GREECE.
There, where now, as we’re by sages told,
Whirls on high a soulless fiery ball,
Helios guided then his car of gold,
In his silent majesty o’er all.
Oreads then these heights around us filled,
Then a dryad dwelt in yonder tree,
From the urn of loving naiads rilled
Silver streamlets foamingly.
FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER.
The religious system of the Greeks is the embodiment of beauty. No
other worship that has ever existed so encouraged the taste for art
as this. Its literature, its mythological stories, its idols and its
temples still control and, to a great extent, shape the art ideas
of the world. Its devotees have above all other people possessed a
perception of beauty of form and a fondness for representing it.
The people of Greece appear to have originally come from the
north-western part of Asia Minor. They were called the Hellenes.
The worship which they brought from Asia was the worship of the
“Heaven-Father,” the unseen one who dwells in ether, whose temple is
the sky, and whose altar is properly placed upon the mountain-top. The
Hindus called the same being Dyaus-pitar; the Romans, Diovis-pater or
Jupiter; the Greeks, Zeus-pater. One can readily see the resemblance
between these names, and the evidence they bear to the fact that
these nations all came originally from one common stock. As the primal
Greek race separated into various parts of Greece different forms
began to arise. As sailors from other lands arrived on their shores,
they brought their own gods with them, and thus many new gods were
introduced into Greece.
The lively imagination of the Greeks and the out-door life of their
primitive state produced a number of tales and legends about the gods.
Some of these were based on the tales with which their forefathers were
familiar in their early home in Asia. The people lived in separate
villages. Wandering minstrels and merchants carried these tales of
gods and heroes from village to village. Poets then caught them up and
adorned them with the touches of a livelier fancy. Thus soon a rich
and luxuriant system of legendary lore was in possession of the whole
people.
Just as is the case with other nations, the beings called gods by
the Greeks are but the personifications of the powers and objects of
nature, and the legends but represent the courses of nature and its
operations. To these primitive notions imagination afterwards added,
and poetry clothed the whole with a warm glow. Thus was formed the
popular Greek faith.
ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF THE GODS.
According to the ideas of the Homeric and Hesiodic ages, it would seem
that the world was a hollow globe, divided into two equal portions by
the flat disk of the earth. The external shell of this globe is called
by the poets brazen and iron, probably only to express its solidity.
The superior hemisphere was named Heaven, the inferior one Tartarus.
The length of the diameter of the hollow sphere is given thus by
Hesiod. It would take, he says, nine days for an anvil to fall from
heaven to earth; and an equal space of time would be occupied by its
fall from earth to Tartarus. The luminaries which gave light to gods
and men shed their radiance through all the interior of the upper
hemisphere; while that of the inferior one was filled with eternal
gloom and darkness, and its still air was unmoved by any wind.
The earth filled the centre of the universe in the form of a round flat
disk, or rather cylinder, around which the river (the ocean) flowed.
Hellas was probably regarded as the centre of the earth; but the poets
are silent on this point. They are equally so as to the exact central
point, but probably viewed as such Olympus, the abode of the gods. In
after times Delphi became practically the _navel of the earth_.
The sea divided the terrestial disk into two portions, which we may
suppose were regarded as equal. These divisions do not seem to have
had any distinctive names in the time of Homer. The northern one was
afterwards named Europe; the southern, at first called Asia, alone, was
in process of time divided into Asia and Libya, the former comprising
all the country between the Phasis and the Nile, the latter all between
this river and the western ocean.
In the sea, the Greeks appear to have known, to the west of their
own country, southern Italy, Sicily and Spain, though their ideas
respecting these countries were probably vague and uncertain. The
imagination of the poets, or the tales of voyagers, had placed in the
more remote parts of it several islands, such as the Ogygian, the isle
of Calypsó; the Æan, that of Kirké; the Æolion, that of Æolos; Scheria,
the abode of the Phæakians--islands in all probability as ideal and as
fabulous as the isles of Panchaia, Lilliput, or Brobdignag, though both
ancients and moderns have endeavored to assign their exact positions.
Along its southern coast lay, it would appear, the countries of the
Lotus-eaters, the Cyclops, the Giants and the Læstrigonians. These
isles and coasts of the western part of the sea were the scenes of most
of the wonders of early Grecian fable. There, and on the isles of the
ocean, the passage to which was supposed to be closed to the island of
Kirké, dwelt the Sirens, the Hesperides, the Græcæ, the Gorgons and the
other beings of fable, whose varied deeds make up the ever interesting
narratives of the ancient mythology.
The Greeks of the early ages knew little of any people except those
to the east and south of their own country, or near the coast of the
Mediterranean. Their imagination, meantime, had peopled the western
portion of this sea with giants, monsters and enchantresses; while they
placed around the edge of the disk of the earth, which they probably
regarded as of no great width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of
the gods, and blessed with happiness and longevity--a notion which
continued to prevail even in the historic times.
The entrance to the city or palace of the gods on Olympus was closed
by a gate of clouds kept by the goddesses named the “Seasons;” but the
cloudy valves opened spontaneously to permit the greater gods to pass
to and fro on their visits to the earth, thus linking with earth’s
phases the approaches or departures of the gods.
Tartarus was unvisited by the light of day. It was regarded as the
prison of the gods, and not as the place of torment for wicked men,
being to the gods what Erebus was to men--the abode of those who were
driven from the supernal world. The Titans, when conquered, were shut
up in it; and in the Ilias, Zeus menaces the subordinate and refractory
gods with banishment to its murky regions.
THE GENERATIONS OF THE GODS.
Chaos (void space) was first: then came into being “broad-breasted”
Earth, the gloomy Tartarus and Love. Chaos produced Erebus and Night,
and this last bore to Erebus Day and Ether.
Earth now produced Uranos (Heaven), of equal extent with herself, to
envelop her, and the mountains and Pontos (Sea). She then bore to
Uranus a mighty progeny--the Titans; six males and six females. She
also bore the three Cyclops and the three-hundred handed ones, Hottos,
Briareus and Gyges. These children were hated by their father, who, as
soon as they were born, thrust them out of sight in a cavern of mother
Earth, who, grieved at his conduct, produced the substance of hoary
steel, and, forming from it a sickle, roused her children, the Titans,
to rebellion against him; but fear seized on them all except Kronos,
who, lying in wait with the sickle with which his mother had armed him,
mutilated his unsuspecting sire. The drops which fell to the earth from
the wounds gave birth to the Erinnyes, the Giants and the Mehan nymphs;
and from what fell into the sea sprang Aphrodité, the goddess of love
and beauty.
Earth finally, after the overthrow of the Titans, bore by Tartaros her
last offspring, the hundred-headed Typhœus, the father of storms and
whirlwinds, whom Zeus precipitated into Tartarus.
Rhea was united to Kronos. Kronos, having learned from his parents,
Heaven and Earth, that he was fated to be deprived by one of his
sons of the kingdom which he had taken from his father, devoured his
children as fast as they were born. Rhea, when about to be delivered
of Zeus, besought her parents to teach her how she might save him.
Instructed by Earth, she concealed him in a cavern of Crete, and gave
a stone in his stead to Kronos. This stone he afterward threw up, and
with it the children whom he had devoured. When Zeus was grown up,
he and the other children of Kronos made war on their father and the
Titans. The scene of the conflict was Thessaly; the former fought from
Olympus, the latter from Othrys. During ten entire years the conflict
was undecided; at length, by the counsel of Earth, the Kronids released
the Hundred-handed and called them to their aid. The war was then
resumed with renewed vigor, and the Titans were finally vanquished and
imprisoned in Tartarus, under the guard of the Hundred-handed. The
Kronids then, by the advice of Earth, gave the supreme power to Zeus,
who, in return, distributed honors and dominion among the associates of
his victory.
GODS OF THE GRECIANS.
The Greeks of the early ages regarded the lofty Thessalian mountain
named Olympus as the dwelling of their gods. In the Odyssey, where the
deities are of a character far more dignified and elevated than in the
Ilias, the place of their abode shares in their exaltation; and it may
almost be doubted if the poet who drew the following picture of Olympus
could have conceived it to be no more than the summit of a terrestrial
mountain:
“Olympus, where they say the ever firm
Seat of the gods is, by the winds unshaken,
Nor ever wet with rain, nor ever showered
With snow, but cloudless ether o’er it spreads,
And glittering light encircles it around,
On which the happy gods aye dwell in bliss.”
Man loves to bestow his own form upon his gods, as being the noblest
that he can conceive. Those of Homer are all of the human form, but
of far larger dimensions than men; great size being an object of
admiration both in men and women in those early and martial ages. Thus,
when the goddess Athena ascends as driver the chariot of Diomedes,
Loud groaned the beechen axle with the weight,
For a great god and valiant chief it bore;
when in the battle of the gods Arés is struck to the earth by this
goddess, he is described as covering seven plethra of ground; the
helmet of the goddess herself would, we are told, cover the footmen of
a hundred towns; when Hera is about to make an oath she lays one hand
on the earth, the other on the sea; the voice of Poseidón and Arés are
as loud as the shout of nine or ten thousand men.
The gods can, however, increase or diminish their size, assume the
form of particular men, or of any animals, and make themselves visible
and invisible at their pleasure. Their bodies are also of a finer
nature than those of men. It is not blood, but a blood-like fluid
named _ichór_, which flows in their veins. They are susceptible
of injury by mortal weapons; the arrows of Herakles violate the divine
bodies of Hera and Hades. Diomedes wounds both Aphrodite and Arés. They
require nourishment as men do; their food is called Ambrosia, their
drink Nectar. Their mode of life exactly resembles that of the princes
and nobles of the heroic ages. In the palace of Zeus, on Olympus,
they feast at the approach of evening, and converse of the affairs of
heaven and earth; the nectar is handed round by Hebe (_youth_);
Apollo delights them with the tones of his lyre; and the Muses, in
responsive strains, pour forth their melodious voices in song. When
the sun descends each god retires to repose in his own dwelling. They
frequently partake of the hospitality of men, travel with them, and
share in their wars and battles.
With the form of men the Homeric gods also partake of their passions.
They are capricious, jealous, revengeful, will support their favorites
through right and wrong, and are implacable toward their enemies or
even those who have slighted them. Their power was held to extend very
far; men regarded them the authors of both good and evil; all human
ability and success was ascribed to them. They were believed to have
power over the thoughts of men, and could imperceptibly suggest such
as they pleased. They required of men to honor them with prayer, and
the sacrifice of oxen, goats, sheep, lambs and kids, and oblations of
wine and corn, and fragrant herbs. When offended, they usually remitted
their wrath when thus appeased.
The Homeric gods have all different ranks and offices; Olympus being,
in fact, regulated on the model of a Grecian city of the heroic ages.
Zeus was king of the region of the air and clouds, which had fallen to
him by lot on the dethronement of his father Kronos; the sea was the
realm of his brother Poseidón; the under-world fell to Hades in the
division of their conquests; earth and Olympus were common property.
Zeus, however, as eldest brother, exercised a supremacy, and his power
was the greatest. The other inhabitants of Olympus were Hera, sister
and spouse of Zeus; Apollo, the god of music and archery; his sister
Artemis, the goddess of the chase, and their mother Leto; Aphrodite,
goddess of love, and her mother Dione; Arés, god of war; Pallas-Athene,
goddess of prudence and skill; Themis, goddess of justice; Hermoias,
god of grain; Hebe, the attendant of the Olympian king and queen and
Isis, their messenger; Hephæstos, the celestial artist, and Pæeon,
the physician; and the Muses, the Graces and the Seasons. Poseidón
was frequently there; but Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and
Dionysius, the god of wine, do not appear among the residents of
Olympus. The Nymphs and the River-gods occasionally visited or were
summoned to it. Eos, Helios and Selene, rose every day out of the
ocean-stream, and drove in their chariots through the air, shedding
their cheering beams abroad.
All the dwellings of the gods upon Olympus were of brass or copper,
the metal which was in the greatest abundance in Greece. Hephæstos
was architect and smith; he formed all the arms, household furniture,
chariots and other articles in use among the Celestials; but their
dress, especially that of the goddesses, appears to have been the
workmanship of Pallas-Athene or of the Graces. The gold which proceeded
from the work-shop of Hephæstos was filled with automatic power; his
statues were endowed with intelligence; his tripods could move of
themselves; he made the golden shoes, or rather soles, with which the
gods trod the air and the waters, or strode with the speed of winds,
or even of thought, from mountain to mountain upon the earth which
trembled beneath their weight. The chariots of the gods and their
appurtenances were formed of various metals. That of Hera, for example,
is thus described:
“Then Hebe quickly to the chariot put
The round wheels, eight-spoked, brazen, strong
Axle of iron. Gold their fellies were,
And undecaying, but thereon of brass
The tires, well-fitting, wondrous to behold.
Of silver was the rounded nave of each;
The body was hung by gold and silver cords,
And two curved sides encompassed it about.
The pole was silver, and upon its end
She tied the beauteous golden yoke, and bound
On it the golden braces fair; the steeds,
Swift-footed then beneath the yoke were led
By Hera, eager for the war and strife.”
These chariots were drawn by horses of celestial breed, which could
whirl them to and fro between heaven and earth, through the yielding
air, or skim with them along the surface of the sea, without wetting
the axle. They were only used on occasions of taking a long journey, as
when Hera professes that she is going to the end of the earth to make
up the quarrel between Okeanos and Tethys; or on occasions in which
the gods wished to appear with state and magnificence. On ordinary
occasions the gods moved by the aid of their golden shoes; when at home
in their houses, they, like the men of those ages, went bare-foot.
The Greeks tell almost innumerable stories of their gods, and their
adventures, love-escapades and wars. Some are wonderfully beautiful,
others humble or grotesque. Their heroes come in for a share of the
honors paid the gods. We can compare these stories with the legends of
other nations, and see the wondrous resemblance between them.
SPECIMEN STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY.
It will be possible to introduce but a few of the very many Greek
legends and myths. We choose to give a few fully, rather than to give
many imperfectly.
HERMES AND APOLLO.
Hermes was born of the mountain-nymph, Maia, in a cavern of Mount
Kylléné, in Arcadia. He had scarcely been laid in his cradle, when he
got up and set off for Pieria, to steal cows from Apollo. As he was
going out he met a tortoise, which he caught up and carried back to the
cave; when, quick as thought, he killed the animal, took out the flesh,
adapted reeds and strings to the shell, and formed from it the Phormin
or Lyre, on which he immediately played with perfect skill. He then
laid it up in his cradle, and resumed his journey.
He arrived by sunset in Pieria, where the oxen of the gods fed under
the care of Apollo. He forthwith separated fifty cows from the herd and
drove them away, contriving to make them go backwards; and throwing
away his sandals, bound branches of myrtle and tamarisk under his
feet, that the herdsman-god might have no clew by which to trace his
cattle. As he passed by Onchéstos in Bæotia, he saw an old man engaged
in planting his vineyard, whom he strictly charged not to tell what he
had seen. He then pursued his way by shady hills, resounding vales and
flowery plains, and as the moon was rising arrived with his booty on
the banks of the Alpheios in the Peloponnése. He there fed and stalled
his kine, made a fire, killed, cut up, and dressed two of them, and
even made black puddings of their blood, and then thriftily spread
their skins to dry on a rock. He burned the heads and feet, and put out
the fire, effacing all signs of it, and flung his twig-sandals into
the river. With daybreak he slank home and stole into his cradle, not
unobserved by his mother, who reproached him with his deeds; but he
replied that he was resolved by his actions to procure admission for
her and himself to the assembly of the gods.
In the morning Apollo missed his kine; he set out in search of them,
and met the old man, who informed him of his having seen a child
driving cows along. He comes to Pylos, where he sees the traces of his
cattle, but is amazed at the strange foot-prints of their driver. He
proceeds to the fragrant cave of the nymphs, and Hermes on seeing him
gathers himself up under the clothes, afraid of the god. Apollo takes
the key, opens and searches the three closets where the nymph kept her
clothes, ornaments and food, but to no purpose. He then threatens the
child that he will fling him into Tartarus unless he tells him where
the cows are; but Hermes stoutly denies all knowledge of them, and
even very innocently asks what cows are. Apollo pulls him out of the
cradle and they agree to go and argue the matter before Zeus. Arrived
in Olympus, Apollo relates the theft, and tells what reasons he had
for suspecting the baby of being the thief. All this is, to the great
amusement of the Celestials, stoutly denied and its absurdity shown by
the little fellow, who still has his cradle clothes about him. Zeus,
however, gives judgment against Hermes, and the two brothers are sent
in search of the missing kine. They come to Pylos, and Hermes drives
the cattle out of the cave. Apollo misses two of them; to his amazement
he sees their skins on a rock, and is still more surprised, when, on
going to drive the others on, he finds the art of Hermes had rooted
their feet to the ground. Hermes then begins to play on his lyre, the
tones of which so ravish Apollo that he offers him the cows for it.
The young god gives him the lyre, and receives the cattle. The divine
herdsman also gives him his whip, and instructs him in the management
of the herds.
THE LOTUS-EATERS AND THE CYCLOPS.
Odysseus when on his return from Troy, encountered a violent north-east
wind, which drove him for nine days, until he reached the country of
the Lotus-eaters. He sent three of his men to see who the inhabitants
were. These men on coming among the Lotus-eaters were kindly
entertained by them, and given some of their own food, the Lotus plant,
to eat. The effect of this plant was such, that those who tasted it
lost all thoughts of home and wished to remain in that country. It was
by main force that Odysseus dragged these men away, and he was even
obliged to tie them under the benches of his ship.
Then he sailed to the westward and came to the land of the Cyclops.
These were a rude, lawless people, who neither planted nor sowed, but
whose land was so fertile as spontaneously to produce for them wheat,
barley and grapes. They dwelt in caves, and each without regard to
others governed his wife and children.
In front of one of their harbors lay a beautiful island, well-stocked
with goats. Leaving his fleet at this island, Odysseus went with one
ship to the mainland. Here he entered the cave of a Cyclops, Polyphemus
by name. When Polyphemus returned in the evening with his flocks and
found strangers there, he asked who they were. Odysseus said that they
had been shipwrecked, and appealed to his mercy and reverence for
the gods. Polyphemus cared for neither and he seized and killed and
devoured two young Greeks. The door of the cave was closed with an
immense rock, so that, if they killed Polyphemus, they could not have
escaped, for they could not move the rock. The next night, though, when
Polyphemus was in a drunken sleep, they took his staff, which was as
large as a mast, heated it in the fire, and put out his one eye. When
the giant roared out with pain, the other Cyclops came to see what was
the matter. Odysseus had told him that his name was _Nobody_.
So when he called out that Nobody was killing him, they thought him
dreaming. Next morning when Polyphemus turned out his sheep and goats,
which were of great size, the Greeks fastened themselves beneath their
bellies and so escaped. After they had put out to sea a little way,
Odysseus called out his true name, and the angry Cyclops hurled great
stones at him, and nearly destroyed his ship.
HERCULES’ TWELVE TASKS.
In obedience to the god Zeus, Hercules was made to serve Eurystheus,
who gave him twelve tasks to perform. The first task was to bring the
skin of an unconquerable lion, the Nemean. Hercules choked the lion.
The second task was to destroy the nine-headed hydra, or water-snake.
He cut off the heads, but two sprang up where one was cut off. Then his
companion with a torch burned the necks where the heads were cut off by
Hercules the second time. The third task was to bring the golden-horned
hind alive. He wounded and then caught her. The fourth task was to
bring an immense wild boar alive. The fifth task was to cleanse the
immense stables of King Augeas in one day. This he did by mining the
rivers Penios and Alpheios. The sixth task was to drive away the
stymphalid water-fowl. A goddess gave him brazen clappers, the beating
of which made the birds rise from their hiding-places, when Hercules
destroyed them with his arrows. The seventh task was to fetch the wild
and furious Cretan bull. The eighth task was to bring the Centaurs
of Thrace. The Centaurs were horses with the heads and upper half of
the human body. The ninth was to bring the girdle of the mighty queen
of the Amazons. The tenth was to bring the purple-headed oxen of the
Ruddy-isle. The eleventh was to bring the apples of the Hesperides.
After meeting with various adventures he reached the place where they
were, and while he upheld the heavens Atlas plucked the apples, which
Hercules, by a cute device, secured from him. The twelfth task was to
bring Cerberus from the under-world. All his tasks were accomplished.
The whole story of the hero Hercules is intensely interesting.
THE PHIDIAN JUPITER.
Zeus--the Jupiter of the Romans--the chief, was the earliest of the
national gods. The great place of his worship was at Olympia. Here was
the magnificent statue of Jupiter, made by the famous Phidias. This
statue was sixty-five feet high. The frame-work, of cedar and olive
wood, was covered with ivory and gold. His throne was of cedar wood,
inlaid with ivory and precious-stones. In his right hand he held a
statue of victory, and in his left a sceptre surmounted by the eagle.
The footstool was supported by sphinxes, and the throne was of cedar
wood, inlaid with ivory, the ebony pedestal was covered with sculptured
scenes of his life and adventures. Probably no idol of ancient or
modern times exceeds this in its majestic, massive beauty. Neither
ivory nor gold were plentiful in Greece, yet so devoted were the people
that they provided the immense quantity for this idol readily. The
gold plates were one-eighth of an inch thick, and were worth then over
$600,000, equal to an immense sum in our days. At Olympia, as at the
Isthmus of Corinth, games were held at the yearly religious festivals.
From these games the apostle Paul derived many of the metaphors so
frequent in his writings.
[Illustration: IMAGE OF JUPITER, MADE BY THE CELEBRATED
SCULPTOR, PHIDIAS.]
GRECIAN TEMPLES AND WORSHIP OF PAUL’S DAY.
Paul, the Christian Missionary, came into contact with the heathenism
of both Greece and Rome. In Athens, Corinth and Ephesus especially he
was brought face to face with idols and temples. The story of his visit
to these places as told by Luke (Acts xvii., xviii. and xix.), and
by Paul (in his letters to the Corinthians and Ephesians) presents a
vivid picture of the condition of the Greek religion in its latest
development. Soon the whole system was to lie in ruins, its temples
were to be forsaken, its idols destroyed, its worship forgotten.
This mighty change was to be produced by the power of God working
through one weak man, belonging to what was everywhere regarded as
a narrow-minded race, and without any backing of pomp, or power, or
wealth.
THE CITY CROWDED WITH IDOLS.
As Paul entered the gate-way of the Piræus at Athens, he was met
immediately with the proofs of the intense devotion of the Athenians
to their worship. Before him stood Minerva’s temple and the image of
Neptune, her rival, seated on horseback, holding his trident. Passing
on he came, after a little, to the temple of Ceres with the images
sculptured by the far-famed Praxiteles. A little further on his eyes
must have fell upon Bacchus’s temple and the images of Zeus, Minerva,
Apollo, Mercury and the Muses. All around him are temples, statues,
altars and shrines, and the news-seeking Athenians gather about him.
Every public place and building was accounted sacred. The market-place
(the Agora) and the Acropolis were crowded with temples and altars to
the gods, and even to deified virtues. There were altars to Fame, to
Modesty, to Persuasion and to Pity. And, lest they should by any chance
leave out any god or being who might help or injure them, they built
an altar to _An Unknown God_. With all their worship they had not
found the true God.
The magnificent Parthenon--the Virgin’s House--was the glorious temple
erected to Minerva’s honor. Within it was the colossal statue of
ivory and gold, made by the famous Phidias, rivaled only by the same
artist’s statue of Jupiter. In the midst of all this idolatry, what
thought was in the mind of Paul? “His spirit was stirred within him
when he saw the city crowded with idols.” It was said in those days
that it was easier to find an idol in Athens than a man.
The Athenians led Paul away to the Areopagus. Here the judges sat in
the open air, upon seats hewn out of the rock. A temple of Mars crowned
the height. Before Paul’s view the whole city with its maze of temples,
shrines and statues, was spread out. The intensely earnest Christian
Apostle stood before the frivolous heathen crowd. He is alone, yet not
alone. His Master is with him. He quails not, he minces no matters, he
speaks boldly, fearlessly. He recognizes their intense religiousness
(if we may so call it). He declares the truth that the Deity does not
dwell in temples made with hands, even with the hundreds of temples
before him. With the recollection of Phidias’s famous statues fresh
in mind and the countless idols before his view he declares that the
Deity is not to be likened to forms in gold, silver or stone, graven by
art and man’s device. The city is, apparently, scarcely moved, but the
leaven has been put in, and soon the whole lump will be leavened. A few
years pass by and the worship of Athens is only a remembrance. Close
by Athens was one city which Paul visited and where he founded one of
the strongest Christian churches. This city was held in bad repute in
all the world on account of its licentiousness. It was not only the
seat of wealth and splendor, but also a den of vice. “To Corinthianize”
meant to play the wanton. The worship in the temple of Venus was of the
most shameful character. To the north-east of Corinth was the temple of
Neptune, where the celebrated Isthmian games were celebrated.
[Illustration: BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF DIANA AT
EPHESUS.]
DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS.
Ephesus was the central city of Asia Minor. One of its buildings ranked
in importance above all others--the Temple of Diana. This was reckoned
as one of the wonders of the world, and the Ephesians were wont to
speak of Diana as the goddess whom all the world worshiped. The temple
had been once destroyed, and then rebuilt with great magnificence.
The ladies of Ephesus, at its rebuilding, had given their jewelry.
Alexander offered immense riches to the Ephesians, if they would but
permit him to have his name inscribed on its walls; but they would not
consent. This was the rallying-point of heathenism in Paul’s day. The
temple was 425 feet long, 220 broad, and its columns were 60 feet high.
There were 127 columns, each the gift of a king. Only a part of it was
roofed over, and this was with cedar. The remaining parts were rich
with statuary and columns. “It is probable that there was no building
in the world in which was concentrated a greater amount of admiration,
enthusiasm and superstition.”
[Illustration: MEDAL OF DIANA.]
The first statue of Diana of Ephesus was a shapeless black stone--an
aerolite--which had fallen from the sky. Afterwards her images were
made of wood. She is covered with breasts and with the heads of
animals. She is supposed to represent the natural fertility of the
earth.
Diana was not worshiped in the temple only. Numberless little shrines,
containing models of Diana in silver or gold, or even wood, were made
to be carried about one’s person, to be set up on household altars or
carried in processions. There was carried on at Ephesus an extensive
trade in these. The worship of Diana, in all its parts and in all
places, was conducted with great magnificence.
The Greek language and literature and their temples and statues, have
been for centuries the models of the world; but their conceptions of
the gods and their myths are no more thought of, and no longer regarded
as of authority in religious affairs. They are emphatically dead as
powers over the morals of men.