strangest materials, abounds with allegory and mysterious description. He
often introduces ideal personages, his notions of which he borrowed from
the edifices, hills, and fountains; and from whatever savoured of wonder
and antiquity. He seems sometimes to blend together two different
characters of the same thing, a borrowed one, and a real; so as to make the
true history, if there should be any truth at bottom, the more
extraordinary and entertaining.
I cannot help thinking, that Otus and Ephialtes, those gigantic youths, so
celebrated by the Poets, were two lofty towers. They were building to
Alohim, called [264]Aloeus; but were probably overthrown by an earthquake.
They are spoken of by Pindar as the sons of Iphimedeia; and are supposed to
have been slain by Apollo in the island Naxos.
[265][Greek: En de Naxoi]
[Greek: Phanti thanein liparai Iphimedeias paidas]
[Greek: Oton, kai se, tolmaeis Ephialta anax.]
They are also mentioned by Homer, who styles them [Greek: gegeneis], or
earthborn: and his description is equally fine.
[266][Greek: Kai rh' eteken duo paide, minunthadio de genesthen,]
[Greek: Oton t' antitheon, telekleiton t' Ephialten;]
[Greek: Hous de mekistous threpse zeidoros aroura,]
[Greek: Kai polu kallistous meta ge kluton Oriona.]
[Greek: Enneoroi gar toi ge, kai enneapechees esan]
[Greek: Euros, atar mekos ge genesthen enneorguioi.]
Homer includes Orion in this description, whom he mentions elsewhere; and
seems to borrow his ideas from a similar object, some tower, or temple,
that was sacred to him. Orion was Nimrod, the great hunter in the
Scriptures, called by the Greeks Nebrod. He was the founder of Babel, or
Babylon; and is represented as a gigantic personage. The author of the
Paschal Chronicle speaks of him in this light. [267][Greek: Nebrod Giganta,
ton ten Babulonian ktisanta--hontina kalousin Oriona.] He is called Alorus
by Abydenus, and Apollodorus; which was often rendered with the Amonian
prefix Pelorus. Homer describes him as a great hunter; and of an enormous
stature, even superior to the Aloeidae above mentioned.
[268][Greek: Ton de met' Oriona Pelorion eisenoesa,]
[Greek: Theras homou eileunta kat' asphodelon leimona.]
The Poet styles him Pelorian; which betokens something vast, and is
applicable to any towering personage, but particularly to Orion. For the
term Pelorus is the name by which the towers of Orion were called. Of these
there seems to have been one in Delos; and another of more note, to which
Homer probably alluded, in Sicily; where Orion was particularly reverenced.
The streight of Rhegium was a dangerous pass: and this edifice was erected
for the security of those who were obliged to go through it. It stood near
Zancle; and was called [269]Pelorus, because it was sacred to Alorus, the
same as [270]Orion. There was likewise a river named from him, and rendered
by Lycophron [271]Elorus. The tower is mentioned by Strabo; but more
particularly by Diodorus Siculus. He informs us that, according to the
tradition of the place, Orion there resided; and that, among other works,
he raised this very mound and promontory, called Pelorus and Pelorias,
together with the temple, which was situated upon it. [272][Greek: Oriona
proschosai to kata ten Peloriada keimenon akroterion, kai to temenos tou
Poseidonos kataskeuasai, timomenon hupo ton enchorion diapherontos.] We
find from hence that there was a tower of this sort, which belonged to
Orion: and that the word Pelorion was a term borrowed from these edifices,
and made use of metaphorically, to denote any thing stupendous and large.
The description in Homer is of a mixed nature: wherein he retains the
antient tradition of a gigantic person; but borrows his ideas from the
towers sacred to him. I have taken notice before, that all temples of old
were supposed to be oracular; and by the Amonians were called Pator and
Patara. This temple of Orion was undoubtedly a Pator; to which mariners
resorted to know the event of their voyage, and to make their offerings to
the God. It was on this account styled Tor Pator; which being by the Greeks
expressed [Greek: tripator], tripator, gave rise to the notion, that this
earthborn giant had three fathers.
[273][Greek: Orion tripator apo meteros anthore gaies.]
These towers, near the sea, were made use of to form a judgment of the
weather, and to observe the heavens: and those which belonged to cities
were generally in the Acropolis, or higher part of the place. This, by the
Amonians, was named Bosrah; and the citadel of Carthage, as well as of
other cities, is known to have been so denominated. But the Greeks, by an
unavoidable fatality, rendered it uniformly [274][Greek: bursa], bursa, a
skin: and when some of them succeeded to Zancle [275]in Sicily, finding
that Orion had some reference to Ouran, or Ouranus, and from the name of
the temple ([Greek: tripator]) judging that he must have had three fathers,
they immediately went to work, in order to reconcile these different ideas.
They accordingly changed Ouran to [Greek: ourein]; and, thinking the
misconstrued hide, [Greek: bursa], no improper utensil for their purpose,
they made these three fathers co-operate in a most wonderful manner for the
production of this imaginary person; inventing the most slovenly legend
that ever was devised. [276][Greek: Treis (theoi) tou sphagentos boos
bursei enouresan, kai ex autes Orion egeneto.] Tres Dei in bovis mactati
pelle minxerunt, et inde natus est Orion.
* * * * *
TIT AND TITH.
When towers were situated upon eminences fashioned very round, they were by
the Amonians called Tith; which answers to [Hebrew: TD] in Hebrew, and to
[277][Greek: titthe], and [Greek: titthos], in Greek. They were so
denominated from their resemblance to a woman's breast; and were
particularly sacred to Orus and Osiris, the Deities of light, who by the
Grecians were represented under the title of Apollo. Hence the summit of
Parnassus was [278]named Tithorea, from Tith-Or: and hard by was a city,
mentioned by Pausanias, of the same name; which was alike sacred to Orus
and Apollo. The same author takes notice of a hill, near Epidaurus, called
[279][Greek: Tittheion oros Apollonos.] There was a summit of the like
nature at Samos, which, is by Callimachus styled _the breast of Parthenia_:
[280][Greek: Diabrochon hudati maston Parthenies.] Mounds of this nature
are often, by Pausanias and Strabo, termed, from their resemblance,
[281][Greek: mastoeideis]. Tithonus, whose longevity is so much celebrated,
was nothing more than one of these structures, a Pharos, sacred to the sun,
as the name plainly shews. Tith-On is [Greek: mastos heliou], _the mount of
the [282]Sun_. As he supplied the place of that luminary, he is said to
have been beloved by Aurora, and through her favour to have lived many
ages. This, indeed, is the reverse of that which is fabled of the
[283]Cyclopes, whose history equally relates to edifices. They are said to
have raised the jealousy of Apollo, and to have been slain by his arrows:
yet it will be found at bottom of the same purport. The Cyclopian turrets
upon the Sicilian shore fronted due east: and their lights must necessarily
have been extinguished by the rays of the rising Sun. This, I imagine, is
the meaning of Apollo's slaying the Cyclopes with his arrows. Tethys, the
antient Goddess of the sea, was nothing else but an old tower upon a mount;
of the same shape, and erected for the same purposes, as those above. On
this account it was called Tith-Is, [Greek: mastos puros.] Thetis seems to
have been a transposition of the same name, and was probably a Pharos, or
Fire-tower, near the sea.
These mounts, [Greek: lophoi mastoeideis], were not only in Greece; but in
Egypt, Syria, and most parts of the world. They were generally formed by
art; being composed of earth, raised very high; which was sloped gradually,
and with great exactness: and the top of all was crowned with a fair tower.
The situation of these buildings made them be looked upon as places of
great safety: and the reverence in which they were held added to the
security. On these accounts they were the repositories of much wealth and
treasure: in times of peril they were crowded with things of value. In
Assyria was a temple named Azara; which the Parthian plundered, and is said
to have carried off ten thousand talents: [284][Greek: Chai ere palanton
murion gazan.] The same author mentions two towers of this sort in Judea,
not far from Jericho, belonging to Aristobulus and Alexander, and styled
[285][Greek: Gazophulakia ton Turannon]: which were taken by Pompeius
Magnus in his war with the Jews. There were often two of these mounds of
equal height in the same inclosure; such as are described by Josephus at
Machaerus, near some warm fountains. He mentions here a cavern and a rock;
[286][Greek: spelaion--tei petrai prouchousei skepomenon; tautes anothen
hosanei mastoi duo anechousin, allelon oligoi diestotes]: _and above it two
round hills like breasts, at no great distance from each other_. To such as
these Solomon alludes, when he makes his beloved say, [287]_I am a wall,
and my breasts like towers_. Though the word [Hebrew: CHWMH], Chumah, or
Comah, be generally rendered a wall; yet I should think that in this place
it signified the ground which the wall surrounded: an inclosure sacred to
Cham, the Sun, who was particularly worshipped in such places. The Mizraim
called these hills Typhon, and the cities where they were erected,
Typhonian. But as they stood within inclosures sacred to Chom, they were
also styled Choma. This, I imagine, was the meaning of the term in this
place, and in some others; where the text alludes to a different nation,
and to a foreign mode of worship. In these temples the Sun was principally
adored, and the rites of fire celebrated: and this seems to have been the
reason why the judgment denounced against them is uniformly, that they
shall be destroyed by fire. If we suppose Comah to mean a mere wall, I do
not see why fire should be so particularly destined against a part, which
is the least combustible. The Deity says, [288]_I will kindle a fire in the
wall of Damascus. [289]I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza. [290]I will
send a fire on the wall of Tyrus. [291]I will kindle a [292]fire in the
wall of Rabbah_. As the crime which brought down this curse was idolatry,
and the term used in all these instances is Chomah; I should think that it
related to a temple of Chom, and his high places, called by the Greeks
[Greek: lophoi mastoeideis]: and to these the spouse of Solomon certainly
alludes, when she Says, [Greek: ego teichos, kai hoi mastoi mou hos
purgoi]. This will appear from another passage in Solomon, where he makes
his beloved say, [293]_We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts. If
she be a Comah, we will build upon her a palace of silver._ A palace cannot
be supposed to be built upon a wall; though it may be inclosed with one.
The place for building was a Comah, or eminence. It is said of Jotham, king
of Judah, that [294]_on the wall of Ophel he built much_. Ophel is
literally Pytho Sol, the Ophite Deity of Egypt and Canaan. What is here
termed a wall, was a Comah, or high place, which had been of old erected to
the sun by the Jebusites. This Jotham fortified, and turned it to
advantage; whereas before it was not used, or used for a bad purpose. The
ground set apart for such use was generally oval; and towards one extremity
of the long diameter, as it were in the focus, were these mounds and towers
erected. As they were generally royal edifices, and at the same time held
sacred; they were termed Tarchon, like Tarchonium in Hetruria: which by a
corruption was in later times rendered Trachon, [Greek: Trachon]. There
were two hills of this denomination near Damascus; from whence undoubtedly
the Regio Trachonitis received its name: [295][Greek: huperkeintai de autes
(Damaskou) duo legomenoi Trachones.] These were hills with towers, and must
have been very fair to see to. Solomon takes notice of a hill of this sort
upon [296]_Lebanon, looking toward Damascus_; which he speaks of as a
beautiful structure. The term Trachon seems to have been still farther
sophisticated by the Greeks, and expressed [Greek: Drakon], Dracon: from
whence in, great measure arose the notion of treasures being guarded by
[297]Dragons. We read of the gardens of the Hesperides being under the
protection of a sleepless serpent: and the golden fleece at Colchis was
entrusted to such another guardian; of which there is a fine description in
Apollonius.
[298][Greek: Purgous eisopsesthe Kutaeos Aietao,]
[Greek: Alsos te skioen Areos, tothi koas ep' akres]
[Greek: Peptamenon phegoio Drakon, teras ainon idesthai,]
[Greek: Amphis opipteuei dedokemenos; oude hoi emar,]
[Greek: Ou knephas hedumos hupnos anaidea damnatai osse.]
Nonnus often introduces a dragon as a protector of virginity; watching
while the damsel slumbered, but sleepless itself: [299][Greek: Hupnalees
agrupnon opipteutera koreies]: and in another place he mentions
[300][Greek: Phrouron echeis apelethron Ophin]. Such an one guarded the
nymph Chalcomeda, [301][Greek: Parthenikes agamoio boethoos.] The Goddess
Proserpine had two [302]dragons to protect her, by the appointment of her
mother Demeter.
Such are the poetical representations: but the history at bottom relates to
sacred towers, dedicated to the symbolical worship of the serpent; where
there was a perpetual watch, and a light ever burning. The Titans, [Greek:
Titanes], were properly Titanians; a people so denominated from their
worship, and from the places where it was celebrated. They are, like Orion
and the Cyclopians, represented as gigantic persons: and they were of the
same race, the children of Anak. The Titanian temples were stately
edifices, erected in Chaldea, as well as in lower Egypt, upon mounds of
earth, [Greek: lophoi mastoeideis], and sacred to Hanes; [Greek: Titanis]
and [Greek: Titanes] are compounds of Tit-Hanes; and signify literally
[Greek: mastos heliou], the conical hill of Orus. They were by their
situation strong, and probably made otherwise defensible.
In respect to the legends about dragons, I am persuaded that the antients
sometimes did wilfully misrepresent things, in order to increase the
wonder. Iphicrates related, that in Mauritania there were dragons of such
extent, that grass grew upon their backs: [303][Greek: Drakontas te legei
megalous, hoste kai poan epipephukenai.] What can be meant under this
representation but a Dracontium, within whose precincts they encouraged
verdure? It is said of Taxiles, a mighty prince in India, and a rival of
Porus, that, upon the arrival of Alexander the Great, he shewed him every
thing that was in his country curious, and which could win the attention of
a foreigner. Among other things he carried him to see a [304]Dragon, which
was sacred to Dionusus; and itself esteemed a God. It was of a stupendous
size, being in extent equal to five acres; and resided in a low deep place,
walled round to a great height. The Indians offered sacrifices to it: and
it was daily fed by them from their flocks and herds, which it devoured at
an amazing rate. In short my author says, that it was treated rather as a
tyrant, than a benevolent Deity. Two Dragons of the like nature are
mentioned by [305]Strabo; which are said to have resided in the mountains
of Abisares, or Abiosares, in India: the one was eighty cubits in length,
the other one hundred and forty. Similar to the above is the account given
by Posidonius of a serpent, which he saw in the plains of _Macra_, a region
in Syria; and which he styles [306][Greek: drakonta peptokota nekron]. He
says, that it was about an acre in length; and of a thickness so
remarkable, as that two persons on horseback, when they rode on the
opposite sides, could not see one another. Each scale was as big as a,
shield; and a man might ride in at its mouth. What can this description
allude to, this [Greek: drakon peptokos], but the ruins of an antient
Ophite temple; which is represented in this enigmatical manner to raise
admiration? The plains of Macra were not far from Mount Lebanon and Hermon;
where the Hivites resided; and where serpent-worship particularly
prevailed. The Indian Dragon above mentioned seems to have been of the same
nature. It was probably a temple, and its environs; where a society of
priests resided, who were maintained by the public; and who worshipped the
Deity under the semblance of a serpent. Tityus must be ranked among the
monsters of this class. He is by the Poets represented as a stupendous
being, an earthborn giant:
[307]Terrae omniparentis alumnum,
---- per tota novem cui jugera corpus
Porrigitur.
By which is meant, that he was a tower, erected upon a conical mount of
earth, which stood in an inclosure of nine acres. He is said to have a
vulture preying upon his heart, or liver; immortale jecur tondens. The
whole of which history is borrowed from Homer, who mentions two vultures
engaged in tormenting him.
[308][Greek: Kai Tituon eidon Gaies erikudeos huion,]
[Greek: Keimenon en dapedoi; hod' ep' ennea keito pelethra;]
[Greek: Gupe de min hekaterthe paremenoi epar ekeiron,]
[Greek: Dertron eso dunontes, hod' ouk apamuneto chersi.]
The same story is told of Prometheus, who is said to have been exposed upon
Mount Caucasus, near Colchis; with this variation, that an eagle is placed
over him, preying upon his heart. These strange histories are undoubtedly
taken from the symbols and devices which were carved upon the front of the
antient Amonian temples; and especially those of Egypt. The eagle and the
vulture were the insignia of that country: whence it was called Ai-Gupt,
and [309]Aetia, from Ait and Gupt, which signified an eagle and vulture.
Ait was properly a title of the Deity, and signified heat: and the heart,
the centre of vital heat, was among the Egyptians styled [310]Ait: hence we
are told by [311]Orus Apollo, that a heart over burning coals was an emblem
of Egypt. The Amonians dealt much in hieroglyphical representations. Nonnus
mentions one of this sort, which seems to have been a curious emblem of the
Sun. It was engraved upon a jasper, and worn for a bracelet. Two serpents
entwined together, with their heads different ways, were depicted in a
semicircular manner round the extreme part of the gem. At the top between
their heads was an eagle; and beneath a sacred carriage, called Cemus.
[312][Greek: Aietos en chruseios, hate platun eera temnon,]
[Greek: Orthos, echidnaion didumon messegu karenon,]
[Greek: Hupsiphanes pterugon pisuron tetrazugi kemoi.]
[Greek: Tei men xanthos iaspis epetreche.]
The history of Tityus, Prometheus, and many other poetical personages, was
certainly taken from hieroglyphics misunderstood, and badly explained.
Prometheus was worshipped by the Colchians as a Deity; and had a temple and
high place, called [313][Greek: Petra Tuphaonia], upon Mount Caucasus: and
the device upon the portal was Egyptian, an eagle over a heart. The
magnitude of these personages was taken from the extent of the temple
inclosures. The words, per tota novem cui jugera corpus Porrigitur, relate
to a garden of so many acres. There were many such inclosures, as I have
before taken notice: some of them were beautifully planted, and ornamented
with pavilions and fountains, and called Paradisi. One of this sort stood
in Syria upon the river [314]Typhon, called afterwards Orontes. Places of
this nature are alluded to under the description of the gardens of the
Hesperides, and Alcinous; and the gardens of Adonis. Such were those at
Phaneas in Palestine; and those beautiful gardens of Daphne upon the
Orontes above mentioned; and in the shady parts of Mount Libanus. Those of
Daphne are described by Strabo, who mentions, [315][Greek: Mega te kai
sunerephes alsos, diarrheomenon pegaiois hudasin; en mesoi de Asulon
temenos, kai neos Apollonoi kai Artemidos.] _There was a fine wide extended
grove, which sheltered the whole place; and which was watered with
numberless fountains. In the centre of the whole was a sanctuary and
asylum, sacred to Artemis and Apollo_. The Groves of Daphne upon the
mountains Heraei in Sicily, and the garden and temple at bottom were very
noble; and are finely described by [316]Diodorus.
I have taken notice that the word [Greek: drakon], draco, was a mistake for
Tarchon, [Greek: Tarchon]: which was sometimes expressed [Greek: Trachon];
as is observable in the Trachones at Damascus. When the Greeks understood
that in these temples people worshipped a serpent Deity, they concluded
that Trachon was a serpent: and hence came the name of Draco to be
appropriated to such an animal. For the Draco was an imaginary being,
however afterwards accepted and understood. This is manifest from Servius,
who distributes the serpentine species into three tribes; and confines the
Draco solely to temples: [317]Angues aquarum sunt, serpentes terrarum,
Dracones templorum. That the notion of such animals took its rise from the
temples of the Syrians and Egyptians, and especially from the Trachones,
[Greek: Trachones], at Damascus, seems highly probable from the accounts
above: and it may be rendered still more apparent from Damasenus, a
supposed hero, who took his name from the city Damasene, or Damascus. He is
represented as an earthborn giant, who encountered two dragons:
[318][Greek: Kai chthonos apleton huia, drakontophonon Damasena.] One of
the monsters, with which he fought, is described of an enormous size,
[Greek: pentekontapelethros Ophis], _a serpent in extent of fifty acres_:
which certainly, as I have before insinuated, must have a reference to the
grove and garden, wherein such Ophite temple stood at Damascus. For the
general measurement of all these wonderful beings by [319]jugera or acres
proves that such an estimate could not relate to any thing of solid
contents; but to an inclosure of that superficies. Of the same nature as
these was the gigantic personage, supposed, to have been seen at Gades by
Cleon Magnesius. He made, it seems, no doubt of Tityus and other such
monsters having existed. For being at Gades, he was ordered to go upon a
certain expedition by Hercules: and upon his return to the island, he saw
upon the shore a huge sea-man, who had been thunderstruck, and lay extended
upon the ground: [320][Greek: touton plethra men pente malista epechein];
_and his dimensions were not less than five acres_. So Typhon, Caanthus,
Orion, are said to have been killed by lightning. Orpheus too, who by some
is said to have been torn to pieces by the Thracian women, by others is
represented as slain by the bolt of Jupiter: and his epitaph imports as
much.
[321][Greek: Threika chrusoluren ted' Orphea Mousai ethapsan,]
[Greek: Hon ktanen hupsimedon Zeus psoloenti belei.]
All these histories relate to sacred inclosures; and to the worship of the
serpent, and rites of fire, which were practised within them. Such an
inclosure was by the Greeks styled [322][Greek: temenos], and the mound or
high place [Greek: taphos] and [Greek: tumbos]; which had often a tower
upon it, esteemed a sanctuary and asylum. Lycophron makes Cassandra say of
Diomedes, [323][Greek: TYMBOS d' auton eksosei]: _the temple, to which he
shall fly, shall save him_. In process of time both the word [Greek:
tumbos], as well as [Greek: taphos], were no longer taken in their original
sense; but supposed uniformly to have been places of sepulture. This has
turned many temples into tombs: and the Deities, to whom they were sacred,
have been represented as there buried. There was an Orphic Dracontium at
Lesbos; where a serpent was supposed to have been going to devour the
remains of Orpheus: and this temple being of old styled Petra, it was
fabled of the serpent, that he was turned into stone.
[324] Hic ferus expositum peregrinis anguis arenis
Os petit, et sparsos stillanti rore capillos.
Tandem Phoebus adest: morsusque inferre parantem
Arcet; et in lapidem rictus serpentis apertos
Congelat; et patulos, ut erant, indurat hiatus.