DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0051
41
of their deity, which was borne before them, till fixed in the place
chosen for their residence ; to which it gave the name of Thebes ;
Thebah in the Syrian language signifying a cow.' Hence we may
perceive the origin of the fable of Bacchus being born at Thebes :
for that city, being called by the same name as the symbol of
nature, was easily confounded with it by the poets and mytholo-
gists ; by which means the generator Bacchus, the first-begotten
Love, and primary emanation of the all-pervading Spirit, became a
deified mortal, the son of a Cadmeian damsel.
53. The cow is still revered as a sacred symbol of the deity, by
the inhabitants of the gold-coast of Africa and more particularly
by the Hindoos ; among whom there is scarcely a temple without
the image of one; and where the attribute expressed by it so far
corresponds with that of the Grecian goddess Venus, as to be re-
puted the mother of the God of Love. It is also frequently
found upon ancient Greek coins ;3 though we do not find that any
public worship was ever paid it by that people : but it appears to
have been held sacred by all the African tribes adjoining iEgypt, as
far as the Tritonian Lake ;+ among whom the Greek colonies of
Barce and Cyrene were settled at an early period. In the Scan-
dinavian mythology, the sun was fabled to recruit his strength dur-
ing winter by sucking the white cow Adumbla, the symbol of the
productive power of the earth, said to have been the primary result
of warmth operating upon ice, which the ancient nations of the
north held to be the source of all organised being.5 On the Greek
coins, the cow is most commonly represented suckling a calf or
1 0»)/3a yap j) 0ovs Kara 1.vpovs. Schol. in Lycophr. v. 1206.
See also Etymol. Magn.
1 Hist. gen. des Voyages, T. iii. p. 391.
3 See those of Dyrrachium, Corcyra, &c.
* Mexpi T5js Tpiravitios Ai/injs era-' A^otttou vofiaties eufi Kpfotpayot Kai yaXamotroTai
AifJues' Kai Or]Kwv re fiouv oxni yzvo/J-evoi, Sioti wep ovSe Aiywmoi, teat is ov rpecpomts.
Herodot. lib. iv. c. 186.
5 01. Rudbeck. Atlast. p. 11. c. v. p. 235-253. & c. vi. p. 455.
of their deity, which was borne before them, till fixed in the place
chosen for their residence ; to which it gave the name of Thebes ;
Thebah in the Syrian language signifying a cow.' Hence we may
perceive the origin of the fable of Bacchus being born at Thebes :
for that city, being called by the same name as the symbol of
nature, was easily confounded with it by the poets and mytholo-
gists ; by which means the generator Bacchus, the first-begotten
Love, and primary emanation of the all-pervading Spirit, became a
deified mortal, the son of a Cadmeian damsel.
53. The cow is still revered as a sacred symbol of the deity, by
the inhabitants of the gold-coast of Africa and more particularly
by the Hindoos ; among whom there is scarcely a temple without
the image of one; and where the attribute expressed by it so far
corresponds with that of the Grecian goddess Venus, as to be re-
puted the mother of the God of Love. It is also frequently
found upon ancient Greek coins ;3 though we do not find that any
public worship was ever paid it by that people : but it appears to
have been held sacred by all the African tribes adjoining iEgypt, as
far as the Tritonian Lake ;+ among whom the Greek colonies of
Barce and Cyrene were settled at an early period. In the Scan-
dinavian mythology, the sun was fabled to recruit his strength dur-
ing winter by sucking the white cow Adumbla, the symbol of the
productive power of the earth, said to have been the primary result
of warmth operating upon ice, which the ancient nations of the
north held to be the source of all organised being.5 On the Greek
coins, the cow is most commonly represented suckling a calf or
1 0»)/3a yap j) 0ovs Kara 1.vpovs. Schol. in Lycophr. v. 1206.
See also Etymol. Magn.
1 Hist. gen. des Voyages, T. iii. p. 391.
3 See those of Dyrrachium, Corcyra, &c.
* Mexpi T5js Tpiravitios Ai/injs era-' A^otttou vofiaties eufi Kpfotpayot Kai yaXamotroTai
AifJues' Kai Or]Kwv re fiouv oxni yzvo/J-evoi, Sioti wep ovSe Aiywmoi, teat is ov rpecpomts.
Herodot. lib. iv. c. 186.
5 01. Rudbeck. Atlast. p. 11. c. v. p. 235-253. & c. vi. p. 455.