made an expedition into [831]India, and to have left many memorials of his
transactions in those parts. He travelled likewise into the region called
afterwards Scythia; the natives of which country were his [832]descendants.
He also visited the Hyperboreans. In all these peregrinations he is
generally described as proceeding alone: at least we have no intimation of
any army to assist in the performance of these great enterprises. He is
indeed supposed to have sailed with six ships to [833]Phrygia: but how he
came by them is not said; nor whence he raised the men, who went with him.
At other times he is represented with a club in his hand, and the skin of
an animal upon his shoulders. When he passed over the ocean, he is said to
have been wafted in a golden [834]bowl. In Phrygia he freed Hesione from a
Cetus, or sea monster, just as Perseus delivered Andromeda. He is mentioned
as founding many cities in parts very remote: the sea-coast of Boetica, and
Cantabria, was, according to some writers, peopled by [835]him. By
Syncellus he is said to have resided in Italy, and to have reigned in
[836]Latium. The Grecians supposed that he was burnt upon Mount Oeta: but
the people of Gades shewed his Taphos in their [837]city, just as the
Egyptians shewed the Taphos of Osiris at Memphis, and elsewhere. Hence it
was imagined by many, that Hercules was buried at Gades. The philosopher
Megaclides could not be brought to give the least assent to the histories
of this [838]hero: and Strabo seems to have thought a great part of them to
have been a [839]fable. In short, the whole account of this personage is
very inconsistent: and though writers have tried to compromise matters by
supposing more persons than one of this name, yet the whole is still
incredible, and can never be so adjusted as to merit the least belief. How
they multiplied the same Deity, in order to remedy their faulty mythology,
may be seen in the following extract from Cicero. [840]Quanquam, quem
potissimum Herculem colamus, scire velim: plures enim nobis tradunt ii, qui
interiores scrutantur et reconditas literas. Antiquissimum Jove natum, sed
item Jove antiquissimo: nam Joves quoque plures in priscis Graecorum literis
invenimus. Ex eo igitur et Lysito est is Hercules, quem concertasse cum
Apolline de tripode accepimus. Alter traditur Nilo natus, AEgyptius; quem
aiunt Phrygias literas conscripsisse. Tertius est ex Idaeis Dactylis, cui
inferias afferunt. Quartus Jovis est, et Asteriae, Latonae sororis, quem
Tyrii maxime colunt; cujus Carthaginem filium ferunt. Quintus in
[841]India, qui Belus dicitur. Sextus hic, ex Alcumena quem Jupiter genuit;
sed tertius Jupiter: quoniam, ut docebo, plures Joves accepimus.
Hercules was a title given to the chief deity of the Gentiles, who have
been multiplied into almost as many personages, as there were countries,
where he was worshipped. What has been attributed to this god singly, was
the work of Herculeans; a people who went under this title among the many
which they assumed; and who were the same as the Osirians, Peresians, and
Cuthites. They built Tartessus in Boetica, and occupied great part of
Iberia. They likewise founded [842]Corunna in Cantabria, and [843]Alesia in
Gaul: of which there are traditions to this day. Some of them settled near
[844]Arelate; others among the [845]Alpes: also at Cuma, and Heraclea in
Campania. They were also to be found at Tyre, and in Egypt; and even in the
remotest parts of [846]India. In short, wherever there were Heraclidae, or
Herculeans, an Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has been
variously represented. One, while he appears little better than a sturdy
vagrant; at other times he is mentioned as a great benefactor; also as the
patron of science, the [847]God of eloquence, with the Muses in his train.
On this account he had the title of [848]Musagetes; and the Roman general
Fulvius dedicated a temple which he had erected to his honour, and
inscribed it [849]_Herculi Musarum_. There are gems, upon which he is
represented as presiding among the Deities of [850]Science. He is said to
have been swallowed by a Cetus, or large fish, from which he was after some
time delivered. This history will hereafter be easily decyphered. He was
the chief deity of the [851]Gentile world; the same as Hermes, Osiris, and
Dionusus; and his rites were introduced into various parts by the Cuthites.
In the detail of his peregrinations is contained, in great measure, an
history of that people, and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks
have described as a warlike expedition; and have taken the glory of it to
themselves. He is said to have had many sons. One of these was
[852]Archemagoras; by which is meant the father or chief of the Magi. There
are many others enumerated: the principal of whom are said to have been;
[853]Sardus, or Sardon; Cyrnus, Gelonus, Olynthus, Scythus, Galathus,
Lydus, Iberus, Celtus, Poimen. As these are all manifestly the names of
nations, we may perceive by the purport of this history, that the
Sardinians, Corsicans, Iberians, Celtae, Galatae, Scythae, &c. &c. together
with those styled Shepherds, were Herculeans; all descended from that
[854]Hercules, who was the father of Archemagoras the chief of the Magi.
DIONUSUS.
The history of Dionusus is closely connected with that of Bacchus, though
they were two distinct persons. It is said of the former, that he was born
at [855]Nusa in Arabia: but the people upon the Indus insisted, that he was
a native of their [856]country; and that the city Nusa, near mount Meru,
was the true place of his birth. There were, however, some among them, who
allowed, that he came into their parts from the west; and that his arrival
was in the most antient times. He taught the nations, whither he came, to
build and to plant, and to enter into societies. To effect this, he
collected the various families out of the villages in which they dwelt, and
made them incorporate in towns and cities, which he built in the most
commodious situations. After they were thus established, he gave them laws,
and instructed them in the worship of the Gods. He also taught them to
plant the Vine, and to extract the juice of the grape; together with much
other salutary knowledge. This he did throughout all his [857]travels, till
he had conquered every region in the East. Nor was it in these parts only,
that he shewed himself so beneficent a conqueror; but over all the
habitable [858]world. The account given by the Egyptians is consonant to
that of the Indians: only they suppose him to have been of their own
country; and to have set out by the way of Arabia and the Red Sea, till he
arrived at the extremities of the East. He travelled also into [859]Lybia,
quite to the Atlantic; of which performance Thymaetes is said to have given
an account in an antient Phrygian poem. After his Indian expedition, which
took him up three years, he passed from Asia by the Hellespont into Thrace,
where Lycurgus withstood him, and at last put him to flight. He came into
Greece; and was there adopted by the people, and represented as a native of
their country. He visited many places upon the Mediterranean; especially
Campania, and the coast of Italy, where he was taken prisoner by the
Hetrurian pirates. Others say, that he conquered all [860]Hetruria. He had
many attendants; among whom were the Tityri, Satyri, Thyades, and Amazons.
The whole of his history is very inconsistent in respect both to time and
place. Writers therefore have tried to remedy this by introducing different
people of the same name. Hence Dionusus is multiplied into as many
[861]personages as Hercules. His history was looked upon as very
interesting; and therefore was the chief theme of all the antient
[862]bards. His flight, styled [Greek: phuge Dionusou], was particularly
[863]recorded. He was the same as Osiris; and many of the later
mythologists acknowledged this truth. [Greek: Aiguptioi men gar ton par'
autois theon Osirin onomazomenon phasin einai ton par' Hellesi Dionuson
touton de muthologousin epelthein pasan ten oikoumenen--Homoios de kai tous
Indous ton theon touton par' heautois apophanesthai gegonenai.] _The
Egyptians_, says [864]Diodorus, _maintain that their God Osiris is no other
than the Dionusus of Greece: And they farther mention, that he travelled
over the face of the whole earth--In like manner the Indi assure us, that
it is the same Deity, who wan conversant in their [865]country_.
Dionusus, according to the Grecian mythology, is represented as having been
twice born: and is said to have had two fathers and two mothers. He was
also exposed in an [866]ark, and wonderfully preserved. The purport of
which histories is plain. We must however for the most part consider the
account given of Dionusus, as the history of the Dionusians. This is
twofold. Part relates to their rites and religion; in which the great
events of the infant world, and the preservation of mankind in general,
were recorded. In the other part, which contains the expeditions and
conquests of this personage, are enumerated the various colonies of the
people, who were denominated from him. They were the same as the Osirians
and Herculeans; all of one family, though under different appellations. I
have shewn, that there were many places which claimed his birth; and as
many, where was shewn the spot of his interment. Of these we may find
samples in Egypt, Arabia, and India; as well as in Africa, Greece, and its
islands. For the Grecians, wherever they met with a grot or a cavern sacred
to him, took it for granted that he was born there: and wherever he had a
taphos, or high altar, supposed that he was there [867]buried. The same is
also observable in the history of all the Gods.
From what has been said we may perceive that the same history has been
appropriated to different personages: and if we look farther into the
annals of the first ages, we shall find more instances to the same purpose.
It is said of [868]Cronus, and Astarte, that they went over the whole
earth; disposing of the countries at their pleasure, and doing good
wherever they came. Cronus in consequence of it is represented as an
universal [869]benefactor; who reclaimed men from their savage way of life,
and taught them to pass their days in innocence and truth. A like account
is given of Ouranus, the great king of the [870]Atlantians, who observing
mankind in an unsettled and barbarous state, set about building cities for
their reception; and rendered them more humane and civilized by his
institutions and laws. His influence was very extensive; as he is supposed
to have had the greater part of the world under his rule. All this, and
what was above done by Cronus and Astarte, the Grecians attributed to
Apollo and Themis. Strabo mentions from the historian, Ephorus, that the
oracle at Delphi was founded by these two [871]deities at the time, when
Apollo was going over the world doing good to all mankind. He taught the
nations, where he came, to be more [872]gentle and humane in their manners;
and to abstain from their wild fruits, and foul banquets: affording them
instructions how to improve themselves by cultivation.
Some of these persons are mentioned as proceeding in a pacific manner: but
these peregrinations in general are represented as a process of war; and
all that was effected, was supposed to have been by conquest. Thus Osiris,
Hercules, Perseus, Dionusus, displayed their benevolence sword in hand: and
laid every country under an obligation to the limits of the earth. The like
is said of Zeuth, the Zeus of Greece, who was an universal conqueror and
benefactor: [873][Greek: Ton Dia kurion genomenon ton holon epelthein
hapasan ten oikoumenen, euergetounta to genos ton anthropon; dienenkein de
auton kai somatos rhomei kai tais allais hapasais aretais, kai dia touto
tachu kurion genesthai tou sumpantos kosmou.] _Zeus_ (or Jupiter) _having
got the entire supremacy marched over the whole earth, benefiting mankind
wherever he came. And as he was a person of great bodily strength, and at
the same time had every princely quality, he very soon subdued the whole
world_.
No mention is made of any conquests achieved by Orus: and tho reason is,
because he was the same as Osiris. Indeed they were all the same personage:
but Orus was more particularly Osiris in his second state; and therefore
represented by the antient Egyptians as a child. What is omitted by him,
was made up by his immediate successor Thoules; who like those, who
preceded, conquered every country which was inhabited. [874][Greek: Eita
Osiris, meth' hon Oros, kai meta auton Thoules, hos kai heos tou okeanou
pasan ten gen pareilephen.] _After him_ (that is, Soeus, or Sosis,) _came
Osiris; and then Orus: to whom succeeded Thoules, who conquered the whole
earth quite to the ocean_. The like history is given of him by [875]Suidas,
and by the author of the [876]Chronicon Paschale.
These accounts I have collated, and brought in succession to one another;
that we may at a view see the absurdity of the history, if taken in the
common acceptation. And however numerous my instances may have been, I
shall introduce other examples before I quit the subject. I must
particularly speak of an Egyptian hero, equally ideal with those
abovementioned; whose history, though the most romantic and improbable of
any, has been admitted as credible and true. The person to whom I allude,
is the celebrated Sesostris. Most of the antient historians speak of his
great achievements; and the most learned of the modern chronologists have
endeavoured to determine his aera, and point out the time of his reign. But
their endeavours have been fruitless; and they vary about the time when he
lived not less than a thousand years: nay, some differ even more than this
in the aera, which they assign to him.
SESOSTRIS.
Among the writers who have written concerning this extraordinary personage,
Diodorus Siculus is the most uniform and full; and with his evidence I will
begin my account. He[877] informs us, that, when this prince was a youth,
he was entrusted by his father with a great army. He upon this invaded
Arabia: and though he was obliged to encounter hunger and thirst in the
wilds, which he traversed; yet he subdued the whole of that large tract of
country. He was afterwards sent far into the west; where he conquered all
the legions of Lybia, and annexed great part of that country to the kingdom
of Egypt. After the death of his father he formed a resolution to subdue
all the nations upon earth. Accordingly, having settled everything at home,
and appointed governors to each province, he set out with an army of six
hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, and twenty-seven
thousand armed chariots. With these he invaded the Ethiopians to the south;
whom he defeated, and made tributaries to Egypt. He then built a fleet of
ships upon the Red sea: and he is recorded as the first person who
constructed vessels fit for distant navigation. With these, by means of his
generals, he subdued all the sea-coast of Arabia, and all the coast upon
the ocean as far as India. In the mean time he marched in person, with a
puissant army, by land, and conquered the whole continent of Asia. He not
only overran the countries, which Alexander afterwards invaded; but crossed
both the Indus and the Ganges; and from thence penetrated to the eastern
ocean. He then turned to the north, and attacked the nations of Scythia;
till he at last arrived at the Tanaeis, which divides Europe and Asia. Here
he founded a colony; leaving behind him some of his people, as he had just
before done at [878]Colchis. These nations are said to the last to have
retained memorials of their original from Egypt. About the same time Asia
Minor, and most of the islands near it, fell into his hands. He at last
passed into [879]Thrace, where he is said to have been brought into some
difficulties. He however persisted, and subdued all the regions of Europe.
In most of these countries he erected pillars with hieroglyphical
inscriptions; denoting that these parts of the world had been subdued by
the great Sesostris, or, as [880]Diodorus expresses his name, Sesoosis. He
likewise erected statues of himself, formed of stone, with a bow and a
lance: which statues were in length four cubits and four palms, according
to the dimensions of his own height and stature. Having thus finished his
career of [881]victory, he returned laden with spoils to Egypt, after an
absence of [882]nine years; which is one year less than was attributed to
the expeditions of Hercules.
The detail given by this historian is very plain and precise: and we
proceed very regularly and minutely in a geographical series from one
conquest to another: so that the story is rendered in some degree
plausible. But we may learn from Diodorus himself, that little credit is to
be paid to this narration, after all the pains he may have taken to win
upon our credulity. He ingenuously owns, that not only the Grecian writers,
but even the priests of Egypt, and the bards of the same country varied in
the accounts which they gave of this hero; and were guilty of great
inconsistence. It was therefore his chief labour to collect what he thought
most credible, and what appeared most consonant to the memorials in Egypt,
which time had spared: [883][Greek: Ta pithanotata, kai tois uparchousin
eti kata ten choran semeiois ta malista sumphonounta dielthein.] But, as
these memorials consisted chiefly in hieroglyphics, I do not see how it was
possible for Diodorus to understand what the bards and priests could not
decypher. The adjustment of this history, had it been practicable, should
have been the work of a native Egyptian, and not of a person either from
Greece or Sicily. This writer afterwards mentions the mighty [884]works of
Sesostris upon his return into Egypt: the temples which he built, and the
great entrenchments which he made to the east, to guard the country from
the Arabians: and having enumerated the whole of his actions, he concludes
with an ingenuous confession, that [885]little could be obtained that was
precisely true. He has, without doubt, culled the most probable
achievements of this hero; and coloured and arranged them to the best
advantage: yet they still exceed belief. And if, after this care and
disposition, they seem incredible, how would they appear in the garb, in
which he found them? Yet the history of this personage has been admitted as
credible by the most learned [886]writers and chronologists: though, as I
before mentioned, they cannot determine the aera of his reign within a
thousand years. Sir John Marsham and Sir Isaac Newton suppose him to have
been the Sesac of the scriptures; and consequently bring his reign down to
the time of Rehoboam king of Judah. But the only reason for this, as far as
I can perceive, seems to be, that Sesostris is represented as a great
conqueror; and Sesac is presumed, from his large [887]army, to have been so
likewise. But there is nothing more said of Sesac, than that he formed a
plan of conquering the king of Judah; and accordingly came with the army
before mentioned, to put his design in execution. But the [888]capital
being delivered into his hands without the least resistance, and the king
intirely submitting himself to his will; he contented himself with the rich
plunder, which he found, and which he carried away at his departure. We may
also infer from the servitude, to which the people of Judah were reduced,
that he imposed upon them some future contributions.
This is the whole of the history of Sesac, or Shishak; by whom no other
expedition was undertaken that we know of: nor is there mention made upon
record of a single battle which he fought. Yet from a notion that Sesac was
a great warrior, he is made the same as Sesostris: and the age of the
latter is brought down very many centuries beneath the aera, to which the
best writers have adjudged it. When we differ from received tradition, we
should not pass over in silence what is said on the contrary part; but give
it at large, and then shew our reasons for our departure from it. I have
taken notice of the supposed conquerors of the earth: and among them of the
reputed deities of Egypt, who came under the names of Osiris, Perseus,
Thoules, &c. These are supposed, if they ever existed, to have lived in the
first ages of the world, when Egypt was in its infant state; and Sesostris
is made one of their number. He is by some placed after Orus; by others
after Thoules; but still referred to the first ages. He is represented
under the name of Sethos, [889]Sethosis, Sesoosis, Sesonchosis, Sesostris;
but the history, with which these names are accompanied, shews plainly the
identity of the personage. Eusebius in reckoning up the dynasty of kings,
who reigned after Hephaistus or Vulcan, mentions them in the following
order: [890]_Then succeeded his son Helius; after him Sosis, then Osiris,
then Orus, then Thoules, who conquered the whole earth to the ocean; and
last of all Sesostris_. The [891]Scholiast upon Apollonius Rhodius calls
him Sesonchosis; and places him immediately after Orus, and the third in
succession from Osiris: giving at the same time an account of his
conquests. He adds that he was the person whom Theopompus called Sesostris.
The same Scholiast quotes a curious passage from Dicaearchus, in which
Sesonchosis maintains the same rank, and was consequently of the highest
antiquity. [892]_Dicaearchus in the first book of his history mentions, that
immediately after the reign of Orus, the son of Isis and Osiris, in Egypt,
the government devolved to Sesonchosis: so that from the time of
Sesonchosis to Nilus were two thousand years_. Cedrenus [893]calls him
Sesostris; and mentions him after Osiris, and Orus, and Thoules; which last
was by the above writer omitted. [Greek: Osiris. Oros. Thoules. meta de
touton Sesostris.] The author of the Chronicon Paschale makes Orus to have
been succeeded by the same personage, as is mentioned above, whom he calls
Thoulis; and next to him introduces Sesostris. He relates all his great
conquests; and gives us this farther information, that this prince was the
first of the line of Ham, who reigned in Egypt; in other words, he was the
first king of the country. [894][Greek: En toutois meta tauta chronois
ebasileue ton Aiguption protos ek tes phules TOU CHAM] [895][Greek:
Sesostris.] Aristotle speaks of Sesostris; but does not determine the time
of his reign on account of its great antiquity. He only says that it was
long before the age of [896]Minos, who was supposed to have reigned in
Crete. Apollonius Rhodius, who is thought to have been a native of Egypt,
speaks of the great actions of this prince; but mentions no name: not
knowing, I imagine, by which properly to distinguish him, as he was
represented under so many. He however attributes to him every thing which
is said of [897]Sesostris; particularly the settling a Colony at Colchis,
and building innumerable cities in the countries which he traversed:
[Greek: muria d' aste]
[Greek: Nassat' epoichomenos.]
He represents him as conquering all Asia and Europe; and this in times so
remote, that many of the cities which he built, were in ruins before the
aera of the Argonauts.