156 THE BIRTHPLACE OF ANCIENT 



Cyril of Jerusalem, Porphjry of Syria, Proclus of Lydia, Philo of 

 Byblus, Strabo of Amasa, Pausanias of Cappadocia, Eratosthenes of 

 Cyrene must know more upon this subject than any native Helladian. 

 The like may be said of Diodorus, Josephus, Cedrenus, Syncellus, 

 Zonaras, Eustathius and numberless more. These had the archives of 

 ancient temples to which they could apply, (Philo Byblius mentions 

 many authors in Phoenicia to which he applied) ; and had traditions 

 more genuine than ever reached Greece."^ Creuzer, who preceded 

 Guigniaut and Maury, and who carefully abstained from the magnifi- 

 cent generalization and dogmatic theorizing of Bryant, having withal 

 no remnant of Noah's ark to identify, or other preconceived notion to 

 justify, in treating of Greek mythology, is constrained to speak as 

 follows : " We cannot repeat it too frequently : if, in the study of 

 Greek mythology, we desire to arrive at the lowest foundation, we must 

 consult the Oriental dogmas, and not imagine, as many still do, that the 

 gods of Homer are the most ancient known and adored by the Greeks. 

 There are, on the contrary, gods far more ancient than these, of whom 

 indeed authors have transmitted to us but little and obscure informa- 

 tion. To complete and make clear the knowledge they afford we must 

 betake ourselves to the monuments of ancient literature in Persia and 

 in India. These exhibit, in all its truth and fulness, the organic 

 development of ancient religions."^ 



If, passing from the Greek, we take up the Latin mythology, we 

 find that, in all its branches, there is much of what one might be 

 tempted to call a reproduction of the Greek, but possessing so distinctive 

 a character that we must conclude against the theory of either people 

 borrowing from the other. While the remains of the Sabine religion 

 are strongly Egyptian in character, those of the Etruscan mythology, 

 as Maury shows, manifest a very decided Perso-Assyrian connection, 

 and are historically linked with the ancient Lydian state." 



We do not need the statement of Taliessin that the Britons came 

 from Asia," nor the authority of the Book of Conquests for deriving 

 the ancient Irish stock from Africa," to prove the eastern origin of the 

 Celtic nations ; since their mythological history and worship connect 



* Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, i., 143. 



9 Crenzer, Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Volker. Theil ii., Heft iii. Nachtrag 3. 



10 Guigniaut, ii., 493. Id., ii., 1204. Herodotus, i., 94. 



11 Davies, British Druids, x. 



12 Keating's General History of Ireland, p. 84, &c. 



