Introduction to the History of Religions Part 63

[1458] Chapter iii.

[1459] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 394 ff.

[1460] See above, -- 153 ff.

[1461] Gen. xvii.

[1462] Ex. iv, 24-26; Josh. v, 2 ff.

[1463] W. Matthews, _Navaho Legends_, p. 40 ff.; J. W.

Fewkes, _The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi_.

[1464] Reville, _Native Religions of Mexico and Peru_ (Hibbert Lectures), pp. 94 f., 110 (cf. ib., p. 224 f., on Peruvian dances). See above, -- 109, note 6.

[1465] Gen. x.x.xii, 24 ff.

[1466] Fowler, _Roman Festivals_, p. 38.

[1467] Fowler, op. cit., p. 99 ff.; for another view see Roscher, _Lexikon_, article "Maia II"; cf. Wissowa, _Religion der Romer_, p. 185.

[1468] Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_, 18, 9.

[1469] Judg. xi, 30 ff.

[1470] Plutarch, _Theseus_, 27.

[1471] F. B. Jevons, _Introduction to the History of Religion_, chap. xxiii f.; Miss J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, chap. x; K. H. E. de Jong, _Das antike Mysterienwesen_, pp. 14, 16, 18; Preller, "Eleusinia" in Pauly's _Realencyclopadie_; Reitzenstein, _h.e.l.lenistische Mysterienreligion_.

[1472] In Babylonia such roles are ascribed to Ea and Marduk (Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria_, pp. 137, 139, 276).

[1473] See above, -- 844 f.; W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 2d ed., pp. 18, 173 ff., _Records of the Past_, vi, 108.

[1474] The myths connected with Quetzalcoatl (see Brinton, _American Hero-Myths_, and L. Spence, _Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru_) do not relate mostly to the movements and deeds of the sun or the winds, but arose from his character as local deity with universal powers. Social and political events were woven into them. His contest with Tezcatlipoca seems to reflect the struggle between two tribes; his defeat signifies the victory of the conquering tribe, and the expectation of his return (by which the invading Spaniards, it is said, profited) was based on the political hope of his people. Cf. similar expectations among other peoples.

[1475] Gen. xxii.

[1476] B. Beer, _Leben Abraham's nach Auffa.s.sung der judischen Sage_, p. 5 and note 34; p. 102, note 30.

[1477] Turner, _Samoa_, Index.

[1478] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, chap. xviii.

[1479] Pausanias, _Description of Greece_, pa.s.sim.

[1480] Semitic and other examples are given in W. R. Smith's _Religion of the Semites_, p. 173 ff.

[1481] On the complicated myth of Phaethon see the article in Roscher's _Lexikon_.

[1482] Isa. xxiv, 21; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i, 356 ff.

[1483] The Babylonians were the great astronomers and astrologers of antiquity, but their eminence in this regard belongs to their later period. After the fall of the later Babylonian empire (B.C. 539) the term 'Chaldean' became a synonym of 'astrologer' (so in the Book of Daniel, B.C.

165-164); cf. Jastrow, _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and a.s.syria_, p. 259 f.

[1484] Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, pa.s.sim; Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, i, 149 f.; Grey, _Polynesian Mythology_, p. 1 ff.; Hickson, _Northern Celebes_; Lane, _Arabian Nights_, i, 30 ff.; Saussaye, _Religion of the Teutons_, p. 216 f.; _Iliad_, xxiii, 198 ff.; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i, 360 ff.; Ratzel, _History of Mankind_ (Eng. tr.), pa.s.sim.

[1485] _Iliad_, xxiii, 200 f. For some wind-myths see Roscher, _Lexikon_, articles "Boreaden," "Boreas,"

"Harpyia." Cf. the Maori myths given in R. Taylor's _New Zealand_, chap. vi, and for Navaho winds see Matthews, _Navaho Legends_, p. 226, note 75.

[1486] As in Goldziher's _Hebrew Mythology_ (Eng. tr.), a view later abandoned by the author.

[1487] By Mannhardt, in _Mythologische Forschungen_, p. 224 ff.; Frazer, in _Golden Bough_, 2d ed. (see Index, s.v.

_Corn_); and others.

[1488] Cf. Frazer, op. cit., chap. iii, -- 16 f.; Roscher, _Lexikon_, articles "Kybele," "Attis," "Persephone,"

"Ceres"; and Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_.

[1489] See above, -- 678.

[1490] Gen. i, 2 f.

[1491] Dan. ii, 22; Rev. xxi, 23.

[1492] This is true even in the case of abstract deities; see above, ---- 696, 702 ff.

[1493] A myth is a purely imaginative explanation of phenomena; a legend rests on facts, but the facts are distorted. The two terms are often confused the one with the other.

[1494] Some peculiar combinations appear in the figures of Semiramis and the Kuretes and the Korybantes; see the articles in Roscher's _Lexikon_ under these headings.

[1495] Cf. Gomme, _Folklore as an Historical Science_; Van Gennep, _La formation des legendes_.

[1496] See the various folk-lore journals; W. W. Newell, article "Folk-lore" in Johnson's _Universal Cyclopaedia_; cf.

Gomme, op. cit., and -- 881 below.

[1497] So in the cases of the Australian ancestors, the Polynesian, Teutonic, Finnic, Slavic, Greek, Phrygian, and other heroes and G.o.ds, the Hebrew patriarchs, and many other such figures.

[1498] See above, -- 859.

[1499] See above, -- 649.

[1500] Such were the Greek rhapsodists (Muller and Donaldson, _History of the Literature of Ancient Greece_, i, 33 ff.), and probably the Hebrew mashalists (Numb. xxi, 27, Eng. tr., "they that speak in proverbs"). Such reciters are found in India at the present day.

[1501] On the value of myths for religious instruction cf.

Schultz, _Old Testament Theology_, Eng. tr. (of 4th German ed.), i, chap. ii.

[1502] Geffcken, article "Allegory" in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[1503] _Phaedrus_, 229; _Cratylus_, 406 f.; _Republic_ 378.

[1504] Cf. Muller and Donaldson, _History of the Literature of Ancient Greece_, chap. xxvi.