POLYTHEISTIC AND MONOTHEISTIC PRIESTHOODS. 739 



among themselves only, or making the conquered join in 

 them ; but in either case multiplying the varieties of priests. 

 The survival of cults that were of Pelasgian origin arnid 

 those of the Greeks, supplies an early instance in Europe ; 

 and later instances are supplied by the Eomans. &quot;As a 

 conquering state Home was constantly absorbing the reli 

 gions of the tribes it conquered. On besieging a town, the 

 Komans used solemnly to evoke the deities dwelling in it.&quot; 

 The process was illustrated in ancient American societies. 

 &quot; The high-priests of Mexico were the heads of their religion 

 only among the Mexicans, and not with respect to the 

 other conquered nations : these . . . maintaining their priest 

 hood independent.&quot; Similarly in Peru. 



&quot; The Yncas did not deprive the chiefs of their lordship, but his 

 delegate lived m the valley, and the natives were ordered to worship 

 the sun. Thus a temple was built, and many virgins and priests to 

 celebrate festivals resided in it. But, notwithstanding that this 

 temple of the sun was so pre-eminently established, the natives did 

 not cease to worship also in their ancient temple of Chinchaycama.&quot; 



Of additional but less important causes of complication, 

 three may be named. The spreading reputations of local 

 deities, and the consequent establishment of temples to 

 them in places to which they do not belong, is one of these 

 causes. A good example is that of JEsculapius; the worship 

 of whom, as a local ancestor and medicine-man, originated 

 in Pergamon, but, along with his growth into a deity, 

 spread East and West, and eventually became established 

 in Eome. Another additional cause, well illustrated in 

 ancient Egypt, is the deification of powerful persons who 

 establish priesthoods to minister to their ghosts. And a 

 third is the occasional apotheosis of those who, for some 

 reason or other strike the popular imagination as remark 

 able. This is even now active in India. Sir Alfred Lyall 

 has exemplified it in his Asiatic Studies. 



611. The frequent genesis of new worships and con 

 tinued co-existence of many worships, severally having their 

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