272 FISH IN MYTHS, SYMBOLS, DIET, MEDICINE 



and transformed. The nomen is changed ; the numen remains. 

 Although from loss of celestial reference and significance its 

 splendour is minished, its vitality is enormous." We find, 

 however, that the mythic motives or original principles common 

 to India and Hellas (as well as Scandinavia, etc.) are most 

 conspicuous among the Greeks. India, indeed, seems absolutely 

 wanting in some which in Europe manifest extraordinary 

 vitality and expansion. 



But in any comparative enumeration, strict regard must be 

 paid to the fact that the fauna of a myth commonly varies 

 with its geography ; as an instance of this, the epos, which 

 in Europe recounts the cunning of the fox, in India dilates on 

 the craft of the serpent. 



The fish m3'th proved no exception. It passed from nation 

 to nation gradually down the ages, till we find the Greeks, 

 borrowers sometimes unconsciously, sometimes of set purpose, 

 perpetuating it widely in connection with deities and sub- 

 deities. 



Thus came it about that to several of the greater gods of 

 the Greek, and afterwards of the Roman, Pantheon appertained 

 a particular fish (or fishes). These not only enjoyed their gods' 

 protection, but also the double distinction of being at once an 

 attribute represented with them and a sacrifice offered to them. 



The association of certain gods with certain fishes is not 

 always obvious. While the linking of Amphitrite with the 

 Dolphin, or of Poseidon with the Tunny is easily explained by 

 legends of hoary tradition, it needs all the ingenuity of 

 Eustathius to decipher the connection between Artemis and 

 the Maine.'^ 



In time, as their coins indicate, fish became associated with 

 various coast towns, which owed their prosperity to fishing. 

 Good examples descend from Olbia, Carteia, and Cyzicus on 

 the Propontis. The early electrum coinage of the last shows 

 the badge of this or that magistrate invariably accompanied 

 by a Tunny, the badge of the state. 2 Very remarkable 3 is 



^ On Iliad, I. 20G, cp. on XX. 71 : 5io rh hoKtlv fiaviuv alrlav fhai Ttaiv, us 



oiov ilvtiv Toh (T(\T]Vta(ofJ.(VOtS. 



^ Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins. Mysia, p. 18 ff. Nos. i ff. pi. 3, 8 S. 

 ' Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins, Mysia, p. 18, No. i, pi. 3, ^o 



