Volume Ii Part 13 (1/2)
He was also reported, according to [830]Megasthenes and others, to have made an expedition into [831]India, and to have left many memorials of his transactions in those parts. He travelled likewise into the region called afterwards Scythia; the natives of which country were his [832]descendants.
He also visited the Hyperboreans. In all these peregrinations he is generally described as proceeding alone: at least we have no intimation of any army to a.s.sist in the performance of these great enterprises. He is indeed supposed to have sailed with six s.h.i.+ps to [833]Phrygia: but how he came by them is not said; nor whence he raised the men, who went with him.
At other times he is represented with a club in his hand, and the skin of an animal upon his shoulders. When he pa.s.sed over the ocean, he is said to have been wafted in a golden [834]bowl. In Phrygia he freed Hesione from a Cetus, or sea monster, just as Perseus delivered Andromeda. He is mentioned as founding many cities in parts very remote: the sea-coast of Btica, and Cantabria, was, according to some writers, peopled by [835]him. By Syncellus he is said to have resided in Italy, and to have reigned in [836]Latium. The Grecians supposed that he was burnt upon Mount ta: but the people of Gades shewed his Taphos in their [837]city, just as the Egyptians shewed the Taphos of Osiris at Memphis, and elsewhere. Hence it was imagined by many, that Hercules was buried at Gades. The philosopher Megaclides could not be brought to give the least a.s.sent to the histories of this [838]hero: and Strabo seems to have thought a great part of them to have been a [839]fable. In short, the whole account of this personage is very inconsistent: and though writers have tried to compromise matters by supposing more persons than one of this name, yet the whole is still incredible, and can never be so adjusted as to merit the least belief. How they multiplied the same Deity, in order to remedy their faulty mythology, may be seen in the following extract from Cicero. [840]Quanquam, quem potissimum Herculem colamus, scire velim: plures enim n.o.bis tradunt ii, qui interiores scrutantur et reconditas literas. Antiquissimum Jove natum, sed item Jove antiquissimo: nam Joves quoque plures in priscis Graecorum literis invenimus. Ex eo igitur et Lysito est is Hercules, quem concerta.s.se c.u.m Apolline de tripode accepimus. Alter traditur Nilo natus, aegyptius; quem aiunt Phrygias literas conscripsisse. Tertius est ex Idaeis Dactylis, cui inferias afferunt. Quartus Jovis est, et Asteriae, Latonae sororis, quem Tyrii maxime colunt; cujus Carthaginem filium ferunt. Quintus in [841]India, qui Belus dicitur. s.e.xtus hic, ex Alc.u.mena quem Jupiter genuit; sed tertius Jupiter: quoniam, ut docebo, plures Joves accepimus.
Hercules was a t.i.tle given to the chief deity of the Gentiles, who have been multiplied into almost as many personages, as there were countries, where he was wors.h.i.+pped. What has been attributed to this G.o.d singly, was the work of Herculeans; a people who went under this t.i.tle among the many which they a.s.sumed; and who were the same as the Osirians, Peresians, and Cuthites. They built Tartessus in Btica, and occupied great part of Iberia. They likewise founded [842]Corunna in Cantabria, and [843]Alesia in Gaul: of which there are traditions to this day. Some of them settled near [844]Arelate; others among the [845]Alpes: also at c.u.ma, and Heraclea in Campania. They were also to be found at Tyre, and in Egypt; and even in the remotest parts of [846]India. In short, wherever there were Heraclidae, or Herculeans, an Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has been variously represented. One, while he appears little better than a st.u.r.dy vagrant; at other times he is mentioned as a great benefactor; also as the patron of science, the [847]G.o.d of eloquence, with the Muses in his train.
On this account he had the t.i.tle of [848]Musagetes; and the Roman general Fulvius dedicated a temple which he had erected to his honour, and inscribed it [849]_Herculi Musarum_. There are gems, upon which he is represented as presiding among the Deities of [850]Science. He is said to have been swallowed by a Cetus, or large fish, from which he was after some time delivered. This history will hereafter be easily decyphered. He was the chief deity of the [851]Gentile world; the same as Hermes, Osiris, and Dionusus; and his rites were introduced into various parts by the Cuthites.
In the detail of his peregrinations is contained, in great measure, an history of that people, and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks have described as a warlike expedition; and have taken the glory of it to themselves. He is said to have had many sons. One of these was [852]Archemagoras; by which is meant the father or chief of the Magi. There are many others enumerated: the princ.i.p.al of whom are said to have been; [853]Sardus, or Sardon; Cyrnus, Gelonus, Olynthus, Scythus, Galathus, Lydus, Iberus, Celtus, Poimen. As these are all manifestly the names of nations, we may perceive by the purport of this history, that the Sardinians, Corsicans, Iberians, Celtae, Galatae, Scythae, &c. &c. together with those styled Shepherds, were Herculeans; all descended from that [854]Hercules, who was the father of Archemagoras the chief of the Magi.
DIONUSUS.
The history of Dionusus is closely connected with that of Bacchus, though they were two distinct persons. It is said of the former, that he was born at [855]Nusa in Arabia: but the people upon the Indus insisted, that he was a native of their [856]country; and that the city Nusa, near mount Meru, was the true place of his birth. There were, however, some among them, who allowed, that he came into their parts from the west; and that his arrival was in the most antient times. He taught the nations, whither he came, to build and to plant, and to enter into societies. To effect this, he collected the various families out of the villages in which they dwelt, and made them incorporate in towns and cities, which he built in the most commodious situations. After they were thus established, he gave them laws, and instructed them in the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds. He also taught them to plant the Vine, and to extract the juice of the grape; together with much other salutary knowledge. This he did throughout all his [857]travels, till he had conquered every region in the East. Nor was it in these parts only, that he shewed himself so beneficent a conqueror; but over all the habitable [858]world. The account given by the Egyptians is consonant to that of the Indians: only they suppose him to have been of their own country; and to have set out by the way of Arabia and the Red Sea, till he arrived at the extremities of the East. He travelled also into [859]Lybia, quite to the Atlantic; of which performance Thymaetes is said to have given an account in an antient Phrygian poem. After his Indian expedition, which took him up three years, he pa.s.sed from Asia by the h.e.l.lespont into Thrace, where Lycurgus withstood him, and at last put him to flight. He came into Greece; and was there adopted by the people, and represented as a native of their country. He visited many places upon the Mediterranean; especially Campania, and the coast of Italy, where he was taken prisoner by the Hetrurian pirates. Others say, that he conquered all [860]Hetruria. He had many attendants; among whom were the t.i.tyri, Satyri, Thyades, and Amazons.
The whole of his history is very inconsistent in respect both to time and place. Writers therefore have tried to remedy this by introducing different people of the same name. Hence Dionusus is multiplied into as many [861]personages as Hercules. His history was looked upon as very interesting; and therefore was the chief theme of all the antient [862]bards. His flight, styled f??? ?????s??, was particularly [863]recorded. He was the same as Osiris; and many of the later mythologists acknowledged this truth. ????pt??? e? ?a? t?? pa?' a?t???
?e?? ?s???? ???a??e??? fas?? e??a? t?? pa?' ????s? ?????s?? t??t?? de ????????s?? epe??e?? pasa? t?? ?????e???--????? de ?a? t??? ??d??? t??
?e?? t??t?? pa?' ?a?t??? ap?fa?es?a? ?e???e?a?. _The Egyptians_, says [864]Diodorus, _maintain that their G.o.d Osiris is no other than the Dionusus of Greece: And they farther mention, that he travelled over the face of the whole earth--In like manner the Indi a.s.sure us, that it is the same Deity, who wan conversant in their [865]country_.
Dionusus, according to the Grecian mythology, is represented as having been twice born: and is said to have had two fathers and two mothers. He was also exposed in an [866]ark, and wonderfully preserved. The purport of which histories is plain. We must however for the most part consider the account given of Dionusus, as the history of the Dionusians. This is twofold. Part relates to their rites and religion; in which the great events of the infant world, and the preservation of mankind in general, were recorded. In the other part, which contains the expeditions and conquests of this personage, are enumerated the various colonies of the people, who were denominated from him. They were the same as the Osirians and Herculeans; all of one family, though under different appellations. I have shewn, that there were many places which claimed his birth; and as many, where was shewn the spot of his interment. Of these we may find samples in Egypt, Arabia, and India; as well as in Africa, Greece, and its islands. For the Grecians, wherever they met with a grot or a cavern sacred to him, took it for granted that he was born there: and wherever he had a taphos, or high altar, supposed that he was there [867]buried. The same is also observable in the history of all the G.o.ds.
From what has been said we may perceive that the same history has been appropriated to different personages: and if we look farther into the annals of the first ages, we shall find more instances to the same purpose.
It is said of [868]Cronus, and Astarte, that they went over the whole earth; disposing of the countries at their pleasure, and doing good wherever they came. Cronus in consequence of it is represented as an universal [869]benefactor; who reclaimed men from their savage way of life, and taught them to pa.s.s their days in innocence and truth. A like account is given of Oura.n.u.s, the great king of the [870]Atlantians, who observing mankind in an unsettled and barbarous state, set about building cities for their reception; and rendered them more humane and civilized by his inst.i.tutions and laws. His influence was very extensive; as he is supposed to have had the greater part of the world under his rule. All this, and what was above done by Cronus and Astarte, the Grecians attributed to Apollo and Themis. Strabo mentions from the historian, Ephorus, that the oracle at Delphi was founded by these two [871]deities at the time, when Apollo was going over the world doing good to all mankind. He taught the nations, where he came, to be more [872]gentle and humane in their manners; and to abstain from their wild fruits, and foul banquets: affording them instructions how to improve themselves by cultivation.
Some of these persons are mentioned as proceeding in a pacific manner: but these peregrinations in general are represented as a process of war; and all that was effected, was supposed to have been by conquest. Thus Osiris, Hercules, Perseus, Dionusus, displayed their benevolence sword in hand: and laid every country under an obligation to the limits of the earth. The like is said of Zeuth, the Zeus of Greece, who was an universal conqueror and benefactor: [873]??? ??a ?????? ?e??e??? t?? ???? epe??e?? ?pasa? t??
?????e???, e?e??et???ta t? ?e??? t?? a????p??? d?e?e??e?? de a?t?? ?a?
s?at?? ??? ?a? ta?? a??a?? ?pasa?? a?eta??, ?a? d?a t??t? ta?? ??????
?e?es?a? t?? s?pa?t?? ??s??. _Zeus_ (or Jupiter) _having got the entire supremacy marched over the whole earth, benefiting mankind wherever he came. And as he was a person of great bodily strength, and at the same time had every princely quality, he very soon subdued the whole world_.
No mention is made of any conquests achieved by Orus: and tho reason is, because he was the same as Osiris. Indeed they were all the same personage: but Orus was more particularly Osiris in his second state; and therefore represented by the antient Egyptians as a child. What is omitted by him, was made up by his immediate successor Thoules; who like those, who preceded, conquered every country which was inhabited. [874]??ta ?s????, e?' ?? O???, ?a? eta a?t?? T?????, ?? ?a? ??? t?? ??ea??? pasa? t?? ???
pa?e???fe?. _After him_ (that is, Sous, or Sosis,) _came Osiris; and then Orus: to whom succeeded Thoules, who conquered the whole earth quite to the ocean_. The like history is given of him by [875]Suidas, and by the author of the [876]Chronicon Paschale.
These accounts I have collated, and brought in succession to one another; that we may at a view see the absurdity of the history, if taken in the common acceptation. And however numerous my instances may have been, I shall introduce other examples before I quit the subject. I must particularly speak of an Egyptian hero, equally ideal with those abovementioned; whose history, though the most romantic and improbable of any, has been admitted as credible and true. The person to whom I allude, is the celebrated Sesostris. Most of the antient historians speak of his great achievements; and the most learned of the modern chronologists have endeavoured to determine his aera, and point out the time of his reign. But their endeavours have been fruitless; and they vary about the time when he lived not less than a thousand years: nay, some differ even more than this in the aera, which they a.s.sign to him.
SESOSTRIS.
Among the writers who have written concerning this extraordinary personage, Diodorus Siculus is the most uniform and full; and with his evidence I will begin my account. He[877] informs us, that, when this prince was a youth, he was entrusted by his father with a great army. He upon this invaded Arabia: and though he was obliged to encounter hunger and thirst in the wilds, which he traversed; yet he subdued the whole of that large tract of country. He was afterwards sent far into the west; where he conquered all the legions of Lybia, and annexed great part of that country to the kingdom of Egypt. After the death of his father he formed a resolution to subdue all the nations upon earth. Accordingly, having settled everything at home, and appointed governors to each province, he set out with an army of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, and twenty-seven thousand armed chariots. With these he invaded the Ethiopians to the south; whom he defeated, and made tributaries to Egypt. He then built a fleet of s.h.i.+ps upon the Red sea: and he is recorded as the first person who constructed vessels fit for distant navigation. With these, by means of his generals, he subdued all the sea-coast of Arabia, and all the coast upon the ocean as far as India. In the mean time he marched in person, with a puissant army, by land, and conquered the whole continent of Asia. He not only overran the countries, which Alexander afterwards invaded; but crossed both the Indus and the Ganges; and from thence penetrated to the eastern ocean. He then turned to the north, and attacked the nations of Scythia; till he at last arrived at the Tanais, which divides Europe and Asia. Here he founded a colony; leaving behind him some of his people, as he had just before done at [878]Colchis. These nations are said to the last to have retained memorials of their original from Egypt. About the same time Asia Minor, and most of the islands near it, fell into his hands. He at last pa.s.sed into [879]Thrace, where he is said to have been brought into some difficulties. He however persisted, and subdued all the regions of Europe.
In most of these countries he erected pillars with hieroglyphical inscriptions; denoting that these parts of the world had been subdued by the great Sesostris, or, as [880]Diodorus expresses his name, Sesoosis. He likewise erected statues of himself, formed of stone, with a bow and a lance: which statues were in length four cubits and four palms, according to the dimensions of his own height and stature. Having thus finished his career of [881]victory, he returned laden with spoils to Egypt, after an absence of [882]nine years; which is one year less than was attributed to the expeditions of Hercules.
The detail given by this historian is very plain and precise: and we proceed very regularly and minutely in a geographical series from one conquest to another: so that the story is rendered in some degree plausible. But we may learn from Diodorus himself, that little credit is to be paid to this narration, after all the pains he may have taken to win upon our credulity. He ingenuously owns, that not only the Grecian writers, but even the priests of Egypt, and the bards of the same country varied in the accounts which they gave of this hero; and were guilty of great inconsistence. It was therefore his chief labour to collect what he thought most credible, and what appeared most consonant to the memorials in Egypt, which time had spared: [883]?a p??a??tata, ?a? t??? ?pa????s?? et? ?ata t??
???a? s?e???? ta a??sta s?f?????ta d?e??e??. But, as these memorials consisted chiefly in hieroglyphics, I do not see how it was possible for Diodorus to understand what the bards and priests could not decypher. The adjustment of this history, had it been practicable, should have been the work of a native Egyptian, and not of a person either from Greece or Sicily. This writer afterwards mentions the mighty [884]works of Sesostris upon his return into Egypt: the temples which he built, and the great entrenchments which he made to the east, to guard the country from the Arabians: and having enumerated the whole of his actions, he concludes with an ingenuous confession, that [885]little could be obtained that was precisely true. He has, without doubt, culled the most probable achievements of this hero; and coloured and arranged them to the best advantage: yet they still exceed belief. And if, after this care and disposition, they seem incredible, how would they appear in the garb, in which he found them? Yet the history of this personage has been admitted as credible by the most learned [886]writers and chronologists: though, as I before mentioned, they cannot determine the aera of his reign within a thousand years. Sir John Marsham and Sir Isaac Newton suppose him to have been the Sesac of the scriptures; and consequently bring his reign down to the time of Rehoboam king of Judah. But the only reason for this, as far as I can perceive, seems to be, that Sesostris is represented as a great conqueror; and Sesac is presumed, from his large [887]army, to have been so likewise. But there is nothing more said of Sesac, than that he formed a plan of conquering the king of Judah; and accordingly came with the army before mentioned, to put his design in execution. But the [888]capital being delivered into his hands without the least resistance, and the king intirely submitting himself to his will; he contented himself with the rich plunder, which he found, and which he carried away at his departure. We may also infer from the servitude, to which the people of Judah were reduced, that he imposed upon them some future contributions.
This is the whole of the history of Sesac, or s.h.i.+shak; by whom no other expedition was undertaken that we know of: nor is there mention made upon record of a single battle which he fought. Yet from a notion that Sesac was a great warrior, he is made the same as Sesostris: and the age of the latter is brought down very many centuries beneath the aera, to which the best writers have adjudged it. When we differ from received tradition, we should not pa.s.s over in silence what is said on the contrary part; but give it at large, and then shew our reasons for our departure from it. I have taken notice of the supposed conquerors of the earth: and among them of the reputed deities of Egypt, who came under the names of Osiris, Perseus, Thoules, &c. These are supposed, if they ever existed, to have lived in the first ages of the world, when Egypt was in its infant state; and Sesostris is made one of their number. He is by some placed after Orus; by others after Thoules; but still referred to the first ages. He is represented under the name of Sethos, [889]Sethosis, Sesoosis, Sesonchosis, Sesostris; but the history, with which these names are accompanied, shews plainly the ident.i.ty of the personage. Eusebius in reckoning up the dynasty of kings, who reigned after Hephaistus or Vulcan, mentions them in the following order: [890]_Then succeeded his son Helius; after him Sosis, then Osiris, then Orus, then Thoules, who conquered the whole earth to the ocean; and last of all Sesostris_. The [891]Scholiast upon Apollonius Rhodius calls him Sesonchosis; and places him immediately after Orus, and the third in succession from Osiris: giving at the same time an account of his conquests. He adds that he was the person whom Theopompus called Sesostris.
The same Scholiast quotes a curious pa.s.sage from Dicaearchus, in which Sesonchosis maintains the same rank, and was consequently of the highest antiquity. [892]_Dicaearchus in the first book of his history mentions, that immediately after the reign of Orus, the son of Isis and Osiris, in Egypt, the government devolved to Sesonchosis: so that from the time of Sesonchosis to Nilus were two thousand years_. Cedrenus [893]calls him Sesostris; and mentions him after Osiris, and Orus, and Thoules; which last was by the above writer omitted. ?s????. O???. T?????. eta de t??t??
Ses?st???. The author of the Chronicon Paschale makes Orus to have been succeeded by the same personage, as is mentioned above, whom he calls Thoulis; and next to him introduces Sesostris. He relates all his great conquests; and gives us this farther information, that this prince was the first of the line of Ham, who reigned in Egypt; in other words, he was the first king of the country. [894]?? t??t??? eta ta?ta ??????? eas??e?e t??
????pt??? p??t?? e? te? f???? ??? ??? [895]Ses?st???. Aristotle speaks of Sesostris; but does not determine the time of his reign on account of its great antiquity. He only says that it was long before the age of [896]Minos, who was supposed to have reigned in Crete. Apollonius Rhodius, who is thought to have been a native of Egypt, speaks of the great actions of this prince; but mentions no name: not knowing, I imagine, by which properly to distinguish him, as he was represented under so many. He however attributes to him every thing which is said of [897]Sesostris; particularly the settling a Colony at Colchis, and building innumerable cities in the countries which he traversed:
???a d' ast?
?a.s.sat' ep????e???.
He represents him as conquering all Asia and Europe; and this in times so remote, that many of the cities which he built, were in ruins before the aera of the Argonauts.
From what has been said, we may perceive that if such a person as Sesostris had existed, his reign must have been of the earliest date. He is by some represented as succeeding Thoules: according to others he comes one degree higher, being introduced after [898]Orus, who in the catalogue of Panodorus is placed first of the DemiG.o.ds, that reigned in Egypt; but by [899]Herodotus is ranked among the deities. According to Dicaearchus the reign of Sesostris was two thousand five hundred years before Nilus: and the reign of the latter was four hundred and thirty-six years before the first Olympiad. I do not place the least confidence in these computations; but would only shew from them that the person spoken of must be referred to the mythic age, to the aera of the DemiG.o.ds of Egypt. Some of these evidences are taken notice of by Sir John [900]Marsham; who cannot extricate himself from the difficulties with which his system is attended.
He has taken for granted, that Sesostris and Sesonchosis are the Sesac of the Scriptures; though every circ.u.mstance of their history is repugnant to that notion. [901]_I know_ _not,_ says he, _what to make of this Sesonchosis; who is represented as five thousand years before Menes, and who is referred to the time of the DemiG.o.ds_. In another place: _Sesostris, who is in the twelfth Dynasty of Africa.n.u.s, and whose aera extends higher, than the Canon of Eusebius reaches, reigned according to Scaliger's computation in the 1392d year of the Julian Period. By this calculation Sesostris is made prior to Sesostris; and this too by no less than 2355 years: for it is manifest, as I will shew from Scripture, that Sesostris undertook his expedition into Asia, and got possession of Jerusalem in the 3747th year of the Period abovementioned_. What is said in the sacred writings, I have taken notice of before. Not a word occurs about Sesostris, nor of any such Asiatic expedition. I am obliged to say, that through the whole of this learned writer's process, instead of a proof, we find nothing else but the question begged, and some inferences of his own in consequence of this a.s.sumption. He indeed quotes the authority of Manethon from Josephus to prove that the great actions of Sesostris were the same as were performed by Sesac. But Manethon says no such thing: nor does Josephus attribute any such exploits to Sesac: but expressly says more than once, that Sesac, and Sesostris were two different [902]persons. It is no where said of Sesac, that he made an expedition into Asia; much less that he conquered it, as is supposed of Sesostris. Sesac went up against Jerusalem, and took it, aa??t?, without meeting with any opposition. Upon this he departed, and carried with him the treasures which he had there seized: in other words, he went home again. There is not the least mention made of his invading [903]Samaria, or the country about Liba.n.u.s, and Sidon; or of his marching to Syria: all which made but a small part of the great Continent, called in aftertimes Asia: much less did he visit the countries of the a.s.syrians, and Babylonians; or the regions of Elam and the Medes. All this, and much more he must have done, to have come up to the character, to which they would fain ent.i.tle him.
I will not enter into any farther discussion of the great conquests attributed to this supposed monarch Sesostris. They are as ideal as those of Sesac, and sufficiently confute themselves. First Osiris is said to have conquered the whole earth: then Zeus, then Perseus, then [904]Hercules, all nearly of the same degree of antiquity, if we may believe the best Mythologists. Myrina comes in for a share of conquest in the time of Orus.