Frons erat, unde etiam nomen traxere Cerastæ.
There was a city of the same name in Eubœa, expressed Carystus, where the
stone [706]Asbestus was found. Of this they made a kind of cloth, which was
supposed to be proof against fire, and to be cleansed by that element. The
purport of the name is plain; and the natural history of the place affords
us a reason why it was imposed. For this we are obliged to Solinus, who
calls the city with the Grecian termination, Carystos; and says, that it
was noted for its hot streams: [707]Carystos aquas calentes habet, quas
Ελλοπιας vocant. We may therefore be assured, that it was called Car-ystus
from the Deity of fire, to whom all hot fountains were sacred. Ellopia is a
compound of El Ope, Sol Python, another name of the same Deity. Carystus,
Cerastis, Cerasta, are all of the same purport: they betoken a place, or
temple of Astus, or Asta, the God of fire. Cerasta in the feminine is
expressly the same, only reversed, as Astachar in Chusistan. Some places
had the same term in the composition of their names, which was joined with
Kur; and they were named in honour of the Sun, styled Κυρος, Curos. He was
worshipped all over Syria; and one large province was hence named Curesta,
and Curestica, from Κυρ Ἑστος, Sol Hestius.
In Cappadocia were many Puratheia; and the people followed the same manner
of worship, as was practised in Persis. The rites which prevailed, may be
inferred from the names of places, as well as from the history of the
country. One city seems to have been denominated from its tutelary Deity,
and called Castabala. This is a plain compound of Ca-Asta-Bala, the place
or temple of Asta Bala; the same Deity, as by the Syrians was called
Baaltis. Asta Bala was the Goddess of fire: and the same customs prevailed
here as at Feronia in Latium. The female attendants in the temple used to
walk with their feet bare over burning [708]coals.
Such is the nature of the temple named Istachar; and of the caverns in the
mountains of Chusistan. They were sacred to Mithras, and were made use of
for his rites. Some make a distinction between Mithras, Mithres, and
Mithra: but they were all the same Deity, the [709]Sun, esteemed the chief
God of the Persians. In these gloomy recesses people who were to be
initiated, were confined for a long season in the dark, and totally
secluded from all company. During this appointed term they underwent, as
some say, eighty kinds of trials, or tortures, by way of expiation.
[710]Mithra apud Persas Sol esse existimatur: nemo vero ejus sacris
initiari potest, nisi per aliquot suppliciarum gradus transierit. Sunt
tormentorum ij lxxx gradus, partim intensiores.--Ita demum, exhaustis
omnibus tormentis, sacris imbuuntur. Many [711]died in the trial: and those
who survived were often so crazed and shaken in their intellects, that they
never returned to their former state of mind.
Some traces of this kind of penance may be still perceived in the east,
where the followers of Mahomet have been found to adopt it. In the history
given by Hanway of the Persian monarch, Mir Maghmud, we have an account of
a process similar to that above, which this prince thought proper to
undergo. He was of a sour and cruel disposition, and had been greatly
dejected in his spirits; on which account he wanted to obtain some light
and assistance from heaven. [712]_With this intent Maghmud undertook to
perform the spiritual exercises which the Indian Mahommedans, who are more
addicted to them than those of other countries, have introduced into
Kandahar. This superstitious practice is observed by shutting themselves up
fourteen or fifteen days in a place where no light enters. The only
nourishment they take is a little bread and water at sun-set. During this
retreat they employ their time in repeating incessantly, with a strong
guttural voice, the word_ Hou, _by which they denote one of the attributes
of the Deity. These continual cries, and the agitations of the body with
which they were attended, naturally unhinge the whole frame. When by
fasting and darkness the brain is distempered, they fancy they see spectres
and hear voices. Thus they take pains to confirm the distemper which puts
them upon such trials_.
_Such was the painful exercise which Maghmud undertook in January this
year; and for this purpose he chose a subterraneous vault. In the beginning
of the next month, when he came forth, he was so pale, disfigured, and
emaciated, that they hardly knew him. But this was not the worst effect of
his devotion. Solitude, often dangerous to a melancholy turn of thought,
had, under the circumstances of his inquietude, and the strangeness of his
penance, impaired his reason. He became restless and suspicious, often
starting_.--In one of these fits he determined to put to death the whole
family of his predecessor, Sha Hussein; among whom were several brothers,
three uncles, and seven nephews, besides that prince's children. All these,
in number above an hundred, the tyrant cut to pieces with his own hand in
the palace yard, where they were assembled for that bloody purpose. Two
small children only escaped by the intervention of their father, who was
wounded in endeavouring to screen them.
[Illustration: Pl. III. Petra, Mithra or Temple of Mithras from Thevenot. Part 2.]
The reverence paid to caves and grottos arose from a notion that they were
a representation of the [713]world; and that the chief Deity whom the
Persians worshipped proceeded from a cave. Such was the tradition which
they had received, and which contained in it matter of importance. Porphyry
attributes the original of the custom to Zoroaster, whoever Zoroaster may
have been; and says, that he first consecrated a natural cavern in Persis
to Mithras, the creator and father of all things. He was followed in this
practice by others, who dedicated to the Deity places of this [714]nature;
either such as were originally hollowed by nature, or made so by the art of
man. Those, of which we have specimens exhibited by the writers above, were
probably enriched and ornamented by the Achaimenidæ of Persis, who
succeeded to the throne of Cyrus. They are modern, if compared with the
first introduction of the worship; yet of high antiquity in respect to us.
They are noble relics of Persic architecture, and afford us matter of great
curiosity.
* * * * *
OF THE
OMPHI,
AND OF
THE WORSHIP UPON HIGH PLACES.
The term Omphi is of great antiquity, and denotes an oracular influence, by
which people obtained an insight into the secrets of futurity. I have taken
notice with what reverence men in the first ages repaired to rocks and
caverns, as to places of particular sanctity. Here they thought that the
Deity would most likely disclose himself either by a voice, or a dream, or
some other præternatural token. Many, for the same purpose, worshipped upon
hills, and on the tops of high mountains; imagining that they hereby
obtained a nearer communication with heaven. Hence we read, as far back as
the days of Moses, concerning the high places in [715]Canaan. And, under
the kings of Israel and Judah, that the people _made their offerings in
high places_. We are particularly told of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, that
_he walked in the way of the [716] kings of Israel; yea, and made his sons
to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen--and
he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and
under every green tree_. And many times when a reformation was introduced
under some of the wiser and better princes, it is still lamented by the
sacred writer, that [717] _the high places were not taken away: the people
still offered, and burnt incense on the high places_. It is observable,
when the king of Moab wanted to obtain an answer from God, that he took
Balaam the prophet, and brought him to the [718]high places of Baal. And,
finding that he could not obtain his purpose there, he carried him into the
field of Zophim unto the top of Pisgah; and from thence he again removed
him to the top of Peor. In all these places _he erected seven altars, and
offered a bullock and a ram on every[719] altar_. It is said of Orpheus,
that he went with some of his disciples to meet Theiodamas, the son of
Priam, and to partake in a sacrifice which he every year offered upon the
summit of a high[720] mountain. We are told by Strabo, that the Persians
always performed their worship upon hills[721]. Περσαι τοινυν αγαλματα και
βωμους ουχ ἱδρυονται· Θυουσι δε εν ὑψηλῳ τοπῳ, τον ουρανον ηγουμενοι Δια.
The people of Cappadocia and Pontus observed the like method of worship:
and, of all sacrifices, wherever exhibited upon high places, none, perhaps,
ever equalled in magnificence that which was offered by Mithridates upon
his war with the Romans. He followed the Persic modes of worship, as well
as the mixed rites of the Chaldeans and Syrians. Hence he chose one of the
highest mountains in his dominions: upon the top of which he reared an
immense pile, equal in size to the summit on which it stood: and there he
sacrificed to the God of armies--[722]Εθυε τῳ Στρατιῳ Διι πατριον θυσιαν,
επι ορους ὑψηλου κορυφην μειζονα αλλην επιτιθεις. The pile was raised by
his vassal princes: and the offerings, besides those customary, were wine,
honey, oil, and every species of aromatics. The fire is said to have been
perceived at the distance of near a thousand stadia. The Roman poet makes
his hero choose a like situation for a temple which he erected to Venus;
and for the grove which he dedicated to the manes of his father.
[723]Tum vicina astris Ericino in vertice sedes
Fundatur Veneri Idaliæ: tumuloque Sacerdos,
Et lucus, late sacer, additur Anchiseo.
In Japan most of their temples at this day are constructed upon eminences;
and often upon the ascent of high mountains. They are all, [724]says
Kæmpfer, most sweetly seated: A curious view of the adjacent country, a
spring and rivulet of clear water, and the neighbourhood of a grove with
pleasant walks, being the necessary qualifications of those spots of ground
where these holy structures are to be built: for they say that the Gods are
extremely delighted with such high and pleasant places.
This practice in early times was almost universal; and every [725]mountain
was esteemed holy. The people, who prosecuted this method of worship,
enjoyed a soothing infatuation, which flattered the gloom of superstition.
The eminences to which they retired were lonely, and silent; and seemed to
be happily circumstanced for contemplation and prayer. They, who frequented
them, were raised above the lower world; and fancied that they were brought
into the vicinity of the powers of the air, and of the Deity who resided in
the higher regions. But the chief excellence for which they were
frequented, was the Omphi, expressed ομφη by the Greeks, and interpreted
[726]Θεια κληδων, vox divina, being esteemed a particular revelation from
heaven. In short, they were looked upon as the peculiar places where God
delivered his oracles. Hermæus in Plutarch expresses this term ομφις,
omphis; and says, that it was the name of an Egyptian Deity: and he
interprets it, I know not for what reason, [727]ευεργετης. The word truly
rendered was Omphi or Amphi, the oracle of Ham; who, according to the
Egyptian theology, was the same as the Sun, or Osiris. He was likewise
revered as the chief Deity by the Chaldeans; and by most nations in the
east. He was styled both Ham, and Cham: and his oracles both Omphi and
Ompi. In consequence of this, the mountains where they were supposed to be
delivered, came to be denominated Har-al-Ompi; which al-ompi by the Greeks
was changed to Ολυμπος, Olympus; and the mountain was called ορος Ολυμπου.
There were many of this name. The Scholiast upon Apollonius reckons up
[728]six: but there were certainly more, besides a variety of places styled
upon the same account [729]Olympian. They were all looked upon to be
prophetic; and supposed to be the residence of the chief Deity, under
whatever denomination he was specified, which was generally the God of
light. For these oracles no place was of more repute than the hill at
Delphi, called Omphi-El, or the oracle of the Sun. But the Greeks, who
changed Al-omphi to Olympus, perverted these terms in a manner still more
strange: for finding them somewhat similar in sound to a word in their own
language, their caprice immediately led them to think of ομφαλος, a navel,
which they substituted for the original word. This they did uniformly in
all parts of the world; and always invented some story to countenance their
mistake. Hence, whenever we meet with an idle account of a navel, we may be
pretty sure that there is some allusion to an oracle. In respect to Delphi,
they presumed that it was the umbilicus, or centre of the whole earth. The
poets gave into this notion without any difficulty; Sophocles calls it
[730]μεσομφαλα Γης μαντεια: and Euripides avers that it was the precise
centre of the earth:
[731]Οντως μεσον ομφαλον γας
Φοιβου κατεχει δομος.
Livy, the historian, does not scruple to accede to this notion, and to call
it [732]umbilicum orbis terrarum. Strabo speaks of it in this light, but
with some hesitation. [733]Της Ἑλλαδος εν μεσῳ ΠΩΣ εστι της
συμπασης--ΕΝΟΜΙΣΘΗ δη και οικουμενης· και εκαλεσαν της γης ΟΜΦΑΛΟΝ. Varro
very sensibly refutes this idle notion in some [734]strictures upon a
passage in the poet Manilius to the purpose above.
O, sancte Apollo,
Qui umbilicum certum terrarum obtines.
Upon which he makes this remark: Umbilicum dictum aiunt ab umbilico nostro,
quod is medius locus sit terrarum, ut umbilicus in nobis: quod utrumque est
falsum. Neque hic locus terrarum est medius; neque noster umbilicus est
hominis medius. Epimenides long before had said the same:
[735]Ουτε γαρ ην γαιης μεσος ομφαλος, ουδε θαλασσης.
But supposing that this name and character had some relation to Delphi, how
are we to account for other places being called after this manner? They
could not all be umbilical: the earth cannot be supposed to have different
centres: nor could the places thus named be always so situated, as to be
central in respect to the nation, or the province in which they were
included. Writers try to make it out this way: yet they do not seem
satisfied with the process. The contradictory accounts shew the absurdity
of the notion. It was a term borrowed from Egypt, which was itself an
Omphalian region. Horus Apollo not knowing the meaning of this has made
Egypt the centre of the earth: [736]Αιγυπτων γη μεση της οικουμενης.
Pausanias mentions an Omphalus in the Peloponnesus, which was said to have
been the middle of that country. He seems however to doubt of this
circumstance, as he well may[737]. Ου πορρω δε εστιν ὁ καλουμενος Ομφαλος,
Πελοποννησου δε πασης μεσον, ει δη τα οντα ειρηκασι. _At no great distance
is a place called the Omphalus, or navel; which is the centre of the whole
Peloponnesus, if the people here tell us the truth_. At Enna in [738]Sicily
was an Omphalus: and the island of Calypso is represented by Homer as the
umbilicus of the sea. The Goddess resided--[739]Νησῳ εν αμφιρυτῃ ὁθι τ'
ομφαλος εστι θαλασσης. The Ætolians were styled umbilical; and looked upon
themselves as the central people in Greece, like those of Delphi. But this
notion was void of all truth in every instance which has been produced: and
arose from a wrong interpretation of antient terms. What the Grecians
styled Omphalus was certainly Ompha-El, the same as Al-Ompha; and related
to the oracle of Ham or the Sun: and these temples were Prutaneia, and
Puratheia, with a tumulus or high altar, where the rites of fire were in
antient times performed. As a proof of this etymology most of the places
styled Olympian, or Omphalian, will be found to have a reference to an
oracle. Epirus was celebrated for the oracle at Dodona: and we learn from
the antient poet, Reianus, that the natives were of old called Omphalians:
[740]Συν τε Παραυαιοι, και αμυμονες Ομφαλιηεις.
There was an Omphalia in Elis; and here too was an oracle mentioned by
[741]Pindar and Strabo: [742]Την δε επιφανειαν εσχεν (ἡ Ολυμπια) εξ αρχης
δια το μαντειον του Ολυμπιου Διος. _The place derived all its lustre
originally from the oracular temple of Olympian Jove._ In this province was
an antient city [743]Alphira; and a grove of Artemis [744]Alpheionia, and
the whole was watered by the sacred river Alpheus. All these are derived
from El, the prophetic Deity, the Sun; and more immediately from his
oracle, Alphi. The Greeks deduced every place from some personage: and
Plutarch accordingly makes Alpheus[745]--Ἑις των το γενος αφ' ἡλιου
καταγοντων, one of those who derived their race from the Sun. The term
Alphi, from whence the Greeks formed Alphira, Alpheionia, and Alpheüs, is
in acceptation the same as Amphi. For Ham being by his posterity esteemed
the Sun, or El; and likewise Or, the same as Orus; his oracles were in
consequence styled not only Amphi, and Omphi, but Alphi, Elphi, Orphi,
Urphi.
I have taken notice of several cities called Omphalian, and have observed,
that they generally had oracular temples: but by the Greeks they were
universally supposed to have been denominated from a navel. There was a
place called [746]Omphalian in Thessaly: and another in Crete, which had a
celebrated [747]oracle. It is probably the same that is mentioned by
Strabo, as being upon mount Ida, where was the city Elorus. Diodorus speaks
of this oracle, named Omphalian; but supposes that the true name was
ομφαλος, omphalus: and says, that it was so called (strange to tell)
because Jupiter, when he was a child, lost his navel here, which dropped
into the river Triton: [748]Απο τουτου τοτε συμβαντος Ομφαλον
προσαγορευθηναι το χωριον: _from this accident the place had the name of
Omphalus, or the navel_. Callimachus in his hymn to Jupiter dwells upon
this circumstance:
[749]Ευτε Θενας απελειπεν επι Κνωσσοιο φερουση,
Ζευ πατερ, ἡ Νυμφη σε (Θεναι δ' εσαν εγγυθι Κνωσσου)
Τουτακι τοι πεσε, Δαιμον, απ' ομφαλος, ενθεν εκεινο
Ομφαλιον μετεπειτα πεδον καλεουσι Κυδωνες.
Who would imagine, that one of the wisest nations that ever existed could
rest satisfied with such idle figments: and how can we account for these
illusions, which overspread the brightest minds? We see knowing and
experienced people inventing the most childish tales; lovers of science
adopting them; and they are finally recorded by the grave historian: all
which would not appear credible, had we not these evidences so immediately
transmitted from them. And it is to be observed that this blindness is only
in regard to their religion; and to their mythology, which was grounded
thereupon. In all other respects they were the wisest of the sons of men.
We meet in history with other places styled Omphalian. The temple of
Jupiter Ammon was esteemed of the highest antiquity, and we are informed
that there was an omphalus here; and that the Deity was worshipped under
the form of a navel. Quintus Curtius, who copied his history from the
Greeks, gives us in the life of Alexander the following strange account,
which he has embellished with some colouring of his own. [750]Id, quod pro
Deo colitur, non eandem effigiem habebat, quam vulgo Diis Artifices
accommodârunt. _Umbilico_ maxime similis est habitus, smaragdo, et gemmis,
coagmentatus. Hunc, cum responsum petitur, navigio aurato gestant
Sacerdotes, multis argenteis _pateris_ ab utroque navigii latere
pendentibus. The whole of this is an abuse of terms, which the author did
not understand, and has totally misapplied. One would imagine that so
improbable a story, as that of an umbilical Deity with his silver basons,
though patched up with gold and emeralds, would have confuted itself. Yet
Schottus in his notes upon Curtius has been taken with this motly
description: and in opposition to all good history, thinks that this idle
story of a navel relates to the compass. Hyde too has adopted this notion;
and proceeds to shew how each circumstance may be made to agree with the
properties of the magnet. [751]Illa nempe Jovis effigies videtur
semiglobulare quiddam, uti est compassus marinus, formâ umbilici librarii,
seu umbonis, tanquam ενθεον quoddam adoratum, propter ejusdem divinum
auxilium: utpote in quo index magneticus erat sicut intus existens quidam
deus, navigiorum cursum in medio æquore dirigens. These learned men were
endued with a ready faith: and not only acquiesce in what they have been
told, but contribute largely to establish the mistake. The true history is
this. Most places in which was the supposed oracle of a Deity, the
Grecians, as I have before mentioned, styled Olympus, Olympia, and
Olympiaca: or else Omphale, and Omphalia, and the province χωριον Ομφαλιον.
These terms were thought to relate to a navel: but, if such an
interpretation could have been made to correspond with the history of any
one place, yet that history could not have been reiterated; nor could
places so widely distant have all had the same reference. What was
terminated ομφαλος was [752]Omph-El, the oracle of God, the seat of divine
influence: and Al-Omphi was a name given to mountains and eminences upon
the same account. An oracle was given to Pelias in Thessaly: and whence did
it proceed? from the well wooded omphalus of his mother Earth.
[753]Ηλθε δε ὁι κρυοεν
Πυκινῳ μαντευμα θυμῳ
Παρα μεσον ομφαλον
Ευδενδροιο ῥηθεν ματερος.--
In other words, it proceeded from the stately grove of Hestia, where stood
an oracular temple.
In respect to the omphalus of Ammon, which Curtius has translated
umbilicus, and garnished with gold and jewels, the whole arises from a
mistake in terms, as in the many instances before. It was Omphi El, the
oracle of Ham, or the Sun: and the shrine, from whence it was supposed to
proceed, was carried in a boat. The Pateræ, represented as so many silver
basons, were in reality the interpreters of the oracle. They were the
priests, who in the sacred processions walked on each side, and supported
both the image and the boat in which it was carried. They are said to have
been eighty in number; and they pretended to bear the Deity about, just as
they were by the divine impulse directed. _The God_, says [754]Diodorus
Siculus, _is carried about in a ship of gold by eighty of his priests. They
bear him upon their shoulders, and pursue their way by instinct, just as
the divine automaton chances to direct them._ These persons, who thus
officiated, were probably the same as the Petipharæ of the antient
Egyptians, but were called Pateræ by the Greeks. It was a name, and office,
by which the priests of Delphi, and of many other places besides those in
Egypt, were distinguished: and the term always related to oracular
interpretation. Hence Bochart describes these priests, and their function,
very justly. [755]Pateræ Sacerdotes Apollinis, oraculorum interpretes.
Pator, or Petor, was an Egyptian word; and Moses speaking of Joseph, and
the dreams of Pharaoh, more than once makes use of it in the sense above.
It occurs Genesis. c. 41. v. 8.--v. 13. and manifestly alludes to an
interpretation of that divine intercourse, which the Egyptians styled
Omphi. This was communicated to Pharaoh by a dream: for the Omphi was
esteemed not only a verbal response, but also an intimation by
[756]dreams--Ομφη, φημη θεια, θεια κληδων--ονειρου φαντασματα. Hesychius.
So it likewise occurs in Eusebius; who quotes a passage from the oracles of
Hecate, wherein the Gods are represented, as insensibly wafted through the
air like an Omphean vision.
[757]Τους δε μεσους μεσατοισιν επεμβεβαωτας αηταις
Νοσφι πυρος θειοιο ΠΑΝΟΜΦΕΑΣ ηυτ' ΟΝΕΙΡΟΥΣ.