46 REV. PROFESSOR D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, D.LITT., OX 



evidently right in assigning Homer a considerable share in the 

 process whereby the Greek deities were made into a family, the 

 members of which to a considerable extent had their own 

 particular duties. And it must be observed that Greek theology 

 seems to be almost entirely native ; attempts which have been 

 made to deduce the system from any other have been failures. 

 Only one name appears to be shared by the Indian and 

 the Hellenic pantheons, that of Zeus ; but in the Indian system 

 he is merely a poetical personification of the sky, the fertilizer 

 of the earth ; in Hellas he indeed retains that function and is 

 not quite distinguishable from the rain, but the working of 

 sound laws has connected his name with the verb to live, whence 

 he becomes identified with the principle of life, and indeed lite 

 in its highest form, viz., royalty. The transition from the rain- 

 god to the father of gods and men, and indeed the Almighty, 

 who alone produces every result, is therefore one that has taken 

 place within Hellas, and is a consequence of the process whereby 

 the Greek language was developed. This solitary case then, 

 wherein the Indian and the Greek pantheons have a common 

 name, is an exception which proves the rule. 



There is, of course, no reason why in a polytheistic system the 

 deities should either be affiliated or have special functions ; for 

 normally it would appear that a deity belongs to a community, 

 and does everything for that community. This would naturally 

 be the case where a deity was merely an expression of the 

 community, as is Athene of Athens ; Athene is to Athens what 

 Britannia is to Britain. Athene is very clearly a city name 

 like numerous others of similar formation, but becomes 

 personified in the goddess of the place. She is perhaps the 

 clearest case of this phenomenon, but there are others wherein 

 it is only faintly concealed. Such a being is naturally concerned 

 with everything that affects the well-being of the community 

 whose name she bears. And there is no more reason to affiliate 

 her than there would be to name both the parents of the Virgin 

 da ughter of Si on. 



The idea then of making a family of the gods implies original 

 thought, and this may conceivably be Homer's. "Where he 

 devotes some space to making out their genealogy, it is highly 

 improbable from the original character of his mind that he is 

 embodying traditional material : and at times the allegorical 

 nature of these genealogies lies on the surface. When the War- 

 god is given for sons Flight and Fright, it is evident that this is 

 a poetical way of saying that war causes panic : Flight and 

 Flight do not thereby become material, it is rather the "War-god 



