PAGANISM. 131 



corresponding to Proserpina, the wife of Pluto. * Osiris has been 

 considered by some writers as representing the river Nile ; an honor 

 which belongs rather to Serapis ; while Isis they have regarded as 

 the earth, corresponding to Ceres : and the marriage of Osiris and 

 Isis, they supposed to typify the inundations of the Nile, by which 

 Egypt was fertilized. The evil deity of the Egyptians was Typhon, 

 the brother of Osiris, who murdered him, for the sake of his king- 

 dom ; and this fable is supposed to typify the South Wind, drying 

 up the Nile. Nephthys was the twin sister of Typhon, and became 

 his wife. 



Typhon was slain by Horus, (or Arueri), the son of Osiris and 

 Isis, and one of the infernal judges. Isis, in seeking her husband's 

 mangled remains, was aided by Anubis ; who was a son of Osiris 

 and Nephthys, and another of the infernal judges, usually represented 

 with a dog's head. Jlpis, represented by a bull, was the third judge ; 

 and the Egyptians worshipped two other sacred bulls, Mnevis, and 

 Onuphis. Pooh they worshipped as ruler of the regions of the air ; 

 and Thoth as his assistant, who drove unworthy souls back to de- 

 graded bodies ; the Mercurius Psychopompus, as well as Trismegis- 

 tus, of the Romans. As Horus, though the son of Osiris and Isis 

 also represented the sun ; so Bubastis, although their daughter, also 

 typified the moon, corresponding to Luna, or rather to Lucina. 



2. Under the head of Aramaean Mythology, we comprehend 

 that of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians, Syrians, Phoenicians 

 and Canaanites; the name being derived from Aram, from whom 

 the Chaldeans and Syrians were descended. Their Mythology was 

 doubtless as ancient as the Egyptian ; similarly introduced ; and, 

 though less complicated, it was still extensive. But as little is known 

 of it, and that little is of minor interest, we shall here speak of it very 

 briefly. Its origin is attributed to Cush, the eldest son of Ham ; but 

 it must have soon spread among the nations ; and its natural result 

 was the impious attempt to build the tower of Babel. That tower 

 afterwards became the unholy temple of the idol god Bel or Baal, 

 (or Paal, or Pul), who is regarded as a deification of Belus, and a 

 personification of the sun. The other chief deity of the Babylonians 

 was the infamous Mylitta, the goddess of licentiousness. The 

 ancient Persians worshipped several gods, particularly Mithras, 

 (Mithros, or Mitras), the sun, which was afterwards worshipped by 

 the Gauls. They adored Oromastes, or Oromazus, as the spirit of 

 light, and of goodness ; and Arimanes, as the spirit of darkness and 

 evil. The sect of the Guebres, or Gaurs, who were called Parsees 

 in India, and who were worshippers of fire, originated with Zoroaster, 

 the author of the Zend-avesta, about 500 B. C. 



The idol Rlmmon of the Syrians, is supposed to have been the 

 same either as Bel or Mylitta ; and among their other gods were 

 Asimah and Adad or Hadad ; Elagabolus or Aglibolus and Malachbe- 

 lus ; the two latter of which were introduced afterwards into Rome. 

 The principal gods of the Phoenicians were Adonis and Astarte, or 

 the sun and moon ; the Adonis and Venus of the Classics. The 

 Cabiri or Samothracian gods, that is, Ceres, Proserpina, Pluto and 

 Mercury, and indeed most of the Classic deities were borrowed from 



