272 FISH IN MYTHS, SYMBOLS, DIET, MEDICINE 
and transformed. The nomen is changed ; the numen remains. 
Although from loss of celestial reference and significance its 
splendour is minished, its vitality is enormous.”’ We find, 
however, that the mythic motives or original principles common 
to India and Hellas (as well as Scandinavia, etc.) are most 
conspicuous among the Greeks. India, indeed, seems absolutely 
wanting in some which in Europe manifest extraordinary 
vitality and expansion. 
But in any comparative enumeration, strict regard must be 
paid to the fact that the fauna of a myth commonly varies 
with its geography; as an instance of this, the epos, which 
in Europe recounts the cunning of the fox, in India dilates on 
the craft of the serpent. 
The fish myth proved no exception. It passed from nation 
to nation gradually down the ages, till we find the Greeks, 
borrowers sometimes unconsciously, sometimes of set purpose, 
perpetuating it widely in connection with deities and sub- 
deities. 
Thus came it about that to several of the greater gods of 
the Greek, and afterwards of the Roman, Pantheon appertained 
a particular fish (or fishes). These not only enjoyed their gods’ 
protection, but also the double distinction of being at once an 
attribute represented with them and a sacrifice offered to them. 
The association of certain gods with certain fishes is not 
always obvious. While the linking of Amphitrite with the 
Dolphin, or of Poseidon with the Tunny is easily explained by 
legends of hoary tradition, it needs all the ingenuity of 
Eustathius to decipher the connection between Artemis and 
the Mainé.} 
In time, as their coins indicate, fish became associated with 
various coast towns, which owed their prosperity to fishing. 
Good examples descend from Olbia, Carteia, and Cyzicus on 
the Propontis. The early electrum coinage of the last shows 
the badge of this or that magistrate invariably accompanied 
by a Tunny, the badge of the state.2 Very remarkable 3 is 
1 On Iliad, I. 206, cp.on XX. 71: 8d 7d Sonety pamiy airlay elvar riclv, ds 
ofoy cimeiy rots weAnviaCouevas. 
2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins, Mysia, p. 18 ff. Nos. 1 ff. pl. 3, 8 ff. 
3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins, Mysia, p. 18, No. 1, pl. 3, 30 
