M YTHOLOGY. 
483 
knowledge of the primary import of the fymbolical cha¬ 
racters. To fupply this defeCt, and at the lame time to 
veil their own ignorance, the facerdotal inftruftors had 
recourfe to fable and fiction. They heaped fable upon 
fable, till their religion became an accumulated chaos of 
mythological abfurdities. See the article Egypt, vol. vi. 
p. 370 & feq. 
The elements of Phoenician mythology have been pre- 
ferved by Eufebius Praep. Evang. fub. init. In the 
large extraCt which that learned father has copied from 
Philo Biblius’s tranflation of Sanchoniathon’s Hiftory of 
Phoenicia, we are furnilhed with feveral articles of mytho¬ 
logy. Some of thefe throw' confiderabie light on various 
pafi'agesof the facred liiftory ; and all of them are ItriCtly 
connected with the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. 
There we have preferved a brief but entertaining detail 
of the fabulous adventures of Uranus, Cronus, Dagon, 
Thoth or Mercury, probably the fame with the Egyptian 
hero of that name. Here we find Muth or Pluto, JEph- 
cejius or Vulcan, Aifculapius, Nereus, Pofcedoti or Nep¬ 
tune, See. AJiarte, or Venus Urania, makes a confpicuous 
figure in the catalogue of Phoenician worthies; Pallas or 
Minerva is planted on the territory of Attica; in a word, 
all the branches of the family of the Titans, who in after¬ 
ages figured in thC rubric of the Greeks, are brought upon 
the ftage, and their exploits and adventures briefly de¬ 
tailed. By comparing this fragment with the mythology 
of the Atlantidae and that of the Cretans preferved by 
Diodorus, lib. v. we think there is good reafon to con¬ 
clude, that the family of the Titans, the feveral branches 
of which feem to have been both the authors and objeCts 
of a great part of the Grecian idolatry, originally emi¬ 
grated from Phoenicia. This conjecture will receive ad¬ 
ditional ftrength, when it is confidered, that almoft all 
their names recorded in the fabulous records of Greece, 
*nay be ealily traced up to a Phoenician origin. 
In the 5th volume of the Afiatic Refearches, there is a 
paper, by Capt. Francis Wilford, “ On the Names of the 
Cabirian Deities,” whofe worlhip has generally been fup- 
pofed to have originated in Phoenicia ; (lee Cabiri, vol.iii. 
p. 572.) which we lhall here prefent to the reader. 
In the Adhuta CoJ'n we find the following legends which 
have an obvious relation to the deities worlhipped in the 
myfteries of Samothrace : “ In Patala (or the infernal 
regions) refides the fovereign queen of the Nag-as, (large 
fnakes or dragons :) Ihe is beautiful, and her name is 
AJ'yoruca. There, in a cave, ihe performed tapafya with 
fuch rigorous aufterity, that fire fprang from her body, 
and formed numerous agni-tiraths (places of facred fire) 
in Patala. Thefe fires, forcing their way through the 
earth, waters, and mountains, formed various openings, 
or mouths, called from thence the juala-muc'hi, or flaming 
mouths. By Samudr, (Oceanus,) a daughter was born 
unto her, called Rama-devi. She is molt beautiful ; file 
is Lcicjhmi; and her name is Afyotccrjha. Like a jewel, 
(he remains concealed in the ocean. 
“ The Dharma-Raja, or King of Juftice, has two 
countenances: one is mild, and full of benevolence; 
thofe alone who abound with virtue fee it. He holds a 
court of juftice, where are many afiiftants, among whom 
are many juft and pious kings : Chitragupta aCts as chief 
fecretary. Thefe holy men determine what is dharma and 
ndharma, juft and unjuft. Dharma Raja’s fervant is called 
Carmala: he brings the righteous on celeftial cars, which 
go of themlelves, whenever holy men are to be brought 
in, according to the directions of the Dharma-Raja, who 
is the fovereign of the Pitris. This is called his divine 
countenance , and the righteous alone do fee it. Elis other 
countenance, or form, is called Yama : this the wicked 
alone can fee : it has large teeth, and a monftrous body. 
Yama is the lord of Patala ; there he orders fome to be 
beaten, fome to be cut to pieces, fome to be devoured by 
monfters, Sic. His fervant is called CaJhmala , who, with 
ropes round their necks, drags the wicked over rugged 
paths, and throws them headlong into hell. He is un- 
3 
merciful, and hard is his heart: every body trembles at 
the fight of him.” 
According to Mnafeas, as cited by the fcholiaft of 
Apollonius Rhodius, the names of the Cabirian Gods were 
Axieros, or Ceres, or the earth ; Axiocerfa, or Proferpine ; 
Axioceifos, or Pluto ; to whom they add a fourth, called 
CaJ’miUus, the fame with the infernal Mercury. 
Axieros is obvioufly derived from Afyoruca, or rather 
from AJyoru, or Afyorus; for fuch is the primitive form ; 
which fignifies literally, “ (he whofe face is moft beauti¬ 
ful.” Axiocerfa is derived from Afyotcerja, a word of the 
fame import with the former, and which w'as the facred 
name of Proferpine. This is obvioufly derived from the 
Sanfcrit Prnfarparni, or “ (he who is furrounded by large 
fnakes and dragons.” Nonnus reprefents her as fur- 
rounded by two enormous fnakes who conftantly watched 
over her. She was ravilhed by Jupiter in the (hape of an 
enormous dragon. She was generally fuppofed to be his 
daughter; but the Arcadians, according to Paufanius, 
infilled that (lie was the daughter of Ceres and Neptune ; 
with whom the ancient mythologifts often confound 
Oceanus. As (he is declared, in the facred books of the 
Hindoos, to be the fame with Lac/hmi, her confort, of 
courfe, is Vijhnu, who rules, according to the Puranas, in 
the weft, and alfo during the greateft part of the night. 
In this fenfe Viftinu is the Dis of the weftern mythologifts, 
the Black Jupiter of Statius ; for Vifitnu is reprefented of 
a black, or dark azure, complexion : Pluto, or Yama, is 
but a form of Vi(hnu. The titles of Dis, or Ades, appear 
to me to be derived from Adi, or A din, one of the names 
of Viflinu. When Cicero fays, Terrena autem vis omnes 
atque natura, Dili patri dedicata ejl; that is to fay, “ Na¬ 
ture, and the powers or energy of the earth, are under 
the direction of Dis;" this has no relation to the judge 
of departed fouls, but folely belongs to Viftinu. Axio- 
cerfos, in Sanfcrit Afyotcerja, was Pluto, or Dis, and was 
meant for Viflinu. Viftinu is alw'ays reprefented as ex¬ 
tremely beautiful; but I never found Alyotcerfa among 
any of his titles. Ca/hrnalas is obvioufly the Cafmillus 
of the weftern mythologifts. 
The appellation of Cabiri, as a title of thefe deities, is 
unknown to the Hindoos ; and, I believe, by the Cabirian 
gods, we are to underftand, the gods worlhipped by a na¬ 
tion, tribe, orfociety of men, called Cabires. TheCuveras, 
or Cuberas as it is generally pronounced, are a tribe of in¬ 
ferior deities, pofiefled of immenfe riches, and who are 
acquainted with all places, under or above ground, abound¬ 
ing with precious metals and gems. Their liiftory, in the 
Puranas, begins with the firlt Menu. They are repre¬ 
fented with yellow eyes, like the Pingacftias, and perhaps 
may be the fame people ; certain it is, the Pingacftias 
worlhipped the Cabirian gods. Diodorus Siculus favs, 
that the invention of fire, and the working of mines, were 
attributed to them; and we find a Cabirus reprefented 
with a hammer in his hand. 
We agree with Herodotus, that a confiderabie part of 
the idolatry of Greece may have been borrowed from the 
Egyptians ; at the fame time, we imagine it highly 
probable, that the idolatry of the Egyptians and Phoeni¬ 
cians was, in its original conftitution, nearly the fame. 
Both fyftems were Sabiifm, or the worftiip of the hoft of 
heaven. The Pelafgi, according to Herodotus, learned 
the names of the gods from the Egyptians; but in this 
conjecture he is certainly warped by his partiality for that 
people. Had thofe names been imported from Egypt, 
they would no doubt have betrayed their Egyptian ori¬ 
ginal ; whereas, every etymologilt will be convinced that 
they are all of Phoenician extraction. 
The adventures of Jupiter, Juno, Mercury, Apollo, 
Diana, Mars, Minerva or Pallas, Venus, Bacchus, Ceres, 
Proferpine, Pluto, Neptune, and the other defeendants 
and coadjutors of the ambitious family of the Titans, 
furnifti by far the greateft part of the mythology of 
Greece. They left Phoenicia, we think, about the age 
of Mofes j they fettled in Crete, a large and fertile ifland ; 
from 
