16 MYTHOLOGY. 
The peculiar shape of the dome of the Moham- 
medan mosques is regarded as a vestige of the 
early egg worship. 
Ege-shaped stones have been excavated in 
the ruins of many cities of the East. 
The Greeks and Romans adopted these theo- 
ries from the earlier nations. 
At one time in Greece, philosophers tried to 
keep people from eating eggs, since they con- 
tained all the elements of life. The shell repre- 
sented the earth; the white, water; the yolk, 
fire; air was found under the shell, and the 
germ of life it was a sin to destroy. 
Among the Romans eggs were used in the holy 
ceremonies of Bacchus, and in rites of expiation. 
Juvenal informs us that at the autumn equinox, 
to escape the ravages of that season, an offering 
of one hundred eggs was made. 
The worship of the egg gradually degenerated 
into the ceremonies of magicians, and the use 
of the egg, even at the present day, among 
ignorant people, in various love charms and 
divinations, can thus be traced back to the 
mundane egg. 
