of the Assyrian Monarchy. 315 
mance. The various accounts which are given 
by authors of the attributes of Derceto (**) 
are easily reconciled, if we advert to what 
was before mentioned, that a number of the 
Heathen divinities coincided, in as far as 
they all represented the great parent, male 
or female, though differing in respect to the 
element which they typified. Thus Derceto 
coincided, with Rhea and Cybele, who were 
the earth, (+?) with Venus, as a symbol of the 
watery origin of all things, that goddess be- 
ing said to rise from the ocean ; with Astarte, 
or the moon, (*°) that luminary being fre- 
quently represented as the mother, while the 
sun isthe father of all things. We need not 
therefore wonder that we find some authors 
asserting the identity of Derceto with these 
goddesses, while others distinguish them ; the 
identity lay in the general character, the di- 
versity in the circumstances. ; 
Another peculiar tenet of ancient, and es- 
pecially of Asiatic mythology, was the co- 
existence of both sexes in the same divimty, 
so that each was at once both male and fe- 
male.(**) Itis evident, that when we speak 
of powers, active and passive, as existing in 
nature, we make an abstraction : that nature 
is really one whole, comprehending both these 
powers within itself, and if it is to be repre- 
