniisson have repro-
duced some portions of the elder Edda for English readers.
116. The cycle of the Germanic gods is not entirely
deficient in names derived from Indo-Germanic antiquit}',
but they are not numerous, and the deities which bear
them only occupy in the system a subordinate place.
The ancient Dyaus still survives in Tyr, who is still
among some tribes a god of the sky; but in the system of
the Edda he is not a little degraded, for he has become
the god of the sword and of fraternal strife. The Letto-
Slavic Peruns or Perkunos may he recognised in Fiorgyn
(Goth. Fairguni) who has furnished a name to several
mountain-forests, but he has seen his sovereignty pass to
his son Odhinn and his grandson Thorr, who are purely
Germanic gods. The very ancient and general name for
deity, Deva, is not quite forgotten, hut it has been obliged
to give way to the more usual designations Aesir and
Vanir, which are found exclusively among the Germans.
The deities belonging to these orders, derived probably
from different tribes and only afterwards united, opposed
ITS CYCLE OF GODS. 191
the ‘wild powers of nature which were represented as
giants. These, under the names of the “ eaters ” (jotunn)
or the “ thirsty ” (thurs), were worshipped as powers of
violence and terror, and human sacrifices even were
offered to them. They were at first neither good nor bad,
but they came gradually, and with increasing definite-
ness, to be regarded as evil beings, foes of the good deities.
Between them and the Aesir and Vanir stand the Elves,
divided into three classes, two of which consist largely of
dwarfs. They are the lower, less dreaded demons of an
earlier period, and therefore, though they are at peace
with the gods, they often play a very mischievous part
They also, like gods and giants, were the objects of
sacrifice.
Tyr, genit. Tys, Goth. Tins, old high Germ. Zio, is the
Yedic Dyaus, the Greek Zeus. In compounds it often
occurs with the general meaning of “ god.” Among the
Semnones or Suabians Tyr is still the god of the sky,
among the Scandinavians the god of the sword and of
unnatural war, but the sword was originally the lightning,
and the war the strife of the heavenly powers.
Fiorgyn is the Perkunos of the Letto-Slavs, and was
probably adopted from them. The elves it has further
been proposed to identify with the Vedic Ribhavas, and the
Maren with the Vedic Maruts, but, like Tyr and Fiorgyn,
they have no prominent place in the German system.
The plural Itvar, “ gods,” which occurs now and then,
corresponds to the Vedic deva. The Aesir (As, pi. Aesir,
Goth, and old high Germ, ans) are commonly explained
to mean the “ beams,” the supports of the universe, which
seems to me very doubtful. It is far more probable, in
accordance with the opinion kindly communicated to me
192
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
by my friend Prof. Kern, that the word, of which the
original form is ansu, is connected with the Er&nian anhu
(and thus also with the Ahuras and Asuras), and means,
therefore, the “beings,” the “spirits.” The Vanir are
originally the “ waters,” and hence also the “ beautiful,”
the “lovely;” comp. Venus.
The three classes of elves are the Lios-(“ light ”), Svart-
(“black”), and Ddck-(“ dark”) Alfar; the two last kinds
dwell in the ground, and to them belong the dwarfs.
That they were not mere productions of poetic imagina-
tion, but beings in whose existence and power men really
believed, is proved by the sacrifices dedicated to them.
117. By the union of Aesir and Vanir, the elevation
of single attributes of the gods to independent beings,
and other causes, the German polytheism grew richer
and richer, hut it is a mistake to suppose that it issued
from monotheism. It was not till afterwards that an
approach was made to this in the representation of the
highest god as the All-Father. Far above the other
Aesir stand Odhinn, Th6rr, and at first also Loki. Odhinn
or "VVodan was originally a nature-god, the personification
of the violent movements of the air, of the breath which
blows through the universe. Then, as a deity controlling
nature, he was the warlike patron of princes and heroes,
whom he gathers after their death into his Walhalla;
and finally he rose to he the king of the gods, lord of the
A
world, and god of the soul. Thorr or Donar, the Asa
par excellence, with his wonderful hammer Miolnir, was,
as his German name implies, the thundering god of the
sky. As such he was the summer-god, who contends
?with and overcomes the dreaded powers of winter; and,
THE AES1R AND VANIR.
193
as protector of agriculture, the god of the people and of
servants, he was especially a god of civilisation. Loki,
probably also a god of the air, was very closely connected
in the old myths with these two chief-gods, so that he
forms a triad with them, and fights by their side against
the winter-giants, whom he generally outwits. In later
times he was to acquire a totally different significance.
The chief of the Vanir was Freyr or Fro, the Lord, god
of the bright sky, source of life and fertility, and there-
fore, in the system to which he properly belonged, the
creator. After his union with the Aesir, he became the
god of peace and love. Of the goddesses, who differ little
from each other, the Asynia Frigg, wife of Odhinn, and
the Yana Freya, “ the Lady,” sister of Freyr and spouse
of Njordr, the god of the sea, occupy the highest rank.
Subsequently Freya entirely supplants Frigg, and even
takes her place as Odhinn’s consort. Originally a per-
sonification of the earth, then of the moon, she becomes
the goddess of beauty, fertility, and love. The doctrine
of the three Norns or goddesses of destiny covers a deeper
thought, which the Greeks embodied in their Moirae, and '
the Eomans in their Parcae, each in their own way.
All-Father, originally (as early as Hrafnag. 1) an epithet
of Odhinn. Odhinn, O.H. Germ. Wuotcin, New Germ.
IVodan, Fris. TVcda, from watan = to “ wade,” meare, con-
nected, with the German wuth (“wrath”) and muth
(“ courage ”). — Thdrr (for Thonar, Thom ?), O.H. Germ.
Donar, is the Asabrdgr, the Asa-prince. The representa-
tion of him contains non-German (Turanian) elements,
such as the epithets Atti or Etzel (Attila), i.e., “grand-
father.” Loki, whose name is connected by Simrock with
194
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
lux, X‘.uxos, Sanskr. Mg, and by Grimm with lukan, to
“ shut,” to “ close,” seems rather, as his name Loftr implies,
to have been a god of the air (luft). In the myth in which
he outwits the winter-giant with his horse Svadilfari (the
cold wind), he is the cool spring-breeze.
The triad of the three highest gods corresponds curi-
ously with the three chief heroes of the Finnic epos, and
so with the three principal deities of the ancient Finns.
The meaning of the name Norns is uncertain. They
are three, Urdlvr, the “ past,” Verdhandi, the “ present,”
and Skuld, the “future.” The Greek Moirae and the
Roman Parcae are both of another character, the domi-
nant idea being, in the one group, that of death (fiogor,
mors), and in the other that of production {partus). The
Norns have it for their function to accomplish destiny,
scop (cf. scheppen, schaffen, to “ shape,” to “ create ”), orlog
(“fate,” still surviving in the Dutch word oorlog,
“ war”).
118. The moral standard of the Germanic religion is
shown forth, among other indications, by the history of
the Asa Loki and of the goddess HeL The first gradually
sinks lower and lower beneath the rank first occupied by
him by the side of the two highest gods, and he finally
becomes an evil being. As the god of fire he was not to
be trusted; for however beneficent he might be, he was
at the same time dangerous and treacherous. While the
myths were still nothing more than nature myths, this
caused no difficulty: but when the attempt was made to
detach the Aesir from nature, and measure their character
by a moral standard, it was inevitable that Loki should
sink and finally be thrust out. Hel encounters the same
fate, though she was originally no other than the dark
ITS ETHICAL CHARACTER.
195
-
underworld, properly speaking the twilight, both darkness
and light, the goddess of death and life.
Loki, who was first of all the brother, then the bosom-
friend of Odhinn, was the contriver of frequent tricks by
which he brought the Aesir into danger, but he always
rescued them again by his cunning. He counsels aii
alliance with the winter-giant, the architect (Smidhr,
“smith,” Find off Feder, “wind and storm”), with his
horse Svadilfari, which was to overthrow the god, but he
manages to frustrate it. He carries Idunn to Thrym-
heim, but he brings her back, and is one of those who go
thither to recover the stolen hammer of Thorr.
When, however, the conflict of the powers of nature
came to be transferred to the domain of ethics, he be-
came the father of the destructive powers, the wolf Fenrir,
the serpent of Midligardh, and Hel, and it was he who
instigated the murder of Baldr. He abuses the gods as
their evil conscience, he is pursued, chained, then he
breaks loose again in the last contest, only to be finally
altogether overthrown. The myth is exactly parallel to
the Prometheus myth, which is, however, worked out in
a completely opposite sense, with sympathy for the hero.
Hel (Goth, halja, connected with the Sanskr. k&U, the
“black”), has an equally ambiguous meaning as “twi-
light,” but the further she can be traced into antiquity,
the higher is the position which she occupies.
119. The clearest manifestation, however, of the
ethical character of this religion is seen in the description
of the great drama of the world, which corresponds both
in general and in some detail with the Persian, and, like
its parallel, rests upon ancient nature-myths. Its chief
features are as follows. In the beginning innocence and
126 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
freedom from care everywhere prevail. But lying and
sin soon make their appearance, and even steal within the
circle of the gods. The gods are indeed constantly victori-
ous in the conflict with the giants ; hut the adoption of
giantesses into then- community, the birth of violent mon-
sters, children of Loki, his falsehoods and deceptions, are all
the forerunners of a future fall. The death of Baldr, the best
and wisest of the Aesir, one of the disasters brought about
by Loki, is the great turning-point of the drama, for it
proves the mortal nature of the gods. The wicked god and
the dangerous monsters are for a time subdued and put in
chains, but at last they burst their bonds. The break-up
of all institutions and ordinances (Bagnarok, commonly
the “ twilight of the gods ”) begins. For three years
there is winter, and an unnatural war rages. The gods
wrestle with the collected forces of cold, fire, and dark-
ness, and in this strife they perish with their adversaries.
Then, however, everything renews its life; the chief of
the Aesir are now hallowed and purified; mankind lives
again, no longer subject to the miseries of existence; and
the earth recovers its power of growth. Baldr returns
from the underworld, and beneath the sway of the supreme
but unnamed god, all beings in the renovated world lead
a life of freedom from care, and peace.
The basis of this representation in nature may still be
clearly traced. Like all ancient nations, the Germans
made at first no sharp distinction between moral and
physical good and evil. But for the study of the develop-
ment of religion, it is of the highest interest to observe
how the same nature-myths underwent an ethical trans-
formation among both Germans and Persians, quite inde-
THE DRAMA OF THE WORLD.
197
pendently of each other, and with characteristic differences
among each people; and how, consequently, while the
forms remain the same, the development of religion
advances with that of the nation.
The myth mentions three female Thurses, or giantesses
(Old Engl, thurst, goblin or wood-demon, A. S. thyrs),
which were adopted into the circle of the Aesir, and
thus became the primal cause of their fall. These three
are not the three Korns (Simrock), but Angurbodlia, Gerda
and Skadhi, the wives of Loki, Freyr, and Njordhr.
Beneath these three there lay originally (1) a thunder-
myth (Loki, the god of fire, by Angurbodlia [“ messenger
of fear”], the thunder-cloud, begets Fenrir and Hel, i.e.,
darkness, and the serpent of Midhgardh, the shower); (2)
a myth of the sunset (Freyr, the sun-god, sinks into the
arms of Gerdha, the earth-girding sea); and (3) a winter-
myth (Njordhr, the god of the sea, is married to Skadhi).
Baldr is Baldag, the white god of day, the Byelbog of
the Slavs, having probably been adopted from them.
Ilddhr, his blind brother, who slays him, agrees in that
case with Czerno bog, and was originally the god of
darkness.
Ragnarok, interpreted by Grimm as Gbtterdammerung
“ twilight of the gods,” and formerly translated by others
“ elementorum dissolutio," in connection with Aldar log,
“ ruptura sjeculi,” is properly the break-up or dissolution
of the ordinances and regulating powers in nature and
the world.. All the chief Aesir take part in the contest,
and each has his special adversary, whom he overcomes,
though he himself is in his turn overthrown. Odhinn
fights against Fenrir, Tyr against Managarm, Thorr
against the serpent of Midhgardh, Heimdall against Loki.
Vidliar alone, the god of the forest and of revival, sur-
vives Fenrir, whom he slays.
198 RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
The same myths which at first expressed simply the
conflict between light and darkness, night and day, and
were afterwards transferred to the succession of the
seasons, became then blended into one whole, and were
applied to the entire course of the history of the world.
It was the necessary consequence that they were at the
same time elevated by moral conceptions.
120. It is remarkable that while the conception of the
gods among the Germans stands so much higher than that of
the Letto-Slavs, their psychology, their doctrine of immor-
tality, and their cultus, are in the same backward condi-
tion. The representation of the soul and its destiny after
death is still largely animistic, though the idea of retri-
bution after death is not wholly wanting. Magic was
still very general. The cultus was on the whole exceed-
ingly rude; even human sacrifices were not infrequent.
It was conducted among the Germans chiefly in sacred
groves, or at least in very small and simple temples. But
some progress is, nevertheless, to be traced. The Normans
had larger sanctuaries, and among them some of great
celebrity. The cultus of animals and trees was only
kept up because it had been brought into connection
with the worship of the higher deities, and a deeper signi-
ficance began to be sometimes attached to sacrifice.
The priests acquired a very high rank. They belonged,
among the Germans at any rate, to the nobility, and had
peculiar influence as heralds and judges. Even their
names indicate rather an exalted conception of their
office.
All these considerations prove that the Germanic re-
ligion was in a state of transition and temporary decay
ITS IMPERFECT DEVELOPMENT.
19?
?when Christianity began to make its way to the North.
The new faith was itself no longer entirely pure, as it
was already mingled with a number of Greek and Roman
elements, and it was unable wholly to supplant the
ancestral religion, hut it blended with the popular beliefs,
and breathed a new spirit into the old forms. And it is
certainly not a matter of chance that it was among these
same Germans, who, even in barbarous times, had intro-
duced moral conceptions into their theology, that the
reformation was most earnestly taken to heart, and most
triumphantly carried out, and that its prevailing character
was not intellectual, but ethical.
The reception of the heroes in Odhinn’s Valholl implies
already the passage from the theory of continuance to
that of retribution. For though they continue there
the occupations of their past lives, their reception is a-^
reward for their valour. There are, moreover, traces of a
place of punishment.
Human sacrifices consisted not only of criminals and
prisoners of war, but even of widows and slaves. In
epidemics even children were offered, and they were also
immured in the foundations of new buildings, in regularly
animistic fashion, with food and toys.
In the development of religion, the forms of worship,
which are very tenacious, are the slowest and the last to
undergo modification.
An O.H. Germ, title for priest was Ewarto, from fiwa,
the “divine and human law.” Another, Old-Norman,
was Godi, fern. Gydja, from Gudh, “ god.” Among the
Normans the priests exerted influence even over war, and
indeed the priesthood and the kingship were combined
among them.
200
RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS.
In the fusion of Christianity -with the popular beliefs,
the myths and traditions became legends; the place of
( Wodan was occupied by Christ, St. Michael, or St.
Martin; for Donar appeared Christ or St. Peter; Fro
was supplanted by St. Andrew, mitissirnus sanctorum,
St. Stephen, or St. Nicholas; the place of the goddesses
was taken by Mary; St. Gertrude represented Gerd’ha,
&c. Loki, of course, became the devil.
( 201 )
-
CHAPTER Y.
RELIGION AMONG THE INDO-GERMANS UNDER
THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEMITES AND
HA MITES.
Literature.—M. W. Heffter, Die Religion der Griechen
und Romer, 4 vols., Brandenburg, 1845. W. H. Eoscher,
Studien zur Vergleich. Mythologie der Griechen und Romer, I.
Apollon und Mars, Leipzig, 1873. IL Juno und Hera,
ibid., 1875 (deficient in exactness of method, the conclu-
sions, therefore, being insufficiently confirmed). A.
Preunek, Hestia-Vesta, Tubingen, 1864, a monograph of
great importance. Emile Burnouf, La Legende Athen-
ienne, Rtude de Mythol. comparde, Paris, 1872 (sets forth a
doubtful and improbable theory). W. Grimm, Die Sage
von Polyphem, Berlin, 1857 (also in the Alhandll. der
Kaiserl. Akad. zu Berlin, 1875, p. 1 sqq.).
I.
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
Literature—History.—G. Grote, History of Greece, 8
vols., London, 1862, vol. i., describes the Greek religion
objectively, without any attempt to explain it. E.
CuRTitrs, History of Greece, transL by A. W. Ward, 5
vols., London, 1868-73, admirably adapted for exhibit-
ing the connection between the history of the people and
the development of its religion. J. P. Mahaffy, Social
Life in Greece from Homer to Menander, London, 1874,
202
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
ingenious but one-sided. Comp, further Schomann’s
Griech. Alterthiimer, 2 vols., 3d ed., and A. H. G. P. VAN
den Es, Grieksehe Antiguiteiten, 2d ed., Groningen, 1873.
Mythology and Religion.—F. G. Welcker, Griech.
Gotterlehre, 3 vols., Gottingen, 1857-62. J. A. Har-
tung, Die Religion und Mythologie der Griechen, 4 vols.,
3:865—73. k- Preller, Griech. Mythologie, 2 vols., 2d
ed., 1860-61 (a 3d ed. of vol. i. has since appeared). J.
W. G. van Oordt, De Godsdienst der Grieken en hunne
Volksdetnkbedden, Haarlem, 1864. Id., Grieksche Mytho-
logie. Eene schets, ’s Gravenh., 1874. For the older'works
comp. Preller, i. pp. 19-24.
Important Monographs.—J. Overbeck, Beitrage zur
Erkenntniss und Kritik der Zeusreligion, Leipzig, 1861
(also in the Ahhandll. der Sachs. Gesellsch. der Wissensck,
iv. No. 1). Nagelsbach, Die Homer. Theologie, 2d ed.
by Autenrieth, Niimberg, 1861. J. Girard, Le Senti-
ment Religieux en Grece d’ Homlre d Eschyle, Paris, 1869.
F. Leitschuh, Die Entstehung der Mythologie und der
Entwickelung der Griech. Religion nach Hesiods Tlieogonie,
Wurzburg, 1867. E. Buchholz, Die Sittliche IVeltan-
schamng des Pindaros und Aeschylos, Leipzig, 1869. E.
Zeller, Die Entstehung des Monotheismus hei den Griechen,
Stuttgart, 1862. J. Ma.hly, Die Schlange im Mythus
und Cultus der Classischen Volker, Basel, 1867. H. F.
Perthes, Die Peleiaden zu Dodona, Moers, 1869. E.
Dohler, Die Orakel, Berlin, 1872. H. D. Muller,
Ares, ein Beitrag zur Entwickelung der Griech. Religion,
Brunswick, 1848. J. Buskin, The Queen of the Air
(AthlnS), 2d ed., London, 1869.
121. The Greek religion, which was destined one day
to attain a higher development than the other Indo-Ger-
man religions, was not at first separated from them by
THE PELASGI.
203
any great differences. The proof of this may be found
in what is still known of the religion of the Pelasgi,
whose name denotes rather a period than a race. The
statement that they worshipped the God of heaven on
their sacred mountains without images and under no
definite name, does not warrant the inference that their
cultus was purer than that which succeeded it and was
monotheistic, but simply means that they still regarded
and worshipped their gods, even the highest of them, as
nature-beings, and if they made no images of them, they
were nevertheless not without fetishes. Some sanctuaries
of this Pelasgian Zeus continued to exist in later times,
and one, that at Dodona in Epirus, even remained in
high honour. There, the will of the deity of the sky
was learned from the rustling of the sacred oak, his fetish,
or by other purely animistic methods. In Arcadia and
Messenia, human sacrifices even were offered to him. It
was not till afterwards that the institution of, the Olympic
games, and the protection of Sparta, gave to the ancient
Zeus-worship in Elis the high significance which made
this region itself a holy land, and raised the temple to he
one of the principal sanctuaries of all the Hellenes.
It appears that Asia Minor was the last place in which
the Greeks, the Phrygians, and the later Italian races
were united in one people. Phrygian worship and arts
were naturalised in Hellas from the remotest times.
The Pelasgians were not a special Greek race, hut the
name denotes all the first settlers in Greece who were
, found already in the new fatherland by tribes which
entered it subsequently, such as the Dorians and Ionians.
They were not, therefore, regarded as barbarians, and
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
their gods were invoked together with the Hellenic. The
attempt (made by P. Volkmuth, among others, Die
Pelasger als Semiten, Schaffhausen, i860) to prove that
they were Semites, and more specifically, Phenicians,
must be treated as a complete failure. The points of
agreement between the Syro-Phenician and the Greek
religions, which are called in to support this conclusion,
must be viewed in quite another light (see below).
A deity without name or image, belonging to the re-
motest times, denotes a nature-power which has as yet
received no human form. The Pelasgic cultus cannot
have advanced to monotheism, for by the side of Zeus
there was certainly a female deity, whose place was occupied
at Dodona by Dione, who was brought from elsewhere,
and at Olympia by Hera; and it is equally certain that
the Pelasgi also worshipped other gods, such as Pan, the
god of pastures, an ancient deity of light.
The fetishes remaining from this remote period, besides
the oak at Dodona and other trees, consisted in sacred
stones, such as that of Delphi, sticks, like the so-called
sceptre of the Pelopidse at Chaeronea, the most ancient
Hermee, and various animals, subsequently dedicated to
the gods, but originally regarded as their incarnations, as
the eagle of Zeus, the wolf of Apollo, the owl of Athene,
&c. Metamorphoses are an attempt to bring the oldest
representation of the gods into harmony with the later.
Zeus revealed himself at Dodona by his breath, or
rather by his voice, heard in the rustling of his oak or in
the thunder, the latter being imitated in a peculiar way.
It was the oracle of an agricultural people. His servants
were the sacred Selloi, from 'whom the name Hellenes,
even, has been derived. At the time when Dodona
flourished, the people still called themselves Graikoi,
Greeks.
CAUSES OF ITS DEVELOPMENT.
20$
In Arcadia the chief ancient sanctuary of Zeus was on
Mount Lyltaion, and in Messene on Mount Ithome. In
the former locality and at Elis, the sacred mountain bore
the name, as in Thessaly, of Olympus.
122. But whatever he the resemblances of the Greek
religion in origin and character to kindred religions,
especially to the Vedic and Germanic, and though in the
Pelasgian period, at any rate, it reached no higher level,
it soon advanced in development beyond them all. The
ancient nature-deities are replaced more and more by
gods endowed not only with the shape of men, but with
real humanity, who continually rise in moral dignity and
grandeur, and to whom the Greeks transferred the divine
element in man. The causes of this development are the
same as those of their great progress in general civilisa-
tion, which was due (among other circumstances) to the
nature of the country which they inhabited, their splendid
natural gifts, and the many-sided intercourse of the
several tribes both among themselves and with the re-
presentatives of an older and very rich culture. The last
of these may indeed be regarded as the foremost cause of-
all. In the Greek religion we see the first fair fruits of
the fusion of the Indo-Germanic and Aryan with the
Semitic and Hamitic elements,—the dawn of a new era.
Herodotus, i. 131, draws a distinction between the
Egyptian and Hellenic gods, the former of whom he
designates avOioivoudu;, the latter d^ws-opusa;.
The peculiarity of the countries occupied by the Greeks,
which consisted chiefly of coasts and islands, has been
rightly specified as a cause of their advanced civilisation.
206
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
But it is necessary to avoid the one-sidedness which
derives everything from this circumstance. That the
genius of the people was another factor, is proved by the
low stage occupied by the later inhabitants of the same
regions.
A highly important stimulus to the development of
religion among the Greeks came, however,, from the active
sea traffic to which their country gave occasion, and which
brought the backward Greek races into contact not only
with their more advanced kinsmen, but also with the
Semites and Hamites. Besides this, they were obliged in
some cases, as in Asia Minor, in Crete and Cyprus, to
divide the country with the Phenicians and Syrians
already settled there. Although it is supposed from the
evidence of the Egyptian monuments, that they took part
as early as the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries in
military expeditions against Egypt (which still appears
very doubtful, at any rate), the influence exerted on them
by the inhabitants of this country seems to have been
mediate rather than direct.
Wherever the Phenicians established their colonies,
they at once founded a sanctuary for their national deities,
whom the native Greeks then either adopted or blended
with their own gods. Mdkart of Tyre was naturalised as
Melikertes or Makar, or was combined with Herakles.
The luxurious Sidonian Ashtoreth was transformed into
Aphrodite, and the stem Tanith was united with other
goddesses. Under the influence of Baal-Shalam the
Pelasgian Zeus of Salamis became Zeus Epikoinios, &c.
The Greeks were further indebted to the Phenicians for
the cultus of the planets and the doctrine that the stars
are deities which rule the world, both these, as we know,
having been in their turn derived from the Akkadians.
We may refer also to the Samothracian gods. The wor-
NATIONAL AND FOREIGN ELEMENTS. 207
ship of images, likewise, passed from the Semites to the
Greeks.
The elements received by the Greeks from their own
kinsmen have been to a large extent personified by tradi-
tion, in the band of gods and heroes who came from the
East into the later civilisation of Hellas, such as Herakles,
Dionysos, Danaos, Argos, Agenor, and others, while
Ivadmos, the brother of Kilix or Phoinix, represents
rather the Semitic civilisation. It is probable that the
worship of the sea-god Poseidon (an Ionic name), and
certain that the cultus of Apollo, was introduced among
the inhabitants of Greece proper by their kindred in Asia
Minor.
The history of the Greek religion is one of the most
striking examples of the great law that the richness and
elevation of religious development are proportional to the
opportunities of intercourse on the part of one nation with
others, and the completeness of the fusion of races.
123. It is often possible in the myths and forms of the
Greek gods still to distinguish very clearly between the
national and the foreign elements. Thus in the myth of
Zeus, his contest with Kronos, like that of Kronos with
Ouranos, his absolute victory over the powers of nature,
his unlimited sovereignty, are of Semitic origin; while
his contest with Prometheus and his human passions and
attributes come from Indo-Germanic sources. The bene-
ficent Demeter, the fruitful mother-earth, with her
daughter Kore, the blooming spring begotten by Zeus,
protector of agriculture and giver of abundance, is
genuinely Greek; while the sombre queen of the under-
world, who becomes by Poseidon the mother of Perse-
phone, goddess of death, must be a foreign deity.
208
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
In the same way Greek theology also possesses two
representations of the world of the dead. According to
one, the Semitic, it lay within the earth, and there the
departed led a life of shadows without spirit or conscious-
ness, which was, however, a melancholy continuation of
their earthly careers. The other, the Indo-Germanie,
placed it in the west, at the setting of the sun, where
the privileged were admitted to Elysium or the islands
of the blessed. These different representations it was
endeavoured as far as possible to combine.
In some cases the union of these dissimilar elements
was never successfully effected. The difference between
the chaste maidenly Artemis, protectress of innocence and
modesty, hostile to everything savage and lewd, and the
blood-thirsty and sensual goddess of Tauris, Asia Minor,
and Crete, was always vividly felt even by the Greeks.
Generally, however, the fusion is so complete that it is
hardly possible to separate the foreign from the national
elements. This is the case, for example, with Dionysos,
Apollo, and Athene.
What we have designated briefly Semitic, is strictly
speaking only north-Semitic, after it had been modified
by intercourse with the oldest occupants of Mesopotamia.
The myths adopted by the Greeks from the Semites were
as a rule Akkadian, but they reached the Greeks in the
form given to them by the Northern Semites.
Whatever be the meaning of the name Kronos (to the
unfortunate derivations which have been proposed Kuhn
has recently added another by the suggestion of a doubt-
ful Sanskrit word krdna, “ creating, for himself,” Ueber
Enlwicidungsslufm der Mytheribildung, Berlin, 1874,
UNION OF DISSIMILAR ELEMENTS.
209
p. 148), it is certain tliat he has nothing to do with
Chronos, “time,” and that the god who mutilates his
father and eats his children is of genuinely north Semitic
origin. A satisfactory explanation of his myth is still
wanting, but that he is a god of the dark, and particu-
larly of the nightly sky, is proved by the representation
that he eats up his own children, all of them light-gods.
The stone, the form in which he devours his son Zeus, is
supposed by some scholars to be the sun, which the god
of night is afterwards obliged to vomit forth again, after
which the other gods whom he swallowed, also return to
life.
The Indo-Germanic character of the Prometheus myth
has been shown by Kuhn, Die, Herabkunft des Feuers und
des Gottertranhs lei den Indogermanen. The spirit of the
myth also, as it was worked out by the Greeks, is com-
pletely non-Semitic.
The world of the dead beneath the earth with the
shadows that cannot feel, is obviously Sheol with the
Kephatm. For this reason (if for no other) the rape of
Persephonl and her descent into hell must be a non-
Greek myth; and accordingly we find the exact parallel
to it in the old Akkadian epos.
Perhaps even the chaste Artemis is not a Greek god-
dess at all; but she is, in any case, Indo-Germanic. Her
name points to a Phrygian origin. Arlamas, comp, the
Er&nian arta, areta, “perfect,” arelhamat, “lawful,”
“ legitimate.”
In Dionysos lurks an Indo-Germanic deity of the drink
of immortality and the vintage, with which is connected
the myth of his birth from SemelS. The god of the
seasons, to whom a festival was celebrated in the winter,
is probably a foreign sun-god. On the Lycian god, Apollo,
see below. If the name of Athena really corresponded to
0
210
-
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
a Sanskr. ahand, tlie “ dawning,” and Athenaia to ahania,
the “ day-bright,” as Max Muller supposes, we should
have to regard her also as an Indo-Germanic goddess.
The adoption of foreign elements into the conception of
her becomes probable when it is considered that a Pheni-
cian Atbenl was worshipped on the Isthmus, and that she
came from Salamis to Attica, and it is made further evi-
dent by a comparison of her attributes and cultus with
those of the Phenician Tanith.
On the whole subject of this section compare the very
interesting essay of E. Curtius, “ Die Griechische Gotter-
lehre vom Geschiclitlichen Standpunkt,” in the Preuss.
Jahrbb., July 1875, though some of the conclusions must
be accepted with reserve.
124. The poetic and philosophical feeling of this richly-
endowed people, the creative power of the Greek mind, is
displayed, for instance, in their treatment of the myth of
Prometheus, which became in their hands the vehicle for
profound and elevated thoughts, or in the manner in
which they raised the nature-myths of Demeter and
Persephone to be the expression of a genuine human
feeling, and ennobled the mystic significance which had
already been attached to it in other lands. But it no-
where comes more clearly into view than in a comparison
of deities such as Hermes or Aphrodite with the divine
beings of Indo-Germanic or Semitic origin, from which
they have sprung. Hermes or Hermeias, once the hound
of the gods, the god of the wind and the changes of light
and darkness which it produces, the great enchanter and
conductor of souls, becomes among the Greeks the mes-
senger and right hand of Zeus, the mediator between him
and men, the ideal herald, the god of graceful speed, of
TREATMENT OF NATURE-MYTHS.
-II
music, of eloquence, and philosophy. Aphrodite is no
other than the Plienician and Mesopotamian AstartS
('Aslitoreth, Istar), but while it was the aim of philo-
sophy to infuse a deeper meaning into the naturalistic
myths of her birth out of the waters, her sovereignty
over the monsters of the ocean, and her intercourse wTith
Adonis, they were transformed by Greek poetry and art
into the loveliest of images, and she herself, though
retaining many features which recalled her origin, was
raised to be the goddess of beauty and grace, of spring
and flowers, of family peace and social harmony.
Hermeias is identical with S&ranieyas, the name of the
two dogs of Yama, the god of death, the mythic watch-
dogs in the Veda. Max Muller doubts whether Saramd,
their mother, the messenger of Indra, who goes to fetch
back the stolen cows, was a dog. But the Sdrameyau
certainly were so. Hermes possesses no Semitic trait.
His original physical significance as a god of wind
perfectly explains all the myths about him, such as the
stealing of Apollo’s cows, the slaying of Argus, his combat
with Stentor, and all his attributes, as guardian of the
flocks (the clouds), guide of the shades, herald of the gods,
god of music and eloquence, his magic power, his swift-
footedhess, &c. As god of eloquence, he naturally became
in Greece the god of philosophy as well.
That the Greeks originally possessed a goddess of
spring, beauty, and love, of their own, whose name,
however, disappeared, is highly probable; indeed, the
Latin Venus may be said to prove it. Aphrodite, how-
ever, whose name is perhaps a corruption of 'Atliar atha,
is certainly the Phenician goddess of Cyprus and Cythera,
who passed from there to the Greeks, bringing with her
Kinyras, Adonis, and Pygmalion. But all these myths,
212
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
which were once coarsely sensual, and for the most part
cosmogonic, were touched with the magic wand of their
poetry.
125. The first-fruits of this mingling of the Phenician,
Phrygian, and Hellenic elements was the brilliant civili-
sation which preceded that of Greece proper, and spread
over the whole of the west coast of Asia Minor and Crete.
It was the era when the old Lydian supremacy flourished,
together with Troas and Lycia, and the powerful kingdom
in Crete named after Minos. There it was, and then,
that the Greek mind first gave signs of possessing sufficient
strength to appropriate the Semitic elements independently,
and endow them with a new form. Then it was that the
myth of Zeus received its shape in Crete, and his cultus
was established, in the mode which soon became the pro-
perty of all Hellenes, and supplanted that of the Pelasgian
Zeus. Then it was that the Greek Herakles arose, pro-
bably in Lydia, out of the Assyrian Samdan, brought
thither by conquest. Then it was that the knightly
people of the Lycians, kinsmen of the Greeks, and their
forerunners in civilisation, after coming under the influence
of the Semitic spirit, wrought out the noble figure of
Apollo, the god of light, the son and prophet of the most
high Zeus, saviour, purifier, and redeemer, whose cultus,
lifted high above all nature-worship, spread thence over
all the lands of Greece, and exerted on the religious, moral,
and social life of their inhabitants so profound and salutary
an influence.
In Crete, several forms of Phenician cultus still pre-
vailed. This is the scene of the chief myths of Zeus,
DIFFUSION OF FOREIGN ELEMENTS.
213
which have a Semitic origin. This does not prove that
Crete was also the place of their rise, hut simply that
they there attained the form which became dominant
among the Hellenes.
The mingling of various elements may still be very
clearly traced in the Trojan tradition. By the side of
the Assyrian names Ilos (Ilv) and Assarakos stand Phry-
gian, like Kapys, Dymas, Askanios, and Kasandra, and
pure Greek names such as Andromache, Astyanax, and
others. Some heroes even bear double names—Paris-
Alexandros, Dareios-Hektor—of which only the second
are Greek. The first have a pure Eranian form (Paris,
from par, “ deserter ”), but they are doubtless really
Phrygian, as this language was connected alike with
Er&nian and with Greek. On this subject see further
Curtius, History of Greece, vol. i. pp. 47-68.
126. Last of all, the higher civilisation made its way
to Hellas, Greece proper, both by direct colonisation on
the part of the Phenicians, and to a greater extent by
Greek settlements from Asia Minor and Crete. The point
attained by the religious development of the Acheans,
before the supremacy of the Dorians, is shown by the
Homeric poems. The gods are no longer half-conscious
nature-powers; they are beings possessing moral liberty
and freedom of action like men—they are in the same
way subject to pain and grief, and they are obliged to
support life by food. But their food is of a heavenly
kind, which secures them immortality; in theory, at least,
all things are known and possible to them, and the chief
of them rule no more over a limited realm. Although
they are not themselves raised above passions and selfish
desires, they are nevertheless the guardians and avengers
214
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
of the moral order of the world, the violation of which
excites their wrath more than an injury offered to them-
selves. The world of the gods is arranged after the
pattern of the households of earth. To the council
(/3o\IKy\) of the kings, mustered round their leader, corre-
sponds the assembly of the high Olympian gods, under the
presidency of Zeus, their superior, not by privilege of birth,
but, like the chief of the princes of the earth, by his greater
power and ability. The popular assembly (dyopd) has its
heavenly counterpart in the convocation of all divine
beings on certain occasions to learn the will of the
king. Their supremacy is established; the contest
with the rude powers of nature has long been finished,
and they have been subdued for ever. In this respect
they have advanced beyond the Yedic and Germanic gods.
On this and the following sections compare. Nagelsbach,
Homerische Theologie.
Between the religion of the Acheans and their adver-
saries, the Dardanians, there is no essential difference.
But the gods which protect the latter stand, like their
heroes, at a perceptibly higher level than those of the
former, which correctly commemorates the fact that the
inhabitants of Hellas were still behind those of Asia
Minor in civilisation.
The difference between gods and men is very naively
indicated, among other signs, by the doctrine that it is
no human blood, but a peculiar fluid which runs in
the divine veins.
127. High above all the other gods stands Zeus, whose
power is unlimited, who is not bound by any recognised
restraint, and is alone not subject to the will of the
THE HOMERIC THEOLOGY.
majority. Even his consort Hera, who generally opposes
him, can effect nothing but by and with him. Vainly
does his brother Poseidon strive to establish similar pre-
rogatives. Most closely connected with him are Athena
and Apollo, who constitute with him a supreme triad.
As Atheua is the personified Metis, the “ reason,” the
wisdom of the divine Father, who withstands him, yet
to whom he always yields, Apollo, no less beloved of
Zeus, is his mouth, the revealer of his counsel, the son,
who, ever and in all things, is of one will with him. For
it is one of the features which distinguishes Zeus from
the other gods, that he never communicates directly with
men, but only through his messengers, Iris or Hermes.
In reality, all the gods are little else than representa-
tives of Zeus, each in his own realm which he has
received from him. Thus, monarchism has touched the
borders of monotheism.
The dependence of the gods and of the whole world
on Zeus is finely described in the well-known passage,
____ *~27-
The circumstance that Dionysos and Dem6t6r have but
little significance in the Homeric poems does not war-
rant the conclusion that their worship was not yet
generally diffused. But they were chiefly popular 'gods,
worshipped by the tillers of the soil, and they did not,
therefore, figure in the aristocratic Homeric society.
128. The conviction that the world was not ruled
merely by an arbitrary will, was expressed by the doc-
trine of destiny (atcra, fioipa), though the representation of it
was deficient in clearness, and the question whether the
2:6
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS,
supreme god determined the course of destiny, or whether
lie, like all the other gods, was subject to it, so that he had
only to consult and to execute it, was answered now in
one way and now in another. The deity makes known
his will to men by personal revelation, by miracles and
signs, or by inspiration and dreams, but most clearly
of all by his works. Yet the trustworthiness of signs
is already called in question, and once even the noble
sentiment is uttered that they are insignificant compared
with the divine voice in the heart of man, which com-
mands him to do right without thought of the conse-
quences. Morality and religion are already in intimate
connection, but psychology and the belief in immortality
still stand on the animistic level.
Zeus and Moira frequently coalesce in the description
of the poet; what she does is also ascribed to him and
to the other gods; good and evil gifts are allotted by
him. On the other hand, he is represented as knowing
nothing of the will of destiny by himself; he is obliged
to consult it with his scales, and is bound to fulfil it com-
pletely.
In the Homeric psychology a noteworthy separation
is made between the understanding and the soul
the former of which dies with the body; an idea
which we also meet with among the Ilindhs.
Eetribution after death is as yet scarcely mentioned.
The shades continue the occupations which they dis-
charged during their lifetime: in the kingdom of the
departed, Teiresias is still a soothsayer, Minos a judge,
Orion a huntsman.
129. The rise of Delphi marks a new and important
era in the history of the Greek religion. Dodona con-
INFLUENCE OF DELPHI.
217
tinued to be spoken of with reverence, but its influence
had long been limited to a small and backward portion
of the country. The other religious centre, also, the
Thessalian Olympus, was gradually abandoned by the
more gifted tribes which had surrounded it, and lay in
the midst of a land of barbarians. At Delphi, lying at
the foot of Parnassus, there was in existence already
before Homer a famous oracle, first of the Earth-goddess,
afterwards of the Pythian Apollo ; and it was located
in a temple where Zeus and Dionysos were worshipped
together with the deities already named. When the
Dorians had quitted Thessaly to seek new homes, they
attached themselves as ardent worshippers of Apollo to
the Delphic sanctuary, and wherever they settled they
established the cultus of the Pythian deity. Delphi
became the chief seat of a new Amphiktyonic league,
and was, in fact, for a considerable time, the centre of the
nationality of the Hellenes. The power exercised by the
Delphic priesthood in the centuries between the Doric
migration and the Persian wars was very great Ho new
political institutions, no fresh cultus, no additional games,
were established without the sanction of the Pythian
oracle, and it was carefully on the watch against the
neglect of the old and the introduction of new gods,
while it strove to maintain peace between the different
Hellenic states. It had its representatives and exponents
in the chief cities of the principal states, and foreign
princes or states which sought to enter into relations with
Greece applied to the Delphic Apollo, who spoke all
languages. The colonies, whose despatch was always
determined and directed by him, spread his worship far
2iS RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
and near. It was not a new religion, destined to replace
the worship of Zens, for Apollo was simply the revealer
of his holy will; it was a higher stage Of the development
of this same religion, by which some bounds were set to
polytheism, and the ethical took the place of the physi-
cal. It accepted no outward actions as satisfactory; only
with a pure heart might the deity be approached, and
self-examination and self-knowledge were the first and
loftiest of his demands. The false and double-minded
gained no light from Apollo, the evil-doer no help; but
/ on the weak he bestowed protection, and on the repentant
' grace. Truth and self-control, without self-mortification
or renunciation of nature, a steady equilibrium between
the sensible and the spiritual, moral earnestness com-
bined with an open eye for the happiness and the beauty
of life, such were the characteristic features of the Del-
phic Apollo-worship, in which the Greek religion almost
reached the climax of its development.
Other places besides Delphi served as the centres of
these leagues of states; for example, the sanctuary of
the Ephesian Artemis.
The legislation bearing the name of Lycurgus originated
in Delphi, and received its sanction from there. "When
the sanctuary at Olympia in Elis had acquired a higher
significance by the protection of Sparta, it was consecrated
by the Delphic oracle, and Apollo was placed beside Zeus
as the guardian of the Olympic games and institutions.
No Hellenic state might consult the oracle with hostile
intentions against another Hellenic state. The memory
of a civil war might not be perpetuated at Delphi by any
permanent trophies. It was not till the period of decline
after the Persian wars that this principle was infringed.
INFLUENCE OF DELPHI.
219
It is well known that the Pythian oracle was consulted
by Phrygian and Lydian princes, and by Italian peoples,
amongst others, even by the Komans. Foreign nations
were regarded at Delphi as guests.
For him who approached 'with a pure heart, so it was
said, a single drop of the consecrated water of the well of
Castalia sufficed; but he who came with an evil mind
could not wash away with a whole ocean the pollution of
his sin. It was a mark of the ethical character of the
Delphic religion that the doctrine of retribution after
death accompanied it. This doctrine never, it is true,
became really a matter of popular belief among the
Greeks, but it was promoted by men of earnest views,
and it was proclaimed by poets and sages connected with
Delphi, such as Hesiod, Solon, Pythagoras, and Pindar.
130. The general diffusion of civilisation and knowledge
among the Greeks, which resulted from their splendid
gifts, their love of freedom, and other accessory causes,
prevented the rise of a dominant class of priests or literati,
like that which existed among the Brahmans. Moreover,
the priesthoods were generally in the hands of the nobles,
and were not mutually dependent on each other. Priests
and prophets (jiavreii), however, received high honour, for
it was they who expounded the signs of the divine will,
interpreted the utterances of the deity, and bestowed for-
giveness of sins. Above all, however, the Delphic priests
contrived to maintain their position at the head of civili-
sation, and of everything which went on in Greece and
the neighbouring states. The form of the ancient oracle
uttered by the Pythia in ecstasy was retained, but the
real answer was given by them, and as their decisions
were as a rule wise and practical, they were largely
220
-
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
invoked. This in itself secured them great power over
the actual course of affairs. But they also contrived to
give a definite direction to literature, philosophy, and art,
though they did not themselves take part in them. They
formed an intellectual aristocracy, which stood in relation
with all the foremost men of different countries, which
pointed out who were the best and the wisest of their
time, which led the way in a certain edifying style of
history and in the composition of sacred songs, which
encouraged the authors of didactic and lyric poetry, and
thus proved itself the active ready representative of the god
who led the band of the Muses. The system of Pytha-
goras, who founded a real religious community in a
thoroughly Delphic spirit, the poetic school of Hesiod,
whose Theogony was even regarded as a book of revela-
tion and a rule of belief, were called into existence by
the influence of the priesthood of Delphi. The festive
games, also, which were of so much importance in this
period for the national life of the Hellenes, were regulated
by them, and the Pythian games were favourably distin-
guished from the others by the prominence given in them
not to bodily exercises, but to the musical contest.
The real cause which prevented the rise of a hierarchy
in Greece was not its polytheism, for that proved no
obstacle in India, but chiefly the general civilisation of
the whole people, which made theology in the hands of
priests and philosophers not an obstacle, but a means of
development, and was in its turn a result of the active
intercourse which the position of their country enabled
the Greeks to maintain.
It was by Delphi that the seven famous Sages were
INFLUENCE OF DELPHI.
22 1
enumerated, whose teachings were framed, like the He-
brew, in short maxims. It is well known that at a much
later time still the oracle, in reply to a question by his
disciple Cherephon, declared Socrates to be the wisest of
all mortals.
The festival games at Olympia were at first solely
gymnastic. The Nemean and Isthmian were founded
with the sanction of the Delphic oracle, on condition that
they should be open to all Hellenes. This specification
was characteristic of the Delphic policy.
131. About the end of the sixth century B.C., the
influence exercised for three hundred years by Delphi
began to decline. This was in part to be ascribed to
circumstances, especially to the lessening interest of
Sparta, which found a new religious centre in Olympia,
and to the rivalry between this state and Athens, which,
together with Sikyon, now attached itself more closely to
Delphi. But it was to a still larger extent their own
fault that the priests of Apollo lost their power. They
ceased to be faithful to their own principles; they exchanged
their sound statesmanship for a narrow-minded and tem-
porising policy; they no longer followed the pure moral
aims of earlier days, but pursued particular interests ;
they strove to maintain their position by craft and
intrigue; and they even sold themselves for Asiatic
gold. In the great conflict with Persia, Delphi no longer
represented the national spirit; it wavered, and led others
to waver, and thus injured the common cause. The great
god was still an object of reverence, but the people began
to despise the oracle. The aristocratic spirit of the Delphic
priesthood, also, was no longer in harmony with the pre-
222
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
vailing spirit of the time. The era of the democratic
Dionysos-worship, which at Delphi only occupied the
second place, had begun.
The contest with the Persians had not only a national,
but a religious character as well In spite of the vacil-
lating attitude of the oracle, the allies resolved to dedicate
a tenth part of the spoil to the Delphic god.
132. The national religion of the Hellenes, however,
was not to succumb without breaking forth into a splendour
hitherto unknown. Involved in a struggle for very life
with the increasing unbelief, it put forth all its powers,
and then, even when decline had already set in, it attained
the fulness of its glorious stature. It was at Athens
that this last conflict was fought out. The Doric migra-
tion had brought together in Attica a number of Achean
and Ionic tribes, and had fused together several religions,
with that mingling of elements which is always productive
of rich development. The teacher of Athens was Delphi,
to which it was faithfully attached, and it was by Apollo-
worship, which became the popular religion under Solon,
that the foundations of a higher civilisation were laid, but
the special contributions made by Athens itself were called
forth under the impulse of the cultus of Dionysos and the
worship of Athena. The first of these was favoured by
the tyrants, Peisistratos and his successors, owing to their
readiness as demagogues to promote a cultus which had
proved more acceptable than any other to the masses of
the people. To the myth of the Thracian god, who was
worshipped at Eleusis by the side of Demeter, Onomakritos,
by a new mystic system, imparted a higher significance.
THE WORSHIP OF DIONYSOS.
223
The Bacchic choric-song, the dithyramb, was developed
into a separate art by Lasos and his disciple Pindar, who
was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, and made it
the vehicle of the most elevated religious thoughts. These
choric songs and dances grew into dialogues and perform-
ances, which were in their turn the source of tragedy and
comedy. By slow degrees a greater freedom was attained
in the choice of dramatic subjects, and tragedy, in the
hands of Eschylus and Sophokles, became the means of
bringing forth in living forms to general view the kernel
of religious truth hidden in the mytliologic shell. Both
were men of their time, with an open eye for all advance,
but at the same time earnestly devoted to their ancestral
religion. The deep religious feeling which characterised
the Dionysos-worship—the fruit of the Semitic spirit, and
the genuinely human element contributed by the Hellenic
—were fused by them into a noble unity.
Curtius, History of Greece, i. p. 304, has called attention
to the number of great men in Athens who were descended
on the father’s or mother’s side from noble Messenian
families who had emigrated thither. Such were Kodros,
Solon, Peisistratos, Ivleisthenes, Perikles, Plato, Alki-
biades.
The most ancient local deity of Attika was Zeus
Herkeios. Eleusis was the seat of the worship of Posei-
don and Demeter, with which that of Dionysos was
united. The contest between Athena and Poseidon at
Athens is well known. Apollo was early worshipped at
several places on the coast.
When the chief families at Athens were burdened with
blood-guiltiness, Solon sent for the prophet Epimenides,
a man of impressive character, from Crete. He puri-
224
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
fied and atoned for everything in the name of Apollo,
who then, under his influence, became the national
god.
Eschylus was himself born at Eleusis, and belonged to
a family which was very closely connected with the sanc-
tuary. He grew up beneath the influence of the grave
rites performed there. The union of the religious and
humanist elements is nowhere more strikingly displayed
than in the Titan Prometheus, as he is represented by
Eschylus—proud and noble, unwearied in thought and
endeavour, unsubdued in conflict and humiliation, but
the victim of his own self-exaltation and wantonness,
which made him forget that the only true wisdom has its
source in Zeus, and in the heart of genuine piety.
133. The spirit which was promoted by poetry was
fostered also at Athens by sculpture. It was most closely
connected with the worship of Athena, the goddess of art,
the “ workmistress ” (Ergane), and shed most glory on her
cultus and that of her father Zeus. Its greatest genius,
Pheidias, flourished in the time of Kimon and Perikles.
While the more advanced no longer found in the ugly old
images to which the people continued to pay a supersti-
tious reverence, the deity whom they mentally conceived,
and many a philosopher ridiculed the worship of images,
Pheidias wrought statues which were not intended to be
worshipped, but were designed to furnish a purer idea of
the deity, and to be dedicated to it as worthy offerings.
This was especially the case with his two masterpieces,
the virgin Athena of the Parthenon and the Zeus of
Olympia. In these two works of art, and in the ancient
*
Tragedy, the religion of the Hellenes reached the climax
of its development. The ideal humanisation of deity, for
ITS CONNECTION WITH ART.
225
which the way was prepared by the cultus of the Delphic
Apollo, was perfected at Athens by Eschylus, Sophokles,
and Pheidias.
The family of Pheidias was hereditarily devoted not
only to art, but also to the worship of Athena Ergane.
In the Athena Parthenos Pheidias succeeded in com-
bining chastity with gentleness, victorious strength with
calm peace, profound wisdom with clearness; while the
Zeus of Olympia united the greatest and most impressive
sublimity with clemency, supreme dominion and power
with graciousness. Both works, the productions of the
highest art, were at the same time the expression of a
profound religious idea.
134. But not even the miracles of art, which always
hastens to the aid of a dying form of religion, can save it
from ruin, when it no longer answers to the wants of a
new generation. It was impossible for poets and sculptors
to arrest the increasing decline of the Hellenic religion.
The causes of that decline lay in the triumph of democracy,
which weakened the reverence for lawful authority, the
great disasters which befell the state and excited doubts
of the power of the protecting deities, the boldness of
philosophical speculation which questioned the personality
of the gods, the genuineness of their signs, the validity of
their tradition, and set unintelligent powers in the place
of the living gods of Olympus, while sophistic, the bastard-
daughter of philosophy, undermined both faith and morals.
The proof of this is furnished by the constant increase of
superstition. Men sought satisfaction for their religious
cravings in all kinds of foreign worships, from dirty
mendicant priests, who promised atonement for money,
p
2:6
-
RELIGION AMONG THE GREEKS.
and ventriloquists who professed to be inspired. Secret
associations replaced the state mysteries. Vainly did a
poet like Euripides strive to unite the religious aspirations
which filled his mind, with the claims of thought. He
himself was too much affected by doubt to be able to
harmonise the traditional belief with the ideas of his time,
and he died, gloomy and dissatisfied, far from his native
land. Had it been possible for any one to reconcile these
conflicting elements, it would have been effected by a
man of prophetic nature, like Sokrates, the opponent of
the Sophists, an acute inquirer into existing systems, a
profound and original thinker, but at the same time
endowed with a heart of childlike piety, and a lofty moral
character, which wrought his faith, his doctrine, and his
life into complete accord. In him the reconciliation of
religion and philosophy was accomplished. But the
authorised representatives of religion rejected his aid,
' like that of all the noble thinkers of their days. Their
fanatical zeal, a new sign of decline, was not directed
only against the philosophers and the sophists, including
even the religious Anaxagoras; it pursued Alkibiades, it
did not spare Perikles and Pheidias, and it endeavoured
to establish a regular inquisition. Sokrates, also, became
their victim. Condemned for apostasy from the ancestral
religion, for introducing new religions, and for corrupting
youth, he was forced to drink the poisoned cup. A religion
which thus murders its noblest thinker, who has been
declared by deity itself to be the wisest of all mortals,
has closed the path to all further advance, and has no
other future before it than lingering petrifaction or
death.
, ITS DECLINE.
227
The rich activity of religious art, just at the period of
a religion’s decline, is a common phenomenon. Instances
abound in the splendid temples of Nebukadrezar in
Babylon, in the revival of sacred art in Egypt under the
Saitic princes, and even under the Ptolemies, in Rome
under the early emperors, and in the Italy of the Renais-
sance.
Among the foreign religions which now found great
acceptance in Greece may be named the Phrygian worship
of Sabazios and the Mother of the gods, the Thracian
cultus of Kotytto, and the Syrian of Adonis, which was
already widely diffused in the East. Between the adop-
tion of these foreign forms of worship in a state of decay,
and the independent working of lofty religious ideas and
conceptions, to which the Hellenic religion was indebted
in the period of its growth for its advanced development,
there is a vast difference.
Sokrates was diligent in sacrificing; he revered the
oracles, and loyally held fast to the religion of his fathers.
The Apollo-worship won his greatest sympathy; the guid-
ing principle of each was the same. He gained his belief
in deity by the path of inward experience, and he heard
within him the voice of his good spirit, which was with
him no figure of speech, but an intense conviction. The
miserable nature of the charges brought against him is
clearly indicated by the description of this as the intro-
duction of new gods. The close affinity between the
persecutors of Sokrates and the Sadducees who put Jesus
to death is well illustrated by their hypocrisy in postpon-
ing his execution for thirty days, to prevent the desecration
of the city while the Athenian festival-ship was on its
voyage to Delos.
The persecution of Pheidias, who died broken-hearted
in prison, was also inspired by religious zeal: he was
2 2 8
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
accused of having perpetuated his own likeness and that
of Perikles on the shield of the Parthenos. Alkibiades
was perhaps not so innocent of ridiculing the Eleusinian
mysteries, which was the charge brought against him.
His guilt, however, was never proved, and the mutilation
of the Hermse, which was also laid at his door, was
probably the work of his enemies themselves. The fury
of the zealots knew no bounds. Every honest man was
in danger of being accused of atheism. Open liars were
praised and honoured; noble citizens were laid on the
rack. So untrue is it that intolerance was alien to the
Greek religion.
II.
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
Literature.—T. Mommsen, History of Borne, translated
from the German by W. P. Dickson, 4 vols., London,
1867 (6th Germ. ed. 1874). A. Schwegler, Romische
Gesehichte in Zeitalter der Konige, Tubingen, 1853. I.
A. Hartung, Die Religion der Rimer, 2 vols., Erlangen,
1836. L. Preller, Romische Mythologie, Berlin, 1858
(2d ed. 1865). For the earlier literature comp. Preller,
ibid., pp. 41-43-
135. The religions of the Greeks and Eomans were
originally, like their languages, very closely connected, as
the names of some of the chief gods prove. The traces
of agreement would certainly he still more numerous,
had not the difference in national character and in out-
ward circumstances led each of the two religions to
develop itself for a considerable time in exactly opposite
directions, till the nations came once more into contact
DIFFERENCES FROM THE GREEK.
229
?with each other, and their religions blended together.
The aim of the Greek was towards a more and more com-
plete anthropomorphism, which Attic sculpture wrought
out to perfection; but to this the Eoman felt an instinc-
tive aversion. He was too little of an artist, and had
also too deep a reverence for the higher powers to repre-
sent them as beings resembling men. The powers of
nature, so far as they had not yet in an earlier period
become personal deities, remained spirits to his view, or
became personifications of abstract ideas. Tins is the
character likewise of the new gods whom they created,
beings who only possess a nebulous existence, rarely
uniting in marriage or forming amorous connections, and
remaining for the most part childless. The remains of
the old Eoman mythology are therefore extremely scanty.
But the ideas which were elevated to the rank of spirits
are innumerable. Not only has every man his Genius,
and every woman her Juno, but every deity, also, to-
gether with every being, every object, every action or
function, every moral quality even, has its own spirit,
which is limited to its own province. If the dominant
elements in Greek mythology are personality, freedom,
and the richest diversity, the Eoman theology is charac-
terised by the abstract idea, by necessity, by the severest
order and monotony. The difference between the two
corresponds exactly to that between the Hindu and Per-
sian religions, to the latter of which the character of the
Eoman affords a complete parallel.
Identity of name subsists between Jupiter (Dims) and
Zeus, Zeus pater, Vesta and Hestia, and probably between
Juno and Dione. Janus, it has been suggested, is con-
230
-
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
nected with the Greek form Zen. Mars and Ares are
regarded by recent investigators as entirely different
deities. I am not only of the opposite opinion, but I
even believe the names have originally the same signifi-
cance. Neptunus, a name which disappeared among the
Greeks, is certainly the Aparn napaf of the ancient
Aryans.
The intercourse with Eastern nations, which can be
traced back among the Greeks to the earliest times, did
not begin among the Romans till after their national life
had developed, and it consequently produced a much
deeper impression on the religious ideas of the former
than on those of the latter.
There is a characteristic difference between the Greeks
and Romans in prayer. The Greek looked towards the
deity with uncovered head, the Roman veiled his face.
The nebulous character of many Roman deities also
appears from the formulae: “ Sive Deo, Sire Deae,” “ Sive
Mas, Sive Femina,” “Sive quo alio nomine te appellari
volueris,” employed concerning the gods or addressed to
them.
It appears that the marriages of the gods, and their
children likewise, were much more numerous in the
earliest times, but that such representations were after-
wards rejected by the strict Romans. One of the most
important survivals of genuine Roman or rather of Italian
mythology, is the myth of Hercules and Cacus, the old
Indo-Germanic conflict between the god of light and the
cloud demon; but it is noteworthy that the Greek Herakles
has already stepped into the place of the national god, and
that Cacus (the “ burning”! or the “blind ”1) was brought
into connection with the Greek word xaxoi.
The term Genius is employed for the spirits of female
beings also, Genius Junonis Sospitce, Genius Famce, Genius
ITS ABSTRACT CONCEPTIONS.
231
Forinarum. The fertility in the creation of special genii
which distinguished the Roman religion particularly,
may he estimated from the fact that not only every con-
dition of social life, but every operation of agriculture,
ploughing, sowing, harvesting, down to the opening of
the barns,—hay, even the annual supply of corn in the
market (Annona), and the healthy flesh of the human
body (Carnia, properly speaking a demon who kept off
blood-sucking vampires), had their special representatives
in the world of spirits.
The peculiarity here indicated as attaching to the
Roman religion is connected with the Roman national
character, which Mommsen finds in the profound sense
of the existence of the general in the particular, in the
devotion and self-sacrifice of the individual to the whole,
and which he regards as the basis also of the political
unity and the universal dominion of the Roman Empire.
The resemblance of the Roman and Persian religions
is indeed striking. In both the ethical rises above the
mythological elements ; in I'arsism abstract ideas become
in like manner immortal saints (amesha sphita) and mini-
sters of Ahuramazda, and there also, just as among the
Romans, everything, including even the gods, has its
own spirit or Fravashi, a word which does not differ very
widely in meaning from Genius (connected with genus,
gigno).
136. In spite of the complete modification of the
Roman religion subsequently by the adoption of foreign
elements, particularly those of Greek and Oriental origin,
it remained true to this character during every period of
its existence, and continued to develop itself in this
direction until the end. When silver coinage was intro-
duced, about the middle of the third century B.c., Aescu-
232
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
lanus, tbe ancient genius of coppeT money, immediately
begot a son, Argentinus. The first Greek gods whom tbe
Romans made their own received new and intelligible
names in place of their former Greek designations, which
had ceased to he understood, or they were modified so as
to represent some abstract conception. Thus Mercurius,
the god of trade, was imitated from the Greek Hermes;
Minerva, the “ thinking,” from the Greek Athena; while
Proserpina was the Greek Persephone. The number of
genii who were mere abstractions continued to increase.
Terror and pallor in battle, peace and freedom, hope and
good fortune, became the objects, as spirits of dread and
blessing, of a real worship; and if in ancient times only
Fides, “ good faith,” was venerated as a separate deity,
altars and sanctuaries were soon erected for several other
virtues, divine or moral attributes, such as Concordia,
Pudicitia, Mens, Pietas, and Aequitas; at a later date to
Constantia, Idberalitas, Providentia; and finally even to
the Indulgentia and Clementia Ccesaris. From this last
phenomenon to the deification of the emperors themselves,
which also, indeed, originated under the influence of the
East, there was but a step.
The designation of Greek gods by Latin names, so that
the Romans could better understand their meaning, has
nothing to do with the fusion of Greek with old Italic
deities, like that of Aphrodite with Yenus, of Bakchos with
Liber, of Demeter with Ceres, and of Artemis with Diana.
The Virtutes, which were the earliest to become Genii,
were originally attributes of distinct deities, as Fides of
Jupiter (comp. Dius Fidius), Concordia of Yenus, Pudicitia
of Juno, Mens of Fortuna.
ITS EARLY CHARACTER.
233
A most remarkable example of personification is found
also in that of the divine voice, as Aius Locutius.
137. The religion of the Romans stands at first at
about the same point of development as the Pelasgic.
The number of spirits or genii is unlimited, and they are
worshipped with more zeal than any others. Among
them may be named the lares, or Lords, who were at
first, at any rate, only worshipped in private; the Penates,
or hearth-spirits, to whom, together with Vesta, public
adoration was paid; the Manes, the Larvae, and the
Lcniures, all of whom were souls of the dead, the first
being good and pure, properly spirits of light, while the
two last wandered about as ghosts, not having as yet
come to their rest, and at a later period were regarded
definitely as evil spirits. No sharp lines were drawn to
distinguish these spirits, to whom other groups might be
added from one another, for they were in fact only different
representations of the same idea. Nevertheless, it is
incorrect to name even the oldest Roman religion poly-
daemonism. The decisive step which leads to polytheism
had been already taken. The term Pei, Pivi, was no
longer applied exclusively to the spirits of the sky; it
became, just as among the Greeks, the generic name for
personal and intelligent beings belonging to the earth and
the under-world as well as to the sky, and ruling nature
by their will (as numina). The transition was still in
progress. The evil deities who were dreaded, such as
Vediovis, were still worshipped equally with the good.
Their number, moreover, was still small. Some, like
Robigo, the god of the corn-rust, Consus, probably the god
234
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
of the hidden germs, Carmentis, the deity of the magic
incantation, and others, were not yet much more than
spirits; hut others, such as the good shepherd’s god,
Faunus, the god of sowing, Saturnus (Saetumus), with his
joyous festival, the fire-gods, Vulcan and Vesta, and espe-
cially the three most eminent of all, Jupiter, Janus, and
Mars, were personal deities in the fullest sense, possessing
supreme power not only over the realm of nature, hut
also over society and morals.
The genius was also called Cerus or Kerus, a word con-
nected with the Sanskrit root hi, “ to make,” “ to do.”
The Lares do not differ much in character from the''
Greek heroes. If their name is identical with the well-
known Etrurian word Lars (which is, however, declined
differently), they must be the “lords,” the “potentates.”
The term Fenates is derived from perms, the domestic
“ hearth,” connected with penes and penitus. The name
Manes, allied with mane, “ early in the morning,” denotes
the “bright ones,” the “pure.” The Silvans and Fauns
bear more resemblance to the hands of Hindh deitie3.
They are the spirits of the forest and the field.
Besides the deities specified in the text, the oldest
Roman festival calendar also mentions Tellus, the nourish-
ing earth; Ceres, the goddess of growth; Pales, the deity
who gave fruitfulness to the flocks; Ops, the goddess of
the harvest; Terminus, the boundary-stone of the land;
Neptunus, Tiber, Mater (matuta), the morning goddess, a
sort of dawn; and Liber and Libera, regarded by some as
the “deliverers” from bondage and sorrow, by others as
the gods of the blessing of children. It is noteworthy
that Juno, Minerva, and Diana, though they were very
early worshipped in Rome, the two first on the Capitol,
the last on the Aventine, have not as yet appeared.
FUSION OF DIFFERENT ELEMENTS. 235
138. Here, as elsewhere, it is hy a fusion of different
elements that a higher development has heen reached.
The religion of the earliest inhabitants of Eome had not
advanced beyond that of shepherds and tillers of the soil;
it was from the Sabines that higher religious conceptions,
together with a certain patriarchal-hierarchic polity, were
first introduced. As Eome became more of an Italian
centre, the number of gods who received its citizenship
increased, and if this caused a loss of the old simplicity,
the horizon was at the same time enlarged. After the
union of Latins and Sabines, three gods were raised far
above the others; Jupiter was the highest, Mars the most
worshipped, and Janus the most characteristic of the
people. Jupiter, the good father, source of blessings and of
creation, sustainer of good faith and honesty, was still, as
the severe requirements imposed on his priest evince, and
as results from his whole character, pre-eminently the god
of purity and holiness. Whatever Mars may have been
in an earlier period, whether sun-god or spring-god, lie
had certainly by this time become, par excellence, the god
of war, protector of the flocks of his people, champion of
the citizens, who received as his spring-harvest the Ver
Sacrum, the young men sent forth to conquer for them-
selves a new abode, and whose priests, from their magic
war-dance, were called the Salii. Janus {Dianus, the
“ light one,” the “ bright”), with his two faces, the god of
the summer, who opened the day, and afterwards also the
year, gave his name to the month which succeeded the
winter month, was the opener of all life, the beginner of
all movement, and almost became the Creator, but the
soldierly Eomans connected him likewise with war.
236 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
Even the Palatine Mars, before the coming of the
Sabines, was still more of a nature-god than of a god of
war, and only acquired this latter significance by his
union with Quirinus, the war-god of the Sabines. Diffe-
rent derivations are assigned to his name, which would
make him either the god of death (Mavors, Maun, Mors,
so Mommsen), or a sun-god (from mar, to “shine,” to
“ sparkle,” Roscher). The proposal of Roscher to identify
him with Apollo, on the ground of some external corre-
spondences, seems to me to ignore the vast difference
between the character of the two deities. In the opinion
of Preller, Mars is the same as Mas, “ the male power ”
(comp. Maspiter, Marmar, and his marriage with Nerio,
whose name is connected with the Sabine Nero, “ strong,”
and with the root nri, nar, “ the male element”), and in
this capacity he would be the god of new life, of re-awak-
ening fruitfulness, and the genius of war. Mommsen and
Preller may at bottom be both right, for mors and mas
probably both have the same root (Sanskr. mri) signifying
death (comp. Sanskr. marya, “man,” “warrior,” maria,
mariya, “ man,” and the Maruts, the Yedic gods of storm
and war). The Ver Sacrum was a sacrifice of men and
cattle to the god of war, in the hope that this propitiation
would induce him to spare during the year the rest of the
warriors and the flocks of the community. The practice
of opening the temple of Janus Quirinus at Rome at the
outbreak of war, and closing it again when peace was,
established, has been variously, but not yet satisfactorily,
explained. I look for its origin in the old animistic
notion that it was needful to give the deity an oppor-
tunity of accompanying the troops.
139. Much greater weight was attached by the prac-
tical Roman to the cultus than to the doctrines of religion.
ITS CULTUS.
237
-
This was the one point of supreme importance; in his /
view the truly devout man was he who punctually per-
formed his religious obligations, who was pious according
to law. There was a debt to be paid to the gods which
must he discharged, hut it was settled if the letter of the
contract was fulfilled, and the symbol was given in place of
the reality. The animistic conception that the gods might
he employed as instruments for securing practical advan-
tages, lies at the basis of the whole Roman cultus. In
the earliest times, therefore, it was quite simple, so far as
regards the absence of images or temples, hut it was at
the same time exceedingly complicated and burdened
with all kinds of ceremonies and symbolic actions, and
the least neglect destroyed the efficacy of the sacrifice.
This necessitated the assistance of priests acquainted
with the whole ritual, not to serve as mediators, for the
approach to the deity was open to all, but to see that the
pious action failed in no essential element. Each god
had his Flamen or “fire-kindler” (literally “blower”).
Of these there were twelve, the three principal ones
(majorcs) being the priest of Jupiter, the Flamen dialis,
who was hound by rigid obligations, and the two priests
of Mars, the Flamines Jfartialis and Quirinalis, the heads
of the two Salian-Colleges. The wives of these Flamines
performed the cultus of the corresponding goddesses. No
special deity claimed the services of the Pontifices, the
bridge- or road-makers, a priesthood whose head, the
Ponli/ex Maximus, was rising higher and higher in
authority, though at this period, at any rate, the three
Flamines majorcs were still his superiors; the Augurs,
also, who discerned the will of the gods from the flight
233 RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
of birds, and otter sacred orders, were likewise uncon-
nected with any particular deity. Everything was regu-
lated with precision by the government; and the fact
that the highest of the priests was always under the
control of the state prevented the rise of a priestly
supremacy, the absence of which in Greece was due to
other causes; but the consequence was that the Roman
religion remained dry and formal, and was external rather
than inward. Even the purity (castitas), on which such
great stress was laid, was only sacerdotal, and was attained
by lustration, sprinkling, and fumigation, and the great
value attached to prayer, so that a single error had to be
atoned for as a neglect, had its basis in the superstitious
belief that it possessed a high magic power. Such a
religion was certainly intelligible to all; it was not with-
out a favourable influence on political and social life,
and it was admirably adapted to form a well-organised
army of conquerors, a nation that could rule the world,
but to spiritual life it contributed nothing, and it did
little for the advancement of speculation, poetry, or
art.
It was not necessary to offer to the thundering lieaven-
god or to the river-god of the Tiber any human sacrifices,
but to the former onions and poppy-heads were offered
for his lightning to strike, instead of human heads, while
thirty puppets made of rushes were annually cast into
the latter.
Yarro regrets the days when the gods were worshipped
“ sine simulacro.” In fact the little “ houses of the gods ”
(iaedicula), which came into use in early times, were re-
garded as departures from the law of Numa. It is
ITS CULTUS.
239
erroneous to quote this circumstance in proof of the
purity of the primitive cultus; it only indicates the
low stage at which that cultus stood. The sacred trees,
stones (Jupiter lapis), and animals (the wolf of Mars, and
his woodpecker, Pieus, who even becomes in tradition a
pre-historic king, Picumnus), prove that it was originally
nothing more than fetishism.
The Flamen dialis might not touch anything unclean,
nor hear the lamentations for the dead, nor tread upon
a grave. He might not put away his wife, nor marry a
second time, and the thoroughly patriarchal character of
his priestly functions is revealed in the rule that on the
death of his wife he must lay down his office.
Human sacrifices were not uncommon among the
Romans also in early times. It was said that they were
abolished by Numa. But even down to the days of the
emperors a human victim, though he was a condemned
criminal, was put to death, and slaughtered enemies and
those who suffered capital punishment were regarded as
offerings to tlie gods. The self-sacrifice of individuals
(devovere se) on occasion of plagues or disasters was also
prompted by the same idea.
It was an instance of the favourable influence exerted
by the Roman religion upon social life that certain crimes
which were not dealt with by any law, such as the sale
of a wife or of a married son, the beating of a father, or
the violation of hospitality, were subject to the curse of
the gods, that is, involved a kind of excommunication, of
which men stood in great dread.
The anxious care for purity, and the belief in the magic
power of prayer, are further points of concord between
the Roman and the Paxsee religions. Scrupulous ad-
herence to forms, which frequently led among the Romans
to a repetition of the sacrifices, on some occasions even
240
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
as many as thirty times, was common to all ancient
priestly religions, but was seldom so strongly developed
as in the case before us.
140. The Tarquinii and Servius Tullius gave an
entirely new direction to the state religion, which was
pursued without interruption after their fall, and in fact
until the decline of pre-Christian Eome. They founded
a splendid temple on the Capitol for Jupiter, as the
mightiest and greatest of the gods, Optimus Maximus;
others placed Juno and Minerva by his side. With this
temple splendid games and a brilliant cultus were
associated. The ancient patriarchal god of light and
purity thus became the powerful ruler, of whose citadel
it was said that it should become the head of the whole
world; he was the divine personification of the conquer-
ing Boman state. Such he continued to be. Into his
temple the great Scipio Africanus the elder, went every
morning to prepare himself by quiet prayer for his daily
work, and all his triumphs he ascribed solely to the
protection and aid of this great god. Jupiter 0. M. is
the expression of the belief of the Bomans, to which
they remained faithful even in that age of decline when
they ridiculed the rest of their ancestral religion. While
the Boman empire continued to extend over the world,
it was impossible to doubt his power. The nations
trembled before him more than they had ever done be-
fore Asur or Maruduk. Even a stranger, like Antiochus
Epiphanes, founded a sanctuary to him in his capital,
and endeavoured to spread his worship with fanatical
zeal. The Jewish people alone claimed for their deity
JUPITER OPTIMUS MAXIMUS.
241
the same sovereignty, and accordingly offered the most
steadfast resistance to the attempts of Antiochns and of
the Bomans. But the Jews were conquered, and a
temple of the Capitoline god was erected under Hadrian
on the ruins of the temple of Yahveh, until at last
Christendom, which issued from this same Jewish people,
drove Jupiter 0. M. out of his Capitol for good.
Optimus, in the formula Jupiter 0. M., possesses no
ethical significance, at any rate in the earliest times, hut
simply denotes the “ mightiest,” the “ strongest.”
The changes brought about by the Tarquinii affected
both the representation of the god and the mode of his
worship. Temples and images of the gods in human
form, hitherto scarcely known among the ltomans, were
now introduced.
141. It soon became evident that a cold formal state
religion of this kind, though it was now surrounded with
great pomp, and was raised to be a symbol of a bold
political idea, while it might satisfy a few statesmen and
patricians, could not meet the wants of a whole people.
This deficiency was perceived by the same kings who
modified the native cultus, and they endeavoured to meet
it by the introduction of foreign deities and usages. A
sanctuary was erected on the Aventine for Diana, who
was here really identical with the Artemis of Massilia,
and consequently with the Ephesian goddess; while the
books containing the records of the oracular utterances of
the Sibyl of Cumae, were brought to Borne, and intrusted
to the care of two officers and two interpreters. These
were the first traces of Greek religion at Borne. But they
Q
242
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
were not left to stand alone. One Hellenic god after
another, at first with the substitution of a Latin name, at
last even without that, received citizenship at Eome.
What the last kings had done voluntarily, though cer-
tainly with the view of meeting the wishes of the people,
the Senate was afterwards obliged to permit, in conse-
quence of the demands of public opinion, though it rarely
resolved to do so without hesitation. The Greek deities
were followed by the Asiatic, such as the Great Mother of
the gods, whose image, consisting of an unhewn stone, was
brought at the expense of the State from Pessinus to Eome.
On the whole, it was not the best and loftiest features of
the foreign religions that were adopted, but rather their
lower and sensual elements, and these, too, in their most
corrupt form. An accidental accusation brought to light,
in the year 186 B.C., a secret worship of Bacchus which
was accompanied by all kinds of abominations, and had
already made its way among thousands. Five years later
an attempt was made, by the aid of some supposititious
books of Hum a, to substitute a certain semi-Greek theo-
sophy for the State religion, but this proved too much for
the sober sense of the Eomans.
For the guardianship of the Sibylline books duoviri
sacris faciundis were appointed.
It has been conjectured that even the Capitoline
triad, especially Minerva, shows an imitation of Greek
models, and in the institution of the Ludi Romani this
influence cannot be mistaken. The novelty lies in the
introduction of Greek deities; Latin and Sabine gods
had been admitted long before. The worship of the
Massilian Artemis was quickly followed by the rites of
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN DEITIES.
243
Dem6t6r, of Persephone, and of Dionysus, which were
amalgamated with the native worship of Ceres, Liber, and
Libera; then came Castor and Pollox, Apollo, Esculapius;
with the garden-goddess Venus, the Greek Aphrodite
was identified, and the luxurious cultus of the Erycinian
Venus, the mother of Eneas, soon rose to be the national
worship.
The Bacchic mysteries, introduced at Eome by a couple
of Campanian priests, were not the pure Eleusinian rites,
but the fanatical and immoral performances which pre-
vailed in Greece after the Peloponnesian wars. They
afforded the Bomans a welcome means of secretly prac-
tising unchastity, poisoning, falsification of wills, and
other crimes, as well as of forming political conspiracies.
P. Ebutius, who very nearly became their victim, brought
the scandal to light.
The supposititious books of Numa consisted of seven
Greek books on theosophy, and seven Latin on the jus
pontificium; the fabrication, however, was so clumsy that
the fraud was detected immediately, and the Senate gave
orders that they should be burnt.
142. The current of the age was, however, too powerful
to be turned even by any Koman authority. It was in
vain that the philosophers, the soothsayers, and the priests
of foreign gods were from time to time expelled; the first
had become indispensable for the higher classes, many
of these being also equally devoted to the last, who were,
however, in especial request among women and among
the lower classes. The state religion, undermined by
philosophy, fell more and more into decline. As early as
the first Punic war, a general ventured to ridicule the
auspices, and the augurs soon did the same. Priestly
244
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
offices were no longer secured to the worthiest occupants,
hut were sold to the wealthiest, and-the highest of all
sometimes remained vacant for years. Incredulity was
followed by the usual result—the rank growth of super-
stition. Astrology and necromancy made their way even
among the cultured and the learned, and went hand in
hand with the grossest abuses. The eyes of the multitude
were always turned towards the East, from which deliver-
ance was expected to come forth, and secret rites brought
from there to Eome were sure of a number of devotees.
But they were only bastard children, or, at any rate, the
late misshapen offspring of the lofty religions which once
flourished in the East, an un-Persian Mithra-worship,
an un-Egyptian Serapis-worship, an Isis-worship which
only flattered the senses and was eagerly pursued by the
fine ladies, to say nothing of more loathsome practices.
Yet even these aberrations were the expression of a real
and deep-seated need of the human mind which could find
no satisfaction in the state religion. Men longed for a
God whom they could worship heart and soul, and with
this God they longed to he reconciled. Their own deities
they had outgrown, and they listened eagerly, therefore, to
the priests of Serapis and of Mithra, who each proclaimed
their god as the sole-existing, the almighty, and all-good,
and they felt especially attracted by the earnestness and
strictness of the latter cultus. And in order to be secure
of the eradication of all guilt, men lay down in a pit
where the blood of the sacrificial animal flowed all over
them, in the conviction that they would then arise entirely
new-born.
INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN DEITIES. 245
After the death of L. Merula, in the time of Marius,
the office of Flamen dialis remained vacant for seventy
years, as no one was willing to submit to the great self-
denial which it demanded.
The practice of astrology and magic was a return to the
ancient civilisation of the proto-Babylonians. The astro-
logers at Borne were always called Chaldeans. They
found credit even with learned persons, like Varro and
Nigidius Figulus; under Sept. Severus they were publicly
recognised, and under Alexander Severus they even re-
ceived a sort of professorial chair at Borne. Magic had a
more mixed character, for the aid of northern priests,
especially of the Druids, was also invoked. As early as
97 B.c., it was found necessary to prohibit human sacrifices
instituted in accordance with magical dogmas. Emperors,
like Nero, and even Hadrian, were not disinclined to it.
Besides the deities named in the text, a number of
others were also introduced into the Boman Empire,
especially from Syria, such as Atergatis, Maiuma, the
goddess of Gaza, Deus Sol Elagabal (the god of Byblus
[Gebal] worshipped at Emesa), &c. On Serapis, see
above, § 37. The most interesting of all these deities
was the old-Aryan Mithra, whose worship had attained a
high ascendency as early as Artaxerxes Mnemon, and, in
conjunction with all kinds of un-Parsee usages, had spread
through the East. His cultus, which always remained
relatively pure, was brought to the West by pirates. By
the Bomans he was identified with their Sol invktus, to
whom not only Julian, but also Constantine, even after
his conversion to Christianity, is said to have been devoted.
How far this Mithra was, moreover, from being the pure
Zarathustrian god of light may be inferred from the fact
that the highest—and, properly speaking, the only—god
of the system, compared with whom Mithra is nothing
246
-
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
more than a genius, remained entirely unknown in the
West.
The Taurobolia and Kriobolia must also have been
derived from the East, though their origin is unknown.
143. It was natural that the policy of Augustus should
include the restoration of the national worship, but it was
only the outward institutions which he re-organised; he
could breathe no life into its dead forms. Two important
religious innovations characterise the age of the empire
—the deification of the emperors, and the growing power
of universalism. Not only was the emperor on the
Capitol made the centre of worship, which was to be ex-
pected in a state religion, but men now began to follow
also at Eome the example set centuries before by the
Egyptian princes, and in later days by the Ptolemies and
Seleucid.se, for which the worship of genii afforded the-
means of transition, and the prevailing Euhemerism which
explained the gods themselves as princes deified in ancient
times, supplied the justification. Even during his lifetime
Csesar was honoured as a deity, and after his death he was
enrolled among the gods by the Senate with great forma-
lity. All the emperors, with a few exceptions, followed
him in turn, although Augustus and Tiberius still offered
some resistance to the practice, and a Vespasian ridiculed
it. Men talked of their majesty and eternity; their head
was surrounded with a crown of rays and a nimbus;
sacrifice was offered to their images, and they had the
sacred fire carried before them. They were designated hy
the names of the gods—Hadrian was the Olympian, Nero
Zeus, the liberator, and even the saviour of the world. Em-
presses thought it not beneath them to serve as priestesses
WORSHIP OF THE EMPERORS.
247
in the temples of their dead consorts, in expectation that
they themselves would he deified, and cities esteemed
it an honour to be temple-guardians (properly “ temple-
sweepers,” veu/copoi) of the Imperator. Thus this new
cultus became a regular instrument of propaganda among’
the non-Boman nations, alike of the religion and of the
supremacy of Eome. For Augustus and Eoma were
placed side by side as symbols of the restored empire
with all its civilisation and its belief.
The second innovation was that Jupiter 0. M. was now
not only raised with the loftiest titles to be the chief of
all the deities in the world, but was also identified with
all the highest gods of other nations, and the provinces
witnessed everywhere the rise of imitations of the Capitol.
The relation was thus reversed. Men had begun by
honouring the foreign gods, as mysterious powers, above
their own; now that they knew them better, they saw
that they stood no higher, and were essentially the same;
each chief god was in fact a Jupiter, and the cultus of
this Jupiter in different forms, combined with that of his
incarnation upon earth—the emperor—now became the
universal religion for the great universal empire.
The deification of Caesar under the name divus Julius
had proceeded so far that his image was not allowed to be
carried in procession at family obsequies among the images
of the ancestors of the house. The cultus of the emperors
was pursued with such zeal that games were actually
instituted in their honour, temples were built, and spe-
cial priesthoods appointed; the Greek usage in the first
case, and the Egyptian in the second, supplying the
model. Even by the Christian Tertullian the emperors
243
RELIGION AMONG THE ROMANS.
were called, though in a modified sense, a Deo secundi, solo
Deo minores.
Jupiter now received the splendid titles of summus
excellentissimus, or exsuperantissimus, pacator or praeses orbis,
and others of the same kind. The inscriptions of the
period speak of a Jupiter 0. M. Heliopolitanus (Baalbek),
Damascenus, Dolichenus, and even of a Pceninus on the St.
Bernard, and a Culminalis in Styria. See Orell. Inscript,
lat. Collectio, No. 228 foil., and Henzen (vol. iii. Collect.
Orellianae), No. 5642. Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Myth. p. 154.
144. The Greco-Roman civilisation was the most com-
posite, and consequently the highest, of antiquity. It
soon far outgrew the ancestral religion, and men sought
anxiously for the satisfaction of their religious wants.
Fresh elements, therefore, were constantly being added to
those which had already coalesced from Greece and Rome,
and the whole mass continued to seethe and ferment.
But an inspiring idea was necessary to draw forth from
this confusion a new form of religion which should answer
the needs of the civilised world. This idea was brought
by the Gospel, the latest and most precious gift of the
East to the West. But the West contributed its share,
for it was here that the Gospel found its way prepared;
here alone was it possible for it, though after long struggles,
to prevail. The Eastern nations had retrograded; the
Slavic and Germanic peoples were still backward. It
was not till later that the era of the Germans dawned.
The first form which Christianity assumed as an established
religion was Roman. The Roman Catholic Church is
simply the Roman universal empire modified and conse-
crated by Christian ideas. It left the old forms for the
RISE OF CHRISTIANITY.
249
most part standing, but it ennobled and elevated them by
tlie new spirit; its organisation and its efforts after unity
which controlled all its development were inherited from
the Romans, and it was by their means that it was
enabled to become the teacher of the still rude popula-
tions of the North, to preserve rather than to diffuse
the treasures which it had received from the Ancients
and from Jesus.
THE END.