Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



make use of the names. From this time 

 they sacrificed, using the names of the gods ; 

 and from the Pelasgians the Hellenes after- 

 wards received them." It was natural that 

 Herodotus thought all mythological learning 

 came from Egypt, but we must doubt it. The 

 point to be noted is the tradition in Greece 

 handed down by him that god names came 

 from a non-Greek source. 



This dove name oinas is found not only 

 in Venus but in the favorite son of Venus, 

 -^neas of Troy, not a Trojan but an ally of 

 Priam. i^neas is therefore the dove god 

 humanized and made a heroical, well-nigh a 

 historical figure, just as we shall see that 

 Achilleus is the eagle god. But we should 

 beware of thinking of these gods in their 

 relation to such heroes of romance, as if they 

 were the gods wrought out and sublimated to 

 the positions the Greeks gave Zeus and 

 Aphrodite. The stories of mythology branched 

 oflF long before the gods attained that grandeur 



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