202' Origin of Mythology:- 



was supposed to have erected the first r.ltar to the 

 gods.*' 



Vulcan^ is said by Faber to have been Noah, adored 

 ill conjunction with the sun. Bochart, and other authors,- 

 have supposed him to be the Tubal- Cain, mentioned in 

 Gen. iv. 22. Bryant supposes him to be the sun, and 

 his name to be formed from Baai-cahen^ Baal the sacred. 

 But Vulcan is a word formed on the Celtic mole, fire, the 

 Moloch of the Scriptures, which may indeed have had 

 its origin in Bal, bel, the sun. The last syllable may be 

 the Hebrew i^s r^"'' labor, and if so, we have the exact in- 

 terpretation of his name — a worker injire. Bryant sug- 

 gests, that the fable of Vulcan's ejection from heaven by 

 Juno, relates to the overthrow of Babel, and the destruc- 

 tion of fire-worship. Cicero's orthography of this word, 

 Volcanus, corresponds best with its etymology .-f 



Themis, a daughter of Coelus and Terra, was consult- 

 ed as an oracle, in Attica, in the age of Deucalion. She 

 was the mother of Dice, (^''"^'j, justice) of Irene, (e^w, 

 peace) of Eunomia, (efvoz-to?, good laws) and of the Parcas, 

 or destinies. She is represented as holding a sword in 

 one hand, and a pair of scales in the other, the emblems 

 of justice still retained in use. This goddess derives her 

 name from the Hebrew ncr, integrity, justice, of whicli 

 she is a personification. | 



Anubis was an Egyptian deity, represented under the 

 body of a man, with the head of a dog. He is supposed 

 by some to be Mercury. This name in Ethiopic signifies 

 a lion, and not improbably the resemblance between the 

 animals may ha\'e led the ancient Greeks and Romans 

 to mistake the Egyptian figure for a dog. His name is 

 perhaps given to him for liis growling sound ; or if not^ 

 it bears such a resemblance to the oriental jj, neb, to ut- 



* Bryant, vol. ii. 273, 4°. — Faber, i. 1 14. — Hesiod.Theog. — Paus. 

 lib. ii. 14, and i. 30. — Virg. EcL v. 42. Ovid represents the son of 

 Japetus as the creator of nian....Jft^/fl:7>z. v. 82. — Bromus, according 

 to Ovid, w^as killed by Caenus Met. xii.'459. 



t Faber, i*. \5T. — Bryant, vol. iii. 47. — Bochart.. Geog. Sac. De 



Phoen. lib. i. 12. — Phaleg. lib. iii. 12 Cicero, de Nat. Deor. lib. 



lii. 27. 



I Ovid's Met. i. 321. 



