(Aix l\ Tefcrax, Damnameneus, and Aision ; and formed the famous Ephesian 
Letters or Spells (vide Plutarch, Sympos. vii. 5 ; Suidas, in voc. Ephcsia 
Grammata ; cf. Acts, xix. 19). Whether the inscription on the image was 
bilingual, or whether the foregoing words are an attempted translation of 
originals, does not positively appear. Androkydes the Pythagorean “ said 
that asL'ion (shadowless) meant darkness, for it has no shadow ; and 
katashion (shadowy) light, since it casts with its rays the shadow, and lie is 
the earth, according to an ancient appellation ; and tetras [i.e. the number 4] 
is the year, in reference to the seasons [rather, I think, the heaven in 
reference to the four quarters] : and damnameneus [a word which has been 
found on Gnostic amulets] is the sim ; and fa aisia [a variant reading of 
"is ion] is the True Voice. And the symbol intimates that divine things 
have been arranged in harmonious order. — darkness to light, etc.” (Clemens 
Alex. Stromata , v. 8. ; vide my Great Dionysidk Myth, ii. 131, ct seq. ; King, 
The Gnostics and their Remains, 94, note). Here, again, we find six words 
with the remarkable meanings Truth ( = God, One, Supreme), and the Sun, 
Darkness and Light, Earth and Heaven. The year, or period of four seasons, 
which is a purely mental concept, is out of place in this list of great external 
phenomena. The subject is one of much interest, but this is not the place 
in which to continue the investigation further. 
Mr. William Edward Hearn, in his interesting work, The A ryan House- 
hold , 1879, attempts to show that reverence for ancestors and the common- 
weal were the foundations of the religious cult ; and with him the “ house 
spirit,” and the Lares and Manes come prominently to the front. But as he 
entirely ignores the Etruscan (non-Aryan) element in Roman belief, his 
proofs and instances do not really much affect the question of the primitive 
religion of archaic Aryan man. Mr. Hearn would fain supply even the word 
“ Lar ' with an Aryan derivation, observing “ Wliat ire leant is an instance 
of a .Sanskrit word commencing with n that is represented by a Latin word 
commencing with / ” (page 287, note'. This, however, is not forthcoming ; 
and there is no reasonable doubt that “ Lar” and “ Manes” are non-Aryan 
nls, and also to a great extent non-Aryan ideas. Mantus and Mania 
are the Latin forms of the names of the Etruscan king and queen of the 
I : nder-world, and whilst any dogmatism on so obscure a subject would be 
altogether unwarrantable, I cannot but remark that in Akkadian Man tu = 
“ King-of-Darkness,” and Ma-na “ Land-of-eclipse.” Mr. Taylor has already 
observed that ma is “ land ” alike in Etruscan and Akkadian. After some 
statements (which seem to me to be highly doubtful) respecting the religious 
belief of archaic Aryan man, Mr. Hearn quietly remarks (p. 21), “ It is not 
easy to give strict proof of propositions which are not so much expressly 
stated by any early writer as implied and assumed throughout all ancient 
literature” (! !) Thus, whilst these mysterious “ propositions ” cannot be 
proved, we must assum< that everyone else has always assumed them ! The 
Riy-Vrda does not countenance these views, but this awkward fact is 
explained by a reference to a statement in a work long subsequent that these 
hymns relate “to the worship of the gods [only],” other matters being, we 
are again to assume, purposely omitted. 
Mr. George Dennis ( Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, edit. 1878, vol. i. p. 
355) gives an unique representation from a tomb at Tarquinii of the heroes 
Theseus and Peirithoos with the demon Tuchulcha in the Under-world, 
where, according to the legend, they had descended in a wild attempt to 
carry off Persephone, the bride of the King of Hades (vide Horace, Carmina, 
III. iv. 80). “The hideous and malignant demon, who bears the novel name 
of Tuchulcha, has asses’ ears, two hissing snakes bound round his brows and 
mingling with his shaggy locks,” and “an enormous eagle’s beak, which 
