DEMON. 
° Rxviil. €. 26.), ac eran that the gods of Egypt 
ere dead men; that the art of making gods was invented 
in ine cae and ine is an ‘cue were worthipped as 
dzmons in ever _ Herodotus, who had vifited Egypt, 
himfelf concerning 
one of human pan in that country cach they 
ieem to have n_ overlooke lackwell, 
eagle on Rag eens tA : ak aa Sesion, a 
om. ole who aflirm 
Egyptians paid no religious honours to 
of esi gods were no other than men and women deiltied. 
ip ea oe Siculus we learn, that the Egvptians, be- 
rape the fun moon, whom ee called the fir/? and eter- 
nal gods, acne eo fuch as were takin from the earth ; 
feveral of whom, he fays, had been kings of Egypt, and hoe 
the fame names with the celeftial gods, (p. 14. 17. Lad. Weilcll.) 
He particularly fpecifies the eight great gods of Egvot, 
Sol, Saturn, Rhea, Fupiter, ( (called alfo Ammon ‘Funo, Vi i]. 
can, Vefla, and Mercury), Mfis and Ofiris, the two princi- 
pal divinities in Eyypt, were, according to Diodorus, king 
and queer o ypt e informs us, that Oliris con- 
oft diftant nations ; that he deified his parents ; 
deifie di in hig turn, and had a third 
part of t 8 appropriated to maintain his worfhip ; and 
that after is so he received equal honour with that paid 
a the celeltial gods. (p. 2 From Plutarch con et Olir.) 
Se 
ximus Tyrius, Varro, ae and Lucan, in proof of 
the fact, that the worfhip of human fpirits prevailed in 
Egypt pee the whole he concludes, that t ceni- 
tians, thouzh they acknowledged elementary 
and fidereal deities, and aflerted more e{pecially the divi pale 
an 
mons, an 
pears, fays this ingenious writer, that ae the Phoenicians 
and Egyptians accounted their princes and eminent bene- 
ne as the gre eatef? gods. The a great gods of Eyy 
in particular, as well as the Canta [ Pneenicia and th 
‘eaftern nations, were dead. men deified. He infers from che 
teftimonies which he has adduced, that deified men were 
the immediate obj-Gs3 of the public eftablithed — in 
Egypt, as they alfo were in Phoenicia. 2 proceeds to 
fhew, that the cultom of deifying human pie prevailed 
e Affyrians, Chaldeans, an abylonians. As 
the as of Affyria and diag ek was derived pan Egypt, 
which was ao. the c the former muit have been in 
filted, j 
9 the Sabian, confit 
Jeaft originally, in the worfhi 
which were conceived to be ee animated by a foul, as 
y> they were alfo thought 
Beel, and tignifying Jord. This term might the 
applied to the true God; but i it is commonly given in Scrip= 
ture to thofe — deatiete who were ang fuppofed to 
have dominion ov ind. Some have fuppofed that 
Bel, who was io at Baier was ae creator of 
heaven and earth, as the true God; but as the Babylonians 
had been for many ages before t lexander, 
me 
when Berofuc, who has eae mentioned Bel as 
ae framed the world, &c., was the prieft of Be ae 
ee men they were a likely - worfhip the: 
creator of h d earth; and fome circumftances are 
related cerning this Belus, which are altogether incon- 
fiftent _ hes high saunas and chat adter Mia in- 
. ed, wa 
ceeded to his empire; when 
firft worfhipped at Babylon ; 
Belus, the frit k 
nfer 
us informs us, that 
king of the ne ea was sia ed afr a 
dea It is not to be inferred from the account 
Belus, that the term Be/ was never nee wie io, 
and applied to the fan, by learned men, as Ofiris alfo fome- 
an 
lonian ee agreeably to the an of the Heathens in 
the like cafes. And this Belus was the god whom the 
Peigionaa principally worthippe AAL, LIM 
and Banyton.) ‘The Affyrians and Babylonians had fe~ 
veral other gods of mortal origin, and it appears upon the: 
whole, that dead men and women were the more immediate 
objects of the public devotion at Babylon, and were indeed: 
onoured as ad greatelt gods, From the teftimony of 
Lucian (De Dea Syr.) i 
were of eb a 
moon 
formed concerning thofe objets of worfhip that belonged 
to the human race, and were reprefented by ftatues; and we 
have fufficient _ for believing, that the Syrians deified 
oe men — wo 
armer —_ cee at large the mythology of the 
barbarous mations, and cited a great number of teitimonies 
and faéts in order i thew that the worfhip of human fpirits 
aa iacaee oo the Maffagetes, the Getes, 
the he, the the Perfians, the Arabians, and 
the isbabieants of Meroe. This is alfo the cafe wit 
gard to feveral barbarian nations in Africa, the Celtes both 
of Afia and Europe, and feveral nations of Afia. But 
for earn we mult refer to the author himfelf. 
eil kanown, and univerfally allowed, that the na« 
tural a the fun and moon in particuiar, were adored by 
the Grecks, as well as by the barbarians. muft alfo be 
dained, that the gods, the demons, and the heroes, fhould be 
worfhipped according to their refpective ranks. Mr. Fare 
mer is of opinion, that the tweive great gods of Greece, or 
of the greater nas 
and Egypt; efpecially 
, n fro 
from the latter. s The: reltimony cr Herodotus, who = 
withou 
