GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. ‘ 85 
and lower worlds; the powers of physical nature personified, or rather 
spiritual agencies controlling and directing natural forces; tutelar deities 
and genii of rivers, trees, mountains, forests, cities, and states. Virtues and 
vices, qualities, occupations and conditions of life, at first symbolically repre- 
sented, gradually came to be regarded as independent beings, and received 
a position among the acknowledged deities. Gratitude not unfrequently 
contributed to increase the number of deities. Whenever a man had shown 
himself a benefactor of his countrymen or of his race, or had distinguished 
himself by any extraordinary transactions, he was certain to be honored by 
public homage, celebrated in popular songs, or to have his name and the 
memory of his deeds perpetuated by monuments. As the outlines of his 
character grew indistinct in the twilight of receding ages, men gradually 
thought of him as a being of a superhuman grade, the poets ascribed to 
him divine attributes and performances, his supernatural origin was dis- 
eussed, admitted, and believed, and the circle of the gods was enriched by 
a new member. It also happened that every tribe among the Greeks 
retained in their mythology the gods of their ancestors, and when a new 
deity was to be adopted into their system they merely created for him a new 
department and assigned to him new qualities, so that in many instances 
the same god might have among different people the same name but various 
spheres of activity. 
The Grecian mythology was also essentially distinguished from others by 
its general spirit and tone. It managed to keep aloof from the hideousness 
and absurdity of the Indian system, from the filth and bloodiness of the 
Babylonian and Pheenician, and from the gloomy solemnity of the Egyptian, 
although all these had furnished portions of the materials out of which it 
was composed. A spirit of joyousness, liberty, and heroism, as well as a 
gleam of the beautiful and the sublime, vitalized and graced the whole 
system, and assisted in concealing or at least diminishing the darker 
features inseparably connected with its existence. The grounds of this 
peculiarity are to be sought in several circumstances, among which we 
reckon, first of all, the serene and favorable climate of Greece, together 
with the energy and love of liberty of the people. At a very early period 
the majority of the Greek tribes obtained free political constitutions, under 
whose healthful operation they realized a high state of culture. It contri- 
buted not a little to the same end, that the Grecian mythology had no 
exclusive caste of priests. It encouraged no bigoted supervision of individual 
belief; it placed no odious restrictions upon the prevailing religious ideas 
and feelings. All embarrassment being thus removed, the poets and artists 
vied with each other in representing religious conceptions in their purest 
and most ennobling form. Indeed, poetry was regarded as particularly 
devoted to the service of the gods, so that it freely employed its resources 
in separating from mythology all extraneous and uncongenial ingredients, 
and bringing it into organic union with the national modes of thought and 
action. 
Despite their high cultivation, the Greeks failed to comprehend the idea 
of a pure spiritual essence. Accordingly, they regarded their gods as 
ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOP£PIA.—VOL, IV. 20 305 
