Volume I Part 15 (1/2)

??a????te? ??ta??? e??p???? ????sa?t?, ?a? sa?ea ??feess?? ?pe?t?p??.

??ta??? Betarmus, was a name given to the dance, from the temple of the Deity where it was probably first practised. It is a compound of Bet Armes, or Armon, called, more properly, Hermes, and Hermon. Bet, and Beth, among the Amonians, denoted a temple. There is reason to think that the circular dances of the Dervises, all over the east, are remains of these antient customs. In the first ages this exercise was esteemed a religious rite, and performed by people of the temple where it was exhibited: but, in aftertimes, the same feats were imitated by rope-dancers and vagrants, called Petauristae, and Petauristarii; who made use of a kind of pole, styled petaurum.--Of these the Roman writers make frequent mention; and their feats are alluded to by Juvenal:

[860]An magis oblectant animum jactata petauro Corpora, quique solent r.e.c.t.u.m descendere funem?

Manilius likewise gives an account of this people, and their activity; wherein may be observed some remains of the original inst.i.tution:

[861]Ad numeros etiam ille ciet cognata per artem Corpora, quae valido saliunt excussa petauro: Membraque _per flammas...o...b..sque_ emissa flagrantes, Delphinumque suo per inane imitantia motu, Et viduata volant pennis, et in aere ludunt.

I have shewn, that the Paterae, or Priests, were so denominated from the Deity styled Pator; whose shrines were named Patera, and Petora. They were oracular temples of the Sun; which in aftertimes were called Petra, and ascribed to other G.o.ds. Many of them for the sake of mariners were erected upon rocks, and eminences near the sea: hence the term pet?a, petra, came at length to signify any rock or stone, and to be in a manner confined to that meaning. But in the first ages it was ever taken in a religious sense; and related to the shrines of Osiris, or the Sun, and to the oracles, which were supposed to be there exhibited. Thus Olympus near Pisa, though no rock, but a huge mound, or hill ([862]?e?? ?a? t?? ??????? ??F?? a?eta? ta ???p?a) was of old termed Petra, as relating to oracular influence. Hence Pindar, speaking of Iamus, who was supposed to have been conducted by Apollo to Olympia, says, _that they both came to the Petra Elibatos upon the lofty Cronian mount: there Apollo bestowed upon Iamus a double portion of prophetic knowledge_.

[863]????t? d' ??????? ?et?a?

???at?? ???????, ???' ?? ?pase ??sa????

??d??? ?????SY??S.

The word ???at??, Elibatos, was a favourite term with Homer, and other poets; and is uniformly joined with Petra. They do not seem to have known the purport of it; yet they adhere to it religiously, and introduce it wherever they have an opportunity. ???at?? is an Amonian compound of Eli-Bat, and signifies solis domus, vel [864]templum. It was the name of the temple, and specified the Deity there wors.h.i.+pped. In like manner the word Petra had in great measure lost its meaning; yet it is wonderful to observe how industriously it is introduced by writers, when they speak of sacred and oracular places. Lycophron calls the temple at Elis [865]?e??a?

???p?d?? pet?a?: and the Pytho at Delphi is by Pindar styled Petraessa: [866]?pe? ?et?aessa? e?a???? ??et' e? ???????. Orchomenos was a place of great antiquity; and the natives are said to have wors.h.i.+pped Petra, which were supposed to have fallen from [867]heaven. At Athens in the Acropolis was a sacred cavern, which was called Petrae Macrae, Petrae Cecropiae.

[868]????e t?????, ??s?a ?e???p?a? pet?a?, ???s????? a?t???, a? ?a??a? ?????s??e?.

I have shewn that people of old made use of caverns for places of wors.h.i.+p: hence this at Athens had the name of Petra, or temple. [869]It is said of Ceres, that after she had wandered over the whole earth, she at last reposed herself upon a stone at Eleusis. They in like manner at Delphi shewed the petra, upon which the Sibyl Herophile at her first arrival sat [870]down. In short, there is in history of every oracular temple some legend about a stone; some reference to the word Petra. To clear this up, it is necessary to observe, that when the wors.h.i.+p of the Sun was almost universal, this was one name of that Deity even among the Greeks. They called him Petor, and Petros; and his temple was styled Petra. This they oftentimes changed to ?????; so little did they understand their own mythology. There were however some writers, who mentioned it as the name of the Sun, and were not totally ignorant of its meaning. This we may learn from the Scholiast upon Pindar. [871]?e?? de t?? ????? ?? f?s???? fas??, ??

????? ?a?e?ta? ? ?????. ?a? ??a?a????? ?e??e??? ????p?d?? a??t??, ?et???

e????e?a? t?? ????? d?a t?? p???e?e???.

? ?a? ?a?a????, ?' ??? ??e?d??? t??a?, ???? pef????, ?? ?e???s?, ?a?ta???, ????f?? ?pe?te????ta de?a???? ??????, ?e?? p?t?ta?, ?a? t??e? ta?t?? d????.

The same Scholiast quotes a similar pa.s.sage from the same writer, where the Sun is called Petra.

[872]?????? ta? ???a??? esa?

?????? te tetae?a? a????as? pet?a?, ???ses? ???sea?? fe??e?a?.

If then the name of the Sun, and of his temples, was among the antient Grecians Petros, and Petra; we may easily account for that word so often occurring in the accounts of his wors.h.i.+p. The Scholia above will moreover lead us to discover whence the strange notion arose about the famous Anaxagoras of Clazomenae; who is said to have prophesied, that a stone would fall from the Sun. All that he had averred, may be seen in the relation of the Scholiast above: which amounts only to this, that Petros was a name of the Sun. It was a word of Egyptian original, derived from Petor, the same as Ham, the Iamus of the antient Greeks. This Petros some of his countrymen understood in a different sense; and gave out, that he had foretold a stone would drop from the Sun. Some were idle enough to think that it was accomplished: and in consequence of it pretended to shew at aegospotamos the very [873]stone, which was said to have fallen. The like story was told of a stone at Abydus upon the h.e.l.lespont: and Anaxagoras was here too supposed to have been the prophet[874]. In Abydi gymnasio ex ea causa colitur hodieque modicus quidem (lapis), sed quem in medio terrarum casurum Anaxagoras praedixisse narratur. The temples, or Petra here mentioned, were Omphalian, or Oracular: hence they were by a common mistake supposed to have been in the centre of the habitable globe. They were also ???at??

?et?a?; which Elibatos the Greeks derived from a??? descendo; and on this account the Petra were thought to have fallen from the [875]Sun. We may by this clue unravel the mysterious story of Tantalus; and account for the punishment which he was doomed to undergo.

[876]???? d' ??e?

?ta? ?pe??p???, ?a? ?? pat?? ?pe???ease, ?a?te??? a?t? ?????

??? ae? e?????? ?efa?a? a?e??

??f??s??a? a?ata?.

The unhappy Tantalus From a satiety of bliss Underwent a cruel reverse.

He was doom'd to sit under a huge stone, Which the father of the G.o.ds Kept over his head suspended.

Thus he sat In continual dread of its downfal, And lost to every comfort.

It is said of Tantalus by some, that he was set up to his chin in water, with every kind of fruit within reach: yet hungry as he was and thirsty, he could never attain to what he wanted; every thing which he caught at eluding his efforts. But from the account given above by [877]Pindar, as well as by [878]Alcaeus, Aleman, and other writers, his punishment consisted in having a stone hanging over his head; which kept him in perpetual fear.

What is styled ?????, was I make no doubt originally Petros; which has been misinterpreted a stone. Tantalus is termed by Euripides a???ast?? t??

???ssa?, a man of an ungovernable tongue: and his history at bottom relates to a person who revealed the mysteries in which he had been [879]initiated.

The Scholiast upon Lycophron describes him in this light; and mentions him as a priest, who out of good nature divulged some secrets of his cloister; and was upon that account ejected from the society[880]. ? ?a?ta??? e?se??

?a? ?e?sept?? ?? ?e?e??, ?a? f??a????p?? ta t?? ?e?? ?st???a t??? a??t???

?ste??? e?p??, e?e???? t?? ?e??? ?ata?????. The mysteries which he revealed, were those of Osiris, the Sun: the Petor, and Petora of Egypt. He never afterwards could behold the Sun in its meridian, but it put him in mind of his crime: and he was afraid that the vengeance of the G.o.d would overwhelm him. This Deity, the Petor, and Petora of the Amonians, being by the later Greeks expressed Petros, and Petra, gave rise to the fable above about the stone of Tantalus. To this solution the same Scholiast upon Pindar bears witness, by informing us, [881]that the Sun was of old called a stone: and that some writers understood the story of Tantalus in this light; intimating that it was the Sun, which hung over his head to his perpetual terror. [882]????? a?????s? t?? ????? ep? t?? ?????--?a?