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divinity here referred to is Wuotan,* whose identification 
with the Latin Mercurius, a personage absolutely but most 
incorrectly identified with the Greek Hermes, is very interest- 
ing, inasmuch as both Odhinn and Hermes are wind-gods, and 
the petasos (broad-brimmed hat) and talaria (ankle-wings) of 
the latter appear in the mantle and eight-legged horse, 
Sleipnir, the “ Slippery,” of the former. By Mars is meant 
either Tyr or Donar (Thorr) probably the former. The latter 
seems to be the personage whom Tacitus calls Hercules. 
Hertha is Demeter (“ Mother Earth”), i.e,, the cultivated and 
orderly earth; and her German ritual corresponds with the 
Iranian view of agriculture as a sacred duty.fi Isis is not the 
great Egyptian goddess, but Ziza, an earth-mother and female 
reflection of Zio, and of whom we know but little more than 
her name, and that her symbol was a boat-shaped vessel. J 
The unfortunate habit, common to classical writers, of applying 
the names of their own divinities to those of foreign nations, 
has been a source of great confusion, from which, however, 
we have fortunately now emerged. Tacitus adds this remark- 
able testimony respecting the religious feeling of the ancient 
Germans , — (t Moreover, neither do they think to enclose the 
gods in walls, nor to portray them in any kind of human 
form, on account of the greatness of heavenly beings. Woods 
and groves they consecrate, and call by the names of gods that 
mystery (secretum) which they behold by religious awe alone.” 
Thus did our ancestors, even at a late period, understand that 
the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands ; and 
whilst a hasty observer (like those superficial travellers who 
tell us they encounter races without any religion) described 
them as worshipping the Visible alone, it is evident that the 
exact opposite of his statement is correct, and that they wor- 
shipped the Invisible alone, regarding the Visible as its 
creature and manifestation. Lucan § mentions two German 
divinities whom he calls Teutates and Hesus. The name of 
the former, the Keltic Taith, is connected with the general 
name of the great Aryan divinity, the German Tiu or Tiw, 
old High-German, Zio; Oscan, Djovis ; old Latin, Vedjovis 
(Jupiter, Zeus, Dyaus) ; the Norse, Tyr.|| Hesus or Esus, 
* Old High-Germ. Wuotan, New High-Germ. Wodan, Ang.-Sax. Woden; 
vide inf. sec. 9, Odhinn. 
t Yide Zoroaster, sec. 8. The car of Hertha was cow-drawn. 
I She is probably the Siwa of Grosser, who gives a picture of her re- 
sembling a Yenus with long, flowing locks. § Pharsalia , i. 444. 
| As to Tyr, vide inf. sec. 9. Camden observes, “ Our Britons call God 
Dyw ” (vide Zoroaster , sec. 12). 
