characteristic features of the myth of the birth of the hero, is found
in the fairy tale, “The True Bride,” quoted by Riklin (“Wunscherfüllung
und Symbolik im Märchen,” p. 56)[53] from Rittershaus’ collection of
fairy tales (XXVII, p. 113). A royal pair have no children. The king
having threatened to kill his wife, unless she bears a child by the
time of his return from his sea-voyage, she is brought to him during
his journey, by his zealous maid-servant, as the fairest of three
promenading ladies, and he takes her into his tent without recognizing
her.[54] She returns home without having been discovered, gives birth
to a daughter, Isol, and dies. Isol later on finds a most beautiful
little boy in a box by the seaside, whose name is Tristram, and she
raises him to become engaged to him. The subsequent story, which
contains the motive of the true bride, is noteworthy for present
purposes only in as far as here again occur the draught of oblivion,
and two Isoldes. The king’s second wife gives a potion to Tristram,
which causes him to forget the fair Isol entirely, so that he wishes to
marry the black Isota. Ultimately he discovers the deception, however,
and becomes united with Isol.
ROMULUS.
The original version of the story of Romulus and Remus, as told by the
most ancient Roman annalist, Fabius Pictor, is rendered as follows by
Mommsen.[55] “_The twins_ borne by Ilia, daughter of the preceding
king Numitor, _from the embrace of the war god Mars were condemned by
King Amulius, the present ruler of Alba, to be cast into the river_.
The king’s servants took the children and carried them from Alba as
far as the Tiber on the Palatine Hill; but when they tried to descend
the hill to the river, to carry out the command, they found that the
river had risen, and they were unable to reach its bed. The tub with
the children was therefore thrust by them into the shallow water at the
shore. _It floated_ for a while; _but the water promptly receded_, and
_knocking against a stone, the tub capsized_, and the screaming infants
were upset into the river mud. _They were heard by a she-wolf who had
just brought forth and had her udders full of milk; she came and gave
her teats to the boys, to nurse them_, and as they were drinking she
licked them clean with her tongue. Above them flew a woodpecker, which
guarded the children, and also carried food to them. The father was
providing for his sons: for the wolf and the woodpecker are animals
consecrated to father Mars. This was seen by one of the royal herdsmen,
who was driving his pigs back to the pasture from which the water had
receded. Startled by the spectacle, he summoned his mates, who found
the she-wolf attending like a mother to the children, and the children
treated her as their mother. The men made a loud noise to scare the
animal away; but the wolf was not afraid; she left the children, but
not from fear; slowly, without heeding the herdsmen, she disappeared
into the wilderness of the forest, at the holy site of Faunus, where
the water gushes from a gully of the mountain. Meanwhile the men picked
up the boys and carried them to the chief swineherd of the king,
Faustulus, for they believed that the gods did not wish the children
to perish. _But the wife of Faustulus had just given birth to a dead
child, and was full of sorrow. Her husband gave her the twins, and she
nursed them; the couple raised the children, and named them Romulus
and Remus._ After Rome had been founded, later on, King Romulus built
himself a house not far from the place where his tub had stood. The
gully in which the she-wolf had disappeared has been known since
that time as the Wolf’s Gully, the Lupercal. The image in ore of the
she-wolf with the twins[56] was subsequently erected at this spot,
and the she-wolf herself, the Lupa, was worshipped by the Romans as a
divinity.
The Romulus saga later on underwent manifold transmutations,
mutilations, additions, and interpretations.[57] It is best known in
the form transmitted by Livy (I, 3 et seq.), where we learn something
about the antecedents and subsequent fate of the twins.
King Proca bequeaths the royal dignity to his first born son Numitor.
But his _younger brother, Amulius, pushes him from the throne_, and
becomes king himself. So that no scion from Numitor’s family may arise,
as the avenger, he kills the male descendants of his brother. _Rea
Silvia, the daughter, he elects as a vestal, and thus deprives her of
the hope of progeny, through perpetual virginity_ as enjoined upon her
under the semblance of a most honorable distinction. But the vestal
maiden was overcome by violence, and having _brought forth twins_, she
named _Mars_ as the _father of her illegitimate offspring_, be it from
conviction, or because a god appeared more creditable to her as the
perpetrator of the crime.
The narrative of the exposure in the Tiber goes on as follows: The saga
relates that the floating tub, in which the boys had been exposed,
was left on dry land by the receding waters, and that a thirsty wolf,
attracted from the neighbouring mountains by the children’s cries,
offered them her teats. The boys are said to have been found by the
chief royal herder, supposedly named Faustulus, who took them to the
homestead of his wife, Larentia, where they were raised. Some believe
that Larentia was called Lupa, a she-wolf, by the herders, because she
offered her body, and that this was the origin of the wonderful saga.
Grown to manhood, the youths Romulus and Remus protect the herds
against the attacks of wild animals and robbers. One day Remus is taken
prisoner by the robbers, who accuse him of having stolen Numitor’s
flocks. But Numitor, to whom he is surrendered for punishment, was
touched by his tender age, and when he learned of the twin brothers,
he suspected that they might be his exposed grandsons. While he was
anxiously pondering the resemblance with the features of his daughter,
and the boy’s age as corresponding to the time of the exposure,
Faustulus arrived with Romulus, and a conspiracy was hatched, when
the descent of the boys had been learned from the herders. The youths
armed themselves for vengeance, while Numitor took up weapons to
defend his claim to the throne he had usurped. After _Amulius had been
assassinated_, Numitor was re-instituted as the ruler, and the youths
resolved to found a city in the region where they had been exposed and
brought up. A furious dispute arose upon the question which brother was
to be the ruler of the newly erected city, for neither twin was favored
by the right of primogeniture, and the outcome of the bird oracle was
equally doubtful. The saga relates that Remus jumped over the new wall,
to deride his twin, and _Romulus became so much enraged that he slew
his brother_. Romulus then usurped the sole mastery, and the city was
named Rome after him.
The Roman tale of Romulus and Remus has a close counterpart in the
Greek myth of a city foundation by the twin brothers Amphion and
Zethos, who were the first to found the site of Thebes of the Seven
Gates. The enormous rocks which Zethos brought from the mountains were
joined by the music drawn from Amphion’s lute strings to form the walls
which became so famous later on. Amphion and Zethos passed as _the
children of Zeus and Antiope_, daughter of King Nykteus. She escaped
by flight from the punishment of her father, who died of grief; on
his death bed he implored _his brother and successor on the throne,
Lykos_, to punish the wrongdoing of Antiope. Meantime she had married
Epopeus, the king of Sikyon, who was killed by Lykos. Antiope was led
away by him in fetters. She gave birth to twin sons in the Kithairon,
where she left them. A shepherd raised the boys and called them Amphion
and Zethos. Later on, Antiope succeeded in escaping from the torments
of Lykos and his wife, Dirke. She accidentally sought shelter in the
Kithairon, with the twin brothers, now grown up. The shepherd reveals
to the youths the fact that Antiope is their mother. Thereupon they
cruelly kill Dirke, and deprive Lykos of the rulership.
The remaining twin sagas,[58] which are extremely numerous, cannot
be discussed in detail in this connection. Possibly they represent
a complication of the birth myth by another very ancient and widely
distributed myth complex, that of the hostile brothers, the detailed
discussion of which belongs elsewhere. The apparently late and
secondary character of the twin type in the birth myths justifies
the separation of this part of mythology from the present theme. As
regards the Romulus saga, Mommsen[59] renders it highly probable that
it originally told only of Romulus, while the figure of Remus was added
subsequently, and somewhat disjointedly, when it became desirable to
invest the consulate with a solemnity founded on the old tradition.
HERCULES[60]
After the loss of his numerous sons, Elektryon betroths his daughter,
Alkmene, to Amphitryon, the son of his brother, Alkäos. However,
Amphitryon, through an unfortunate accident, causes the death of
Elektryon, and escapes to Thebes with his affianced bride. He has not
enjoyed her love, for she has solemnly pledged him not to touch her
until he has avenged her brothers on the Thebans. An expedition is
therefore started by him, from Thebes, and he conquers the king of the
hostile people, Pterelaos, with all the islands. As he is returning to
Thebes, Zeus in the form of Amphitryon[61] betakes himself to Alkmene,
to whom he presents a golden goblet as evidence of victory. He rests
with the beauteous maiden during three nights, according to the later
poets, holding back the sun one day. In the same night, Amphitryon
arrives, exultant in his victory and aflame with love. In the fulness
of time, the fruit of the divine and the human embrace[62] is brought
forth and Zeus announces to the gods his son, as the most powerful
ruler of the future. But his jealous spouse, Hera, knows how to obtain
from him the pernicious oath, that the first-born grandson of Perseus
is to be the ruler of all the other descendants of Perseus. Hera
hurries to Mykene, to deliver the wife of the third Perside, Sthenelos,
of the seven months child, Eurystheus. At the same time she hinders
and endangers the confinement of Alkmene, through all sorts of wicked
sorcery, precisely as at the birth of the god of light, Apollo. Alkmene
finally gives birth to Herakles and Iphikles, the latter in no way
the former’s equal in courage or in strength, but destined to become
the father of his faithful friend, Iolaos.[63] In this way Eurystheus
became the king in Mykene, in the land of the Argivians, in conformity
with the oath of Zeus, and the after born Herakles was his subject.
The old legend related the raising of Herakles on the strength giving
waters of the Dirke, the nourishment of all Theban children. Later on,
however, another version arose. Fearing the jealousy of Hera, Alkmene
_exposed the child which she had borne_ in a place which for a long
time after was known as the field of Herakles. About this time, Athene
arrived, in company with Hera. She marvelled at the beautiful form
of the child, and persuaded Hera to put him to her breast. But the
boy took the breast with far greater strength than his age seemed to
warrant; Hera felt pains and angrily flung the child to the ground.
Athene, however, carried him to the neighboring city and _took him
to Queen Alkmene, whose maternity was unknown to her, as a poor
foundling, whom she begged her to raise for the sake of charity_.
This peculiar accident is truly remarkable! The child’s own mother
allows him to perish, disregarding the duty of maternal love, and the
stepmother who is filled with natural hatred against the child, saves
her enemy without knowing it (after Diodor, IV, 9; German translation
by Wurm, Stuttgart, 1831). Herakles had drawn only a few drops from
Hera’s breast, but the divine milk was sufficient to endow him with
immortality. An attempt on Hera’s part to kill the boy, asleep in his
cradle, by means of two serpents, proved a failure, for the child
awakened and crushed the beasts with a single pressure of his hands.
As a boy, Herakles one day killed his tutor, Linos, being incensed
about an unjust chastisement. Amphitryon, fearing the wildness of
the youth, sends him to tend his ox-herds in the mountains, with the
herders, among whom he is said by some to have been raised entirely,
like Amphion and Zethos, Kyros and Romulus. Here he lives from the
hunt, in the freedom of nature (Preller, II, 123).
The myth of Herakles suggests in certain features the Indian saga of
the hero _Krishna_, who like many heroes escapes a general infanticide,
and is then brought up by a herder’s wife, Iasodha. A wicked she-demon
appears, who has been sent by King Kansa to kill the boy. She takes the
post of wet nurse in the home, but is recognized by Krishna, who bites
her so severely in suckling (like Hera, when nursing Herakles, whom
she also means to destroy), that she dies. (The early history of the
pastoral god Krishna is related in the so-called Kariwamsa.)
Jesus
The Gospel according to Luke (1, 26 to 35) relates the prophecy of the
birth of Jesus, as follows:
“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city
of Galilee named Nazareth, to _a virgin espoused to a man whose name
was Joseph_, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail! thou that art highly
favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women! And when
she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what
manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear
not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, _thou shalt
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus.
He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest_: and the
Lord God shalt give unto him the throne of his father David. And he
shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there
shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be,
_seeing I know not a man_? And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee _shall he called the Son of God_.”
This report is supplemented by the Gospel according to Matthew[64] (1,
18 to 25), in the narrative of the birth and childhood of Jesus: “Now
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as his mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, _she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost_. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man,
and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her
away privily. But, while he thought on these things, behold the _angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a dream_, saying, Joseph, thou son of
David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from
their sins. (Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us.) Then Joseph, being
raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and
took unto him his wife. _And knew her not, till she had brought forth
her first born son_; and he called his name Jesus.”
Here we interpolate the detailed account of the birth of Jesus, from
the Gospel of Luke (2, 4 to 20): “And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
out of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called
Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be
taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so
it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that
she should be delivered. And _she brought forth her first born son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger_;[65]
because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the
same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their
flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the
glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for behold I bring you good
tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born
this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory
to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And
it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem
and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made
known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and
the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it they made known
abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all
they that heard wondered at those things which were told them by the
shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her
heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all
the things which they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
We now continue the account after Matthew, in the second chapter:
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod
the king, behold, there came _wise men from the East_ to Jerusalem,
saying, _Where is he that was born King of the Jews_, for we have seen
his star in the east, and have come to worship him. When _Herod the
king_ had heard these things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with
him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the
people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And
they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by
the prophet, And thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda, art not the least
among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a governor which
shall rule my people Israel.
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them
diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem,
and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye
have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him
also. When they had heard the king they departed; and lo the star,
which they saw in the east, went before them till it came and stood
over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And
when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary
his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream, that they should not
return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
And when they were departed, behold, _the angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his
mother and flee into Egypt_, and be thou there until I bring thee
word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he
arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed
into Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of
Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked
of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and _slew all the
children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from
two years old and under_, according to the time which he had diligently
enquired of the wise men. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of
the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying arise and take
the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: _for
they are dead which sought the young child’s life_. And he arose and
took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his
father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding being warned
of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. And he
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”[66]
Similar birth legends to those of Jesus have also been transmitted of
other “founders of religions”; such as Zoroaster, who is said to have
lived about the year 1000 before Christ. His mother Dughda dreams,
_in the sixth month of her pregnancy_, that the wicked and the good
spirits are fighting for the embryonic Zoroaster; a monster tears the
future Zoroaster from the mother’s womb, but a light god fights the
monster with his horn of light, re-encloses the embryo in the mother’s
womb, blows upon Dughda, and she became pregnant. On awakening, she
hurries in her fear to a wise dream interpreter, who is unable to
explain the wonderful dream before the end of three days: The child,
which she is carrying, is destined to become a man of great importance;
the dark cloud and the mountain of light signify, that she and her
son will at first have to undergo numerous trials, through tyrants
and other enemies, but at last they will overcome all perils. Dughda
at once returns to her home, and informs Pourushacpa, her husband, of
everything that has happened. Immediately after his birth, the boy
was seen to laugh: this was the first miracle through which he drew
attention to himself. _The magicians announce the birth of the child
as a portent of disaster to the prince of the realm_, Durânsarûn, who
betakes himself without delay to the dwelling of Pourushacpa, in order
to stab the child. But his hand falls paralyzed, and he must leave with
his errand undone. This was the second miracle. Soon after, the wicked
demons steal the child from his mother and carry him into the desert,
in order to kill him; but Dughda finds the unharmed child, calmly
sleeping. This is the third miracle. Later on, Zoroaster was to be
trampled upon, in a narrow passage way, by a herd of oxen, by command
of the king.[67] But the largest of the cattle took the child between
his feet, and preserved it from harm. This was the fourth miracle. The
fifth is merely a repetition of the preceding. What the cattle had
refused to do, was to be accomplished by horses. But again the child
was protected by a horse from the hoofs of the other horses. Durânsurûn
thereupon had the cubs in a wolf’s den killed during the absence of
the old wolves, and Zoroaster was laid down in their place. But a god
closed the jaws of the furious wolves, so that they could not harm
the child. Two divine cows arrived instead and presented their udders
to the child, giving it to drink. This was the sixth miracle, through
which Zoroaster’s life was preserved. (Compare Spiegel’s Eranische
Altertumskunde, I, pp. 688 et seq., also Brodbeck, Zoroaster, Leipzig,
1893.)
Related traits are also encountered in the history of Buddha, whose
life is referred to the sixth century before Christ; such as the
long sterility of the parents, the dream, the birth of the boy under
the open sky, the death of the mother and her substitution by a
foster-mother, the announcing of the birth to the ruler of the realm;
later on the losing of the boy in the temple (as in the history of
Jesus; compare Luke 2, 40-52).
SIEGFRIED