SACRED ISLIS IN TH£ WEST, ScC. S\9 



and these tliree names are to be found in the Greek 

 language : J/j/s, or Ilos, signifies tfmd; Ei^a is the 

 earth ; and Ida' is the name of the goddess Earth, 

 Id{£a mater, both in Greek and the ancient Gothic. 

 Athejstagoras, as cited by Rudbeck*, informs 

 us, that, according to Orpheus, water was first, 

 and from it was created Ilijs, or Earth, in an 7(n- 

 formed state; Ila', or Ila's, was the son of Mantlt, 

 or Noah, called also Mitra Varun'a in the Pu- 

 r Alias, or the friendly Varuna, or Neptune. 

 According to Hesychius, Ilaox, a hero, was the 

 son of PosEiDOx, the God of the sea. Jya, in 

 Sanscrit, is the Earth ; and in Greek, Aia, Gt\ 

 or Gaid, which last signifies earth, and also dust. 

 Thus, in Sanscrit, lid is the earth, and Aileyam is 

 dust and earth also. Ailcijain-pus is synonymous 

 with Ild-pus, and is the famous city of Ixdra, 

 and of the Gods ; a heavenly citu, which is really a 

 terrestrial heaven. The followers of Alexander 

 mistook a small mountain, between Cabul and 

 the Indus, for the original Meru. This is called 

 Aleru-s^ringa, or the peak of Meru, in the Purd- 

 itas, and is considered as a splinter of that holy 

 mountain. There are many other hills thus called 

 in India, besides artificial ones ; and the Gods are 

 supposed to come and sport there occasionally. 

 The Greeks had likewise several holy mountains, 

 called Olympus and Ida. . Euhemkrus calls it 7>i- 

 phylian Olympus, because Jupiter Triphylius, or 

 SivA, with his trident (trisul), resides there, and 

 fixed it on its summit. The Trisul is called Tri- 

 phala, in the North-West parts of India, from the 

 Sanscrit Tri-phala, which is rendered in Lexicons 

 by Tri-cantaca, or having three points. The wort] 

 phala was used in the West in that sense, and the 

 obelisks in the circus were called Phaloc. But as 



* Volinne II, page 46(?. 



