450 Continuation of Remarks on [Sept. 



Colonel Wilford mentions in the third and fourth volumes of the 

 Researches a goddess called hy Strabo, ANAIA and equivalent to the 

 Sanscrit andyasd Mvi, which seems to have a near connection with the 

 ohject of discussion. " Even to this day," says this learned mytholo- 

 gist, " the Hindus occasionally visit the two jwdld-mukMs or the burn- 

 ing springs (of naphtha) in Cusha-dwipa within : the first of which 

 dedicated to the goddess Devi with the epithet andyasd is not far from 

 the Tigris ; and Strabo mentions a temple on that very spot, inscribed 

 to the goddess Anaias :" again, " andyasd-d&i-sthdn (now Corcur) was 



the T-qs A.vcua.'i lepov of STRABO*." 



He afterwards alludes to some Hindus who had visited the place : " I 

 have been fortunate enough to meet with four or five pDgrims of India 

 who had paid their devotions at this holy temple of the goddess ANAIA 

 or ANAIAS, with its burning mouth or jwdld-mukhi : it is near Kerkook, 

 east of the Tigrisf." 



The circumstance of the burning fountain is of material importance, 

 as it will be seen by the sequel that it connects nanaia with the other 

 devices of the reverse, and with the general and national fire worship 

 to which it is imagined they may all be traced. The inscriptions ac- 

 companying this appellation are generally speaking of pure Greek ; had 

 they been otherwise, it might have been doubted whether nanaia were 

 not the adjectival or feminine form of the word nana on the ob- 

 verse. 



The goddess Nanaia, or Anaia, again bears a close analogy in name 

 and character to the Anditis of the Greek, and Anahid of the Persian, my- 

 thology ; that is, the planet Venus, and one of the seven fires held sacred 

 by the latter people, M. Guigniaut's remarks on the subject may be 

 applied to the figure on our coin : — " Le culte simple et pur du feu, 

 dominant dans les premiers ages, se vit bientot associer le culte des 



astres et surtout des planetes Les feux, les planetes, et les genies 



qui y president sont au nombre de sept, n ombre le plus sacre" de tous 

 chez les Perses ; mais trois surtout se represented sans cesse comme 

 les plus anciennement reveres, le feu des etoiles ou la planete de 

 Venus, Anahid; le feu du soleil.ou feu Mihr ; le feu de la foudre, ou feu 

 Bersin, Jupiter. Le culte du feu Guschasp ou d' Anahid figure comme 

 un culte fort antique dans les livres Zends et dans le Schah Nameh, de 

 meme que celui d' Anditis dans nne foule d'auteurs Grecs depuis Hero- 

 dote Or Mitrd (feminin de Mithras) et Anahid ou Anditis sont une 



seule et meme deesse, l'etoile du matin, genie femelle qui preside 

 a 1' amour, qui donne la lumiere, et qui dirige la marche harmonieuse 



* As. Res. vol. iii. p. 297 and 434. t As. Res. vol. iv. p. 374. 



