Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable

oduc

allusions to the worship and the superstitions of the northern nations of Europe. The object of this book is to teach readers who are not yet familiar with the writers of Greece and Rome, or the balla

we know its history, the Greeks and Romans descended from the tribes which emigrated from the high table- lands of Northern India. Other trib

ify the powers of nature. They were glad to live in the open air, and they specially encouraged the virtues which an open-air peo

se of words which they had derived from our Aryan ancestry. Thus our substantive verb I AM appears in the original Sanscrit of the Aryans as ESMI, and m for ME (MOI), or the first person singular, is found in all the verbal inflections.

fixed rites. Mr. Macaulay speaks of these gods as "the sober abstractions of the Roman pantheon." We owe most of the stories of the ancient mythology to the wit and fancy of the Greeks, more playful and imaginative, who seized from Eg

the ideas of the structure of the universe, which the poets and others

country occupying the middle of it, the central point being either Mou

ast, and divided into two equal parts by the SEA, as they

f the earth, and in a contrary direction on the eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable curren

the north wind], dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people

land in the s

lden gar

of the north, be

h-shells n

as the Hyperboreans. They were named the AEthiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they

, whither mortals favored by the gods were transported without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortal

e Mediterranean. Their imagination meantime peopled the western portion of this sea with giants, monsters, and enchantresses; while they placed around the di

stars also, except those forming Charles' Wain or Bear, and others near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of Ocean. There the sun-god embarked in

gilded

en axle

eep Atlan

pe sun his

inst the d

wards the

amber in

s. The relation of these names to each other will be explained on the next page], as did also those deities whose usual abode was the earth, the waters, or the underworld. It was also in the great hall of the palace of the Olympian king that the gods feasted each day on ambrosia and nectar, their food and drink, the latter bei

he Odyssey will show how H

inerva, godde

mpus, the r

e gods, which

rench, or snow i

cloudless shines

nhabitants d

er.:"

by no means irreligious. They venerated their departed ancestors, and in each family the worship of these ancestors was an important duty. The images of the ancestors were kept in a sacred place, each family observed,

ed divinity. Thus Zeus, of the Greeks, becomes in Latin with the addition of the word pater (a father) [The reader will observe that father is one of the words derived from an Ayan root. Let p and t become rough, as the grammarians say, let p become ph, and t th, and you have phather or father], Jupiter Kronos of the Greeks appears as "Vulcanus" of the Latins, "Ares" of the Greeks is "Mars" or Mavors of the Latins, "Poseidon" of the Greeks is "Neptunus" of the Latins, "Aphrodite" of the Greeks is "Venus" of the Latins. This varia

eration, with the precision now so much courted, a fashion has come in, of designating Mars by his Greek name of "Ares," Venus by her name of "Aphrodite," and so on. But in this book, as our object is to make familiar the stores of general E

pears in the root dev of the Sanscrit, where devas are gods of different forms. Our English word devil probably comes from the French diable, Italian diavolo, Latin diabolus, one who

gods, and of many inferior deities. But Jupiter himself is not the original deity in these systems. He is the son of Saturnus, as in the Greek Zeus is the son of Kronos. Still the inevitable question would occur where did Saturnus or Kronos come from. And, in forms and statements more and more vague, the answer was that he was born from Uranus or Ouranos, which is the name of the Heaven over all which seemed t

l of Jov

nd immortals

r, I

ses are the Greek, the others being the Roman or Latin names] and

children of Earth and Heaven, which sprang from Chaos, of

ethronement of Ouran

by Zeus or Jupiter,

us's tr

may

mpregnable;

wo monarchs hu

d Love were the first of beings. Love (Eros)_ issued from the egg of Night, which floated o

They are spoken of as the elder gods, whose dominion was afterwards transferred to others. Saturn yielded to Jupiter, Oceanus to Neptune, Hyperion to Apollo. Hyperio

the front of Jove h

urn and Rhea. Milton alludes to them in Paradise Lost. He says the hea

the serpent, w

th Eurynom

e perhaps), ha

s, thence by S

s the same with the Grecian deity Chronos (Time), which, as it brings an end to all things which have had a beginning, may be said to devour its own offspring.] Jupiter, however, escaped this fate, and when grown up espoused Metis (Prudence), who administered a draught to Saturn which caused hi

eavens, Neptune's the ocean, and Pluto's the realms of the dead. Earth and Olympus were common property. Jupiter was king of gods and men. The

piter, and queen of the gods. Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, w

ther accounts say that Jupiter kicked him out for taking part with his mother, in a quarrel which occurred between them. Vulcan's lameness, according to this account, was the consequ

om

ll, from noon

y; and with t

e zenith, like

, the AEg

ity, who seems to have had no Roman resemblance], the god of archery, prophecy, and music, was the son of Jupiter a

ons, and then led to the assembly of the gods. All were charmed with her beauty, and each one demanded her for his wife. Jupiter gave her to Vulcan, in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts. So the most beautiful of the godd

t the darts of desire into the bosoms of both gods and men. There was a deity named Anteros, who was sometimes represented

it was because he was solitary, and that if he had a brother he would grow apace. Anteros wa

Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang from his head, completely armed

old," alludes to the

but by tyrant

nd no champion

mbia saw ari

Pallas, armed

inds be nouris

pruned forest,

where nursin

hington? Has

her breast, or Eur

s; even over thieving, and everything, in short, which required skill and dexterity. He was the messenger of Jupiter

of the instrument, the word "shell" is often used as synonymous with :"lyre," and figuratively for music and poetry. Thus Gray, in his ode on the "Progress of Poesy," says,- "O Sovereign of the willing soul, Parent of sweet and so

hter named Proserpine (Persephone), who became the wife of Pluto, a

t only the intoxicating power of wine, but its social and beneficent influences likewise;

ncy over some particular department of literature, art, or science. Calliope was the muse of epic poetry, Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpischor

d the office of

men all gracio

he body or a

lovely or wel

riage, entert

e, friendly of

compliments

how to each

elves demean,

es; which skill m

f human destiny, and they were armed with shears, with which they cut it off when they pleased

heads of the Furies were wreathed with serpents, and their whole appearance was terrific and

epresents the righteous anger of the gods,

ns everything, and he

ture] was the god of

nce, as the Greeks

ca

nceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorate

laughter, and Plutu

DIVI

cian divinities, thou

follow are peculia

y of his beneficent dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter season. Then all public business was suspended, declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed, friends made presents to one another, and

worshipped as the god of fields and shepherds, and also as a prophetic god. His name in

r than Romulus the founder of Rome, exalte

, a war

ue was a rude stone or post, set in the

presiding over ca

ided over f

goddess o

goddess of

n priestesses called Vestals, flamed in her temple. As the safety of the city was held to be connected with its conservation,

n name of Bacchus; an

nt he is commonly represented with two heads, because every door looks two ways. His temples at Rome were numerous. In war time the gates o

ty of the family. Their name is derived from Penus, the pantry, which was sacred

eified spirits of mortals. The family Lars were held to be the souls of the ancestors, who watched ove

hat is, a spirit who had given them being, and was regarded as a protector thr

ludes to some of

loves th

r loves

ves the stra

the brea

loves th

ted yout

s ivory m

he Chestn

ecy of

e and Thebes have been so long used as English words, that they may be regarded as exceptions, to be pronounced as if English. Hecate is sometimes prono